In 1990, the Society established an annual award for the Best Dissertation in the History and Methodology of Economics in memory of Joseph Dorfman. Historian of economics and Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society, Joseph Dorfman’s family endowed a permanent fund for this prize.

The winner will receive a stipend of $500 plus travel expenses up to $500 to attend the 51st annual conference of the History of Economics Society (July 2024 in Santiago, Chile). All dissertations in the history of economics and economic methodology, written in English and completed during the last two years (September 2021 to August 2023), are eligible. The selection committee will consider all nominated dissertations, with self-nominations permitted. 

The selection committee is formed this year by Giandomenica Becchio (University of Torino), Jean-Baptiste Fleury (HDEA, Sorbonne Université), and Juan Carlos Acosta (Universidad del Valle).

Deadline for nominations: November 30,2023

To nominate a dissertation for the Dorfman Prize, please contact the Chair of the committeegiandomenica.becchio@unito.it 

 

Award Recipients

YEAR AUTHOR TITLE SUPERVISOR
2023 Matheus Assaf Tracing Mathematical Economics: Essays in the History of (Departments of) Economics Pedro Garcia Duarte (Universidade de São Paulo)
2022 Christina Laskaridis Debt Sustainability: Towards a History of Theory, Policy and Measurement Ourania Dimakou (SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom)
2021 Agnès Le Tollec Finding a New Home (Economics): Toward a Science of the Rational Family, 1924-1981 Philippe Fontaine (École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay)
2020 Maria Bach Redefining universal development from and at the margins: Indian economics’ contribution to development discourse, 1870-1905 Valbona Muzaka (King’s College London)
2019 Ola Innset Reinventing Liberalism: Early Neoliberalism in Context Professor Lucy Riall (European University Institute)
2018 Adam Leeds Spectral liberalism : on the subjects of political economy in Moscow Adriana Petryna (University of Pennsylvania)
2017 Andrej Svorenčík The Experimental Turn: A History of Experimental Economics Harro Maas (University of Utrecht)
2016 Gerardo Serra “From Scattered Data to Ideological Education: Economics, Statistics and the State in Ghana, 1948-1966”
Leigh Gardner and Mary Morgan (London School of Economics)
2015 Manuela Fernandez Pinto “Learning from Ignorance: Agnotology’s Challenge to Philosophy of Science” Janet A Kourany (University of Notre Dame)
2014 Catherine Herfeld “The Many Faces of Rational Choice Theory” Chrysostomos Mantzavinos (Witten/Herdecke University)
2013 François Allisson “Value and Prices in Russian Economic Thought (1890-1920)” Pascal Bridel (Université de

Lausanne)
2012 Alla Semenova “The origins of money: Evaluating chartalist and metallist theories in the context of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia” L. Randall Wray (University of Missouri-Kansas City)
2011 Maria Teresa Tomas Rangil “The role of self-interest and rationality in the explanation of international and civil wars, 1942-2005” Philipe Fontaine (Université de Paris X)
2010 Angus Robinson Burgin “The Return of Laissez-Faire” James Kloppenberg (Harvard University)
2009 None
2008 Huei-Chun Su “Economic Justice and Liberty: The Social Philosophy in John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism” John Maloney (University of Exeter)
2007 Tiago Mata “Dissent in Economics: Making Radical Political Economics and Post Keynesian Economics, 1960-1980” Mary Morgan (London School of Economics)
2006 Cristel Anne de Rouvray “Economists Writing History: American and French Experience in the mid-20th Century” Mary Morgan (London School of Economics)
2005 Kyu Sang Lee “Rationality, minds and machines in the laboratory: A thematic history of Vernon Smith’s experimental economics” Phil Mirowski (University of Notre Dame)
2004 Thomas A. Stapleford “The Single Most Important Statistic: The Consumer Price Index and American Political Economy, 1880-1955” Anne Harrington (Harvard University)
2003 Farid El-Husseini “Interspatial Price Equilibrium and the Incidence of Tariffs: The Development of the Cournot-Cunynghame-Pigou Approach to the Partial Equilibrium Analysis of International Trade” Anthony Brewer (University of Bristol)
2002 Nicola Giocoli “Equilibrium and Rationality in Economics: From the Years of ‘High Theory’ to the Foundations of Modern Game Theory” Marco Dardi (University of Florence)
2001 Bert Mosselmans “From Classical to Neoclassical: The Economic Thought of William Stanley Jevons (1835 – 1882) and Its Relation to his Ethics, Logic and Aesthetics” Related to HES List Guest Editorial Dirk Frantzen (Brussels, VUB)
2000 Matthias Klaes “The Emergence of Transaction Costs in Economics: A Conceptual History” Martin Kusch and David Bloor (Edinburgh)
1999 Timothy Davis “David Ricardo’s Macroeconomics” HES List Guest Editorial Samuel Hollander
1998 Thomas C. Leonard “The Reason of Rules in the Intellectual Economy: The Economics of Science and the Science of Economics” abstract Arjo Klamer (George Washington)
1997 Daniele Besomi “The Making of Harrod’s Dynamics” John Presley (Loughborough)
1996 Jeff Lipkes “Politics, Religion, and the Fate of Classical Political Economy: John Stuart Mill and His Followers, 1860-1875” Harold James (Princeton)
1995 Esther-Mirjam Sent “Resisting Sargent” Kenneth Arrow (Stanford)
1994 Emeil F. Wubben “Markets, Uncertainty, and Decision Making: A History of the Introduction of Uncertainty into Economics” J.H.P. Paelink (Erasmus)
993 John Vint “The Wages Fund Doctrine: A Lakatosian Analysis” Vivienne Brown (Open)
1992 Ross B. Emmett “‘The Economist as Philosopher’: Frank H. Knight and American Social Science During the Twenties and Thirties” A.M.C. Waterman (Manitoba)
1991 Sandra Peart “The Applied Economics of William Stanley Jevons, Including Some Comparisons with John Stuart Mill” Samuel Hollander (Toronto)
1990 W. D. Sockwell “Contributions of Henry Brougham and William Ellis to Classical Political Economy” William O. Thweatt (Vanderbilt)