My research examines the political economy of inequality in the long run. I investigate how historical institutional arrangements governing the state, the family, and markets shape the distribution of wealth, gender disparities, and social mobility over centuries.
A central theme of my work is the persistence of inequality: why economic disparities were already pronounced at the onset of industrialization and how institutional structures generated and reproduced these patterns over time. Drawing on newly constructed archival micro-data, I combine historical analysis with modern economic methods to identify the mechanisms linking institutions to distributional outcomes.
By integrating economic history with political economy and applied economics, my research seeks to clarify the deep institutional foundations of inequality and development.
EUI Max Weber Newsletter: "Beyond Weberian Growth: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on Inequality and Poverty in the Long Run of History"
EUI Economic Policy Blog 'La Fonte': "Urban political structures and the historical roots of wealth inequality"
The Emergence of Heavy-Tailed Urban Distributions (with Thilo Albers and Timo Stieglitz)
Religion and Resilience: Protestantism, Catholicism, and Epidemic Mortality, 1400–1900 (with Alice Dominici)