Introduction: “Theory and econometrics in historical analysis”

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue of the Revista de Historia Industrial – Industrial History Review on theory and econometrics in historical analysis. First, it briefly reviews the literature on the evolution of economic history since the so-called cliometric revolution, i.e., the growing use of theory to frame historical evidence and the increasing use of quantitative techniques, particularly to study causality. Secondly, it provides an overview of how a potential data revolution – prompted by technological progress in historical-data collection and processing – may be affecting the field. Lastly, the introduction provides a succinct summary of the articles included in the special issue, which highlight how economic theory and new quantitative analysis can be used to explore a range of issues within economic history, spanning different countries and time periods.