Bram van Besouw

I am an economist and economic historian currently working as a lecturer at Utrecht University School of Economics. I am interested in the dynamics of income and wealth inequality, and their interplay with the distribution of political power in the long run.

In most of my current research, I study the the distribution of income and wealth in the Netherlands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and how it interacted with regional patterns of economic growth, and the ongoing process of democratization. This research relies on newly constructed historical micro-data, historical analysis of long-term trends and contextual developments, and on the use of modern econometric techniques for inference. In line with this, I am co-applicant in the Rags2Riches project, aimed at constructing a new database on individual wealth holdings from inheritance tax records in the Netherlands during the 19th and 20th centuries.

I combine this line of research with more theoretical inquiries and using game-theoretic models into the roots of inequality in the distribution of wealth and political power.

Contact: b.vanbesouw@uu.nl