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Toward a More Useful Economic History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2008

PAUL M. HOHENBERG
PAUL M. HOHENBERG*
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. E-mail: hohenp@rpi.edu.
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Abstract

Torn between divergent disciples, economic history needs to prove its usefulness as well as its scholarly virtuosity. Innovations in method and data have carried the field forward, but perhaps not fulfilled the claims of their champions. To economics in particular, economic history contributes a richer sense of space and time, and the importance of demographic factors. Three vignettes attempt to illustrate that useful economic history can result from confrontations of past and present that improve our understanding of both. Finally, emerging developments in the underlying fields may herald a more central future role for our discipline.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 68 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 339 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2008

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References

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