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Lists of people who have complained about the state of the subject seem  
to me to be of limited interest in themselves. 
 
1. We all have a grouse from time to time don't we? Neil Buchanan's  
original post remarked that it was particularly economists over the age  
of 60 who were prone to complain. Don't you find that (some) older  
people in all walks of life complain that things aren't what they used  
to be? It is when the young people are dissatisfied that you need to  
worry. 
 
2. Isn't a good researcher perennially dissatisfied with the existing  
state of knowledge? That is the motive to try to improve it. What are  
these people dissatisfied about? Are they all saying the same thing? Is  
it 'not enough people are working in my field and citing my papers'? 
 
3. Such grouses need a date and a context attached. We are historians,  
aren't we? My memory says that in the 1970s there was quite a  
widespread feeling that there was something wrong, but that it has  
declined sharply. In the 1970s people were complaining about general  
equilibrium (GE) theory, then seen as the pinnacle of the subject. Now,  
no one cares about GE theory one way or the other - the action is  
elsewhere. Is the incidence of complaining rising or falling? How does  
it compare with other fields? 
 
Tony Brewer ([log in to unmask]) 
University of Bristol, Department of Economics 
 
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