ABSTRACT
Developments in the profession of economics have increased the need for historians of thought to take on this role of appraising developments. In the teaching of graduate economics, the profession has deemphasized literature and interpretation, emphasizing tools instead. The primary data source for the latter are the archives—the files saved by past economists. A good historian of economic thought will become part of the informal prepublished discussion network, thereby gaining wider access to publication and integrating his or her perspective into mainstream economic thinking. Most historians of economic thought think that the economics profession has a problem; it is more helpful to see it as a problem of the historian of economic thought. Most economists agree that graduate economic training is superb at training economists how to answer questions but poor at teaching economists which questions to ask. That is precisely the role that a good historian of economic thought should play.
