I hold a UBS Foundation Professorship at the Economics Department, University of Zurich. I am a Fellow of the Econometric Society and serve as Scientific Director of the UBS Center for Economics in Society.
My research examines long-run economic growth, political economy, conflict, persistence and culture. I have worked on the economic history of war, on sovereign debt, the causes and consequences of the Nazi Party’s rise to power, and the economic history of the Industrial Revolution. My research has appeared in four of the top five journals in economics. I have written more than fifty articles, including in the AER, QJE, JPE, RESTUD, PNAS, APSR, AEJ:Applied, RESTAT, the EJ, and the Journal of Finance, as well as leading field journals. I have also (co-)authored three academic books with Oxford and Princeton University Press and five popular books.
My work has been profiled in The Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other major international media.