Andrew Mitchell

About Me:

• I recently moved to Los Angeles to become the first postdoctoral scholar at the new UCLA Center for Economic History where I regularly attend the Von Gremp workshop.
• New Researcher Prize Winner at the Economic History Society Annual Conference in Reading, March 31-April 2, 2006.
• PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics
• Lecturer in International Development Studies (UCLA) Former Teacher in EH 101

Academic Interests:

The root causes of development - after comparing Argentine and Australian fiscal histories in my PhD, I am now exploring the links between progressive taxation and development.
Research from my thesis suggests that establishing and sustaining progressive taxation, such as income tax, is crucial to maintaining a fiscally viable state that can provide the public goods necessary for development. My postdoctoral research will expand this insight to see how it is relevant to the experience of other countries.
Within the new institutional approach the key factor in explaining different experiences of development appears to be State Credibility. State Credibility is the faith a society has in the state to act collectively in society's interests.

Title of PhD Thesis: Institutions and Endowments: State Credibility, Fiscal Institutions and Divergence, Argentina and Australia, c. 1880-1980

Community Interests:

• Former Chairperson and Founding Treasurer of ANZSA (Australia New Zealand Students' Association at LSE)

Conferences:

• August 2006 - I presented a paper at the XIV International Economic History Congress in Helsinki, Finland in Session 97 - Settler Economies in World History
• March 2006 - I presented as a New Researcher at the Economic History Society Conference at the University of Reading, where I won the New Researcher Prize.
• July 2005 – I presented at the International Congress of Historical Studies in Sydney, Australia on July 7, 2005
• September 2004 – I presented in Spanish at the Second Conference of Postgraduates in Economic History in Niteroi, Brazil on September 6, 2004

Personal Interests:

• Diving article published in DiveLog Australasia in December, 2003