Dr. Byron M. Gillory’s reading in the history and philosophy of economics is oriented toward understanding the intellectual foundations, methodological commitments, and conceptual evolution of the discipline. His approach treats economics not merely as a technical science, but as a historically situated body of thought shaped by philosophical assumptions about knowledge, explanation, causality, and human action.

In the history of economic thought, Dr. Gillory focuses on major theorists, schools, and turning points that have structured how economic reasoning developed over time. This includes sustained engagement with classical political economy, the marginalist revolution, the rise of formal general equilibrium theory, the Keynesian and post-Keynesian traditions, the development of modern macroeconomics, and the emergence of econometrics and mathematical formalism. These works are read not as antiquarian history, but as essential sources for understanding why contemporary economics looks the way it does.

His reading emphasizes original texts and serious secondary scholarship, prioritizing authors who clarify how economic ideas evolved in response to philosophical debates, mathematical innovations, and empirical challenges. Particular attention is given to how shifts in methodology—such as the move from verbal reasoning to formal modeling, and from descriptive analysis to statistical inference—reshaped the scope and limits of economic explanation.

In the philosophy of economics, Dr. Gillory engages with foundational questions concerning methodology, scientific explanation, model-building, and inference. This includes careful study of debates over realism and abstraction, the role of models and idealizations, the status of assumptions, the nature of causality, and the relationship between theory and evidence. These works inform a reflective understanding of what economics can and cannot claim as a science.

Dr. Gillory approaches the philosophy of economics as a critical but constructive discipline. The aim is not to undermine economic theory, but to clarify its logical structure, epistemic limits, and proper domain of application. Philosophical analysis is treated as a complement to technical competence, sharpening judgment rather than substituting for formal or empirical work.

Across both history and philosophy, his reading is integrative and cumulative. Canonical texts are revisited as theoretical and empirical expertise deepens, allowing historical insight and philosophical reflection to inform contemporary research questions. This approach reinforces intellectual continuity while guarding against unexamined assumptions and methodological drift.

The purpose of this reading program is to cultivate historical literacy, methodological self-awareness, and conceptual precision. It reflects a view of economics as a discipline whose progress depends not only on technical innovation, but on sustained engagement with its own intellectual foundations.