Antwerp, 29-30 June 2026

In June 2026 the University of Antwerp and the Paris School of Economics host a workshop exploring the investment of middle-class savings between the second half of the nineteenth-century and the Second World War.
We are looking for papers that deal with the expansion of savings banks and other financial institutions competing to attract household savings; the government’s involvement in the management and use of savings; as well as the investment decisions of individual households. We encourage submissions of both descriptive studies and analytical papers, as we hope to bring together a wide range of perspectives that will enrich our understanding of these complex issues.
We invite scholars at all career stages and diverse backgrounds to participate in this workshop. We accept both extended abstracts (5-10 pages) and full paper drafts. If you are interested in contributing, please submit your proposal, along with your affiliation and contact information, to financialhistory@uantwerpen.be. The deadline for submission is January 5th, 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent by January 15th, 2026.
There will be no participation fee. Funding (for accommodation & transport) is available for PhD students and for academics with no research funds at their disposal. For further details about the workshop, please contact the organizers: Éric Monnet (eric.monnet@psemail.eu) and Oscar Gelderblom (oscar.gelderblom@uantwerpen.be).
Participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to submit their papers for consideration in a special issue of the European Review of Economic History. The special issue will be edited by the conference conveners, and submissions will undergo the standard peer-review process.
For more information, consult the full call available at the following link.