Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi

This discussion of the methodology of economic history sets out to justify the presentation of rigorous economic models to test historical hypotheses. It argues for the legitimacy of attempting both directional and magnitudinal estimates of significant economic variables despite data shortcomings. It gives, finally, a systematic set of questions which need answering if the economic historians to give true economic insights rather than impose his frame on the pattern of events no matter what contradictions he suppresses in the process.