Research

Articles and book chapters

• Martins, I., and E. Green. (forthcoming). Från arbetskraft till kapital: Slaveriets ekonomiska logik i globalt perspektiv. Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift.

• Martins, I. (2026). Capital and Coercion: Slavery after the 1807 Import Ban in the Cape Colony. European Review of Economic History. [link]

• Martins, I. and E. Green (2025). Theoretical Foundations of the Economics of Slavery: Enslaved People as Capital Investments in the Atlantic World. Journal of Global History, 21(1), 22-40. [link]

• Martins, I. (2025). Is the business of conquest the conquest of business? The Case Centre, 225-0045-1. [link]

• Cilliers, J., M. Mariotti, and I. Martins. (2024). Fertility responses to short-term economic stress: Price volatility and wealth shocks in a pre-transitional settler colony. Explorations in Economic History, 101620. [link]

• Smythe, A., I. Martins, and M. Andersson (2024). Inequality, Poverty, and Economic Shrinking: How can developing countries build greater resilience for more sustainable development patterns?. International Journal of Development Issues, 23(1), 40–81. [link]

• Martins, I. and S. Schwaag Serger (2023). An age of disentangled research?. Issues in Science and Technology, 40(1), 38–43. [link]

• Martins, I. and S. Schwaag Serger (2023). Shifting patterns in international research cooperation. STINT, 23(1), 1–48. [link]

• Axelsson, T. and I. Martins. (2023). Resilience to shrinking as a catch-up strategy: a comparison of Brazil and Indonesia, 1964–2019. Studies in Comparative International Development, 59(3), 491–516. [link]

• Martins, I., J. Cilliers, and J. Fourie (2022). Legacies of loss: The health outcomes of slaveholder compensation in the British Cape Colony. Explorations in Economic History, 101506. [link]

• Martins, I. (2020). Collateral Effect: Slavery and Wealth in the Cape Colony. Ph.D. Thesis, Lund University. [link]

• Palacio, A. and I. Martins. (2019). What caused poverty reduction in Brazil during the 2000s: sectoral growth or public expenditures? OASIS. Observatorio de Analisis de los Sistemas Internacionales, 32, 1–25. [link]

• Palacio, A. and I. Martins. (2018). Poverty and Democracy: the Brazilian experience. In: Poverty, Politics and the Poverty of Politics, ed. D. Rauhut and N. Hatti. New Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation, 193–210.  [link]

Works under review

• Martins, I. Assessing Writing When Drafting Is Easy. Times Higher Education (THE). (Revise and Resubmit)

• Martins, I. Art, Craft, and the Case for Artisanal Doctoral Supervision in the Humanities. Studies in Higher Education. (Revise and Resubmit)

• Martins, I. Retrieval-Restricted Reasoning: A Proof of Concept for Adapting Language Models to Economic History. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History. (Revise and Resubmit)

• Martins, I. Collateral damage: Slave emancipation and agricultural output in the Cape Colony. Journal of Economic History. (Submitted)

• Martins, I. Living Standards in Ghana, 1955-2005. In: Labour and Work in Ghana Since Independence, eds. Gareth Austin, Akua Britwum, Lamine Doumbia, Andreas Eckert, and Nana Yaw Sapong. (Submitted)

• Martins, I., J. Schoots, and E. Green. Held by the Elite: Monopoly Rights and Dynastic Persistence at the Cape Colony, 1680-1794. Economic History Review. (Submitted)

• Martins, I., S. Grab, and E. Green. Climate and inequality at the Cape Colony, 1760-1791. Nature Communications. (Submitted)

Works in progress

• Makuei, J., and I. Martins. Political Alignment and Agricultural Advantage in Kenya, 2002-2010.

• Smythe, A., and I. Martins. Resilience and Growth Theory: A Novel Conceptualisation of Convergence. 

• Cilliers, J., and I. Martins. Malthus at the Cape: Wealth, Status, and Mortality in a Pre-Industrial Settler Society.

• Cilliers, J., and I. Martins. Forebearers: The forgotten women of the Cape Colony.

• Martins, I. and E. Green. What are institutions made of? A social contract approach.

• Martins, I., P. Aboagye, and G. Austin. The Ghanaian Divergence: Prices, Incomes and Living Standards after Independence.

Media, essays and other publications

• Martins, I. (forthcoming). Portuguese Sources and the Shape of an Angolan Social Table. African Long-Term Inequality Trends (AFLIT). [link]

• Martins, I. (2026). Capital and Coercion: Why Slavery Persisted after Britain Banned the Trade. European Historical Economics Society. [link]

• Martins, I. (2026). Theoretical Foundations of the Economics of Slavery: Enslaved People as Capital Investments in the Atlantic World. Frontiers in African Economic History Blog. [link]

• Martins, I. (2025). Devo, não nego, pago com o meu escravo - Como pessoas escravizadas viravam garantia de crédito. The Conversation Brasil. [link]

• Martins, I. (2025). What is economic history? Tell me about [podcast]. [link]

• Martins, I. (2025). Students Learn Best When They're Not Handed a Map: 4 Steps to Structure Discomfort in Your Case Classroom. Inspiring Minds. [link]

• Martins, I. (2025). The Pressure to Quantify Research Is Erasing Conceptual Depth. LSE Impact Blog. [link]

• Kim, H., S. Schwaag Serger, E. Mobrand, and I. Martins. (2024). International Science Is Having a Messy Breakup. Research Professional News. [link]

• Martins, I. (2023). Does a Negative Wealth Shock Affect Your Health? Evidence from an Episode of ‘Expropriation with Partial Compensation’ in Nineteenth-Century South Africa. Our Long Walk: Reflections on South Africa, from an Economic History Perspective. [link]

• Martins, I. (2023). Legacies of Loss: The Health Outcomes of Slaveholder Compensation in the British Cape Colony. Frontiers in African Economic History Blog. [link]