Research

Research Interests

My research focuses on the intersection of economic history, technological change, and long-run economic development. I am particularly interested in:

• The role of renewable energy sources (especially water power) in historical economic development
• Technology adoption and path dependence during industrialization
• The relationship between energy infrastructure and human capital formation
• Comparative economic development during the Industrial Revolution

Dissertation

Title: Renewable Energy in the Industrial Revolution
Supervisors: Alan Fernihough and Christopher Colvin
Institution: Queen’s University Belfast
Expected completion: 2026

Working Papers and Works in Progress

• “Water mills and human capital accumulation in industrialising Prussia”
  Revise and Resubmit at Explorations in Economic History
  Abstract

  Did Germany's industrial rise begin with its water mills? This study examines how water mills shaped early industrial development in Prussia using historical county-level census data. I show that water-powered proto-industrialization fostered skilled artisanal human capital by the mid-nineteenth century. Unlike wind or animal-powered mills, water mills supported diverse industries, driving technological spillovers and early industrialization. Counties with more water mills saw faster population growth, though this effect declined with the adoption of coal and steam. These findings underscore water power's role in Germany's industrial rise, and suggest that water-driven industrialization was a broader European phenomenon, not unique to Britain.
• “Leapfrogging or path dependence? Water mills and long-run growth in the Scottish Industrial Revolution”
  Work in progress
  Abstract

  When new general-purpose technologies emerge, do incumbents get locked into obsolete infrastructure while agile entrants leapfrog them? Scotland's Industrial Revolution provides a test case. Using digitized locations of over 1,200 water mills from 1755 and parish-level data spanning 140 years, I examine whether steam power initiated a decline of water-powered regions or reinforced their advantages. The results reject leapfrogging: parishes with one additional pre-industrial mill experienced 8% greater population growth by 1891, with effects intensifying precisely when steam engines became abundant. Rather than being trapped by sunk costs, water-powered locations became centers of steam adoption and industrial diversification. Migration flows, including Irish famine refugees, concentrated in these areas.