Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics

As we are living in the present when tragedy and farce mix and make the past look oracular, a new history of Capitalism must be introduced for the sake of the future.
The new year brought with it a much-needed and much-anticipated new academic journal. It’s an intellectual pleasure to welcome an inaugural issue of Capitalism: A Journal of History & Economics, led by Marc Flandreau, Julia Ott, Francesca Trivellato and Carolyn Biltoft, and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. “A New Economic History is emerging. It needs a new journal”, writes Marc Flandreau in the opening essay. I enthusiastically embrace this statement.
The Journal aims to feature contributions on the historical dimensions of markets, capitalism, political economy, and economic thought in general, and on power, race, class, gender, the environment in particular. Flandreau defines the Journal as follows: “Being founded at a particular juncture of the intellectual debate when various schools of thought, spanning diverse intellectual, political, and methodological sensibilities, all recognize the importance of material life, Capitalism builds on the need to engage beyond disciplinary borders. And by fostering this original form of pluralism, it meets the current demand of the scholarly community.”
The first issue brings together authors from diverse backgrounds that have written about various periods, subjects and regions—using different methods. The first issue is free and open-access, and I hope this right approach regarding knowledge accessibility will be applied also in the upcoming Journal’s publications. Benediximus!