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The comments that follow are relevant to the three editorials we have
recently had on this list. As a member of the committee to select the
best paper published in the history of economic thought in 1995, I had
to read and evaluate many essays. Jeff Biddle, Bo Sockwell and I did
not start out with a formal list of criteria, but one emerged as we went
through the piles. The articles considered by the committee represented
a wide range of topics and approaches to the history of economic
thought, and were in many ways difficult to compare. Of course, we
sought a paper that made an original contribution to the discourse in
the history of economic thought. Other characteristics we looked for
depended in part on the topic or approach and included:
A. potential relevance to a wide range of researchers or more than one
research area in the history of economic thought
B. clear and bold thesis
C. significant comparisons
D. attention to economic, cultural and social context of the time period
E. innovative research methods using materials beyond the classic texts,
including correspondence and archival material
F. engaging style
We did not expect to find all these qualities in one paper, but we were
disappointed that so many papers had few, if any of these qualities.
The experience made me realize that a lot of what is published in our
field is boring, rarely history, and casts little light on economic
theory and policy. I do not think social context is either a necessary
or a sufficient condition for a good essay in the history of economics
(as I recall one of our top three choices had a significant and
provoking thesis statement, but little or no context), but context helps
to take us to a higher plane of synthesis and evaluation. The ironies,
analogies, and stories are richer with context and the lessons are often
more enlightening. I think this is aided as well by the use of
materials beyond the published text. I personally started out with just
the texts, but what I now enjoy and find most revealing are the
interdisciplinary juxtapositions, the broad empirical reflections, the
economic history that accompanies the history of economics and the
spirits that I bring to life when I read a letter, or even a dusty
ledger, that has lain dormant for decades.
> ______________________________________________________
--
Judy Klein
Professor of Economics
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton, VA 24401
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