Michiel de Haas is assistant professor at the Rural and Environmental History Group. He graduated with a BA in liberal arts and sciences (2007, Summa Cum Laude) and an MA in history (2012, Cum Laude) from Utrecht University. He completed his Ph.D. (2017, Cum Laude) at Wageningen University, with a thesis entitled Rural livelihoods and agricultural commercialization in colonial Uganda: conjunctures of external influences and local realities.  His research focuses on the economic history of sub-Saharan Africa, with expertise in rural East and Central Africa, Uganda in particular. His thematic interests include the long-term development of living standards, economic migration, social and economic inequality, as well as the determinants and impact of agricultural commercialization and primary commodity specialization.

Key publications:

De Haas, M. 'Moving beyond colonial control? Market forces and shifting migration from Ruanda-Urundi to Buganda, 1920-1960' Journal of African History 60, 3 (2019), pp. 376-406.

De Haas, M. and E.H.P. Frankema, ‘Gender, ethnicity and unequal opportunity in colonial Uganda: European influences, African realities and the pitfalls of parish register data’, The Economic History Review, 71, 3 (2018), pp. 965-994

De Haas, M. ‘Measuring rural welfare in colonial Africa: did Uganda's smallholders thrive?’ The Economic History Review, 70, 2 (2017), pp. 605-31.

Papaioannou, K.J. and M. de Haas, ‘Weather shocks and agricultural commercialization in colonial tropical Africa: did cash crops alleviate social distress?’ World Development, 94 (2017), pp. 346-65.