The piece begins with the proposition that the economicperspective on human activity must reflect the fact that human beingstransact in a world defined for the actors by social norms. An analysis ofthe crisis of 2008 is offered as a demonstration of the value of adoptingsuch a broader perspective. Part II offers an historical model based on AdamSmith’s Moral Philosophy of such a broader analysis. The piececloses with the case that the history of ideas offers alternativeperspectives on the questions we explore in economics today, and thus canserve as a valuable resource for constructive skepticism of the currentdiscourse.

In 1971, Joan Robinson entered into a debate with theAmerican neoclassical economist C.E. Ferguson in the CanadianJournal of Economics over the efficacy of theneoclassical theory of capital in light of the Cambridge Controversiesraging at the time. Recent archival evidence from the Martin BronfenbrennerPapers at Duke Archive has uncovered a heretofore lost reply Ferguson wroteto Robinson on or around September 1971, three months before his death. Thatreply is published for the first time as an Appendix to this article.Uncovering this reply, as well as correspondence between Ferguson,Bronfenbrenner, and Solow, shines a light into the American neoclassicalcamp of the late 1960s and early 1970s as the early phase in the CambridgeControversies was drawing to a close.

The paper discusses the influence of Pareto’smethodological revolution on the Italian scientific tradition in publicfinance. To that end, the works of the most celebrated scholars from withinthe first, second, and final generations of this tradition are reviewed withreference to their reactions to Pareto’s idea of science aslogico-experimental activities, and his contributions to the development ofmarginalism and theoretical sociology. The particular scholars consideredacross the three generations’ time span include Pantaleoni, DeViti, Barone, Einaudi, Sensini, Griziotti, Borgatta, Murray, and Fasiani.The main original contribution of this paper is the marshaling of evidencein support of the author’s proposition that Fasiani’sresearch program is characterized by a clearly Paretian mode of enquiry withregard to methodology and the economic investigation of fiscal activities,although the specific influence of Pareto’s sociology onFasiani’s approach to fiscal studies was relatively modest. It isprovisionally concluded that, in taking the best and most relevant ofPareto’s work for fiscal studies, Fasiani’scontributions came to represent the highest point in the evolution of thegeneral theory of public finance in the Italian tradition.

Nicolas Dutot (1684–1741) is an importantfigure for the history of economic thought, as a pioneer in monetary theoryand price statistics, and for economic history, as a chronicler of JohnLaw’s System. Yet, until recently, very little information abouthim was known, some of it incorrect. I present extensive research thatreveals a remarkable career rising from humble origins and full ofsurprises. He spent his formative years in the ranks of the“ancienne finance” he was thought to despise, and thenworked for the Chamber of Justice that he so decried in his writings, onlyto be sent to the Bastille for corruption. After working forLaw’s Bank and then retiring quite comfortably, he continued tosocialize with his pre-System financier and banker friends, at least for awhile. He also joined a short-lived learned society and accumulated asubstantial library that reveals much about his tastes and affinities. Theportrait that emerges is at odds with the image of an honest accountant hetried to project, but also richer and more engaging.

Econophysics presents itself as a new paradigm and a newspecialty (or even a discipline) using various models and concepts importedfrom condensed matter and statistical physics to analyze economic andfinancial phenomena. Given that econophysics is based on differentfundamental assumptions from those of mainstream economics, the disciplinaryposition of econophysics is not so clear. In this perspective, this paperwill analyze the progressive institutionalization of econophysics usingbibliometric methods to identify core authors as well as the structure ofthe disciplines with which econophysics is closely related.