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A quantitative turn in the historiography of economics?

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  • Yann Giraud

    (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • José Edwards

    (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez [Santiago])

  • Christophe Schinckus

Abstract

Quantitative approaches are not yet common among historians and methodologists of economics, although they are in the study of science by librarians, information scientists, sociologists, historians, and even economists. The main purpose of this essay is to reflect methodologically on the historiography of economics: is it witnessing a quantitative turn? Is such a turn desirable? We answer the first question by pointing out a "methodological moment", in general, and a noticeable rise of quantitative studies among historians of economics during the past few years. To the second question, all contributors to this special issue bring relatively optimistic answers by highlighting the benefits of using quantitative methodologies as complements to the more traditional meta-analyses of both historians and methodologists of economics.

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  • Yann Giraud & José Edwards & Christophe Schinckus, 2018. "A quantitative turn in the historiography of economics?," Post-Print halshs-01876415, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01876415
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01876415
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    Cited by:

    1. François Allisson & Antoine Missemer, 2020. "Some Historiographical Tools for the Study of Intellectual Legacies," Post-Print halshs-02931492, HAL.
    2. Lima, Pedro G. & Teixeira, Pedro N. & Silva, Sandra T., 2021. "Major Streams in the Economics of Inequality: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Literature since 1950s," IZA Discussion Papers 14777, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, 2020. "From modelmania to datanomics? The rise of mathematical and quantitative methods in three top economics journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(1), pages 51-70, April.

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    Keywords

    Quantitative statements; Bibliometrics; Network analysis; Topic modeling; Historiography of economics;
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