Duke Joins Global Effort to Boost Economics Education

Project funded by George Soros will allow Center for the History of
Political Economy to expand programs

By Steve Hartsoe

Monday, January 24, 2011

(Duke News Service)

DURHAM, NC -- As part of a larger effort to better understand the
global economic meltdown, Duke’s Center for the History of Political
Economy is among a handful of schools looking to change the way
economists are educated.

Behind this push is The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), a
foundation launched in 2009 with an initial $50 million pledge from
billionaire financier and liberal activist George Soros.

Overall, more than 50 grantees from 11 countries are involved in
finding solutions for the challenges of the 21st century by returning
economics “to its core mission of guiding and protecting society,”
according to a news release from INET.

The institute has awarded a three-year grant of $750,000 to the Duke
center, which will serve as one of only four initial task forces
selected by INET.

The money will allow the Duke center to expand its programs, which
include a fellowship and visiting scholars program, workshop and lunch
series, a summer teaching institute, a speaker series, and annual
conferences.

An expanded summer institute will begin this summer, with classes held
at Duke and aimed at Ph.D. students from the top economics programs
throughout the country. The added funding will help support more
visiting fellows as well as Ph.D. students enrolled at Duke who
specialize in the history of economics.

“There’s much to be learned from the history of economics,” says Bruce
Caldwell, an economics researcher at Duke and founder-director of the
center, which was established in 2008 with a mission of promoting and
supporting the teaching of, and research in, the history of economic
thought.

“While a better understanding of history provides no silver bullets,
it does provide perspective and insight.”

The teachers trained through programs at the Duke center “will be key
assets in restoring the history of economics as a fundamental part of
economic training and academia,” Robert Johnson, executive director of
INET, said in a statement.

In addition to awarding a grant to the Duke center, INET has named
Caldwell to its advisory board, which includes five Nobel laureates in
economics.

Caldwell says the teaching of the history of economics has been in
decline across economics departments worldwide.

“As historians of thought retire, they are not being replaced,” he
says. “Too many economists fail to recognize the importance of a
knowledge of how their discipline developed, and, lacking that
knowledge themselves, they do not realize that many of the questions
being debated today in fact have long histories.

"We are trying to change the way that economists think about their
discipline. It is a big assignment, but a vitally important one.”

The recent economic crisis has sparked a renewed interest in economic
history, especially the teachings of venerable economists Friedrich
August Hayek andJohn Maynard Keynes, according to Caldwell.

INET’s Inaugural Grant Program received more than 500 applications
from around the world, and selected 34 initiatives to be awarded
grants totaling $7 million. The grant program will continue with two
similar grant cycles annually, the next one beginning this spring.

“It’s great for the center, and it’s great for Duke, which has for a
long time had a stellar reputation in the field,” Caldwell says. “This
recognition has reaffirmed its place within the international
community.”

Since its inception, the Duke center has received grants from a
diversity of sources, including the John W. Pope Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Humanities, the Earhart Foundation, and the
Thomas Smith Foundation.