JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. North "for having renewed research in economic history." The Academy noted that "they were pioneers in the branch of economic history that has been called the

more »

... ew economic history,' or cliometrics." What is this cliometrics, and how have these two Nobel Prize winners furthered the discipline of economics? Cliometrics is, quite simply, the application of economic theory and quantitative methods to the study of history. The term marries the muse of history-Clio-to measurement and was coined by Stanley Reiter, a mathematical economist then at Purdue University and a collaborator of two of the first cliometricians, Lance Davis and Jonathan Hughes. History serves economics in various ways.' Most importantly, history is essential because it is risky to base conclusions on transient phenomena. The past, many economic theorists have discovered, is a giant experiment station for economic ideas. And empiricists have learned that historical data are often better (for example, because of less litigious environments) and provide larger samples (that is, longer time series).2 The histories of the developed world are backdrops, and often provide advice, for current developing countries. Finally, remnants of the past, which shape the realm of the possible today, are always IThe many roles of historical economics are detailed in McCloskey (1976). 2 Oddly enough, historical data are often better than current data. with us as laws, norms, structures, institutions, and even people. In short, only the oblivious can ignore history in modern economics, and only the unenlightened would choose to do so. Given the large domain of economic history, it should not be surprising