The Economic History Association was founded in 1940 to encourage and promote teaching, research, and publication on every phase of economic history and to help preserve and administer materials for research in economic history. Today there are more than 1,000 individual members worldwide.

The Association publishes The Journal of Economic History and a Newsletter, and holds an annual meeting (usually in September). Research is supported through Arthur H. Cole grants-in-aid. In addition, the Association awards several prizes for publications: the Arthur Cole Prize for the best article published in the Journal each year; the Alice Hanson Jones prize for the best book published biennially in American economic history; and the Gyorgi Ranki prize for the best book published biennially in non-American economic history. The Association awards annually the Alan Nevins prize for the best dissertation on U.S. and Canadian economic history, and the Alexander Gerschenkron prize for the best dissertation on non-U.S. or Canadian economic history. The Association encourages superior teaching by awarding the Jonathan Hughes Prize.

The Journal of Economic History is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association.