preindustrial societies. In 2020, Baten analysed, jointly with Thomas Keywood, new evidence on elite human capital formation in Europe over a time period from the 6th to the 20th century. The focus on this study lies on tracing early roots of the Great Divergence of Europe. They find a substantial relationship between elite numeracy and elite violence, and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. Their study provides evidence that the disparities in violence between Eastern and Western Europe helped shape the divergent movement via the elite numeracy mechanism and had substantial implications for the economic fortunes of each region over the following centuries. Several of Batens' doctoral and post-doctoral students have proceeded to pursue an academic career. From 2015 to 2017, Baten was appointed president of the European Historical Economics Society, a learned society of European economic historians. Furthermore, he has been co-editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Economics and Human Biology since 2015. Books References External links 20th-century German historians Economic historians Living people 1965 births German male non-fiction writers 21st-century German historians