History
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Paul Samuelson, Women and the History of Economics (Part 1)
Jul 19, 2011
Paul Samuelson was notorious for many things, but also, like Marshall, for spending most of his academic life in the same institution.
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When the US last defaulted...
Jul 14, 2011
Two things seem to be taken for granted in the current debt-ceiling debate: 1. The parties will come to an agreement on the debt ceiling because 2. These United States have never defaulted and will not start now.
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The government and the market
Jul 11, 2011
Mention the government and the market and all academic reflection and civilized discussion dissolves into heated monologues. Politicians are an extreme case.
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Introducing the Jazz economist
Jul 3, 2011
You would have thought that to be a “jazz economist” was a good thing. I first imagined a “cool cat” that would entrance the hearts and minds of the populace. Not so.
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HES 2011, Paul Samuelson and the Beatles
Jun 30, 2011
So, how hard is it to write the history of exceptional figures? Shall we buy film cameras?
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Disdain or paranoia for historians of economics?
Jun 26, 2011
The organizers of Duke’s Summer Institute on the history of economics were so worried that students might be embarrassed to ask their supervisors for a letter of recommendation, or that the supervisors would say it’s a waste of time to study history, so they took a last minute decision to cancel the need for a letter of recommendation.
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Was Adam Smith a communist?
Jun 22, 2011
In his two-tome, 1400 page Dutch Leerboek der Staathuishoudkunde (Textbook of Economics), first published in 1884, Nicolaas Pierson (1839 - 1909) accuses the great Scotsman of being a communist – or at least of consciously clearing the way for the socialists with their ideal of a communist society.
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Shocks
Jun 21, 2011
The financial and economic crises started by the fall of Lehman Borthers came as a big shock, a financial shock, an economic shock, a psychological shock, and a political shock among others.
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A Cold Case
Jun 20, 2011
Some time ago, my colleague and dear friend (nevertheless!) Loïc Charles wrote on the previous version of the Playground, a very nice and intriguing post on Samuelson’s introductory textbook, Economics, and TV Series.
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These Things Take Time
May 3, 2011
Last week, I spent a few days in the Dalton-Brand Research Room, at Duke University, skimming through the Samuelson papers.
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In the Archives
Apr 26, 2011
Taking a quick break from my work in the Samuelson archives – so fascinating, believe me! – I can’t resist sharing the following, which I found in his correspondence files.
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Pop Archives
Apr 20, 2011
I was just amused with two projects by Shaun Usher: to “gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos” in his blog Letters of Note, and to present interesting letterheads in his Letterheadyblog.
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Inside Economics
Apr 18, 2011
Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job forces us to fundamentally rethink the connections between economics and policy making.
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INET and reforming economic education: can history help?
Apr 13, 2011
One INET project is to “reconnect the teaching of economics with the working of the actual economy,” which is to begin with a reform of the undergraduate curriculum.
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Upon leaving Mount Washington
Apr 13, 2011
The place invites poetry. By the way, all sessions can be viewed from the website – check out in particular the last session featuring Gillian Tett of the Financial Times moderating a discussion between Paul Volcker and George Soros