Global Economic History

My work in global economic history, some of it developed in collaboration with Giorgio Riello, explores how trade, migration, empire, technology, environment, and institutions connected different parts of the world over the long run. I argue that understanding economic change requires both comparison and connection: comparison to explain why regions followed different paths, and connection to show how those paths influenced one another. This perspective places Asia and Africa alongside Europe at the centre of historical inquiry, challenging the idea that Western industrialization provides a universal model of development. By linking global history to themes such as colonialism, business, climate, and state formation, I seek to explain the diversity of human economic experience in an interconnected world.