Let me follow up on Roger Backhouse's comment. I have used all of the terms interchangably over the years but was recently corrected when I used the phrase "history of economic thought" by someone who suggested that HET really meant the "history of economic theory". I now use that phrase myself since it captures more closely what I think I am involved in doing. 

As for where HET belongs, in the great classification wars of 2007 here in Australia, the original intent was to place the study of HET as well as Economic History into some catch-all titled, "History Archaeology Religion and Philosophy". This would have killed the study of HET dead in Australia since it would have removed it from economics faculties where the history of economics rightfully belongs. The final decision, after a furious lobbying effort, was that the History of Economic Thought would be classified as a subset of economic theory while Economic History would be part of Applied Economics and both would be part of the overall Economics classification. This seemed then and still seems now to have been the right decision. 



Dr Steven Kates
School of Economics, Finance
    and Marketing
RMIT University
Level 12 / 239 Bourke Street
Melbourne Vic 3000

Phone: (03) 9925 5878
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