Surfing the Past Online Resources for Teaching the History of Economic Thought

1. Surfing the PastOnline Resources for Teaching the History of Economic Thought Ross B. Emmett January 6. 2007

2. 1 Student Search on “Schumpeter” Wikipedia article on “Joseph Schumpeter” 2 Student Search on “Schumpeter and innovation” EconLib bio of Schumpeter 3 Wikipedia article on “creative destruction”

3. 4 Student Search on “20th century innovation” Ideafinder “20th Century Innovation Timeline” Student Search on “20th century innovation theory” 5 Found Davis & North “Institutional Change and American Economic Growth” (1970) but didn’t think it relevant 6 Found Mowery & Rosenberg Paths of Innovation: Technological Change in 20th Century America (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998): MSU has E-Book rights, so student started reading it online.

4. 7 Cliometrics Society member bio for Tom Nicholas Eh.Net search on “innovation” JEH Article: Why Schumpeter was Right Student did not use MSU rights to article: gave up because he would have to pay for the article “At this point I feel I have sufficient information to write a paper on the topic of 20th century innovation. I would begin the paper with the ideas discussed in Paths of Innovation and incorporate Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction theory into the paper near the midpoint. If I find I need to do additional searches to help clarify my work, I believe I would begin at either www.books.google.com or www.scholar.google.com”

5. What would you do to help this student improve his search and find resources appropriate to a paper on Schumpeter’s views on innovation in a capitalist society?

6. Answer 1: Go the Library! • Library catalog is online! • Electronic resources of library are available anywhere • Google Scholar will find articles, and your library permissions will give you access • Google Book may give you access to the whole book • Internet provides far easier access to the “general knowledge” about a topic than traditional library searches: Google & Yahoo.

7. Answer 2: Read Schumpeter! • Hard to do online • McMaster HET Archive has one article by Schumpeter, not relevant to innovation theory • http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/ • But many earlier economists are readily accessible online at McMaster site and here: • EconLib: http://www.econlib.org/library/classics.html • Marx: http://marx.org/ • História do pensamento econômico: http://www.pensamentoeconomico.ecn.br/ • Charles Gide Association: http://www.charlesgide.fr/

8. Answer 2b: Read MoreAbout Schumpeter • New School University site has lists of sites with material about Schumpeter, and many more economists or schools of economic thought: http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/ • And then standard electronic resources of library

9. Answer 3: Broaden or Narrow Search Have you taught students how to do searches? A History of Economic Thought course is an excellent course in which to have library staff teach “information literacy” for economics students

10. Answer 4: Have Students Construct Website as Part of Research Assignment If you can’t stop them, put them to work for you! Have them assemble a website/blog that deals with the person or topic in the history of economic thought that they are researching. Use student presentations, or peer-review of websites as means of improving the resources they gather.

11. http://www.msu.edu/~emmettr/fhk/

12. Answer 5: Add context & images • Library of Congress • Eh.Net • Global Price & Income History Group • Duke’s Gallery of Economists • Roy Davies’ History of Money site • Peart & Levy’s Secret History of the Dismal Science • And more like them! World Bank Celebration of Bretton Woods Fleeming Jenkin’s image of the circularity of trade

13. A Few Other Sites You Should Know About Adam Smith Lives! A History of Economic Thought Blog HES Email List The Economists’ Papers Project, Special Collections, Duke University Library Harvard’s Baker Library, Kress Collection & Special Exhibits