Historical Persistence

Historical persistence refers to the idea that historical causes can have effects that persist long into the future. This chapter provides an overview of the literature on historical persistence, focusing on key substantive themes. It lays out a discussion of the theories behind historical persistence. It also considers some methodological issues that emerge in establishing causality and interpreting the empirical findings of the literature. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the persistence literature could now benefit from a reorientation that seeks to answer the main open question in the literature: under what conditions does historical persistence take place, and under what conditions does it not?