Dr Robert Yee
I work on the economic and political history of modern Europe, with a focus on Britain, France and Germany after the First World War. My research interests include the history of finance, central banking and international relations. Prior to joining Oxford, I received a doctorate in history from Princeton University, and I have also held visiting fellowships at the Paris School of Economics and the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Research Interests
- European economic history
- Central banking and financial crises
- International relations and economic diplomacy
- Global economic governance
I am currently completing a book on the interwar Bank of England, under contract with Cambridge University Press. The project explores the institutional development of a central bank in response to financial crises and the First World War. It argues that a group of unelected economic advisers, seeking to defend the status of the City of London as an international financial centre, expanded the central bank’s responsibilities in a wide range of areas, including imperial relations, foreign affairs, industrial policy and monetary management. More broadly, the book aims to shed light on the role of technical expertise in redefining the structures of economic governance.
My second book project examines the politics of banking regulation in Germany, c. 1890–1960. Exploring the links between national security and economic policy, the book shows how banking legislation evolved to address various government priorities, such as securing access to foreign credit and funding wartime expenditures. Through the work of bankers, diplomats, industrialists and civil servants, regulation aimed to safeguard overall geopolitical interests in the Kaiserreich, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and postwar West Germany. A part of this work has recently been published in the Business History Review.
Both research projects have been supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Embassy of France’s Chateaubriand Fellowship, the Anglo-Austrian Society, Harvard Business School and the Centre for History and Economics at the University of Cambridge.
At Oxford, I offer tutorials in British and European history since c. 1750, as well as in economic history. I also supervise History & Economics theses at Wadham.
