Peer-Reviewed Publications
- “The Determinants of the Skill Premium in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800” (with Mattia Fochesato). European Review of Economic History, vol. 29, no. 4 (2025), pp. 534-557.
Working Papers & Research in Progress
- “Networks Paving the Way: Apprenticeship, Guilds, and Access to Mastership in Early Modern Genoa”
QUCEH Working Paper Series, Paper No. 25-08. R&R Economic History Review
[Abstract]
This paper investigates how kinship and professional networks shaped labour market outcomes in the guild-based labour market of early modern Genoa. Using a newly constructed dataset of over 8,000 apprenticeship contracts (1451–1530), I examine the extent to which family and guild connections influenced apprentices’ chances of attaining mastership. Using a probabilistic record-linkage strategy to reconstruct individual career trajectories, I show that apprentices embedded in kinship or guild networks were substantially more likely to become masters. These advantages operated through multiple channels, including shorter apprenticeship contracts and greater flexibility in training careers, and persisted even during periods of economic contraction, suggesting that apprenticeship in Genoa combined formally open access to training with strong informal mechanisms that structured advancement within skilled trades. The findings contribute to debates on the role of guilds and social networks in pre-industrial labour markets, highlighting how institutions could simultaneously support skill formation and reproduce inequality.
- “Saint Roch Playing Favourites? Plague, Skill, and Wage Inequality in Early Modern Venice”
Work in progress
[Abstract]
This paper examines how the 1629-31 plague in Venice reshaped apprenticeship wages, providing new micro-level evidence on labour-market adjustment to severe demographic shocks. Drawing on more than 16,000 apprenticeship contracts, I reconstruct real remuneration, including both cash and in-kind components, and compare wage trajectories across skilled and unskilled trades before and after the epidemic. Using a difference-in-differences design, I show that, although real wages rose after the epidemic, the increase was substantially larger in skill-intensive trades, raising the post-plague skill premium by approximately 10-12 per cent. This asymmetry reflects heterogeneous demand conditions: capital-intensive, export-oriented trades faced lower labour demand contractions and stronger capital-skill complementarities, amplifying pre-existing differentials during a period of acute demographic stress. My findings therefore suggest that, contrary to the equalising effects often attributed to the Black Death, the 1629-31 plague reinforced wage differentials and deepened labour market stratification in early modern Venice.
“By the Roll of a Die: Public Functions and Private Wealth in Pre-Modern Europe” (with Erich Battistin and Mattia Fochesato)
Work in progress- “Four Centuries of Pandemics and Wealth Inequality: Evidence From Northern Italy” (with Guido Alfani)
Work in progress