A new interdisciplinary research group in economic history and comparative development at the University of Manchester.
The Lewis Lab seeks to advance cutting-edge research on economic growth, political economy of development, and global inequalities from a long-run historical perspective.
Our aim is to become a leading centre for the study of important questions in these fields, building on the legacy of our association with Sir W. Arthur Lewis, Nobel laureate in Economics, faculty member of the Department of Economics at The University of Manchester between 1947 and 1957.
The founding members of the lab, Nuno Palma and Guillaume Blanc, currently serve as Director and Deputy Director, respectively.
Our people
Leadership
- Nuno Palma - Director, Arthur Lewis Lab and Professor of Economics
- Guillaume Blanc - Deputy Director, Arthur Lewis Lab and Lecturer in Economics
Scientific council
- Robert C. Allen (New York University, Abu Dhabi)
- Timothy Besley (London School of Economics)
- Stephen Broadberry (University of Oxford)
- Gregory Clark (University of Southern Denmark)
- Barry Eichengreen (University of California, Berkeley)
- Oded Galor (Brown University)
- Richard von Glahn (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Bishnupriya Gupta (University of Warwick)
- Saumitra Jha (Stanford University)
- Deirdre N. McCloskey (Cato Institute and University of Illinois Chicago)
- Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford)
- James A. Robinson (University of Chicago)
- Walter Scheidel (Stanford University)
- John Joseph Wallis (University of Maryland)
- Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University)
- David N. Weil (Brown University)
Faculty members
- Guillaume Blanc - Lecturer in Economics
- Caitlin Brown - Lecturer in Economics
- Catherine Casson - Senior Lecturer in Enterprise
- Georg Christ - Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History
- Katsushi Imai - Reader in Economics
- Alessia Isopi - Lecturer in Economics
- Emiel Jerphanion - Lecturer in Finance
- Nuno Palma - Professor of Economics
- Phil Roessner - Professor of Early Modern History
- Edmond Smith - Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures
- Bart van Ark - Professor of Productivity Studies
- Ákos Valentinyi - Professor of Macroeconomics
- Aashish Velkar - Senior Lecturer in Economic History
- Xiaobing Wang - Senior Lecturer in the Economics of China
- Mazhar Waseem - Reader in Economics
External members
- Cemal Eren Arbatlı - Durham University
- Luz Marina Arias - University of Sheffield
- Soeren Henn - Newcastle University
- Thilo Huning - University of York
- Eric Melander - University of Birmingham
- Andrea Papadia - University of York
- Brian Varian - Newcastle University
- Meng Wu - Manchester Metropolitan University
Hallsworth Visiting Professors
- François Velde (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) - Spring 2022
- Richard Von Glahn (University of California, Los Angeles) - Fall 2022
- Peter Murrell (University of Maryland) - Spring 2024
- David de la Croix (Université catholique de Louvain) - Fall 2024
Students and postgraduate researchers
Present
- Jubril Animashaun - Fixed-term lecturer
- Senalp Canlıbel - PhD student
- Hélder Carvalhal - Postdoctoral Fellow
- Jordi Caum Julio - Arthur Lewis Lab Postdoctoral Fellow
- Adrian Nicholas Gachet - PhD student
- Alka Raman - Hallsworth Fellow
Past
- Meng Wu - British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2024). Placement: Assistant Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Carlos Javier Charotti - PhD student (2019-2023). Placement: Senior Researcher in the Research Department of the Central Bank of Paraguay.
Events and working paper series
Seminars
Fall 2023
- Alan Fernihough (QUB) - October 5
- Felix Kersting (Humboldt) - October 19
- Romain Wacziarg (UCLA) - October 24 (MES)
- Pablo Fernández Cebrián (Wageningen) - October 26
- David Chilosi (KCL) - November 9
- Raphael Franck (Hebrew University) - November 16
- Phil Roessner (Manchester) - November 23
- Debin Ma (Oxford) - December 7
- Guilherme Lambais (ICS) - December 14
Spring 2024
- Patrick Wallis (LSE) - January 25
- Timur Natkhov (HSE) - February 1
- Neil Cummins (LSE) - February 8
- Adrien Montalbo (Sussex) - February 15
- Nadia Matringe (LSE) - February 22
- Bishnupriya Gupta (Warwick) - March 7
- Mohamed Saleh (LSE) - March 14
- Eric Melander (Birmingham) - April 11
- Lars Boerner (MLU Halle-Wittenberg) - April 18
- François Velde (Chicago FED) - May 2
- Mattia Bertazzini (Notthingham) - May 16
- Pete Maw (Leeds) - May 23
- Leticia Arroyo Abad (CUNY) - May 30
- Peter Murrell (Maryland) - June 13
Past
- Lewis Lab Seminars 2022-2023: Brian Varian (Newcastle); Richard von Glahn (UCLA); Luz Marina Arias (Sheffield); Catherine Casson (Manchester); John Wallis (Maryland); Sean Bottomley (Northumbria); Thilo Huning (York); James Robinson (Chicago); Edmond Smith (Manchester); David N. Weil (Brown); André Silva (Nova SBE); Melanie Xue (LSE); Soeren Henn (Newcastle); Eric Chaney (Oxford); Xiaobing Wang (Manchester)
- Job Market Seminars 2022-2023: Jordi Caum Julio (Barcelona); Gianni Marciante (Warwick); Daniela Sola (CEMFI); Peiyuan Li (Colorado Boulder)
The Hajnal Lecture
The Hajnal Lecture
We are delighted to announce the creation of the Hajnal Lecture at the University of Manchester, in memory of John Hajnal. This initiative honours his significant contributions to historical demography and his influential period as a Simon Fellow at our university during the 1950s. This annual lecture series is dedicated to recognizing the exceptional work of early or mid-career scholars in economic history. A written version of each lecture will be published in The Manchester School, a renowned journal known for its high-quality research in all fields of economics.
Present and future
- The Hajnal Lecture 2024 - Prof. Noam Yuchtman (Oxford) - May 9, 2024 - Register your attendance on Eventbrite
Professor Yuchtman’s research explores a wide range of topics in political economy and economic history, including the drivers of political ideology and participation in political movements, the impact of educational content in the process of development, the effects of social interactions on economic and political behavior, and the role of the state in promoting economic growth and innovation.
Public lectures and conferences
Present and future
- Conference #5 - Legal and institutional origins of economic development - June 18-19, 2024
Keynote speakers: Gary Cox (Stanford), Christine Desan (Harvard Law School), Nuno Garoupa (GMU), Peter Murrell (Maryland)
Past
- Conference #4 - Quantifying the long-run history of Africa - October 27-28, 2023
Keynote speakers: Marlous van Waijenburg (Harvard), Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton), Jacob Weisdorf (Sapienza)
- Public Lecture #1 - Liberalism caused the great enrichment - June 2023
Speaker: Deirdre N. McCloskey (Cato Institute and UIC)
- Conference #3 - Productivity revolutions: past and future - June 2023
Keynote speakers: Michela Giorcelli (UCLA) and John Van Reenen (LSE and MIT)
- Conference #2 - Big counterfactuals of macro-political history - March 2023
Keynote speakers: James A. Robinson (Chicago) and Walter Scheidel (Stanford)
- Conference #1 - The Chinese economy in the long run - October 2022
Keynote speakers: Stephen Broadberry (Oxford) and Richard von Glahn (UCLA)
Graduate student workshops
Present and future
- Graduate Student Workshop #2 - June 17, 2024
Student participants: Bakhtawar Ali (Aix-Marseille), Mohib Ali (Siena), Monir Bounadi (IIES), Alice Calder (UNSW), Davide Coluccia (Northwestern), Tommaso D'Amelio (ECARES), Nina Liu (KCL), Ryu Matsuura (Northwestern), Matthias Weigand (Harvard)
Faculty participants: Guillaume Blanc (Manchester), Mathias Bühler (LMU), Bjorn Brey (Oxford), Neil Cummins (LSE), Joanne Haddad (ECARES), Sultan Mehmood (NES), Agustina Paglayan (UCSD), Nuno Palma (Manchester), Henrik Sigstad (BI)
Past
- Graduate Student Workshop #1 - March 2023
Faculty participants: Lydia Assouad (LSE), Guillaume Blanc (Manchester), Dan Bogart (UC Irvine), James Fenske (Warwick), Soeren Henn (Newcastle), Yuzuru Kumon (NHH), Sebastian Ottinger (CERGE-EI), Nuno Palma (Manchester), James Robinson (Chicago)
Student participants: Joseph Enguehard (ENS Lyon), Adrian Nicholas Gachet (Manchester), Guilherme Berse Rodrigues Lambais (ICS), Jade Ponsard (Aix-Marseille), Carla Salvo (Sapienza), Miriam Venturini (Zurich), Hillary Vipond (LSE), Jinlin Wei (Warwick), Guillermo Woo-Mora (PSE)
Working papers
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2024-05 Demographic Transitions, Rural Flight, and Intergenerational Persistence: Evidence From Crowdsourced Genealogies by Guillaume Blanc
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2024-04 Living Standards in Angloa, 1760-1975 by Hélder Carvalhal and Nuno Palma
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2024-03 Understanding Money Using Historical Evidence by Adam Brzezinski, Nuno Palma, and François R. Velde
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2024-02 The Cultural Origins of the Demographic Transition in France by Guillaume Blanc
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2024-01 French by Guillaume Blanc and Masahiro Kubo
- Lewis Lab Working Paper 2023-01 African Slavery and the Reckoning of Brazil by Guilherme Lambais and Nuno Palma
Visit our YouTube channel to access recordings of our past events, and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our mailing list and calendar (ical) to keep up to date with our activities.