The Wisdom of Classical Political Economy in Economics : Incorporated or Lost?

Is everything good in political economy incorporated into modern economic theory? With the transition of the art of political economy into the science of economics, there was a significant synthesis of the graduate education curriculum. The prevailing technique in economics, a neoclassical framework focusing on formal empirics, gradually eliminated the artistic components of political economy. Courses on the history of economic thought, which historically played an essential role in introducing graduate students to the complexities of the art of political economy, are now mostly offered as rare electives. This paper argues that there are still insights to be gleaned from studying the classics of political economy in graduate education. We highlight the tradeoff between theoretical cumulativeness and knowledge, arguing that significant teachings and lessons from historical works of political economy are often absent in contemporary economics. We explore examples of useful knowledge in political economy that were lost in the transition away from the art of political economy. To remain a policy-relevant social science, economists should reintroduce the artistic elements of political economy into the graduate training of economists