Industrialization and Economic Growth: Problems of Methodology
The appearance at long last of Volume VI of The Cambridge Economic History, the first of three volumes dealing with the period since the Industrial Revolution, raises once again the long-mooted question of proper methodology in economic history. The issue has been sharpened rather recently by the emergence of a cadre of self-styled "new" economic historians who believe that meaningful economic history must not only emphasize quantitative measurements' but must be basically theoretical, employing either hypotheses or figments or both.2 This group of scholars, whose work will be mentioned later, deal mainly with economic processes and tend to neglect or de-emphasize institutions. What they hope to do is to concentrate on the "purely economic problems of economic history."3 "Traditional" methodology has often been quantitative, but numbers have generally been ancillary to historical description; moreover, the "traditional" account of historical events has, more frequently than not, included a great deal of non-economic material. Another characteristic should be noted: ever since the writings of Marx, there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on institutions by both Marxists and anti-Marxists; and this, in turn, has led to the infusion of sociological elements into the fabric of economic history. It is well to recognize these basic distinctions between "new" and "traditional" historiography when we try to appraise the methodology of Volume VI of The Cambridge Economic History. What are the authors trying to do? How do they proceed? What guidance or directions have they received from the editors? Although the title of this long-awaited book clearly states that this is an "economic history of Europe," the Preface explains that the economic history of the Western world after the Industrial Revolution will be covered. Consequently the text includes not only long sections on Australia and New Zealand but whole chapters dealing with industrialization in the United