Walker Hanlon is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Northwestern University with a courtesy appointment in the Department of History and co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Economic History. His research focuses on understanding how economies evolve over the long-run using novel historical data, with a specific focus on Britain and the broader North Atlantic economy from the late 18
th century to the First World War. He is particularly interested in questions related to technological progress, urbanization, demography, international trade, and the environment. He is currently working on a book,
The Laissez-Faire Experiment, on British government during the long nineteenth century (under contract with Princeton University Press). In other recent research he explores the emergence of the engineering profession during the Industrial Revolution, the impact of the Bradlaugh-Besant trial of 1877 on the British demographic transition, and the health costs of air pollution in British cities during the nineteenth century. Prof. Hanlon received his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 2012.
