About Bernardo Batiz-Lazo

I am a business historian of the automation of retail banking. I have explored themes such as the ATM and the cashless society. My interests and publications also straddle contemporary issues in digital payments. For my weekly list of working papers in business and economic history see http://nep.repec.org/nep-his.h...

Bernardo Batiz-Lazo is currently straddling between Newcastle and Mexico City. You can find him on twitter on issues related to business history of banking, fintech, payments and other musings. Not always in that order. @BatizLazo

Bernardo's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Bernardo:

Lewis Wade, "Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France: Marine Insurance, War and the Atlantic Empire Under Louis XIV" (Boydell Press, 2023)

January 19, 2024

Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France

Lewis Wade

Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France: Marine Insurance, War and the Atlantic Empire Under Louis XIV (Boydell Press, 2023) closely analyse…

Christopher Corker, "The Business and Technology of the Sheffield Armaments Industry, 1900-1930" (U of York, 2016)

January 16, 2024

The Business and Technology of the Sheffield Armaments Industry, 1900-1930

Christopher Corker

Christopher Corker's The Business and Technology of the Sheffield Armaments Industry, 1900-1930 (U of York, 2016) focuses on four in-depth case studie…

James W. Cortada, "Inside IBM: Lessons of a Corporate Culture in Action" (Columbia Business School, 2023)

January 14, 2024

Inside IBM

James W. Cortada

IBM was the world's leading provider of information technologies for much of the twentieth century. What made it so successful for such a long time, a…

Niall G. MacKenzie et al., "Varieties of Capitalism Over Time" (Routledge, 2022)

December 13, 2023

Varieties of Capitalism Over Time

Niall G. MacKenzie, Andrew Perchard, and Christopher Miller

Varieties of Capitalism Over Time (Routledge, 2022) looks at how varieties of capitalism emerge over time and across different geographies, and is com…

Joe Lane, "Networks, Innovation, and Knowledge: the North Staffordshire Potteries, 1750-1851" (U of London, 2023)

November 20, 2023

Networks, Innovation, and Knowledge: the North Staffordshire Potteries, 1750-1851

Joe Lane

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the industrial district of the North Staffordshire Potteries dominated the British earthenware industr…

Akram Benjamin, "Cotton, Finance and Business Networks in a Globalised World: The Case of Egypt During the First half of the Twentieth Century" (2019)

November 8, 2023

Cotton, Finance and Business Networks in a Globalised World

Akram Benjamin

Firms and entrepreneurs were key drivers of the globalisation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This thesis investigates commodity…

Jeremy Land, "Colonial Ports, Global Trade, and the Roots of the American Revolution (1700-1776)" (Brill, 2023)

October 18, 2023

Colonial Ports, Global Trade, and the Roots of the American Revolution (1700-1776)

Jeremy Land

Jeremy Land's book Colonial Ports, Global Trade, and the Roots of the American Revolution (1700-1776) (Brill, 2023) takes a long-run view of the globa…

Ian Jones, "Using the Past: Authenticity, Reliability, and the Role of Archives in Barclays PLC's Use of the Past Strategies" (U Liverpool, 2021)

October 17, 2023

Using the Past

Ian Jones
Listen:

Recent scholarship in organisation studies has begun to address how organisations perceive and use their history. However, how organisations preserve …

Christopher Phillips, "Civilian Specialists at War: Britain's Transport Experts and the First World War" (U London Press, 2020)

October 17, 2023

Civilian Specialists at War

Christopher Phillips
Listen:

World War I was the first great general conflict to be fought between highly industrial societies able to manufacture and transport immense quantities…

Rachel O'Dwyer, "Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform" (Verso, 2023)

October 8, 2023

Tokens

Rachel O'Dwyer

Platform capitalism is coming for the money in your pocket. Wherever you look, money is being re-placed by tokens. Digital platforms are issuing new k…

Richard N. Langlois, "The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: The History of American Business Enterprise" (Princeton UP, 2023)

July 27, 2023

The Corporation and the Twentieth Century

Richard N. Langlois
Listen:

The twentieth century was the managerial century in the United States. An organizational transformation, from entrepreneurial to managerial capitalism…

Anne L. Murphy, "Virtuous Bankers: A Day in the Life of the Eighteenth-Century Bank of England" (Princeton UP, 2023)

June 8, 2023

Virtuous Bankers

Anne L. Murphy
Listen:

The eighteenth-century Bank of England was an institution that operated for the benefit of its shareholders--and yet came to be considered, as Adam Sm…

Lawrence H. White, "Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

May 28, 2023

Better Money

Lawrence H. White

The recent rise of dollar, pound, and euro inflation rates has rekindled the debate over potential alternative monies, particularly gold and Bitcoin. …

Luca Zan, "The Venice Arsenal: Between History, Heritage, and Re-Use" (Routledge, 2022)

April 16, 2023

The Venice Arsenal

Luca Zan

The Venice Arsenal: Between History, Heritage, and Re-Use (Routledge, 2022) reviews four decades of debate about restoring an industrial heritage site…

Dror Goldberg, "Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

April 9, 2023

Easy Money

Dror Goldberg

Economists endlessly debate the nature of legal tender monetary systems--coins and bills issued by a government or other authority. Yet the origins of…

James W. Cortada, "Birth of Modern Facts: How the Information Revolution Transformed Academic Research, Governments and Businesses" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

March 12, 2023

Birth of Modern Facts

James W. Cortada

For over twenty years, James W. Cortada has pioneered research into how information shapes society. In Birth of Modern Facts: How the Information Revo…

Tim Walker and Lucian Morris, "The Handbook of Banking Technology" (John Wiley & Sons, 2021)

November 28, 2022

The Handbook of Banking Technology

Tim Walker and Lucian Morris

In The Handbook of Banking Technology (John Wiley & Sons, 2021), Walker and Morris provide a first comprehensive view of the systems that support a ba…

Ghassan Moazzin, "Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870-1919" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

November 7, 2022

Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China

Ghassan Moazzin

Using previously unexplored and meticulously analyzed sources from China and to a lesser extent Japan, combined with those of Germany and the UK, Ghas…

Ashley Sweetman, "Cyber and the City: Securing London’s Banks in the Computer Age" (Springer, 2022)

November 1, 2022

Cyber and the City

Ashley Sweetman

Dr. Ashley Sweetman works in cyber security for a London-based global bank and holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London…

Daniel D. Garcia-Swartz and Martin Campbell-Kelly, "Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry" (MIT Press, 2022)

October 28, 2022

Cellular

Daniel D. Garcia-Swartz and Martin Campbell-Kelly

In this episode, we discuss a book that will be appealing to a general audience and which helps to bridge the gap of the story of communication in the…

Jakob Feinig, "Moral Economies of Money: Politics and the Monetary Constitution of Society" (Stanford UP, 2022)

October 17, 2022

Moral Economies of Money

Jakob Feinig

In this podcast Jakob Feinig introduces his ideas about how and when people's practices and institutions shape money and money creation. He provided d…

James Bessen, "The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation" (Yale UP, 2022)

September 29, 2022

The New Goliaths

James Bessen

In The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation (Yale UP, 2022), James Bessen exp…

Amy Edwards, "Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain" (U California Press, 2022)

August 31, 2022

Are We Rich Yet?

Amy Edwards

In this podcast, Amy Edwards, author of Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain (U California Press, 2022), prov…

Johan Fourie, "Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom: Lessons from 100,000 Years of Human History" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

August 24, 2022

Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom

Johan Fourie

In Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom: Lessons from 100,000 Years of Human History (Cambridge UP, 2022), Johan Fourie gives a new look to economic hist…