----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
I don't mind saying that one of the regretful aspects of the Duke policy is that the
historians of economic thought there are not reproducing their traditions and approaches,
at least not in the same way they would if they supervised dissertations.  There is no
replacement for the mentor-student relationship involved in producing a doctoral
dissertation.  Over many years, this can have a great impact.  Just think if the three or
four tenured professors at Duke in the HET each supervised even one dissertation every two
or three years, if the policy they have now has been in place for twenty years... To
consider the full impact we have to also imagine that the students they would have been
producing would have themselves gone on to teach and supervise, etc.
 
It seems clear to me that the HES should be campaigning for HET to be required in every
program, undergraduate and graduate, for courses to be required, for every department to
have at least one line in HET for every--what?--5-7 lines in other fields?  HES should be
campaigning for journals to consider work in the HET (as they did at one time!), to be
judged by appropriate and rigorous standards, as any other submissions.
 
It would be a huge loss for Economics if the HET were to be out-sourced. Of course many
economists don't feel that way, but historians of economics should!
 
Mat   
 
------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]