Roger Backhouse

Roger Backhouse

The Department of Economics
Emeritus Professor

Contact details

Address
Department of Economics
University House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Roger Backhouse's recent research has been on the history of economics, focusing on twentieth-century economics and macroeconomics. For the past eight years he has been working on an intellectual biography of Paul A. Samuelson, the first volume of which was published in 2017, and which was awarded the Spengler Prize for the best book of the year, by the History of Economics Society. Another book, co-authored with Mauro Boianovsky, Transforming Modern Macroeconomics; Exploring Disequilibrium Microfoundations, 1956-2003 was been awarded the Blanqui Prize by the European Society of the History of Economic Thought. Other interests include the history of welfare economics, the relationship between economics and other social sciences, and the history of empirical macroeconomics. 

Qualifications

B.Sc. in Economics and Economic History (University of Bristol0

Ph.D. in Economics (University of Birmingham)

Research

Main project is the second and final volume of an intellectual biography of Paul Samuelson. Also involved, with various co-authors, in projects on the history of empirical macroeconomics, the history of welfare economics and the history of relationships between economics and other social sciences.

Other activities

Fellow of the British Academy 

Publications

Book

Backhouse, R. 2017, Founder of Modern Economics, Paul A. Samuelson. Volume I: Becoming Samuelson, 1948-2009. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Backhouse, R, Baujard, A & Nishizawa, T (eds) 2021, Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values: Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108882507

Article

Backhouse, R 2020, 'Economic theory in an imperfect world: Frank Hahn, general equilibrium and Keynesian economics', Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 1091-1107. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaa005

Backhouse, R & Cherrier, B 2019, 'Paul Samuelson, gender bias and discrimination', European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1053-1080. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2019.1632366

Backhouse, R & Cherrier, B 2019, 'The ordinary business of macroeconometric modelling: working on the Fed-MIT-Penn model, 1964-1974', History of Political Economy, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 425-447. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-7551852

Chapter

Backhouse, R 2021, Post-Keynesian: a rare example of a post-concept in economics. in H Paul & A van Veldhuizen (eds), Post-Everything: An intellectual history of post-concepts. Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp. 99-115. <https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526148193/post-everything/>

Book/Film/Article review

Backhouse, R 2022, 'Paul Collier, The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties', Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-022-00753-5

Backhouse, R 2021, 'Thomas Piketty, Capital and Ideology: Translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Belknap Press at Harvard University Press, 2020. pp. ix + 1093. ISBN 9780674980,822', Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-021-00630-7

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