Dear all,

Let's congratulate Bruce for his paying efforts to get a huge and
competitive grant, which he generously drafted to serve our discipline at
large, in the spirit of what the Duke center is already doing with its
archive center and its program for visiting fellows.

Best regards,

Clement Levallois



-----Original Message-----
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of E. Roy Weintraub
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SHOE] Duke CHOPE Funding

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.