

Whither history of economic thought: A perspective from Russian and international scholars
https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2020-9-94-119
Abstract
The article examines the problems and prospects of the history of economic thought (HET) based on a survey of 53 Russian and 170 international scholars. It has been demonstrated that the expansion of the range of historiographic methods, growing interest of the HET community towards the history of the 20th century economics as well as growing cooperation of historians of economic thought with the scholars from different social sciences and humanities have increased the attractiveness of the HET field among young researchers. These developments help to reduce the problem of the HET community’s aging and allows to look ahead to the future of the HET in a positive way. Against the background of these trends, theoretical, methodological and institutional features of the Russian community of historians of economic thought are analyzed. The analysis reveals that the members of the Russian community have more in common with their international colleagues than fundamental differences.
About the Author
A. A. MaltsevRussian Federation
Alexander A. Maltsev
References
1. Avtonomov V. S. (2013). Vladimir Avtonomov: Teachers. In: HSE generations. Teachers about teachers. Moscow: HSE Publ., pp. 80—84. (In Russian).
2. Ananyin O. I. (2013). Oleg Ananyin: Teachers. In: HSE generations. Teachers about teachers. Moscow: HSE Publ., pp. 253—259. (In Russian).
3. Bazhenov G. A., Maltsev A. A. (2018). Modern heterodox approaches in the context of the transformation of mainstream economics . Obshchestvo i Еkonomika, No. 1, pp. 5—21. (In Russian).
4. Boldyrev I. (2019). History of modern economics. Postnauka.ru, November 11. (In Russian). https://postnauka.ru/video/103535
5. Zhamin V. A., Kuzminov Y. I. (1989). Economic historical science in the USSR: History, current situation, problems of perestroika. In: V. A. Zhamin, A. A. Baranov, Y. I. Kuzminov et al. (eds.). Origins: Questions of the history of the national economy and economic thought, Iss. 1. Moscow: Ekonomika, pp. 6—24. (In Russian).
6. Kuzminov Y. I. (1998). Back to the “Origins”. On the theoretical stock of the community of Russian economists. In: Y. I. Kuzminov, V. S. Avtonomov, O. I. Ananyin (eds.). Origins: Questions of the history of the national economy and economic thought, Iss. 3. Moscow: HSE Publ., pp. 3—22. (In Russian).
7. Makasheva N. A. (2007). Economics in Russia during the transformation period (late 1980s — early 1990s): Revolution and the growth of scientific knowledge. In: Y. I. Kuzminov, V. S. Avtonomov, O. I. Ananyin (eds.). Origins: From the experience of studying economics as a structure and process. Moscow: HSE Publ., pp. 400—428. (In Russian).
8. Maltsev A. (2015). History of economic thought, Quo vadis? Voprosy Ekonomiki, No. 3, pp. 126—150. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2015-3-126-150
9. Maltsev A. (2016). Russian community of economists: Main features and perspectives. Voprosy Ekonomiki, No. 11, pp. 135—158. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2016-11-135-158
10. Maltsev A. A. (2018). Heterodox economic theory: Сurrent status and ways of further development. Ekonomicheskaya Politika, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 148—169. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.18288/1994-5124-2018-2-08
11. Maltsev A. A., Bazhenov G. A. (2016). Theoretical and methodological architecture of the Russian society of academic economists. Izvestiya UrGЕU, No. 6, 13—22. (In Russian).
12. Maltsev A. A., Nenovsky N. N. (2019). About the First October international conference on theoretical economics. Journal of the New Economic Association, Vol. 4, pp. 261—264. (In Russian).
13. Черкасов П. П. (2016). ИМЭМО: очерк истории. М.: Весь мир. [Cherkasov P. P. (2016). IMEMO: An outline of history. Moscow: Ves Mir. (In Russian).
14. Anderson R. G. (2019). Introduction. In: R. A. Cord, R. G. Anderson, W. A. Barnett (eds.). Paul Samuelson: Master of modern economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1—13. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56812-0
15. Baccini A. (2020). A bibliometric portrait of contemporary history of economic thought. In: M. C. Marcuzzo, G. Deleplace, P. Paesani (eds.). New perspectives on political economy and its history. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 39—63. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42925-6
16. Backhouse R. E. (2002). The future of the history of economic thought in Britain. History of Political Economy, Vol. 34, Annual Supplement, pp. 79—97. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-34-Suppl_1-79
17. Backhouse R.E., Fontaine P. (2014). Contested identities. In: R. E. Backhouse, P. Fontaine (eds.). A historiography of the modern social sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 183—210. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139794817
18. Balabkins N. (2005). Russian economic thought and its debilitating legacy. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 207—214. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557570500114277
19. Bianchi A.-M. (2018). Challenges of doing research in the history of economic thought: a Latin American perspective. Estudos Econômicos, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 215—228. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-41614821amb
20. Biddle J. E. (2003). Research styles in the history of economic thought. In: W. J. Samuels, J. E. Biddle, J. B. Davis (eds.). A companion to the history of economic thought. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 1—11. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470999059
21. Blaug M. (1997). Economic theory in retrospect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22. Bögenhold D. (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, Vol. 26, pp. 73—87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-020-09775-3
23. Boldyrev I. (2017). The Origins: “History of economics” and history of economics in Russia. History of Economics Playground Redux, December 4. https://historyofeconomics.wordpress.com/
24. Boldyrev I., Kirtchik O. (2017). The cultures of mathematical economics in the postwar Soviet Union: More than a method, less than a discipline. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Part A, Vol. 63, pp. 1—10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.03.011
25. Chassonnery-Zaïgouche C., Herfeld C., Pinzón-Fuchs E. (2018). New scope, new sources, new methods? An essay on contemporary scholarship in history of economic thought journals, 2016—2017. CHOPE Working Paper, No. 2018-07.
26. Cherrier B. (2015). Is there a quantitative turn in the history of economics (and how not to screw it up)? Beatrice Cherrier’s blog, June 23. https://beatricecherrier.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/is-there-a-quantitative-turn-in-the-history-of-economics-and-how-not-to-screw-it-up/
27. Cherrier B., Svorenčík A. (2018). The quantitative turn in the history of economics: Рromises, perils and challenges. Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 367—377. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2018.1529217
28. Coats A. W. B. (2014). Research priorities in the history of economics. In: R. E. Backhouse, B. Caldwell (eds.). The historiography of economics: British and American economic essays. The collected papers of A. W. Coats, Vol. III. London, New York: Routledge. P. 167—175. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203796573
29. Cohen J. S. (1978). The achievements of economic history: Тhe Marxist school. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 29—57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002205070008815X
30. Colander D. (2007). The making of an economist, redux. Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press.
31. Duarte P. G., Hurtado J. (2019). JHET interview series: An editorial introduction. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 4, Iss. 4, pp. 593—598. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1053837219000403
32. Edwards J. (2020). Fifty years of HOPE: Changing priorities in the historiography of economics. History of Political Economy, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 1—46. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-8009485
33. Edwards J., Giraud Y., Schinckus C. (2018). A quantitative turn in the historiography of economics? Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 283—290. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2018.1529133
34. Emmett R. (2009). Frank Knight and the Chicago school in American economics. Abingdon, New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203881743
35. Flatau P., Leeson R. (2001). Ray Petridis, HETSA and the revival of the history of economic thought. History of Economic Review, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 1—6. https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2001.11733354
36. Frey B. S., Humbert S., Schneider F. (2010). What is economics? Attitudes and views of German economists. Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 317—332. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1492610
37. Gingras Y., Schinckus C. (2012). The institutionalization of econophysics in the shadow of physics. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 109—130. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1053837212000041
38. Giraud Y. (2019). Fife decades of HOPE. History of Political Economy, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 601—669. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-7685173
39. Goodspeed T. B. (2012). Rethinking the Keynesian revolution: Keynes, Hayek, and the Wicksell connection. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199846658.001.0001
40. Guizzo D. (2020). Why does the history of thought neglect Post-Keynesian economics? Review of Keynesian Economics, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 119—137. https://doi.org/10.4337/roke.2020.01.09
41. Heilbroner R.L. (1980). Modern economics as a chapter in the history of economic thought. Challenge, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 20—24. https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.1980.11470575
42. Kurz H. D. (2006). Whither the history of economic thought? Going nowhere rather slowly? The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 463—488. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672560601063929
43. Libman A., Zweynert J. (2014). Ceremonial science: The state of Russian economics seen through the lens of the work of “Doctor of science” candidates. Economic Systems, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 360—378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecosys.2013.11.001
44. Lodewijks J. (2001). Row Weintraub’s contribution to the history of economics. In: S. G. Medema, W. J. Samuels (eds.). Historians of economics and economic thought. The construction of disciplinary memory. Abingdon, New York: Routledge, pp. 320—334.
45. Maas H. (2013). A 2 X 2 = 4 hobby horse: Mark Blaug on rational and historical reconstructions. In: M. Boumans, M. Klaes (eds.). Mark Blaug: Rebel with many causes. Cheltenham, Northampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 125—146.
46. Maas H. (2018). The method of the witness seminar. History of Political Economy, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 571—577. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-7023506
47. Marcuzzo M. C., Zacchia G. (2016). Is history of economics what historians of economic thought do? A quantitative investigation. History of Economic Ideas, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 29—46. http://dx.medra.org/10.19272/201606103002
48. Negishi T. (1992). Comment. History of Political Economy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 227—229. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-24-1-227
49. Osipian A. L. (2004). Teaching economics in the former Soviet Union: New curriculum, old instruction? Paper presented at the International conference “75 years of development research” at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, May. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED500029.pdf
50. Patinkin D. (1992). Comment. History of Political Economy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 230—233. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-24-1-230
51. Reinert S.A. (2018). Historical political economy. In: I. Cardinale, R. Scazzieri (eds.). The Palgrave handbook of political economy. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 133—171. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44254-3
52. Rosselli A. (2013). Economic history and history of economics: In praise of an old relationship. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 865—881. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2013.838979
53. Samuels W. J., Johnson K. D., Johnson M. (2004). What the authors of history of economic thought textbooks say about the history of economic thought. In: W. J. Samuels, W. Henderson, K. D. Johnson, M. Johnson. Essays in the history of economics. London, New York: Routledge, pp. 187—271. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203799987
54. Schabas M. (1992). Breaking away: History of economics as history of science. History of Political Economy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 187—203. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-24-1-187
55. Schabas M. (2002). Coming together: History of economics as history of science. History of Political Economy, Vol. 34, Supplement, pp. 208—225. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-34-Suppl_1-208
56. Shiller R. J. (2010). How should the financial crisis change how we teach economics? The Journal of Economic Education, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 403—409. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2010.510409
57. Shirokorad L.D., Zweynert J. (2012). Izrail G. Blyumin — the fate of a Soviet historian of economic thought under Stalin. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 653—677. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2011.565353
58. Simon T. W. (1990). Artificial methodology meets philosophy. In: D. Partridge, Y. Wilks (eds.). The foundations of artificial intelligence: A sourcebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 155—165.
59. Stigler G.J. (1969). Does economics have a useful past? History of Political Economy, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 217—230. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-1-2-217
60. Svorenčík A. (2014). MIT’s rise to prominence: Outline of a collective biography. History of Political Economy, Vol. 46, Supplement 1, pp. 109—133. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-2716136
61. Svorenčík A., Maas H. (ed.). (2016). The making of experimental economics: Witness seminar of the emergence of a field. Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20952-4
62. Trautwein H.-M. (2017). The last generalists. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 1134—1166. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2017.1378694
63. van Dalen H. (2019). Values of economists’ matter in the art and science of economics. Kyklos, Vol. 72, No. 3, pp. 472—499. https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12208
64. Warsh D. (2011). Past and present. Economic Principals, January 10. http://www.economicprincipals.com/issues/2011.01.10/1220.html
65. Wasmer E., Mayer T. (2009). Y-a-t-il du consensus entre économistes en France? MPRA Paper, No. 18584. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18584/
66. Weintraub E. R. (2002). Will economics ever have a past again? History of Political Economy, Vol. 3, Annual Supplement, pp. 1—14. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-34-Suppl_1-1
67. Weintraub E. R. (2007). Economic science wars. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 267—282. https://doi.org/10.1080/10427710701514679
68. Weintraub E. R. (2019). Introduction. In: E. R. Weintraub, T. Düppe (ed.). A contemporary historiography of economics. London, New York: Routledge, pp. 1—7. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315169194
69. Winch D. (2017). Intellectual history and the history of economic thought: A personal account. Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas, Vol. 6, No. 12, Item 6, Section 3, pp. 3—18.
Review
For citations:
Maltsev A.A. Whither history of economic thought: A perspective from Russian and international scholars. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2020;(9):94-119. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2020-9-94-119