Finance & History

Join Mariusz Lukasiewicz (Leipzig) and Carmen Hofmann (eabh) as they delve into the history of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, a mirror reflecting the broader history of South Africa. Discover the captivating story of industrialization, internationalization, and financialization through the eras of Empire and independence. This tale of financing gold, diamond, and copper mining in

Why do banks fail? What are the characteristics of banks that fail? Are these consistently the same over the course of history? Emil Verner (MIT) says yes, there are some commonalities all US banks that failed in the last 160 years share; moreover he claims that bank failures are quite predictable. Why then don't we prevent most bank failures? Or shouldn't we after all? E

How to regulate banks effectively? Alexander Nützenadel (Humboldt University Berlin) makes a case for banking regulation being a cyclical affair. He and his colleagues started out to do the first quantitative analysis of banking supervision in the 20th century. Alexander and Carmen Hofmann (eabh) discuss his findings during what he calls the longest regulatory cycle in history (1

In this episode Maylis Avaro (Penn University) and Carmen Hofmann (eabh) discuss the international role of Sterling during the Bretton Woods era. Maylis claims that after 1945, the collective interests of the members of the sterling zone (stability of trade, free flow of capital, freer trade, access to London markets) were little compared to the cost of having UK authorities using

Volker Berghahn (Columbia) & Carmen Hofmann (eabh) talk about European reconstruction after World War I, World War II and the Ukrainian War of today. Why was the reconstruction effort after 1945 so much more successful than the endeavours in the interwar years? How should global aid be given? Does private or public money serve the matter better? Which should come first? Loans

A practitioner's perspective with Edgar Walk (Metzler Bank) and Carmen Hofmann (eabh). How can history insight help to bridge the gap between mathematical economic theory models and the 'real world of finance'? Edgar shares his insights from more than 20 years at one of the world's oldest private banks. How can history serve as a framework to identify financial and

Stein Berre (New York Fed) & Paul Kosmetatos (University of Edinburgh) talk to Carmen Hofmann (eabh) about the first global credit crisis (1772/73). Which role did innovative financial products play? How did financial contagion propagate the initial shock and in which way did authorities intervene to stabilise markets? Interestingly enough, the events 200 years ago resulted in

This episode is about one of the oldest banks in Europe. Alex Cooper (Leicester University) and Carmen Hofmann (eabh) discuss the financial needs of an island society and how banks are an integral part of local communities' fabric. In the case of Sicily, the creation of its own issuing bank was crucial for both; access to London capital markets and independence from British gov

This episode tells the story of the rise and fall of the Mississippi Bubble (1720) in Saint Domingue (Haiti). Malick Ghachem (MIT) discusses with Carmen Hofmann (eabh)why money seems not to be working for Haiti today and how he sees the roots of the country's financial malfunction in its past. Listen to learn how Haiti's struggle for independence is connected to the debt cr

How shall companies confront a difficult past? In the most transparent way. So say Mike Anson (Bank of England) and Michael Bennett (Sheffield University) in conversation with Carmen Hofmann (eabh). The topic of this episode is the collection of slavery compensation (1835 -43); after slavery was abolished within the British Empire in 1833. Part of a compromise that helped secure