“The Engines of Growth: Innovation, Creative Destruction, and Human Capital Accumulation”

The Program Committee—Paul Rhode, University of Arizona (Chair); Werner Troesken, George Mason University; Tracy Dennison, California Institute of Technology; and Ken Pomeranz, University of California, Irvine—welcomes proposals for individual papers, as well as for entire sessions. As is the rule, papers on all subjects in economic history are welcome, but a number of sessions will be devoted to the theme “The Engines of Growth: Innovation, Creative Destruction, and Human Capital Accumulation.”

The analysis of the causes and consequences of economic growth is central to the study of economic history. Growth takes place in a legal, political, and social context and the innovations that drive growth are often opposed by vested interests that expect to lose from the changes. Creative Destruction, whereby revolutionary innovations both spawn entirely new ventures and undermine the value of existing investments, appears to be an inevitable part of the long-run growth process. Understanding the political economy of institutional change and innovation is of special interest. This is particularly true for human capital and information, given their public good characteristics. The Program Committee invites papers and sessions on this theme dealing with experiences from a broad range of geographical regions, time periods, and institutional settings.

Papers and session proposals should be submitted on line at: http://eh.net/eha/meetings/prop_08.html. The following rules and procedures apply. The due date is 31 January 2008. Paper proposals should include a 3–5 page précis and a 150-word abstract suitable for publication in the Journal of Economic History. By vote of the Board of Trustees, the corresponding author must be a current member of the Association (to join the Association, please go to http://eh.net/eha/). Papers should in all cases be work in progress rather than accepted or published work; submitters have a responsibility to let the program committee know if the proposed paper has been submitted for publication. Submissions for entire sessions should include no more than three papers and each proposal should be submitted separately. The committee reserves the right to determine which papers will be included in those sessions that are accepted. Finally, those who had a paper accepted by the regular program committee for the 2007 meeting (Austin) must wait two years before submitting again.

The dissertation session convened by Kevin O'Rourke (Trinity College, Dublin) and Zorina Khan (Bowdoin College) will honor six dissertations completed during the 2007–2008 academic year. The submission deadline is 1 June 2008. The Alexander Gerschenkron and Allan Nevins prizes will be awarded to the best dissertations on non-North American and North American topics. Note that students may not submit both to the dissertation session and the regular program, but there is a two year window within which a dissertation may be submitted for consideration.

Graduate students are encouraged to attend and the Association offers subsidies for travel, hotel, registration, and meals, including a special graduate student dinner. A poster session welcomes work from dissertations in progress.

For further information, including detailed travel options to New Haven, check the EHA meetings page (www.ehameeting.com), or contact Meetings Coordinator Jari Eloranta at elorantaj@appstate.edu.

Dissertation Fellowship Recipients

• Dan Li of Boston University for “Three Essays on the Economic History of Railroads in Pre-Communist China.” Advisor, Robert Margo.

• Melinda Miller of University of Michigan for “The Role of Race and Gender in Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: New Evidence from the 1880 Cherokee Census.” Advisor, Ben Chabot.

• John Parman of Northwestern University for “American Mobility and the Expansion of Public Education.” Advisor, Joseph Ferrie.

Exploratory Grant Recipients

• Aaron Anderson of University of Southern Mississippi for “Natchez Merchants: Enterprise and Exploitation in the Postbellum South.” Advisor, Louis M. Kyriakoudes.

• Jessica Bean of Cornell University for “Married Women's Labor Force Participation in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: New Data from Old Censuses.” Advisor, George Boyer.

• Davide Cantoni of Harvard University for “Was Max Weber Right After All?” Advisor, James Robinson.

• Felipe Tâmega Fernandes of London School of Economics for “Institutions and Commodities: Analyzing the Rise and Decline of Rubber in Brazilian Amazon, 1860s–1910s.” Advisor, Colin M. Lewis

• Morten Jerven of London School of Economics and Political Science for “Dynamics of Growth in Post-Colonial Africa.” Advisor, Gareth M. Austin

• Ulrike Krotscheck of Stanford University for “Production and Distribution of Archaic Pottery in the Western Mediterranean.” Advisor, Ian Morris

• Woong Lee of University of California, Irvine for “Public Employment Offices and the Labor Market in the United States between 1890 and 1940.” Advisor, Daniel Bogart

• Andrew Nigrinis of Stanford University for “The Rise of Corporate R&D Laboratories and Firm Strategy.” Advisor, Gavin Wright.

• Jessica Vechbanyongratana of University of Colorado, Boulder for “Savings Behaviors among Antebellum Textile Workers.” Advisor, Carol Shiue.

Arthur H. Cole Grants-In-Aid

• Mary Beth Combs of Fordham University for “Son of a Baker: The 1870 Married Women's Property Act and Marriage Patterns of Nineteenth-Century British Shopkeepers.”

• Kirsten Wandschneider of Middlebury College for “The Birth of Microfinance and Cooperative Credit in Nineteenth-Century Germany and Its Reliance for Microfinance Institutions Today.”

• Neil Canady of Vanderbilt University for his studies of wealth levels and literacy in the urban South, 1900, 1910, and 1920.

The association is grateful to the members of the CREH for their work in selecting the award winners. Susan Wolcott of Binghamton University chaired the committee. She was assisted by Joyce Burnette of Wabash College, Joe Ferrie of Northwestern University, Marc Law of University of Vermont, Anne McCants of M.I.T., Carolyn Moehling of Rutgers University, Robert Whaples of Wake Forest University, and (ex officio) Alex Field of Santa Clara University.