Jakob Molinder

Jakob Molinder is an Associate Professor in Economic History at Uppsala University and an affiliated researcher at Lund University's Department of Economic History. He directs the Uppsala History of Inequality and Labor Lab (UHILL) and is affiliated with Uppsala's Urban Lab. His work focuses on historical labor markets, economic geography, income inequality, and technological change using GIS methods.

• Primary Affiliation: Department of Economic History, Uppsala University
• Secondary Affiliation: Department of Economic History, Lund University

Research interests include:

• Analysis of historical urban economic and social geography
• Wage dynamics and income inequality
• Technological adoption and its socioeconomic impacts (e.g., electricity in early 20th century Sweden)
• Regional development and mobility frictions

Recent work highlights include:

• Quantifying skill development through rural-urban migration during industrialization (2025)
• Mapping electricity's role in reducing inequality and improving labor outcomes (2024)
• Reconstructing pre-industrial labor patterns in Stockholm (2024)

Scientific Awards:

• Rudolf Meidner-prize (2018) for trade union movement research
• Håkan Lindgren Prize (2013) for outstanding master's thesis in Economic History

He supervises PhD candidate Jonathan Jayes and leads projects like 'Swedish Labour Mobility Lab' (2021–2027) and 'Labour Conflicts by Location, 1859–1938' (ongoing). Public data contributions include national unemployment statistics (1911–present) and labor exchange data (1914–1975).