The (formal) return to openness: A quantitative contribution to the history of economic thought

We develop a comprehensive quantitative account of changing practices in economics in the last 122 years. The analysis uses word detection algorithms to partially characterize prevailing practices. We document a shift toward isolation from other disciplines during most of the twentieth century. In sharp contrast, the most recent decades show a strong move towards a more connected discipline. Periods of more connectedness are associated with openness to a broader set of features of economic agents and the economic environment. In parallel, the 1960s and 1970s show a notable acceleration in the move towards a more mathematical approach. This development did not reverse. As a result, the current state of the discipline is characterized by an embrace of mathematical tools together with openness to a wider set of aspects and findings developed in other disciplines. Most of the reported variables show surprisingly high correlations across disciplines and across journals. An online appendix is available.