As a historian of economic thought - and Italian, I am very happy and grateful for what is happening at Duke!!!
Daniela Parisi
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Da: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] per conto di mason gaffney [[log in to unmask]]
Inviato: sabato 29 gennaio 2011 1.28
A: [log in to unmask]
Oggetto: Re: [SHOE] Duke CHOPE Funding

Roy Weintraub writes:

"We decided that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we
would be pleased to act as members of a broad left-wing conspiracy to
turn America into a French-loving high taxation socialist state, while
on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays we would take part in the vast
right-wing conspiracy to arm America and send all the leftist liberals
back to Russia. We also decided that on Sundays we would drink beer
and watch football."

And on the 7th Day God invented humor, to keep us from each other's throats.
About time for some, and thank you, Roy.

As to French-loving, it is worth remembering that our Founding Fathers were
mostly Francophiles, before and after the Revolution. Even Washington, the
conservative, allied with Rochambeau, Lafayette, and deGrasse to trap
Cornwallis at Yorktown. Jefferson, Franklin, and other authors of the U.S.
Constitution consorted with Quesnay, and many Physiocrats, plus Turgot the
tutor of Adam Smith. Turgot's Reflexions is a terse masterpiece of early
political economy. He might even be considered the father of the Commerce
Clause of our constitution, which accomplished for us what he had sought in
France. Even Alexander Hamilton had a French mother. So those who idolize
the Founders and revile the French have some reconciling to do.




--
E. Roy Weintraub
Professor of Economics
Fellow, Center for the History of Political Economy
Duke University
www.econ.duke.edu/~erw/erw.homepage.html