Economies of the Baltic Sea area before the First World War.

Connections and comparisons.

Workshop October 7–10, 2009

Department of Social Science History

Economic and Social History

University of Helsinki

Finland

1) Summary

We had 13 papers and a key note lecture. Every paper was discussed first by a discussant and then generally. Altogether 25 participants took part in the workshop.

We had participants from the following countries around the Baltic Sea: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Russia and Finland. The Lithuanian participant had to cancel in the last minute as well as one Swedish participant, because of sudden illnesses. Partly the participants were from member countries of the GlobalEuronet network, financially supported by the European Science Foundation, namely Sweden, Germany, Estonia and Finland. The Baltic countries, Poland and Russia are countries with which the University of Helsinki has bilateral agreements for scientific cooperation.

The financial support of the workshop came from the European Science Foundation /GlobalEuronet, the University of Helsinki and the Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation.

The University of Helsinki International Office financed partly the participation of the Russian and as well as Polish participants. The Department of Social Science History supported the workshop financially. And finally, a Finnish scientific foundation, Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation, gave some funds. It is clear that the European Science Foundation as the main contributor made this workshop possible. The paper givers were asked to mention the financial support of the ESF in their papers and their potential future publications.

In addition to the workshop with scientific papers and discussions, the group paid a visit to an old trading town Porvoo on the Gulf of Finland. It used to be one of the Finnish trading ports, which had a fleet to trade in the Baltic Sea area. Porvoo has one of the best reserved old merchant house and warehouse areas on the Baltic Sea basin, and consequently, was an interesting addition to the workshop, showing the historical reality of the old economic cooperation.

Regionally the workshop widened previous cooperation between the Moscow State University and University of Helsinki, where we have had several bilateral workshops since 2002 to discuss “Industrialisation in Russia and in Finland in the 19th and 20th centuries”, based on a bilateral cooperation agreement between these two universities. Naturally almost all participants have and have had a lot of international contacts and cooperation, but this composition of participants from all the countries around one sea was a novelty for economic historians of the Baltic Sea area.

2) Description of the scientific content and discussion at the event

The name “Economies of the Baltic Sea area before the First World War.

Connections and comparisons” basically tells much about the contents of the workshop.

The beginning of the First World War caused unexpected interruptions to the international trade and national economies. But what were the economies like round the Baltic Sea before the WWI? What kind of developments were going on in the countries and their economic relations?

We invited papers to discuss the economies of the Baltic Sea area during the years or decades before the WWI. Papers should deal with aspects of structures and developments of economies as well as comparative aspects of economic levels and developments between the countries, government policies concerning economic relations between the countries, and economic integration, i.e. trade, foreign direct investments, debt relations and diffusion of technologies and industrial management practices around the Baltic Sea area.

The six sessions of the workshop dealt with the general states of the economies at the turn of the 20th century, industrialisation, trade relations between these countries, monetary and credit conditions between these countries and agriculture and foreign trade of agricultural goods. We were fortunate to get Dr Juha Tarkka, an advisor of the Board of the bank of Finland, and a historian of the Bank of Finland, to deliver a key note speech.

We purposely formulated the topics to be discussed very broadly and generally in order the workshop to invite different kinds of researchers to discuss the state and relationships of the economies around the Baltic Sea. The idea was to create a many-sided scientific atmosphere with varied discussion topics.

The program of the workshop shows the titles of the presented papers.

3) Assessment of the results and impact of the event on the future direction of the field

The papers and the lively discussions turned out to be even more interesting than foreseen. They revealed much common history of these countries and intensity of economic relations over the Baltic Sea. The similarity and simultaneity of developments in different parts of the region was striking. Methodologically and with the variety of sources used, the papers showed very different kinds of approaches and also revealed the versatility of economic historical research.

In addition to new scientific knowledge, the other target of the workshop was to create a network of researchers on this area. The workshop achieved this target in a magnificent way. Many of the participants were unfamiliar to each other previously, and now could find common ground and contacts for their future research.

The workshop also nicely brought together older and younger researchers from the participating countries, presenting not only a forum for deep scientific discussions but also a learning experience for the young researchers, of whom we had several.

In the final discussion the general atmosphere was that this should be the beginning of cooperation and not the end. Publication of the papers was discussed. One realistic possibility would be a special issue of the Scandinavian Economic History Review.

We also discussed the possibility to meet again, to develop further the papers, many of which were working papers on new areas of research and in early stages of development. The next meeting, could also serve as a preseminar for a session in the next World Economic History Congress in 2012 in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

4) Final program of the meeting

Wednesday October 7, 2009

Arrivals, accommodation in University of Helsinki guest house or Hotel Arthur

Dinner Restaurant Kolme Kruunua, Liisankatu 5

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty meeting room, Unioninkatu 37, First floor

9.00 Chair: Sakari Heikkinen

Opening of the workshop: Riitta Hjerppe

9.15–10.15 Session 1 State of the Baltic Sea economics at the outbreak of WWI

Discussant: Riitta Hjerppe

Leonid Borodkin: Comparisons of the Russian and Finnish industrialization from the 1880s to 1913

Olaf Mertelsman: Economic development of the Baltic provinces of Estland and Livland before WW I.

10.15–10.45 Coffee

10.45–12.15 Session 2 State of the Baltic Sea economics at the outbreak of WWI

Chair: Sakari Heikkinen

Discussant: Hans Jorgensen

Jaak Valge: The preconditions of the economic growth in Estonia after the World War I in comparison with other Baltic Sea area countriesAappo Kahonen: Social and Political Consequences of Economic interdependence: Finland and the Baltic Provinces in Fringes of the Russian Empire, 1860–1925Anton Petrov: Imports of Machinery from the Grand Duchy of Finland to the Russian empire in the years of industrialization

12.30–13.00 Visit to the university cashier for refunds

13.00–14.15 Lunch at Gustus ja Vera, University staff cafeteria, Fabianinkatu 37

14.15–15.00 Session 3 Trade between the Baltic Sea economies

Chair: Riitta Hjerppe

Discussant: Sakari Heikkinen

Sibylle Lehmann: The Political Economy of Swedish Trade Policy in 1887

Century

15.00–15.30 Coffee

15.30–17.00 Session 4 Trade between the Baltic Sea countries

Chair: Riitta Hjerppe

Discussant: Erkki Pihkala

Piotr Franaszek: The Economic Significance of Gdansk in the Second Half of the 19th and at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Hans Kryger Larsen: Free Trade Zones and Commercial Strategy. The Case of Copenhagen as Entrepôt for the Baltic Sea 1892–1915

19.00 Dinner at Restaurant Konstan Molja, Hietalahdenkatu 14

Friday, October 9, 2009

Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty meeting room, Unioninkatu 37, First floor

9.00–10.00 Chair: Matti Peltonen Key note speech.Dr Juha Tarkka, Bank of Finland: Unity in Diversity: Common Features of Financial Systems in the Baltic Sea Basin before the Industrial Revolution

10.00–10.15 Coffee

11.45–12.30 Session 5 Monetary and credit conditions of the Baltic Sea countries

Chair: Matti Peltonen

Discussant: Antti Kuusterä

Sofia Salomatina: St.Petersburg as the international financial center in the Baltic Sea area, 1703–1917

Mika Arola: Government borrowing and interest rate convergence in Finland, Russia, Sweden and Norway from 1880s to 1914

12.30–14.00 Lunch Porthania, University staff cafeteria, Yliopistonkatu

14.00–15.45 Session 6 Agriculture and agricultural trade in the Baltic Sea area

Chair: Susanna Fellman

Discussant: Matti Peltonen

Inge Marie Larsen: Russian butter export around the turn of the century

Sergey Kaschenko: Agrarian relations in North-Western Russia (1861–1905).

An experience of computerized analysis of abundant quantifiable sources.

Jonas Ljungberg: Grain Market Integration in the Baltic Sea Region in the 19th Century.

15.45–16.00 Coffee

16.00–17.00 Closing session.

Chair: Susanna Fellman

Discussion on future plans

17.00–17.45 Reception at the Department of the Social Science History

18.00 Dinner at Restaurant Grecia, Katajanokanlaituri 5

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Visit to the old trading town Porvoo.

9.00 Departure by bus from Hotel Arthur

10.00 Visit to the old church, Visit to the old Town Hall and Merchant House

Visit to the Runeberg Home, A walk on the river bank with warehouses, Lunch

15.00 Back in Helsinki

The workshop is financially supported by the European Science Foundation, the University of Helsinki and Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation.

LIST OF SPEAKERS/PARTICIPANTS

Olaf Mertelsman, Professor, Tartu University, Estonia (mertelsmann@hot.ee)

Jaak Valge, Dr, Tartu University, Estonia (valge@hot.ee)

Hans Kryger Larsen, Docent,University of Copenhagen, Denmark (hklarsen@hum.ku.dk)

Inge Marie Larsen, Research librarian, Statsbiblioteket, Aarhus, Denmark (iml@statsbiblioteket.dk)

Hans Jörgensen, Docent, University of Umea, Sweden (hans.jorgensen@ekhist.umu.se)

Jonas Ljungberg, Associate professor, University of Lund, Sweden (Jonas.Ljungberg@ekh.lu.se)

Sibylle Lehmann, Dr, Institute of Economic History, School of Business and Economics

Humboldt University, (lehmann.sibylle@gmail.com)

Piotr Franaszek, Professor, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (piotr.franaszek@uj.edu.pl)

Leonid Borodkin, Professor, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia (LeoBorodkin@yandex.ru)

Sergei Kaschenko, Professor, University of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia (kgs2004@yandex.ru)

Anton Petrov, PhD student, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia (antoine-petroff@yandex.ru)

Sofia Salomatina, Dr, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia (ssalomatina@gmail.com)

Mika Arola, Dr, State Treasury, Helsinki, Finland (mika.arola@valtiokonttori.fi)

Susanna Fellman, Professor, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (susanna.fellman@helsinki.fi)

Sakari Heikkinen, Docent, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (sakari.heikkinen@helsinki.fi)

Riitta Hjerppe, Professor, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (riitta.hjerppe@helsinki.fi)

Antti Kuusterä, Docent, Bank of Finland. Helsinki, Finland (antti.kuustera@bof.fi)

Aappo Kähönen, University of Helsinki, Finland (aappo.kahonen@helsinki.fi)

Matti Peltonen, University of Helsinki, Finland (matti.peltonen@helsinki.fi)

Erkki Pihkala, Professor, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland (epihkala@hse.fi)

Juha Tarkka, Dr, Bank of Finland. Helsinki, Finland (juha.tarkka@bof.fi)

Valentina Fava, Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland (valentina.fava@helsinki.fi)

Jyrki Lessig,PhD student, EUI, Florens, Italy/University of Helsinki

Marjatta Rahikainen, Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland (marjatta.rahikainen@helsinki.fi)

Jaakko Autio, PhD student, University of Helsinki, Finland (ajautio@valt.helsinki.fi)

Marja Vuorinen, PhD student, University of Helsinki, Finland (marja.vuorinen@helsinki.fi)