Center for Economic History
about the Center
The Center for Economic History at Northwestern University is a world-leading center for the study of economic history. Established in 2013 with seed money from the University, it is co-directed by Joel Mokyr, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, together with Joseph Ferrie, and Walker Hanlon. The Center supports a vibrant intellectual community including affiliates from Economics and several other departments within the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The Center supports research on the past, using economic analysis, quantitative methods, and historical sources of all kinds. It is committed to training students, supporting their research, and fostering continuous interaction among students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. Above all, it is committed to encouraging and supporting rigorous academic research on any historical topic of interest to economists and other social scientists.
The Center hosts resident postdoctoral trainees who work on their research as well as interact regularly with the faculty students affiliated with the Center. It employs a full-time research assistant, who aids the students and faculty affiliated with the Center with their research projects. We also regularly host distinguished visiting faculty and students from around the world.
Among our activities are weekly seminars of visiting scholars (on Wednesdays 3:30-5:00PM CT) and regular Friday lunch meetings of the faculty and students affiliated with the Center in which students present their preliminary research results. The Center sponsors the bi-annual dinner of the Greater Chicago Area Friends of Economic History, which attracts scholars from a dozen institutions in the Chicago area and hosts world-renowned scholars in the field as well as periodic conferences.