Challenges of doing research in the history of economic thought: A latin american perspective

Abstract

The researcher who works on the history of economic thought in Latin America faces three basic challenges, namely: 1) crossing disciplinary boundaries, since the field requires familiarity with neighboring areas of investigation, such as philosophy, sociology, and psychology, among others; 2) recognizing that past is past, that one´s favorite author or school of thought can bring some light to society´s present choices and policies, but, due to their particular context, should not stand as their final arbiter; 3) starting local, becoming universal, i.e, while preserving the universal content of economics, realizing that it must pay due respect to the historical, geographical and institutional diversity of its subject matter.