JORGE RODRIGUES SIMAO

Economic history is the queen of the social sciences. Her subject is The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the title of Adam Smith’s great book. Economists seek the ‘causes’ in a timeless theory of economic development, while economic historians find them in a dynamic process of historical change. Economic history has become particularly exciting in recent years since the scope of the fundamental question – ‘why are some countries rich and others poor?’ - has gone global.