Richard S. Grossman is the Andrews Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University. He is the author of Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World since 1800 (Princeton University Press, 2010) and WRONG: Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn from Them (Oxford University Press, 2013). Richard Grossman's research pertains to economic history, although the questions he pursues are inspired by current policy issues in macroeconomics, banking, and finance. In particular, he focuses on the links between the financial sector and aggregate economic activity and on how economic and political forces shape financial structure. Read more about Richard Grossman's research, what inspired him, and what questions beckon future scholars.
What question are you trying to answer with your research?
I don’t really have one specific question. Primarily, I study the links between the financial sector and the broader economy. For example, I have looked at the consequences of financial crises on aggregate economic activity--and also how economic and political forces have shaped the financial system. I am currently looking at how London financial markets affected everyday life in Victorian Britain. I have also strayed into other areas of economic history, including writing a book on bad economic policy and looking at the consequences of Reconstruction on the socio-political advancements of Black Americans in the decades following the Civil War.
Why that question? What prompted your interest?
The questions I pursue in economic history are almost always inspired by current policy issues. I can’t think of any modern economic phenomenon that doesn’t have some historical parallel and believe that examining the historical experience can provide a valuable perspective on current issues. I don’t think that that the future will just a rerun of the past, but I do believe Mark Twain was right when he said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
What was your first research experience?
During my sophomore year in college, I wrote a paper about 19th century New England agriculture. I wasn’t particularly interested in agriculture, but somehow found myself deep in the bowels of the library looking through some dusty old volumes produced by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which had columns upon columns of statistics on agricultural output. We had just learned about various statistical techniques and these columns of numbers seemed like a good way to try out these techniques. During my junior year, when looking for a paper topic for a course in international finance, a professor mentioned that the gold standard had collapsed spectacularly in the 1930s and I became intrigued by the idea of studying economic disasters. I subsequently wrote a senior thesis, master’s thesis, and PhD—all on some aspect of banking and financial crises. And, a few years ago, I wrote a book on nine particularly bad economic policies during the last 200 years. I guess that makes me a bit of an economic ghoul.
Tell us about the research that laid the foundation for your work; whose work are you building upon?
The list is too long!
What questions will remain for the next generation of researchers?
There are too many to count! The goal in writing economic history is to use the tools we have at our disposal—primary sources, secondary sources, statistical techniques, economic theory—to attack a question. Getting all the way to “truth” may be impossible--there are many questions that we will never completely resolve—however, if we use our tools wisely, we may be able to get just a bit closer to finding out the truth. That is the goal of research.
What is your favorite library database or book?
Every time Kendall Hobbs comes to one my economic history class to talk about library tools, I am amazed at how fast the technology is changing and am impressed that he is able to keep up. I particularly like a feature in the Social Science Citation Index and Google Scholar that allows researchers to look up an old article and discover who has cited it in the years since it was published. So, while footnotes allow you to take any piece of research and look back to see what research the author has relied upon; this tool allows you to look forward and see who has cited an article or book.
How can someone learn more about your work?
I would, of course, urge everyone to purchase multiple copies of my books, Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World since 1800 (Princeton University Press, 2010) and WRONG: Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn from Them (Oxford University Press, 2013). There is a list of articles on my website, https://richardsgrossman.com/. And I am always happy to chat with Wesleyan—or prospective Wesleyan folks.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I think that the ability to engage in research with a professor is one of the great advantages of a place like Wesleyan, where such opportunities are widely available for motivated students. Students may not remember what answer they gave on question 3 of their first mid-term, but they almost always remember the research work they did on a thesis or a particularly challenging term paper. And being able to mentor bright and motivated students engaging in interesting research is one of the best parts of being a Wesleyan professor.
