Many of us who work in the history of economic ideas wonder about the future of the subdiscipline. In the last couple of weeks I've been more optimistic than ever. This is in part the result of my experience with the Young Scholar Sessions at the History of Economics Society, which have proved to be some of the best sessions I've attended there. In part, as well, I've been impressed by the quality of the research of young scholars who have taken part in the Summer Institute over the same time period. Then there's the conference I'm attending this week end ("Liberty, Revenge, and Civic Responsibility" -- I'm qualified to be here only because I went to Hamlet School). I'm the only economist here and the discussion suggests to me that perhaps non-economists are increasingly willing to discuss economic ideas. More, the median age is pretty young. Finally, there's the recent CFP for a session entitled "The Future of the History of Economics: Young scholars' perspective" to be held at the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET), Porto, Portugal, April 28-30, 2006.
Perhaps most important reason for optimism is the ease with which undergraduate and graduate students in economics and other disciplines can now access extraordinary electronic libraries at Econlib, Online Library of Liberty and elsewhere.