معرفی
Ian Kumekawa is a historian of economic thinking, capitalism, and empire. He currently holds dual roles as an Anniversary Fellow at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University and a Lecturer in History at MIT. He earned his PhD in History from Harvard University (2020), an MPhil from the University of Cambridge (2013), and an A.B. from Harvard College (2012). His research focuses on the history of economic thought, imperial statecraft, and global capitalism, with a particular emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century dynamics. He integrates digital humanities methodologies, such as network visualizations, to analyze complex historical systems.
His notable works include Empty Vessel: The Global Economy in One Barge (2025), which explores offshore capitalism through the lens of a barge’s transnational journey, and The First Serious Optimist (2017), which re-examines Cambridge economist A.C. Pigou’s contributions to welfare economics. His forthcoming work, The Business State: State Capture in the British Empire, investigates the interplay between British imperialism and corporate influence in the early 20th century. Kumekawa’s research has been honored with awards such as the Joseph J. Spengler Best Book Prize and the Craufurd Goodwin Prize for the Best Article in the History of Economics.
