About

Daniel Bogart is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Irvine. He received a B.S. in Economics, a B.A. in History, and a B.A. in Math from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 1998, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2003. Since 2003, he has been affiliated with UCI, with visiting appointments at Caltech and NYU. His research interests encompass economic history, urban economics, economic growth, and political economy. Broadly, he studies how economic development occurred in the past and seeks to draw lessons for the present. His work examines institutions, property rights, new technologies, and the development or impacts of transport networks, often introducing new historical datasets and employing various statistical tools and geographic information systems. His research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Economic Journal, the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Journal of Economic History, the Journal of Urban Economics, and the Economic History Review. He has received research funding from organizations including the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. In addition to his research, Bogart teaches a range of economics courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels, with a focus on economic history and upper-division writing. He has advised more than a dozen Ph.D. students at UCI and has served as an editor for the Journal of Economic History and the European Review of Economic History.

Research topics

• Economics
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Economic geography
• Demography
• Econometrics
• Geography
• Marketing
• Economic growth
• Business
• Political economy

Selected publications

• A better ride: New evidence on travel and the quality of roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-07

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Travel improved dramatically between 1660 and 1820 in England and Wales. This paper uses nearly 100 travellers’ diaries to study the mode choice, speed of road transport and the quality of the roads used from the mid-1600s to 1820. Using mapping software, we digitise journeys made by various travel modes along more than 348,000 journey miles. We document that travel shifted from the saddlehorse to wheeled vehicles and that speed increased, although to a lesser degree in private or hired carriages compared to stagecoaches. We also report a novel measure of road quality using diarists’ descriptions of the road. The reported quality of many main roads went from ‘poor’ to ‘adequate’ or ‘good’ by the early 19th century. We also show that turnpike trusts, a novel organization for road funding, contributed to significantly better quality and were favoured over other roads by travellers in wheeled vehicles. Our estimates imply that the spread of turnpike trusts can account for most of the road quality change from 1660 to 1820.

  PublisherDOI

• Turnpike Road map for England and Wales 1700 to 1838

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-16

  datasetOpen access

  An ARC GIS PRO shapefile mapping the turnpike roads in England and Wales for the 18th and early 19th century. The data includes details of the Turnpike Acts, years of operation, the quality of the road and the routes used by Mail coaches. The data forms the basis of the paper "Government, trusts, and the making of better roads in early nineteenth century England & Wales by Rosevear, Bogart & Shaw-Taylor.

  PublisherDOI

• Turnpike Road map for England and Wales 1700 to 1838

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-16

  datasetOpen access

  An ARC GIS PRO shapefile mapping the turnpike roads in England and Wales for the 18th and early 19th century. The data includes details of the Turnpike Acts, years of operation, the quality of the road and the routes used by Mail coaches. The data forms the basis of the paper "Government, trusts, and the making of better roads in early nineteenth century England & Wales by Rosevear, Bogart & Shaw-Taylor.

  PublisherDOI

• A better ride: New evidence on travel and the quality of roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820

  Explorations in Economic History · 2026-02-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract 1 1 Data for this paper was created thanks to grants from: (1) The Economic and social research council, The Occupational Structure of Nineteenth Century Britain, Grant RES-000-23-1579; (2) The Leverhulme Trust, The Occupational Structure of England and Wales c.1379-c1729; (3) the Leverhulme Trust, Transport, Urbanization and Economic Development c.1670-1911 (RPG-2013-093); (4) NSF (SES-1260699), Modelling the Transport Revolution and the Industrial Revolution in England; (5) The Isaac Newton Trust (Cambridge), Transport, Energy and Urbanization c.1670-1911. We thank Max Satchell for foundational work creating GIS shapefiles of the roads. We also thank seminar participants at the University of Cambridge and UC Irvine. All errors are our own. Travel improved dramatically between 1660 and 1820 in England and Wales. This paper uses nearly 100 travellers’ diaries to study the mode choice, speed of road transport and the quality of the roads used from the mid-1600s to 1820. Using mapping software, we digitise journeys made by various travel modes along more than 348,000 journey miles. We document that travel shifted from the saddlehorse to wheeled vehicles and that speed increased, although to a lesser degree in private or hired carriages compared to stagecoaches. We also report a novel measure of road quality using diarists’ descriptions of the road. The reported quality of many main roads went from ‘poor’ to ‘adequate’ or ‘good’ by the early 19 th century. We also show that turnpike trusts, a novel organization for road funding, contributed to significantly better quality and were favoured over other roads by travellers in wheeled vehicles. Our estimates imply that the spread of turnpike trusts can account for most of the road quality change from 1660 to 1820.

  PublisherDOI

• Turnpike Road map for England and Wales 1700 to 1838

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-12

  datasetOpen access

  An ARC GIS PRO shapefile mapping the turnpike roads in England and Wales for the 18th and early 19th century. The data includes details of the Turnpike Acts, years of operation, the quality of the road and the routes used by Mail coaches. The data forms the basis of the paper "Government, trusts, and the making of better roads in early nineteenth century England & Wales by Rosevear, Bogart & Shaw-Taylor.

  PublisherDOI

• Main Roads in England & Wales 1725

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-12

  datasetOpen access

  This is a GIS shapefile mapping what are judged to be the main roads in England & Wales in 1725. These roads are judged to be usable by travelers from ca 1680 to 1750, though the mode of travel may determine the preferred route during this period. The file was created in ARC GIS Pro and refined through use in a project to map the journeys made by diarist in this period. The data is used to create maps and tables in the paper by Dan Bogart, Alan Rosevear, and Leigh Shaw-Taylor. “A Better Ride: New Evidence on Travel and the Quality of Roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820.” Explorations in Economic History, 2026.

  PublisherDOI

• Main Roads in England & Wales 1725

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-12

  datasetOpen access

  This is a GIS shapefile mapping what are judged to be the main roads in England & Wales in 1725. These roads are judged to be usable by travelers from ca 1680 to 1750, though the mode of travel may determine the preferred route during this period. The file was created in ARC GIS Pro and refined through use in a project to map the journeys made by diarist in this period. The data is used to create maps and tables in the paper by Dan Bogart, Alan Rosevear, and Leigh Shaw-Taylor. “A Better Ride: New Evidence on Travel and the Quality of Roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820.” Explorations in Economic History, 2026.

  PublisherDOI

• A better ride: New evidence on travel and the quality of roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-07

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Travel improved dramatically between 1660 and 1820 in England and Wales. This paper uses nearly 100 travellers’ diaries to study the mode choice, speed of road transport and the quality of the roads used from the mid-1600s to 1820. Using mapping software, we digitise journeys made by various travel modes along more than 348,000 journey miles. We document that travel shifted from the saddlehorse to wheeled vehicles and that speed increased, although to a lesser degree in private or hired carriages compared to stagecoaches. We also report a novel measure of road quality using diarists’ descriptions of the road. The reported quality of many main roads went from ‘poor’ to ‘adequate’ or ‘good’ by the early 19th century. We also show that turnpike trusts, a novel organization for road funding, contributed to significantly better quality and were favoured over other roads by travellers in wheeled vehicles. Our estimates imply that the spread of turnpike trusts can account for most of the road quality change from 1660 to 1820.

  PublisherDOI

• Cary Road Map of England & Wales 1825

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Two map files in ARC GIS PRO showing the main roads in England and Wales mapped by John Cary ca 1825. All Post roads, turnpike roads and other main roads designated by Cary are mapped as polylines. A substantial umber of the "other roads", judged to be parish roads are mapped.

  PublisherDOI

• A Better Ride: New Evidence on Travel and the Quality of Roads in England and Wales, 1660-1820

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Modelling the Transport Revolution and the Industrial Revolution in England

  NSF · $296k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Max Satchell

  University of Cambridge

  20 shared

• Dustin Frye

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  16 shared

• Gary Richardson

  16 shared

• Jakob Schneebacher

  16 shared

• Seth Benzell

  16 shared

• Kevin Cooke

  16 shared

• Latika Chaudhary

  Naval Postgraduate School

  12 shared

• Leigh Shaw‐Taylor

  University of Cambridge

  8 shared

Education

• B.S., Economics

  University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  1998

• B.A., History

  University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  1998

• B.A., Math

  University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  1998

• Ph.D., Economics

  University of California, Los Angeles

  2003

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the Journal of Economic History
• Fellow of the European Review of Economic History