ABSTRACT
A.W. Bob Coats occupies a privileged position as an economist in that he has witnessed, and indeed participated in, the growth of the history of economics. Coats completed degrees in economic history in Britain before heading to America where he undertook a PhD on methodological controversies in the history of American economics under Fritz Machlup and George Heberton Evans at Johns Hopkins University. In a career spanning almost forty years he has held Professorships in Economic and Social History at Nottingham and in Economics at Duke University, Durham and visiting appointments in universities in Australia, Brazil, Israel and the United States of America.
