ABSTRACT
By comparison with the situation in literary studies, the discussion of economic rhetoric or discourse (the terms will be used interchangeably here) is still in its infancy. In this respect economics clearly lags behind other branches of science studies, 1 which is hardly surprising, considering economists' general lack of interest in cognate fields of inquiry and their manifest disdain for the history of their own discipline. Notwithstanding the pretensions of some of its proponents, it is still too early to judge whether the study of economic discourse will eventually grow up to become a mature research program with a recognized place and influence on its parent discipline, The preliminary results are promising, even exciting, and as budding research programs require nurturing, it is appropriate at this stage to focus on the constructive possibilities.
