Inconvenient glow: Cliometrics and the “golden age” of capitalism
This paper aims to criticize the recent cliometrics literature on the so-called “golden age” of capitalism. The works of Nicholas Crafts, Gianni Toniolo, and Barry Eichengreen are reconstructed in order to reveal the main characteristics of this research program. Its narrow quantitative focus, its r...
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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication Date: | 2014 |
| Country: | Brasil |
| Institution: | EDITORA 34 |
| Repository: | Revista de Economia Política |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ojs2.centrodeeconomiapolitica.org:article/290 |
| Online Access: | https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org.br/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/290 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | “idade de ouro” do capitalismo cliometria periodização historiografia “golden age” of capitalism cliometrics periodization historiography |
| Summary: | This paper aims to criticize the recent cliometrics literature on the so-called “golden age” of capitalism. The works of Nicholas Crafts, Gianni Toniolo, and Barry Eichengreen are reconstructed in order to reveal the main characteristics of this research program. Its narrow quantitative focus, its reliance on theoretical propositions borrowed from neoclassical economics, and its auspicious interpretation of the postwar reconstruction are the main focus of the criticism presented. Finally, the cliometricians’ attempt to historicize the “golden age” and de-historicize the following decades is related to the ideological understanding of the recent decades as a period of “great moderation.” JEL Classifiction: N00, N01, N10, N40. |
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