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Wade Hands presents a useful set of references to what he alleges is an 
approach that may be useful to the study of the history of economic 
thought. The approach, as I understand it, leads one to search for 
causes of a person's ideas by trying to relate them to the "social 
factors" that are present during the time when the person writes. 
 
Wade presents seven points. His point #1 is a brief description of the 
approach. The rest of the points seem mainly concerned with relating the 
approach to other approaches. 
 
If I had the time or desire, I would read his references and attempt to 
better understand the viewpoint he presents. However, given my other 
interests, I would like to ask Wade for a more meaningful description. 
 
Specifically, I ask Wade: what do you mean by a "social factor?" The 
examples you give are (1) the "social interest served," (2) "observed 
rate of unemployment or the rate of growth in the money supply" and (3) 
the rate of inflation. I have great difficulty trying to grasp the 
meaning of "social interest." And it is not clear to me how an observed 
rate of unemployment, money supply growth, or inflation are social 
factors. Wade, could you define social factor in greater detail and/or 
give some more examples? 
 
Pat Gunning 
http://stsvr.showtower.com.tw/~gunning/welcome 
http://web.nchulc.edu.tw/~gunning/pat/welcome 
 
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