The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure - seminar series

Research seminar series run by the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure.

Seminars will take place in person in the Faculty of History and on Zoom at 1.15pm. Sandwiches and fruit will be available from 1.00pm.

The support of the Trevelyan Fund (Faculty of History) is gratefully acknowledged.

Convenors: Romola Davenport (rjd23@cam.ac.uk), Alice Reid (alice.reid@geog.cam.ac.uk), Hannaliis Jaadla (hj309@cam.ac.uk) and Leigh Shaw-Taylor (lmws2@cam.ac.uk).

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Wednesday 1st May 2024, 1.15pm - Jeanne Cilliers (Lund University)

Fertility responses to short-term economic stress: Price volatility and wealth shocks in a pre-transitional settler colony

Venue: Seminar Room 5, Faculty of History

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 15th May 2024, 1.15pm - Simon Szreter (University of Cambridge) and Gabriel Mesevage (King’s College, London)

Researching the possible effects of the New Poor Law of 1834 on the health of the population of England and Wales

Venue: Seminar Room 5, Faculty of History

Abstract not available

# Wednesday 29th May 2024, 1.15pm - Phil Slavin (University of Stirling)

Plague strikes back: The Pestis Secunda of 1361–62 and its demographic consequences in England and Wales

Venue: Board Room, Faculty of History

Abstract not available

Graduate Workshop in Economic and Social History

The Workshop meets alternate Mondays, 1pm.

Convened by Jerome Gasson (jttg2), Yasser Alvi (ya326), and Emily Chung (evc28)

To join the mailing list, please complete the Google Form:
https://forms.gle/RcAx1t4WWY1yL2RA9

Twitter: @EconomicandSoc2

There are no forthcoming seminars at present. Please check back here later.

You may wish to view the archive of previous seminars.

Core Seminar in Economic and Social History

Seminars take place on Thursdays at 5:15 pm in Room 5 of the History Faculty. All are welcome, either in person or online.

The Core seminar combines multiple seminars: Medieval Economic and Social History; Early Modern Economic and
Social History; Modern Economic and Social History and Policy; African Economic History; Global Economic History;
Quantitative History; Financial History; the Centre for History and Economics; and the Cambridge Group for the
History of Population and Social Structure. Their specialist seminar programmes do not run in Michaelmas term, but
each meets separately again in the Lent and (sometimes) Easter terms.

Seminar convenor: Amy Erickson (ale25@cam.ac.uk)

Economic and Social History at Cambridge: www.econsoc.hist.cam.ac.uk

There are no forthcoming seminars at present. Please check back here later.

You may wish to view the archive of previous seminars.

Quantitative History Seminar

Supported by the Centre for History and Economics and the Trevelyan Fund (Faculty of History).

The seminar meets on Wednesdays at 1.15pm in the Faculty of History and on Zoom.
Sandwiches and fruit will be available from 1.00pm.

Convenors: Aleksandra Dul (amd217@cam.ac.uk), Alexis Litvine (adl38), Leigh Shaw-Taylor (lmws2@cam.ac.uk)

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Wednesday 24th April 2024, 1.15pm - Erik Bengtsson (Lund University), co-authored with Felix Kersting (Humboldt University of Berlin)

The Social Origins of Democracy and Authoritarianism Reconsidered: Prussia and Sweden in Comparison

Venue: Room 5 (Faculty of History) and on Zoom

This paper explores the political consequences of land inequality. We turn to the paradigmatic cases of Prussia as the locus classicus of the pernicious effects of landlordism and Sweden, often perceived to be Prussia’s opposite with a farmer-dominated social structure leading to stable democratization during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Contrary to prevailing theories associating land inequality with anti-democratic attitudes, the results indicate no positive correlation between different measures of land inequality and electoral support for the conservative and Nazi parties. For our analysis, we collect comparable regional data on land inequality measures and voting outcomes for both countries.

Join us on Zoom:
https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81628787646?pwd=QkNCenBVd1JTbDExWEthU1FOY05zUT09

Meeting ID: 816 2878 7646
Passcode: 551855

# Wednesday 8th May 2024, 1.15pm - Michael Pammer (Johannes Kepler University Linz)

Income Inequality in Imperial Austria, 1911

Venue: Room 5 (Faculty of History) and on Zoom

The paper examines income inequality in the Western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1911. It estimates regional levels of income, gives an estimate of the regional income distribution, and explains the degree of inequality. The study relies on a mix of income tax data and a social tables approach.
The tax statistics provide information on the sources of income, on the number of taxpayers in each of 18 tax classes, and the amount of tax paid. This information exists for each of the 400 districts of the country.
The lower two thirds of the population did not pay any income tax. In order to include the lower income classes in the analysis, we group the population into occupational groups with typical maximum income similar to the upper limit of the income tax classes.
Altogether, we arrive at grouped observations of annual income. In order to derive an estimate of inequality from grouped observations, we make assumptions about the form of the income distribution.
For an explanation of the findings for median income and the degree of inequality, we use information on the sectoral structure of districts, their demographic characteristics, and data on various aspects of production.

Join us on Zoom:
https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81628787646?pwd=QkNCenBVd1JTbDExWEthU1FOY05zUT09

Meeting ID: 816 2878 7646
Passcode: 551855

# Wednesday 22nd May 2024, 1.15pm - Stephen Broadberry (Oxford University), co-authored with Hanhui Guan (Peking University)

Regional Variation of GDP per Head within China, 1080-1850: Implications for the Great Divergence Debate

Venue: Room 5 (Faculty of History) and on Zoom

We examine regional variation in Chinese GDP per head for five benchmark years from the Song dynasty to the Qing. For the Ming and Qing dynasties, we provide a breakdown of regional GDP per head across seven macro regions, establishing that East Central China was the richest macro region. In addition, we provide data on the Yangzi Delta, the core of East Central China, widely seen as the richest part of China since 1400. Yangzi Delta GDP per head was 64 to 67 per cent higher than in China as a whole for three of the four Ming and Qing benchmarks, and 52 per cent higher during the late Ming. For the Northern Song dynasty, although it is not possible to derive a full regional breakdown, we provide data for Kaifeng Fu, the region containing the capital city as well as the Yangzi Delta. GDP per head in Kaifeng Fu was more than twice the level of China as a whole and higher than in the Yangzi Delta. Combined with aggregate data for GDP per head, these estimates suggest that China was the leading economy in the world during the Song dynasty and that the Great Divergence began around 1700 as the leading region of China fell decisively behind the leading region of Europe. They are also consistent with a shift in the economic centre of gravity from the north to the south between the Northern Song and Ming dynasties.

Join us on Zoom:
https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81628787646?pwd=QkNCenBVd1JTbDExWEthU1FOY05zUT09

Meeting ID: 816 2878 7646

Passcode: 551855

# Wednesday 5th June 2024, 1.15pm - Regina Grafe (Cambridge Univeristy)

TBC

Venue: Room 5 (Faculty of History) and on Zoom

Join us on Zoom:

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81628787646?pwd=QkNCenBVd1JTbDExWEthU1FOY05zUT09

Meeting ID: 816 2878 7646

Passcode: 551855

Additional seminars of interest to Campop members

Additional seminars of interest to Campop members.

View the archive of previous seminars.

# Thursday 25th April 2024, 5.00pm - Sara Pennell, University of Greenwich

'I can work all manner of Works': the meanings of labour in the works of Hannah Wolley (c.1622-74?)

Venue: History Faculty Room 11

My biographical work-in-progress on Hannah Wolley aims to resituate her as one of the pioneering commentators on seventeenth-century women’s vocational education and training. Wolley undertook this work from a position of experience, with a curriculum vitae that maps onto the changing opportunities for women like her either side of the Civil war and Interregnum eras. Her Guide for Ladies (1668) was a new type of conduct-cum-advice manual, with Wolley’s forthright views on women’s education front and centre. As a work about work by a working woman, it is a case study that allows us to reconfigure domestic and feminine skills away from the moral, towards the marketable in the later Stuart metropolis.

# Thursday 2nd May 2024, 5.00pm - Natashia Glaisyer, University of York

Title to be confirmed

Venue: History Faculty Room 11

Abstract not available

# Thursday 9th May 2024, 5.00pm - Nuala Zahedieh, University of Cambridge

Canoes and capitalism

Venue: History Faculty Room 11

Abstract not available

# Thursday 16th May 2024, 5.00pm - Edmond Smith, University of Manchester

Title to be confirmed

Venue: History Faculty Room 11

Abstract not available

# Thursday 23rd May 2024, 5.00pm - Phil Withington, University of Sheffield

Title to be confirmed

Venue: History Faculty Room 11

Abstract not available