From time immemorial, as the saying goes, governments have had to tackle economic problems, and long before the emergence of a recognizable corpus of economic ideas or a recognized group of individuals claiming expertise in economic affairs, there was an ample supply of economic advice, however unwelcome. The suppliers were a motley company, including: royal favorites and sycophants; consultant administrators (Schumpeter's apt term) various species of “practical” men – especially merchants, financiers, and businessmen, who were often spokesmen for some vested interest; and a miscellaneous category of journalists, purveyors of popular nostrums, and ardent amateurs. In this century – most notably since the early 1930s and, more especially, during and since World War II – both the supply and the demand for economic information and advice have expanded enormously at all levels – local, regional, national, and international – and there has been a concomitant transformation of economics as an intellectual discipline and a policy profession.

In line with the other contributions to the volume, this chapter is mainly concerned with present and immediate-past United States experiences. Yet here, as elsewhere, the current situation and prospects can best be understood from a longer and broader historical and comparative perspective. Despite the professional economists’ perennial preoccupation with economic policy, and the substantial and growing literature on the role of economic ideas and techniques and economists in government, little systematic research has been undertaken.