Research Interests

Long-run regional and urban development in Europe, origins and consequences of culture and identity for economic development, origins and long-run legacies of ancient civilizations, causes and consequences of wars and conflicts

Current Working Papers & Ongoing Research
(click on the title to download the newest version of the paper)

How Historical Political Instability Shaped Regional Identity: Evidence from Germany, 2025, Mimeo (with Thilo R. Huning)

The Economic Effects of Regional Identity: Evidence from German License Plates., 2025, Mimeo. (with Thilo R. Huning)

Bombs and Ballots: Wartime Experience and Political Preferences in the 1955 Saar Referendum, 2025,  Mimeo.
 (with Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer) R&R Economic Journal

Constructive Destruction? How Allied Bombing facilitated Germany's Rise to Riches ​(with Thilo R. Huning and Hans-Joachim Voth)

The Geological Origins of Civilization, 2025, draft coming soon! (with Andreas Link and Thilo R. Huning),

The Long-Run Effects of Popular Uprisings: Evidence from the German Peasants' War, 2025, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 20231

Does Regional Identity Guide Investments? Evidence from German License Plates., 2022, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 18074 (with Thilo R. Huning)

Older version with additional results was entiteled "Identity, Instability, and Investors. An Empirical Investigation of the Home Bias" (Working Papers of the Priority Programme 1859 Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour No. 3)

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