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Cambridge and Economic History

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Abstract

Michael Moissey Postan, who was appointed Professor of Economic History at Cambridge in 1938, rejected the notion of the Middle Ages as pre-capitalist, and adopted a Malthusian approach to medieval economic history which stressed the pressure of population on resources. The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure (CAMPOP) similarly applied a Malthusian approach to the balance of population and resources, stressing the role of stocks of energy in removing the barriers of organic flows. This approach has been supplemented by a concern for intellectual history, institutions, and imperialism which has created a distinctive Cambridge approach to economic history.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Personal knowledge of Chimen Abramsky and Anna Abulafia suggests that Postan was older and that he was a Menshevik.

  2. 2.

    On the need to study modern history, see Postan (1971: 57) and on his friendship with Gaitskell (ibid.: 169–182).

  3. 3.

    The summation of Postan’s analysis is in Postan (1966).

  4. 4.

    For working papers, publications and main findings, see http://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/occupations/.

  5. 5.

    See http://www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/research/hex/objective.htm.

  6. 6.

    See also http://www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/ees/index.html and http://www.fas.harvard.edu/-histecon/energyhistory/index.html.

  7. 7.

    For Barry Supple, see also the interview at https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/229662.

  8. 8.

    See also the interviews at http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/interviews/Daunton_Martin.html and http://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1587173?format=mpeg4&quality=360p.

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  1. Formerly Professor of Economic History, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Martin Daunton

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Daunton, M. (2017). Cambridge and Economic History. In: Cord, R. (eds) The Palgrave Companion to Cambridge Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41233-1_8

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