History of Economic Thought Society

History of Economic Thought Society
Name	History of Economic Thought Society
Formation	1960s
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Region served	International
Leader title	President

History of Economic Thought Society

The History of Economic Thought Society is a learned society dedicated to the study and promotion of the history of economic ideas, established amid mid‑20th century debates about classical and modern theorists. It connects scholars who study figures such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, Lionel Robbins, and Joseph Schumpeter with institutions like London School of Economics, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Harvard University, and University of Chicago. The Society facilitates scholarly exchange on topics related to writings by Thomas Malthus, Jean‑Baptiste Say, François Quesnay, Jeremy Bentham, and John Maynard Keynes.

History

The Society emerged during the postwar revival of interest in classical and marginalist texts, drawing members influenced by debates at University of Cambridge seminars, conferences at Royal Economic Society meetings, and cross‑Atlantic dialogues with American Economic Association participants. Early gatherings discussed manuscripts by William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Léon Walras, and archival material related to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, David Hume, Richard Cantillon, and John Locke. Over subsequent decades the Society engaged with historiographical work on Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, on institutional analyses from Thorstein Veblen and John R. Commons, and on the reception histories involving Milton Friedman, F. A. Hayek, and ISL-associated scholars. It has responded to intellectual movements reflected in conferences featuring research on Auguste Comte, Vilfredo Pareto, Max Weber, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Giovanni Battista Vico.

Mission and Objectives

The Society's stated aims include promoting scholarship on the writings of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, and John Maynard Keynes; preserving archival holdings related to Thomas Malthus, François Quesnay, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, and Richard Cantillon; and fostering dialogue between historians working on figures such as Carl Menger, Léon Walras, William Stanley Jevons, Thorstein Veblen, and Joseph Schumpeter. It aims to support postgraduate work linked to libraries like British Library, Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, and Harvard Library and to promote interdisciplinary connections with departments at London School of Economics, University of Oxford, Princeton University, Yale University, and Columbia University.

Governance and Organization

Governance follows a collegiate model with elected officers—President, Secretary, Treasurer—often drawn from faculties at University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, London School of Economics, Harvard University, and University of Chicago. An executive committee organizes activities and liaises with bodies such as the Royal Economic Society, American Economic Association, European Society for the History of Economic Thought, and national archives like the National Archives (United Kingdom). Advisory panels have included scholars specializing in the works of Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, Joseph Schumpeter, and Milton Friedman, and collaborations have involved libraries such as the Bodleian Library, British Library, and university presses including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

Activities and Publications

The Society sponsors seminars, workshops, and symposia featuring papers on figures from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman and on movements involving classical economics, neoclassical economics, and Keynesianism—with keynote speakers who have published on John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, and Joseph Schumpeter. Regular publications have included bulletins, newsletters, working paper series, and peer‑reviewed journals produced in association with presses such as Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. The Society has issued editions and critical commentaries on texts by Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Léon Walras, and Karl Marx, and has collaborated on archival projects involving the papers of John Maynard Keynes, Raymond W. Goldsmith, Lionel Robbins, and Alfred Marshall.

Membership and Conferences

Membership ranges from postgraduate researchers to emeritus faculty at institutions including London School of Economics, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Harvard University, Princeton University, and University of Chicago. Annual and biennial conferences have convened at venues such as King's College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, London School of Economics, Harvard University, and Yale University, and have featured sessions on classical economics, marginalism, institutional economics, Marxian economics, and the work of scholars like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, and Joseph Schumpeter.

Impact and Legacy

The Society has influenced historiography through critical editions and interpretive essays on Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and John Maynard Keynes and by shaping curricula at London School of Economics, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Its archival collaborations have aided scholarship on figures such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Alfred Marshall, Lionel Robbins, Karl Marx, Joseph Schumpeter, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, and Léon Walras, and its meetings have fostered international networks connecting scholars affiliated with the Royal Economic Society, American Economic Association, European Society for the History of Economic Thought, and major university research centers.

Category:Learned societies Category:History of economics