This paper has two main goals. The first is to study the links between the "new" economic theories, this is, the "new" trade theory, the "new" growth theory and the "new" economic geography. These are three apparently distinct strands of economics, yet they have a common motivation: the role of...

In 1481 when King John II ascended to the throne of Portugal, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. A quarter of a century later, Portugal all but ruled the world, economically and scientifically – at least. This article seeks to investigate the policy decisions of King John II and his successor,...

William Darity, M’Balou Camara, and Nancy MacLean (2022) claim that W.H. Hutt was a white supremacist. We show that they reach this conclusion via strained interpretations and citation errors, and we describe documentary evidence that casts doubt on their thesis

Garrett Hardin’s “The Tragedy of the Commons” (1968) has been incredibly influential generally and within economics, and it remains important despite some historical and conceptual flaws. Hardin focused on the stress population growth inevitably placed on environmental resources....

This paper documents the disciplinary exchanges between economists and engineers at Stanford throughout the 20th century. We elucidate how this cross-fertilization was mediated by the institutional structure of the university. We outline the role of key scholars such as Kenneth Arrow and Robert...

Walter Heller's success in convincing JF Kennedy to pass a "tax cut" when he was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in the 1960s is often heralded as the poster child for economists' policy influence, yet also sometimes seen as a lost golden age. The purpose of this paper is to...