Steven Medema
@spydermed
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Historian of economics. @DukeEcon @CenterEconomy @StEdmundsCam . Series Editor, Oxford Studies in the History of Economics (OUP). Coase theorem fetish.
Durham, NC
Joined July 2010
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Given that the Levitt interview has everyone gossiping about Chicago, perhaps this is a good time to post a link to my forthcoming piece on the origins of the perception that there was a distinctive Chicago school of economics.
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Y’all are going to want to read this. A transformative book that promises to dramatically reshape our understanding of the origins of modern economics. Trust me.
New book: Constructing Economic Science - The Invention of a Discipline 1850-1950, by Keith Tribe
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Real video of economist who accidentally walked into a history of economics session at the ASSA meetings.
@KhoaVuUmn
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PhD students and early-career scholars working on the history of economics: Please consider applying to join us at Duke for our 2022 Summer Institute, this year in a research workshop format. Special bonus:
@Undercoverhist
is joining the fun!
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Started working on this one ten years ago. I rather like it and am grateful to all of the people who provided useful feedback along the way. The inspiration came from a letter from Herb Stein to Stigler … (1/2)
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One of the things you learn by carefully reading Smith and Marx, and even more so with a view to teaching about them, is that neither one is who you thought they were before that deep dive. And each successive deep dive reveals new things. Classics are classics for a reason.
I'm not saying I am going to end up being a marxist after teaching history of economic thought, but I will say I am going to be having a lot of conversations with my therapist about it.
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Finally, the debate reduced to its essence. Thank you.
Lemma: If reading Smith, Marx, Keynes, etc. cover-to-cover increased the probability of hitting a top-five journal, economists would already be doing it.
To me, economics is whatever gets my referees off my back… and the part of economic thought I care about is the part that gets my referees off my back…
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Look what the mail brought for me to pack for my trip to Scotland+France tomorrow! Some things are more important than bow ties. Wardrobe matters.
@TDeryugina
@Mylovanov
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Viner: “Economics is what economists do.”
A grandmother and retired economist tells
@clarissaward
she learned how to make Molotov cocktails using Google. "Let those Russian sh*ts come here," she says. "We are ready to greet them."
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How good was Bob Lucas? He even inspired ME to write a macro theory paper, lovingly desk rejected by Blanchard at QJE back in the late 80s. The man had a way with models. Rest in Peace.
Today is a sad day for economics. Robert E. Lucas, Jr., a great researcher and teacher died this morning.
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As a child: Santa exists.
As a teenager: Santa doesn’t exist.
As an economist: If we assume zero transaction costs, it is no problem for Santa to deliver gifts to every child on the globe in one evening.
As a child: Santa exists.
As a teenager: Santa doesn't exist.
As an economist: Santa is a benevolent dictator who seek to maximize welfare of the children population subject to budget constraint and elf labor market conditions.
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Can I just say, for the record, that I despise endnotes?
Nothing promotes a fluid reading and learning process like having to constantly flip to the back of the book to read them.
That scholarly presses do this is doubly shameful.
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Hey, I think that’s me!
(It is hard to tell, though, as there is not a word about a certain theorem in the paper.)
Article: Theorising public expenditures: welfare theorems, market failures, and the turn from “public finance” to “public economics”, by Steven G. Medema
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This will be a must-read for understanding key aspects of the empirical turn in economics as we moved through the twentieth century.
@Societies_HET
@Undercoverhist
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Could be the subtitle of almost every essay in this book!
Has anyone ever tried to write a paper called
"What is good economics?"
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Podcast Alert! Keith Tribe, talking about his terrific new book, "Constructing Economic Science: The Invention of a Discipline, 1850-1950.”
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Really sad that this reply to
@KhoaVuUmn
is not getting more love, with its demonstration of my deep insights into the empirical literature and the sociology of the profession.
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When people claim they have proved the Coase theorem is false when all that they have actually done is allowed for positive transaction costs.
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Now available open access for the benefit of those who wanted to read the paper but were gated out. A retrospective on my time as JHET editor, for the HES 50th anniversary issue is JHET.
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Fabulous news in any language. An award richly deserved and in which many take great delight.
If you are simply an
@Undercoverhist
Twitter follower, put down the phone and read the REALLY good stuff behind this award.
#TalentsCNRS
La médaille de bronze 2021 est remise à Béatrice CHERRIER (
@Undercoverhist
), chargée de recherche CNRS au
@CrestUmr
(
@INSHS_CNRS
@Polytechnique
@ENSAEparis
)
A écouter ses récentes interventions sur
@franceculture
:
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The literature bearing on the history of economics turns out to be very broad, at least if you spin the narrative in the right way. 🎅
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One more time for the non-believers (with thanks to
@kasperka
and
@AsherSchechter
for helping me whip this into shape):
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Perhaps the outcome would have been different if they had made the RAs sign an honesty pledge prior to starting their work! 🤣
What horrible luck, that a famous dishonesty researcher would have four separate RAs that falsified data. Really, what are the odds? 𝜖^4?
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A must listen. The history of economics is so much more than a history of ideas and theories. It is also about understanding how economics has come to be what it is and the interplay between people, ideas, attitudes, and structures.
So humbled & grateful for the interest in my violence, patents & economic activity paper & the story behind it.
Thanks so much,
@planetmoney
team:
@mdc
,
@duffinkaren
,
@CardiffGarcia
&
@svaneksmith
!
Story Of A Paper
Patent Racism
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Honored to announce that I have just been invited to give a talk, based on a history of economics book review I have recently published, at the 4th Global Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases Summit. I hope to see many of you there!
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Come join us for nine days of great discussion—Plato to the present. Great stuff for anyone interested in teaching the history of economics. Did I mention the BBQ? Circulate widely!
@CenterEconomy
@causalinf
@Undercoverhist
@HistoryEcon
#EconTwitter
Dear all,
the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University will be hosting another Summer Institute on the History of Economics this summer from June 20-29, 2022. More information is available here,
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Great couple of days in Graz, birthplace of the incomparable
@florianederer
. Beautiful old city, great food and the Schlossberg Rutsche—the world’s tallest underground slide.
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Attention historians of economics with archival interests: Job opening!
🧵
Can you please amplify,
@Undercoverhist
?
Curator of the Economists’ Papers Archive | Duke University Libraries
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All of this assumes that the reason for studying the history of economics is to make current econ better by recovering some lost kernel of insight. In that case, you are not doing history but economic analysis.
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A very, very big deal. And when the best things happen to exceptional scholars who also happen to be exceptional human beings, it is just that much sweeter.
Congratulations to Evelyn Forget having been named to the Order of Canada - the highest civilian award in Canada. This is a huge honour.
For those who know her, this is not a surprise.
@pressmansteven
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Good news for history of economics researchers: The Anthony Atkinson papers, part of the Economists’ Papers Archive
@DukeU
@CenterEconomy
are now open! Information here:
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I stand with Shengwu. Both tweets.
Having angered the humanities-econs, let me now anger their complement.
I think that every PhD student should learn about the history of economic thought. Either by reading primary texts or by reading the work of relevant historians.
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This includes the opportunity to do graduate coursework in the history of economics. Reach out to me via email for more information. And retweet to your heart’s content.
@Societies_HET
If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about our Master's programs in economics at Duke, consider signing up for one of our upcoming info sessions:
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We are closer to 2080 than to the year George Stigler invented the Coase theorem.
(Yes, you get this content for free.)
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Just liberated my copy of
@DianeCoyle1859
‘s latest book from pandemic purgatory. A fabulous exposition of public policy economics, at once rich and very accessible. Textbooks are not supposed to be this interesting.
@PrincetonUPress
@PeterBoettke
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Come spend a term or two with us. The archives, the workshops, and some excellent intellectual community, of which the visiting fellows are an integral part.
The Center for the History of Political Economy
@Centereconomy
at Duke is now accepting Fellowship applications for the 2021/22 academic year:
Applications are due January 10, 2021. Highly recommended!
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She laid down the gauntlet,
@rodrikdani
. Bring her in for a year. That’s couch cushion money at your place. But be prepared to live with the result …
Enough principled take on whether history of econs and/or reading old texts are useful or not. Pay a professional historian to teach two history of economics courses one year (one undergrad and one grad), then ask the students if such courses should be proposed to the next class
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Sometimes I just have to amuse myself. Epigraph from my piece for the Posner EAL at 50 special issue of History of Economic Ideas, just published.
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@BobMurphyEcon
@adamgmartin
To begin with, I think it is important to keep in mind the distinction between ‘reading the classics’ and ‘the history of economics/econ thought’ as a field of inquiry. Those two things are regularly conflated on Twitter. 2/
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I am very honored to be delivering the Tiziano Raffaelli Lecture at the 2021 STOREP Conference. Tiziano was a fabulous scholar and a wonderful human being. His loss is still profoundly felt, but the influence of his scholarship will endure.
The 2021 STOREP conference begins tomorrow, hosted (virtually) by
@ecoInsubria
100 papers, 5 parallel sessions, keynotes by
@KatharinaPistor
and
@spydermed
Full program at:
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More insight into Buchanan (and others), adding to our understanding of the origins and development of the Virginia tradition.
The Soul of Classical Political Economy | Mercatus Center: F. A. Hayek Program
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JUST OUT: A worthy memorial to a fabulous person and scholar, one who transformed our understanding of Marshall.
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More editors should be so adventurous. And I say that not just as respects these latest issues, but as respects the entire nine-year tenure. SND used the JEL to show what economics is, was, and can be.
1/Yesterday was my last day, after 9 years, as Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature. I am delighted that David Romer is my successor; the AEA could not have made a better choice.
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@BobMurphyEcon
@adamgmartin
The study of the history of economics sheds light on how ideas and practices evolved as they did, and why: the choices made along the way, the discovery process, how certain ideas came to be accepted as knowledge (and in a lot of case as a replacement for previous ideas), 6/
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Fabulous prize lineup!!
@CleoCZ
,
@DGindis
, and the wonderful book by Steiner and Oudin-Bastide from
@OUPEconomics
. Much-deserved recognition on all counts.
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New archive alert! The Randall Hinshaw Papers are now open for research
@DukeU
Economists’ Papers Archive. A treasure trove on international monetary thinking and collaborations during the last third of the 20th century.
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We do the classics and the moderns! Come join us for a term or for a year. Workshops, lunch seminars, writing group, archives, and a wealth of nearby bbq options. What’s not to love?
The HOPE Center is now accepting applications for the 2022-23 Visiting Scholars program. For more information, go to .
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Showing that Coase did not initially grasp the effects of transaction costs, that his original result was both erroneous and corrected by others prior to 1960, and that the Chicago ‘conversion’ was both minimal and problematic.
Our latest working paper is by
@spydermed
and it revisits the path by which Ronald Coase came to set down the result now generally known as the Coase theorem in his 1960 article.
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Add to this the fact that NO ONE has any clue what Smith would have thought about most of the current regulatory, etc. situation. His times were very, very different from ours, and to pretend one can play “What would Adam do” is sheer folly.
Must-read my foot: It's no secret at all to most educated libertarians that Smith was not a dogmatic proponent of laissez-faire; the more dogmatic ones criticize him for it. 1/2
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For those wanting to read more about the origins of Jensen’s work on the firm, with Meckling, following the former’s passing, you can’t go wrong with
@DGindis
’s excellent paper.
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The ingenuity of mankind continues to amaze. Peated fudge. It’s good to be alive.
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“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …”
Arrived in the mail today. Better be good ... or questions will be asked!!!
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It might surprise some folks to know that PK was a fan of the history of economics long before he was being written into it.
Excellent paper. And not just bc it quotes me a lot. The history of economic thought has a lot more to do with what economists considered tractable, and less to do with politics, than normal people can easily imagine
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Because things are not always as they appear ... On Coase’s uneasy relationship with “Chicago.”
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The history of environmental economics bears on this in interesting ways. Pollution taxes were originally seen as a “market” instrument by economists. Environmentalists hated the idea because you could pay to pollute. They wanted reg limits. (1/3)
Doing some homework on how the GOP became the anti-environmental party. Two historical observations. First, the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act — which brought acid rain under control — passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities 1/
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Channeling my grandmother today, from the handwritten recipes she left for the grandchildren.
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If you think Smith held to a labor theory of value, you simply have not read far enough into The Wealth of Nations. This is not hard.
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The Coase theorem is the most overrated idea in economics.
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Splendid news! Also a wonderful illustration of the exciting work being done and still to be done on the broader contours of the history of economics.
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Honored to be asked to participate in this great slate of events marking the 300th anniversary of Smith’s birth. There is something for everyone here. Please join us! 🏴
Over the last few months, we’ve been taking Adam Smith &
@UofGlasgow
to the world for
#AdamSmith300
. In June, we’re bringing the world to Glasgow with lectures, workshops, musical events, archive displays, theatre productions, student competitions and more. A🧵👇 (1)
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Revised version of a paper from some years ago on the origins of the perception of a ‘school’ of economics thinking at Chicago, and what that meant within various segments of the economics community. Comments welcome, of course.
A new HOPE Center working paper by
@spydermed
traces the origin and evolution of "Chicago School" as a famous brand name. "What emerges is a story of a label of uncertain origin but wrapped up in competing agendas."
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Referee 2: “I have no time for the wrong ideas of dead men. I am too busy pointing out the wrong ideas of live men.”
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A wonderful post on the Coase theorem and some of the interesting implications one can draw from it. Also a lot shorter than my JEL piece on the subject for those who prize brevity and lucidity!
The Coase Theorem and the Post-Soviet Privatization
On the same day, the Coase Theorem was a topic for my Microeconomics class and a point in a heated online discussion on the Russian privatization back in 1990s, post the Soviet economy collapse. In the class, we used the
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A wonderful honor for Bruce and a worthy recognition for his many important contributions to the history of economics at Duke and beyond.
@DukeEcon
@DukeTrinity
@DukeU
The History of Economics Society (
#HES
) is delighted to announce this year's Distinguished Fellow Award goes to Bruce Caldwell.
Congratulations!
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But Milton Friedman … Oh, never mind.
@econhist_allday
There are historical precedents for the Executive Committee of the AEA not hosting its annual conference in Louisiana because of the state's record of violating fundamental rights. In the 1950s it was segregation.
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Pulling back the curtain a bit on the formative moments of the MPS, wonderfully edited by my colleague, Bruce Caldwell.
@daniel_dsj2110
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@BobMurphyEcon
@adamgmartin
how and why economists elected to adopt certain tools, how economic ideas have been used by those inside and outside of the field, how economists have addressed particular questions of policy and how and why they have done so differently (or not) at different times. 7/
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Scholars and others interested in the history of economics, from ancient times to the present, will find welcoming communities of fellow travelers in the History of Economics Society (HES) and the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET).
SHoET is the official Twitter account for ESHET and HES.
If you are interested in the History of Economic Thought, consider joining:
ESHET (or renew your membership):
HES (or renew your membership):
Please, spread the voice.
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Spend a few days discussing your research and that of other early-career historians of economics with
@Undercoverhist
@evelyn_forget
, Jeff Biddle, and the Duke CHOPE faculty!
Apply now for the 2020 Summer Institute, Duke Center for the History of Political Economy
@CenterEconomy
which will be held June 7-11, 2020. The 2020 Institute is aimed at graduate students and early-career scholars
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You don’t want to miss the chance to spend nine days immersed in the history of economics. Circulate/retweet widely, particularly among graduate students. And BBQ.
@delong
@tylercowen
@ATabarrok
The HOPE Center is accepting applications for our 2022 Summer Institute. The deadline to apply is March 1. For more information, see our website: .
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@wwwojtekk
@ThePinkMaple
@Naozymandias
Now come on, Woj, have some sympathy. Not everyone can spot the most prominent US advocate for universal basic income.
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We encourage applications from scholars trained as economists, historians is science, philosophers, intellectual historians, sociologists, ...
The Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University is accepting Fellowship Applications for the 2020-21 academic year. For a complete description of the Fellowship Program and how to apply, please visit the Center website at .
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A fabulous week of events organized by the
@UofGlasgow
team.
@ProfGraemeRoy
,
@tjscotto
Craig Smith and the rest of their group did ol’ Adam very proud. It was a great pleasure to participate and to spend the week in such great company.
#AdamSmith300
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Serious Samuelson shade from the Inquirer. “wrote textbooks …”🤣
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Wait ... You mean the history of economics might be relevant to the modern economist?
“Frequently cited as their inspiration is Simon Kuznets, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who ... developed ways to quantify gross domestic product and other metrics.”
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Shockingly low price from Amazon, suddenly, on Keith Tribe’s award-winning book. Strike while they still have copies in stock!
Constructing Economic Science: The Invention of a Discipline 1850-1950 (Oxford Studies in the History of...
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@BobMurphyEcon
@adamgmartin
And so with that in mind, writing the history of economics is writing the story of those how’s and why’s. And that includes the stories of the ideas not taken up, and why, of the ‘hidden figures’ (and why). And yes, also trying to figure out what Smith or Coase or Marx meant. 9/
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(1988) that I found in Stigler’s archive when doing research for the Coase theorem project. A dear friend said the ‘Chicago school’ moniker could not have existed in the early 40s, as Stein claimed. I set out to prove him wrong, and here we are.
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Come join us for several days of discussion about teaching the history of economics, ranging from the ancients to the moderns.
2024 Summer Institute | Center for the History of Political Economy
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Also a terrific reading-list item for those teaching ‘law and economics’ courses. Will be on my required reading list for as long as I am teaching the course.
If you're starting law school next month, you might be interested in my guide for how to read a legal opinion.
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@ben_golub
Ditto for history of economics. And this despite the fact that the founder of the NBER has a massive two-volume treatise/set of lectures on the subject.
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Coming soon: The Center for the History of Political Economy video game series. “Adam Smith and the Temple of Mercantilism” and “Captain Scholastic” will lead off the series. Bringing history of economics to discerning gamers everywhere. (It must still be April 1 somewhere.)
This is a fascinating read on how videogames (in particular Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, and Hearts of Iron by
@PdxInteractive
...) shape kids' (and adults' like me!) understanding of history.
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As a former JHET editor, I cannot emphasize enough how valuable this is. Clear exposition helps smooth the path through “referee
#2
” and on to publication. And you do not even have to Rob Peter to pay Paul, as the HES is doing that for you. But join the HES at link in thread!
Proud to announce the fourth session on English grammar of our free online writing workshops with
@pauldudenhefer
. Join us on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 10 AM to 11 AM EDT. Register here
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But is it REALLY law and economics if there are no questions applying the Coase theorem? 😁
How about some law and economics from Harvard's undergraduate program in 1903-04? Bruce Wyman's course was a sop for pre-professional education. Appears to have been popular. Course exams transcribed.
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A very generous review by
@OrdoliberalBG
and
@dnientiedt
. Readers may not agree with their views on the merits of the text relative to the lovely images, but who am I to argue!
Steven Medema’s (
@spydermed
) “The Economics Book: From Xenophon to Cryptocurrency” is a fun yet concise exploration of the history of economics – my review with
@OrdoliberalBG
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Great to be back in a real classroom—that is, one with a chalkboard—so that I can use the appropriate teaching tool.
@ShengwuLi
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@BobMurphyEcon
@adamgmartin
As I understand Alex’s argument, it goes to the former: Is it useful for the modern to read the old. I would argue that it is, or at least can be. That is, we can get insights about how to think about things today from the thinkers of the past. But … 3/
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Wishing all of you the very best for 2023, whatever that may mean for you. Thankful for good friends and colleagues, and for the opportunity to do what we do as academics.
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A nice discussion of a quietly very important figure in the history of post-WWII economics.
A Tribute to Yoram Barzel
Transaction costs are costs. We cannot ignore them.
But they have additional implications. With transaction costs, people will tie their own hands. That would never happen in a world without transaction costs.
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