This from Scientific American, a brief article with the title, “Is Economics More Like History than Physics?” The conclusion:

Economics, especially the macro kind, has history-like aspects. Its narratives might be woven with data, but not everything that counts can be counted. It must deal with different kinds of change that (to paraphrase Shakespeare) were never dreamt of in our physics. Perhaps this limits economics to moderately reliable maxims.

It’s clear enough that you cannot do economics without history but history is not what economics is.