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History Never Really Says Goodbye: A Critical Review of the Persistence Literature

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  • Leticia Arroyo Abad and Noel Maurer

Abstract

This paper discusses the rise to prominence of persistence studies, defined as studies that use quantitative causal inference to link past events with later economic and political outcomes. Persistence studies have given us many profound insights and have brought history into the mainstream of social science. We argue, however, that some of the persistence literature has overcorrected for past oversights. We select canonical persistence studies to illustrate some common pitfalls in the literature and discuss potential ways around them. These include the failure to recognize institutional change ("anti-persistence"), vague mechanisms, the insufficient use (or misuse) of historical sources and narratives, the compression of history, and a failure to account for the effects of geography. We suggest that the current enthusiasm for persistence studies risks pushing out other valuable work in economic history and historical political economy..

Suggested Citation

  • Leticia Arroyo Abad and Noel Maurer, 2021. "History Never Really Says Goodbye: A Critical Review of the Persistence Literature," Journal of Historical Political Economy, now publishers, vol. 1(1), pages 31-68, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:now:jnlhpe:112.115.00000002
    DOI: 10.1561/115.00000002
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    Cited by:

    1. Martina Cioni & Giovanni Federico & Michelangelo Vasta, 2023. "Is economic history changing its nature? Evidence from top journals," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 23-48, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Kravtsova, Maria & Libman, Alexander, 2023. "Historical family structure as a predictor of liberal voting: Evidence from a century of Russian history," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    4. Elisa Borghi & Fabio Gatti & Donato Masciandaro, 2022. "Neither Communes nor Fiefs: King Owned Towns, Right Negotiations and Long Run Persistence. The Case of South Italy," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 22182, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    5. Smith, Michael E., 2022. "How can Research on Past Urban Adaptations be Made Useful for Sustainability Science?," SocArXiv 3fy5b, Center for Open Science.
    6. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    7. Elisa Borghi & Donato Masciandaro, 2023. "Political Elites, Urban Institutions And Long-Run Persistence : The King Owned Towns," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23193, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.

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