The study of economic phenomena over time is a well-established and flourishing area of research and study, and this new four-volume collection in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in Economics, meets the need for an authoritative, up-to-date, and comprehensive reference work synthesizing the voluminous literature from twentieth-century economic historians. Indeed, the sheer scale of the research output—and the breadth of the field—makes this collection especially welcome. It answers the need for a comprehensive collection of classic and contemporary contributions to facilitate ready access to the most influential and important scholarship from a wide range of theoretical and practical perspectives.
The collection is organized into ten principal parts. Part 1 explores theory and methodology and the role of economic history as either an alternative to mainstream economics, or as a ‘help discipline’. Part 2 gathers the key research on growth in economic history. The third and fourth parts cover the causes and social consequences of the Industrial Revolution, while Part 5 brings together the best and most influential work on the feudal and early modern economy. Part 6 deals with free trade, mercantilism, and imperialism. Part 7 focuses on the Great Depression, while Part 8 collects research on world economic history and the slave economy. The final part collects a fascinating miscellany of crucial issues, including taxation and gender.
Twentieth-Century Economic History is edited by Lars Magnusson, a leading scholar in the field. The collection is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the material in its intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital one-stop research resource.
provisional contents
Volume I
Part 1: Theory and Methodology
1. M. M. Postan, ‘The Historical Method in Social Science’, Fact and Relevance: Essays on Historical Method (Cambridge University Press, 1971), pp. 22–47.
2. Sidney Pollard, ‘Economic History: A Science of Society?’, Past and Present, 1964, 30, 3–22.
3. John Clapham, ‘Of Empty Economic Boxes’, Economic Journal, 1922, XXXII, 305–14.
4. Robert Fogel, ‘The Reunification of Economic History with Economic Theory’, American Economic Review, 1965, LV, 92–8.
5. John R Meyer and Alfred A Conrad, ‘Economic Theory, Statistical Interference and Economic History’, Journal of Economic History, 1957, XVII, 524–44.
6. Douglass North and Barry Weingast, ‘Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in 17th Century England’, in Lee J. Alston et al. (eds.), Empirical Studies in Institutional Change (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 124–65.
7. W. H. B. Court, ‘What is Economic History?’, Scarcity and Choice in History (Augustus M. Kelley, 1970), pp. 131–79.
8. Gary Libecap, ‘Property Rights in Economic History: Implications for Research’, Explorations in Economic History, 1996, 23, 3, 227–52.
9. Werner Sombart, ‘Economic Theory and Economic History’, Economic History Review, 1929, I, 2, 1–19.
10. R. M. Hartwell, ‘Good Old Economic History’, Journal of Economic History, 1972, 32, 4, 28–40.
Part 2: Growth in Economic History
11. D. N. McCloskey, ‘Did Victorian Britain Fall?’, Economic History Review, 1970, 23, 3, 446–59.
12. Jeffrey Williamson, ‘Why was British Growth so Slow During the Industrial Revolution?’, Journal of Economic History, 1984, 44, 687–712.
13. Barry Supple, ‘Economic History and Economic Growth’, Journal of Economic History, 1960, XX, 548–56.
14. Francois Crouzet, ‘Capital Formation in Great Britain During the Industrial Revolution’, in Francois Crouzet (ed.), Capital Formation in the Industrial Revolution (Methuen, 1972), pp. 1–70.
Volume II
Part 3: The Causes of the Industrial Revolution
15. Fredric Mendels, ‘Proto-industrialization: The First Phase of the Industrialization Process’, Journal of Economic History, 1972, 32, 241–61.
16. David Cannadine, ‘The Present and the Past in the English Industrial Revolution, 1880–1980’, Past & Present, 1984, 103.
17. R Hartwell, ‘The Causes of the Industrial Revolution: An Essay in Methodology’, in Peter Mathias (ed.), The Causes of the Industrial Revolution in England (Methuen, 1967), pp. 53–81.
18. Joel Mokyr, ‘Demand Versus Supply in the Industrial Revolution’, Journal of Economic History, 1977, 37.
19. Jan De Vries, The Industrious Revolution and the Industrial Revolution’, Journal of Economic History, 1994, 54, 2, 249–70.
20. Nicholas Crafts, ‘Exogenous or Endogenous Growth? The Industrial Revolution Reconsidered’, Journal of Economic History, 1995, 55, 745–72.
21. Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson, ‘Rehabilitating the Industrial Revolution’, Economic History Review, 1992, 45, 1, 24–50.
Part 4: The Social Consequences of the Industrial Revolution
22. Charles Feinstein, ‘Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain During and After the Industrial Revolution’, Journal of Economic History, 1998, 58, 625–58.
23. Raphael Samuel, ‘Workshop of the World: Steam Power and Hand Technology in Mid-Victorian Britain’, History Workshop, 1977, 2, 6–72.
24. Eric J. Hobsbawm, ‘The British Standard of Living, 1800–1850’, in Arthur J Taylor (ed.), The Standard of Living in Britain in the Industrial Revolution (Methuen, 1975), pp. 58–92.
25. R. M. Hartwell, ‘The Rising Standard of Living in England 1800–1850’, in Arthur J Taylor (ed.), The Standard of Living in Britain in the Industrial Revolution (Methuen, 1975), pp. 93–124.
26. Peter H. Lindert and Jeffrey G. Williamson, ‘English Workers Living Standard During the Industrial Revolution: A New Look’, Economic History Review, 1984, 36, 1, 1–25.
27. Jane Humphries, ‘The Most Free from Objection: Sexual Division of Labour and Women´s Work in Nineteenth-Century England’, Journal of Economic History, 1987, 47, 3, 929–49.
28. Stephen Marglin ‘What Do Bosses Do? The Origins and Functions of Hierarchy in Capitalist Production’, Review of Radical Political Economics, 1974, 6, 60–112.
Volume III
Part 5: The Feudal and Early Modern Economy
29. Eric Hobsbawm, ‘The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century’, Past & Present, 1954, 5–6.
30. Earl J. Hamilton ‘American Treasure and the Rise of Capitalism’, Economica, 1929, 9, 338–57.
31. R. H. Tawney, ‘The Rise of the Gentry, 1558–1640’, Economic History Review, 1941, XI.
32. Sture Bolin, ‘Mohammed, Charlemagne and Ruric’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 1953, 1, 5–39.
33. Joan Thirsk, ‘The Common Fields’, Past & Present, 1964, 29, 26–49.
34. Robert C. Allen, ‘The Efficiency and Distributional Consequences of Eighteenth-Century Enclosures’, Economic Journal, 1982, 92, 937–53.
35. Evsey Domar, ‘The Causes of Serfdom and Slavery: A Hypothesis’, Journal of Economic History, 1970, 30, 1, 18–32. 36. Stefano Fenoaltea, ‘The Rise and Fall of a Theoretical Model: The Manorial System’, Journal of Economic History, 1975, 35, 7, 386–409.
Part 6: Free Trade, Mercantilism, and Imperialism
37. M. I. Finley ‘Manpower and the Fall of Rome’, in Carlo M. Cipolla (ed.), The Economic Decline of Empire (Methuen, 1970), pp. 84–91.
38. D. C. Coleman, ‘Eli Heckscher and the Idea of Mercantilism’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 1957, V, 1, 3–25.
39. David K. Fieldhouse, ‘Imperialism: A Historiographical Revision’, Economic History Review, 1961, XIX, 187–209.
40. J. Gallagher and R. Robinson, ‘The Imperialism of Free Trade, 1815–1914’, Economic History Review, 1953/4, IV, 1–15.
41. Patrick K. O’Brien, ‘Imperialism and Imperialism in the Rise of the British Economy, 1688–1989’, New Left Review, 1999, 238, 48–80.
Part 7: The Great Depression
42. Alexander Field, ‘A New Interpretation of the Onset of the Great Depression’, Journal of Economic History, 1984, 44, 489–98.
43. Christina D. Romer, ‘What Ended the Great Depression?’, Journal of Economic History, 1992, 52, 3, 757–84.
Volume IV
Part 8: World Economic History and the Slave Economy
44. Kevin O’Rourke, ‘When did Globalization Begin?’, European Review of Economic History, 2002, 6, 23–50.
45. P. K. O’Brien, ‘European Economic Development: The Contribution of the Periphery’, Economic History Review, 1982, 35, 1, 1–18.
46. Frank Perlin, ‘Proto-Industrialization and Pre-Colonial South Asia’, Past & Present, 1983, 98, 30–95.
47. Alfred H. Conrad and John R. Meyer, ‘The Economics of Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South’, Journal of Political Economy, 1958, 66, 95–130.
48. Stanley Engerman, ‘The Slave Trade and British Capital Formation in the Eighteenth Century’, Business History Review, 1972, XLVI, 430–43.
49. D. S. Acemoglu, ‘The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change and Economic Growth’, American Economic Review, 2005, 95, 546–79.
Part 9: Miscellany
50. Wu Ta K’un, ‘An Interpretation of Chinese Economic History’, Past & Present, 1952, 1, 1–12.
51. Peter Mathias, ‘Who Unbound Prometheus? Science and Technical Change, 1600–1800’, in Peter Mathias (ed.), The Transformation of England (Methuen, 1979), pp. 45–72.
52. Michael Bordo and Finn E. Kydland, ‘The Gold Standard as a Rule: An Essay on Exploration’, Explorations in Economic History, 1995, 32, 423–64.
53. Katarina Honeyman and Jordan Goodman, ‘Women’s Work, Gender Contract and the Labour Market in Europe 1500–1900’, Economic History Review, 1991, 44, 4, 608–28.
54. Joel Mokyr, ‘Technological Inertia in Economic History’, Journal of Economic History, 1992, 52, 1, 325–38.
55. Peter Mathias and P. K. O’Brien, ‘Taxation in England and France 1715–1810’, Journal of European Economic History, 1976, 5, 601–50.
Biography
Lars Magnusson is Professor of Economic History at the University of Uppsala. He is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences and the editor of Scandinavian Economic History Review. He has been guest professor in Göttingen, Paris, and Florence and has a doctoral honorary degree from Kyoto Sanyo University. He is also the chairman of SCAS (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies).
