![Xuesheng You](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/1456?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
Xuesheng You is an economic historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain.
Being disillusioned with Economics after a Bachelor from Manchester and an MPhil from Cambridge, he went on to get his PhD in Economic History from Cambridge as a Gates Scholar.
His research to date focuses on two specific areas. First, how gendered labour market and household economy interacted with the British Industrial Revolution. Second, how the development of transport systems affected the Industrial Revolution via labour migration, resource reallocation and urbanisation.
He is currently the principal investigator for a research project on Victorian child labour, jointly funded by the Textile History Society and the Economic History Society.
He is a member of the Cardiff University Senate.
Publication
2025
- You, X. and Tertzakian, A. 2025. Child labour and industrialisation: Evidence from factory records and the 1851 British census. The Economic History Review
2024
- You, X. 2024. Female relatives and domestic service in 19th-century England and Wales: female kin servants revisited. The Economic History Review 77(2), pp. 444-471. (10.1111/ehr.13276)
2022
- Bogart, D., You, X., Alvarez-Palau, E. J., Satchell, M. and Shaw-Taylor, L. 2022. Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales. Journal of Urban Economics 128, article number: 103390. (10.1016/j.jue.2021.103390)
2020
- You, X. 2020. Working with Husband? "Occupation's Wife" and Married Women's Employment in the Censuses in England and Wales between 1851 and 1911. Social Science History 44(4), pp. 585-613. (10.1017/ssh.2020.32)
2019
- You, X. 2019. Women's labour force participation in nineteenth-century England and Wales: evidence from the 1881 census enumerators' books. The Economic History Review 73(1), pp. 106-133. (10.1111/ehr.12876)
Articles
- You, X. and Tertzakian, A. 2025. Child labour and industrialisation: Evidence from factory records and the 1851 British census. The Economic History Review
- You, X. 2024. Female relatives and domestic service in 19th-century England and Wales: female kin servants revisited. The Economic History Review 77(2), pp. 444-471. (10.1111/ehr.13276)
- Bogart, D., You, X., Alvarez-Palau, E. J., Satchell, M. and Shaw-Taylor, L. 2022. Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales. Journal of Urban Economics 128, article number: 103390. (10.1016/j.jue.2021.103390)
- You, X. 2020. Working with Husband? "Occupation's Wife" and Married Women's Employment in the Censuses in England and Wales between 1851 and 1911. Social Science History 44(4), pp. 585-613. (10.1017/ssh.2020.32)
- You, X. 2019. Women's labour force participation in nineteenth-century England and Wales: evidence from the 1881 census enumerators' books. The Economic History Review 73(1), pp. 106-133. (10.1111/ehr.12876)
Research
- Gender, family and work in 18th- and 19th-century Britain
- Transport, urbanisation and economic geography in 18th- and 19th-century Britain
- Industrial Revolution
- Transport and economic development in late imperial China
Biography
Before joining Cardiff in July 2022, I worked at the Swansea University for two years as a lecturer in economics.
Prior to that, I worked as a research associate at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure where I also received my PhD and remain an affiliated researcher.
Honours and awards
- Economic History Society Carnevali Research Grant, 2024
- Textile History Society Pasold Research Grant, 2024
- Gates Scholarship
Committees and reviewing
- PhD examiner for London School of Economics, 2025
- Member of Cardiff University Senate, 2024 -
- Reviewer for Nature: Communications, Journal of Economic History, Economic History Review, Feminist Economics, Historical Methods, Interdisciplenary History, Continuity & Change, and Explorations in Economic History
Supervisions
I welcome enquries from prospective students wishing to undertake research in economic history, particularly in fields aligned with my research interests.
Contact Details
+44 29225 11757
Aberconway Building, Room C09 A, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU