Staff Profile

Introduction

I am an economic historian whose research mainly concerns trade during the period from 1850-1939, with a particular focus on Britain and the Dominions.

I received a PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics in 2017. Prior to joining Newcastle University, I was a Lecturer in Economics at Swansea University from 2017-2020. I have held visiting appointments in the Economics Department at the University of Melbourne and in the History Faculty at the University of Cambridge, where I was concurrently the Visiting Fellow of Corpus Christi College for the Lent Term, 2024.

I am an External Affiliate of the Centre for Economic History at the Australian National University and an External Member of the Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development at Manchester University. I currently serve as an Associate Editor of the Asia-Pacific Economic History Review.

In 2024, I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. From 2018-2024, I was a trustee of the Economic History Society. I have received grants from the Manchester Statistical Society and the Pasold Research Fund.

Presently, I am an External Examiner for undergraduate degree programmes in the Department of Economics at Surrey University and in the Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics.

Qualifications

PhD, Economic History, London School of Economics (2017)

MSc, Economic History (Research), Distinction, London School of Economics (2013)

BS, Finance and History, summa cum laude, Boston College (2011)

Details of Brian's research are available on his personal website.

ECO3019 and ECO3030: Dissertation (dissertation supervision)

ECO2019: British Economic History, 1780-1979 (lectures and seminars) - Module leader

ECO2008: International Economics (lectures and seminars) - Module leader

NBS8256: International Trade (lectures and seminars) - Module leader

• Articles

  • Keay I, Varian BD. The impact of preferential market access: British imports into Canada, 1892-1903. Canadian Journal of Economics 2024, 57(1), 140-164.
  • Varian BD, Grayson LH. Economic aspects of Australian federation: trade restrictiveness and welfare effects in the colonies and the Commonwealth, 1900-3. Economic Record 2024, 100(328), 74-100.
  • Varian BD. British exports and foreign tariffs: Insights from the Board of Trade's foreign tariff compilation for 1902. Economic History Review 2023, 76(3), 827-843.
  • Varian BD. Revisiting the tariff-growth correlation: The Australasian colonies, 1866–1900. Australian Economic History Review 2022, 62(1), 47-65.
  • Varian BD. Protection and the British rayon industry during the 1920s. Business History 2022, 64(6), 1131-1148.
  • Varian BD. Imperial preference before the Ottawa Agreements: evidence from New Zealand's Preferential and Reciprocal Trade Act of 1903. Economic History Review 2022, 75(4), 1214-1241.
  • Higgins DM, Varian BD. Britain's Empire Marketing Board and the failure of soft trade policy, 1926-33. European Review of Economic History 2021, 25(4), 780-805.
  • Varian BD. The manufacturing comparative advantages of late-Victorian Britain. Cliometrica 2020, 14(3), 479-506.
  • Varian BD. The growth of manufacturing protection in 1920s Britain. Scottish Journal of Political Economy 2019, 66(5), 703-711.
  • Varian BD. Anglo-American trade costs during the first era of globalization: the contribution of a bilateral tariff series. Economic History Review 2018, 71(1), 190-212.
  • Varian BD. British capital and merchandise exports, 1870-1913: the bilateral case of New Zealand. Australian Economic History Review 2017, 57(2), 239-262.

• Reviews

  • Varian BD. Review of periodical literature published in 2021: 1850-1945. Economic History Review 2023, 76(1), 367-378.
  • Varian BD. Review of periodical literature published in 2020: 1850-1945. Economic History Review 2022, 75(1), 263-275.
  • Varian BD. Review of periodical literature published in 2019: 1850-1945. Economic History Review 2021, 74(1), 276-287.
  • Varian BD. Peart, Daniel, Lobbyists and the Making of US Tariff Policy, 1816-1861 [Book review]. Economic History Review 2019, 72(3), 1117-1118.