ABSTRACT
To discuss the future of the history of economic thought (henceforth HET), I thought I would have to start by looking at its past, i.e. how it was conceived and practised by the Great Masters and moulded into a canonical form; then I would have to move on to assess the present, i.e. the current practices and the major players; and finally I would have to look for clues to divine its future. I soon discovered that, following this path, I would never get beyond the first stage, so much could be said about the earlier phases of the subject – so I decided to take an intermediate route, looking at the styles and trends that have shaped the subject in the past twenty years or so. In doing so, however, I peer into past history, to trace their roots and ancestry. As for the future of the history of economic thought, I can only make some tentative guesses as to which branches are likely to grow faster and burgeon with blossom and fruits.
