About Me
I am a post-doctoral researcher and part of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre at the University of Groningen. I studied economics at the same university …
Overview of my:
The African Commodity Trade Database (ACTD) aims to stimulate and deepen research on African and global economic history. The database provides export and import series at product level for more than two and a half centuries of African trade (1737-2010). Continue reading “Dataset: African Commodity Trade Database”
The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835-85
ABSTRACT: We use a new trade dataset showing that nineteenth century Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a terms of trade boom comparable to other parts of the ‘global periphery’. A sharp rise in export prices in the five decades before the scramble (1835-1885) Continue reading “Article: An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble?”
This dataset provides improved measures of total factor productivity for the U.S private domestic economy and a 35-industry breakdown. For the period 1929-1947 it includes detailed estimates for output, employment, hours worked, labor quality, capital stocks, Continue reading “Dataset: U.S. Historical National Accounts, 1929-1947”
The Changing Markets for Non-slave Products in Pre-abolition West Africa
ABSTRACT: Using a newly constructed dataset on the quantities and prices of African commodities over the long 18th century this paper provides new insights into the changing nature of the non-slave trade with West Africa in the era before the abolition Continue reading “Working Paper: Commodities, Prices and Risk”
The Influence of Economic Structure and Demand for Labour on Dutch Unmarried Women’s Labour Force Participation during the Long Nineteenth Century
ABSTRACT: Extensive research has demonstrated that female labour force participation (FLFP) in Western Europe decreased during the second half of the nineteenth century. During this period, in the Netherlands, FLFP was even lower than in surrounding countries Continue reading “Working Paper: Before she said “I do””
A New View on Technology and Productivity in German Manufacturing in the Early Twentieth Century
ABSTRACT: Labor productivity in German manufacturing lagged persistently behind the United States in the early twentieth century. Traditionally, this is attributed to dichotomous technology paths across the Atlantic. Continue reading “Article: The Yankees of Europe?”
American Productivity Growth during the Great Depression
The Great Depression is considered one of the darkest times for the US economy, but some argue that the US economy experienced strong productivity growth over the period. This column reassesses this performance using improved Continue reading “Column: Onwards and Upwards”
The partitioning of Africa by European imperial powers in the late 19th century irreversibly transformed the long-term development trajectories of African economies. Yet, the motives for, and timing of, the scramble remain poorly understood. This column argues that the changes in African Continue reading “Column: An Economic Rationale for the African Scramble”
ABSTRACT: We develop new aggregate and sectoral Total Factor Productivity (TFP) estimates for the United States between 1899 and 1941 through better coverage of sectors and better measured labor quality, and show TFP-growth was lower than previously thought, broadly based across sectors Continue reading “Working Paper: A Vision of the Growth Process in a Technologically Progressive Economy”
The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1845-1885
ABSTRACT: This is the first study to present a unified quantitative account of African commodity trade in the long 19th century from the zenith of the Atlantic slave trade (1790s) to the eve of World War II (1939). Drawing evidence from a new dataset Continue reading “Working Paper: An Economic Rationale for the African Scramble”
