As part of a study that asked the question "Does the Location of the 
Economics Department Alter the Major?," David H. Dean and Robert C. 
Dolan surveyed the curriculum at 148 primarily undergraduate 
institutions in the USA. Their Table A1 (Frequency Distribution of 
Elective Offerings for Economics Departments) reports that 121 (81.8%) 
of the institutions offer "History of economic thought." I was surprised 
when I first saw this data. HET is the 6th most common elective and it 
was offered at more institutions than industrial organization. Here is a 
partial listing of the table.

Course .....................Count . percent
---------------------------------------------
International trade ........ 145 ....98.0
Money and banking ...........138 ....93.2
Public finance ..............137 ....92.6
Labor economics .............133 ....89.9
Econometrics ................125 ....84.5
History of economic thought .121 ....81.8
Economic development ........108 ....73.0
Comparative econ systems ....107 ....72.3
Industrial organization .....103 ....69.6
Urban economics .............102 ....68.9
Environmental economics ......84 ....56.8
Mathematical economics .......81 ....54.7
U.S. economic history ........79 ....53.4
Managerial economics .........76 ....51.4
Antitrust and regulation .....62 ....41.9
Econ of less-dev countries ...53 ....35.8
International money/finance ..46 ....31.1
Business cycles & forecasting 43 ....29.1
Law and economics ............42 ....28.4

Source: David H. Dean and Robert C. Dolan, "Liberal Arts or Business: 
Does the Location of the Economics Department Alter the Major?" The 
Journal of Economic Education, Volume 32, Issue 1 2001, pages 18-35.

Michael Nuwer