Reception History and the Historiography of Economics

This paper explores reception history as a framework for historians of economics in the light of the impasse between contextual and traditional historiography. It focuses on the particular reception history approach of the German literary critic Hans Robert Jauss, which is grounded in the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Jauss’ reception approach is outlined and then compared to the contextual historiography of Quentin Skinner, and Donald Winch, as well as to the traditional historiography of economics exemplified by Joseph Schumpeter, George Stigler, Paul Samuelson and Mark Blaug. I argue that Jauss’ reception history framework encompasses the contextual and traditional approaches, picking up the attention of original readers which is the strength of the contextual approach, while also validating attention to contemporary economist readers. It provides tools for more self-conscious attention to the multiple contexts involved in the study of past economic texts. It thus offers a way forward in the historiographical impasse facing contemporary historians of economics.