The phenomenon of computerization of economics (Boumans et al., 2023) introduced crucial changes to the discipline, encompassing all aspects of economists’ practices. Despite the importance and pervasiveness of computerization, this phenomenon has long been neglected by historians of economics. One possible reason for this neglect is the lack of appropriate sources to analyse practices that are mostly hidden, absent from textual and archival materials. Oral history provides a paramount source to overcome this difficulty.

The collection “Computerization of Economics: Oral Histories” covers in particular the topic of software creation by economists and for economists. The interviews address software created in different fields of economics (experimental economics, game theory, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium macroeconomics, agent-based modelling, econometrics), different geographical areas, and different generations. It documents the motivations for software creation, design, development, and dissemination, and the successes and the challenges faced by economists who became software creators.

This collection has been produced as a collective work by Francesco Sergi, Pierrick Dechaux, Dorian Jullien, Thomas Delcey, and Romain Plassard, for the Oral History of Economics project. Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche contributed to an early stage of this project.

1. Urs Fischbacher – The history of the Z-Tree software for experimental economics

2. Theodore Turocy – The history of the GAMBIT software for game theory

3. Richard Pierse – The history of the WINSOLVE software for macroeconomic dynamic modelling

4. Joshua Epstein – The history of the SUGARSCAPE and agent-based modelling

5. Robert Axtell – The history of the SUGARSCAPE and agent-based modelling (coming soon)

6. David Hendry – Computers and the practice of econometrics 

7. Agnès Gramain – Computers and the practice of econometrics