At the Uppsala History of Inequality and Labor Lab (UHILL), we are focused on the study of economic inequality and labor markets, from the industrial period to the present. By leveraging historical, micro-level datasets gathered by our team and employing modern econometric methods, we investigate the historical forces shaping economic disparities. Our aim is to provide insights that not only enhance our understanding of the past but also inform current debates on inequality and labor market dynamics.
The lab is based at the Department of Economic History at Uppsala University but engages researchers from a number of disciplines and institutions. You can see our members and affiliated researchers here.
We are available to supervise students writing their essays. Contact us if you are interested.
New publications
- Several lab members have a new working paper called Automated historical census digitization using image augmentation and transformer-based methods available in the EHES Working Paper Series.
- Read Jakob Molinder's and Martin Önnerfors's new working paper The Early Evolution of Segregation and Neighborhood Disadvantage: Evidence from Stockholm During Industrialization, 1878–1950 in the EHES Working Paper Series.
- Read William Skoglund's and Jakob Molinder's new working paper Unions and the Great Leveling: Evidence from Across the Atlantic in the EHES Working Paper Series.
- William Skoglund's introductory kappa for his thesis: Power Matters: Essays on Labor Market Power is now available. You can read it here.
- Read Johan Ericsson's and Jakob Molinder's new publication How Deep Are the Roots of Swedish Egalitarianism? A Multidimensional Approach in European Review of Economic History.
- Read Jakob Molinder's new publication Power for progress: The impact of electricity on individual labor market outcomes in Explorations in Economic History.
Announcements:
- Member of the lab, William Skoglund, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Gerschenkron Prize for the best dissertation in the economic history of an area outside of the United States or Canada. The winner will be announced at the annual EHA meeting in St Louis on the 19th of September.
- The lab received funding from Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser to host Bram Hilkens from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Bram's research focuses on land inequality in the Netherlands.
- Member of the lab, Diego Castañeda Garza, has recevied the prestigous three-year Wallander postdoc grant from Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius stiftelse samt Tore Browaldhs stiftelse.
- Three lab members are part of projects that received funding from the Swedish Research Council. Jakob Molinder for "Top incomes, inequality and economic change: Sweden, 1911–1950", Johan Ericsson for “Institutional change and agrarian development in Sweden 1800–1900”, and Jonatan Andersson for “Consequences of demolition of housing estates for individuals and neighborhoods”.
- Diego Castañeda Garza was awarded the prize for best dissertation in Economic History between 2023 and 2025 by the Swedish Economic History Association.
- Member of the lab, Diego Castañeda Garza, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Gerschenkron Prize for the best dissertation in the economic history of an area outside of the United States or Canada. The winner will be announced at the annual EHA meeting in Philadelphia on the 6th of September.
Upcoming researcher visits at the Lab:
- Bram Hilkens from Erasmus University Rotterdam will be visiting the lab during November and December 2026.
Previous researcher visits at the Lab:
- Christian Vedel from the Department of Economics and the Historical Economics and Development Group (HEDG) at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) visited the lab during the week of May 25th 2026 to May 29th 2026.
- Auke Rijpma from the Department of History at Utrect University visited the lab from May 25th 2026 to May 26th 2026.
- Valeria Peshko from the Department of Social and Economic History at the University of Helsinki visited the lab during the period from September 21th to October 3rd 2025.
- Leonardo Costa Ribeiro from the Federal University of Minas Gerais visited the Lab during the period from 20th of January to the 28th of February 2025 and again from December 15th 2025 to February 28th 2026.
- Benjamin Schneider from Oslo Met visited the Lab during the week of 20th-24th of January 2025.