These essays provide a thorough introduction to economics for historians. The authors, all eminent scholars, show how to use economic thinking, economic models, and economic methods to enrich historical research. They examine such vital issues as long-term trends, institutions, labor—including an engaging dialogue between a labor historian and a labor economist—international affairs, and money and banking. Scholars and teachers of history will welcome this volume as an introduction and guide to economics, a springboard for their own research, and a lively and provocative source of collateral reading for students at every level.
The combined research experience of these authors encompasses many varieties of economics and covers a kaleidoscopic array of nations, subjects, and time periods. All are expert in presenting the insights and complexities of economics to nonspecialist audiences.
Thomas G. Rawski, the lead author, has written extensively on the economy of China. He is Professor of Economics and History at the University of Pittsburgh.
"Developing a dialogue between historians and economists is a crucially important task if we are to improve our understanding of the past. Economists have the tools to be able to provide in-depth analysis, the historians have the meat and substance which is necessary, and a blending of the two is terribly important. Economics and the Historian is a valuable resource for this interchange."—Nobel Laureate Douglass C. North, author of Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance
"This is a superlative collection of essays for historians who would like to learn about economic history but lack much formal training in mathematics and economic theory. The essays present fundamental concepts of economic analysis in a clear and concise manner, and they show how these concepts can be applied to a variety of historical problems."—Ted W. Margadant, author of Urban Rivalries in the French Revolution
"This book is must reading for historians who want to know what there is in economics that might be useful for their fields."—Nobel Laureate Robert W. Fogel, author of Time on the Cross
"Introduces historians and history students to the concepts, models, and logic of economic theory and shows how economic analysis can be applied to solving historical puzzles and problems. Each of the essays illuminates a different subfield of economics with numerous examples drawn from a quarter century of cliometrics. This book will make basic tools of economic historical analysis accessible and at times even entertaining to students (and colleagues) who have little or no background in economics. And it is guaranteed to enliven any course or seminar, as it did mine."—John H. Coatsworth, author of Central America and the United States
304 pp.
9780520072695$33.95|£29.00Paper
Apr 1996