Economic history and economic historians at Harvard

Lewis, Colin M. (2024) Economic history and economic historians at Harvard. In: The Palgrave Companion to Harvard Economics. Springer International (Firm), pp. 61-98. ISBN 9783031520525

Text (Economic History and Economic Historians at Harvard MASTER VERSION - RevisedEdittedSubjectPalgraveStyleAmendments - 28Nov2022) - Accepted Version Repository staff only until 6 July 2025. Download (1MB)

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Abstract

Harvard is one of the foundational institutions in the fields of political economy, economic history, financial history and business history, responsible for establishing economic history as the core discipline of the social sciences during its formative decades. Internationally renowned scholars associated with the College, such as Ashley, Schumpeter, Gerschenkron, Kuznets, Chandler, Landes, Ferguson and Jones, formulated such concepts as cyclicality, historical backwardness, entrepreneurial spirit and organisations/networks, often focusing on the role of government in the economy and the interplay of culture, economics and innovation. They pioneered new methodologies-cum-approaches, notably quantitative methods, and firm- and case-based research, while advocating the importance of multi-disciplinarity. Borrowing from British and European intellectual traditions, much initial teaching and research in economics and history was consciously directed towards understanding the needs of the “young” Republic. Yet, by mid-twentieth century, scholars at Harvard were setting the agenda for institutions around the world.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024, corrected publication 2024.
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2025 15:24
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2025 15:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126573

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