One of the constants in calls to reform economics, and how it’s taught, is the demand for more history of thought. The most contact students have with the history of economics itself is probably Robert Heilbroner’s [amazon_link id=”068486214X” target=”_blank” ]The Worldly Philosophers[/amazon_link]. I really liked Agnar Sandmo’s [amazon_link id=”0691148422″ target=”_blank” ]Economics Evolving: A History of Economic Thought[/amazon_link], because it links how economists thought to changes in the economic context. Economics is, like geology or evolutionary biology, an historical science – the specifics of time and place are fundamental to what happens.

However, even if they read a survey like one of these books, economists hardly ever read the originals, not even [amazon_link id=”1451522851″ target=”_blank” ]Adam Smith[/amazon_link] or [amazon_link id=”9650060251″ target=”_blank” ]Maynard Keynes[/amazon_link]. Still, it was intriguing to get the announcement of the launch of a new series of republished (minor) classics by Vernon Press – the titles include some better known ones like Friedrich List’s [amazon_link id=”1622730100″ target=”_blank” ]The National System of Political Economy[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”1622730097″ target=”_blank” ]The Great Illusion[/amazon_link] by Norman Angell; and some hardly known at all ones – [amazon_link id=”1622730003″ target=”_blank” ]Women in Industry[/amazon_link] by Edith Abbott anyone? Or perhaps Daniel Defoe’s [amazon_link id=”1622730011″ target=”_blank” ]A Plan of the English Commerce[/amazon_link]. New to me.

[amazon_image id=”1622730003″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Women in Industry: A Study in American Economic History (Vernon Series in Economic Methodology)[/amazon_image]   [amazon_image id=”1622730011″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]A Plan of the English Commerce (Vernon Series in Economic History)[/amazon_image]