Paul David was an economic historian, a major figure in redefining the methods and philosophical bases for that hybrid field. An early practitioner of cliometrics – the study of historical economies using rigorously specified models and quantitative evidence – Paul was a strong advocate of the view that economics should be an historical social science, i.e., that ‘history matters’. Having strong roots in both the US and the UK, Paul’s influence extended well beyond narrow research specialties, including pathbreaking contributions to macroeconomics and growth accounting, technological innovation and diffusion, historical demography, natural resources, and the historical origins of European institutions of science and technology.
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 21