The Berkeley Economic History Laboratory (BEHL) was established in 2011 with core funding from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). BEHL seeks to expand the supply of economic historians doing policy-relevant research and to influence the training of economists and conduct of economic analysis.
BEHL is designed as a vehicle for attracting young scholars into economic history. It will provide a research environment conducive to gathering new historical data and conducting serious historical research relevant to current policy concerns.
To learn more about BEHL, see Professor Barry Eichengreen, one of BEHL’s faculty, discuss the Lab in “Why Economics Needs History” as part of INET’s grantee interview series “30 Ways To Be an Economist. ” You can also see INET’s Executive Director Rob Johnson during his December 2010 visit to the UC Berkeley campus in to talk with students and professors at the Graduate School of Economics. View the documentary-style video of the visit, which is one stop on INET’s Campus Tour of graduate schools all over the country.
Check our site regularly for updates featuring links to research of interest to economic historians, news about BEHL, seminar schedules, and upcoming events.