Eric Lionel Jones (21 September 1936 - 1 March 2024) was a British-Australian economist and historian, known for his 1981 book '' The European Miracle''. Jones received a doctorate in

economic history Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...

from the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. From 1970 to 1975, he was professor of economics at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in United States. From 1975 to 1994 he was a professor of economics and economics history at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

, in Australia. Jones has also had visiting appointments at Yale, Manchester, Princeton, University of Berlin and the Center for Economic Studies at Munich. As of the early 2000s, he was Emeritus Professor of Economic Systems and Ideas at La Trobe University, and he held a half-time Professorial Fellow position at the

Melbourne Business School Melbourne Business School (MBS) is the graduate business school of the University of Melbourne, located in Victoria, Australia. The School offers a range of programs, including an MBA, specialist Masters programs, a doctoral program, and various ...

of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the part-time Professor of Economics position at the Graduate Center of International Business of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Jones has also acted as a consultant for businesses and international organizations such as the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

.Professor Eric Jones
, Melbourne Business School Eric Lionel Jones died on March 1, 2024 aged 87.

Work

Eric Jones specialized in

global economics International economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity from international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the international institutions that affect them. It seeks to explain the patterns an ...

international affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and

economic systems An economic system, or economic order, is a system of production, resource allocation and distribution of goods and services within an economy. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities, decision-making proces ...

, particularly in those of the Asian-Pacific region. Eric Jones is the author of numerous articles and several books. His most notable work is '' The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia'' book (published in 1981). The work popularized the term

European miracle The Great Divergence or European miracle is the socioeconomic shift in which the Western world (i.e. Western Europe along with its settler offshoots in Northern America and Australasia) overcame pre-modern growth constraints and emerged duri ...

, but it also proved controversial, with some scholars describing his interpretation as 'Eurocentric'. In ''Growth Recurring'' (1988) Jones focused on the

states system theory State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

as the decisive factor in the development of the West.

Bibliography

Books

*''Seasons & Prices: the role of the weather in English agricultural history'' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1964) *''Agriculture and the Industrial Revolution'' (Basil Blackwell, 1974) *''The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia'' (Cambridge University Press, 1981) *''A Gazetteer of English Urban Fire Disasters 1500-1900'' (Geo Books, 1984) ith S. Porter and M. Turner*''Growth Recurring: Economic Change in World History'' (Clarendon Press, 1988) *''Coming Full Circle: An Economic History of the Pacific Rim'' (Westview Press, 1993) ith L.E. Frost and C.M. White*''The Record of Global Economic Development'' (Edward Elgar, 2002) *''Cultures Merging: a historical and economic critique of culture'' (Princeton N.J., 2006) *''Locating the Industrial Revolution: inducement and response'' (World Scientific, 2010) *''The Fabric of Society and how it creates wealth'' (Arley Hall Press, 2013) ith Charles F. Foster*''Revealed Biodiversity: an economic history of the human impact'' (World Scientific, 2014) *''The Middle Ridgeway and its environment'' (Wessex Press, 2016) ith P. J. Dillon and illustrated by Anna Dillon *''Small Earthquake in Wiltshire: Seventeenth-century conflict and its resolution'' (Hobnob Press, 2017) *''Landed Estates and Rural Inequality in England: From the mid-seventeenth century to the present'' (Palgrave Macmillan series on economic history, 2018) *''Barriers to Growth: English economic development from the Norman Conquest to Industrialisation'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) *''A History of Livestock and Wildlife: animal wealth and human usage'' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023)

Book reviews

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Eric 1936 births 2024 deaths British economists Australian economists British historians Australian historians Economic historians Quadrant (magazine) people Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford