Professor Field's current research is in two main areas. The first, aimed at better integrating the human sciences, is reflected in his recent book Altruistically Inclined? The Behavioral Sciences, Evolutionary Theory, and the Origins of Reciprocity, which won the 2003 Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Award in the Social Sciences. The second is in macroeconomic history with a focus on technology and productivity. His article "The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Twentieth Century" appeared in the September 2003 American Economic Review.
Professor Field is Editor of Research in Economic History and is on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Bioeconomics. He has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature (1981-2004) and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic History and Explorations in Economic History. At Santa Clara he has served as acting Academic Vice President (1986-87), on the University's Board of Trustees (1988-91), as Associate and Acting Dean of the Leavey School of Business between 1993 and 1997, and as chair of the Economics Department between 1988 and 1993. In September 2004, he began a five year term as Executive Director of the Economic History Association.
