The collapse of communism in Central, East and South-East Europe (CESEE) led to great hopes for the region and for Europe. Three decades on, the picture is mixed: in many CESEE countries, the transformation process is incomplete, and the economic catch-up has taken longer than anticipated.

The current situation has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the long-term political and economic implications of the Central, East and South-East European historical experience. This thematically organised text covers a clear and comprehensive guide to the economic history of CESEE from 1800 to the present day. Bringing together authors from both East and West, the book also draws on the cutting-edge research of a new generation of scholars from the CESEE region. Presenting a thoroughly modern overview of the history of the region, the text will be invaluable to scholars and students of economic history, transition economies and CESEE area studies.

The editor (Matthias Morys) and one contributing author (Tamás Vonyó) will highlight some important findings of this large research project, followed by comments from Tracy Dennison and Olga Popova. The event is chaired by Stephen Broadberry, CEPR Programme Director for Economic History and himself a contributing author to the book.

The seminar will consist of 45 minutes of presentation and discussion, followed by 30 minutes of open discussion. During the first 45 minutes, the audience may submit questions using the Q&A facility and the chair will relay them to the speakers. The last 30 minutes of the event will be reserved for an open discussion. Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrd-ihpz0jG9WmAzwovLsgw6gXFuV90bTo.

 

Speakers:

 

Matthias Morys, University of York presenting on Long-term Patterns of Economic Growth, Retardation and Path-Dependency in Central, East and South-East Europe
 
Matthias Morys is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of York (UK). He earned a Ph.D. (2006) from the London School of Economics and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford prior to coming to York. His research interests include monetary and financial history of the 19th and 20th centuries, globalisation in historical perspective, and the economic history of Central, East and South-East Europe.

 

Tamás Vonyó, Bocconi University and CEPR presenting on Growth Under State Socialism: Why Did Eastern Europe Fall Behind?

Tamás Vonyó is Associate Professor of Economic History at the Department of Social and Political Sciences and resident member of the Dondena Center for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy at Bocconi University. He is a CEPR Research Fellow. Previously, he held positions at the London School of Economics and University of Groningen, where he was affiliated with the Groningen Growth and Development Centre. His research interests include the economic history of modern Germany and Eastern Europe, the economic history of the world wars, and socialist development. In 2018, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant to investigate the economic consequences of World War I in Central Europe.

 

Discussants:

 

Tracy Dennison, California Institute of Technology

Tracy Dennison is Professor of Social Science History at the California Institute of Technology. She is interested in understanding how societies worked in the past: how did societal rules and norms affect the decisions people made about their lives? Tracy is a leading expert on demographic history, institutions and economic growth, typically with a focus on pre-revolutionary Russia and Eastern Europe. She is the author of “The Institutional framework of Russian Serfdom” (Cambridge University Press 2011).


 

 

Olga Popova, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS, Regensburg)

Olga Popova is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Economics at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS, Regensburg), Research Associate at CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences, and an Associate Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University. She is a co-editor of Comparative Southeast European Studies and served as a consultant for the World Bank. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from CERGE-EI (2012). Main research interests are health and environmental economics, quality of life, individual and regional inequalities, and economic development with a specific focus on emerging and transition economies. Her research has been published in Economic Inquiry, Small Business Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, and European Journal of Political Economy.

 

Chair and Moderator:

Stephen Broadberry, University of Oxford and CEPR

 

Stephen Broadberry is a Professorial fellow and a Professor of Economic History, Oxford University. He is also a Research Theme Leader at CAGE, University of Warwick and Director of the Economic History Programme at CEPR. He has also taught at the London School of Economics and the Universities of Warwick and Cardiff and held visiting positions at University of British Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, Humboldt University, Berlin, UPF Barcelona and Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo.