History of Economic Thought as an Analytic Tool: why Past Intellectual Ideas Must Be Acknowledged as Lighthouses for the Future

Dieter Bögenhold ()
Additional contact information
Dieter Bögenhold: Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt

International Advances in Economic Research, 2020, vol. 26, issue 1, No 6, 73-87

Abstract: Abstract Contemporaries tend to question certain belief systems including academic systems of knowledge. Paradigms evolve to become a subject of inquiry. The need to acknowledge history of economic thought as a neglected but important domain of economic inquiry as an important discussion topic. During recent decades, history of economic thought has largely been abolished and has disappeared from many contemporary teaching curricula in economics. The article argues that our academic understanding of economics is incomplete if we do not respect history and understand the social embeddedness of economic institutions and social behaviour. Of course, one must distinguish between history of intellectual ideas and economic history. Both items have to be discussed separately when assessing methodological appropriateness and benefits. The argumentation is based on the work of Joseph A. Schumpeter who dealt in detail with the question why and how to deal with historiography as a tool of proper economics in his substantial introduction to the 1945 book History of Economic Analysis.

Keywords: History of economic thought; Methodology; B15; B25; B30; B52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11294-020-09775-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:26:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s11294-020-09775-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11294

DOI: 10.1007/s11294-020-09775-3

Access Statistics for this article

International Advances in Economic Research is currently edited by Katherine S. Virgo

More articles in International Advances in Economic Research from Springer, International Atlantic Economic Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().