Dr. Mariusz Lukasiewicz is a Lecturer in African History at the Institute of African Studies, Leipzig University. He completed his PhD in International History at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in Geneva, MA in Global History at the University of Vienna and BCom in Economics at the University of Cape Town. He is a business historian of 19th and 20th century Africa with research and teaching interests in the history of economic institutions, financial intermediaries and business organisations. His habilitation project investigates the Postcolonial History and Political Economy of Capital Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Cash, liquidity and monetary constraints in early post-independence Ghana, 1957-1966. (IFG12)
This sub-project investigates the issue, production and circulation of Ghana’s currency for the period between independence and Ghana’s first ’Stand-by arrangement’ with the International Monetary Fund. The proposed contribution exposes how the post-independence state’s cash, money printing and liquidity management institutions responded to changing technocratic policies in Nkrumah’s government.
Settlers, Sterling and Sanctions: Money Printers and the Political Economy of Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence (IFG12)
The case of (southern) Rhodesia, following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in November 1965, offers a compelling lens through which to examine the complexities of (post-)colonial monetary policy, currency issue, and distribution in Africa. By focusing on the period between 1965 and 1970, the investigation reveals how international sanctions blurred the boundaries between central banking, money printing and financial diplomacy in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Britain and (West) Germany.
Selected publications
Gold, Finance and Imperialism in South Africa, 1887- 1902. A view from the Stock Exchange. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies
Finance, Investment and Decolonisation in Nigeria: Early market formation and participation on the Lagos Stock Exchange, 1957-1967. Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte/Journal of Business History. 67(2) September 2022 pp. 189-217.
https://doi.org/10.1515/zug-2022-0016Bourses, Banks and Boers: Johannesburg’s French Connections and the Paris Krach of 1895. Economic History of Developing Regions. Special Issue: Business, Financial and Monetary History of South Africa. August 2021.
Regulation and social organization on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, 1887-1892. Business History. 63(4). 2021. 686-704.
