TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Ashenfelter, Orley
        TI  - Economic History or History of Economics? A Review Essay on Sylvia Nasar's  Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius
        PY  - 2011/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 6213
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp6213
        AB  - In this essay I review Sylvia Nasar's long awaited new history of economics, Grand Pursuit. I describe how the book is an economic history of the period from 1850-1950, with distinguished economists' stories inserted in appropriate places. Nasar's goal is to show how economists work, but also to show that they are people too – with more than enough warts and foibles to show they are human! I contrast the general view of the role of economics in Grand Pursuit with Robert Heilbroner's remarkably different conception in The Worldly Philosophers. I also discuss more generally the question of why economists might be interested in their history at all.
        KW  - economic policy
KW  - economic growth
KW  - economic history
        ER  -