E. Roy Weintraub, Professor Emeritus

E. Roy Weintraub

Roy Weintraub was trained as a mathematician though his professional career has been as an economist. Beginning in the early 1980s, his research and teaching activities focused upon the history of the interconnection between mathematics and economics in the twentieth century. This work, in the history of economics, has helped shape the understanding of economists and historians: his General Equilibrium Theory (1985), Stabilizing Dynamics (1991), Toward a History of Game Theory (1992), How Economics Became a Mathematical Science (2002), and (with Till Duppe) Finding Equilibrium (2014) have charted the transformation of economics from a historical to a mathematical discipline. Besides his 13 books, he has published over 150 articles in professional journals and edited volumes. His books have been variously translated into Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Italian. Currently he is Associate Editor of the journal History of Political Economy. A past President of the History of Economics Society, he is a Distinguished Fellow of that Society.

He has held visiting positions at the University of Hawaii, UCLA, the University of Rome, the University of Bristol, and the University of Venice. He has been one of the few social scientists honored by a fellowship year at the National Humanities Center. At Duke he was Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Economics from 1972 to 1983, Chair of that department from 1983 to 1987, Acting Director of the Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences in 1987, Director of the Center for Social and Historical Studies of Science from 1995-1999, and has twice chaired the Academic Council, Duke's Faculty Senate. From 1993 to 1995, he served as Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 1992 he won the Howard Johnson Foundation Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.

A native of the Philadelphia area, Professor Weintraub received his A.B. degree in mathematics from Swarthmore College, and the M.S. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Duke University faculty in 1970 following a first academic position at Rutgers University. 


Professor Weintraub's current research interests include, and his current projects involve, issues in the historiography of economics particularly the role of biography, autobiography, and letters.

Office Location:  419 Chapel Drive, Box 90097, Durham, NC 27708
Office Phone:  +1 919 660 1800
Email Address: send me a message

Education:

Ph.D.University of Pennsylvania1969
M.S.University of Pennsylvania1967
B.A.Swarthmore College1964
Specialties:

History of Economics
Research Interests:

Current projects: Professor Weintraub's current research interests include, and his current projects involve, issues in the historiography of economics particularly the role of biography, autobiography, and letters, and the history of the interconnection between mathematics and economics in the 20th century.

Histories of the postwar transformation of economics from a rhetorically discursive discipline to a technically scientific one.

Areas of Interest:

Life writing and the history of economics
Historiography of economics
History of the mathematization of economics

Keywords:

Credit • Economics • Equilibrium • History • History of Modern Economics • Mathematics

Representative Publications

  1. Weintraub, ER; Forget, EL, Economists' Lives: Biography and Autobiography in the History of Economics, edited by Weintraub, ER; Forget, E (2007), pp. 402 pages, Duke University Press  [abs]
  2. Weintraub, ER, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science, Science and Cultural Theory (May, 2002), pp. 313 pages, Duke University Press, ISBN 9780822328711  [abs]
  3. Weintraub, ER, The Future of the History of Economics, edited by Weintraub, ER (2002), pp. 422 pages, Duke University Press  [abs]
  4. Weintraub, ER, Toward a History of Game Theory, edited by Weintraub, ER (1992), pp. 306 pages, Duke University Press, ISBN 9780822312536  [abs]
  5. Weintraub, ER, Stabilizing Dynamics: Constructing Economic Knowledge, Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics (1991), Cambridge University Press (Translation: Japanese. Teruo Kojima (trans.) Bunka Shobo Hakubun sha Publishing, Ltd., Tokyo, 1994. Translation (Chapter 6): Hungarian. Aladár Madarász (trans.) in Aladár Madarász (ed.), Közgazaságtani Eszmetötrénet. Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, 2000.)
  6. Weintraub, ER, General Equilibrium Analysis: Studies in Appraisal, Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics (1985), Cambridge University Press (Paperback edition: Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993.)
  7. Weintraub, ER, Mathematics for Economists An Integrated Approach (1982), pp. 180 pages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521287692 (Chinese translation: Publishing House of Economic Science. Series: The Treasure House of Foreign Economics Textbook, 1998.)
  8. Weintraub, ER, Microfoundations The Compatibility of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature (February, 1979), pp. 175 pages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521294454 (Translations: French, Fondements Microeconomiques, Paris: Economica, 1980; Spanish, Microfundamentos, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1985.)  [abs]
  9. Weintraub, ER, Conflict and Cooperation in Economics,, Macmillan Studies in Economics (1975), pp. iii + 93, Macmillian Studies in Economics
  10. Weintraub, ER, General Equilibrium Theory, Macmillan Studies in Economics (1974), Macmillan Studies in Economics (Translations: Spanish, Teoria del equilibrio general, Barcelona: Vicens-Vives, 1978; Italian, La Teoria dell'equilibrio generale, Napoli: Liguori Editore, 1978; Greek, Θεωρία Γενικηζ Ίσορροπίαζ, 1978.)
Conferences Organized