Oscar Gelderblom full research professor

Research Oscar Gelderblom

Research team

Expertise

Financial History and Social and Economic History of The Netherlands and Belgium from 1500 to the Presents History of Trade and Finance in Europe before the Industrial Revolution (1200-1800)

The Financial Inclusion of Migrants: The case study of Nineteenth century Antwerp. 01/11/2024 - 31/10/2027

Abstract

During the 19th century, millions of people moved from the countryside to cities in search of economic betterment. While many became impoverished laborers, some ascended to the urban middle class. One route to wealth accumulation for middle classes was through mortgage credit and participation in the booming housing markets of the 19th century. However, it is unclear whether migrants had access to local mortgage credit markets or whether they instead had to turn to their family or networks of the place of origin. Due to data limitations, the existing literature lacks systematic research on migrants' engagement with mortgage markets in Europe. To answer these questions and tackle the data gap, this project investigates the relationship between the social inclusion of migrants and their access to mortgage credit in the city of Antwerp between 1830 and 1870. This project methodically links personal data from mortgage loans with information from various other sources. Quantitative methods and network analysis are employed to scrutinize the borrowing and lending patterns of migrants across three distinct periods. Life course analysis will be used to investigate access to credit and real estate throughout the life courses of a representative sample of migrants and non-migrants in Antwerp in the second half of the 19th century. Together, this provides a holistic understanding of migrants' use of mortgage credit, their access to real estate and the impact this had on their lives.

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  • Research Project

BelHisFirm: long-term firm-level data for the social sciences. 01/05/2024 - 30/04/2028

Abstract

Long-term digital economic data are mainly available at the macro level for Flanders and Belgium. However, new research questions require microdata that are only available in printed form. To make microdata on firms available in computer-readable form, research groups from the universities of Antwerp and Ghent are joining forces. Belgium has a long tradition of publishing essential data on companies in the Appendices to the Belgian Official Gazette since 1873. In addition, excellent reference works were compiled at the time for the benefit of investors. These sources contain a wealth of information on companies: date of incorporation, (successive) company names, addresses, names (and addresses) of directors and shareholders, balance sheets and profit and loss accounts, securities portfolios, information on capital increases, dividend and interest payments, relations between companies (participation in cartels, (de)mergers, spin-offs, ...). The research infrastructure "BelHisFirm: long-term business data for the social sciences" will bring all these microdata together in a database and make tools for the visualisation and analysis of the data available to researchers. BelHisFirm will thus enable, among other things, pioneering research on long-term trends in corporate finance, wealth inequality and the economic and financial impact of (de)colonisation.

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  • Research Project

An ancestor's tale: 200 years of wealth inequality and redistributive policy. 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2026

Abstract

Social positions of children are not fully explained by talents and effort, but also by the social position of parents, grandparents, and even earlier generations. The role of income and education in explaining patterns of social mobility has often been studied, but those factors no longer seem able to sufficiently explain the remarkably low level of intergenerational social mobility attested by recent studies. The role of wealth has too often been neglected in this regard. In this project we address this issue from a historical perspective, while at the same time applying the results to policymaking today. This consortium will (1) reconstruct patterns of wealth and intergenerational wealth transmission over a period of 200 years in Belgium; (2) test the validity of potential mechanisms explaining the reproduction of wealth inequality; and (3) examine how public opinion, redistributive policies and wealth inequality are interlinked both in historical perspective and today

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  • Research Project

Mapping the Market. The Credit Transactions of Antwerp's Business Community in the 19th Century. 01/12/2022 - 30/11/2024

Abstract

The financing of business in the nineteenth century did not necessarily require bank credit. Loans also flowed through alternative channels from lenders to borrowers. This pilot project investigates for Antwerp the size of the market for bank credit and non-bank credit throughout the 19th century. We place these credit transactions in the city's geography to examine how supply and demand found each other.

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  • Research Project

Social History of finance. 01/11/2021 - 31/10/2031

Abstract

Why was it that in Western economies banks only began to reach deep into society during the 1960s and 1970s? The half century that passed between their creation in the late 19th and early 20th century and the widespread use of their services by households suggests that, for a very long time, many households managed their finances differently. But which services did they use, and when, how and why did the providers of those alternatives make way for banks? What drove this fundamental change in household finance and why did it not come earlier? Current research on financial development has no answers to these questions. THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FINANCE proposes a new conceptual framework to capture the longterm development of the financial system and the social context in which it took shape. The project analyzes (1) the long-term development of financial services provided by banks and other suppliers, notably governments and the social networks in which households were embedded; (2) continuity and change in the financial demand of households; and (3) the suppliers' adaptation of financial services to changes in both the demand of households and the supply of financial services by other providers. The project develops this new social history of finance through an in depth investigation of household finance in Belgium and The Netherlands in the 19th and 20th centuries. It will serve as a benchmark for future work on the evolution of financial systems.

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  • Research Project

The Social History of Finance. 01/11/2021 - 31/10/2025

Abstract

Why was it that in Western economies banks only began to reach deep into society during the 1960s and 1970s? The half century that passed between their creation in the late 19th and early 20th century and the widespread use of their services by households suggests that, for a very long time, many households managed their finances differently. But which services did they use, and when, how and why did the providers of those alternatives make way for banks? What drove this fundamental change in household finance and why did it not come earlier? Current research on financial development has no answers to these questions. THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FINANCE proposes a new conceptual framework to capture the long-term development of the financial system and the social context in which it took shape. The project analyzes (1) the long-term development of financial services provided by banks and other suppliers, notably governments and the social networks in which households were embedded; (2) continuity and change in the financial demand of households; and (3) the suppliers' adaptation of financial services to changes in both the demand of households and the supply of financial services by other providers.The project develops this new social history of finance through an in-depth investigation of household finance in Belgium and The Netherlands in the 19th and 20th centuries. It will serve as a benchmark for future work on the evolution of financial systems.

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  • Research Project

The Social and Economic History of Central Africa: Beyond Capitalism and Colonialism. 01/11/2022 - 31/10/2024

Abstract

This postdoc merges the expertise in European social and economic history of the Centre for Urban History (CSG) with the expertise on development in Central Africa within the Institute of Development Policy (IOB). It is part of a broader research ambition of the two research groups, joint together in the AIPRIL-research platform, which will eventually culminate in a new TT-ZAP BOF 'Social and Economic History of Central Africa'. Profiting from the post-2000 boom in African economic history and answering the urgent call in Belgian society for more engagement with the history of Central Africa, this post-doc project meets the challenge of building interdisciplinary capacity between IOB and CSG. In line with the research expertise of both research groups, the unique selling proposition of this proposal is the study of diverging social and economic trajectories in Central Africa. We look for a researcher who shall investigate and help to explain long-term regional divergences, for instance in urban development, wellbeing, inequality-levels, political arrangements, health, demography, financial inclusion, etc. over the past centuries. By looking at regional divergences within and between the present-day countries of DR Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, long-term path-dependencies as well as historical contingencies can be revealed, some of which were shaped by the experience of colonialism, others might date back to the pre-colonial period, or only originated over the past decades. Mapping and interpreting these regional differences helps to move away from homogenizing explanatory schemes such as capitalism and colonialism, and offers essential insights in the causes of prosperity or decline. Finally, embedded in such regional approach a lot of innovative research at the level of individual actors becomes possible, for instance studying the strategies and trajectories of households and individuals, as well as their capability to deal with adversities or to seize opportunities in life.

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  • Research Project