Cliometrics as Economics Imperialism: Across the Watershed

Ben Fine, Ph.D. (1974), London School of Economics, is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Visiting Professor at Wits School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. His most recent books include Material Cultures of Financialisation, co-edited with Kate Bayliss and Mary Robertson (Routledge, 2018); Race, Class and the Post-Apartheid Democratic State, co-edited with John Reynolds and Robert van Niekerk (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2019); and A Guide to the Systems of Provision Approach: Who Gets What, How and Why, with Kate Bayliss (Palgrave, 2021). His Marx’s ‘Capital’ (Pluto, 2016) is now in its sixth edition (with co-author Alfredo Saad Filho). He was founding Chair of the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (iippe.org) until June 2023.

Preface


List of Figures and Tables


1 Economic History as Economics Imperialism: a Retrospective

 1 The Personal Background


 2 Cliometrics across the Watershed, from General Principles


 3 … To Practice


 4 Concluding Remarks




2 Consumerism and the Industrial Revolution

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 Economic History through Which Looking Glass?


 3 Is There a Supply and Demand for Industrial Revolution?


 4 Economic Theory and the Consumerist Approach


 5 Is Emphasis on Demand and Supply the Answer?


 6 The Demand for Fashion in Clothes


 7 Missing Markets


 8 Production of Clothing


 9 Persistence of Luxury Goods in Clothing


 10 Concluding Remarks




3 Economies of Scale and a Featherbedding Cartel? A Reconsideration of the Interwar British Coal Industry

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 Neither Economies of Scale …


 3 … Nor Featherbedding Cartel


 4 Royalties: the Unobserved Barking Dog




4 Coal, Diamonds and Oil: towards a Comparative Theory of Mining?

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 i Introduction


 2 Minerals and Landed Property


 3 Cartels and Minerals


 4 Concluding Remarks




5 Reflections on and from the Cliometric Revolution

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 Cliometrics as Economics Imperialism


 3 Discarding Dissent


 4 Concluding Remarks




6 From Principle of Pricing to Pricing of Principle: Rationality and Irrationality in the Economic History of Douglass North

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 From New to Newer Economic History


 3 Shifting Vision of the Historian of the Western World


 4 From Principle of Pricing to Pricing of Principle


 5 Concluding Remarks




7 Douglass North’s Remaking of Economic History: a Critical Appraisal

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 Theoretical Considerations


 3 Making Economic History


 4 Theoretical Considerations: a Critique


 5 North’s Journey from Theory to History: a Critique


 6 Transaction Costs in History: a Critique


 7 Concluding Remarks




8 From New to Newer Economic History

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 New and Improved: from as If Perfect to Imperfect Markets


 3 Testing the New Product


 4 Concluding Remarks




9 From qwerty to Microsoft and Beyond

  Postscript as Personal Preamble


 1 Introduction


 2 David and the Two Goliaths – Economics and History


 3 Hayekian Revenge on Path Dependence


 4 Culture, Institutions, Narrative and All That Jazz


 5 Crafting the Newer Economic History


 6 Finance before Financialisation


 7 Concluding Remarks




References


Index