Sheilagh Ogilvie
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sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie
@sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
550 followers 500 following 40 posts

Chichele Professor of Economic History, All Souls College, Oxford
https://sheilaghogilvie.com/

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Sheilagh Catheren Ogilvie is a Canadian historian, economist, and academic, specialising in economic history. Since 2020, she has been Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. She was previously a longtime faculty member at the University of Cambridge. .. more

Economics 60%
History 17%
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sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jan 11
Happy to say my new book, “Controlling Contagion”, comes out next month. 700 years of tackling pandemics. Not all bad news…

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Controlling Contagion
How human institutions—markets, states, communities, religions, guilds and families—have helped both to control and to exacerbate epidemics throughout history.
press.princeton.edu

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · 17d
Do the preindustrial roots of gender inequality lie in exogenous forces or also in human institutions? “Dividing the Spoils: Inheritance Institutions and Gender Inequality before Industrialization” @felixschaff.bsky.social @cepr.org ‪@oxford-esh.bsky.social‬‬
cepr.org/publications...

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Oct 4
Wonderful audience and great discussion today at the Italian Economic History Association keynote on “Leviathan’s Health: State Capacity and Pestilence from the Black Death to Covid”. An honour to be invited to this excellent conference! @PrincetonUPress ‪@oxford-esh.bsky.social‬‬

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Sep 25
How did preindustrial work patterns differ between women and men? How do you even measure them? Amazing quantitative data coming out today at the Urbino conference on “Women and Men at Work in Preindustrial Europe” mobilityandhumanities.it/work/

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Sep 20
Looking forward talking about “Leviathan's Health: State Capacity and Pestilence from the Black Death to Covid” at the ASE Conference in Venice on 4 Oct, and learning more about the newest work in Italian economic history ‪@oxford-esh.bsky.social‬ @PrincetonUPress‬ t.co/k5DWafQAbw

Reposted by Nuno Palma

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Aug 21
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
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.
www.ru.nl

Reposted by Nuno Palma

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Aug 21
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
DP20556 Transplanting Craft Guilds to Colonial Latin America: A Large Language Model Analysis
What can we learn about institutional transplantation by analyzing craft guilds in colonial Latin America? We use large language models (LLMs) to investigate colonial guild ordinances, addressing two major bottlenecks in assessing institutions: digitizing qualitative sources efficiently and analyzing them quantitatively. Our newly designed methodology reveals both long-term continuities and striking differences between craft guilds in colonial Mexico and Peru, particularly with regard to human capital and product quality. The LLM-based approach identifies patterns that were previously not discernible using standard methods in economic history, its results are reproducible, and it can easily be extended to other historical settings.
cepr.org

Reposted by Sheilagh Ogilvie, Alice Reid

amrcampop.bsky.social
Alice Reid @amrcampop.bsky.social · Mar 27
Campop blog #42: The quality of care during birth has always affected outcomes for both mothers and infants. But the introduction of midwivery training in 1902 did seem to have an impact - today's blog explains why
@camunicampop.bsky.social
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/03...
The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, CambridgeCall the midwife! Birth attendance and birth outcomes across history. « Top of the Campops: 60 things you didn't know ...
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, V:I, Part III, on government, externalities and public goods:
sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Adam Smith: "it would still deserve the most serious attention of government... to prevent a leprosy, or any other loathsome and offensive disease... from spreading itself... though, perhaps, no other publick good might result from such attention, besides the prevention of so great a publick evil"
sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Wonderful hosts and amazing audience in Edinburgh yesterday for for Adam Smith Lecture on “Market, State, and Contagion from the Black Death to Covid”. @AdamSmithHouse @PrincetonUPress @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social #echist press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Adam Smith: "it would still deserve the most serious attention of government... to prevent a leprosy, or any other loathsome and offensive disease... from spreading itself... though, perhaps, no other publick good might result from such attention, besides the prevention of so great a publick evil"
sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Wonderful hosts and amazing audience in Edinburgh yesterday for for Adam Smith Lecture on “Market, State, and Contagion from the Black Death to Covid”. @AdamSmithHouse @PrincetonUPress @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social #echist press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Jun 26
Wonderful hosts and amazing audience in Edinburgh yesterday for for Adam Smith Lecture on “Market, State, and Contagion from the Black Death to Covid”. @AdamSmithHouse @PrincetonUPress @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social #echist press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Reposted by Nuno Palma

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · May 16
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

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Apr 28
Trade privileges didn't exactly benefit the special-interest groups, either. @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @PrincetonUPress #echist press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Apr 28
What does history tell us about trade barriers to favour domestic interest-groups? On guilds and trade in medieval Europe, check out this BBC series, broadcast again this week. @BBCRadio4 @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social #echist www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Apr 8
Has the black box of "state capacity" ever frustrated you? These guys are prying it open ...
nunopgpalma.bsky.social Nuno Palma @nunopgpalma.bsky.social · Apr 7
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲
New paper by K. Karaman, A. Henriques, & myself. Contrary to conventional wisdom we find that constrained government & state capacity were not systematically related. England stood out for combining both which helps explain its take-off

Reposted by Sheilagh Ogilvie

nunopgpalma.bsky.social
Nuno Palma @nunopgpalma.bsky.social · Apr 7
𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲
New paper by K. Karaman, A. Henriques, & myself. Contrary to conventional wisdom we find that constrained government & state capacity were not systematically related. England stood out for combining both which helps explain its take-off

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Apr 4
Had fun podcasting with Tyler Cowen on “Controlling Contagion”, guilds, and the persistence of bad institutions @PrincetonUPress @OxfordESH @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/she...
Sheilagh Ogilvie on Epidemics, Guilds, and the Persistence of Bad Institutions (Ep. 237)
What 700 years of pandemic responses reveal about institutional effectiveness
conversationswithtyler.com

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Apr 3
Wonderful audience today for “Controlling Contagion” at the Oxford Literary Festival @PrincetonUPress @oxford-esh.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social
dremilyvincent.bsky.social Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · Apr 3
A great talk this morning from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social as part of the Oxford Literary Festival on her new book ‘Controlling Contagion’ in which she examines economic and institutional responses to pandemics across the last 700 years 🦠 😷

Reposted by Sheilagh Ogilvie

dremilyvincent.bsky.social
Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · Apr 3
A great talk this morning from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social as part of the Oxford Literary Festival on her new book ‘Controlling Contagion’ in which she examines economic and institutional responses to pandemics across the last 700 years 🦠 😷

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 30
Follow the 1525 German Peasants' War day by day: @germanpeasantswar.bsky.social #earlymodern #skystorians
sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 30
Do revolutions break out when peasants are poor? Or when they realize they shouldn’t be? And what role does God play? Still trying to puzzle this out, 5 centuries after the Peasants’ War (podcast in German): open.spotify.com/episode/0ZVe...
Der Freiheitskampf der Bauern - Bauernkrieg 1525
Terra X History - Der Podcast · Episode
open.spotify.com

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 30
Do revolutions break out when peasants are poor? Or when they realize they shouldn’t be? And what role does God play? Still trying to puzzle this out, 5 centuries after the Peasants’ War (podcast in German): open.spotify.com/episode/0ZVe...
Der Freiheitskampf der Bauern - Bauernkrieg 1525
Terra X History - Der Podcast · Episode
open.spotify.com

Reposted by Sheilagh Ogilvie

nber.org
NBER @nber.org · Mar 27
Sewer access shapes developing world cities. New research shows effects on population density as large as for highways, but little on demographics, from Sean E. McCulloch, Matthew P. Schaelling, Matthew Turner, and Toru Kitagawa https://www.nber.org/papers/w33597

Reposted by Sheilagh Ogilvie

oxford-esh.bsky.social
Oxford Economic & Social History @oxford-esh.bsky.social · Mar 27
We are also inviting applications for a 2-year full-time Departmental Lecturer in Economic and Social History at @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social Applications should be submitted online and before noon Wednesday 23 April - details below! #econhist #history

www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/depart...
Departmental Lecturer in Economic and Social History
www.history.ox.ac.uk

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 26
Why do sewers matter for the economy? People like them! But not only that: sewers encourage agglomeration economies, making us more productive. Super interesting new working paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Sewers and Urbanization in the Developing World
We investigate the effects of sewer access on neighborhood characteristics in developing world cities. Because it is more difficult to move sewage uphill than d
papers.ssrn.com

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 19
“Leave fast. Go far away. Come back slowly.” Was “Cito, Longe, Tarde” the only way of controlling contagion? A few answers at the Oxford Literary Festival on 3 April @princetonupress.bsky.social oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
Controlling Contagion: Epidemics and Institutions from the Black Death to Covid | Oxford Literary Festival
Sheilagh Ogilvie - Controlling Contagion: Epidemics and Institutions from the Black Death to Covid
oxfordliteraryfestival.org

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 18
Any advice for someone waking up in 1348 to find the Black Death had arrived? How much did it change by 2020? Some ideas in “Controlling Contagion” - out today in Europe. @princetonupress.bsky.social press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Controlling Contagion
How human institutions—markets, states, communities, religions, guilds and families—have helped both to control and to exacerbate epidemics throughout history.
press.princeton.edu

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Mar 4
Thank you -- I hope you enjoy it!

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Feb 20
Ever wondered what happened behind the harmonious facade of the traditional village community? Were the "commons" really open to the common people? More pathbreaking work in the Campop 60th birthday series.
camunicampop.bsky.social Cambridge Group for the History of Population & Social Structure @camunicampop.bsky.social · Feb 6
📣New blog post alert! 📣
Who had access to common land in the past, and how extensive were common rights?
Our latest blog post by Leigh Shaw-Taylor demonstrates that it was not such an open system as we might assume, even before enclosure...
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog
#skystorians
The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, Cambridge Top of the Campops: 60 things you didn't know about family, marriage, work, and death since the middle ages
www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Feb 18
Thank you very much indeed for this reference, which I hadn't come across! In ch. 5 of my book I found that religion affects mortality where you can control contagion by individual action, but not where it's influenced more by public water supply (as with cholera).

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Feb 17
Nearly every religion claims to be cleaner than all the others. This claim can’t be true for all religions. But is it true for any? And could it affect disease outcomes? This nice study suggests so: doi.org/10.1093/ej/u....
Child Care and Human Development: Insights from Jewish History in Central and Eastern Europe, 1500–1930*
Abstract. Economists increasingly highlight the role that human capital formation, institutions and cultural transmission may play in shaping health, knowl
doi.org

sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Sheilagh Ogilvie @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social · Feb 17
Did religion affect epidemics through hygiene? For astute reflections on some colourful ideas, I enjoyed Jeremy Brown’s “The Eleventh Plague” global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com