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Welcome to my website. I am a Lecturer at the Utrecht University School of Economics working at the intersection of economic history, economic inequality, and political economy.

In my research, I aim to better understand the dynamic relation between economic growth and economic inequality in the long run. Economic growth is generally thought to be driven by new economic opportunities—such as innovation, new technologies, and specialization in production and trade—and that these opportunities both require and foster social mobility. Yet, economic growth is also found to increase inequality in several historical episodes. How and why do new economic opportunities arise in, often, economically and politically unequal societies? How does economic growth affect these inequalities and with what consequences for growth in the longer term?

I combine a theory-driven approach to the study of the long-term relation between economic growth and inequality with microeconometric and spatial analysis, often using newly collected historical data.

My latest publication 'Lifecycle land decumulation strategies in a seventeenth‐century rural community', joint with Daniel R. Curtis, is forthcoming in the Economic History Review. You can find an overview of my research here.

You can contact me at b.vanbesouw@uu.nl