Dr Paul Kosmetatos

Senior Lecturer in International Economic History

Contact details

Address

Street

Room 1.24, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9AG

Availability

  • Drop-in (office) hours during semester:

    Wednesdays and Fridays, noon-1 pm (in person, WRW 1.24)

    Limited appointments for remote (Microsoft Office) meetings are available. Priority will be given to those with schedule clashes during my regular drop-in times, or who are located remotely (e.g. MSc ODL or PhD by Distance students). Please email me to find a suitable time slot.

Biography

Background

I am a Financial Historian with a primary focus on 18th and 19th Century British and European banking and high finance, the history of financial bubbles and crises, and the development of crisis containment structures (last resort lending, bailouts, lifeboats). I also have side interests on the use of narrative in finance, the evolving perceptions of criminality and unethical behaviour among financiers, and the development of the British (Scottish and Irish) alcoholic drinks industry before 1914.

As a former "mature graduate student" who came (back) to academia full-time after a decade of trading financial derivatives in the City of London, I am especially understanding of those who might want to come (back) to graduate school after a time away from university, or who may wish to enter research but are daunted by the prospect of juggling work/real life commitments with those of academic research.

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome PhD supervision enquiries on all potential Economic and Social History projects with a plausible connection to any of my research interests. 

I am currently keen on potential project proposals on pre-1780 Dutch/Anglo-Dutch finance and banking, especially from applicants with a good command of (in order of importance) Dutch (preferably Early Modern), German, French or Italian.

I will consider any Economic History project proposal, but will be selective for those ones that are far from my main areas of interest and expertise.

I am happy to supervise full- or part-time PhD projects, either in the traditional (on-campus) sense, or as PhD By Distance. Please note however, that the PhD By Distance is only suitable for those projects where it makes more sense for the student to be away from Edinburgh (e.g. field work or the proximity to archives abroad).

Research summary

My main research areas are:

  • 18th and 19th  Century (pre-1914) financial institutions, structures, people involved in finance, financial bubbles and crises. The long 18th Century (1688-1826) is my main period, but I am occasionally expanding into the 19th Century and even back into the 17th C.

     

  • British (especially Scottish) and European (especially Anglo-Dutch) banking and finance, with a primary focus on the Long 18th Century.

     

  • The development of governance of financial systems, especially macroprudential central bank issues (but generally NOT monetary matters, unless pre-1819), crisis containment actions, and the relationships between central banks and governments regarding the oversight of financial institutions.  

     

  • The Victorian (pre-1914) alcohol industry, especially distillates, and especially Scotland and Ireland.

 

  • The use of narrative in financial discourse, especially as a heuristic device in lieu of established theory, and for contemporary perceptions/retellings of criminality/immorality among financiers.

 

Monograph

Kosmetatos, P. (2018) The 1772-73 British Credit Crisis. Cham: Palgrave MacmillanDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70908-6

Journal Articles

Berre, S. & Kosmetatos, P. (2025), Anglo-Dutch financial connections and contrasts in the late 18th Century: The Amsterdam phase of the 1772-3 credit crisis, Economic History Review 78 (1), pp. 152-178, https://doi/10.1111/ehr.13345

Kosmetatos, P. (2019) Last resort lending before Henry Thornton? The Bank of England’s role in containing the 1763 and 1772–1773 British credit crises. European Review of Economic History, 23(3), pp. 1-30DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hey013

Kosmetatos, P. (2014) The winding-up of the Ayr Bank, 1772-1827. Financial History Review, 21(2), pp. 165-190DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0968565014000122

Book Chapters

Kosmetatos, P. (2024), Capitalism by Generalists: The Governance of the Ayr Bank and the Emergence of Professionalism in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Scottish Banking. In: Paul, H., Di Liberto, N. and Coffman, D. (eds.) The Bubble Act: New Perspectives from Passage to Repeal and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 163-193

Kosmetatos, P. (2014) The Credit Crisis of 1772/3 in the Atlantic World. In: Coffman, D., Leonard, A. and O'Reilly, W. (eds.) The Atlantic World, 1400-1850. Routledge, pp. 491-509

Library of Mistakes, Edinburgh:

Scottish Banking and the 1772-1773 Banking Crisis (2019 - Summary only)

https://youtu.be/YAvDRB588Zc?si=02NWPWdDcOuJ-NYc

The Dutch dimension of the 1772-3 credit crisis (2024 - Full talk)

https://www.youtube.com/live/yd0evdTNmVQ?si=LmrRQgf8-NEnjKOS

Weekend of Mistakes at Hay Castle

A Night Cap -- Paul Kosmetatos on the Leith Whisky Bubble of 1898 at the Weekend of Mistakes (2024 - Full Talk)

https://youtu.be/KtEWMLPUMjo?si=czMbAGvk7aFoeUjC

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