I am professor of economics and economic history at the department of economics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich). I'm currently serving as chair of the department.

My research spans political economy and economic history. I am especially interested in the economic history of Germany before 1900, in institutional and cultural change, in the political economy of education and of mass movements. I have been the PI for ERC Starting Grant 716837 ("Demand for Democracy"), in which we studied determinants of anti-authoritarian political mobilization in Hong Kong. I am currently the PI for ERC Consolidator Grant 101044546 ("The City Rising"), where I aim to create a micro-level database of the residents of Munich between 1840 and 1914, and map their economic and social mobility.

I have been at LMU Munich since 2011. In 2019, I was awarded the Gossen Prize for the best young economist (under 45) in the German-speaking countries. I am currently member of the Editorial Board of the Review of Economic Studies and of the American Economic Review, as well Council member for the European Economic Association. I am also member of the Board of Directors of the Review of Economic Studies. In the past, I have been associate editor at the Journal of the European Economic Association and at Explorations in Economic History.