Felix Schaff
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felixschaff.bsky.social
Felix Schaff
@felixschaff.bsky.social
Research Fellow @ Utrecht University | researching economic history & inequality | Alumnus @ EUI MaxWeber & @ LSE EconHist

https://sites.google.com/view/felixschaff
Pinned
NEW PAPER in JEconGrowth 👁

What did the Protestant Reformation do to wealth & inequality?

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

(This project goes back to my job market days @lseechist.bsky.social — glad to finally see it published!)
The unequal spirit of the Protestant Reformation: particularism and wealth distribution in early modern Germany - Journal of Economic Growth
This paper assesses the impact of the Protestant Reformation on wealth distribution and inequality in confessionally divided Germany, between 1400 and 1800. The Reformation expanded social welfare, bu...
link.springer.com
Reposted by Felix Schaff
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...
October 24, 2025 at 3:25 PM
NEW PAPER in JEconGrowth 👁

What did the Protestant Reformation do to wealth & inequality?

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

(This project goes back to my job market days @lseechist.bsky.social — glad to finally see it published!)
The unequal spirit of the Protestant Reformation: particularism and wealth distribution in early modern Germany - Journal of Economic Growth
This paper assesses the impact of the Protestant Reformation on wealth distribution and inequality in confessionally divided Germany, between 1400 and 1800. The Reformation expanded social welfare, bu...
link.springer.com
September 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
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...
April 28, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
Writing in The Economist, @politicsoxford.bsky.social's @tabouchadi.bsky.social i argues that the Le Pen ruling is good for liberal democracy: ow.ly/ZCwv50VCpE4
The Le Pen ruling is good for liberal democracy, writes Tarik Abou-Chadi
The Oxford professor says it shouldn’t matter whether the verdict emboldens the hard right or not
ow.ly
April 17, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
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
April 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
Apply for a 3-year PhD position (75%) in our DFG project on the triangle of German Democratic Capitalism w/ @sebastiankohl.bsky.social and @trgn.bsky.social What is the interplay between the German growth model, housing & voting behavior? How did industrial change affect inequality?
February 12, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
Join my new Public Economics team at @unileipzig.bsky.social! A 100% PhD/Postdoc position with teaching and a 75% PhD position in a DFG research project on the triangle of growth, housing and voting in Germany with @sebastiankohl.bsky.social & @trgn.bsky.social. Apply until Feb 28
February 4, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
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
January 11, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
Poverty in Germany from the Black Death until the Beginning of Industrialization
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Paper in Explorations in Economic History by @guidoalfani.bsky.social, #NuffieldCollege Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow Victoria Gierok and Felix Schaff #EconSky #EconomicHistory
Poverty in Germany from the Black Death until the Beginning of Industrialization
This paper provides macro-level estimates of the prevalence of poverty in preindustrial Germany, from the Black Death to the onset of industrializatio…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 3, 2024 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
New work by @guidoalfani.bsky.social et al., "Poverty in Germany from the Black Death until the beginning of industrialization," Explorations in Economic History, 2024. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... Expands Alfani's findings that the greater economic equality after the Black Death was real.
Poverty in Germany from the Black Death until the Beginning of Industrialization
This paper provides macro-level estimates of the prevalence of poverty in preindustrial Germany, from the Black Death to the onset of industrializatio…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2024 at 10:41 PM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
GER special issue on new data frontiers in German Economic History, with excellent contributions on population and fertility, innovation and patenting, foreign trade, financial markets, and economic inequality 👇
www.degruyter.com/journal/key/...
Special Issue on New Data Frontiers in German Economic History
Volume 25, issue 4 of the journal German Economic Review was published in 2024.
www.degruyter.com
December 2, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Felix Schaff
If you are interested in working with historical German data, this special issue of the German Economic Review gives an overview of existing research and available dataset, including our article on patent data (co-author: Jochen Streb):

www.degruyter.com/journal/key/...
December 1, 2024 at 3:17 PM