Prague Papers on the History of International Relations (Jun 2017)
Kliometrie und die Wirtschaftsgeschichte || Cliometrics and economic history
Abstract
Cliometrics as a method is a part of the so-called New Economic History as well as the Global History. Cliometrics was created in the United States of America at the Purdue University. Stanley Reiter, Robert William Fogel, Douglass Cecil North, Lance Davis, Alfred Conrad, and John Meyer are amongst the most influential representatives of cliometrics. The following study examines cliometrics as a method of economic history and compares it to the traditional (European) method of historical research — the historical perspective method. As a part of the study, cliometrics is compared to other research perspectives of liberal arts or social sciences that are based on calculations and quantitative data. The study also discusses the criticism that describes cliometrics as a purely ahistorical research method and presents its own interpretation of the term “applied cliometrics,” as well as its meaning, its advantages, and the expandability of this method in the current economy history discourse.
