====================== HES POSTING =================== Response to R. Neill's first posting on this conversation thread: Along the lines of developing a sub-discipline dealing with "The Spread [and censorship, repression, caricaturization] of Economic Ideas" the book edited by A.W. Coats and Dave Colander "The Spread of Economic Ideas", Cambridge 1993 has some excellent concepts as does "The Coming of Keynesianism to America: Conversations With the Founders of Keynesian Economics" Ed by David Colander and Harry Landreth, Edward Elgar, 1996. Perhaps the day will come when Economists apply some of their own models to academia and Economics as a profession (e.g. Homo Academicus). I suspect a full discussion of cognitive dissonance will also come in somewhere in the discussion. Some of the most pernicious forms of censorship, setting up caricatures/strawpersons, witchhunting etc are far more refined and more disguised than that practiced under McCarthyism. Some, who have built up a market niche and a lifetime CV under one particular ideological banner or "school of thought" banner may have a cognitive dissonance problem handling new ideas and approaches that are perceived to be threatening to a lifetime's work. Others are just plain megalomaniacs and resent any dissent from "The Great Names". Others are sheltered academics who just don't work, play well--and respectfully disagree--with others. It is interesting to explore the concrete institutions, forces, factors, dyamics through which it is "defined" sacred vs heresy, conventional vs unconventional, radical vs mainstream or mainstream vs heterodox, true vs patently absurd, real economics vs pretenders etc. Jim Craven ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]