Reflections on the Cliometrics Revolution

<p>This volume marks fifty years of an innovative approach to writing economic history often called "The Cliometrics Revolution." The book presents memoirs of personal development, intellectual lives and influences, new lines of historical research, long-standing debates, a growing international scholarly community, and the contingencies that guide and re-direct academic careers. In conversation with cliometricians of the next generation, 25 pioneering scholars reflect on changes in the practice of economic history they have observed and have helped to bring about, examining the rise of Western economies and their economic interrelationships, and the impact of modern economic growth on human health, mortality and even happiness. The conversations presented here are engaging, informative and – more often than one might expect – humorous. Together with a framework provided by the editors, they tell a tale of how cliometricians, their allies and their critics, have helped to transform what we know about the economic past. </p> <p>Introduction: Economic History and Cliometrics 1. Anglo-American Economic History to World War II 2. Before the New Economic History 3. New Economic History in North America 4. Historical Economics in Britain 5. Controversy: Or, One Thing Leads to Another 6. Cliometrics over 50 Years: Retrospect and Prospect <strong>Part 1: Before the New Economic History </strong>- <strong>North America</strong> Moses Abramovitz, interviewed by Alexander J. Field, Malcolm C. Urquhart, interviewed by R. Marvin McInnis,Anna J. Schwartz, interviewed by Eugene N. White, Walt W. Rostow, interviewed by John V.C. Nye, Stanley Lebergott, interviewed by Fred Carstensen <strong>Part 2: Before the New Economic History</strong> -<strong> Great Britain</strong> H. J. (Sir John) Habakkuk, interviewed by Mark Thomas, Phyllis Deane, interviewed by Nicholas F.R. Crafts, W A. (Max) Cole, interviewed by A. J. H. Latham, R.C.O. (Robin) Matthews, interviewed by Nicholas von Tunzelmann and Mark Thomas <strong>Part 3: New Economic Historians: The Elders</strong> William N. Parker, interviewed by Paul Rhode, Douglass C. North, interviewed by Gary D. Libecap, John S. Lyons and Samuel H. Williamson, Further Reflections, <strong>Part 4: La Loi Lafayette</strong> -<strong> Cliometrics at Purdue</strong> Lance Davis, interviewed by Samuel H. Williamson and John S. Lyons, Jonathan Hughes, interviewed by Charles Calomiris, Nathan Rosenberg, interviewed by William A. Sundstrom <strong>Part 5: The Expatriates</strong> R. M. (Max) Hartwell, interviewed by Mark Thomas, Eric Jones, interviewed by Nancy Folbre and Michael Huberman, Further Reflections, Charles H. Feinstein, interviewed by Mark Thomas <strong>Part 6: From the Workshop of Simon Kuznets, Economist</strong> Richard A. Easterlin, interviewed by Kenneth L. Sokoloff, Robert E. Gallman, interviewed by William K. Hutchinson, Robert William Fogel, interviewed by Samuel H. Williamson and John S. Lyons, Further Reflections (with Mark Guglielmo), Stanley Engerman, interviewed by Anthony Patrick O’Brien, Further Reflections <strong>Part 7: From the Workshop of Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Historian</strong> John R. Meyer, interviewed by John C. Brown, Albert Fishlow, interviewed by Eugene N. White, Further Reflections, Paul A. David, interviewed by Susan B. Carter, Peter Temin, interviewed by John C. Brown, Further Reflections. <strong>Afterword</strong>, <strong>The Shock, Achievements and Disappointments of the New </strong><em>Patrick Karl O'Brien</em></p>