Sessions
Testing
According to the procedure, permanent members of the Committee are required to read all eligible papers[1] and to provide the chair of the committee with a grade of 0-75 for each paper, in advance of the conference. Â Marks for the presentation (0-25) will be added in order to determine the final grade of each paper (0-100), and their ranking. Â The Committee will meet 21:15-21:30 on the Friday evening at the conference venue, discuss the results, and choose the new researchers (between 1 and 3) to be awarded a prize by the S
Merchants, planters and slavery in the British Caribbean: in memory of Trevor Burnard (1960-2024)
After the death, in July, of Trevor Burnard, Wilberforce Professor of Slavery at the University of Hull and Director of the Wilberforce Institute, this session will commemorate his outstanding contribution to Atlantic history and slavery studies. Trevor showed unfailing generosity to other scholars and was especially supportive of junior colleagues. Papers will be presented by early career researchers who benefited from his help and focus on his main areas of interest and prolific publication record: the detailed workings of slave economies and societies in the British Caribbean, and links between the plantation system and the rise of global capitalism.
BRAND POWER AND RISK: ECONOMIC GAME-CHANGER STRATEGIES IN LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE.
This session explores the multifaceted role of merchant signs and marks in late medieval Europe, focusing on their significance as symbols of economic identity and security. By analysing their use—whether personal seals, coat of arms, or distinctive symbols—this session examines how these marks represented the merchant's company, managed risk, and enhanced credibility. It also explores how these marks functioned as marketing tools, contributing to the prestige and perceived reliability of enterprises. Bringing together diverse research on risk management, marketing strategies, and company formation, this session offers valuable insights into the business practices of 15th century Europe.
Guilds and diverging human capital and innovation in Italy’s regions, 1400 – 1910
The panel explores the long-run divergence in human capital accumulation and innovation across Italian regions before and after the Industrial Revolution. It investigates the extent to which the economic gaps between regions at the eve of their industrialization processes have their origins in the different accumulation of human capital in early modern times, and the role played by institutions, such as guilds. The purpose is to bring together scholars using quantitative methods to set up a platform for a comparative investigation of the role played by institutions on human capital and economic development across European regions.
Wills as Historical Sources: New Methods, Tools and Perspectives
Wills have long been used to investigate various aspects of economic and social history – property transmission, changing religious beliefs, etc. However, sample sizes have tended to be small. New developments in automatic transcription have opened up the possibility of analyzing far larger samples, or even whole populations . Additionally, developments in corpus linguistics, sentiment analysis, natural language processing and other forms of language modelling allow novel topics to be tackled at a previously impossible scale. This session presents three papers which harness these new methods and tools to revisit old questions, pose new ones and reveal fresh perspectives.
