Lea Haller’s new book is “brilliant” and “courageous”

Branco Weiss Alumna Lea Haller’s new book on Switzerland’s historical integration in global economy (Transithandel. Die Rolle des Kleinstaats im globalen Kapitalismus) garners widespread attention from the media. Recently, NZZ am Sonntag, the Sunday paper of the renowned Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) has published a one-page article about the the book, calling it “courageous” and Haller’s argumentation “brilliant”, and the conclusion nothing less than spectacular fireworks. Other media that have covered Haller’s book include Switzerland’s leading newspapers like NZZ, Tages-Anzeiger and Die Wochenzeitung, as well as the German news site Soziopolis.

During her fellowship, Dr. Lea Haller investigated the history of global commodity trade with a focus on Swiss trading companies. Contrary to general assumption, global trade in the modern era was not primarily driven by the imperial powers, but by a bourgeois elite in countries with a high level of global integration and economic interdependence. Switzerland is a case in point. The small, neutral country had a large trading sector since the mid-19th century and is the biggest trading place worldwide today. Its merchanting trade by far exceeded the import and export of the country.

Read the article in NZZ am Sonntag (PDF, German)

Read the article in NZZ (German)

Read the article in Tages-Anzeiger(German)

Read the article in Die Wochenzeitung (German)

Read the article in Soziopolis (German)

Read the article in H-Soz-Kult (German)

Read the article and hear the podcast on Deutschlandfunk (German radio; German)

See the book