In the years to come, my research is primarily geared towards two themes. The first is the political economy of lordship, which is a contentious subject that has great bearing on attempts to develop a long-run history of capitalism as a socio-economic configuration. Proceeding from my earlier and current interventions on seigneuries (i.e. containers of lordship on the local level) I explore if, and if so, how, elites manipulate resource allocation and the economic "rules of the game" to their advantage. The second topic is the study of social inequality. Here too, I intend to build on a well-developed line of enquiry and my team and I aim to break new ground with new methods, perspectives, and case-studies (e.g. a current FWO project explores the paintings of Flemish masters as a source for economic and social change).