Steven G. Medema is the George Family Research Professor in the Department of Economics at Duke University, the Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy, and a Research Associate in the School of Law. He was previously University of Colorado Distinguished Professor of Economics, President’s Teaching Scholar, and Director of the University Honors and Leadership Program at the University of Colorado Denver. He received his B.A. (Economics) from Calvin College in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University in 1989.
Dr. Medema’s research focuses on the history of economics, with a particular emphasis on twentieth-century developments in areas including public economics, law and economics, the expanding boundaries of economic analysis. His 2009 book, The Hesitant Hand: Taming Self-Interest in the History of Economic Ideas (Princeton), was awarded the 2010 Book Prize from the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET). His most recent book, The Economics Book: From Xenophon to Cryptocurrency, 250 Milestones in the History of Economics, brings the history of economics to a more general audience. Dr. Medema is currently working on a book-length project entitled, “Legal Fiction: An Intellectual History of the Coase Theorem,” for which he received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.
Dr. Medema served as Editor of the Journal of the History of Economic Thought from 1999-2008 and is currently the general editor of “Oxford Studies in the History of Economics,” a book series published by Oxford University Press. He is an associate editor of History of Political Economy and a member of the editorial boards of several other history of economics journals. He was elected President of the History of Economics Society for 2009-10, served on the Executive Committee of ESHET from 2012-2016, and was a member of the ESHET Scientific Council from 2000-2006.
