Challenges of doing Research in the History of Economic Thought: a Latin American perspective

Abstract

Abstract The researcher who works on the history of economic thought in Latin America faces three basic challenges, namely: 1) crossing disciplinary boundaries, since the field requires familiarity with neighboring areas of investigation, such as philosophy, sociology, and psychology, among others; 2) recognizing that past is past, that one's favorite author or school of thought can bring some light to society's present choices and policies, but, due to their particular context, should not stand as their final arbiter; 3) starting local, becoming universal, i.e, while preserving the universal content of economics, realizing that it must pay due respect to the historical, geographical and institutional diversity of its subject matter.