Skip to main content
SUPPORT HSS
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
CONTACT US
Caltech Logo
Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences
  • About HSS
    • HSS Year in Review
    • Honors and Awards
    • Job Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • People
    • Professorial Faculty
    • Emeritus Faculty
    • Lecturers and Other Faculty
    • Postdoctoral Instructors
    • Postdoctoral Scholars
    • Graduate Students
    • Visiting Faculty and Associates
    • Staff
  • Research
    • Humanities Research
    • Social Sciences Research
    • Postdoctoral Programs
  • Undergraduate Studies
  • Graduate Studies
    • Social Sciences PhD Program
    • Social and Decision Neuroscience PhD Program
    • HSS Graduate Courses
    • Job Market Candidates
    • Graduate Programs Alumni
    • HSS Course Policies Open HSS Course Policies Submenu
      • Avoiding Plagiarism
      • Use of Generative AI
  • News & Events
    • HSS Calendar
    • News
    • Seminars and Conferences
    • Honors and Awards
  • Diversity
Open search form
Menu Main Menu
Close
  • About HSS Click here to open the "About HSS" Submenu
  • People Click here to open the "People" Submenu
  • Research Click here to open the "Research" Submenu
  • Undergraduate Studies
  • Graduate Studies Click here to open the "Graduate Studies" Submenu
  • News & Events Click here to open the "News & Events" Submenu
  • Diversity
SUPPORT HSS
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
CONTACT US
About HSS
Back
  • HSS Year in Review
  • Honors and Awards
  • Job Opportunities
  • Contact Us
People
Back
  • Professorial Faculty
  • Emeritus Faculty
  • Lecturers and Other Faculty
  • Postdoctoral Instructors
  • Postdoctoral Scholars
  • Graduate Students
  • Visiting Faculty and Associates
  • Staff
Research
Back
  • Humanities Research
  • Social Sciences Research
  • Postdoctoral Programs
Graduate Studies
Back
  • Social Sciences PhD Program
  • Social and Decision Neuroscience PhD Program
  • HSS Graduate Courses
  • Job Market Candidates
  • Graduate Programs Alumni
  • HSS Course Policies
    • Avoiding Plagiarism
    • Use of Generative AI
News & Events
Back
  • HSS Calendar
  • News
  • Seminars and Conferences
  • Honors and Awards
Open search form
Jean-Laurent Rosenthal headshot 2021
Office: 137 Baxter Hall (77)
Mail Code: MC 228-77
Phone: 626-395-4058
Email: [email protected]
Administrative Assistant:
Name: Sabrina C. Hameister
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 626-395-4228
link Curriculum Vitae
link Personal Website
HSS Home  /  People  /  Jean-Laurent Rosenthal

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
  • Publications
  • Teaching

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 Before and Beyond Divergence: The Politics of Economic Change in China and Europe (with R. Bin Wong, Harvard University Press, 2011) and Dark Matter Credit: The Development of Peer-to-Peer Lending and Banking in France (with Philip T. Hoffman and Gilles Postel-Vinay, Princeton University Press, 2019).

Rosenthal holds a bachelor's degree in history from Reed College (1984) and a PhD in social science from Caltech (1988). His dissertation, which focused on why infrastructure investment was difficult under the old regime in France but was relatively easy after 1815, received the Milton and Francis Clauser Doctoral Prize from Caltech and the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize from the Economic History Association. From 1988 to 2006, he was a faculty member in the department of economics at UCLA. He was the co-editor of the Journal of Economic History (2010–2014). Rosenthal's honors include the Arthur H. Cole Prize for best article in the Journal of Economic History in 1991, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2001–2002), a Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellowship (1993–1994), a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (1992), and an Alfred P. Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (1987–1988).

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
  • The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences
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
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.
Read more news   >

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.
2023-24
BEM 103 – Introduction to Finance
SS 229 abc – Theoretical and Quantitative Dimensions of Historical Development
2022-23
BEM 103 – Introduction to Finance
SS 229 abc – Theoretical and Quantitative Dimensions of Historical Development
2021-22
SS 200 – Selected Topics in Social Science
SS 229 abc – Theoretical and Quantitative Dimensions of Historical Development
SS 281 – Graduate Social Science Writing Seminar
2020-21
SS 229 abc – Theoretical and Quantitative Dimensions of Historical Development
Caltech Torch
Caltech Logo
California Institute of Technology
map marker
1200 East California Boulevard
Pasadena, California 91125
Contact Us Claimed Copyright Infringement Privacy Notice Site Content Copyright © 2023 Log In