Principal Investigator Peter Temin
Economic history is a field that combines applied microeconomics and applied macroeconomics. Undergraduates may enroll in a survey course in economic history. For graduate students, one semester of economic history is required. This course is typically taken by students in their first year at MIT. The required term paper often provides graduate students with their first opportunity to apply economic analysis to real-world questions.
Two faculty members, Dora Costa and Peter Temin, work primarily in economic history, although other faculty members also have interest in historical issues. Costa's research interests include the history of retirement, changing patterns of leisure time over the lifecycle, and the historical interplay between health, nutrition, and economic conditions. Peter Temin's work addresses issues in macroeconomic history. Temin has an ongoing interest in the source of aggregate fluctuations in the U.S. economy, and his work has played a central role in shaping modern views of the role of monetary policy in contributing to the Great Depression.