Josef Taalbi
jtaalbi.bsky.social
Josef Taalbi
@jtaalbi.bsky.social
Associate professor in economic history, Lund University.

Doing research on innovation, sustainability transitions, networks, history of technology.

https://linktr.ee/joseftaalbi
Pinned
In a new paper I investigate whether feminization of early 20th century EVs held back their development. Summarized here: theconversation.com/electric-car...

Full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ei...
Electric cars were once marketed as ‘women’s cars’. Did this hold back their development over the next century?
An innovation expert looked at decades of car adverts to find out.
theconversation.com
New paper: doi.org/10.1093/icc/... Why do a few firms come to dominate technological progress? Can you predict what types of innovations organizations will make? Why do firms specialize in certain technologies? I try to explain these things in a new theoretical framework. #innovation
Long-run patterns in the discovery of the adjacent possible
Abstract. The notion of the “adjacent possible” has been advanced to theorize the generation of novelty across many different research domains. This study
doi.org
September 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Josef Taalbi
Most work out there argues that it doesn't pay off for center-right parties to move closer to the far-right.

Using some of the best evidence yet, this paper shows that the same is true for center *left* parties.

Crucial finding as these parties increasingly move in a nativist direction.
September 5, 2025 at 7:29 AM
New paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Patents contain a fantastic wealth of information and has become the go-to measure of innovation. But how well do they capture innovation? In a new study on Sweden I found that they at best capture about 15% of all information on innovation. (1/2)
link.springer.com
August 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Josef Taalbi
A study in Nature Human Behaviour finds that four-day work weeks without a reduction in income boost workers’ job satisfaction and physical and mental health, driven by enhanced work performance, lower levels of fatigue and fewer sleep problems. go.nature.com/3Um75MP #econsky 🧪
July 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Had the great pleasure of introducing @cesifoti.bsky.social for his terrific keynote on Big Data and Machine Learning as a means of exploring economic history. If anyone missed it, it's up on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvF1... #wehc2025 #machinelearning #bigdata #collectivememory
WEHC Keynote 2. 28th of July 2025. 6pm. AF Borgen Lund.
YouTube video by Lund University
www.youtube.com
July 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The 20th World Economic History Congress in Lund has started - with a keynote of Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk on Work, Race, Gender and Class, #wehc2025 #economichistory #lund #intersectionality
July 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Josef Taalbi
Astronomers using a space telescope have found signs of biological activity on K2-18b, a distant water-covered planet that is 8.6 times bigger than Earth. www.ft.com/content/0142...
April 17, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Got to speak a bit on my research on the history of electric cars in RNZ's Saturday Morning. In short: (1) yes, we could've gotten electric cars 100 years ago, (2) No one knows the long-run consequences of technology, (3) tech development and how it's used is a question of democratic concern.
How the electric car almost became the norm, more than a century ago
There's been a huge uptake of electric cars in recent years, but more than 100 years ago, they were arguably even more popular.
www.rnz.co.nz
April 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Josef Taalbi
UNU-MERIT is hiring a Postdoc in AI Innovation Trajectories.

Work within a multidisciplinary team to map and analyse AI innovation pathways using NLP—focusing on their societal impact, especially in sectors like agriculture.

🗓️ Apply by 13 April 2025
🔗 go.unu.edu/m93fc
Opportunities
go.unu.edu
March 26, 2025 at 6:31 AM
In a new paper I investigate whether feminization of early 20th century EVs held back their development. Summarized here: theconversation.com/electric-car...

Full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ei...
Electric cars were once marketed as ‘women’s cars’. Did this hold back their development over the next century?
An innovation expert looked at decades of car adverts to find out.
theconversation.com
March 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM