Why economic history?

As a bachelor’s student, my exposure to economic history amounted to a few anecdotes. The European exchange rate mechanism (mark I). China’s Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. The story of bootleggers and baptists during the Prohibition era in the US. Interesting examples, but not a detailed look at the mechanisms that have helped to shape the modern economy.

My interest in economic history is only recently acquired, stemming from the observation that economic growth (at least in per capita terms) is a relatively new phenomenon. For much of human history, GDP per capita didn’t rise in any meaningful sense — there were ups and downs from year to year, but the long-term trend was largely flat. It was not until the advent of the industrial revolution that the underlying dynamics began to change.

This observation raises three questions, which form the basis of my interest in economic history:

  1. Why do we have economic growth?
  2. How do we measure the relative contribute of different factors to economic development?
  3. How can we even be sure that GDP per capita was flat centuries ago?
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