Research
Our research is characterised by the combined application of quantitative, qualitative and comparative historical research methods. We draw theoretical inspiration from the social sciences. Archival research and data collection form a central part of research activities. We value the valorisation of research results and strive to reach out to academic as well as public audiences.
Our research focusses on long term economic growth, (in)equality, sustainability, governance, agricultural and rural development, landscape and heritage. There are ongoing research projects on ‘South-South Divergence’, ‘Global health inequality and the diffusion of sanitation since 1850’, and ‘Food, Famine, and the End of Empire in Indonesia, 1940-1950’. For more information on our research program, contact our Research Coordinator Pim de Zwart.
Current research projects
-
Unfair Trade? Globalization, Institutions and Inequality in Southeast Asia, 1830-1940
Global trade and colonial institutions are often asserted as key long-run drivers of within-country economic inequality in developing countries.... -
Food, Famine, and the End of Empire in Indonesia, 1940-1950
While an estimated 2.4 million people died during the famine in Java in 1944-45, hardly anything is known about the famine’s impact on the... -
Global health inequality and the diffusion of sanitation since 1850
Contaminated water and inadequate waste disposal are major causes of disease, morbidity and early death. In 2016, 2.2 billion people were lacking... -
South-South Divergence. Comparative Histories of Regional Integration in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa since 1850
While historians have made great efforts to investigate the origins and drivers of the great divergence between the industrialized ‘North’... -
A good crisis gone to waste? How the 1930s Great Depression deepened Africa’s primary commodity dependence
The 1930s Great Depression signifies the deepest crisis of global capitalism since the Industrial Revolution. Africa was dragged into the slump by its...
Past research projects
-
Is Poverty Destiny? A New Empirical Foundation for Long-Term African Welfare Analysis
This ERC Starting Grant project aims to create a new empirical foundation for the study of long-term African welfare development, in order to provide... -
Is Poverty Destiny? Exploring Long Term Changes in African Living Standards in Global Perspective
Africa has recently become a new frontier area in research on the historical roots of global inequality. The VIDI project, Is poverty destiny?... -
Unraveling the African Textile Mystery: An Investigation of Global and Local Factors in sub-Saharan Africa’s Long-Term Industrial Lethargy
This individual PhD project, funded by the N.W. Posthumus Institute under the auspices of the NWO Graduate Program, examines the impact of foreign... -
Industriousness in an imperial economy: Interactions of households' work patterns, time allocation and consumption in the Netherlands and the Netherlands-Indies, 1815-1940
Interactions of households' work patterns, time allocation and consumption in the Netherlands and the Netherlands-Indies, 1815-1940 -
Rural19
The main focus of this NWO-project is on the modernisation process and the social changes that took place in the Dutch countryside during the...