ABSTRACT
Academia can be thought of as a group of neighboring tribes, each occupying a particular territory, which it cultivates with tools that seem appropriate for that terrain and climate. Most of the time, members of tribes remain in their home areas, with amicable but not intimate relations with their neighbors. There is often some cultivation in border areas, with occasional collaboration across tribal lines. However, during some periods, perhaps because of technological developments, tribes invade one another’s territories, and tribal members raised in one territory begin cultivation in another. Relationships may become hostile, but there may also be trade and cooperation. With apologies to Axel Leijonhufvud (1981), we will use this parable to discuss the relationships between economics and other social sciences. Our focus is on the expansion and reorientation of economics in the last forty years. However, to understand better these trends, we start with a brief overview of the first sixty years of the twentieth century. Even though we primarily review the evolution of economics in the United States, we mention some of the differences between social science in the United Kingdom and the United States (the Anglo-Saxon experience) and that of continental Europe.
