Cap-Hist Lab Doctoral Summer School (IHEPB)

The core mission of the European Laboratory Project “History of Capitalism” (CAP-HIST Lab) is to comprehensively re-evaluate the history of capitalism. To that end, its members ( Centre François Simiand (EHESS/Paris School of Economics-PSE), Institut ‘Figuerola’ of History and Social Sciences (UC3M) and the Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History (University of Geneva) seek to foster a collective reflection on the state of economic history and the evolution of capitalism from an international and multidisciplinary perspective. The CAP-HIST Lab is structured around four main lines of research: north-south economic relations and the global history of Latin capitalisms; the history of inequality; business and financial history; and political economy, institutions, and ideologies. Over the coming years, the CAP-HIST Lab is organising three biennial workshops/summer schools designed to provide a forum for PhD students and emerging and senior scholars to discuss and dissect critical themes and methodologies in the history of capitalism.  

The inaugural workshop/summer school, entitled Conflicts in the History of Capitalism: Themes, Approaches, Methods, will be held in early June 2025 by the Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History at the Geneva School of Social Sciences, University of Geneva.

Doctoral Summer School

Conflicts in the History of Capitalism:

Themes, Approaches, Methods

European Laboratory CAP-HIST “History of Capitalism”

June 2–6, 2025 | University of Geneva

Monday, June 2

Location: Ancienne École de Médecine, Rue de l'Ecole-de-Médecine 20, 1205 Geneva, Room 74

14:00–14:30    Welcome – Opening Remarks – Presentation Round

Thematic Block 1: How Has Conflict Shaped Capitalist Systems?
14:30–16:00    Lecture by Prof. Pilar Nogues-Marco (UNIGE)
16:00–16:15    Coffee Break
16:15–17:00    Juliette Françoise (UNIGE / Paris 1)

Conflicts Over Liquidity and Credit in the Colonies in the Age of Imperial Warfare and Commercial Capitalism

Discussant: Laura Bonino

17:00–17:45    Raúl Wildbolz Gallego (UNIGE / UniDistance)

Relentless Capitalism: The Case of the Turrettinis and the Pictet Bank

Discussant: Pierre Brassac

19:30                 Welcome Reception (Location TBA)

Tuesday, June 3

Location: Les Délices, Rue des Délices 25, 1203 Geneva

09:00–09:15    Welcome – Opening Remarks
09:15–10:00    Nicolás Varela (UC3M)

After the Institutions, Franco? Steering Monetary Policy in an Autocratic Regime (Spain, 1939–1975)

Discussant: Daniel Sánchez-Ordoñez

10:00–10:45    Rowaida Moshrif (PSE)

Land Reforms and Postcolonial Redistribution of Political Power: Evidence from Egypt
Discussant: Ignacio Narbondo Allende

10:45–11:00    Coffee Break
11:00–11:45    François-Valentin Clerc and Guillaume Dreyer (UNIGE)

Capitalism, Alone? Trends in Dominant Classes' Income Composition in the Neoliberal Era (1970–2020)

Discussant: Fernanda Conforto de Oliveira

11:45–12:15    General Discussion

12:15                  Lunch Break

TBC                   Afternoon Social Activity

17:30–19.00   Opening Keynote by Prof. Vanessa Ogle (Yale University)

Location: Ancienne École de Médecine, Rue de l'Ecole-de-Médecine 20, 1205 Geneva, Room 74 

Wednesday, June 4

Location: Les Délices, Rue des Délices 25, 1203 Geneva

Thematic Block 2: How Has Conflict Been Managed Within Capitalist Systems?

09:00–10:30    Lecture by Prof. Emiliano Travieso (UC3M)
10:30–10:45    Coffee Break
10:45–11:30    Laura Bonino (PSE)

Italian Economists and the Colonial Question

Discussant: Juliette Françoise

11:30–12:15    Gaia Valenti (UNIGE)

Housing Conflict in Interwar Switzerland: The Politics and Economics of Rent Control

Discussant: Antoine Jourdan

12:15–13:45    Lunch Break

13:45–14:30    Pierre Brassac (UC3M)

Taxing Wealth and Enrichment: Lessons From the 1945 French ‘National Solidarity Levy’

Discussant: Gaia Valenti

14:30–15:15    Antoine Jourdan (PSE)            

Conflict Resolution Through Concertation: The Political Economy of Post-War French Planning
Discussant: Nicolás Varela

15:15–15:30    Coffee Break

15:30–16:15    Mirek Tobiáš Hošman (Paris Cité / UniBo)

Patching Up Bretton Woods: The Emergence of Concessional Lending and the Reinvention of Development Finance in the 1960s

Discussant: Oluwaseun Otosede Williams

16:15–17:30    Fernanda Conforto de Oliveira (Graduate Institute)

Opening the Black Box of Financial Negotiations: The IMF, Argentina, and Brazil in the Postwar Era (1945–64)

Discussant: Guillaume Dreyer

17:30–18:00    General Discussion

Thursday, June 5

Location: Les Délices, Rue des Délices 25, 1203 Geneva

Thematic Block 3: In What Ways Has Capitalism Itself Been a Source of Conflict?

09:00–10:30    Lecture by Prof. Juan Flores Zendejas (UNIGE)
10:30–10:45    Coffee Break
10:45–11:30    Daniel Sánchez-Ordoñez (PSE)

Development and Conflict: Exploring the Relationship Between Violence and Coffee in Colombia (1870–1960)

Discussant: Mirek Tobiáš Hošman

11:30–12:15    Ignacio Narbondo Allende (UC3M)

Land Rent in Uruguay: Disputes Over Appropriation and Distribution (1870–1955)

Discussant: Francesca Martens

12:15–13:45    Lunch Break

13:45–15:15    Lecture by Prof. Jean-Yves Grenier (PSE / EHESS)
15:15–15:30    Coffee Break
15:30–16:15    Oluwaseun Otosede Williams (Graduate Institute)

Livestock as Live Stock: Cattle Capitalism and Colonial Development in Twentieth-Century Nigeria

Discussant: Rowaida Moshrif

16:15–17:00    Francesca Martens (Graduate Institute)

Land Dispossession During the Chilean Dictatorship: The Role of Capitalism in Advancing Colonial Projects

Discussant: Raúl Wildbolz Gallego

17:00–17:30    General Discussion

Friday, June 6

Location: Ancienne École de Médecine, Rue de l'Ecole-de-Médecine 20, 1205 Geneva, Room 74

10:00–11:30    Closing Keynote by Prof. Jane Humphries (All Souls College, Oxford)
11:30–12:00    Closing Remarks
12:15–14:00    Lunch