Mission
The Institute aims to rejuvenate the teaching of the history of economic thought in the college curriculum.
Studying the writing of the greatest minds in economics is always rewarding, but perhaps especially so in times of economic crises. At this Summer Institute, top faculty in the field and 25 scholars, selected from a diverse pool of national applicants, will trace the development of economic thought from the middle ages to the middle of the last century.
Hosted by Duke University
The Summer Institute will be held in the Social Science Building at Duke University. Duke, which boasts five specialists in the field on its faculty, is home to the Center for History of Political Economy, a center whose mission is to promote and support research in, and the teaching of, the history of political economy. The premier journal in the field, History of Political Economy, is published here.
Sponsored by the National Endowment of the Humanities
This boot camp for the history of economic thought is one of 21 summer opportunities provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Endowment is a federal agency that each summer supports seminars and institutes at colleges and universities so that teachers can work in collaboration and study with experts in humanities disciplines.
WEEK ONE
Monday, June 7
Session 1 – Introduction to the Institute (Caldwell) and the Greeks (Medema)
- Aristotle, excerpts, “Politics and Ethics,” Medema and Samuels (M&S), pp. 3-15.
Session 2 – The Scholastics (Medema)
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, M&S, pp. 16-29.
- Henry William Spiegel, The Growth of Economic Thought (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990), Chapter 3 – “Medieval Economic Thought: The Practice of Charity and the Avoidance of Sin,” pp. 48-74.
Session 3 – From the Scholastics to the Mercantilists (Caldwell)
- Thomas Mun, England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade, M&S, pp. 30-44
- Jacob Viner, “Mercantilist Thought” [1968], reprinted in Essays on the Intellectual History of Economics, ed. Douglas Irwin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), pp. 262-76.
Tuesday, June 8
Session 4 – Different Assessments of Mercantilism (Caldwell), and Petty (Medema)
- William Allen, “Modern Defenders of Mercantilist Theory,” History of Political Economy (HOPE), vol. 2, Fall 1970, pp. 381-97.
- A. W. Coats, “The Interpretation of Mercantilist Economics: Some Historiographical Problems,” and W. Allen, “Rearguard Response,” HOPE, vol. 5, Fall 1973, pp. 485-98.
- Paul Krugman, editorial columns “Chinese New Year” and “Taking on China”
- William Petty, A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions, M&S, pp. 45-56.
Session 5 – Physiocracy (Caldwell and Medema)
- Emile Guillaumin, The Life of a Simple Man [1904], translated by Margaret Crosland. (Hanover, N. H.: University Press of New England, 1983), chapter 42.
- François Quesnay, Tableau économique, M&S, pp. 95-102.
Session 6 – Scottish Enlightenment and Introduction to Smith (Caldwell)
- Jacob Viner, “Adam Smith and Laissez-Faire” [1927], in Viner, Essays, pp. 85-113.
- Maria Paganelli, ““The Adam Smith Problem in Reverse: Self-interest in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments.” HOPE, vol. 40, Summer 2008, pp. 365-82.
- Amartya Sen, “Introduction” to Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (New York: Penguin Classics edition, 2009).
Wednesday, June 9
Session 7 – Smith and The Wealth of Nations I: The Division of Labor (Medema)
- Smith’s Introduction, Chapters 1-4.
Session 8 – Smith and The Wealth of Nations II: The Theory of Value (Medema)
- Chapter 5 (pp. 34-43, Stigler; pp. 47-55, LF); Chapters 6-7; Chapter 8 (pp. 72-82, Stigler; pp. 82-91, LF); Chapter 9 (pp. 98-99, 109-110, Stigler; pp. 105-106, 114-15, LF); Chapter 11 (pp. 161-63 & 269-78, Stigler; pp. 160-62, 260-67, LF).
Session 9 – The Economists’ Papers Project at Duke – Paula Mangiafico, Senior Processing Archivist, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
Thursday, June 10
Session 10 – Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations III: Accumulation and Growth (Medema)
- Book II, Chapters 1, 3 (pp. 351-65, Stigler, pp. 330-44, LF), 4
Session 11 – Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations IV: The Critique of Mercantilism and Physiocracy (Medema)
- Book IV, Introduction (p. 449, Stigler; p. 428, LF); Chapter 1 (pp. 450-56, 468-73 Stigler; pp. 429-35, 446-51 LF); Chapter 2 (pp. 474-80, Stigler; pp. 452-59, LF)
Session 12 – Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations V: The Economic Role of Government (Medema)
- Book IV, Chapter 9 (pp. 208-209, Stigler Vol II; pp. 687-88, LF); Book V, Chapter 1
Friday, June 11
Session 13 – David Ricardo and the 19th Century Classical System (Medema)
- Roger Backhouse, The Ordinary Business of Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), Chapter 7, “Classical Political Economy, 1790-1870,” pp. 132-41, 147-53.
- Excerpts from Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, M&S, pp. 196-201
- Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, M&S, pp. 256-90
- J.-B. Say, Treatise on Political Economy, M&S, pp. 245-55
- Nassau Senior, Outline of the Science of Political Economy, M&S, pp. 317-32.
- George Stigler, “Ricardo and the 93% Labor Theory of Value,” American Economic Review, vol. 48, June 1958, pp. 357-67.
Session 14 - David Ricardo and the 19th Century Classical System (Medema)
- Readings: Same as session 13.
WEEK TWO
Monday, June 14
Session 1 – Thomas Robert Malthus (Peart)
- Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 19; pp. 130-139 (excerpt from a later edition, on “Moral Restraint”); pp. 143-48 (excerpt from Robert Godwin “On Population”)
Session 2 – John Stuart Mill (Peart)
- George Stigler, “The Nature and Role of Originality in Scientific Progress,” Economica, vol. 22, November 1955, pp. 293-302.
- Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question,” Fraser’s Magazine, 1849.
- John Stuart Mill, “The Negro Question,” Fraser’s Magazine, 1850.
Session 3 – Classical Growth Theory (Peart)
- Sandra Peart and David Levy, “Post-Ricardian British Economics, 1830-1870” in Warren Samuels, Jeff Biddle, and John Davis, A Companion to the History of Economic Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), chapter 9.
Tuesday, June 15
Session 4 – Background to Marx and Engels (Caldwell)
- Robert Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader “Editor’s Introduction,” – This contains: I. The early Marx, and the influence of Hegel and Feuerbach. II. Das Kapital. III. Revolutionary theory and practice. IV. Marx and Engels.
- Engels, “Working Class Manchester” (pp. 579-85)
- Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach” (pp. 143-45)
Session 5 – Marxian Theory of Value (Hoover)
- Marx, Excerpts from Das Kapital (pp. 302-61).
Session 6 – Laws of Motion of Capitalism (Caldwell)
- Marx & Engels, “The Communist Manifesto” (pp. 473-91; 499-500. Omit section III)
- Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific” (pp. 681-717).
Wednesday, June 16
Session 7 – Laws of Motion of Capitalism (Caldwell)
- Marx & Engels, “The Communist Manifesto” (pp. 473-91; 499-500. Omit section III)
- Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific” (pp. 681-717).
Session 8 – Introduction to the Marginal Revolution (Peart)
- Mark Blaug, “Was There a Marginal Revolution?” HOPE, vol. 4, Fall 1972, pp. 269-80.
- Donald Winch, “Marginalism and the Boundaries of Economic Science,” ibid., pp. 325-43.
Session 9 – Discussion of Classroom Games, Exercises, Etc.
Thursday, June 17
Session 10 – Jevons and Walras (Peart)
- William Stanley Jevons, The Theory of Political Economy, M&S, pp. 413-442; “Married Women in Factories,” Contemporary Review, 1882.
Session 11 – Intertwining Mathematics and Economics (Weintraub)
- E. Roy Weintraub, “Burn the Mathematics (Tripos),” How Economics Became a Mathematical Science (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002), chapter 1.
- Léon Walras, Elements of Pure Economics, M&S, pp. 462-476
- Philip Mirowski, “Physics and the ‘Marginalist Revolution’,” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1984, vol. 8, pp. 361-79.
Session 12 – Menger and the German Historical School (Caldwell)
- Carl Menger, Principles of Economics, M&S, pp. 443-61.
- Bruce Caldwell, Hayek’s Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F. A. Hayek (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 17-35.
Friday, June 18
Session 13 – American Institutionalism (Craufurd Goodwin)
- Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class [1899] (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). Chapters 1-3.
- Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise. (New York: Scribner’s, 1904). Chapters 2-4.
- Clarence E. Ayres, “The Co-ordinates of Institutionalism,” American Economic Review, vol. 41, May 1951, pp. 47-55.
- Walton H. Hamilton, “Economic Theory and Social Reform,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 23, June 1915, pp. 562-84.
- Walton H. Hamilton, “The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory,” American Economic Review, vol. 9, March 1919, pp. 309-18.
Session 14 – American Economics (Craufurd Goodwin)
- Readings: Same as session 13.
WEEK THREE
Monday, June 21
Session 1 – The Social Gospel Movement and the Origins of the AEA (Bateman)
- Bateman, Bradley W. and Ethan Kaplan. “Between God and the Market: The Religious Roots of the American Economic Association”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 13, Fall 1999, pp. 249-57.
- Bateman, Bradley. 2008. “The Social Gospel and the Progressive Era” in Divining America
- Bateman, Bradley. “Reflections on the Secularization of American Economics” Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol. 28, March 2008, pp. 1-20.
- Ely, Richard T. "Ethics and Economics", Science, vol. 7, June 1886, pp. 529-533.
Session 2 – The Cambridge Tradition – Alfred Marshall (Caldwell)
- Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, [8th. Ed., 1920] (Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1990), as follows: Prefaces to 1st and 8th eds.; Book I, chapters 1, 4; Book III, chapters 1-4; Book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 1-3.
Session 3 – Marshall (Bateman)
- Readings: Same as session 2.
Tuesday, June 22
Session 4 – The Cambridge Tradition – Keynes and Bloomsbury (Goodwin)
- Keynes, John Maynard. “Am I a Liberal?” [1925], “The End of Laissez-Faire”[1926], and “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” [1930], all in Essays in Persuasion (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1932).
- Keynes, John Maynard. "My Early Beliefs." [1949] In The Bloomsbury Group: A Collections of Memoirs and Commentary, edited by S. P. Rosenbaum (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), pp. 48-64.
- Goodwin, Craufurd D. "The Art of an Ethical Life: Keynes and Bloomsbury." In The Cambridge Companion to Keynes, edited by Roger E. Backhouse and Bradley W. Bateman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 217-36.
Session 5 – Keynes’ Early Work (Bateman)
- Keynes, J. M. 1919. Economic Consequences of the Peace. Chapters 1 & 2;
- “The End of Laissez Faire,” [1926] and “The Great Slump of 1930,” [1930], both in Essays in Persuasion.
Session 6 – The Road to The General Theory (Bateman)
- Bradley Bateman, “In the Realm of Concept and Circumstance,” HOPE, vol. 26, Spring 1994, pp. 99-116.
- Peter Clark, “Keynes in History,” HOPE, vol. 26, Spring 1994, pp. 117-36.
- Laidler, David. “Keynes and the Birth of Modern Macroeconomics,” in The Cambridge Companion to Keynes, pp. 271-90.
Wednesday, June 23
Session 7 – Keynes’s General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Bateman)
- Keynes, J.M. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Chapters 1, 18, 22 (sections I- III)
- Keynes, J.M. “The General Theory of Employment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 51, February 1937, pp. 209-223.
- Bradley Bateman, “Keynes and Keynesianism,” in The Cambridge Companion to Keynes, pp. 271-90.
Session 8 – Economic Science Studies (Weintraub)
- E. Roy Weintraub, “How Should We Write the History of Twentieth Century Economics?” Oxford Review of Political Economy, vol. 15, Winter 1999, pp. 139-152.
Session 9 – Assessing the Summer Institute
Thursday, June 24
Session 10 – The Chicago School – Price Theory (Medema)
- Frank Knight, “Economic Organization,” pp. 1-30.
- Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), pp. 1-36; “The Methodology of Positive Economics,” in Friedman, ed., Essays in Positive Economics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953), pp. 3-43.
- Gary Becker, The Economic Approach to Human Behavior (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), chapter 1.
Session 11 – The Chicago School – Macroeconomics (Bateman)
- Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, “The Great Contraction, 1929-33,” excerpts from chapter 7 of A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), pp.299-332.
Session 12 – Expanding the Boundaries of Economics – The Case of Law and Economics (Medema)
- Steve Medema, “Wandering the Road from Pluralism to Posner: The Transformation of Law and Economics in the Twentieth Century,” in Mary Morgan and Malcolm Rutherford, eds. From Interwar Pluralism to Postwar Neoclassicism (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998), pp. 202-24.
- Edmund Kitch, ed. “The Fire of Truth: A Remembrance of Law and Economics at Chicago, 1932-1970,” Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 26, April 1983, pp. 163-234.
Friday, June 25
Session 13 – Hayek and the Austrian Tradition (Caldwell)
- Bruce Caldwell, “Hayek and the Austrian Tradition,” in Edward Feser, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Hayek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 13-33.
- F. A. Hayek, “Socialist Calculation: The Competitive ‘Solution” [1940], and “Freedom and the Economic System,” [1939], both reprinted in F.A. Hayek, Socialism and War (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp. 125-49 and 189-212; “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” American Economic Review, vol. 35, September 1945, pp. 519-30.
Session 14 – Hayek and the Austrian Tradition (Caldwell)
- Readings: Same as session 13, plus
- Bruce Caldwell, “Hayek, Chicago, and Neoliberalism” manuscript.
Director
Bruce Caldwell, Duke University
Participants
Jason Antrosio, Hartwick College
Thomas Bernardin, Smith College
Kathryn Boodry, Harvard University
William Carter, Tulane University
Mary Cox, University of Oxford
Laura Dull, State University of New York, New Paltz
Bilge Erten, University of Massachusetts Amherst
David Gerard, Lawrence University
Robert Gillezeau, University of Michigan
Matthew Henry, Cleveland State University
He Li, Merrimack College
Boris Nikolaev, University of South Florida
Stuart Patterson, Shimer College
Forrest Perry, Saint Xavier University
Michael Petrowsky, Austin Community College
Karl Rambo, University of Oklahoma
John Recchiuti, Mount Union College
David Slavin, Clayton State University
David Snyder, University of South Carolina
Anthony Thomas, Kishwaukee College
Elizabeth Victor, University of South Florida
Jack Weinstein, University of North Dakota
Russell Williams, Wheaton College
Mark Wilson, West Virginia University Tech
Evelyn Wright, Franklin and Marshall College
Faculty
Bradley Bateman, Denison University
Craufurd Goodwin, Duke University
Kevin Hoover, Duke University
Steven Medema, University of Colorado-Denver
Sandra Peart, University of Richmond
E. Roy Weintraub, Duke University
Staff
Lysa Chen, Duke University
Paul Dudenhefer, Duke University
Angela Zemonek, Duke University