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The State of the Art of Economic History: The Uneasy Relation with Economics

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  • Martina Cioni
  • Giovanni Federico
  • Michelangelo Vasta

    (Division of Social Science)

Abstract

This paper assesses the state of the art of economic history, focusing on recent changes that have recently characterized the field. We rely on a new database of almost 2,700 articles published from 2001 to 2018 in the top-five economic history journals and in 13 leading economics journals. We argue that economic history still remains a distinct field. The share of economic history articles in economics journals increased very little and only few authors published in both economics and economic history journals. Publishing in top-five economic journals yields more citations than in top-field journals, but this is not necessarily true for other prestigious economic journals. Finally, we speculate on the future. Will economic history lose its soul and become a sub-field of development studies? Will persistence studies become a separate field? Or, perhaps, a new synthesis will emerge, with scholars dealing with traditional and new research questions with a wide range of tools? JEL

Suggested Citation

  • Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "The State of the Art of Economic History: The Uneasy Relation with Economics," Working Papers 20210067, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jun 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:nad:wpaper:20210067
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    1. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2022. "Persistence studies: a new kind of economic history?," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 42(3), pages 227-248, December.
    2. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "Spreading Clio: a quantitative analysis of the first 25 years of the European Review of Economic History [Plague in seventeenth-century Europe and the decline of Italy: an epidemiological hypothesi," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(4), pages 618-644.

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