Professor Roger Backhouse

Professor Roger Backhouse

The Department of Economics
Emeritus Professor of the History and Philosophy of Economics

Contact details

Fax
+44 (0)121 414 7377
Email
r.e.backhouse@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Department of Economics
University of Birmingham
JG Smith Building
Birmingham
B15 2TT

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. He has edited a book on the history of welfare economics that is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press.

Qualifications

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

Ph.D. in Economics (University of Birmingham)

Teaching

The history of economic thought (3rd year option). Also teaches history of economic thought to students in Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam.

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

Part-time secondment to Erasmus Institute of Philosophy and Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam. 

Personal Homepage

Publications

Recent publications

Book

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 & Forder, J 2021, 'Rediscovering the history of economic thought' Royal Economic Society Newsletter, no. 192, pp. 16-18. <https://www.res.org.uk/uploads/assets/a508ef96-d97f-41b7-bd7fd7034cb71e5f/RES-Newsletter-January-2021.pdf>

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 & Forder, J 2020, 'Recent developments in the history of economics', Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 915. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaa028

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

Backhouse, RE & Fontaine, P 2018, 'Economics and other social sciences: A historical perspective', Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 7-44. https://doi.org/10.26331/1051

Backhouse, R & Cherrier, B 2017, '"Its computers stupid!" The spread of computers and the changing roles of theoretical and applied economics', History of Political Economy, vol. 49 (Supplement), pp. 103-126. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-4166287

Backhouse, R & Maas, H 2017, 'A Road Not Taken: economists, historians of science and the making of the Bowman report', Isis, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 82-106. https://doi.org/10.1086/691421

Chapter

Backhouse, R 2021, Individualism and ethics: Samuelson's welfare economics. in R Backhouse, A Baujard & T Nishizawa (eds), Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values: Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 186-207. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108882507.009

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/>

Backhouse, RE 2019, Alvin Harvey Hansen. in The Elgar Companion to John Maynard Keynes. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 451-455. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788118569.00082

Backhouse, RE 2019, Paul Anthony Samuelson. in The Elgar Companion to John Maynard Keynes. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 462-467. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788118569.00084

Other contribution

Backhouse, RE 2020, Samuelson, Paul Anthony (15 May 1915–13 Dec. 2009). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.013.17247

Backhouse, R 2020, The people's economist. Aeon Media Group Ltd.. <https://aeon.co/essays/paul-samuelson-brought-mathematical-economics-to-the-masses>

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