Besides Kenneth Boulding's 1971 HOPE article, Mark Blaug's 2001 Journal  
of Economic Perspectives piece, "No History of Ideas, Please, We're  
Economists," is also very helpful, I think, in persuading people of the  
usefulness of a course in the history of economic thought.  
  
Sometimes, one is better able to deal with problems in current economics  
by reading the past originals, I have found.  My examples would include  
(a) the notion that there is a paradox of thrift, (b) the alleged  
neutrality of money in the short run, (c) that we can represent the  
classicals by a vertical aggregate supply curve, (d) that we can  
represent modern money (M1, M2, etc) by a vertical supply curve (with  
respect to the rate of interest), and (e) that there is such a thing as  
autonomous government, business, or consumer spending (in a closed  
economy) that drives a meaningful expenditure multiplier.  
  
James Ahiakpor