Fred Lee's pessimistic reading of the attitude to the history of economics of the Economics and Econometrics panel in the UK RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) may be a little premature (though it may turn out to be correct). He seems to base himself on the following statement 'The UOA [Unit of Assessment] includes all aspects of economics and econometrics (including, where appropriate, economic history). Research of all types, empirical or theoretical, strategic, applied, or policy-focused will be considered of equal standing.' It is true that history of economics is not explicitly mentioned, but it is not explicitly excluded either. It could well be covered under 'all aspects of economics' and 'research of all types'. The inclusion of economic history points in the right direction. The panel statement adds: 'Where research is at the boundaries of the UOA, departments are encouraged to submit their strongest work irrespective of the form of output or the extent of its interdisciplinary nature.' How that actually works out remains to be seen. My guess is that anything published in a major general journal will score well (because in practice scoring will mainly be by the standing of the journal), but that publications in specialist journals in our field will not rate well. Our problem will be that we rarely get into major journals, and the RAE will simply reflect that. Tony Brewer