----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Third Summer Institute for the Preservation of the Study of the History of Economics in Economics Will the competence in the history of economics become lost to the discipline of economics? Extrapolating the trend gives an easy answer: the future serious history of economics will be conducted in literature departments. The private benefit/cost explanation is trivial: a history of economics thought dissertation is professional suicide in economics. The social consequence of giving monopoly power over the history of economics to those who actively dislike markets, and those who study markets, is described in the Levy-Peart “Secret history of the dismal science” at www.econlib.org. The Summer Institute will be an attempt to reverse this decline by offering a forum for students at George Mason, and elsewhere, to present a history of thought chapter in their dissertation to a competent audience. The thought is that a history of thought chapter can be disguised as a “literature review” without raising professional eye-brows. Simultaneously, the Summer Institute will offer a forum for professional discussion of on-going work for those who find current trends unpleasant. The deal. Thanks to a grant from the Earhart Foundation and pizza money from the Economic Department we can make the following offer to graduate students interested in the history of economics. There will be six day-long seminars during the summer where 3-4 papers are presented each day. Speakers include Robert Leonard, Sandra Peart and Tyler Cowen. Several papers will confront the interconnection between model and anecdote/narration. Minimum participation. Attend as many seminars as possible. Benefit: copies of the papers, remarkable computer images, good discussion, pizza and Peet’s coffee / tea. Median participation. For the minimum participation plus various scholarly tasks; a $1000 grant. (Alternatively: present a dissertation chapter.) Maximal participation. For the median participation plus presenting a dissertation chapter; a $1500 grant. Send applications to [log in to unmask] State your preferences for level participation, for type of coffee / tea and whether you hold with donuts or bagels in the morning. ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]