Latest articles

The 1918 flu pandemic left Spain a more unequal country
Pandemics are often considered “big levelers” events. We show that the Spanish Flu, one of the deadliest pandemics in history, doesn’t fit this narrative in Spain, which became more unequal.

The trend of emotional well-being in Nineteenth-century Britain
According to the language used in political pamphlets, the emotional well-being of British men neither increased nor decreased between 1800 and 1900, despite economic growth and material progress.

The drivers of institutionalization among the elderly in Europe
Will future increases in life expectancy improve life quality? If we consider the elderly, this is unclear, especially among permanently institutionalized individuals, whose quality of life is often worse.

A Micro-Based Evaluation of Water Projects
We demonstrate the potential of using existing micro-level data to credibly assess the impact of improved water provision on the household’s welfare.

The Spanish hospital system during the Franco dictatorship
The creation of the Spanish public hospital system during Franco’s dictatorship was marked by collaboration and competition with the private sector, due to limited funding and political struggles among elites.

The virtual eradication of the plague. An unsolved riddle of health progress
Both plague and smallpox used to exert a heavy death toll on society. We eradicated smallpox with a vaccine, but plague disappeared from most of human society for unknown reasons.