From 1 January 2024, Dr Arthur van Riel has been appointed endowed professor of Historical Political Economy at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). In this capacity, van Riel will contribute both to research and education. The chair has been newly established by the Erasmus Trust Fund and is housed at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC). It was created in collaboration with the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), where van Riel is a senior researcher. Cooperation between the WRR and ESHCC in the form of an endowed chair constitutes an enrichment for both institutions.
Why this chair?
The new chair is relevant both from an academic perspective and in relation to the role of science in strategic policy advice. Historical Political Economy (HPE) studies how the interaction between economic and political actors has influenced economic outcomes and institutions of public decision-making over time. Within international scholarship HPE is now mainstream. Dutch academic effort, however, has been lagging. The new chair responds to this and in doing so draws on personal ties with the Scientific Council for Government Policy as a bridge to the world of d policy advice. HPE offers valuable insights for policymaking by applying historical knowledge to contemporary issues.
The importance of Historical Political Economy
HPE differs from much of economic history by the central role of political actors - from voters and politicians to autocrats. It differs from classical political economy in that the context is historical. And it differs from traditional historiography through its use of methods and theories from the social sciences. HPE's interdisciplinary focus and methodological approach are the result of far reaching developments in historiography and the social sciences since the 1960s. These have greatly expanded the historical empirics of research at the intersection the various disciplines in the latter field and have led to a broadening of explanatory perspectives on all aspects of economic development. Moreover, even for the less recent past modern research has shown the interwovenness of economics and politics to have been to be so influential of aggregate outcomes that analyses in both fields can no longer be written separately.
"Looking back, the fascination for the interaction between economics and politics, which is usually approached only from the perspective of policy goals, has been the thread running through my work since my graduation thesis."
Teaching and research
The activities of the endowed chair* will comprise both research and education. With regard to the former, the focus is on publishing historical, policy-relevant research. Examples of intended research topics and projects include a new the economic history of the Netherlands since the policy changes of the early 1980s from a politico-economic perspective, and a comparison of the effect of globalising trade on political coalitions and polarisation between the late 19th century and the present. In teaching, Van Riel contributes to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate lectures, with topics ranging from general introductions to economic history, to in-depth teaching on the political economy of growth, the evolution of the welfare state, and the history of globalisation, monetary policy, taxation and political institutions.
Who is Arthur van Riel?
Arthur van Riel studied history and economics in Leiden and Berlin and has a background in research, consultancy and public service. He previously worked at the Netherlands Economic Institute (Ecorys), Utrecht University and the Ministries of the Interior and Finance. He received his PhD from Utrecht University and has been a senior researcher at the WRR since 2012, where he was co-responsible for reports such as 'Money and debt' and 'Sustainable health care: a matter of choice'. His wider publications are on subjects that range from economic development and politics in the Weimar Republic to EMU and topics in macro-financial history. He has been a speaker and guest lecturer at among other places Oxford, Zürich, Harvard and Yale.
* The endowed chair in HPE is 0.2 FTE and is established for a 5-year term, with a one-time possibility of renewal.