Project description
How we remember a financial crisis
Several severe financial crises rocked the world over the past century. The EU-funded MERCATOR project will investigate to what extent the memory or absence of memory of these financial crises can explain practices threatening the stability of the financial system. It will explore the causes of the financial crises, in particular the Global Financial Crisis between 2007 and early 2009, analysing the behaviour of financial agents and the failure of regulators to preserve financial stability. MERCATOR will use the concept of cultural memory to understand how those financial crises are remembered, the impact of this memory on the thinking and behaviour of financial actors and the emergence of a ‘new’ financial elite in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Objective
This project explores the extent to which the memory, or absence of memory, of previous financial crises can explain practices threatening the stability of the financial system. This will provide a major contribution to the understanding of the causes of financial crises, in particular the Global Financial Crisis, by helping to understand the behaviour of financial agents, marked by recurrent waves of over-confidence and excessive risk-taking, and why regulators fail to maintain financial stability.
The project addresses four main questions: How are financial crises remembered? Has the memory of financial crises had an impact on the thinking and behaviour of financial actors? Has a ‘new’ financial elite emerged in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century? What has been the legacy of the Global Financial Crisis?
Using the concept of cultural memory, the project analyses how the most severe financial shocks of the last hundred years (1929-33, 1982, 1997, and 2007-9) have been remembered. The memory of financial crises will be retraced by exploring five interrelated areas, resulting in: the first comprehensive analysis of senior bankers’ own views on financial crises; the first collective biography of the financial elite in the late 20th and early 21st century; a much clearer picture of the vision of financial crises prevailing in the financial world and its evolution in the second half of the 20th century; a new light on the place of financial crises in the teaching of economics and finance; and new perspectives into the history and memory of financial regulation.
By focusing on financial actors and combining economic history and cultural history, the project will provide a missing link in our understating of the recurrence of financial crises, thus pushing the boundaries of knowledge, renewing our understanding of financial crises and contributing to the ongoing search for greater financial stability.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences economics and business economics monetary and finances
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
50014 Fiesole
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.