Economic Growth and Economic Performance Over The Long Run: Frontier Research in Economic and Social History

当女王问一群学者“为什么没有人看到它（经济衰退）的到来？“在2008年11月访问伦敦经济学院期间，她呼应了许多人的想法。英国首相戈登·布朗承认，他未能预见到这场危机的到来，并声称全球金融危机是“一个全新的领域”。经济历史学家会提出不同的观点，指出以前的衰退与国际金融体系的危机有关。从业者和学者都在回顾过去，回顾大萧条等事件和随后的政策实验，并回顾长期趋势，以了解可以学到什么，从而为财政刺激领域的现行政策提供信息，银行改革和货币政策。以上强调的只是一个主题，经济史可以非常翔实，这将是第一次会议的主题，推出我们的系列这三次会议将讨论与当前辩论有关的关键主题，这些辩论涉及经济危机的性质和最佳对策、不平等的决定因素、移民对社会的影响以及经济增长的性质，重点是城市的活力。这些主题适合英格兰银行、政府部门、各种智囊团以及学术界的研究人员参与。这些会议将为这些利益攸关方提供一个重要的机会，使他们能够进行互动，并为当前的政策和经济理论确定关键的经验教训。这些主题也代表了经济历史学家目前感兴趣的主要领域。产出将包括：新的研究合作，将通过一系列工作文件的基础在我们现有网站http://www.keynes.dk/FRESH/的改进版上展示。我们将包括一个页面与新鲜的参与者名单和一个页面张贴有关就业市场，会议公告和出版初级研究人员的意见。此外，还将在我们的网站和其他各种经济历史网站上提供主旨演讲和其他演讲的精选。鉴于其专题性质，学术界和一般读者都将对此感兴趣。

When the Queen asked a group of academics "why nobody saw it [the recession] coming?" during a visit to the London School of Economics in November 2008, she echoed the thoughts of many people. Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted that he failed to see it coming, claiming that the global financial crisis was "completely new territory". Economic historians would argue otherwise, pointing to previous recessions linked to crises in the international financial system. Practitioners and academics alike are looking to the past, to episodes such as the Great Depression and the policy experiments that followed, and to long-run trends to see what can be learned that can inform current policy in the areas of fiscal stimulus, banking reform and monetary policy.The above highlights just one topic for which economic history can be extremely informative and this will be the theme of the first conference to launch our series. The three conferences will address key themes that are relevant to current debates concerning the nature of and optimal response to economic crises, the determinants of inequality, the effect of immigration on society and the nature of economic growth, focussing on the dynamism of cities. These topics lend themselves to participation by researchers from the Bank of England, government departments, various think-tanks and, of course, academia. The conferences will provide an important opportunity for these stakeholders to interact and identify key lessons for current policy and economic theory. These topics also represent the main areas of interest currently among economic historians.The outputs will include: new research collaborations, which will be showcased on a revamped version of our existing website http://www.keynes.dk/FRESH/ through the foundation of a working paper series. We will include a page with a list of FRESH participants and a page for posting advice for junior researchers concerning the job market, conference announcements and publishing. Also, a vodcast of the keynote addresses and a selection of the other presentations to be made available on our website and at a variety of other economic history sites. These will be of interest to both an academic and general audience, given their topical nature.