Gareth Austin

@gareth-austin.bsky.social

Economic historian, especially Ghanaian/West African/African and comparative/global economic history. Professor Emeritus of Economic History (1928), University of Cambridge.

Videos

Economics 38%

Political science 22%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Aug 16

Just attended an excellent writers' conference exploring the paths to/causes of the Great Acceleration (of human-made environmental change, starting c. 1950), at the University of Basel, organised by Moritz von Brescius (UB) and Fredrik Albritton Jonsson (U of Chicago). Exciting stuff.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, David J. Smith , and 3 more Jonathan Portes, Steve Peers, David J. Smith, John Foot, Gareth Austin, Mary Margaret McCabe

James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · Aug 13

'Honest Bob' Jenrick, a politician obviously & deliberately embracing xenophobia, does some weapons grade xenophobia & the BBC *apologises* for a Thought For The Day contributor calling it xenophobic. Licence fee payers need to know who makes these decisions & why. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC apologises after Robert Jenrick accused of xenophobia

A contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day slot made the remark about the shadow justice secretary.

www.bbc.co.uk

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jun 21

muse.jhu.edu/pub/19/artic...

Project MUSE - From Commodity to Colonial Currencies in West Africa: Introduction

muse.jhu.edu

Reposted by Gareth Austin

Cambridge University History Faculty @camhistory.bsky.social · Jun 16

Prof Peter Mandler’s (@petermandler.bsky.social) insatiable curiosity has fuelled an extraordinary career over more than two decades at Cambridge.

As he steps back from formal teaching, the acclaimed historian reflects on a life of intellectual breadth, public advocacy—and no plans to slow down ⬇️⬇️

Professor Peter Mandler, Deputy Chair of the History Faculty, Professor of Modern Cultural History, Bailey Lecturer in History, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge.

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jun 6

Cambridge Global Economic History Seminar, Monday 9 June, 17:15 BST in the Audit Room, King's College:

John Tang (Utrecht University), "Superstition, fertility, and modernization: evidence from Japan, 1880-1980"

This talk is hybrid: for zoom link see www.hist.cam.ac.uk/event-series...

Global Economic History | Faculty of History University of Cambridge

www.hist.cam.ac.uk

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · May 19

Cambridge Global Economic History Seminar, 19 May:
Lisbeth Rodrigues (Porto), ‘Beyond almsgiving: The financial role of charitable institutions in early modern Portugal and its empire’. 17:15 UK time in Audit Room, King's College, Cambridge. Or online: subscribe at www.hist.cam.ac.uk/event-series...

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Apr 5

Travieso & Westland, "Resilience and decline of handicraft textiles in colonial northern Nigeria, 1911–52", Economic History Review (2024), examines the issue of deindustrialisation in what had been the leading centre of textile production in precolonial Africa. Read at doi.org/10.1111/ehr....

<em>The Economic History Review</em> | EHS Journal | Wiley Online Library

The Sokoto Caliphate of northern Nigeria was the workshop of West Africa in the pre-colonial nineteenth century, producing famous blue-black cloth that reached many markets south of the Sahara as wel...

doi.org

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Apr 5

Congrats to Emiliano Travieso & Tom Westland for winning the Economic History Society's prize for best article in the Economic History Review (2024) by authors within 5 years of PhD. "What happened to the workshop of West Africa?"

<em>The Economic History Review</em> | EHS Journal | Wiley Online Library

doi.org

Reposted by Gareth Austin

Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · Mar 13

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

Today’s episode is about a very different revolution from any we’ve discussed so far: David talks to historian Hank Gonzalez about the Haitian Revolution, which for the first time in history saw a slave revolt result in an independent free state.

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Mar 14

The Zoom link for Tinashe Nyamunda's presentation on Monday 17:15 GMT will be sent to subscribers to the Global Economic History Seminar e-list 48 hours in advance. For the link to subscribe, go to www.hist.cam.ac.uk/event-series...

Global Economic History | Faculty of History University of Cambridge

www.hist.cam.ac.uk

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Mar 14

The excellent Zimbabwean financial historian Tinashe Nyamunda (now U of Glasgow) is presenting to the Global Economic History Seminar on Monday 17th, 17:15 GMT, in the Audit Room, King's College, Cambridge, on the financial origins of the Anglo-Boer War. Also on Zoom

Reposted by Gareth Austin

Duncan Money @mininghistory.bsky.social · Jan 28

Lots of discussions about mining and metals in Africa exaggerate their importance and this is a particularly obvious example. 10% of something is not enough to corner a market!

Reposted by Gareth Austin

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · Jan 28

Richard Reid's The African Revolution is a panoramic global history of Africa in the age of imperialism.

Out now. Learn more about this monumental work of history: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The African Revolution: A History of the Long Nineteenth Century by Richard Reid

Reposted by Gareth Austin

zombie westland @tomwestland.bsky.social · Jan 26

It will output to an ugly default LaTeX/Word doc when I need to submit it to a journal but I can also write the paper with my own beautiful bespoke template that compiles essentially instantly.

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 24

My chapter in Capitalism: Histories, edited by Robert G. Ingram and James M. Vaughn (Boydell Press, 2025) is titled
"Capitalism in Africa: Two Histories, 1650s-1940s". Compares the partly similar, partly contrasting cases of South Africa and British West Africa (esp. Nigeria & Ghana).

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 24

Capitalism: Histories, edited by Robert G. Ingram & James M. Vaughan. Just published by Boydell Press. Contributors G. Austin, R. Austen, P. Coclanis, T. Dennison, A. Evans, E. Griffin, R.G. Ingram, A. Karak, J. Majewski, M. Metzler, K. Pomeranz, M. Ramseyer, T. Roy, Horus T'an

Reposted by Gareth Austin

Jason Scott-Warren @jes1003.bsky.social · Jan 24

Resounding rebuttal of Trump's energy policy from a piece of work at the Daily Telegraph.

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 12

Honoured to be talking to Kaoru Sugihara's Seminar on Global Economic and Environmental History on Wednesday (15 Jan) in Kyoto: "Tropical Africa and the 'Long Acceleration'". RINH, 13:30-15:30 Japan time (venue: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature).

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 11

My own paper-in-progress compares Ghana and Kenya, challenging accepted generalisations about both causes and consequences of SAPs in Africa.

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 11

More advanced versions of the papers will be given at the World Economic History Congress in Lund in July (wehc2025.com). This project follows Akita’s edited "Oil Crises of the 1970s and the Transformation of International Order: Economy, Development, & Aid in Asia & Africa" (Bloomsbury 2023).

World Economic History Congress 2025

wehc2025.com

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 11

so, the takeoff of micro-electronics and personal computers, the “Third World” debt crisis, the IMF-WB sponsored economic liberalization (“Structural Adjustment” programmes) in Africa & Latin America, and a rising Asian share of the world economy.

World Economic History Congress 2025

wehc2025.com

Gareth Austin @gareth-austin.bsky.social · Jan 11

The changing international economic order of the 1980s
Just completed a fascinating workshop (10-11 Jan 2025), organised by the tireless Prof Shigeru Akita on the beautiful Japanese island of Awaji. The subject is the international economic order of the 1980s.

World Economic History Congress 2025

wehc2025.com

Reposted by Gareth Austin, Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat

Industrial History Review @rhi-ihr.bsky.social · Nov 28

Is African Economic History Experiencing a Revival? Katherine Frederick, Dácil Juif and @felixmzs.bsky.social give us their answer in our blog: ihrthegreatspurt.wordpress.com/2024/11/25/t...

Is African Economic History Experiencing a Revival? A Bibliometric Analysis of the 21st century

Economists and historians have long studied living standards in Massachusetts. An article by Luis Felipe Zegarra Basurco employs linear programming to estimate laborers’ welfare ratios in Bos…

ihrthegreatspurt.wordpress.com

Reposted by Gareth Austin

zombie westland @tomwestland.bsky.social · Nov 15

I have a little paper out in the latest issue of the Industrial History Review (a special issue on new frontiers in African economic history) that looks at spatial variation in living standards and purchasing power in French West Africa around 1950. revistes.ub.edu/index.php/Hi...

Spatial inequality in living standards and the urban premium in late colonial French West Africa | Revista de Historia Industrial — Industrial History Review

revistes.ub.edu

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