Eric Hilt

My research focuses on the history of American business organizations and their governance, and more generally on the role of legal institutions in shaping economic and financial development. My most recent work has analyzed the impact of historical financial crises on the development of financial regulations; the role of bankers on the boards of 19th-century American corporations; and the shareholder protections intended to attract investors in early corporations. Earlier work analyzed the organizational forms and contracts utilized in the American whaling industry.

At Wellesley, I teach a class on American economic and financial history, a finance class, and Introductory Macroeconomics.

I am a research associate in the Development of the American Economy program of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and I am on the editorial board of the Journal of Economic History.

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