Cliometrics ( eng. Cliometrics ) - an interdisciplinary direction associated with the application of economic theory and econometric methods and models in research on economic history . It is extensively associated with the use of mathematical methods in historical research, that is, it is identified with quantitative history.
The name of the discipline comes from the name of Clio - the muse of history and heroic poetry in Greek mythology.
Content
History
The term cliometrics first appeared in print in December 1960 in an article by J. Hughes, L. Davis, and S. Reuter, “Aspects of Quantitative Research in Economic History” [1] .
The “cliometric revolution” took place in the 1960s. A special role here was played by the fact that in 1960 the advocates of the cliometric approach Douglas North and William Parker became the editors of the Journal of Economic History. At the same time, cliometric conferences began to be held regularly in the USA. During this period, the focus of American climatists was to study the role of railways in the development of industrialization processes, the history of US agriculture in the 19th century, and the economic efficiency of slave labor in the American economy.
Since the 1970s, the cliometric approach has been expanding its influence in research on economic history in the UK, Scandinavian countries, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries.
In a broader context, the use of quantitative methods in historical research (quantitative history) has also spread in France (mainly within the Annals School ), Germany (the Center for Historical and Social Research of the University of Cologne plays the main role here) and other countries [2] .
In 1993, Robert Vogel and Douglas North received the Nobel Prize in Economics for a series of works in the field of cliometrics. The decision of the Nobel Committee noted that the prize was awarded "for the development of new approaches in research on economic history, based on the application of economic theory and quantitative methods to explain economic and institutional changes ."
In the USSR / Russia, the cliometric school was formed in the 1960s - 1970s around I. D. Kovalchenko ( L.V. Milov , L.I. Borodkin , etc.) [3] . The development of cliometrics (“new economic history”) followed a broader trend - a quantitative history, including applications in various fields of historical knowledge.
A significant role in the development of research in the field of quantitative history at the stage of its formation was also played by V. A. Ustinov, K. V. Khvostova, A. L. Weinstein , A. K. Sokolov, N. B. Selunskaya, V. Z. Drobizhev , E. I. Pivovar , T. I. Slavko, B. N. Mironov , S. G. Kashchenko, Yu. P. Bokarev, I. M. Garskova and others. Among the theoretical achievements of the national school of quantitative history are the development of information aspects of source study [4] , concepts and methods for analyzing mass sources, methodologies for applying multivariate statistical analysis [5] and mathematical modeling in historical studies [6] . The most significant results of applying quantitative history methods were achieved in the field of agrarian history of pre-revolutionary Russia [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] , the socio-political history of Soviet society during the first decades of Soviet power [12] [13] , and the study of medieval Russian texts [14] , as well as in archaeological research (the works of G. A. Fedorov-Davydov, D. V. Deopik , Yu. L. Shchapova, V. B. Kovalevskaya and others) were best known in “quantitative archeology”.
Since the mid-1990s, Russian quantifier historians have been actively involved in the activities of the scientific community related to the new interdisciplinary direction - historical computer science . This direction is developed in the framework of the Association "History and Computer" (AIC).
Recently, “ cliodynamics ” is actively developing in Russia - a new direction in mathematical modeling of historical processes ( P. V. Turchin , G. G. Malinetsky , A. V. Korotayev , S. A. Nefyodov , S. P. Kapitsa , L I. Borodkin , Yu. N. Pavlovsky , S. Yu. Malkov , A. V. Podlazov, etc.).
See also
- Quantitative estimates in history
Notes
- ↑ Williamson, 1996.
- ↑ Borodkin, 1998.
- ↑ Borodkin, 1997, 1998.
- ↑ Kovalchenko, 1987.
- ↑ Borodkin, 1986.
- ↑ Mathematical Modeling, 1996.
- ↑ Kovalchenko, Milov, 1974.
- ↑ Kovalchenko, Borodkin, 1979.
- ↑ Kovalchenko, Selunskaya, Litvakov, 1982.
- ↑ Kovalchenko, Moiseenko, Selunskaya, 1988.
- ↑ Milov, Bulgakov, Garskova, 1986.
- ↑ Drobizhev, Brewer, 1983.
- ↑ Sokolov, 1981.
- ↑ Milov et al., 1986.
Literature
- Kovalchenko I.D. Methods of historical research . - Ed. 2nd - M .: Science, 2003. - ISBN 5-02-008893-5 .
- Mathematical methods in historical research / Ed. I.D. Kovalchenko . - M .: Science, 1972.
- Mironov B.N. History in numbers. - L. , 1991.
- Sokolov AK. On the application of new methods in research on the history of the Soviet working class // Questions of methodology and history of historical science. - M .: Moscow State University, 1981. - Vol. 3
- Borodkin L.I. Multivariate statistical analysis in historical research. - M .: Moscow State University, 1986.
- Mathematical modeling of historical processes / Ed. L.I. Borodkina . - M. , 1996.
- Borodkin L.I. “Order from Chaos”: concepts of synergetics in the methodology of historical research // Modern and Contemporary History. - 2003. - № 2.
- Williamson S. History of cliometrics in the United States // Economic History. Review. Issue 1. - M. , 1996. - S. 75-107.
- Malinetskiy G., Theoretical history and mathematics // History and Mathematics: Macrohistorical dynamics of society and the state. - M .: ComBook / URSS, 2007. - p. 7-20. - ISBN 978-5-484-01009-7 .
- Fogel, Robert William and Engerman, Stanley L. Time to the economics of American Negro Slavery. - Reissue edition. - N. Y .: WW Norton and Company, 1995. - ISBN 0-393-31218-6 .