L’histoire économique au futur

Abstract

This paper comments on Francesco Boldizzoni’s The Poverty of Clio in the context of the recent French-speaking literature in economic history and economic sociology. Boldizzoni’s argument about the concept of « culture », understood as a seemingly ultimate cause of economic phenomena, is discussed. Past rationalities, according to the literature, are difficult to analyse : the author insists on the permanent tension between different versions of economic rationality at each time period, as opposed to the conception of an evolution from the culturally embedded to the homo economicus. The author finally focuses on recent scholarship on the social construction of markets as one of the most promising bridges between economic history and economic sociology. For contemporary markets, the author argues, studies have substantially revised the idea that contemporary markets are impersonal and their equilibrium price-based.

Keywords

• economic history
• economic sociology
• market
• economic rationality
• cumulativity