ON the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Economic History Association and the Journal of Economic History, we convened a panel of journal editors (past, present, and future) to address the future of economic history.
Forecasting is easy, do so accurately is hard. Several apt quotations come to mind. When asked where jazz music would be in ten years, trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton famously remarked: “If I knew where jazz was going, I'd be there already.” And computer pioneer Alan Kay added “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” But in line with the models of technological diffusion, author William Gibson noted: “The future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed.“
Giving their takes on the future of economic history are panelists: William Collins (incoming JEH editor, former EEH editor); Kris Mitchener (EEH co-editor); Ran Abramitzky (EEH co-editor); and Naomi Lamoreaux (former JEH editor). To provide a venue for others to contribute their voices, we have set up a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/EBHSNews. It is important to recognize that a major challenge facing our profession is to encourage participation of a diverse group of scholars.
We thank President Robert Margo for hosting the panel and Martha Bailey for organizing it.
