9515252 Williamson This grant provides renewed support for the annual Cliometric Conferences. This project supports the 1997, 1998, and 1999 Cliometric Conferences. The venue of the conference changes annually. Conference sites will be selected from a list of several universities offering to host Cliometric Conferences. The field of cliometrics evolved in the 1960s from research interests in several fields; most notably economics, history, and statistics, but drawing also on demography, political science, and sociology. Its focus has been on the application of economic theory and quantitative analysis to a wide range of problems in economic history. The intent of the Cliometric Conference is two-fold: to encourage new members of the profession and to provide an opportunity for discussion and feedback on current research in the field. The record of previous Conferences indicates that both goals have been met. Of the 224 paper- presenters at Cliometrics Conferences since 1985, 173, or 77 percent, presented but a single paper in that period. At the 1995 conference, 75 percent of the presenters were first-time presenters. The practice of inviting a mix of new and established scholars is considered extremely valuable by many first-time attendees, who have discovered advisors, mentors and research collaborators through these conferences. At the same time, Cliometrics Conferences have served as a forum for all major debates and developments in the field of economic history and have consistently encouraged the development of new and better data bases. A large number of important works in the field were first presented at Cliometrics Conferences. In the six conferences held so far in the 1990s, three major topical areas are emerging, accounting for about a third of the papers selected. First is the timing and extent of market integration for labor, commodities, and all factors to accompany the continuing interest in capital market integration. Second is quantitative study of the political economy of public finance and of public spending. Third is analysis of political economy in a broader sense: of legal systems, of property rights, and politics itself.
