Wanna Be Just Like an Economist?

Can the history of economic thought be interesting to a normal person? 

The development of, say, Physics is quite interesting to many people.  Even Einstein got into the act and wrote a History of Physics.  (A good book, by the way—I read it years ago and enjoyed it tremendously (The Evolution of Physics by Einstein and Infeld).)  There are also many books about the history of political thought or philosophical thought.  Indeed, histories of ideas can also be quite good.

In another vein, books about economics can be very popular.  People like learning more about economics (for obvious reasons).  Freakonomics was big, really big. 

But, what happens when you combine the two?  Would anyone want to read a history of the development of thinking about economics?  The market (that noble arbitrator) would suggest not.  Until recently the best history of economic thought for the general reader was Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers.  It’s breezy.  Many economists read it once.  I doubt many non-economists ever did.

(The copy I own was the very first book I was ever given by a student.  I was in grad school, a Teaching Assistant for one of those giant lecture classes.  At the end of the semester, JoAnna handed me this book—she had read it for another class, and decided she would give me her copy.  So, while I know she’ll never read this blog post—thanks, JoAnna.  A quarter-century later, I still really appreciate it.) 

Now, along comes Sylvia Nasar, of A Beautiful Mind fame, with her latest offering:

Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius.

I assigned it last semester.  Coincidentally, one of my colleagues also assigned it in his class last semester.  Students who happened to be taking both our classes were at some sort of cosmic still point.

The verdict?  I liked it.  Actually, I really liked it.  I learned all sorts of things.  But, here is the problem:  I learned nothing about, you know, economics.  Indeed, I find it hard to believe that anyone would learn anything about economics in this book.  It’s a book about economists, not economics.  If you want a quick intro to Keynes’ romantic life, it’s here.  If you want to know about Beatrice Webb's marriage, it’s here.  If you want to know about Irving Fisher’s invention of the Rolodex, it’s here.  If you want to know about the Marginal Revolution in economics, the single biggest intellectual moment in the development of economics as a discipline…well, look elsewhere.  Don't get me wrong—there are some mentions of economic theory in passing here and there, but only in passing.  There is also discussion of economic activity—the stock market crash and so on.  But about theory?  Shockingly little.  Curiously, this is exactly the problem with Heilbroner’s book.

If one reads a history of physics, one expects to see some Physics.  If one reads a history of economic thought, then shouldn’t there be some, you know, equations or graphs or something? 

Grand Pursuit will undoubtedly live long on the assigned reading lists of classes taught by professors who like this sort of book.  If you want to read about a bunch a famous economists, this book is great—seriously, I think anyone looking for that sort of thing will find it as enthralling as I did.  Sadly, I think the set of people who fit that category is small.

And so, since this here is a review of good book I despair of convincing anyone to read, here is a good song from a great band which I also despair I will convince anyone to love.