The share of female inventors remains significantly lower than that of men in both developed and developing countries. This paper studies gender bias in patenting activity, using a unique dataset that matches Italian administrative employer-employee records both to patent data from the European...

Employing concepts from institutional economics and institutional organisation theory the article challenges the institutions-as-rule perspective by centring on endogenous institutional change through entrepreneurship. The empirical case is the dissolution of the guild system in 18th-century...

This paper investigates how kinship and professional networks shaped labour market outcomes in early modern Genoa. Using a newly constructed dataset of over 8,000 apprenticeship contracts (1450-1530), I examine the extent to which kinship ties with masters or guild members influenced both entry...

The present article outlines a 15-year body of research in institutional economics investigating the influence of institutions on economic growth and development processes. The study explores whether institutional changes act as a catalyst for significant economic and social developments, using...

Using hand-collected data on merchant guild culture and a sample over 2003-2019, this study examines the effect of merchant guild culture on the cost of debt. Our findings reveal that merchant guild culture is negatively associated with the cost of debt, suggesting that merchant guild culture...