• PhD Economic History, London School of Economics
• MSc Economic History, London School of Economics
• B.A History, Summa Cum Laude, Universita' degli Studi di Milano

My approach to history is comparative and this means that I spend most of my research time abroad, thanks to the generous funding provided by a number of Economic and Social Research Council grants. I have held visiting positions in the United States at Harvard and at Brown University. In 2011 I was awarded the Alfred Chandler International Scholar fellowship by the Harvard Busienss School.

First year

• The economic history of Modern Britain, 1870-1990

Second year

• A woman’s place: a history of women in Britain since 1870
• From Middling to Middle: the making of the middle-classes in England and American in the 19th century
• Golden opportunities: the secret history of the Birmingham jewellery quarter since 1780

Third year

• From Rule Britannia to Pax Americana: a history of the international economy since 1850
• Postgraduate: Approaches to 20th century British Histor

• British economic and business history, 19th and 20th centuries
• United States business history, 19th and 20th centuries
• European business history, 19th and 20th centuries

Since starting my PhD I have published widely on a number of subjects, all related to the history of firms, large and small, private and state-owned, in Britain and in other European countries. I have also spent an inordinate length of time in banks’ archives searching for the link between banks, firms and local economic development. For the last couple years I have been working on a new project comparing two industrial districts, one in Birmingham (UK) and one in Providence (Rhode Island, USA). These both started producing jewellery in the early part of the 19th century and this project compares how over time these two communities of manufacturers organised their work and their relations among each other, with the city and the state and with consumers. These two case studies address general issues that have been long debated by economic historians: do entrepreneurs trust each other and why should they? How are their business decisions shaped by their social context and the specific historical period they are living? How do institutions (local and national) influence their activities

I am an active member of the Economic History Society and have served on its Council for many years, and on its Executive committee as Chair of the Women’s Committee. In this capacity I have organised a number of workshops, the latest one on ‘Technology and Gender’. I have also organised the Economic History annual conference (2002) and the Association of Business Historians annual conference (2008). I am currently the Reviews Editor of the Economic History Review and was the European Editor for Enterprise and Society, and the Economic History Editor for Contemporary British History.

Authored books

• Luxury for the Masses. Jewellery, Creativity and Entrepreneurship in America and Britain. 1870-1914, (Harvard University Press), 2012
• Europe’s Advantage: Banks and Small firms in Britain, France, Germany and Italy since 1918, (Oxford University Press), 2005, pp.228
• Uno sviluppo fra politica e strategia. Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (1953-1985), (Milano, Franco Angeli), 1992, pp.106

Journal articles

• 'Socal Capital and Trade Associations in America, 1870-1914’, Economic History Review, (August, 2011)
• ‘Entrepreneurship and Endless Creativity. Manufacturing Jewelry in America, 1860-1914’, Business History Review, (forthcoming, 2011)
• ‘Luxury for the masses. Jewellery and jewellers in London and Birmingham in the nineteenth century’, Entreprise et Histoire, (March), 2007
• ‘Crooks, thieves and receivers’. Transaction costs in 19^th century industrial Birmingham’, Economic History Review, vol. LVII, no.3, (August), 2004, pp. 533-550
• ‘Golden Opportunities: Jewellery making in Birmingham between mass production and specialty’, Enterprise and Society, Vol. 4, 2003, no. 2, pp. 272-298
• ‘Did they have it so good? Small firms and British monetary policy in the 1950s’, Journal of Industrial History, vol. 5 (1), 2002 pp. 15-34
• ‘State enterprise and Italy’s “economic miracle”: the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, 1945-1962’, Enterprise and Society, vol. 1, (2), 2000, pp. 248-278
• ‘The Treasury as Venture Capitalist: DATAC Industrial Finance and the Macmillan Gap, 1945-1960’, Financial History Review, 1999, no. 6, pp. 47-65 [with Peter Scott]
• ‘A review of Italian Business History from 1991 to 1997’, Business History, vol. 40, (2), 1998, pp. 80-94
• 'Between Markets and Networks: Regional Banks in Italy', Business History, vol. 38, (3), 1996, pp. 84-100
• 'Cost efficiency in public and private enterprises: the Gas Industry in Britain in 1935', Annali di Storia dell'Impresa, vol.9, 1993, pp. 207-231

Edited volumes

• 20^th Century Britain. Economic, Social and Cultural Change, (Pearson, London), 2007, with Julie-Marie Strange and foreword by Paul Johnson
• L' impresa. Storia e culture, (Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica), 1994, pp. 222

Contributions to books

• ‘Financement des économies locales: Banques et petites entreprises en France, en Allemagne et en Italie depuis 1945’, in L. Quennouelle-Corre, A. Straus (eds.), Financer les entreprises face aux mutations économiques du XXe siècle, (Comité pour l’histoire économique de la France, Paris) 2009
• ‘The political and economic decline of small firms in Britain in the 20th century’, in S. Guillaume, M. Lescure (eds), Les PME dans les sociétés contemporaines de 1880 à nos jours, (PIE Lang, Paris) 2008
• ‘Knowledge and trust: the regulation of competition in industrial districts. Birmingham and Providence’, in J.C. Daumas, P. Lamard, L. Tissot (eds.), Les territoires de l’industrie en Europe (1750-2000), (Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comte), 2007, pp.223-238
• ‘Regional banking in England in the 20^th century’, in M. Lesqure, A. Plessis (eds.), Banques locales et banques régionales en Europe au XXe siecle, (Albin Michel, Paris), 2007, pp. 44-60, 2004
• ‘Malefactors and honorable men. The making of commercial honesty in 19^th century Birmingham’, in J. Wilson, A. Popp (eds.), Industrial clusters and regional business networks in England, 1750-1970, (Ashgate), 2003, pp. 192-207
• 'Finance in the Regions: The case of England after 1945', in Y. Cassis, G.D. Feldman, U. Olson (eds.), The Evolution of Financial Institutions and Markets in Twentieth Century Europe, (Aldershot, Scolar Press), 1995, pp. 295-314
• 'The effects of banking cartels and credit rationing on U.K. industrial structure and economic performance since World War Two', in M. Bordo, R. Sylla (eds.), Anglo-American Finance, (Illinois, Irwin). [with Leslie Hannah], 1995, pp. 146-163