----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- The phrase itself is quoted by Boulding in his famous "After Samuelson, Who Needs Adam Smith?" HOPE, vol. 3 (1971), p. 229, but Boulding himself admits with regret that he could not track down the source. For illustration, there is Pigou's supposed reply to a request to review Hannah Sewall's Theory of Value before Adam Smith (quoted, without citation, on p. 1 of Blaug's Economic Theory in Retrospect), "These antiquarian researches have no great attraction for one who finds it difficult enough to read what is now thought on economic problems, without spending time on studying confessedly inadequate solutions that were offered centuries ago." I typically recall that quote for my students as an amusing irony, both because Pigou himself could now be said to be the object of those "antiquarian researches" and because I ask my students to read a couple of chapters from Sewall's book. Pigou missed a useful treatment! Glenn Hueckel ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]