Publications

2023

P. de Zwart, “Quantification: Measuring Connections and Comparative Development in Global History’, in: J. Osterhammel and S. Gänger (eds.), Rethinking Global History, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

P. de Zwart and P. Soekhradj, “Sweet equality: Sugar, property rights and land distribution in colonial Java”, Explorations in Economic History (2023): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2023.101513

• CEPR Discussion Paper version here.
• Read column about this research at VoxEU.org

2022

P. de Zwart, D. Gallardo-Albarrán & A. Rijpma, “The Demographic Effects of Colonialism: Forced Labor and Mortality in Java, 1834-1879”, Journal of Economic History (2022): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050721000577

• Discussed in Dutch newspapers: NRC, Trouw, Reformatorisch Dagblad.
• Blogposts at Voxeu.org & Long-Run Health Matters.
• Interview about this research on Faculti.
• Runner-up (2nd place) Wageningen Research Award 2021.
• CEPR Discussion Paper version of this paper here.

P. de Zwart, “Inequality in Late Colonial Indonesia: New Evidence on Regional Differences”, Cliometrica 16 (2022), pp. 175-211: DOI: 10.1007/s11698-020-00220-3 [open access].

• “Riset: bagaimana wajah ketimpangan Indonesia pada zaman kolonial Belanda?” The Conversation (16-08-2022) [Article discussing this research on Indonesian news and academic platform.].
• “Mapping inequality in Dutch colonial-era Indonesia”, The Conversation & The Jakarta Post (18-08-2022). [English translation and republication in newspaper.]

D. Gallardo-Albarrán & P. de Zwart, “The regional impact of an epidemic: socioeconomic and demographic data in Java, 1905-1924”, Data in Brief 40 (2022):  10.1016/j.dib.2021.107710

P. de Zwart, “Review of ‘Anne Booth, Living Standards in Southeast Asia: Changes over the Long Twentieth Century, 1900-2015 (AUP, 2019)'”, South East Asia Research 30 (2022).

P. de Zwart, “Review of ‘Jan Lucassen and Radhika Seshan (eds.), Wage Earners in India, 1500-1900: Regional Approaches in an International Context (New Delhi: Sage, 2022).'”, International Review of Social History (2022).

P. de Zwart, “Review of Sven Van Melkebeke, Dissimilar Coffee Frontiers. Mobilizing Labor and Land in the Lake Kivu Region, Congo and Rwanda (1918-1960/2) Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2020)”, TSEG/Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History (2022).

P. de Zwart, “Excuses voor slavernij? Dan ook voor de koloniale uitbuiting van Javanen”, Trouw (28-04-2022) [Op-ed in major Dutch paper].

2021

D. Gallardo-Albarrán & P. de Zwart, “A Bitter Epidemic: The Impact of the 1918 Influenza on Sugar Production in Java”, Economics and Human Biology 42 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101011 [open access].

P. de Zwart, “Globalisation, Inequality and Institutions in West Sumatra and West Java, 1800-1940”, Journal of Contemporary Asia 51 (2021), pp. 564-590 [open access, PDF].

• Underlying data available @ https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-xfx-7ucx
• For a summary, read the Journal of Contemporary Asia blog here.

P. de Zwart and D.O. Flynn, “The Significance of Early Globalization: Evidence and Arguments”. In R. Dobado-González and A. García-Hiernaux (eds.), The Fruits of the Early Globalization. Palgrave (2021): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69666-5_2

2020

P. de Zwart and J. Lucassen, “Poverty or Prosperity in Northern India? New Evidence on Real Wages, 1590s-1870s”, Economic History Review 73 (2020) pp. 644-667 [open access, PDF].

• Underlying data and code: @ https://doi.org/10.3886/E118365V1, Appendix with extensive data description here.
• Read a blog about the article at the Economic History Society’s The Long Run here.

P. de Zwart, “Commodity Production and Indigenous Institutions in Southeast Asian Long-Run Economic Development”, International Review of Social History 65 (2020) pp. 481-494. [open access, PDF].

P. de Zwart, “Ecologische en Economische Geschiedenis van Indonesie”, Historici.nl (17-12-2020) [Blogpost at Dutch website for historians].

2019

P. de Zwart, “The Global History of Inequality”, International Review of Social History 64 (2019) pp. 309-323 [PDF]. Open access version available here.

P. de Zwart, “Review of ‘Tirthankar Roy and Giorgio Riello (eds.) Global Economic History. London: Bloomsbury 2019′”, Economic History Review 72 (2019) pp. 1523-1525 [PDF].

P. de Zwart, “Wereld beter af zonder wereldhandelsorganisatie”, De Volkskrant (13-12-2019) [Opinion article about the demise of the WTO in a Dutch national newspaper].

P. de Zwart, “Prijs van vrije handel is hoog”, Nederlands Dagblad (19-12-2019).

2018

P. de Zwart and J.L. van Zanden, The Origins of Globalization: World Trade in the Making of the Global Economy, 1500-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018 [order here].

• Reviewed for EH.net, American Historical Review, Economic History Review, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, International Review of Social History, TSEG-Low Countries Journal for Social and Economic History, Comparativ, & Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte.

P. de Zwart, “The Future of Global Economic History: Regional Comparisons to Address Global Questions”, TSEG – Low Countries Journal for Social and Economic History 15 (2018) pp. 129-142 [open access, PDF].

P. de Zwart, “1662: Koffie, wereldhandel en de consumptie-revolutie”, in. L. Heerma van Voss et al. (eds). Wereldgeschiedenis van Nederland. Amsterdam: Ambo Anthos 2018, pp. 275-280. [order here].

K. Hofmeester and P. de Zwart, eds., Colonialism, Institutional Change and Shifts in Global Labour Relations. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2018 [open access, PDF].

• Reviewed in TSEG – Low Countries Journal for Social and Economic History.

K. Hofmeester and P. de Zwart, “Introduction”, in: ibid. (eds.), Colonialism, Institutional Change and Shifts in Global Labour Relations. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2018, pp. 1-20 [open access, PDF].

2017

P.M. Solar and P. de Zwart, “Why were Dutch East Indiamen so slow?”, International Journal of Maritime History 29 (2017) pp. 738-751 [open access, PDF].

• Discussed in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (4-12-2017).

P. de Zwart, ‘Review of “Arturo Giraldez, The Age of Trade: The Manila Galleons and the Dawn of the Global Economy (Exploring World History)(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015)”, Journal of Early Modern History 21, pp. 137-141. [PDF]

2016

P. de Zwart, Globalization and the Colonial Origins of the Great Divergence. Intercontinental Trade and Living Standards in the Dutch East India Company’s Commercial Empire, c. 1600-1800. Leiden & Boston: Brill 2016 [order here].

• Reviewed in the Economic History Review, Bulletin for Indonesian Economic Studies, Journal of World History & Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis.
• Won the British Economic History Society’s Thirsk-Feinstein Prize for Best Dissertation in Economic and Social History in 2016.

P. de Zwart, “Globalization in the Early Modern Era: New Evidence from the Dutch-Asiatic Trade, c. 1600-1800”, Journal of Economic History 76 (2016) pp. 520-558. [PDF]

P. de Zwart, ‘Review of “Roman Studer, The Great Divergence Reconsidered. Europe, India, and the Rise to Global Economic Power (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2015)”’, International Review of Social History 61 (2016) pp. 156-158. [PDF]

2015

P. de Zwart and J.L. van Zanden, “Labor, Wages and Living Standards in Java, 1680-1914”, European Review of Economic History 19 (2015) pp. 215-234. [open access “editor’s choice” article, PDF]

P. de Zwart, D. Marks, A.M. de Pleijt and J.L. van Zanden, “Trade and Economic Development: Indonesia in the Long-Run” in: A. Schrikker and J. Touwen (eds.) Promises and Predicaments. Trade and Entrepreneurship in Colonial and Independent Indonesia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Singapore: NUS Press 2015, pp. 61-79. [order here]

2014

P. de Zwart, B. van Leeuwen and J. Li, “Real Wages”, in: J.L. van Zanden et al. (eds.), How Was Life? Global Well-Being Since 1820. Paris: OECD 2014, pp. 73-86. [PDF]

2013

P. de Zwart, “Real Wages at the Cape of Good Hope: a Long-Term Perspective, 1652-1912”, TSEG – Low Countries Journal for Social and Economic History 10 (2013) pp. 28-58. [PDF]

2012

P. de Zwart, “Population, Labour and Living Standards in Early Modern Ceylon: a Contribution to the Divergence Debate”, Indian Economic and Social History Review 49, (2012) pp. 365-398. [PDF]

2011

P. de Zwart, “South African Living Standards in Global Perspective, 1835-1910”, Economic History of Developing Regions 26 (2011) pp. 49-74. [PDF]

P. de Zwart, ‘Review of “Niall Ferguson, Civilization. The West and The Rest (London: Allen Lane, 2011)”’, Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History 8 (2011) pp. 113-115. [PDF]