A Quantitative Turn in the Historiography of Economics?

Forthcoming in The Journal of Economic Methodology (vol. 25, n°4)

18 Pages Posted: 3 Sep 2018

See all articles by José Edwards

José Edwards

Adolfo Ibanez University

Yann Giraud

THEMA - Université de Cergy-Pontoise

Christophe Schinckus

University of Leicester

Date Written: August 23, 2018

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.

Keywords: Quantitative Statements, Bibliometrics, Network Analysis, Topic Modeling, Organizational History

JEL Classification: B00, B2, B4

Suggested Citation

Edwards, José and Giraud, Yann and Schinckus, Christophe, A Quantitative Turn in the Historiography of Economics? (August 23, 2018). Forthcoming in The Journal of Economic Methodology (vol. 25, n°4), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3237535

José Edwards (Contact Author)

Adolfo Ibanez University ( email )

Diagonal Las Torres 2640 Peñaleón
Presidente Errázuriz 3485 Las Condes
Santiago, 794-1169
Chile

Yann Giraud

THEMA - Université de Cergy-Pontoise ( email )

33 boulevard du port
F-95011 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, 95011
France
+331 34 25 60 24 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://ygiraud.wordpress.com

Christophe Schinckus

University of Leicester ( email )

University Road
Leicester, LE1 7RH
United Kingdom

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