WEast is an international initiative promoting research on the economic history of East, Central and South-East Europe. Our mission is to foster knowledge transfer and collaboration between economic historians and economists with shared interest in this region representing both western and eastern universities and research centres. We organise periodic conferences at prestigious institutions attended by prominent speakers.
We welcome you on our webpage and invite you to take part in the initiative. If you would like to organise a WEast conference at your institution, please contact us.
Principal organisers
Mikołaj Malinowski
University of Groningen
m.malinowski@rug.nl
Stefan Nikolić
Loughborough University
s.nikolic@lboro.ac.uk
Tamás Vonyó
Bocconi University
tamas.vonyo@unibocconi.it
Latest conference
WEast Belgrade: Long-Run Economic Growth and Development in East, Central and South-East Europe
Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade, 26-27 August 2026
Keynote: Jared Rubin
Local organiser: Emilija Cvetković, Dimitrije Matić
Past conferences
WEast Ljubljana: Economics, Nationalism and Politics in Central, East and South-East Europe
Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana, 19-20 June 2025
Keynote: Clemens Jobst
Local organiser: Nataša Henig Miščič
WEast Dublin: Hidden Connections: Eastern Europe through a comparative lens
Trinity College Dublin, 13-14 December 2024
Keynote: Sascha Becker
Local organisers: Julia Zimmerman, Marvin Suesse, Vitaliia Yaremko
WEast Milan: The New Economic History of Empires in Eastern Europe
Bocconi University, Milan, 28-29 June 2024
Local organiser: Tamás Vonyó
WEast Prague: WEast Conference 2023
CERGE-EI Prague, 16-17 June 2023
Local organiser: Christian Ochsner
WEast Berlin: Markets and Institutions in Eastern and Central Europe
Humboldt University of Berlin, 12-13 March 2021
Keynote: Joachim Voth
Local organiser: Nikolaus Wolf
WEast Cracow: Understanding the Economic Past of Eastern Europe
Pedagogical University of Cracow, 14-15 June 2019
Keynotes: Jörg Baten, Tomáš Cvrček
Local organiser: Bartosz Ogórek
WEast Vienna: The origins and legacies of the Little Divergence in Central and Eastern Europe
University of Vienna, 1-2 June 2018
Keynotes: Paolo Malanima, Ulrich Pfister
Local organiser: Erich Landsteiner
WEast Bucharest: Economic History, Growth and Development in Central and Eastern Europe
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, University of Bucharest, 19-20 May 2017
Keynotes: Sheilagh Ogilvie, Bogdan Murgescu
Local organisers: Roxana Sârbu, Grigore Piroșcă, Florentina Nițu, and Cristina Victoria Radu
WEast London: Economy and Society in Eastern and Central Europe
UCL School of Slavonic and East-European Studies, London, 3-4 April 2017
Keynote: Mark Harrison
Local organiser: Tomáš Cvrček
WEast Moscow: Understanding economic growth and development in Central and Eastern Europe
National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow, 2-3 September 2016
Keynotes: Tracy Dennison, Leandro Prados de la Escosura
Local organiser: Elena Korchmina, Ilya Voskoboynikov
WEast Prague: Understanding economic growth and development in Central and Eastern Europe
Faculty of Economics, University of Economics in Prague (VŠE), Prague, 1-2 July 2016
Keynote: James A. Robinson
Local organiser: Miroslav Zajíček, Tomáš Cvrček
WEast Budapest: Historical sources of development in Central and Eastern Europe
Central European University (CEU), Budapest, 9-10 January 2015
Keynotes: Şevket Pamuk, Nikolaus Wolf
Local organiser: Balint Menyhert, Paweł Bukowski, Rita Pető, Attila Gáspár
WEast Belgrade: Understanding the Economic Development of Eastern Europe
Belgrade Banking Academy, 5-6 July 2014
Keynotes: Stephen Broadberry, Branko Milanović
Local organiser: Hasan Hanić, Stefan Nikolić, Matthias Morys
Acknowledgements
WEast gratefully acknowledges the financial support received from the European Historical Economics Society, and thanks local organisers and institutions for supporting our events. We also thank Jacob Weisdorf for serving as a principal organiser of WEast from its inception until 2023.