Peer Vries, 01-05-2015 A brief curriculum vitae

Peer Vries, 01-05-2015
Contact:
Institute for Economic and Social History
University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, A-1010 Wien;
Tel. ++43 1 4277 – 41310 Fax ++43 1 4277 - 9413
E-Mail: [email protected]
A brief curriculum vitae
I was born October 7, 1953 in Weert in Limburg (the Netherlands), where I visited
primary school and then what in the Netherlands is called ‘gymnasium’ or ‘grammar
school’. I studied history at the University of Leiden, where I specialised in economic
and social history with philosophy of science and sociology as, what we would now call,
my ‘minors’. I graduated cum laude in 1979. After graduation I got a job at the
Department of History in Leiden. Until 1997 that job consisted only and fully of
teaching. I taught a very broad range of topics at all levels of the curriculum in the
‘bachelor programme’ as well as in the ‘master programme’: economic and social history,
methodology of historical research, historiography, philosophy of history, history of the
early modern world, history of twentieth-century Spain and global history, always with a
clear focus on economic and social aspects. I have always liked to be interdisciplinary. I
have taught, for example, an introduction into economics for historians, economic and
social history for sociologists, modern history for political scientists and an introduction
into history for art historians. I have extensive experience with teaching and evaluating
PhD. students, not only in my work for the Posthumus Institute and for ESTER, but
also in many courses for other research schools in which I have participated. The
Posthumus Institute is a research school in which all those engaged in economic and
social history at academic institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium participate.
ESTER stands for European graduate School for Training in Economic and socialhistorical Research. In the ESTER Network some 50 European universities participate. I
helped to co-ordinate and participated in so-called Research Design Courses for PhD
students of this School in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bari, Brescia, Budapest, Evora,
Frankfurt, Ghent 2x, Munster, Nijmegen, Paris, Tampere, Verona and Vienna. The next
course will be in October in Gothenburg. In summer 2011, I have - with three colleagues
- organised a course of two weeks in Pittsburgh for PhD Students from all over the
world, who plan to write a thesis in the field of global history. I did the same during the
summer of 2012 in Boston.
Main publications after 1995
- Verhaal en betoog. Geschiedbeoefening tussen postmoderne vertelling en sociaal-wetenschappelijke
analyse (Leiden 1995). PhD. 657 pages. (Story and argument. The study of history
between postmodern story-telling and social-scientific analysis)
This book contains an extensive and intensive analysis of various debates between those
who plea for history as a social science in which theoretical, explanatory generalisations,
structure and method play a prominent role, versus those who are more in favour of an
interpretive-descriptive, narrative approach. I analyse the positions in the debate and
indicate my own position.
- Three chapters on the economy of early modern Western Europe in B.M.A. de Vries,
ed., Van agrarische samenleving naar verzorgingsstaat. De modernisering van West Europa
(Groningen 2000) pages 51-134. (From agrarian society to welfare state. The
modernization of Western Europe). The book has gone through three editions and big
changes and has been translated, in earlier versions, in Hungarian and Russian.
- Three chapters in H. Beliën en G.J. van Setten, eds., Geschiedschrijving in de twintigste eeuw.
Discussie zonder eind (Amsterdam 2001; first edition Amsterdam 1991) pages 181-222, 223239 and 301-341. (History in the twentieth century: a debate without end). I wrote
chapters on the Annales, on historical sociology and on ‘the return of the narrative’. It
has gone through three editions.
- ‘Europa en de rest: Braudel over het kapitalisme’ in: M.Ph. Bossenbroek, M.E.H.N.
Mout en C. Musterd, eds., Met de Franse slag. Opstellen voor H.L. Wesseling (Leiden 1998)
238-260. (Europe and the rest: Braudel on capitalism).
- ‘Should we really ReORIENT?’, Itinerario. European Journal of Overseas History, 22, 3
(1998) 19-38, a review-article of Andre Gunder Frank, Reorient. Global economy in the Asian
Age (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London 1998). Frank reacted and I responded (pages
16-24) in Itinerario. European Journal of Overseas History, 22, 4 (1998).
- ‘Hoe het Westen rijker werd: ‘the Rise of the West’ in economisch perspectief’,
Theoretische Geschiedenis 25, 4 (1998) 291-321. (How the West grew rich: the Rise of the
West from an economic perspective. (An extensive review, synthesis and evaluation of
recent literature on ‘the West and the Rest’ in the early modern era). With a colleague I
was editor of the special issue of this journal in which this article appeared. It was called:
The West. A special case?
- ‘Culture, clocks, and comparative costs. David Landes on the wealth of the West and
the poverty of the rest’, Itinerario. European Journal of Overseas History 22, 4 (1998) 67-89, a
review-article of David S. Landes, The wealth and poverty of nations. Why some are so rich and
some so poor’ (London and New York 1998). Landes reacted and I responded (pages 1622) in Itinerario. European Journal of Overseas History 23, 1 (1999).
- ‘Are coal and colonies really crucial? Kenneth Pomeranz and the Great Divergence’,
Journal of World History 12, 2 (2001) 407-446.
- ‘The role of culture and institutions in economic history: can economics be of any
help? NEHA Jaarboek 64 (2001) 28-60. Also published on the net
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNWorkshops.htm.
- Via Peking terug naar Manchester: Engeland, de Industriële Revolutie en China (Nijmegen 2001)
1-48. (Via Peking back to Manchester. Britain, the Industrial Revolution, and China). Inaugural
lecture at Nijmegen University. In 2009 a Japanese translation of this text has been put
on the Web.
- ‘Governing growth: a comparative analysis of the role of the state in the rise of the
West’, Journal of World History 13, 1 (2002) 67-138.
- Via Peking back to Manchester. Britain, the Industrial Revolution, and China (Leiden 2003) 109
pages, some 62,000 words, a revised, greatly extended and updated version of my
inaugural lecture at Nijmegen University.
- ‘Hoe Malthus, uiteindelijk, ongelijk kreeg. De Industriële Revolutie in Engeland als het
doorbreken van het Malthusiaans plafond’, Leidschrift 18, 2 (2003) 109-167. (25,000
words). (How Malthus, in the end, was proved wrong. The Industrial Revolution as an
escape from Malthusian constraints).
- ‘Is California the measure of all things global?: a rejoinder to Ricardo Duchesne’, World
History Connected, a so-called e-journal, vol. 2, issue 2. The text, written on invitation, is
12,000 words and contains a reaction to Duchesne’s review of my Via Peking back to
Manchester. Britain, the Industrial Revolution, and China.
- ‘In gesprek met Peer Vries’, in: Leo Noordegraaf, ed., Waarover spraken zij? Economische
geschiedbeoefening in Nederland omstreeks het jaar 2000 (Amsterdam 2005) 275-290. An
interview with me about global history.
- ‘A world of striking differences. State and economy in early modern Britain and China’,
Nankai Economic Journal (2007) 4, 73-92, in Chinese.
- A review of Christopher Mills Isett, State, peasant, and merchant in Qing Manchuria, 16441862.
EH.Net
Economic
History
Services,
Aug
10
2007.
URL:
http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1250 2,800 words.
All publications since October 2007 when I became professor in
Vienna
- A review of Hans-Heinrich Nolte, Weltgeschichte. Imperien, Religionen und Systeme 15.- 19.
Jahrhundert (Vienna, Cologne, Weimar 2005) http://geschichte-transnational.clioonline.net/rezensionen/id=7142, October 2007, 4,700 words.
- A review of John Darwin, After Tamerlane. The global history of empire since 1405 (London
2007) in: British Scholar 1, 1 (2008) 111-117.
- ‘The Industrial Revolution’ in: Encyclopaedia of the Modern World (Oxford University Press
2008) Volume 4, 158-161.
- ‘The California School and beyond: how to study the Great Divergence? Journal für
Entwicklungspolitik / Austrian Journal of Development Studies 24, 4 (2008) 6-49.
- ed., Global History. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften / Austrian Journal of
History 20, 2 (Innsbruck, Vienna, Bozen 2009).
- ‘Editorial’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften / Austrian Journal of History
20, 2 (Insbruck, Vienna, Bozen 2009) 5-22.
- ‘Global economic history: a survey’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften /
Austrian Journal of History 20, 2 (2009) 133-170.
- An interview with Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Österreichische
Geschichtswissenschaften / Austrian Journal of History 20, 2 (2009) 170-183.
Zeitschrift
für
- ‘A world of surprising resemblances?’ in: The role of the state in the Great Divergence. Special
Issue of Leidschrift. Leiden Historical Journal (2009) 35-49.
- Zur politischen Ökonomie des Tees. Was uns Tee über die englische und chinesische Wirtschaft der
Frühen Neuzeit sagen kann (Vienna 2009) 161 pages.
- a Chinese translation, with a new Introduction of seven pages of my 2003 book Via
Peking back to Manchester. Britain, the Industrial Revolution, and China (Beijing 2009) 143
pages.
- ‘The California School and beyond: how to study the Great Divergence?’ History
Compass 8 (2010) 730-751. This is a revised version of the article with the same title that
appeared earlier in Journal für Entwicklungspolitik / Austrian Journal of Development Studies, 24,
4 (2008) 6-49.
- a review article of Jürgen Osterhammel, Die Verwandlung der Welt. Eine Geschichte des 19.
Jahrhunderts (München 2009) in Comparativ. Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und Vergleichende
Gesellschaftsforschung. 20, 6 (2010) 20-39.
- ‘Potentiale einer Industrienation, China und Großbritannien – Wirtschaft im Vergleich’,
Damals. Das Magazin für Geschichte 43, 1 (2011) 32-39.
- ‘Wirtschaftswachstum in Europa, 1000-2000’ in: Markus Cerman a.o. eds., Wirtschaft
und Gesellschaft in Europa 1000-2000 (Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen 2011) 76-103.
- ‘Europa und die Welt, 1000-2000’ in: Markus Cerman a.o. eds., Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft
in Europa 1000-2000 (Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen 2011) 411-438.
- ‘Global economic history’ in The Oxford History of Historical Writing. Volume V, (Oxford
2011) 113-136. This is an adapted version of my ‘Global economic history: a survey’,
Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften / Austrian Journal of History 20, 2 (2009)
133-170. A paperback edition of this book will be published in 2015.
- ‘De Tweede Republiek en de Burgeroorlog, 1931-1939’ (The Second Republic and the
Civil War, 1931-1939) in: Raymond Fagel and Eric Storm, eds., Het land van Don Quichot.
De Spanjaarden en hun geschiedenis (Amsterdam 2011) 254-291.
- ‘Het Spanje van Franco’ (Franco’s Spain) in: Raymond Fagel and Eric Storm, eds., Het
land van Don Quichot. De Spanjaarden en hun geschiedenis (Amsterdam 2011) 292-321.
- ‘Ein ferner Spiegel: der Qianlong-Kaiser’ in: Bernd Sösemann, ed., Friedrich der Große in
Europa – gefeiert und umstritten (Stuttgart 2012) 85-98.
- A review of Ian Morris, Why the West rules - for now. The patterns of history and what they
reveal about the future’, Journal of Global History 7, 1 (2012) 143-147, 3,200 words.
- ‘Europe and the rest: Braudel on capitalism’ in: Guillaume Garner and Matthias Middell,
eds., Aufbruch in die Weltwirtschaft. Braudel wiedergelesen (Leipzig 2012) 81-144. The text is a
revised and substantially lengthened translation of my ‘Europa en de rest: Braudel over
het kapitalisme’.
- ‘Die Staatsfinanzen Chinas und Großbritanniens im langen 18. Jahrhundert. Ein
Vergleich’ in: Peter Rauscher, Andrea Serles, Thomas Winkelbauer, eds., Das "Blut des
Staatskörpers". Forschungen zur Finanzgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, Historische Zeitschrift. Beiheft
56 (Munich 2012) 209-257. The article has also been published, in English, as a working
paper on the website of the Department of Economic History at the London School of
Economics
and
Political
Science
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/workingPapers/economicHistory/home.aspx.
Working Papers No. 167/12
- ‘Un monde de ressemblances surprenantes?’ in: Jean-Claude Daumas, ed., L'histoire
économique en mouvement: entre héritage et renouvellement (Presses Universitaires Septentrion,
Villeneuve d’Ascq 2012) 311-339. A revised, updated and extended version of my ‘A
world of surprising resemblances?’
- ‘Challenges, (non-)responses, and politics: A review of Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why
Europe grew rich and Asia did not: Global economic divergence, 1600-1850’, Journal of World
History 23, 1 (2012) 639-664.
- ‘Does wealth entirely depend on inclusive institutions and pluralist politics? A review of
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, Why nations fail. The origins of power, prosperity and
poverty’ in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 9, 3 (2012) 74-93. The text has
also been published, online, on request, as a working paper for The Other Canon
Foundation, Norway, and the Technology Governance Program at Tallinn University of
Technology
(TUT)
Estonia
http://technologygovernance.eu/eng/the_core_faculty/working_papers/ and in Ensayos
de
Economia
43,
julio/
deciembre
2013,
181-202,
http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/ede/article/download/42937/44362 an ejournal of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- One chapter in Economic globalization from the perspective of history: The first economic
globalization and China, in Chinese (Zhejiang University Press 2012) 243-281.
- ‘Writing the history of the global and the state’ in: Maxine Berg, ed., Writing the history of
the global: Challenges for historians in the twenty-first century (British Academy Publications
Oxford 2013) 201-205.
- Decline of the West - Rise of the East?’, Journal of Modern European History 13, 3 (2013)
315-328.
– ‘Why economies are never at rest’, Leidschrift. Historisch Tijdschrif 28, 2 (2013) 7-36.
- Ursprünge des modernen Wirtschaftswachstums. England, China und die Welt in der Frühen
Neuzeit (Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht Göttingen 2013) 541 pages. I wrote the text in
English as Escaping Poverty. The origins of modern economic growth.
- Escaping poverty. The origins of modern economic growth (Vienna and Göttingen 2013) 516
pages.
– ‘Bringing labour back in. Reflections on Catharina Lis and Hugo Soly, Worthy efforts:
attitudes towards work and workers in preindustrial Europe and on the origins of modern
economic growth’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 11, 1 (2014) 127-140.
– ‘Encounters between Europe and the World’, http://shared-histories.coe.int,
868-887, an article in an e-book, published by the Council of Europe in May 2014.
– State, economy and the Great Divergence. Great Britain and China, 1680s to 1850s, VII and 506
pages.
– ‘Replies to my commentators’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 12, 1
(2015) 105-120. A response to the reviews of 9 colleagues of my Escaping poverty. The
origins of modern economic growth.
ACCEPTED: ‘The state’ a chapter in the Routledge Handbook for History and Globalization,
to appear in 2015. 10,000 words.
ACCEPTED: ‘Economic reasons of state in Qing China: a brief comparative overview’
in: Philippe Rössner, ed., Economic Growth and the Origins of Modern Political Economy:
Economic Reasons of State, 1500- 2000 in the Explorations in Economic History series published
by Routledge. 8,000 words
I have been asked to and accepted to write
: the chapter ‘Europe in the world economy’ in: Giorgio Riello and Tirthankar Roy, eds.,
Global economic history,1500-2000, to be published by Bloomsbury PLC in 2015.
: a state of the art-overview for the Historische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft on the
debates on the Great Divergence sometime in 2015.
The big underlying theme of my work has been and will continue to be ‘the origins of
modern economic growth: comparisons and connections.’ To put it in Moses
Abramovitz’s terms what interests me is the problem of catching up, forging ahead and
falling behind in economic history. What caused the emergence and continuation of the
Great Divergence between rich and poor nations?
Current academic functions and distinctions Peer Vries, outside
Vienna
- member of the European Research Council Advanced Grants Evaluation Panel, The
Study of the Human Past.
- member of the Academia Europaea - and till summer 2010 member of the Steering
Committee of the Section Archaeology & History of that academy.
- member of the Expertpanel Cult3: History, History of Arts and Archaeology of FWO
(Flanders Organisation of Scientific Research).
- member of the team that organizes and gives the Research Design Courses of the
European graduate School for Training in Economic and social-historical Research.
(ESTER).
- member of the steering committee of the Karl-Lamprecht-Gesellschaft / ENIUGH,
European Network In Universal and Global History.
- editor of The Library of Economic History, a peer-reviewed book series that publishes
monographs and edited volumes on international aspects of economic history and case
studies of an exemplary nature for the international scholarly debate. The series is
published by Brill Leiden. Since March 2013 I am the sole editor.
- member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Global History published by Cambridge
University Press and LSE.
- member of the Editorial Board of the Global Economic History Series that is published by
Brill Leiden.
- member of the Editorial Board of Comparativ. Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und
Vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung, published on behalf of the Karl-Lamprecht-Gesellschaft
and the European Network In Universal and Global History.
- member of the Editorial Board of The Medieval History Journal.
- Austrian representative in the International Economic History Association
- member of the Jury of the Jan Lucassen Award (three members), an award for the best
paper presented by a PhD student at the European Social Science History Conference in
Vienna, April 2014.
- member of the Jury for the International Research Award in Global History (six
members) jointly advertised for 2015 by the Department of History and the Cluster of
Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in Global Context’ at Heidelberg University, the Institute
for European Global Studies in Basel and the Laureate Research Program in
International History at the University of Sydney.
Current and past academic functions and distinctions, in Vienna
I am Member of the Professorenkurie and of the Fakultätskonferenz and Speaker of the
Forschungsschwerpunkt Globalgeschichte.
I have been Vize-Dekan der Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät 2010-2012; Speaker
of the Professorenkurie (2009-2010) and Member of the Studienkonferenz 2009-2012;
Member of the Doktoratsbeirat, all at Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät. On top of
that, I was member of the of the Curriculare Arbeitsgruppe zur Überarbeitung der
Mastercurricula Geschichte and of the Curricular-AG des Masterstudienplans Internationale
Entwicklung. I have been member of six Berufungskommissionen at Vienna University, one at
the WU in Vienna and one in Salzburg and have been elected chair of two in Vienna. I
wrote Gutachten for two Berufungskommissionen for professor positions at the University of
Vienna, and for a position of Junior Professor in Konstanz, and for several PhDs and
was in several Habilitationskomissionen.
Since September 2007 I have acted as reviewer and written reports for:
Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung; University of Amsterdam, Australian Economic History
Review; Bloomsbury Publishing; Brill Publishers; Cambridge University Press; Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft; The Economic and Social Research Council of the UK;
European Research Council (Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants); Freiburg Institute
for Advanced Studies; FWO (Research Foundation Flanders); The Greek Ministry of
Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs; Herzog August Bibliothek
Wolfenbüttel; Itinerario, Journal of Institutional Economics; The Leverhulme Trust;
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences; NWO
(The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research); The New York University Abu
Dhabi Institute; Oxford University Press; Princeton University Press; Riksbankens
Jubileumsfond (RJ), the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences;
Routledge Publishers; Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis; Vandenhoeck und
Ruprecht; Volkswagen Stiftung; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Wirtschaftsuniversität
Wien.
I have been:
- from 2008 till 2013 Chairman of the International Board of Advisers of the Freiburg
Institute for Advanced Study, Section Modern History.
- from 2010 till 2013 External reviewer of the Global History and Culture Centre of the
University of Warwick.
- from 2007 till 2012 Member of the European Research Council Advanced Grant
Evaluation Panel SH6: the study of the human past.
- from January 2005 till march 2011 editor and co-founder of the Journal of Global History,
published by the Cambridge University Press and the London School of Economics and
Political Science. I did the editing together with Professor William G. Clarence-Smith
(School of Oriental and African Studies at London) and Professor Kenneth Pomeranz
(University of California, Irvine).
- guest-professor of economic history, for a period of five years, beginning winter 2005,
at the Nankai University School of Economics in Tianjin China.
- member of the Editorial Board of Europäische Geschichte Online, a project of the
Institut für Europäische Geschichte der Universität Mainz und das Kompetenzzentrum
für
elektronische
Erschließungsund
Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Trier
Publikationsverfahren
in
den
- member and convenor of the Global Economic History Network (GEHN), a threeyear programme funded by a Leverhulme Trust Grant, titled: “A Millennium of Material
Progress”. I ran this network together with Professor Patrick O’Brien, London School of
Economics and Political Science, Professor Kenneth Pomeranz, University of California
at Irvine, and Professor Kaoru Sugihara, University of Osaka Japan. At the moment we
are looking for new funding.
- chair of the teaching committee and co-ordinator of the teaching programme of the
Dutch research School N.W. Posthumus for economic and social history.
- visiting academic fellow for the first term of the academic year 2004-2005 at the
Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political
Science.
- associate editor of the Encyclopaedia of World History, published by Berkshire Publishing
Group Ll.C in 2005.
- L.J. Rogier professor of comparative world history at the University of Nijmegen, for
the period of September 2001 till September 2004.
- editor of Itinerario. European Journal of Overseas History 1999-2002. The journal is now,
more appropriately, called, Itinerario. International Journal on the history of European Expansion
and Global Interaction.
- Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the humanities and social
sciences, during the academic year 2001-2002.
- editor of Leidschrift, a historical journal published at the Department of History, Leiden
University, for the period 1985-1995.
Lectures and Comments: only those on personal invitation
and paid for by the host institution
Since I started working for Vienna University September
2007.
3-6 September. I participated as senior lecturer in the Research Design Course for PhD.
students from several European countries at the Sorbonne Paris, on invitation of
ESTER Network for Economic and Social History.
9 November. I gave the lecture ‘New views on The Great Divergence’ in Kristiansand
Norway at the Agder University. I was invited by the History Department there.
21 December. I gave a lecture in the Honours Course of the History Department of the
University of Leiden ‘Why did China not industrialize during the nineteenth century? I
was invited by the Department.
2008
31 January. I held a lecture at the Nederlands Instituut in Griekenland in co-operation with
the University of Athens, in Athens, ‘Writing history in a globalising world’. I was
invited by the institute.
21 und 22 March. I held two lectures on invitation by the Institute for Economic History
in Geneva, ‘What is going on in global history?’ and ‘The contribution of the periphery
to European economic development’.
30 April. I held my inaugural lecture in Vienna ‚ ‚Zur politischen Ökonomie des Tees:
Was uns Tee über die englische und chinesische Wirtschaft der Frühen Neuzeit sagen
kann’.
5 July. I held a lecture during the Second European Congress of World and Global
History. World Orders in Global History in Dresden ‘A world of striking differences’. I
also chaired a session.
28-29 August. I gave the ‘Final Comments’ at the conference ‘Empires und Emporia’ in
Leiden. I was invited by the organisers.
1-4 September. I was senior lecturer during the Research Design Course for PhD
students from several European countries in Budapest. I was invited by Ester Network
for Economic and Social History.
18 September. I held a lecture at the Österreichischer Historikertag, Sankt Pölten,
‚China, Japan und Europa im 18. Jahrhundert: ein Wirtschaftsvergleich’. I was invited by
the organisers.
2 October. I held a lecture at the die Deutsche Historikertage, Dresden, ’Wirtschaftliche
Ungleichheit in historischer Perspektive’. I was invited by the organisers of one panel of
the Conference.
7 November. I held a lecture at Agder University in Kristiansand Norway ‘New
perspectives on the Rise of the West’. I was invited by the History Department.
20 November. I held a lecture for students Europastudien of the Technical University
Dresden ’Gibt’s es ein Europäischer Sonderweg?’. I was invited by the professors of the
Department.
27-30 November. I held a lecture at the conference ‘To what extent is colonialism a
uniquely Western phenomenon? Kolonialismus und europäisches Selbstverständnis.
Round Table Debate’. Villa Vigoni, Loveno di Menaggio Italy. I organised the
conference and acquired the funding.
4 December. I held a lecture for students and teachers of Department of History at
Brussels Free University, in Brussels, ‘The California School and beyond: how to study
the Great Divergence’. I was invited by the professors of the Department.
13 December. I held a lecture at the conference ‘Economic and Social History: New
Perspectives and Empirical Research’, Rethymon University Crete, ‘Comparing and
connecting economic growth – and its absence – on a global scale’. I was invited by the
organisers.
21 December. I held a lecture for the Honours Course of the Department of History at
Leiden University ‘Why did China not industrialise in the nineteenth century?’. I was
invited the Department.
2009
25 February. I held a lecture for students and teachers at the Institute for History at
Groningen University, the Netherlands, ‘Similar but yet quite different: the
economies of China and Britain in the early modern era’. I was invited by the Institute of
History of Groningen University.
11 March. I held a class ‘An introduction to global economic history’, for students doing
Intercultural Studies, for four hours, on invitation of the University Krems.
30 March. I held a lecture ‘Bringing the state back in: the state and economic crisis’. I
was invited by the Rijks Opleidings Instituut, (An institute that trains Dutch government
officials) The Hague, The Netherlands.
6-9 April. I gave a four days’ course for students of the Honours Class of the History
Department of Leiden University, called “The West’ and ‚the Rest”, I was invited by the
Department.
14 April. I held one of the Tsinghua Global Vision Lectures in Beijing China, ‘Recent
perspectives on the Great Divergence’. I was invited by the University
15 April. I held a lecture at the Nankai School of Economics, Nankai University,
Tjianjin China, ‘Mercantilism and agrarian paternalism: a comparison of the economic
policies of the British and the Qing government in the early modern era’. I was invited
by the School.
17 April. I held a lecture at the Nankai School of Economics, Nankai University,
Tjianjin China, ‘The industrial revolution as an energy revolution’. I was invited by the
School.
29 April. I held the lecture ‘The Spanish Civil War’ at the Department of History of
Leiden University. I was invited by the Department.
11 May. I gave a one-day course for the Pädagogische Hochschule Wien, Vienna, on the
subject ‘Warum sind manche Länder arm und andere reich? Aspekte globaler
Wirtschaftsgeschichte’. I was invited by the Pädagogische Hochschule.
19 May. I held a lecture at a conference organised by students of the Department of
History Leiden University on ‘The role of the state in the Great Divergence’. That was
also the title of my lecture. I was invited by the organisers.
22 May. I gave the ‘General comments’ at the conference ‘Writing the history of the
global’ in London. I was invited by the British Academy.
26 June. I held a lecture on ‘The California School and beyond: how to study the Great
Divergence’ in London. I was invited by the Department of Economic History of the
London School of Economics and Political Science.
28-31 July. I was senior lecturer during the Research Design Course in Barcelona for
PhD Students from several European countries on invitation by the ESTER Network
for Economic and Social History.
3-7 August. I participated in a panel on the work of Giovanni Arrighi at the XV. World
Economic History Conference in Utrecht.
23 September. I held a lecture ‘Eine vergleichende Analyse der Staatsfinanzen Chinas
und Großbritanniens im langen 18. Jahrhundert’ in Vienna at the conference ‘Das Blut
des Staatskörpers’. I was invited by the organisers,
26-28 October. I held a lecture at the conference ‘Early modern state (building) in Asia
and Europe – comparison, transfer and entanglement’ in Heidelberg, ‘State building in
Eastern Asia and Western Europe’. I was invited by the Cluster Asia and Europe in a
global context.
6 November. I held a lecture at Agder University Kristiansand Norway, ‘The Great
Divergence, resources and institutions’. I was invited by the History Department.
9-10 November. I was commentator at the conference ‘Hitler’s Europe. New
perspectives on occupation’ in Vienna. I was invited by the organisers.
20 November. I gave a lecture at the Humbold Universität Berlin, ‘Zur politischen
Ökonomie des Tees. Was uns Tee über die englische und chinesische Wirtschaft der
Frühen Neuzeit sagen kann’. I was invited by the Professor of Economic History at that
University.
3-5 December. I give the ‘Final Comments’ at a conference in Heidelberg of the
Cluster Asia and Europe in a global context. I was invited by the organisers.
15 December. I held a lecture for the students of the Honours Course of the
Department of History of Leiden University, ‘The economies of China and Britain in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’. I was invited by the Department.
2010
19 January. I held the lecture ‘Reconstructing the past vs. the narrativist claims’, at the
colloquium ‘Exploring new vistas in the historiography of science’ at Leiden University.
I was invited by the organisers.
4 February. I held the lecture, ‘A world of striking differences. State and economy in
early modern Europe and China’ in Freiburg Germany. I was invited by the Freiburg
Institute for Advanced Study, Section Modern History, Freiburg Germany.
9 March. I held the lecture, ‘The Great Divergence und das Mittelalter’ at the conference
‘Europas Aufstieg als Problem’. Villa Vigoni, Loveno di Menaggio, Italy. I was invited
by the organisers.
13-16 April. I acted as commentators in three panels at European Social Science History
Conference in Ghent Belgium.
23 April. I held a lecture and a three hours seminar ‘Die Industrielle Revolution: ein
internationaler Vergleich’ at a Seminar of the Dr. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, ‘Armut und
Wohlstand der Weltregionen. Ein Blick in die Geschichte der Weltwirtschaft’, Bonn. I
was invited by the organisers.
18 May. I held a lecture for the Honours Course of the Department of History of
Leiden University ‘The Great Divergence’. I was invited by the Department.
22 und 24 May. I held two lectures at the Beihan University Beijing: ‘The role of the
state in economic development in Europe from the seventeenth through the nineteenth
centuries’ and ‘The role of China in the global economy of the long eighteenth century’.
I was invited by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
3 June I held two lectures at the seminar ‘Useful and reliable knowledge and the Great
Divergence’ at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London. I was
invited by the organisers.
9 September. I held the lecture ‘Is there something peculiar to the European knowledge
system? in Leuven. I was invited by the Academia Europaea.
22 October. I held the lecture ‘What is going on in global history?’ in Lyon. I was invited
by the French Association of Economic Historians.
5 November. I was commentator at the roundtable ‘Profile Area Global Interactions’,
University Leiden. I was invited by the University of Leiden to comment on its new
research project in global history.
19 November. I held a lecture in Kristiansand Norway at Agder University, ‘The Great
Divergence, resources and institutions’. I was invited by the History Department.
23-27 November. I was senior lecturer in the Research Design Course for PhD Students
from several European countries in Vienna. I was invited by the Ester Network for
Economic and Social History.
3 December. I held a lecture for Honours Course students of the Department of History
of the University of Leiden ‘The economies of China and Britain in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries’. I was invited by the department.
2011
9 March. I held the lecture: ‘The Great Divergence: warum England und nicht China im
19. Jahrhundert industrialisierte’. I was invited by the Verein zur Förderung von Studien
zur interkulturellen Geschichte in Vienna.
14 March. I held the lecture: ‘The Great Divergence between Western Europa and
China in the nineteenth century’. I was invited by the University of Leuven Belgium.
25 March. I held the lecture: ‘Was trotzdem einzigartig an Europa ist: Europas
einzigartige Bedeutung für die Moderne’ at the conference ‘Europa und die Moderne im
langen 18. Jahrhundert’ in Hamburg. I was invited by the organisers.
14-17 April. I held a lecture, gave a comment, participated in a panel and chaired two
panels at the Third European Congress on World and Global History in London.
27 May. I held a lecture ‘Modern economic growth’ for students and staff of the History
Department at the University of Leiden.
8 June. I held the lecture ‘Reis und Weisen. Agrarsysteme in China und Großbritannien
im 18. Jahrhundert’ in St Pölten. I was invited by the Rural History Forum.
18-25 June. I was, during one week, lecturer and supervisor at the World History
Dissertation Workshop, Pittsburgh, USA.
31 August / 2 September. I made the ‘Closing statements’ at the conference ‘Servants
and administrators: from the court to the provinces’ in Leiden. I was invited by the
organisers of the Department of History at the University of Leiden
4 November. I presented the paper ‘Challenges, (non)responses and politics. A comment
on Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why Europe grew rich and Europe did not’ at a workshop
at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London. I was invited by the
organisers.
17 November. I held the lecture, ‘Friedrich der Grosse (1712-1786) und der Qianlong
Kaiser (1711-1799) - parallele Leben?’ at the Conference ‘Spiegelungen. Friedrich der
Große in neuen Perspektiven’ in Vienna. I was invited by the organisers.
18 November. I held the lecture ‘The role of the state in early modern economic
development. Some comparisons’, at the University of Kristiansand Norway. I was
invited by the Department of History.
9 December. I gave the lecture ‘The origins of modern economic growth’ in a threehours seminar in the Honours Course of the History Department of the University
Leiden. I was invited by that Department.
20 December. ‘Staat, Staatsfinanzen und Great Divergence’, lecture in the series,
‘Signaturen der Weltgesellschaft’ at the University Bielefeld. I was invited by the
University Bielefeld.
2012
27 January. I held the lecture ‘What will be history in the future? on the first Symposium
for Dutch History Teachers, Den Bosch, the Netherlands. I was invited by the
organisers.
5 April. ‘Public finances and Great Divergence: a comparison of Britain and China in the
long eighteenth century’, lecture at the Department of Economic and Social History
University Utrecht, the Netherlands. I was invited by the Department.
8 May. ‘Eine Globalgeschichte des Tees’, lecture on invitation by the Verein Zur
Förderung von Studien zur Interkulturellen Geschichte, Vienna.
11 May. I held the lecture ‘Modern economic growth’, for the Honours Course of the
Department of History of Leiden University. I was invited by the Department.
1 June. I held the lecture ‘State formation and economic growth in East and West’, at the
London School of Economics and Political Science. I was invited by the Department of
Economic History, London.
23 June. I held the lecture ‘Is there an early modern global economy?’, during the
Conference ‘Tertium datur: Das Dritte in der Geschichte, 1450-1850’, University
Zürich. I was invited by the organisers.
27 July - 5 August. I was lecturer und supervisor at the World History Dissertation
Workshop, Boston, USA.
17-20 September. I will be Senior Lecturer during the Research Design Course for PhDs
in Ghent Belgium. I was invited by ESTER Network for Economic and Social History.
27 September. ‘Die Enzyklopaedie der Neuzeit: Globale Interaktion’. I gave my
Comments in a panel at the Deutsche Historiker Tage Mainz. I was invited by the
organisers.
29 September. ‘Globalgeschichtliche Perspektiven in der Geschichtsdidaktik’, Lecture on
‘Zweites Internationales Symposium der Gesellschaft für Geschichtsdidaktik Österreich’,
Salzburg. I was invited by the organisers.
9 November. ‘Early modern economic globalisation’, Lecture at University Kristiansand
Norway. I was invited by the Department of History.
23 November. ‘The origins of modern economic growth’, a lecture for the students of
the Honours Course of the Department of History of Leiden University. I was invited
by the Department.
3 December. ‘Globalgeschichte: eine unmögliche Notwendigkeit?’, a lecture at the
University of Augsburg on invitation of the Institute for European Cultural History and
the Historical Institute of the University of Augsburg
15 December. ‘The role of the fiscal-naval state and of useful and reliable knowledge:
Patrick O'Brien’s fundamental contribution to the Great Divergence Debate’, a lecture at
Globalizing Economic History: A Conference on the Occasion of Patrick O'Brien's 80th
Birthday, Nuffield College Oxford. I was invited by the organisers.
2013
14 January. „Publizieren in den Geisteswissenschaften“. A lecture in Vienna. I was
invited by the Center for Doctoral Studies Research Services and Career Development
University of Vienna.
14-15 February. I participated in two panels and chaired two at the conference The
production and circulation of printed books in the Occident and Orient, from the accession of the Tang
dynasty to the First Industrial Revolution. The conference took place in London, at the
British Academy.
21-22 March. I gave the introductory presentation Encounters between Europe and the
World on the Seminar on Europe and the World in Strasbourg. I was invited by the
Council of Europe
15 April. I gave a lecture, in Dutch, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels in Brussels for
students and staff of the Department of History on my forthcoming book Escaping
poverty. The origins of modern economic growth.
19 April. I gave a seminar of three hours for the Honours Course of the Department of
History of Leiden University in Leiden on the origins of modern economic growth.
6 and 7 May. I gave two lectures at Tsinghua University in Beijing. I was invited by the
Department of History.
9 May. I gave a lecture at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. I was invited
by the Institute for World History.
9 May. I gave a lecture at Beihang University Beijing. I was invited by the School of
Humanities and the Social Sciences.
13 May. I gave a lecture about ‘Communicating Research’ at the Spring School
‘Communicating Research’ in Gols Austria, I was invited by Center for Doctoral Studies
Research Services and Career Development University of Vienna.
23-24 May. I visited the Global History and Culture Centre in Warwick UK as external
reviewer.
6 July. I gave a lecture at the Conference of the Association for Korean Studies in
Europe, in Vienna.
15-16 July. I participated, on invitation by the Rectorate, in a periodical evaluation of
doctoral programmes at the University of Zagreb in Zagreb.
19 September. I gave a lecture during a conference in Wroclaw on invitation of the
Academia Europaea.
7 October. I participated in a Workshop on China in der deutschen
Hochschullandschaft, on Invitation by the Volkswagenstiftung in Hannover.
18 October. I gave a seminar during an entire day at a ‘Fortbildungsveranstaltung’ for
teachers in Innsbruck.
22 October. I gave a keynote lecture on history in a globalizing age on invitation by the
Research Council of Norway in Oslo.
28-29 October. I participated, on invitation by the Rectorate, in a periodical
evaluation of doctoral programmes at the University of Zagreb in Zagreb.
1 November. I gave a so-called Gravensteen Lecture on behalf of the Leiden University
research profiles Global Interactions (LGI) and Asian Modernities and Traditions
(AMT) in Leiden.
7-8 November. I gave two lectures, one on the role of culture in economic development
and one on European exceptionalism in the early modern era, at Kristiansand University,
Kristiansand, Norway.
12-15 November. I participated, on invitation, as expert in an ESTER course in Verona.
9 December. I gave a lecture, in German, about my book Escaping poverty at the
Verlagsabend of Vienna University Press, Vienna.
2014
I have been invited to participate in the Gaidar Forum in Moscow on January 17, 2014,
but could not accept the invitation.
3 February. I gave a lecture about my book Escaping poverty for members of the
Department of Historical Sciences at the University of Groningen, Groningen
10 March. I gave a lecture ‘How did global economic inequality emerge’ during the
Global Studies Seminar, Ghent
26 March 2014. I gave a class for students taking a course in Global History at the
University of Salzburg, Salzburg
10 April 2014. I gave a lecture in the course ‘China and the world since ca. 1800’ at the
University of Bergen
16 April 2014. I gave the Opening-lecture of the Seminar of the Department of
Economic History at Humboldt-Universität, Berlin
I have been invited to 15 –17 May, to give a lecture ‘The rise of Sinocentric history in the
West’ at a conference organised by Academia Europaea in collaboration with Tsinghua
University, Beijing ‘Humanities, Social Sciences, Globalization, and China’, Beijing
Tsinghua University, but it was impossible to combine this with other obligations
16 May 2014, I gave a brief talk at the workshop ‘Transformative Exchange: Art,
Science, and Technology in Italy and East Asia in the 17th Century’ on China as the
global silver sink in the early modern world at the invitation of the Institute for Art
History, Vienna
5-6 June 2014, I gave a talk and participated in a panel debate on a conference of the
Dutch-Flemish Association of Economic and Social Historians on ‘The pre-industrial
Low Countries in a world history perspective' in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
22-26 June 2014, I have been invited to participate in the ‘Flying University of
Transnational Humanities’ at Pittsburgh University, but because of other obligations I
had to decline. Pittsburgh
24 June 2014, I gave a talk ‘Great Britain and China in the long eighteenth century: a
comparative analysis of state- and nation-building’, for the Institut für
Sozialanthropologie der ÖAW in the Augustiner Chorherren-Stift, Vorau
10-11 July 2014, I participated as commentator in a workshop on invitation of the
URKEW Project of the London School of Economics and Political Science in London
12-14 September 2014, I acted as respondent at a conference organised by Ghent
University called ‘Whither with the early modern state? Fifteenth-century state
formations across Eurasia. Connections, divergences and comparisons’, Ghent
24-September 2014, I gave a lecture ‘New perspectives on the paths and patterns of
economic growth in Chinese and European History’, Deutscher Historikertag
Göttingen
3 October 2014, I gave a four-hour seminar in the Program Megatrends I: Von der
europäischen Expansion zur globalen Gleichzeitigkeit at Zurich University, Zürich
I have been invited to participate in a small workshop about Inequality and Capitalism
on 8. October 2014 in Berlin where Prof. Deirdre McCloskey would present and defend
her publications on the history of capitalism at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability
Studies. I had to decline because of obligations in Vienna.
10 October 2014, I gave a lecture on the Great Divergence for students of the Research
Master for Economic and Social History of the Posthumus Institute (The Netherlands
and Flanders) in Leiden. I also gave a brief introduction there for a book launch
15-17 October, I participated, on invitation, as expert in an ESTER course in Frankfurt
23 October, I gave a lecture about the history of capitalism in Western Europe and
China for the Arbeitskreis Moderne Sozialgeschichte in Bochum
7 and 8 November 2014, I gave two lectures at Agder University Kristiansand
13 November 2014, I gave a lecture at the DoktorandInnen Konferenz
Globalgeschichte, Vienna
21 November. 2014. With three colleagues have organized an interdisciplinary workshop
State-Nation Economy that was held in the Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik. I
made the introductory comments Vienna
11-12 December 2014, I chaired during the Conference ‘China in the Global Academic
Landscapes’, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung in Hannover
I have been invited to give a lecture at the French Historical Institute in Rome on 15-122014, but could not accept the invitation because of obligations in Vienna
2015
I have been invited to participate in a conference on Economic Outcomes Flowing from
the Revolutionary And Napoleonic Wars 9-10 April in Madrid but could not accept the
invitation for personal reasons.
I have been invited to give a lecture at a conference on global economic history 10-14
April organized by Beihang and Renmin Universities Beijing but could not accept the
invitation because of obligations in Vienna.
11-12 June, I will give a lecture and participate in a round table debate on my Escaping
poverty, organised by the Posthumus Institute for economic and social historians in the
Netherlands and Flanders, held at the Free University in Brussels
22-23 June 2015, I received an invitation to give a lecture at a Workshop with the title
‘Globalisation and uncertainty’, held at Nuffield College, as a collaboration between
Nuffield College and the Oxford Centre of Global History in Oxford but could not
accept the invitation because of obligations in Vienna.
25-26 June 2015, I will give a one-day Seminar with Prof Kocka at the Historische
Kolleg of the Goethe-Universität in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt, ‘Varianten des
Kapitalismus - Der atlantische Raum und Asien’. I received an invitation to stay as a
Fellow at the Kolleg for a fortnight but had to decline because of other obligations.
10-12 September 2015, I will give a lecture on the Great Divergence during the
conference The world history of wealth and income inequality, a co-production of the
Universities of Stanford and Vienna, organized by professors Bernhard Palme, Walter
Scheidel and me. The Conference will be in Vienna
28-29 September 2015, I will give a lecture at the Max Planck Institute for Social
Anthropology at the Conference ‘Beyond the Eurocentrism debate’ in Halle (Saale)
Germany
22 October 2015, I will give the inaugural lecture for the opening of the 2015-2016
academic year of the Master’s Degree in World History at Pompeu Fabra University in
Barcelona
5-6 November 2015, I will participate in the Workshop Big questions, big data at the
International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam
13 November 2015, I will give a lecture for staff and students of the History Department
at Agder University Kristiansand with as title: ‘The State and the Great Divergence’,
Kristiansand Norway
I organized and acquired the required funding for:
27-30 November 2008: ‘To what extent is colonialism a uniquely Western phenomenon?
Kolonialismus und europäisches Selbstverständnis’. Round Table at the Villa Vigoni,
Loveno di Menaggio Italy, 25 participants. I got a grant from the DFG.
23-27 November 2010. Together with colleague Markus Cerman I organized the
Research Design Course for 32 PhD Students from several European countries in
Vienna for the Ester Network for Economic and Social History. We got funding, from
various sources, for the entire three-days meeting for all students and 10 experts.
I was the person locally responsible for European Social Science History Conference in
Vienna in 2014 that is organised by the International Institute of Social History in
Amsterdam. The number of participants was some 1800.
Together with professors Bernhard Palme and Walter Scheidel I organized the
international conference ‘The world history of wealth and income inequality’, a coproduction of the Universities of Stanford and Vienna..
Media
I was interviewed six times by Austrian Radio ORF, twice by Dutch radio, once by a
radio commentator from Japan, once by Deutschlandradio Kultur and once by the
German Newspaper TAZ.

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