The fil rouge of my research is human capital. I am particularly interested in the elites (broadly defined), who often acted as forerunners of broader trends in education, fertility, and life-expectancy, and provide exceptionally rich microdata to study these mechanisms. My work concentrates on the period preceding the Industrial Revolutions, when the roots of modern growth were being laid. 

My work combines statistical and computational tools with dynamic general-equilibrium to analyze historical data. By integrating quantitative historical evidence and structural modelling, I aim to uncover the dynamic links between human capital formation and long-run economic performance.

Together with David de la Croix and other colleagues, we are working on a large-scale database of more than 87,000 scholars active in European universities and academies during the preindustrial period. 

My research has been supported by the ERC Advanced Grant No. 883033 and is currently funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.–FNRS).

Work in Progress

• The Book and the Plow: Human Capital and Urbanization in Preindustrial England (1200-1800)

• Longevity, fertility and human capital of British peers, with Arnaud Deseau

Working Papers

• "Academic Human Capital in European Countries and Regions (1200-1793)", with M. Curtis, D. de la Croix and M. Vitale, LIDAM Discussion Paper 2025/12 (R&R Explorations in Economic History) 

Data Papers 

• "Scholars and Literati at the University of Siena (1246–1800)" with M. Vitale, In: Repertorium eruditorum totius Europae, Vol. 13, p. 43-51 (2024)

• "Scholars and Literati at the University of Perugia (1308–1800)"  with M. Vitale, In: Repertorium eruditorum totius Europae, Vol. 12, p. 9-17 (2024)

Talks

• AMSE (Marseille) (scheduled)

• 2026 Asia Meeting of the Econometric Society (NYU Abu Dhabi) (scheduled) 

•  Micro-Macro Workshop (x2, U Minnesota) (October, 2025)

• IRES Lunch Seminar (March, 2025)

• Louvain FRESH workshop (UCLouvain), poster presentation, (June, 2024) 

• Spring Doctoral Workshop (May, 2024)

• LORDE Conference (Grenoble, France) (March, 2024)

• PhD Apéro (UCLouvain) (February, 2023)