ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book helps those interested both in new economic history and the history of railways to appreciate its major findings and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of economic theory and quantitative techniques applied to grand historical themes. It offers as a work of exposition and criticism, and aims to tell students about the new economic history of railways. The book explains a critical exposition of the methods used to quantify the contribution of railways to economic growth by means of counterfactual speculation and the measurement of special savings. It discusses the empirical and conceptual difficulties involved in the attempts to quantify the impact of railways by an alternative index, namely the social rate of return on the capital invested for the construction and diffusion of railways.
