Conclusion: How to Do Economic History?

Abstract

How to do research into premodern economic history? The past chapters have shown that there are a number of different possibilities of how to approach the study of the premodern economy. The overview of current research in economic history shows that there is no need to build one overarching methodological approach to economic history that encompasses quantitative and qualitative aspects and can be applied to serial and narrative sources alike. Rather, different methods can and should be used in variation or in combination. Methodological diversity is flourishing in premodern economic history, which is probably what makes it such a lively strand of research.