Historical Economic and Social Studies

Historical Economic and Social Studies is a research topic within Economics and Econometrics. Science Explorer counts 36k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the economic development, inequality, and various determinants of living standards in Europe and Asia from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It delves into topics such as the impact of height, wages, trade, and historical institutions on economic growth and societal well-being.

Economic Growth
Height
Wages
Inequality
Europe
Trade
Industrial Revolution
Health
Globalization
Historical Institutions

Research works: 36k
In the world top 10%: 3.7k
Top-10% rate: 10.4%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: -7%
Largest producer: United States

Historical Economic and Social Studies

Which countries lead Historical Economic and Social Studies research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.3k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 1.3k works
2 United Kingdom 1.2k works
3 France 225 works
4 Italy 194 works
5 Canada 185 works
6 Germany 177 works
7 Netherlands 150 works
8 Spain 149 works
9 Australia 128 works
10 China 127 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States1,267 · 33.4%United Kingdom1,189 · 31.4%France225 · 5.9%Italy194 · 5.1%6 others listed916 · 24.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Historical Economic and Social Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Cambridge publishes the most Historical Economic and Social Studies research, followed by University of Oxford and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

1 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 96 works
2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 87 works
3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 64 works
4 Film IndependentUnited States 53 works
5 University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 37 works
6 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 36 works
7 University of YorkUnited Kingdom 32 works
8 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 32 works
9 University of WarwickUnited Kingdom 31 works
10 University of ChicagoUnited States 31 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Economic and Social Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical Economic and Social Studies include George Davey Smith, Martin McKee and Andrei Shleifer.

1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
2 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
3 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
4 Anselm L. Strauss United States 205k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Historical Economic and Social Studies?

The most cited paper in Historical Economic and Social Studies is "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics" (Paul Pierson, 2000), with 7,960 citations. Next come "The diffusion of innovations" (6,251) and "Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England" (5,349).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics Paul Pierson · American Political Science Review Open access	Jun 2000	7,960
2	The diffusion of innovations Marjatta Hietala · Scandinavian Journal of History	1983	6,251
3	Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England Douglass C. North, Barry R. Weingast · The Journal of Economic History	Dec 1989	5,349
4	The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity William H. Becker, Michael J. Piore, Charles Frederick Sabel · Journal of American History	Mar 1987	4,355
5	The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins Rafael La Porta, Florencio López‐de‐Silanes, Andrei Shleifer · Journal of Economic Literature Open access	May 2008	3,306

All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical Economic and Social Studies research done?

The largest centres of Historical Economic and Social Studies research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Oxford (United Kingdom), Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in St Andrews, York and Exeter.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 LondonUnited Kingdom 208 works
2 OxfordUnited Kingdom 103 works
3 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 102 works
4 ParisFrance 87 works
5 Los AngelesUnited States 74 works
6 New YorkUnited States 60 works
7 ChicagoUnited States 53 works
8 Washington D.C.United States 51 works
9 ManchesterUnited Kingdom 42 works
10 ExeterUnited Kingdom 37 works

Where it is the local speciality

St AndrewsGB · 23.8 works25×
YorkGB · 34.0 works19×
ExeterGB · 37.1 works17×
DurhamGB · 26.7 works16×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Historical Economic and Social Studies than the world average.

See Historical Economic and Social Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical Economic and Social Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Lund University, Stockholm University and University of Cambridge score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged

40%

Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share

10%

Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale

30%

Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%

10%

Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad

10%

Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Lund UniversitySweden	68.6	25.5%	9.0×	20	-26.0%
2	Stockholm UniversitySweden	68.2	35.4%	7.2×	10	+24.4%
3	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	67.9	11.6%	20.1×	96	-4.1%
4	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	66.9	6.3%	15.6×	88	+15.7%
5	London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom	60.6	18.8%	38.3×	36	-42.2%
6	Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands	60.6	24.5%	6.4×	9	-8.8%
7	Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands	59.1	31.1%	5.6×	14	-10.3%
8	Stanford UniversityUnited States	58.6	20.7%	3.0×	18	+13.8%
9	George Mason UniversityUnited States	56.6	31.0%	14.7×	19	-40.0%
10	Utrecht UniversityNetherlands	55.2	12.7%	8.4×	24	-22.0%
11	University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom	55.1	13.3%	9.4×	32	+13.0%
12	University of Southern DenmarkDenmark	54.9	20.9%	5.2×	8	+34.3%
13	University of GothenburgSweden	54.6	14.9%	5.7×	11	+10.5%
14	University of California San DiegoUnited States	54.6	31.6%	2.6×	10	+93.3%
15	University of ChicagoUnited States	52.3	6.7%	9.1×	31	+85.8%
16	Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom	52.2	6.7%	15.2×	26	+75.8%
17	University of LisbonPortugal	51.8	19.5%	3.8×	12	+43.5%
18	University of ExeterUnited Kingdom	51.7	6.1%	22.2×	37	+15.2%
19	Universidad de ZaragozaSpain	50.6	17.3%	4.9×	8	+34.0%
20	Queen's University BelfastUnited Kingdom	50.4	21.7%	11.5×	15	-56.2%
21	Yale UniversityUnited States	50.3	11.6%	5.0×	22	+33.9%
22	University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom	49.0	9.9%	9.8×	25	+10.1%
23	University of BernSwitzerland	47.6	19.5%	3.8×	8	+128.7%
24	University of British ColumbiaCanada	47.4	22.9%	2.4×	12	+9.8%
25	Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain	47.3	30.0%	3.3×	8	-29.6%
26	University of SussexUnited Kingdom	47.1	10.1%	14.4×	14	+28.4%
27	Uppsala UniversitySweden	47.0	7.4%	8.7×	19	+31.2%
28	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany	46.3	10.8%	4.1×	14	+0.8%
29	University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom	45.9	7.8%	8.7×	30	+2.0%
30	University of YorkUnited Kingdom	45.8	10.9%	24.4×	32	-5.7%
31	Universitat de BarcelonaSpain	45.7	12.7%	4.8×	15	+20.9%
32	Australian National UniversityAustralia	45.6	5.9%	9.9×	20	+125.8%
33	European University InstituteItaly	45.6	9.9%	36.6×	11	+86.2%
34	University of WarwickUnited Kingdom	45.2	8.8%	16.9×	31	-37.8%
35	University of TorontoCanada	45.1	14.1%	2.8×	22	+5.2%
36	Princeton UniversityUnited States	45.1	18.2%	7.4×	13	-15.7%
37	University of CopenhagenDenmark	45.0	10.2%	3.0×	11	+80.1%
38	University of AntwerpBelgium	44.6	15.2%	10.1×	14	-27.4%
39	University of ReadingUnited Kingdom	44.2	1.6%	28.7×	22	+63.2%
40	Duke UniversityUnited States	43.0	35.6%	2.8×	9	-14.1%
41	King's College LondonUnited Kingdom	42.3	7.5%	8.9×	30	-11.4%
42	University of GroningenNetherlands	41.3	11.9%	3.8×	10	-10.1%
43	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	40.8	8.0%	4.7×	30	-47.3%
44	University of MichiganUnited States	38.7	30.3%	1.5×	9	-54.2%
45	Ghent UniversityBelgium	33.2	9.8%	5.2×	16	-44.7%
46	University of AmsterdamNetherlands	25.3	6.5%	3.6×	9	-43.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Historical Economic and Social Studies, country by country

Is Historical Economic and Social Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023.

grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Historical Economic and Social Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

Fractional works of Historical Economic and Social Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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Which countries lead Historical Economic and Social Studies research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Historical Economic and Social Studies research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Economic and Social Studies?

What are the most cited papers in Historical Economic and Social Studies?

Where is Historical Economic and Social Studies research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Historical Economic and Social Studies?

Is Historical Economic and Social Studies research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion