Thor Berger

@thorberger.bsky.social

1.6K followers 570 following 40 posts

Economic Historian. Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at SCAS, Associate Professor at Lund University, and affiliate at the CEPR and IFN. Web: www.thorberger.se

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Economics 43%

Sociology 21%

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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 14d

JOB! I'm hiring a postdoc for 2 years on my ERC MaMo project.

Looking for someone with strong quant methods, ongoing work close to the project's aims, and a desire to publish in sociology. Start flexible in the next 12 months.

Formal call out shortly, but contact me first.

Markets and Mobility: How Employers Structure Economic Opportunity

Intergenerational mobility, measuring the ability to achieve economic success regardless of family background, is a critical reflection of a society’s commitment to equality of opportunity. Rising income inequality has raised concerns about the potential erosion of upward mobility. While education has traditionally been viewed as the path to mobility, its transformative power is facing challenges in a rapidly evolving job market. This project reorients the focus of intergenerational mobility research by highlighting the labor market as an arena for the reproduction of advantage. It employs a comparative approach, using administrative data from four countries: Sweden, Austria, England, and the United States. It also incorporates evidence from a broader set of nations through cross-national surveys, longitudinal household surveys, labor force surveys, secondary data, and digital trace data. The project employs cutting-edge empirical methods, including quasi- experimental designs, event studies, within-family comparisons, decomposition analyses, counterfactual simulations, and diagnostic checks to rigorously assess the extent of inequalities in the labor market. The research investigates how family background influences the sorting of individuals to employers and workplaces, accounting for education and occupation, and explores variations in career progression within and between employers. It comprehensively catalogues and assesses mechanisms shaping workplace inequality, contributing to the development of social closure theory. Additionally, the project evaluates intervention strategies, encompassing both employer practices and government actions, to promote fair opportunity in the labor market.

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · 14d

Really enjoyed the paper! This might be of interest: doi.org/10.1017/S002...

Institutional Innovation and the Adoption of New Technologies: The Case of Steam | The Journal of Economic History | Cambridge Core

Institutional Innovation and the Adoption of New Technologies: The Case of Steam - Volume 85 Issue 3

doi.org

Reposted by Kris Inwood, Joshua Goodman

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · 17d

Everyone talks about the "credibility revolution", but I think one of the most valuable shifts in econ over the last decade has been the rise of rigorous descriptive historical work like this in top journals:

The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · Oct 16

Recently accepted by #QJE, “The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006,” by Lyons (@ronanlyons), Shertzer (@econhist-allday), Gray (@econhistoryorbust), and Agorastos: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006*

Abstract. We construct the first annual market rent and home sales price series for American cities over the 20th century using 2.7 million newspaper real

doi.org

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · 26d

I really want to stay optimistic about how LLMs can revolutionize social science research. But the fact that I can't get GPT-5.2 to perform a simple word count really makes me wonder about the flurry of papers coming that heavily relies on LLMs for analyzing unstructured data.

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin, Thor Berger

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 27d

Free tip for authors who want to speed up publication: make it make sense. An untold source of delay is reviewers struggling to understand what you even mean.

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · 29d

It’s kind of ironic that the Toner-Rodgers paper on AI and chemical science was entirely correct, even though it was completely made up.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Ben H. Ansell, Margot C. Finn , and 2 more Joanna Bryson, Ben H. Ansell, Margot C. Finn, Henry Farrell, Thor Berger

Michael Albertus @mikealbertus.bsky.social · 29d

Can state-building disrupt rather than stabilize society? In a new @apsrjournal.bsky.social article, @victorgayeco.bsky.social and I show that the expansion of state communication networks spurred rebellion for decades in France before the Revolution

👉 Article: doi.org/10.1017/S000...
🧵1/X

Reposted by Kim Oosterlinck, Simon Weschle, Damien Bol , and 5 more Kim Oosterlinck, Simon Weschle, Damien Bol, Mirco Tonin, Marta Kołczyńska, Stuart J. Turnbull‐Dugarte, Roman Senninger, Thor Berger

Johanna Rickne @johannarickne.bsky.social · Dec 28

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Reposted by Dani Rodrik, Thor Berger

The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · Dec 24

Recently accepted by #QJE, “Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in The Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis,” by Almelhem, Iyigun, Kennedy, and Rubin (@jaredcrubin): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in The Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis*

Abstract. We trace the evolution of the language of science, religion, and political economy in the centuries leading to the British Industrial Revolution.

doi.org

Reposted by Thor Berger

Department of Economics and Statistics, Linnaeus University @linnaeus-econ.bsky.social · Dec 8

Today @erikprawitz.bsky.social gave a seminar on "Cities and the Rise of Working Women" at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) 👏

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Erik Prawitz, Associate Professor at Linnaeus University and Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), for an engaging… | Economic...

www.linkedin.com

Reposted by Thor Berger

Sascha O. Becker @essobecker.bsky.social · Dec 1

See you in Uppsala 🇸🇪 🎉

erikprawitz.bsky.social @erikprawitz.bsky.social · Dec 1

Happy to announce a 4th edition of the Workshop in Economic History in Uppsala, with the great @essobecker.bsky.social as keynote! Workshop takes places on May 28-29, 2026, in Uppsala. Apply by January 31, 2026.

Here is the Cfp: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6xdmp...

www.dropbox.com

Reposted by Sascha O. Becker, Kris Inwood, Patrick Svensson , and 1 more Sascha O. Becker, Kris Inwood, Patrick Svensson, Thor Berger

erikprawitz.bsky.social @erikprawitz.bsky.social · Dec 1

www.dropbox.com

Reposted by Nathan Nunn, Evan Roberts, Thor Berger

The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · Oct 16

The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006*

Abstract. We construct the first annual market rent and home sales price series for American cities over the 20th century using 2.7 million newspaper real

doi.org

Reposted by Mark D. White, Kris Inwood, Noel D. Johnson , and 2 more Mark D. White, Kris Inwood, Noel D. Johnson, Matthias Schmelzer, Thor Berger

Erik Angner @erikangner.com · Oct 13

That's like four economics awards in a row with a substantial economic-history component, right? That strikes me as a remarkable shift. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists...

Reposted by Thor Berger

NBER @nber.org · Feb 27

Examining the social construction of race during the US Reconstruction Era finds that people with the same skin tone were racialized based on their wealth, setting a path for racial stratification, from @aadukia.bsky.social, Hornbeck, Keniston, and Lualdi https://www.nber.org/papers/w33502

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Jan 30

Awesome!

Reposted by Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, Thor Berger

William Skoglund @skoglundw.bsky.social · Jan 30

I published my first paper, read it, cite it, love it!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Union wage effects in Sweden: Evidence from the interwar period

In this paper, I use a new plant-level dataset to investigate the relationship between wages and the regional strength of unions. Using a shift-share …

www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by John D. Turner, Arnab Bhattacharjee, Thor Berger

Chris Colvin @cliochris.bsky.social · Jan 28

New working paper alert: "Financing Innovation: The Role of Patent Examination". @steve-bill-econ.bsky.social, Christopher Coyle and I have been working on this for quite a while now. We are excited to have a full draft for your enjoyment! www.quceh.org.uk/uploads/1/0/...

Financing Innovation: The Role of Patent Examination.

Stephen D. Billington, Christopher L. Colvin and Christopher Coyle.

How does patent examination influence access to finance for innovative firms? We exploit a reform to the UK’s patent system that introduced substantive examination to the patent application process, improving the information available to potential investors on the value of firms’ patents. Using a newly compiled firm-level dataset of exchange-listed corporations, we find that firms holding examined patents were able to borrow more, reflecting improved access to capital markets, and leading to firm growth. Our results highlight the role of patent examination in reducing information asymmetries, enhancing the signalling value of patents, and mitigating financial barriers to innovation.

Reposted by Mark E. Schaffer, Thor Berger

Sascha O. Becker @essobecker.bsky.social · Jan 22

🚨 New Working Paper 🚨

w/ @pdavidboll.bsky.social and @jvoth.bsky.social

Do you run regressions on spatial data? Then keep reading!

We present a guide and Stata package for methods by Müller and Watson (2024 ECTA) to deal with Spatial Unit Roots in Regressions.

Link in 🧵 (1/n)

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Jan 17

Thanks for the clarification @alexanderdonges.bsky.social!

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Jan 16

I thought several German states had general incorporation laws already in the 1860s and that it became Reich law from 1871? I also think I recall talks about a "Gründerboom" in the early 1870s as a result of the legislative changes?

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Jan 16

Why do firms in poor countries not adopt new technologies? One reason: they're too small. We show in a recent paper that the "invention" of the the modern corporate form historically enabled marginal firms to grow and adopt new technologies. Paper forthcoming in the JEH and @voxeu.org column here:

Institutional innovation and the adoption of new technologies

A key barrier to economic development is that while new technologies can offer substantial productivity gains, firms in poorer countries often do not adopt them. This column uses firm-level data to track the adoption of the key technology of the 19th century – the steam engine – during Sweden’s rapid industrial take-off. Much like in many developing countries today, Swedish firms were generally too small to profitably adopt the new technology. The authors document the central role of an institutional innovation – the modern corporation – and demonstrate that when firms were given the opportunity to incorporate, they expanded and adopted steam technology.

cepr.org

Reposted by Olof Åslund, Randi Hjalmarsson, Joacim Tå̊g , and 1 more Olof Åslund, Randi Hjalmarsson, Joacim Tå̊g, Thor Berger

mkaradja.bsky.social @mkaradja.bsky.social · Nov 28

We are organizing the 3rd edition of our Workshop in Economic History organized in beautiful Uppsala on May 22-23, 2025 with a keynote by
Elias Papaioannou! Call for papers with submission link: tinyurl.com/49tah8zd

Reposted by Thor Berger

Department of Economics and Statistics, Linnaeus University @linnaeus-econ.bsky.social · Nov 29

New Publication! 🎉 Congratulations to @erikprawitz.bsky.social and @thorberger.bsky.social for publishing their paper "Inventors among the 'Impoverished Sophisticate'" in the prestigious Journal of Economic History! 🤩

Inventors among the “Impoverished Sophisticate” | The Journal of Economic History | Cambridge Core

Inventors among the “Impoverished Sophisticate” - Volume 84 Issue 4

www.cambridge.org

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Nov 27

Thanks for your interest, Alice - I'll send you a copy!

Thor Berger @thorberger.bsky.social · Nov 21

Maybe 19th-century technological change wasn't deskilling after all:

Reposted by Thor Berger

Projekt Runeberg @runeberg-org.bsky.social · Nov 20

När klockan är 12 i Stockholm, hvad är den då på andra orter i Sverige? Nödvändig kunskap 1858 eller bara ett kuriosum? runeberg.org/svea/1858/02... Västra stambanan invigdes 1862. Enhetlig normaltid infördes 1879.

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