The paper provides a selective survey of applications of economics and econometrics in economic history focusing especially on the themes of living standards and technological change. Cliometric research in these areas is shown to have made major contributions to knowledge. It is argued that quantitative economic history is distinctive from applied economics and that modelling must be sensitive to historical context. Research prospects are exciting both because progress in economic theory has

more »

... creasingly allowed the formalization and quantification of important arguments put forward by economic historians and also because important opportunities for cliometric research continually arise from contemporary economic concerns .