Valuing (and Teaching) the Past

Sandra J. Peart and David Levy

The Journal of Economic Education, 2005, vol. 36, issue 2, 171-184

Abstract: There is a difference between the private and social cost of preserving the past. Although it may be privately rational to forget the past, the social cost is significant: We fail to see that classical political economy is analytically egalitarian. The past is a rich source of surprises and debates, and resources on the Web are uniquely suited to teaching such wide-ranging debates. Our Secret History of the Dismal Science, at www.econlib.org, provides a series of windows on the literary and analytical texts and the artwork that figured in the debates. Students who read Smith juxtaposed with Whitman, who read the Carlyle-Mill exchange, and who see these images, understand the debate in a way that students who read only the Wealth of Nations , Ricardo's Principles , or John Stuart Mill cannot.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.3200/JECE.36.2.171-184

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