About me

I am Professor of Economic and Social History at the Economics Department of the University of Hohenheim. I am also a Research Fellow in the Economic History Programme at CEPR and serve on the Executive Committee of the International Economic History Association. In 2026, I was elected to the Scientific Advisory Board at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.

I am an empirical economist and quantitative economic historian. My research focuses on political economy, financial markets, and institutional change. I am particularly interested in how major political and economic disruptions affect firms, households, and political behaviour, and why similar shocks can have very different consequences across institutional settings.

My current work studies the political and economic consequences of war and postwar reconstruction, the role of local financial institutions in firms’ access to capital, and household financial behaviour in times of crisis. I also work on firm formation, innovation, and legal institutions, using newly constructed historical microdata and modern empirical methods.

Before joining Hohenheim, I held positions at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, the University of Cologne, Humboldt University Berlin, and Trinity College Dublin.

My previous academic service includes serving as President of the European Historical Economics Society, Chair of the Economic History Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik, and as member of the DFG Review Board for Economics.

Please see my Vita and Research page for further details.