Do You Want to Be a Historian of Economics? Reflections of a Recent Recruit

3 January 2001

Mirjam Sent
Department of Economics
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Dear Mirjam:

This letter concerns an essay I have been asked to write about your experiences as a recent Ph.D. in history of economics entering the “profession.” I am scheduled to present the essay during the 2001 HOPE conference on “The Future of the History of Economics.”

When Roy Weintraub, who is organizing the conference, approached me with the request, I figured you would be pleased to be thought of as a “recent Ph.D.” After all, you graduated more than six years ago. At the same time, I felt awkward about having to write an account of such a short career. After some careful consideration, I decided to tackle my assigned task by interviewing you. I would like to find out from you whether you agree to this and when we could meet.

I hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely,
Esther Sent

Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 16:58:49 -0500
To: sent.2@nd.edu (Esther Sent)
From: Mirjam Sent <Mirjam.Sent.2@nd.edu>
Subject: Interview

Dear Esther,

In response to your letter of 3 January, I agree that you're faced with a rather difficult task. I'll be more than happy to help you, of course. Why don't we conduct the interview before classes start again next week?

Best,
Mirjam

Interview:
Esther Sent with Mirjam Sent, Conducted on Monday, 15 January at the University of Notre Dame.

Esther Sent: For the record, can you give me a brief overview of your educational and professional background?
Mirjam Sent: Yes, I am currently employed as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. And I am also a faculty fellow in the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values. I started here in 1994. Before that, I did my Ph.D. at Stanford University from 1989 until 1994. And before that, from 1985 until 1989, I was an undergraduate student at the University of Amsterdam.

Esther: How did you become interested in economics?
Mirjam: Um . . . How did I become interested in economics? Well, mostly, I grew up in a socialist family, so to speak, and in the Netherlands that is actually something that you can be proud of. I suppose, in the United States, you have to be kind of careful about expressing such backgrounds. My grandfather was chair of the society for sexual liberation [laughs], which, incidentally, is connected to the fact that my parents were only sixteen and eighteen when I was born, but that is a long story and I am moving away from the subject. So, my dad, then, was a member, an active member, or still is an active member, of the labor party, is very active in the union, in environmental movements. And that was the tradition that I grew up in. So, I have always been very active in radical youth movements and things like that. So, I had this desire to improve the world, and, little did I know, I felt that I could do that by studying economics and probably going into politics. That was my goal. One thing I should explain is that, in the Netherlands, when you start your undergraduate education at the age of eighteen, you just do your major. You do not do anything else. So you basically do your major for four years.

Esther: How did you become interested in the history of economics, then?
Mirjam: As I mentioned, the reason I started studying economics is because I had this idea to improve the world, and then I realized that economics was not going to help me much in improving the world, so maybe instead of improving the world, what I should...