Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics; Director, Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences
B.A., Reed College, 1984; Ph.D., Caltech, 1988. Professor, 2006-2008; Axline Professor, 2008-; Executive Officer, 2007-13; Division Chair, 2014-22; Linde Leadership Chair, 2016-22; Director, Linde Institute, 2022-;
Profile
Jean-Laurent Rosenthal is trying to understand what institutions encourage long-term economic growth and wealth formation. He has studied changes in property rights at the time of the French Revolution, credit markets in Europe, law and the organization of enterprises (in France, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom), and wealth inequality. Rosenthal is the author or co-author of several books including
... Read More
Research Summary
Economic History; Financial Markets; Wealth Inequality; Game Theory; Corporate Governance
Selected Awards
- Fellow Cliometric Society, October 2018
- Clio Can for exceptional support to the Field of Cliometrics, May 2018
- Gyorgy Ranki prize (Economic History Association) for outstanding book published in 1999 or 2000 for Priceless Markets, Fall 2001.
- J.S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2001-2002
- Arthur H. Cole Prize for best article in the Journal of Economic History, September 1991
- Alexander Gerschenkron Dissertation Prize (Economic History Association), September 1989
- Milton and Francis Clauser Dissertation Prize (Caltech), May 1988
Caltech Affiliations
External Affiliations
- Co-editor, Journal of Economic History (2010–2014)
Featured News
What History Has Taught Us About Epidemics
May 08, 2020
A Caltech professor who studies the Parisian cholera outbreak of 1832 talks about how that epidemic compares to what we are experiencing now.
Caltech and The Huntington Launch Research Institute for History of Science and Technology
February 13, 2019
Caltech and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens are establishing the Advanced Research Institute in the History of Science and Technology.
Building a Program: Financial Economics
Read more news
June 16, 2015
Financing is done in much more flexible and efficient ways today than it was 30 years ago due to innovations in financial economics. Recognizing this area's importance to both academia and society, Caltech is developing a curriculum around the study of finance.
Selected Publications
Books
- Dark Matter Credit: the Devlopment of Peer to Peer Lending and Banking in France. with Philip T. Hoffman, and Gilles Postel-Vinay. Princeton University Press, 2019.
- Before and Beyond Divergence; Institutions and Prosperity in China and Europe 1000-1800. With R. Bin Wong. Harvard University Press, February 2011.
- Surviving Large Losses: Financial Crises, the Middle Class, and the Development of Capital Markets. With Philip T. Hoffman and Gilles Postel-Vinay. Harvard University Press. Spring 2007. Paperback edition Fall 2009.
- Finance, Intermediaries and Economic Development. Coedited with Stanley Engerman, Philip T. Hoffman, and Kenneth Sokoloff. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Priceless Markets: The Political Economy of Credit in Paris, 1662-1869. With Philip T. Hoffman and Gilles Postel-Vinay. University of Chicago Press, 2000. Translated in French as Des marchés sans prix : l'économie politique du crédit à Paris, 1662-1869. Presses de l'EHESS, 2001.
- Analytic Narratives. With Robert Bates, Avner Greif, Margaret Levi, and Barry Weingast. Princeton University Press, 1998. Chinese edition 2008.
- The Fruits of Revolution, Property Rights, Litigation and French Agriculture (1700-1860). Cambridge University Press, 1992.