The emergence and spread of nation-states is one of the most consequential developments in history. But most states still struggle to centralize control, driving violence. My latest post, based on my article with @victorgayeco.bsky.social @apsrjournal.bsky.social www.broadstreet.blog/cp/188144764

In a new paper with @evadavoine.bsky.social @enguehard.bsky.social & I. Kolesnikov, we build a historical GIS of a core fiscal institution in early modern France: the gabelle (salt tax). It generated up to 25% of tax revenue and sparked intense popular resistance. 👉 hal.science/hal-05501504 🧵1/7

Some fields list authors alphabetically. Others use norms like "senior last". Others use order to signify relative contributions. In a new paper with @kevinzollman.com, we model the evolution of these norms, and then look at which type of norm is best for science. doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Can state-building disrupt rather than stabilize society? Thrilled to have a new article in @apsrjournal.bsky.social w/ @mikealbertus.bsky.social showing that the expansion of state communication networks spurred rebellion for decades in France before the Revolution. 👉 doi.org/10.1017/S000... 🧵1/7

There is growing interest in HPE about social conflict in the run-up to the French Revolution. In a new article at Data & Corpus, I describe the Jean Nicolas Database, a database of 8,516 rebellions in France (1661-1789) 👉Article: doi.org/10.46298/dc.... 👉Database: doi.org/10.7910/DVN/... 🧵1/6

Une petite video qui présente mes recherches dans le cadre des projets POPP et Exo-POPP pour construire des bases de données avec l'IA dans le but de mieux connaître l'histoire des populations (ici surtout urbaines et de banlieue) lejournal.cnrs.fr/videos/lia-r...

| Prix de thèse de la chancellerie des universités de Paris | Félicitations à Agnès Hirsch qui a obtenu ce prix pour sa thèse de doctorat, "Statistiques professionnelles et lois sociales : l’invention de la mesure du travail en France (1880-1914)". En savoir plus : www.ined.fr/fr/actualite...

I am on the econ job market AY 2025-26! My JMP on tax enforcement and conflict speaks to political economy, public finance, and economic history. Thread below. You can also visit my website: www.enguehard.tf

📣 One week left to apply to our Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences! We have an exciting program for this year: www.tse-fr.eu/sites/defaul... 🗓️ May 26 to June 19, 2026 📍 Toulouse Application deadline: December 15 Apply here: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum... @tse-fr.eu @iast.fr

One of the big puzzles in history is why the first demographic transition began in France, as early as 1789. With Paula Gobbi and Marc Goñi, we show that a key driver was the French Revolution and its inheritance reforms. Now forthcoming at JPE 👉 www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... 🧵 (1/9)

Apply now to our next Summer School! 🤝 We are glad to host the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences from 26 May to 19 June 2026 — a great opportunity for PhD students in economics, political science, and other social sciences. Application: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum...

Reminder: the deadline to apply to the conference on "Popular Support for Autocratic Regimes in Historical Perspective" is tomorrow!

VoxEU column now up for my paper on "Wars, Taxation and Representation" with @essobecker.bsky.social, @andyferrara.bsky.social and @luigipascali.bsky.social. Full paper available here: doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

Billions of regressions ≠ robustness. My new PNAS Letter shows how unjustified models can drown out justified ones — and why thoughtful model selection matters👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A really good example of the kinds of things that can go wrong is the vegetative electron microscope... www.sciencealert.com/a-strange-ph...

Call for abstracts for interdisciplinary conference on "Popular Support for Autocratic Regimes in Historical Perspective," May 26-27 in Toulouse @tse-fr.eu Deadline: Nov 15. Travel/accommodation will be covered. Please apply! Co-organized with Jan Stuckatz, Selina Hofstetter, and Mikkel Dack.

| Parution | Être parisien ou parisienne il y a 100 ans et à présent : une étude à partir de données inédites individuelles issues de recensements à lire dans le numéro de #PopulationEtSociétés de septembre www.ined.fr/fr/publicati... #RevueIned @sandrabree.bsky.social

Paris, il y a 100 ans : une population plus nombreuse qu’aujourd’hui et déjà originaire d’ailleurs shs.cairn.info/revue-popula...

It's hiring season at @iast.fr! - 2y research postdoc contract - Full autonomy, you are your own PI - Awesome multidisciplinary environment - All social and behavioral sciences welcome - Seed funding for projects and workshops - Gorgeous city in the south of France www.iast.fr/research-fel...

It is the time of the year when I tell you about my favorite post-doc ever 👇 Unless you are allergic to the French, this one sits up there with the Nuffield postdoc (life style, productivity, interdisciplinary stimulation). Share widely! Apply! #poliscky www.iast.fr/research-fel...

#ESHD2025 Awards! The Louis Henry Award HONORABLE MENTIONS Brée S., et al. POPP. An OCR-Generated Database of the Population Censuses of Paris (1926-36) Curtis M. et al. Inheritance Customs, the European Marriage Pattern and Female Empowerment

📢 New initiative: we are launching a monthly virtual seminar in French Economic History to share and discuss the latest research in the field! 🌍 Open to all interested in #econhist. 👉 Info & updates: sites.google.com/view/vwfhe/h...

Soooo... I am tenured :-) Celebrated with @cescamat.bsky.social and the other amazing folks at IPERG in Barcelona. Thank you friends, family, tenure committee, colleagues, reviewers and letter writers. You made a Cavaillé happy. fordschool.umich.edu/news/2025/ca...

New working paper, just five short years in the making! The idea for it emerged from reading about the French Revolution during COVID lockdowns, which warped my sense of time, and got me interested into measures thereof. Abstract and title below, and full ms here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Please repost this widely. This is fantastic material. Organize reading groups (ideally bipartisan ones + a good dose of independent)!

Let's brainstorm over strategy Imagine you were part of the strategy team of a major US university: 1) what would be your short-to-mid term strategy to respond to current attacks on higher ed? 2) Who / how would you organize? 3) For what objectives? 4) With what means?

After a long wait, the working paper for the Many-Economists Project: The Sources of Researcher Variation in Economics. We had 146 teams perform the same research three times, each time with less freedom. What source of freedom leads to different choices and results? papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....