ABSTRACT
The number of original articles published in Indian economic history shows a boom in the 1980s ending in a recession from the 1990s. The paper surveys the evolution of the field and explores the reasons behind these tendencies. It concludes that the trends reflect shifts in the popularity of archives-based research on economic issues among historians in India. Following on from a rise in the 1980s, in the last 20 years, cultural history crowded out economic history, and debates about the process of long-term economic change became rare. More recently, the link between comparative economic growth and Indian history has strengthened, leading to a modest revival.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the editors and referees of Economic History of Developing Regions for many helpful comments and suggestions, which led to significant improvements in the paper.