Matthew Curtis

Publications

Academic human capital in European countries and regions, 1200–1793 with David de la Croix, Filippo Manfredini, and Mara Vitale. Explorations in Economic History, Volume 101, July 2026, 101756.
[Open Access] [Marginal Revolution]

Seeds of Knowledge: Premodern Scholarship, Academic Fields, and European Growth with David de la Croix. European Economic Review, Volume 185, May 2026, 105299.
[Open access]

The Her in Inheritance: How Marriage Matching Has Always Mattered, Quebec 1800–1970. The Journal of Economic History, Volume 86 , Issue 1 , March 2026 , pp. 38 - 66.
[Open access]

Was There a Crisis? A Human Development Index for Lower Canada, 1760 to 1848 with Vincent Geloso. European Review of Economic History Volume 29, Issue 2, May 2025, Pages 131–16.
[DOI] [Draft PDF] [Draft Appendix PDF]

How did the European Marriage Pattern Persist? Social versus Familial Inheritance: England and Quebec, 1650–1850 with Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins, Economics and Human Biology 54, 10 p., 101383.  [Open access]

Three New Occupational Status Indices for England and Wales, 1800–1939 with Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins, 2024. Historical Methods 57, 1, p. 41-66.
[Open access] [Data avaliable]

The Expansion of Public Education in Puerto Rico after 1900 with Mateo Uribe-Castro. Chapter in “Roots of Underdevelopment: A New Economic (and Political) History of Latin America and the Caribbean,” edited by Felipe Valencia-Caicedo, 2023.
[DOI][Draft PDF]

Twins Support the Absence of Parity-Dependent Fertility Control in Pretransition Populations with Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins. Demography (2020) 57 (4): 1571–1595.
[Open access]

Works in progress

The Antebellum Puzzle Resolved? Declining Stature as Rational Choice? with Vincent Geloso.

Harmony and Dissonance: Peer Influence in Western Music Composition with Karol Jan Borowiecki and Marc T. Law.

CHAOS: Converting Historical Accounts to Occupational Scores with Torben Johansen, Julius Koschnick, and Christian Vedel.

Inheritance Customs, the European Marriage Pattern, and Female Empowerment with Paula Gobbi, Marc Goñi, and Joanne Haddad.

The Mismeasure of Man: Why Intergenerational Occupational Mobility is Much Lower than Conventionally Measured, England, 1800–2021 with Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins. CEPR discussion paper DP17346.
[Draft PDF] [CEPR link]

Other work

I wrote.ado files for the ABE record linkage algorithm with Katherine Eriksson.

I manage the Global Price and Income History Group website with Peter Lindert.

I wrote the Data Appendix for Labor Market Polarization Over the Business Cycle with Christopher Foote and Rich Ryan in 2014.

Last updated: April 16th, 2026.