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The Role of the History of Economic Thought in Modern Macroeconomics

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Most "leading" economics departments no longer teach the History of Economic Thought. Prominent macroeconomists nevertheless frequently deploy inaccurate accounts of the earlier development of ideas as rhetorical devices. These same economists have, however, also taught us that an understanding of how the economy functions helps condition the behaviour of maximising agents. The History of Economic thought documents the evolution of that understanding, so it is hard to see how economic history, which is the source of all the time series data which form the empirical basis of macroeconomics, can be interpreted without its help. Some implications of this insight are discussed and illustrated.

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  • David Laidler, 2001. "The Role of the History of Economic Thought in Modern Macroeconomics," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20016, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwo:uwowop:20016
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    Cited by:

    1. A. Maltsev., 2015. "History of Economic Thought, Quo vadis?," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 3.
    2. Dieter Bögenhold, 2020. "History of Economic Thought as an Analytic Tool: why Past Intellectual Ideas Must Be Acknowledged as Lighthouses for the Future," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(1), pages 73-87, February.
    3. James Forder, 2010. "Economists on Samuelson and Solow on the Phillips curve," Economics Series Working Papers 516, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Andreas Freytag & Simon Renaud, 2007. "From short-term to long-term orientation—political economy of the policy reform process," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 433-449, August.
    5. Masazumi Wakatabe, 2013. "Central Banking, Japanese Style: Economics and the Bank of Japan, 1945-1985," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 141-160.
    6. Nelson Edward, 2005. "The Great Inflation of the Seventies: What Really Happened?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-50, July.
    7. David Laidler, 2013. "Mark Blaug on the quantity theory: a skirmish on the border between science and ideology in the history of economic thought," Chapters, in: Marcel Boumans & Matthias Klaes (ed.), Mark Blaug: Rebel with Many Causes, chapter 7, pages 63-77, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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