From History of Economic Thought to Intellectual History of Economics

Ever since the first edition of Economic Theory in Retrospect, written by Mark Blaug and published in 1962, the distinction between ‘rational reconstruction’ and ‘historical reconstruction’ has been a central topic of debate regarding theory vs. methodology within the field of History of Economic Thought (HET). This text aims to examine these discussions and the theoretical challenges that have been the consequences of those debates with the objective of diluting the dichotomy in order to make the argument that it is possible to increase productivity by focusing more on what exactly Intellectual History of Economics actually is.