I have a number of exciting updates since I’ve last seen most of you. My book, Shifting Capital: Mercantilism and the Economics of the Act of Union of 1707, was published by Palgrave in their Studies in the History of Economic Thought series. I am thankful to all of my History of Economic Thought students, but I have to say that it was in a discussion in spring 2018 that I formed the idea that moved the book, which was already in progress, from good to great: that mercantilism was an entire worldview that encouraged structural violence and not just about trade, and I thank you in the Acknowledgments. It was nominated for best new book awards from the History of Economics Society and the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. Not too shabby! I was also invited to be part of a volume on my man Sir James Steuart. My chapter on the influence of legal theory on the formation of economic theory incorporates about five years of research in archives and law libraries in Scotland and Notre Dame. I’ve spent the past two summers back at ND on a grant from their Institute for Irish Studies working on several other projects, one of which has been published, and two more in development.  

My research plans to return to ND this summer were postponed due to the pandemic. So I’m all the more glad I made it back to ND in a very cold February for the Human Development Conference. I also got to visit there with econ alum Laura Guerra! She is in the M.A. program in Global Affairs, focusing on economic development. (If you are interested in applying to this program, please get in touch with me.) Another recent alum, Chibu Ejiaga, was nice enough to agree to my invite to give a guest lecture in 2018 on his work for the UN High Commission on Refugees. It was also great to talk with several of you again at the last two UD Groundhog weekends — visit more often!   

Meanwhile, I’ve taught our first online summer Fundamentals and HET courses. Speaking of HET, as you know, many of you have written excellent papers for me that you have used for grad school applications and fellowships, but I always wished there was an outlet to share them with the profession. So I’m so happy to announce that I received a grant from the History of Economics Society in July to found an undergraduate research journal in HET. It will be peer reviewed and competitive, as submissions will be open to all universities worldwide, and be hosted on its own site. Although independent of UD, the journal’s initial student board is made up of UD econ students from my last HET classes, and we are already hard at work. I hope to have our first issue out by fall 2021 — so watch this space. Other than that, I’ve gone to many Spurs games, many U2 concerts, many Caribbean countries and read many crusty old documents in Scotland — some things just never change!