Nuno Palma

It will be a huge honour to deliver the 2026 #HajnalLecture at the University of Manchester. It will also be something of a homecoming: Manchester was not only the place I grew up, it shaped my love of Economic History. #Manchester #EconHist @manchester.ac.uk #ArthurLewisLab @nunopgpalma.bsky.social

There is still time to apply for the 2026 Datini-Ester seminar on "Craft Guilds & Unions"! All PhD students working on these topics are welcome to apply! Join us in beautiful Prato (Tuscany) for this funded experience! (deadline November 15)
www.istitutodatini.it/ester/htm/ca...

And shoutout to former LSE Economic History staff and PhD students Stephen Broadberry,
@cliochris.bsky.social and @nunopgpalma.bsky.social who have been cited as well. The scientific statement can be found here: www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2025...

Uses and abuses of the Murdock Atlas in social science research

CALL FOR PAPERS
A workshop at LSE next April on 'Uses and Abuses of the Murdock Atlas in Social Science Research'. We're looking for cross-disciplinary engagement to think critically about what this widely used source means, what it can & can't tell us. Submit by Nov 14
www.lse.ac.uk/economic-his...

Blood and Iron: Political Fragmentation in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean How new technology reshaped the political equilibrium of the early Iron Age through violence.

Was thrilled to write this for @broadstreetblog.bsky.social (which I recommend for anyone interested in historical political economy)

www.broadstreet.blog/p/blood-and-...

#EconSky Another reminder that European economic history was a core element in the training of early 20th century economists. Consider Howard Levi Gray and Edwin Francis Gay's course offerings for 1909-10 at Harvard... www.irwincollier.com/harvard-euro...

Anatomy of a premodern state Abstract. We provide a blueprint for constructing measures of state capacity in premodern states, offering several advantages over the current state of the

For anyone interested, the paper is available in open access here:
academic.oup.com/ereh/article...

🥳 Shameless self-promotion annoucement!
Honored to have received the Figuerola Prize for the best article published in the European Review of Economic History in the last 2 years, for «Anatomy of a Premodern State», with Lenor F. Costa & António Henriques!

Did you know that 40% of big game hunters in the Americas were women, and so too were 40% of brewers in medieval London? Find out about women’s involvement in the economy from the Stone Age to the present in my new book #Economica - out now @headlinebooks.bsky.social #econhist

Economica by Victoria Bateman | Waterstones Buy Economica by Victoria Bateman from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

Want to read an “erudite, ambitious & richly global” book that “sets a new standard in economic history”? Then my forthcoming book #Economica is for you. If you’re in the UK, for tonight only you can get 25% off if you preorder @waterstones.bsky.social: www.waterstones.com/book/economi... #SUMMER25

New CEPR Discussion Paper - DP20556
Transplanting Craft Guilds to Colonial Latin America: A Large Language Model Analysis cepr.org/publications... @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @oxford-esh.bsky.social #echist‬

Keynote “Controlling Contagion: Epidemics and Institutions from Plague to Covid” | Radboud University In this keynote lecture, prof. Sheilagh Ogilvie will explain how societies have historically managed epidemics through various social institutions.

Looking forward talking about “Controlling Contagion” at the Radboud Conference next week, and learning more answers to its key question: “How Did We Lift the Burden?” www.ru.nl/en/about-us/... @oxford-esh.bsky.social @timriswick.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social

‼️Come join us for the RIDGE Growth and Development in Macro Workshop!

December 11-12 in beautiful Montevideo🇺🇾

Submission deadline 👉 September 30

More info & submission link 👉 ridge.org.uy/wp-content/u...

"After a natural experiment is first used, other researchers often reuse the setting, examining different outcome[s]..."

"...we use simulations based on real data to illustrate the multiple hypothesis testing problem that arises when researchers reuse natural experiments."

Hostility toward homosexuality remains common in many of the world’s largest countries—

This chart shows the share of people who say homosexuality cannot be justified across five of the world’s most populous countries.

Together, these countries are home to nearly half of the global population.

Just four weeks to go until the publication of my new book #ECONOMICA: A Global History of Women, Wealth & Power @headlinebooks.bsky.social @hachetteuk.bsky.social on 28 August. It’s time to place women at the heart of economic history. #womenwealthpower #econhist

This figure shows the percent of political science articles that at least have a reproduction archive. {a pretty low bar in and of itself, but still}

Steady improvement, but still a long way to go!

Finally out in print: Testing Marx, with @charlottebartels.bsky.social and Niko Wolf! History of thought with numbers. Have a look: direct.mit.edu/rest/article... (open access)

Deadline tomorrow for the “New Economic History of Brazil” conference in September. Come join us in the historical district of Belém in Lisboa! Details: nofuturepast.wordpress.com/2025/01/17/c...

"Justices of the Peace: Legal Foundations of the Industrial Revolution"
New @cepr.org discussion paper by Tim Besley, Dan Bogart, Jonathan Chapman, and @nunopgpalma.bsky.social cepr.org/publications...

We are looking to hire post-doc interested in working on migration, citizenship, and diaspora. Come join us in Münster! Generous contract + no teaching for 2 years.

Many details and link to job add here:

sites.google.com/site/tnhalbe...

Please PM me incase you have questions!

A pleasure to talk about serfdom and my Leverhulme project yesterday at the Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development. @oxford-esh.bsky.social @arthurlewislab.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk #echist

🧩 The takeaway?
Institutions also operate locally. Local legal actors — even unpaid ones — can shape economic trajectories in powerful ways.
The state was heavily involved with the First Industrial Revolution.
Link to the paper:
documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx...
7/7

JPs helped towns capitalize on the Industrial Revolution:
⚙️ Industrial towns near coalfields grew faster with more JPs;
📈 JPs helped enforce contracts, settle disputes, and foster trust;
The effects appear gradually over time! The choice of the outcome year is not critical.
6/7

Crucially, the location of JPs in 1700 was not driven by anticipated growth — meaning the effect is causal, not just correlation.
In other words: more JPs → better long-term development outcomes. 5/7

We find that counties with more JPs in 1700 saw:
✅ Higher population growth
✅ Faster urbanization
✅ Greater economic diversification
✅ More infrastructure and innovation
✅ Better human capital (via apprenticeships)
4/7

🔍 Who were the JPs?
They were local elites—usually unpaid, but powerful—tasked with matters from contract enforcement to infrastructure oversight.
Their presence made legal systems more accessible, faster, & cheaper—especially in an age before a professional paid bureaucracy 3/7

We often hear the state had little to do with Britain’s Industrial Revolution. We argue otherwise.
Using novel data, we show that “street-level” legal capacity, via JPs, played a crucial role in enforcing property rights, resolving disputes & managing public goods. 2/7

How did local legal institutions power the British Industrial Revolution?

In a new working paper (with Tim Besley, Dan Bogart, and Jonathan Chapman @jnchapman-econ.bsky.social, we show that Justices of the Peace — magistrates acting locally — were a quiet engine behind modern economic growth. 🧵👇1/7

“Among articles stating that data was available upon request, only 17% shared data upon request.”