Economic history goes global

GUEST POST: How EHDR is expanding economic history beyond its traditional borders

Around 85% of the world’s population lives in what is usually called the Global South, which would essentially comprise Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and most of Asia. However, it is striking how little presence these regions have in the scientific literature.

The geographical bias of research is a serious problem in most social sciences but is particularly striking in the case of economic history. Table 1 below shows the geographical distribution, by regions of study, of the articles published in the top global Economic History journals (Journal of Economic History, Economic History Review, Explorations in Economic History and European Review of Economic History).

Among the articles published in those journals during the last 25 years, only 13.4% have focused on the economic history of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. This geographical bias has affected all four journals, with small deviations that go from a minimum of 7.4% in the case of the EREH to a maximum of 15.6% in the case of the JEH.

While these are 25-year averages, there does not seem to be any time trend in those shares. It is true that the number of articles published yearly that focus on the Economic History of Asia, Africa and Latin America has grown over time (especially since the late 2000s), but the amount of papers analysing other regions, like the US and Canada and, particularly, Western Europe, has grown at least in the same proportion. It is also striking that a substantial share of the authors covering African, Asian or Latin American topics in their articles are not affiliated with institutions located in the Global South. Particularly in the case of Latin America and, overall, Africa, the presence of authors affiliated with local institutions is marginal.

Many reasons explain the geographical bias in economic history publications. Resources for scholars in developing countries is an obvious candidate, as is the availability of historical sources (particularly digitised sources) or the challenges non-native English speakers face to publish in top international journals. Whatever the reasons, though, the geographical bias of economic history research comes with substantial costs, as it reduces our ability to fully understand our economic past due to the limited external validity of the published research.

It is in this context that the Economic History Society of Southern Africa decided in 2010 to redesign the Society’s journal, formerly known as the South African Journal of Economic History, and transform it into Economic History of Developing Regions. The new journal would aim to reduce the geographical bias of the economic history literature. In addition, and different from some already existing region-specific journals, EHDR would take a global approach and aim to publish economic history research on all regions of the Global South.

The launch of the journal was a success from the beginning. Under the initial leadership of Stefan Schirmer, the journal got the support of a large number of scholars from all over the world that joined the editorial and advisory boards and submitted a series of impressive works, which would be published in the first issues. Scholars such as Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson, Gareth Austin, Jan Luiten Van Zanden, Georg Baten, Nicholas Crafts, Stanley Engerman, Kenneth Sokolof, Anne McCants, Nathan Nunn and Kenneth Pomeranz made important contributions and lifted the journal’s international reputation.

It has already been 14 years since the publication of the first issue of EHDR. During this time, the journal has undertaken substantial changes. Stefan Schirmer was eventually replaced as editor by Leigh Gardner and Johan Fourie, who later on handed the task over to Alex Klein, Jessica Vechbanyongratana, Michiel de Haas and myself. The composition of the editorial board has also gradually changed, but they still make up an impressive group of first-class specialists in the economic history of developing areas.

The journal has published 38 issues so far and about 150 papers. The journal has kept a strong focus on Africa, largely reflecting its links with South African academia. Thus, 56% of the published articles have dealt with Sub-Saharan African countries, with a significant presence of South African topics.

Most of the remaining articles have focused on Asian economies (14%) or have had a global or multiregional character (13%). The presence of articles analysing Latin America (10%) or the MENA countries (2%) has been much smaller. However, there has been an increasing diversification in the geographical composition of the journal articles over time. Articles on Africa were 60% of the total in 2010-14 but have decreased to 51% in 2020-23. By contrast, articles on Latin America, which were 6% between 2010 and 2014 have increased to 19% in the last 4 years, and those on MENA countries, which represented less than 1% in the former period, have also increased to more than 4% in the latter. Thus, although slowly, the journal is gradually diversifying and approaching its objective of becoming a true global publication on the economic history of developing areas. Changes in the geographical distribution of the papers published have been accompanied by a diversification of the editors’ expertise beyond African Economic History.

These changes have coincided with a remarkable increase in the visibility of the journal, particularly in the last few years. This can be noticed in the evolution of both the yearly number of submissions and the yearly number of paper downloads, as reflected in the figures below.

There is still a long way to go in terms of increasing impact and visibility of the journal, as well as in the consolidation of a more balanced geographical distribution of the papers published. But the good news is that, thanks to EHDR, economic historians from/working on developing areas, have an outlet where they can publish their research and reach a global audience.

EHDR is also performing other roles, such as spreading information on new databases on developing areas’ economic pasts, or hosting debates and special issues on different topics, such as gender, apartheid or development from a historical perspective. These are remarkable results for a relatively young journal. I would not like to finish without thanking the former editors of EHDR and my current co-editors for the excellent work that made all this possible, and also the EHSSA for having decided some years ago to try this uncertain but exciting path and create a truly global journal for developing countries’ economic histories.

‘Economic history goes global’ was first published on Our Long Walk. Support more such writing by signing up for a paid subscription. The image was created with Midjourney v5.2.