Pim de Zwart

Dr. Pim de Zwart is an Assistant Professor in Economic and Environmental History at Wageningen University. He holds a PhD from Utrecht University (2015 cum laude) and an MA (2010 cum laude). His research focuses on the consequences of international trade and globalization on income distribution and well-being in colonial contexts, particularly in Southeast Asia and Africa. He leads the Dutch-Flemish research program 'Globalization, Inequality and Sustainability in Historical Perspective' and serves as a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Key achievements include winning the Economic History Society’s Thirsk-Feinstein Prize (2016) and securing a NWO Veni Grant (2017) for his work on colonial-era inequality.

De Zwart teaches courses in Development Studies and Economics at Wageningen, emphasizing historical perspectives on globalization and sustainability. His book The Origins of Globalization (2018, with Jan Luiten van Zanden) explores pre-industrial global trade dynamics. He actively contributes to academic publishing, serving on editorial boards for journals like the International Review of Social History.

His research projects include analyzing forced labor impacts in Java and the socio-economic effects of commodity production. He combines quantitative and qualitative methods to address long-term development questions, with a focus on colonial institutions and their legacies.