Conference | Commodities and Global Governance. Organizations, Markets and Finance

Sala Bortolami, Palazzo Luzzatto Dina - Via del Vescovado, 30, Padova

Dal 08.05.2025 al 09.05.2025

May 8th and 9th, 2025, Wehc 2025 pre-conference – University of Padova

Commodities and Global Governance. Organizations, Markets and Finance

May 8th, 14.00-18.00

14.00 - Venue and welcome addresses: Andrea Caracausi (Univerisity of Padova) – Head of Dissgea; Marco Bertilorenzi (Univerisity of Padova), Thomas David (University of Lausanne), Elisa Grandi - Organizers

S1. Traders and commodities
Chair: Thomas David (University of Lausanne)

14.30 - 15.00 Mariela Ceva (Conicet and Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina), “South America’s commodities trade. A study on “Bunge & Born Ltd.S.A- Commercial, Financial and Industrial”, 1884-1964”
15.00-15.30 Jerome Sgard (Sciences Po Paris) “Imperial politics, open markets and private legal ordering: the global grain trade (1875-1914)”
Discussion: 15.30-16.00
Discussion 16.00-16.30

Pause: 16.30-16.50

S2. International trade and crisis
Chair: Glenda Sluga (European University Institute)

16.50-17.20 Jamie Martin (Harvard University), “The First Commodity Producer Bailouts?: The Outbreak of the First World War and the Economic Crisis of 1914”
17.20-17.50 Elisa Grandi (Université Paris Cité), “International credit, coffee, and development: Colombia in the Inter-American Trade (1935-1954)”
17.00-17.30 Mario De Prospo (Univerisity of Padova), “Land, experts’; visions, and multilateral aid: FAO and agrarian reforms 1950s-1970s”
Discussion 17.30-18.00

May 9th, 9.00-13.00

S3. Competition amongst stabilizations
Chair: Elisa Grandi (Université Paris Cité)

9.00-9.30 Laura Chiara Cecchi (University of Trento), “STABEX: A Euro-African Path to Commodity Revenue Stabilisation, 1975–1995”
9.30-10.00 Marco Bertilorenzi (Univerisity of Padova), “Commodity prices stabilization and futures trading. A neo-liberal option or a proposal from the Global south?”
10.00-10.30 Mirek Tobias Hosman (Université Paris Cité and University of Bologna), “Stabilization or Reimbursement: Two Approaches to Volatile Commodity Prices at the World Bank in the 1960s”.
Discussion 10.30-11.00

Pause 11.00-11.20

S4. Governance and global trade
Chair: Giovanni Favero (University Ca’ Foscari Venice)

11.20-11.50 Thomas David (University of Lausanne), “Commodity trade and agreements and international Business Associations (1930-1980)”
11.50-12.20 Guillerme Sampaio (European University Institute), ”Forecasting ‘Global’ Commodity Trade: the UN System and Project LINK or the Politics of Macroeconometric Research (1968–1980)”
Discussion 12.20-12.40