Matthias Weigand is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Harvard University. His research focuses on economic history and political economy, specifically on the emergence of state structures and their impact on economic activity. In recent work, he examines how crises affect democratic backsliding and the role of scientific knowledge in colonial expansion.
Prior to starting graduate school, he was a pre-doctoral fellow in economics at Brown University, and a visiting graduate student at University of Oxford, studying mathematics and economic history. He holds a B.Sc. in economics from LMU Munich.
At the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Weigand chairs the Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective.
