Mark Blaug was a British economist (naturalised in 1982), who has covered a broad range of topics over his long career. In 1955 he received his PhD from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in New York under the supervision of George Stigler

George Stigler

George Joseph Stigler was a U.S. economist. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1982, and was a key leader of the Chicago School of Economics, along with his close friend Milton Friedman....

. Besides shorter periods in public service and in international organisations he has held academic appointments in – among others – Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

 and the University of Buckingham

University of Buckingham

The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...

. He was visiting Professor in the Netherlands, University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University

Erasmus University

Erasmus University Rotterdam is a university in the Netherlands, located in Rotterdam. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th century humanist and theologian...

 in Rotterdam, where he was also co-director of CHIMES (Center for History in Management and Economics).

Mark Blaug has made far reaching contributions to a range of topics in economic thought throughout his career. Apart from valuable contributions to the economics of art and the economics of education, he is best known for his work in history of economic thought

History of economic thought

The history of economic thought deals with different thinkers and theories in the subject that became political economy and economics from the ancient world to the present day...

 and the methodology of economics

Economic methodology

Economic methodology is the study of methods, especially the scientific method, in relation to economics, including principles underlying economic reasoning...

. Concerning methodological issues and the application of economic theory to a wide range of subjects from education to human capital, the "philosophy of science

Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...

 and the sweep of intellectual progress are fitting subjects to accommodate the breadth of Mark Blaug's interest."

Selected publications

• 1958. Ricardian Economics: A Historical Study. Yale University Press. Review extract.
• 1962. Economic Theory in Retrospect, 5th revised edition, 1997. Cambridge University Press. Description & chapter links, pp. vii -xvi.
• 1980. The Methodology of Economics, or How Economists Explain, revised edition, 1993. Cambridge. Description and preview.
• 1986. Economic History and the History of Economics. New York University Press.
• 1986. Great Economists Before Keynes: A Introduction to the Lives and Works of 100 Economists of the Past. Edward Elgar.
• 1990. Economic Theories. True or False? Edward Elgar.
• 1991.Appraising Economic Theories: Studies in the Methodology of Research Programs (ed. with Neil de Marchi
  Neil De Marchi
  Neil De Marchi is an Australian economist and historian of economic thought.During the 2007-08 academic year, Neil De Marchi has convened the Recycle Seminar at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute with Mark Anthony Neal and Annabel J...
  
  ). Duke University Press.
• 1997. Not Only an Economist. Recent Essays.
• 1998. "Disturbing Currents in Modern Economics," Challenge, 41(3), pp. 11-34. Reprint.
• 2001. "No History of Ideas, Please, We're Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(1), pp. 145–164.
• 2007. "The Social Sciences: Economics", The New Encyclopædia Britannica, v. 27, pp. 343-352.

Honours

• In 1984 he was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science (KNAW).
• In 1988 he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society.
• In 1989 he became an Elected Fellow of the British Academy
  British Academy
  The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
  
  .

External links