Czech economic historians and interdisciplinary approach

The paper analyses the current state of interdisciplinary approach in economic history in the Czech Republic. The results suggest that present historians do not have sufficient knowledge and experience when dealing with quantitative methods and other methods of social sciences as well. The state of research in the field of economic history is in fact not on the way towards more interdisciplinary approach. The analysis of selected publications revealed that the main method is historiography with general opposition to other social science methods and advanced statistics. The questionnaire survey results show that unexpectedly about 90 % of the respondents consider interdisciplinary approach helpful. About 60 % of respondents claimed that they used some statistical methods in their publications. However there is no evidence in the institutional analysis, examination of published or collective works, which would suggest any form of such interdisciplinary approach and use of advanced statistical methods. The results of the study also suggest that Czech economic historians, especially in the field of modern history, are willing to cooperate and use some of the advanced statistical methods but they tend to be very skeptical when it comes to economists dealing with historical matters.