More economics, please: we’re historians of economics

I believe that the history of economic thought (HET) should maintain a strong connection, both theoretically and academically, with economics. I argue this along two dimensions. The first one can be labeled as disciplinary and regards what I call the ‘‘HET-as-science-studies program,’’ which has become quite influential in our sub-discipline during the last few years. I deem that this program is not a winning strategy for our field, and in Section II I criticize it from several angles. Among other things, I provide data about the academic affiliation of young HET scholars that support my case. My second argument is pedagogical: I think that future HET scholars should have a good background in mainstream economics, and I explain why in Section III.