Associate Professor of Economics and RCUK Fellow (CSGR)

Phone:  44 (0)24 7652 4247
Email:   mailto:Nikolaus.Wolf@warwick.ac.uk
Fax:     44 (0)24 7652 3032
Room:  S2.107
Office hours: Wednesday 1 - 2pm  

Research Interests: Trade and Location, Monetary Policy, Economic History

I joined the University of Warwick as a Senior Research Fellow in the CSGR (Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation) in October 2006. My previous positions include Assistant Professor at the Free University Berlin, Visiting Assistant Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, and Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. I am a Research Affiliate at CEPR (International Trade and Economic History), a Research Affiliate at the the Centre for Economic Performance (Globalisation Programme) at the London School of Economics and a Research Affiliate at the CESifo Institute Munich (Global Economy).

I recently won the Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award in Global Economy 2008. I hold a Ph.D in Economics from Humboldt University Berlin, which won the Gino Luzzatto Prize 2003-2005 of the European Historical Economics Society for the best dissertation on Economic History 2003-2005. Moreover, I hold a MSc. in Economics from Humboldt University Berlin and a M.A. in Modern History from Free University Berlin.

I am currently working on the following projects:

• On the Decline of Trade Costs: the Natural Experiment of Suez (joint with Daniel Bernhofen and Peter Egger) 
• The Economic Impact of Division and Unification on the Economic Geography of Germany (German Science Foundation Grant, joint with Steve Redding, LSE and Daniel Sturm, LSE).
• On the Persistence of Borders: Evidence from German Trade 1995-2004 (Thyssen Foundation Grant, joint with Volker Nitsch, ETH Zurich).
• The Trade Network of Central Europe, 1850-1939 (Thyssen Foundation Grant, joint with Max S. Schulze, LSE). 
• The Historical Economic Geography of Europe, 1900-2000 (part of GLOBALEURONET, European Science Foundation, joint with Joan Ramon Roses, UC3).
• Agricultural Productivity and Market Access (with Michael Kopsidis, IAMO Halle).
• The Final Frontier: Rethinking Borders (IAS Incubation Award, joint with James Brasset and Dwijen Rangnekar). 

Recent working Papers

• "Tear down this Wall: On the Persistence of Borders in Trade", with Volker Nitsch, CEPR Discussion Paper 7545, submitted to journal.  
• "Endogenous Borders? Exploring a Natural Experiment on Border Effects", with Max-Stephan Schulze and Hans-Chrisian Heinemeyer, CESifo WP 2246, CEPR Discussion Paper No.  6909, submitted to journal. 
• “History and Industry Location: Evidence from German Airports” , CEPR Discussion Paper No. 6345, with Steve Redding and Daniel Sturm, Review of Economics and Statistics, revise and resubmit. 
• "1918 als Zaesur? Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und die Periodisierung der neuern Geschichte Ostmitteleuropas", submitted to journal. 
• "Economic Nationalism and Economic Integration: the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th Century" (with Max-Stephan Schulze), CESifo WP 2813, submitted to journal.
• "Shooting on a moving target: Explaining European Bank Rates during the Interwar Period" (with Kirsten Wandschneider), CESifo WP 2694, submitted to journal.
• "Prosperity and depression in the european economy during the interwar years (1913-1950) : an introduction" (with Joan R. Roses), UC3 Working Papers in Economic History WP08-10.
• "The Little Divergence in Central Europe: Explaining Agricultural Productivity across Prussia around 1865", with Michael Kopsidis, mimeo. 
• "Endogeneity of Currency Areas and Trade Blocs: Evidence from the Interwar-Period” , CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4112, with Albrecht Ritschl, Journal of the European Economic Association, revise and resubmit.

Refereed Journals 

• “Was Germany ever united? Evidence from Intra- and International Trade, 1885-1933”, Journal of Economic History 69 (3), September 2009, pp. 846-881.
• “On the Origins of Border Effects: Insights from the Habsburg Empire”,  Journal of Economic Geography 9(1), Janauary 2009, pp. 117-136, with Max-Stephan Schulze.
• "Scylla and Charybdis. Explaining Europe's Exit from Gold, 1928-1936" , Explorations in Economic History 45 (2008), pp. 383-401.
• "Should I stay or should I go? Understanding Poland's Adherence to Gold, 1928-1936", Historical Social Research 32/4 (2007), pp. 351-368.
• “Endowments vs. Market Potential: what explains the Relocation of Industry after the Polish reunification in 1918?”, Explorations in Economic History 44 (2007), pp. 22-42.
• “Estimating Financial Integration in the Middle Ages: What can we learn from a TAR-model?",  Journal of Economic History 66/1 (2006), pp. 122-139, with Oliver Volckart.
• “Economic Integration Across Borders: the Polish Interwar Economy”, European Review of Economic History 9 (2005), pp. 199-231, with Carsten Trenkler.
• “Path Dependent Border Effects: the Case of Poland’s Reunification (1918-1939)”, Explorations in Economic History 42 (2005), pp. 414-438.

Recent Policy Contributions

• On the Berlin Wall - "Tear down this Wall!", November 2009 online publication at VOXEU, the CEPR policy portal: http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/4179, with Volker Nitsch
• "Die oekonomische Mauer bleibt", November 2009 online and print publication in Financial Times (Deutschland): http://www.ftd.de/politik/konjunktur/:deutsche-einheit-die-oekonomische-mauer-bleibt/50035358.html
• "The world financial crisis - a new 1929?", September 2008, O Globo (Brazil) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brazil)
• "European economic integration: Undoing 1914-1945", May 2008 online publication at VOX.EUVOXEU, the CEPR policy portal:  http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1177
• "Scylla and Charybdis: What Europe’s exit from gold in the 1930s says about the euro", February 2008 online publiaction at VOXEU, the CEPR policy portal: http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/942 
• "Borders, language, and the future of European integration: insights from the 19th century Habsburg Empire", July 2007 online publication at VOXEU, the CEPR policy portal:  http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/362, with Max-Stephan Schulze

Recent Invited Papers

• NBER Summer Institute (Trade), Boston 2009
• ERWIT Conference, Madrid 2009
• EHES Biannual Conference, Geneva 2009
• LSE Trade Seminar, London 2009

Chapters in Books

•  "Aggregate Growth, 1913-1950" (with Joan Ramon Roses), forthcoming in The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Volume 2, 1870-2000, Cambridge University Press 2010.
• "Local Comparative Advantage: Agriculture and Economic Development in Poland 1870 – 1970”, forthcoming in: Pedro Lains and Vincente Pinilla (eds.), Agriculture and Economic Development in Europe since 1870, Routledge, 2008.
• "Grenzen und Ökonomie. Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel Deutschlands und Polens 1885 – 1934",  in: Etienne François, Jörg Seifarth, Bernhard Struck (eds.), Die Grenze als Raum, Erfahrung und Konstruktionen. Deutschland, Frankreich und Polen vom 17. bis 20. Jahrhundert, Campus, 2007, pp. 183-209.
• "Oekonomische Zugaenge zur Geschichte der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen", in: Dieter Bingen, Peter Loew, Nikolaus Wolf (eds.), Interesse und Konflikt. Die Politische Oekonomie der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen 1900-2006, Harrasowitz, 2008, pp. 9-22.

Edited Books

• Dieter Bingen, Peter Loew, Nikolaus Wolf (eds.), Interesse und Konflikt. Die Politische Oekonomie der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen 1900-2006, Harrassowitz, 2008.
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• Book review by Andreas Frings (hsozkult 2008)
• Book review by Wolfgang Kessler (ABDOS Mitteilungen 2008)
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Other Work

• Book Review on Derek H. Aldcroft, Europe's Third World. The European Periphery in the Interwar Years, Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2006, published online at EH.Net.
• Book Review on Jeffrey G. Williamson, Globalization and the Poor Periphery before 1950, MIT Press, 2006,  Journal of Economics 92 (2007), pp. 298-300.

• Book Review on Christian Antonelli, Dominique Foray, Brownyn H. Hall, and W. Edward Steinmueller (eds.), New Frontiers in the economics of innovation and new technology: essays in honour of Paul David: Edward Elgar 2006, Economic History Review (2008).

Teaching 2009/10

EC108 - Macroeconomics

EC307 - UK Economic Policy

EC313 - The International Economic System since 1918  

Rotterdam 09

Paul Krugman's Op-ed Column

VOX.EU

Martin Wolf's Economists' Forum

The Economists' Voice

BigThink

Rational Inattention...This link takes you to the basketball video from an experiment by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. When viewing the video, try to count the total number of times that the people wearing white pass the basketball. Do not count the passes made by the people wearing black.