Cologne FRESH Meeting 2023
Research Focus
The Seminar for Economic and Business History focuses on the quantitative study of economic history and long-term development. Members of the team conduct research to answer questions such as: what historical events and factors were crucial for the differential economic developments of regions and countries? What is the reason for the persistence of economic differences? What factors affect or drive economic development?
Research conducted at this chair aims to identify historically important factors that cause differences in economic development over time and space. These factors include aspects of institutional change, human capital formation, and technological diffusion, as well as geographical and cultural factors.
As a quantitative economic historian, we typically work with microeconomic methods to answer macroeconomic questions. In our research, we often combine historical microdata and administrative data with geospatial information. Our detailed datasets allow us to apply econometric methods aimed at drawing causal inference regarding the analyzed relationships. For more information, please see the publications.