economic history – German Historical Institute London Blog

‘The problem is organising time, not work.’ Exploring Working Time Regulations and the Determination of ‘Scientific Wages’ in Ahmedabad through the Archives of the Wellcome Collection, London

How do we organize working time? This question has repeatedly come to the fore, particularly at historical junctures of technological change. Following the Second World War, countries in both the Global North and South sought to find new answers to problems of human–machine interactions. The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations’ studies on sociotechnical systems— today in the archives of the Wellcome Collection, London—have recently attracted renewed attention.¹ As questions on the future of work re-emerge, it may be useful to look back at the past.

e.g. Kena Wani, ‘Pedagogies of Development, Conceptions of Efficiency: Modern Managerialism in Industrial Ahmedabad, 1950s–1960s’, Enterprise & Society, FirstView (2023), 1–34. [↩]

Competition between Profit and Principles: The ‘Natural’ Market Niche in 1980s Britain

Below are findings that are part of my research for my doctoral thesis on the entanglement of commercial business and moral responsibility in the 1970s and 1980s. My access to archives across England, and specifically London, was made possible by the opportunity to stay at the German Historical Institute London in July and August 2023. In particular, the Walgreens Boots Alliance Archive in Nottingham and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London provided me with relevant sources.

A Short Walk through London’s History during the Second World War: Financial Experts in Exile

It is a great source of satisfaction to me to feel that we are taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity which fate has afforded us of getting to know and understand each other better. We are meeting as a family. Family discussions can be pointed, but often that spirit strengthens the family.¹

This quote stems from a speech given by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Howard Kingsley Wood, to a group of Continental European financial policymakers and central bankers in London in 1942, including the finance ministers of the Allied governments in exile, their principal advisers and secretaries of state, and the governors of the central banks in exile. What had happened? Why had the leaders of European economic and financial policy come together in the midst of the Second World War, and why did the British Chancellor of the Exchequer speak of a ‘wonderful opportunity’ in this context?

National Archives, T 172/2015, Speech at Lunch to Allied Finance Ministers, 22 Feb. 1942. [↩]