Thor Berger

Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS

Associate Professor, Department of Economic History, Lund University

Research Affiliate, Economic History Programme, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London

Photo of Thor Berger

Photo: Danish Saroee

Thor Berger obtained his PhD in Economic History at Lund University in 2017. Berger’s dissertation was awarded several prizes, including the European Historical Economics Society’s Gino Luzzatto Prize. Before becoming a recipient of the Pro Futura Scientia Fellowship, Berger was a Wallander Postdoctoral Fellow at Lund University, Associate Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, a British Academy International Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, and a researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Stockholm, and he has spent time as a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Economic Studies (IIES), Stockholm University, and Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

Berger’s research uses historical “big data” and quantitative techniques to answer questions that straddle the intersection of economics, history, and sociology. In particular, his work has analyzed the extent to which economic and social (dis)advantages are transmitted across generations, the causes and consequences
of innovation, and how technological change affects individuals, firms, and communities. Berger’s research has been published in leading international journals such as Demography, PNAS, The Journal of Economic History, and The Review of Economics and Statistics.

As a Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, Berger will study how intergenerational mobility has evolved in Europe and the United States over the past two centuries. In particular, he will focus on the historical origins of spatial disparities in opportunity and examine whether periods of technological upheaval have led to increased opportunities for upward mobility, or have contributed to perpetuating inequalities across generations.

This information is accurate as of the academic year 2024-25.