Roy's reaction to the equilibrium query and concluding comment, "A history is different
from a genealogical dictionary," made me think of a parallel.
  
I was responsible for giving the summary lecture in our jointly taught Intro Econ course
this semester. Instead of the usual review of the important concepts, I went with the idea
of economic literacy.
  
I asked students what it meant to be literate.  I wasn't surprised when someone said, "The
ability to read and write" and everyone agreed.  My students were not aware of the
earlier, deeper meaning of literate as "a well informed, educated person."
  
The same thing happened when I asked my class to define mathematical literacy, or
numeracy.  The superficial definition rides on basic skills, the ability to compute sums,
percentages, and such.  Many people use the word this way, but there's a deeper meaning
that requires a basic understanding of mathematics in various dimensions.  Visualization
and critical thinking are important elements.
  
Finally, we turned to economic literacy. Based on the two previous examples, I thought
someone might get my point, but nope.  Definitions of economic literacy were all based on
vocabulary (e.g., elasticity), skills (such as computing percentage changes), or knowing
ball park measures of economic performance based on unemployment, real GDP per person, and
inflation.  I kept pushing, but no one went for a deeper meaning that called for
understanding how economists view the world.  You might be interested in George Stigler's
definition:
  
"The authoritative definition of economic literacy is knowledge of the theories which are
held by professional economists.  Time will eventually reveal that some of the theories
are wrong and all are incomplete, but at any one time there is a best scientific view, and
this best view must be the basis for any appraisal of literacy." p. 65 in George Stigler,
"The Case, If Any, for Economic Literacy," The Journal of Economic Education, Summer 1983,
pp. 60-66.
  
It seems to me that history is like literacy.  They both have superficial, seemingly
concrete versions that read like a check list and deeper, more sophisticated definitions
that are what we are really chasing.
  
Humberto Barreto