Scholarly Comments on Academic Economics

Desperately Seeking Smithians: Responses to the Questionnaire about Building an Identity

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Abstract

The September 2008 issue of Econ Journal Watch carried an essay about building an identity for “our” economics. It attempted to motivate a questionnaire on the matter, a questionnaire that was then sent out to 408 individuals, mostly economists. Responses were received from 42 individuals, including Bryan Caplan, Peter Boettke, David Henderson, Steven Horwitz, Deirdre McCloskey, Thomas Mayer, Robert Nelson, Edward Prescott, Colin Robinson, Richard Timberlake, Robert Tollison, and Leland Yeager. This piece is a brief introduction to the compendium of responses that is provided as an appendix.