1. Popick 23-Mar-07 at 11:52 am

    I think that its very difficult to rely on the census classification of “economist” because the discipline itself crosses between and involes so many other different fields.

    An “economist” could easily be classified as a demographer, statistician, historian, sociologist, etc.” I prefer to think of “economists” as those who utilize the principles of economic reasoning to solve problems, whatever field that involves.

    Of course, I’m also wedded to Austrian thought, so I’m not exactly “mainstream”

  2. Deirdre McCloskey 27-Mar-07 at 8:52 am

    Dear Popick:

    Yeah. Paul Samuelson (my mother’s tennis partner, I mean: that one) used the silly joke about “economists being what economists do” or the like. Count on PAS to use an intellectual cliche to solve a problem. But 50 years on I doubt that we—I mean The Authors—have a much better solution! I still favor Marshall, “the study of mankind ['humanity', if you please, Professor]in the ordinary business of life,” because it is a big tent—even if the Marshallians were not a particularly big tent themselves. It will include institutionalists, Marxists, Austrians like you, and even Austrian fellow travelers like me.

  3. Alison Butler 15-Aug-07 at 7:15 pm

    I think that when describing who economists are, some demographic information is useful, particularly since the text focuses on different perspectives. I believe that the lack of US-born economists of color and women economists is both a symptom and a result of the definition of “pure economics.” I am also a bit perplexed that no numbers for US economists are provided.

  4. Deirdre McCloskey 28-Aug-07 at 8:11 pm

    Dear Dr. Butler,

    We tried, but found it maddeningly difficult to figure out what an “economist” was in the US. Go ahead, try: you’ll go crazy, too! I mean the figures differ by a factor of ten! But you’re right on track, I think, about the Samuelsonianism (not “pure”; it’s not) causing women and people of color to view economics askance.

    Regards,

    Deirdre

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