Recent trends in publications of economic historians in Europe and North America (1980–2019): an empirical analysis

Abstract

This article analyses the integration of economic history into economics using a unique dataset containing 11,143 articles written by 919 economic historians and published between 1980 and 2019 in leading journals; we also analyzed the authors’ biographical information. Using a probit regression, we find that since 1980, economic historians have increased their likelihood of publishing in Economics or Finance Journals (EFJs) by 12 points. This integration is more marked in North America than in Europe because North American economic historians are more likely to be trained in the discipline of economics. In contrast, a significant share of scholars in Europe are trained in the discipline of economic history. Network visualizations confirm these regional differences: citations to EFJs are much more central in North American scholars’ work. Our findings support Robert Margo’s claim that economic history is currently integrated into economics more often in publications in North America than in Europe.