Economic history and economic historians at Harvard

Harvard is one of the foundational institutions in the fields of political economy, economic history, financial history and business history, responsible for establishing economic history as the core discipline of the social sciences during its formative decades. Internationally renowned scholars associated with the College, such as Ashley, Schumpeter, Gerschenkron, Kuznets, Chandler, Landes, Ferguson and Jones, formulated such concepts as cyclicality, historical backwardness, entrepreneurial spirit and organisations/networks, often focusing on the role of government in the economy and the interplay of culture, economics and innovation. They pioneered new methodologies-cum-approaches, notably quantitative methods, and firm- and case-based research, while advocating the importance of multi-disciplinarity. Borrowing from British and European intellectual traditions, much initial teaching and research in economics and history was consciously directed towards understanding the needs of the “young” Republic. Yet, by mid-twentieth century, scholars at Harvard were setting the agenda for institutions around the world.