A Shocking View of Economic History (original) (raw)
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The Return of Economic History
Guillaume Calafat & Éric Monnet, « The Return of Economic History? », Books and Ideas , 30 January 2017. ISSN : 2105-3030., 2017
The recent success of books on economic history – at a time when this specialism often seems disregarded in universities – coupled with parallel developments in both history and economics gives hope for new links between the two disciplines. Both historians and economists regularly note that economic history has almost completely disappeared from universities, whether in terms of teaching or publications. This undeniably founded and well-documented observation applies to all countries. However, it stands in marked contrast with the recent public and/or academic success of a certain number of books on economic history. These include works as different, in terms of methodology, analysis, and conclusions, as those by, and, of course, Thomas Piketty or even Jared Diamond and his Collapse, which includes some analysis of economic history. 1 More generally, references to economic history substantially fuelled political and economic debate during the financial crisis (for an overview, see Barry Eichengreen's latest * We would like to express our thanks to Nicolas Delalande for his comments on an initial version of this text. 1 The aim of this text is not to provide an overview of current works in economic history and much less to provide an exhaustive bibliographical analysis. However, the following selection of references and authors can give the reader some initial pointers. Jared Diamond, Collapse.
On the Status and Future of Economic History
2012
How many economic historians are there? In which countries or regions are they concentrated? What can we learn from the number of economic historians participating in world congresses, and which determinants encourage or limit participation? Using an e-mail questionnaire, we analyse the discipline's global status. Overall 59 countries were surveyed in this overview. Although the majority of economic historians are concentrated in rich countries, developing regions do have a substantial number of practitioners. Cross fertilisation between development studies, development economics and economic history is bearing increasing fruit. It is therefore important to strengthen the discipline of economic history in those regions where development is the core issue.
Back to the future: How economic history can gain more relevance by abandoning modernization thinking, 2024
Economic history has built a solid scientific foundation over the past decades but may need to enhance its academic and societal relevance. Ways to do so could include a clearer focus on societal issues and using history as a ‘laboratory’ in which to investigate these, strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration, better incorporating social and environmental dimensions, and abandoning modernization thinking to fully employ periods further back in time and across the globe as sources of relevant knowledge.
Economics and History: Old Texts and New Approaches
1999
THE DISCIPLINES OF ECONOMICS and history have evolved considerably since the days of Tom Easterbrook’s and Hugh Aitken’s influential textbook, Canadian Economic History (1956).1 The adoption of sophisticated mathematical models and the complex statistical analysis of data made possible by computers have transformed economics. And history can no longer confine itself to tales of nation-building by elite white males; it must also tell the stories of separate regions, of women and minorities, of class conflict and of the transformation of peoples’ daily lives. The quite disparate evolution of history and of economics undermined the ability of economic history to present a unified story of the creation of the Canadian nation based on the export of staples products and the National Policy. The discipline has become richer, and it doubtless more accurately describes Canada’s history, but the challenge of developing a clear understanding of the forces that shaped the economy of Canada — or...
On the status and the future of economic history in the world
2011
How many economic historians are there in the world? In which countries or world regions are they concentrated? Can we explain differences in the number of economic historians who are participating in world congresses, and which determinants encourage or limit participation propensity? Using an e-mail questionnaire, we analyse the global situation of this discipline. Overall 59 countries were available to be surveyed in this overview. We estimate the overall number of economic historians in the world to be around 10,400 scholars.
Economic Histories: Between Facts and Models (review essay)
The European Legacy, 2013
A review essay of the following three volumes: (1) The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History. By Francesco Boldizzoni; (2) Post-Soviet Social: Neoliberalism, Social Modernity, Biopolitics. By Stephen J. Collier; (3) Private Ratings, Public Regulations: Credit Rating Agencies and Global Financial Governance. By Andreas Kruck. Transformations of the State.
Back to the Future – the Marginal Utility of History in Economics
2007
Economics and economic history share many fundamental research problems and have a rich shared intellectual history. Still, works by economic historians are rarely read or referenced in economics. In this essay we attempt to identify the cost of this negligence. In particular, we argue that a restrictive understanding of the economic research programme excludes available evidence and precludes analysis of
Economic History and Economic Theory
2007
Can economic history manage without economic theory? And can economic theory get along without economic history? These are the two questions that will be addressed here. If we look at what the situation is actually like in both the Norwegian and international research communities today, the basic outline of an answer becomes quite evident: Economic history is strongly and quite significantly influenced by economic theory, and there is little reason to believe that the discipline will be able to manage gracefully without economic theory in the future.