The Future of Economic History

Abstract

This essay considers the status of the new economic history from the vantage point of the mid-1980s. It discusses the historical and demographic factors that contributed to the golden age of academics in the United States (1957-1969), and how this, along with various intellectual factors, influenced the growth of Cliometrics. It argues that by the 1980s the subdiscipline had moved substantially beyond its initial self-identified status as an insurgency. The essay includes data on the production of first degrees as well as economics and history Ph.D.s from 1964 through 1981.

Keywords: Cliometrics, new economic history, methodology

JEL Classification: A12, A14, B23, B25, N01