Research

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Brioschi, Alessandro and Fochesato, Mattia. “The determinants of the skill premium in late medieval and early modern Europe, 1400–1800”. European Review of Economic History (Forthcoming). DOI: 10.1093/ereh/heaf003

Work in progress

• Networks paving the way: apprenticeship and occupational mobility in early modern Genoa
  [Abstract]

  The functioning of pre-industrial labour markets remains an area of ongoing scholarly debate. Using a dataset of 8,000 apprenticeship contracts drafted in Genoa between 1450 and 1530, this paper examines how social networks shaped labour market outcomes and provides three main insights. First, social networks, particularly the presence of family ties with masters and guild members, structured the entry of apprentices into skilled occupations and significantly increased their chances of becoming masters after training. Second, individuals with family ties to guild members benefited from favourable conditions throughout their professional careers, ultimately improving their labour market outcomes and restricting access to opportunities for those without such connections. Third, the segmentation of the urban labour market confirms that apprenticeship was only a limited source of opportunities for upward occupational mobility in Italian labour markets.

• Asymmetric shocks in pre-industrial labour markets: evidence from the 1630-1631 plague in Venice
  [Abstract]

  This paper investigates the impact of the 1630–31 plague on apprenticeship wages in early modern Venice, shedding light on how pre-industrial labour markets adjusted to large demographic shocks. Using a dataset of over 17,000 apprenticeship contracts from early modern Venice, I reconstruct wage trends across skill levels before and after the epidemic. My findings suggest that, unlike the Black Death, which led to widespread wage increases across Europe, the 1630 plague had an asymmetric impact on the Venetian labour market: real wages rose for both skilled and unskilled apprentices, but the increase was significantly larger in skill-intensive trades. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I estimate that skilled apprentices gained a post-plague wage premium of approximately 10–12%. These results reflect the slow replenishment of human capital in crafts with long training times, combined with occupational segmentation and heterogeneous institutional responses by guilds. The findings challenge the notion of plague-induced convergence and suggest that, under certain conditions, pandemics can reinforce labour market stratification rather than erode it.