Research team
Expertise
Economic history, demographic history, Medieval and early modern history, social inequality, economic inequality, economic growth & development, epidemics, research policy & analysis
Wealth inequality and mobility in Mechelen in the very long run, 1500-1960.
Abstract
The distribution of wealth is a key characteristic of any society. Wealth generates income as well as economic, political, social and cultural power. Fuelled by the Great Recession of 2008 and screaming headlines of the world's richest only becoming richer after or even during each crisis (COVID-19 included), social scientists have increasingly turned to the history of wealth inequality to better understand long-term trajectories of how wealth and income distributions shaped and were shaped by societal transformations. In a similar vein, scholars of social mobility increasingly question long-standing claims of ever rising societal 'openness'. This BOF-KP connects with these lines of research and will make four key contributions based on a long-run study of probate inventories, typically drawn up for the purposes of inheritance division and debt payments after someone's death. First, by systematically sampling the very long period 1500-1960 with benchmarks approximately every 50 years, the analysis will cover the impact of major social, economic and political transitions on the distribution of (probated) wealth in the city and surrounding villages of Mechelen in the Southern Netherlands/Belgium. Second, the uniquely rich heuristic density of the chosen case study will allow this BOF-KP to provide novel and more detailed wealth mobility estimates than presently available in the literature. Third, the results of this exercise will be highly instructive in preparation of a larger-scale 'national' study on long-term wealth inequality and mobility. Finally, when dealing with millions of observations stemming from different sources, record linkage must be highly automated to be feasible – this project will test the merits and limits of various approaches and as such speak directly to the booming (methodological) field of large-scale record linkage.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Hanus Jord
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Human capital from a household perspective: knowledge investments in early modern Antwerp, Ghent, Lier and Aalst.
Abstract
As evidenced by this short state of the art, there is an urgent need for a micro-level approach in which education and the mechanisms behind human capital formation are analyzed comprehensively. This project aims to fulfill this requirement by 1° introducing a new kind of source to quantify the investments in various types of education and to identify the different causal factors involved from a household perspective; and 2° analyzing the situation in four distinct early modern cities in the Southern Low Countries, the first industrializing region on the continent.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: De Munck Bert
- Co-promoter: Hanus Jord
- Fellow: De Bie Annelies
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Understanding long-run demographic and economic change in the Low Countries: towards a comprehensive database for early modern parish registers
Abstract
What caused the birth of modern economic growth? Historians and economists increasingly refer to the demographic behaviour of households in the past to explain big questions. This project contributes to major debates in economic and social history by creating a comprehensive database of early modern parish registers. It provides the necessary empirical foundations to analyse demographic and economic change in the pre-industrial Low Countries.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Hanus Jord
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
The wealth of cities. Economic growth and living standards in Brabant, Holland and Liège in the long run, 1500-1900.
Abstract
A major achievement of historical research in the past decades has been to deconstruct the old assumption that early modern Europe was a growthless economy. In recent years historians have spent increasing attention to the reconstruction of historical national accounts of early modern Europe, which, however, has led to a conundrum. New studies reveal long-run increases in GDP per capita that contradict older evidence on low levels and declining trends of living standards. This confusion is true for Europe as a whole, and is highly problematic since it seriously confounds our appreciation of the long-run growth achievement of even the most developed pre-industrial economies. Moreover, diverging paths between real wages and per capita GDPestimates urge us to connect the living standard research to the income distribution debate. Building on a novel approach this project reconstructs aggregate and socially diversified real incomes in a comparative micro-level study for three regions in the Southern and Northern Netherlands between 1500 and 1900. Six urban centres in Brabant, Holland and Liège with distinct paths of development will be studied. This project contributes to a more profound understanding of the long-term development in living standards in the face of economic growth and decline.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Blondé Bruno
- Fellow: Hanus Jord
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Social inequality and mobility during the long sixteenth century: Bois-le-Duc and its "Meierij"
Abstract
Historical interest in the dynamics of social inequalities has been strangely underdeveloped. Especially as to the late medieval and early modern Low Countries, surprisingly little is known on patterns of social and economic mobility on the household level within its numerous cities. Armed with a number of exceptional sources, this project hopes to further our understanding of the inequalities and mobilities of a typical ancien régime town, as well as their processes of (re)production. Intergenerational transfers of resources will occupy a key place in the analysis and theories brought into play.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Blondé Bruno
- Co-promoter: Stabel Peter
- Fellow: Hanus Jord
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Social inequality and mobility during the long sixteenth century: Bois-le-Duc and its "Meierij".
Abstract
Historical interest in the dynamics of social inequalities has been strangely underdeveloped. Especially as to the late medieval and early modern Low Countries, surprisingly little is known on patterns of social and economic mobility on the household level within its numerous cities. Armed with a number of exceptional sources, this project hopes to further our understanding of the inequalities and mobilities of a typical ancien régime town, as well as their processes of (re)production. Intergenerational transfers of resources will occupy a key place in the analysis and theories brought into play.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Blondé Bruno
- Co-promoter: Stabel Peter
- Fellow: Hanus Jord
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project