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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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