Misquoting Francis Walker

One AB reader should take a bow. Brad DeLong notes something I first learned from an AB reader:

Francis Walker did not say that belief in laissez-faire determined “whether a man were an economist at all.” What Francis Walker said in “The Recent Progress of Political Economy in the United States” was: (a) the better part of economists had never imposed such a test, (b) the worse part of economists in the United States who posed as “guardians of the true [laissez-faire] faith” had lost their influence, and (c) the subject was much the better for it.

Brad also gave me the honor of including me in that Gathering of the Clans:

Economic historians, historians of economic thought, practitioners of political economy, and others are painting themselves blue with woad and practicing with staves after reading Stanford’s David Kennedy’s trashing of Paul Krugman.

Alas, I forgot who our reader was so let me recheck my humble contribution. I see it was AB reader Rob who was checking out the comments at the contribution from Mark Thoma. Caption Video asked the right question – and reader Dan provided the answer. Rob, Captain Video, and Dan should all take a bow. Well done guys!