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The Long Goodbye of the History of Economic Thought Course in Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States

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  • Humberto Barreto

    (School of Business and Leadership, DePauw University)

Abstract

Economists of a certain age will remember a world in which the history of economic thought (HET) was alive and flourishing. Today, that is not the case. One little-noticed consequence of the elimination of HET from graduate programs in the United States is that the HET course is an endangered species at the undergraduate level. It is not, however, extinct. This paper offers a brief history of HET as a course and explores the extent of the diminution in HET courses in the undergraduate liberal arts college curriculum in the United States. Roughly 40% of 146 schools have a HET course in their catalog, but only 20% actively teach the course. I predict a continued decline in the near future, but HET will not completely disappear. An Excel workbook with all results, HETUndergradLA2025.xlsm, is available at dub.sh/HETdata.

Suggested Citation

  • Humberto Barreto, 2026. "The Long Goodbye of the History of Economic Thought Course in Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States," Working Papers 2026-01, DePauw University, School of Business and Leadership and Department of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:dew:wpaper:2026-01
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    File URL: https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=dew
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    JEL classification:

    • A00 - General Economics and Teaching - - General - - - General
    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
    • B00 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General - - - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches

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