Ten Major Problems in the Study of the History of Economic Thought

Abstract

I was motivated to consider the topics of this paper by repeatedly encountering the same problems in pondering the history of economic thought, not only in my own work but when retereeing papers and reading the publications of others. The problems that I will consider are important because they involve fundamental issues in the selections and representations we make of the history of economic thought. I do not have solutions for all of the problems, nor do I believe that each of them has a single solution. My objective in this address is not precisely to solve the problems, although I will suggest some ways of dealing with some of them. My purpose rather is to identify the problems in a clear way and to review how they have been treated in order to provide a common basis for further discussion. They can be divided into technical problems and problems of approach.