Duke Receives Grant for History of Economics

Duke University is expanding its offerings in the history of economics. The university received a grant for a fellowship and visiting scholars program, and a summer teaching institute. Bruce Caldwell is an economics researcher and founder-director of Duke's Center for the History of Political Economy. He says this field is rarely studied anymore.

"At the most fundamental level, what the history of economics does is to provide insights into different ways of seeing economic phenomena, some of which people still hold onto. So you know, it may be that everything we're doing now is wrong, or some aspects of it are wrong. What history does is provide you with perspective."

Caldwell says the program will produce economists with an understanding of history. The 750 thousand dollar grant comes from the Institute for New Economic Thinking. It was founded in 2009 with start up money from billionaire George Soros.