Most cited papers in Historical Economic and Social Studies
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).
Showing 50 of 98 papers. Every paper with more than 380 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics Paul Pierson · American Political Science Review | 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 | May 2008 | 3,306 |
| 6 | Economic Performance Through Time Douglass C. North · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) | 9 Dec 1993 | 2,895 |
| 7 | Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | Nov 2002 | 2,771 |
| 8 | The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · SSRN Electronic Journal | 2000 | 2,739 |
| 9 | The Relation Between Unemployment and the Rate of Change of Money Wage Rates in the United Kingdom, 1861–1957 1 Allyn W. Phillips · Economica | Nov 1958 | 2,383 |
| 10 | Unbundling Institutions Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson · Journal of Political Economy | 19 Sep 2005 | 2,264 |
| 11 | Why Did the West Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Inequality, and Growth in Historical Perspective Daron Acemoğlu, James A. Robinson · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | Nov 2000 | 1,991 |
| 12 | BOOMING SECTOR AND DUTCH DISEASE ECONOMICS: SURVEY AND CONSOLIDATION * W. M. Corden · Oxford Economic Papers | Nov 1984 | 1,869 |
| 13 | The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson · American Economic Review | Jun 2005 | 1,806 |
| 14 | The Political Foundations of Democracy and the Rule of the Law Barry R. Weingast · American Political Science Review | Jun 1997 | 1,802 |
| 15 | History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World Kenneth L. Sokoloff, Stanley L. Engerman · The Journal of Economic Perspectives | Aug 2000 | 1,727 |
| 16 | Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850 Janet Wolff, Leonore Davidoff, Catherine Hall · Feminist Review | 1987 | 1,509 |
| 17 | Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders Avner Greif · The Journal of Economic History | Dec 1989 | 1,453 |
| 18 | The unbound prometheus : technological change and industrial development in Western Europe from 1750 to the present David S. Landes | 1970 | 1,430 |
| 19 | Fiscal Reform and the Economic Foundations of Local State Corporatism in China Jean C. Oi · World Politics | Oct 1992 | 1,294 |
| 20 | History, Institutions, and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India Abhijit G. Banerjee, Lakshmi Iyer · American Economic Review | Aug 2005 | 1,287 |
| 21 | AGRARIAN CLASS STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL EUROPE Robert P. Brenner · Past & Present | 1976 | 1,178 |
| 22 | ARE EMOTIONS A KIND OF PRACTICE (AND IS THAT WHAT MAKES THEM HAVE A HISTORY)? A BOURDIEUIAN APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING EMOTION Monique Scheer · History and Theory | May 2012 | 1,164 |
| 23 | Modernity and Hybridity: Nature, Regeneracionismo, and the Production of the Spanish Waterscape, 1890–1930 Erik A. Swyngedouw · Annals of the Association of American Geographers | Sep 1999 | 979 |
| 24 | The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution Jan de Vries · The Journal of Economic History | Jun 1994 | 979 |
| 25 | Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development Stelios Michalopoulos, Elias Papaioannou · Econometrica | 2013 | 956 |
| 26 | Institutions and economic growth: An historical introduction Douglass C. North · World Development | Sep 1989 | 949 |
| 27 | The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | May 2011 | 913 |
| 28 | Sustainable development – historical roots of the concept J.A. du Pisani · Environmental Sciences | Jun 2006 | 902 |
| 29 | Human Population: The Next Half Century Joel E. Cohen · Science | 13 Nov 2003 | 878 |
| 30 | Big houses, big cars, superfleas and the costs of reproduction David N. Reznick, David Reznick, Leonard Nunney et al. · Trends in Ecology & Evolution | Oct 2000 | 856 |
| 31 | Golden age to separate spheres? A review of the categories and chronology of English women's history Amanda Vickery · The Historical Journal | Jun 1993 | 830 |
| 32 | Trade and Circuses: Explaining Urban Giants Alberto F. Ades, Edward L. Glaeser · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | Feb 1995 | 824 |
| 33 | THE IMPERIALISM OF FREE TRADE John Robert Gallagher, Ronald C. Robinson · The Economic History Review | Aug 1953 | 821 |
| 34 | The Diffusion of Development* Enrico Spolaore, Romain T. Wacziarg · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | May 2009 | 817 |
| 35 | Why did the Elites Extend the Suffrage? Democracy and the Scope of Government, with an Application to Britain's "Age of Reform" Alessandro Lizzeri, Nicola Persico · The Quarterly Journal of Economics | May 2004 | 776 |
| 36 | The Importance of History for Economic Development Nathan Nunn · Annual Review of Economics | 22 Apr 2009 | 706 |
| 37 | The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth: Is This Time Different? Joel Mokyr, Chris Vickers, Nicolas L. Ziebarth · The Journal of Economic Perspectives | 30 Jul 2015 | 697 |
| 38 | The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen Sanford F. Schram · Political Science Quarterly | 2005 | 687 |
| 39 | HISTORICAL ALTERNATIVES TO MASS PRODUCTION: POLITICS, MARKETS AND TECHNOLOGY IN NINETEEN-THCENTURY INDUSTRIALIZATION Charles Frederick Sabel, Jonathan Zeitlin · Past & Present | 1985 | 663 |
| 40 | Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives Jeremy Freese, Brian Powell, Frank J. Sulloway · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews | 1998 | 633 |
| 41 | The Importance of Social Intervention in Britain's Mortality Decline c.1850–1914: a Re-interpretation of the Role of Public Health Simon Szreter · Social History of Medicine | 1988 | 629 |
| 42 | A Staple Theory of Economic Growth Melville H. Watkins · The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science | May 1963 | 628 |
| 43 | The Condition of the Working Class in England, 1209–2004 Gregory T. Clark · Journal of Political Economy | 28 Nov 2005 | 624 |
| 44 | National Income, Expenditure and Output of the United Kingdom 1855-1965. A. R. Prest, Charles H. Feinstein · The Economic Journal | Jun 1973 | 623 |
| 45 | The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain James M. E. Boyle · SSRN Electronic Journal | 2003 | 621 |
| 46 | Eighteenth‐century English society: Class struggle without class? E. P. Thompson · Social History | May 1978 | 612 |
| 47 | Forging Industrial Policy: The United States, Britain, and France in the Railway Age. John L. Campbell, Frank R. Dobbin · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews | Nov 1994 | 604 |
| 48 | Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London Erik W. Larson · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews | Nov 2007 | 595 |
| 49 | The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis Evsey D. Domar · The Journal of Economic History | Mar 1970 | 594 |
| 50 | The Quality of Care Julia Johnson, Sheena Rolph, Randall Smith · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks | 2010 | 589 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.