Open research questions in Historical Economic and Social Studies
33 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,288 Historical Economic and Social Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The census enumerators' books (CEBs) have provided fertile ground for studies of workhouse populations in recent years, though it has been acknowledged that work remains to be done on different regions and periods to develop our understanding of these institutions and the paupers who resided therein.
The evolution of financial market institutions in response to the demands of late-nineteenth-century industrialization has been studied in some detail (Davis 1965; Sylla 1969; James 1978; Snowden 1987, 1988), but relatively little is known about the history of labor market institutions after the Civil War.
In general the conclusions are in keeping with the limited data on nineteenth century death rates: the rates were considerably higher in France and, especially, in Hungary, than in Ireland and England and Wales where agricultural improvements were earlier. The only conclusion which can be drawn from this limited evidence is that the lower mortality from tuberculosis at the end of the nineteenth century in England and Wales can be attributed plausibly to the fact that standards of living and levels of nutrition were probably higher than in the other four countries.
However other series display considerable lack of agreement with fluctuations in net national income and in some cases do not appear to have any well- defined cyclical pattern at all, except that Local Authority Loan expenditure appears t o have anticyclical effects. What, of course, may have been crucial were anticipated profits about which information is lacking.
Owing to the considerable discrepancy in the respective figures published in the whig and tory press, it is difficult to arrive at a precise list of the results; but 'despite the conflicting reports it is clear that the elections were a great triumph for the Reformers; the old corporations had been the strongholds of Toryism; the new town councils were overwhelmingly Whig or Radical'.
Moreover, though much has been written of the remarkable fall in fertility in the mid-seventeenth century, the equally remarkable recovery in the eighteenth century has not been fully analysed; nor have the implications of the high level of fertility during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I been sufficiently discussed.
The term may seem to carry landed power, aesthetic rather than industrial connotations, but certainly in Scotland there were scarcely any such planned settlements that were not designed for very specific economic purposes, and generally as seats for rural industry.
JL, 13 and 27 July 1872); the second was found guilty of assaulting a farmer's son who had asked him to leave a field where he mi addressing the labourers, and acquitted (through lack of evidence) of using violence to compel a man to join the iminn " p. 1963, arguing that much of the world's population is still insufficiently nourished to work properly.
” Similarly, the Select Committee on Exportation of Machinery reported in 1841 that “[machine] tools have introduced a revolution in machinery, and tool-making has become a distinct branch of mechanics, and a very important trade, although twenty years ago it was scarcely known.
11 A paper compiled in the middle of the century, however, concluded that while the Customs Board worked hard to despatch current letters queries and disputes, it did not give sufficient consideration to broader matters of policy, and there was insufficient check upon the attendance of slack commis- sioners.
Much further study is needed before any of these questions can be answered with certainty or completeness. I have tried to suggest that some previously held opinions may have to be considerably qualified, and have made adverse comments, so far as the very limited evidence permitted, on such large general theories as aristocratic benevolence, Tory paternalism, and economic determinism.
8 Little is known of the election of English mayors in the first century of their existence, but it points to an original selection, in form at least, by the general body of the burgesses, and at Winchester about 1275 the community still shared the choice with the council.
In the fourth year of Henry V's reign the institution of twenty-four jurats was confirmed, and the burgesses were limited to these in their choice of mayor : When there was a vacancy the mayor and the rest of the jurats, in the presence of the rest of the burgesses, elected another of the more worthy, honest, discreet, and sufficient burgesses in the place of him, who, having taken oath, should continue in that state for life.
Taken together with four related letters preserved in the Harmony Society Records (now in the Pennsylvania State Archives), they provide useful information on both communitarian groups, as well as some limited information about the Ephrata Society.
“A Pleasant & Peaceful Village”: Mid-Nineteenth-Century Letters Relating to the Economy, Snow Hill, and Ephrata Societies · 2026 · DOIIn this article, I seek to fill a gap in the literature by analyzing how central changes in labor laws shaped intrafirm power dynamics and thus income inequality during the Gilded Age and Progressive and New Eras.
The labor injunction and peonage—how changes in labor laws increased inequality during the Gilded Age · 2018 · DOIAbstractThe inns and innkeepers of medieval England form a poorly documented and neglected group of institutions and individuals.
Just about all of the millions of yards of woollen yarn that went into making English cloth had to be spun by women and children, but this activity has not been investigated to the extent that it deserves.
‘Th'ancient Distaff’ and ‘Whirling Spindle’: measuring the contribution of spinning to household earnings and the national economy in England, 1550–1770<sup>1</sup> · 2011 · DOIIn comparison, liberal Britain tended to colonize most extensively precolonial regions that were sparsely populated and underdeveloped; in turn, extensive British colonialism had comparatively positive effects.
However, empirical studies of workplace practice in early industrial Britain are scarce, and those few studies that have been attempted stress the continuity of workers' experience.
Work and Workloads During Industrialization: The Experience of Forgemen in the British Iron Industry 1750–1850 · 1999 · DOIIf the frugal, liberal state that partly resulted from these reforms was scarcely capable of ameliorating social injustice, at least it could no longer be seen to contribute to it through favouritism and a heavy and inequitable tax load.
The Waning of 'Old Corruption': The Politics of Economical Reform in Britain, 1779-1846. · 1996 · DOIElsewhere, much work is still required, although Thomas in his survey of the Home Counties has undoubtedly helped to fill a gap in the literature, and can justifiably claim to have produced a pioneering work [1].
It is to be hoped that Hechter's analysis will prompt further studies of the nature of regional inequalities not only in the British Isles but also in other developed polities.
Michael Hechter's Internal Colonial Thesis: Some Theoretical and Methodological Problems · 1978 · DOIs themselves that the impression of reticence may reflect no more than a chance gap in the evidence. 1 Thus if there are curious gaps in the evidence supplied by the Rumpers, then there are equally strange ones in the evidence offered by the Cromwellians.
The chronological coverage is limited to the nineteenth century, the major period of the North-East's economic growth, and the bibliography! has largely taken into consideration only work recently published on this subject.
The Economy of the North-East in the Nineteenth Century: A Survey with a Bibliography of Works Published Since 1945 · 1971 · DOIthat the facts had not been adequately investigated by another branch of government and that, in consequence, they were not presented to the court as they should have been.
Most-cited papers in Historical Economic and Social Studies
- Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish and British Colonies · American Journal of Sociology · 2006 · 202 citations
- Railways, divergence, and structural change in 19th century England and Wales · Journal of Urban Economics · 2021 · 51 citations
- ‘Th'ancient Distaff’ and ‘Whirling Spindle’: measuring the contribution of spinning to household earnings and the national economy in England, 1550–1770<sup>1</sup> · The Economic History Review · 2011 · 45 citations
- Industrialization and urbanization in nineteenth century America · Regional Science and Urban Economics · 2021 · 36 citations
- Working a fraction and making a fraction work: a rough guide for geographers in the academy · Area · 2005 · 22 citations
- The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550–1650 · The Journal of Economic History · 2020 · 21 citations
- The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution · The Journal of Law and Economics · 2021 · 18 citations
- Michael Hechter's Internal Colonial Thesis: Some Theoretical and Methodological Problems · European Journal of Political Research · 1978 · 18 citations
- The political economy of historic districts: The private, the public, and the collective · Regional Science and Urban Economics · 2020 · 16 citations
- The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016 · The Economic History Review · 2022 · 15 citations
Most recent work
- Political Sophistication in Industrial Birmingham: Reappraising Brass Manufacturers’ Campaign Against Thomas Williams, 1799–1801 · Midland History · 2026
- Geography, institutions, and market: Explaining pre-industrial land inequality in mid-19 <sup>th</sup> -century northeastern Spain · Rural History · 2026
- WOMEN'S RESERVATION AND DELIMITATION: ASSESSING THE CONDITIONAL IMPIMENTATION UNDER THE 106TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- ‘Elbow grease and yellow soap’: Housework time in working‐class households in late‐nineteenth and early twentieth‐century Britain · The Economic History Review · 2026
- Contested seas: Legitimacy, local power and resource exploitation in the territorialisation of early modern galicia maritime space · Maritime Studies · 2026
- The historical demography of the multigenerational family: Evidence from crowdsourced genealogies · Journal of Family Research · 2026
- From interpretations to interventions, - from the «royal road» to a road less travelled · The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review · 2026
- Colorado Co-operative Colony: The Brook Farm of the West · Communal Societies · 2026
- Regional Differences in the Size and Composition of Communal Membership: The Shakers, 1850-1870 · Communal Societies · 2026
- “A Pleasant & Peaceful Village”: Mid-Nineteenth-Century Letters Relating to the Economy, Snow Hill, and Ephrata Societies · Communal Societies · 2026
Find a gap in your own Historical Economic and Social Studies sub-topic
This page shows what the Historical Economic and Social Studies literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, run the guided finder — it searches the gap library on demand and checks candidates against 250M+ OpenAlex works.
Open the Research Gap Finder →