In his piece on Martin Feldstein on July 27, 2008, David Warsh makes a strong case for the work of the NBER being of central importance to the development of economics in North America, and around the world, in the past 25 years. Yet I am not aware of any HET work, besides that of Warsh's, on this major development, archival, oral history, tracking of NBER papers and conferences, etc. My sense is that most historians are uncomfortable with the kind of empirical work that totally dominates current economics curricula, and research, but I am still puzzled at the lack of attention even to the issue in the various HE journals and conferences, and Ph.D curricula in those few places that have programs in HET. Why might the inattention to modern economics be so systematic? (See Warsh's July 27 piece linked through http://www.economicprincipals.com/) E. Roy Weintraub