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Cliometrics and technological change: a survey

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  • Nicholas Crafts

Abstract

This paper considers the approach to technological change by quantitative economic historians. It suggests that there has been a continuing tension between what economics has to offer economic history by way of technical methods and what economic historians would like to find in economic models. In this area, there has been a danger that use of economic analysis would impoverish historical enquiry. Since the advent of new growth economics the situation has improved in the sense that there is now greater congruence between the hypotheses proposed by cliometricians and the resources that economics has available to them to investigate these ideas rigorously. Unfortunately, however, economists are still reluctant to learn from economic historians.

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File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09672567.2010.522790
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Volume (Year): 17 (2010)
Issue (Month): 5 ()
Pages: 1127-1147

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Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:5:p:1127-1147

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Related research

Keywords: Cliometrics; economic growth; technological change; total factor productivity;

References

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Cited by:
  1. Bondarev, Anton A., 2010. "The long run Dynamics of heterogeneous Product and Process Innovations for a Multi Product Monopolist," MPRA Paper 35195, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Nov 2011.

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