The core question of MIT Economics Department's history – why has MIT economics risen to prominence so quickly – requires an approach to history of economics that focuses on the role of the networks within which economists operate, their ideas diffuse, and gain scientific credit. By...

The core question of MIT Economics Department’s history – why has MIT economics risen to prominence so quickly – requires an approach to history of economics that focuses on the role of the networks within which economists operate, their ideas diffuse, and gain scientific credit. By...

Prosopography, or less accurately collective biography, is a method of analyzing of what a group of people from a specific historical context have or have not in common. Although it is a well-established method, it is novel to the history of economics. In this chapter I outline how to apply...