(2026). Fickle Fossils: Economic Growth, Coal and the European Oil Invasion, 1900–2015. European Economic Review, forthcoming
Economics · Economic History
Nikolaus Wolf
Professor of Economics and Economic History
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Nikolaus Wolf studies the economic development of Europe, international trade, and economic geography. His work connects historical evidence with questions about borders, integration, regional inequality, and state formation.
Research
Research areas
Economic History
Long-run European development, state formation, national identity, inequality, and the economic consequences of political borders.
Selected research →International Trade
Trade integration and fragmentation, customs unions, currency areas, protectionism, and Germany’s foreign trade since the nineteenth century.
Selected research →Economic Geography
Regional growth, spatial inequality, market access, density, infrastructure, and the persistent effects of divided places.
Selected research →Work in progress
Working paper
Suez
With David S. Jacks and Christopher M. Meissner. NBER Working Paper 33250; CEPR Discussion Paper 19758.
Working-paper record →ORCID record
Research
Articles, books, chapters, and other research from Nikolaus Wolf's ORCID profile. See also Google Scholar.
(2026). How Britain Unified Germany: Trade Routes and the Formation of the Zollverein. The Journal of Economic History 81(1), 109–145
(2026). Political Sovereignty vs. Economic Integration: The Euro in the Long Run. Journal of Modern European History 24(2), 124–152
(2025). Geography and Space in Recent Economic History. Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook
(2025). Trumps Wirtschaftskrieg: Zölle sind das Symptom für fundamentale Umbrüche. Der Tagesspiegel
(2025). Testing Marx: Capital Accumulation, Income Inequality, and Socialism in Late Nineteenth-Century Germany. Review of Economics and Statistics 107(4), 935–950
(2025). Die Protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Nationalismus. In Martin Lutz, Maren Freudenberg and Moritz Hinsch (eds.), Handbuch Wirtschaft und Religion in Deutschland im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. De Gruyter Oldenbourg
(2025). The Universe of Germany’s Foreign Trade prior to World War I. German Economic Review 25(4), 325–370
(2025). Zur Bauwirtschaft der klassischen Moderne: Was lehrt das Beispiel GEHAG?. In Steffen Adam and Reinhard Wenzel (eds.), 100 Jahre GEHAG: Gegenwart und Zukunft des Solidarischen Wohnungsbaus. Berlin: BeBra Wissenschaft
(2024). On the origins of national identity: German nation-building after Napoleon. VoxEU Column
(2024). On the Origins of National Identity. Journal of Comparative Economics 52(2), 463–477
(2023). Testing Marx. VoxEU Column
(2023). An Economic History of the First German Unification. Routledge Explorations in Economic History
(2022). The panopticon of Germany’s foreign trade, 1880–1913: New facts on the first globalization. European Review of Economic History
(2022). Binnenhandel und Außenhandel. In Thomas Rahlf (ed.), Deutschland in Daten: Zeitreihen zur Historischen Statistik. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
(2022). Zahlungsbilanz. In Thomas Rahlf (ed.), Deutschland in Daten: Zeitreihen zur Historischen Statistik. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
(2021). The panopticon of Germany’s foreign trade: New facts on the first globalisation, 1880–1913. VoxEU Column
(2021). Deutschland in der ersten Globalisierung. Wirtschaftsdienst
(2021). Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900-2015. Oxford Review of Economic Policy
(2020). Covid-19 across European regions: The role of border controls. VoxEU Column
(2020). Weber revisited: The Protestant ethic and the spirit of nationalism. VoxEU Column
(2020). The origins of microfinance. VoxEU Column
(2020). Covid-19 across European Regions: The Role of Border Controls. SSRN
(2020). Rural transformation, inequality, and the origins of microfinance. Journal of Development Economics
(2020). Weber revisited: The protestant ethic and the spirit of nationalism. Journal of Economic History
(2019). Urbanization and GDPper capita: New data and results for the Polish lands, 1790–1910. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History
(2019). How Britain unified Germany: Endogenous trade costs and the formation of a customs union. VoxEU Column
(2019). Power failure: the electrification of Central-Eastern Europe, 1918–39. European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire
(2019). The Economic Development of Europe’s Regions: A Quantitative History Since 1900. Routledge Explorations in Economic History
(2018). The return of regional inequality: Europe from 1900 to today. VoxEU Column
(2018). Economic growth of polish territories in the period of first globalization (1870-1910),Wzrost gospodarczy ziem polskich w okresie pierwszej globalizacji (1870-1910). Ekonomista
(2018). Introduction. The Economic Development of Europe's Regions: A Quantitative History since 1900
(2018). Regional economic development in Europe, 1900-2010: A description of the patterns. The Economic Development of Europe's Regions: A Quantitative History since 1900
(2018). Regional economic growth in Germany, 1895-2010. The Economic Development of Europe's Regions: A Quantitative History since 1900
(2016). Foreword. Studies in Economic History
(2015). Same Same But Different: Dialects and Trade. German Economic Review
(2015). Bombs, homes, and jobs: Revisiting the Oswald hypothesis for Germany. Economics Letters
(2015). The Economics of Density: Evidence from the Berlin Wall. Econometrica 83(6), 2127–2189 · Publisher's Version · Quantitative Urban Models
(2014). The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: A Quantitative Analysis. The Journal of Economic History
(2014). The economics of density: Evidence from the Berlin Wall. VoxEU Column
(2014). Kurze Geschichte der Weltwirtschaft. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 1–3/2014. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
(2014). The frequency of wars: Reply to Gleditsch and Pickering. Economic History Review
(2013). Tear down this wall: on the persistence of borders in trade. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique
(2013). Introduction to issue on measuring economic integration. CESifo Economic Studies
(2013). The German market for patents during the second industrialization, 1884-1913: A gravity approach. Business History Review
(2012). Agricultural Productivity Across Prussia During the Industrial Revolution: A Thünen Perspective. The Journal of Economic History
(2012). The frequency of wars1. The Economic History Review
(2012). Economic nationalism and economic integration: the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late nineteenth century 1. The Economic History Review
(2012). Crises and policy responses within the political trilemma: Europe, 1929-36 and 2008-11. European Review of History
(2011). On the Economic Consequences of the Peace: Trade and Borders After Versailles. The Journal of Economic History
(2011). History and Industry Location: Evidence from German Airports. Review of Economics and Statistics
(2011). Endogeneity of Currency Areas and Trade Blocs: Evidence from a Natural Experiment. Kyklos
(2010). Europe's Great Depression: coordination failure after the First World War. Oxford Review of Economic Policy
(2009). Tear down this wall: On the persistence of borders in trade. VoxEU Column
(2009). Was Germany Ever United? Evidence from Intra- and International Trade, 1885–1933. The Journal of Economic History
(2008). Scylla and Charybdis. Explaining Europe’s exit from gold, January 1928–December 1936. Explorations in Economic History
(2008). On the origins of border effects: insights from the Habsburg Empire. Journal of Economic Geography
(2008). European economic integration: Undoing 1914–1945. VoxEU Column
(2008). Scylla and Charybdis: What Europe’s exit from gold in the 1930s says about the euro. VoxEU Column
(2008). Local comparative advantage: Agriculture and economic development in Poland, 1870-1973. Agriculture and Economic Development in Europe Since 1870
(2007). Borders, language, and the future of European integration: Insights from the 19th-century Habsburg Empire. VoxEU Column
(2007). Endowments vs. market potential: What explains the relocation of industry after the Polish reunification in 1918?. Explorations in Economic History
(2007). Should i stay or should i go? Understanding poland's adherence to gold, 1928-1936. Historical Social Research
(2006). Estimating Financial Integration in the Middle Ages: What Can We Learn from a TAR Model?. The Journal of Economic History
(2005). Economic integration across borders: The Polish interwar economy 1921-1937. European Review of Economic History
(2005). Path dependent border effects: the case of Poland’s reunification (1918–1939). Explorations in Economic History
(2001). Zur Historiographie von Krieg und Krise: Konzeptionen einer historischen Synthese (Teil II). Comparativ 11(5–6), 191–206
(2001). Konzeptionen einer historischen Synthese: Die Annales d’histoire économique et sociale und die Roczniki dziejów społecznych i gospodarczych im Vergleich. Comparativ 11(3), 141–173
Data
European regional development
Version 7 · 2025
Rosés–Wolf database on regional GDP
Regional GDP, population, area, and sector-level employment data for European NUTS-2 regions, covering 1900–2022.
Access data and documentation