En esta compilación se reflexiona sobre una variedad de fuentes documentales y visuales que los historiadores tienen a su alcance. Los textos compilados no solo muestran los caminos que se abren a partir de expedientes, manuscritos, periódicos, películas, juguetes, mapas, fotografías, comics o pinturas, sino también los desafíos, las dificultades, los cuidados y las diversas maneras en que estas fuentes pueden ser estudiadas por medio de complejos procesos de búsqueda y la correspondiente formulación de preguntas y problemas que le conciernen al historiador en su investigación. Por esto, en vez de mostrar grandes postulados eruditos del estudio de las llamadas fuentes primarias, aquí se opta por presentar artículos que destacan la experiencia investigativa de los historiadores al sumergirse en el estudio de fuentes históricas. Un estudio que parece sencillo, enmarcado dentro de la disciplina histórica y otras áreas de las ciencias sociales y humanas, que buscan comprender las sociedades del pasado y del presente, pero que al emprenderlo se devela como un camino lleno de complejidades y múltiples laberintos sobre el que pocas veces reflexionan los propios investigadores

Ever since the quest for independence between 1810 and 1819, economic thought in Colombia has been shaped by policy debates and characterized by a pragmatic and eclectic approach. Economic thought in Colombia can only be revealed through the exploration of economists’ practices and the role of economic arguments within broader public debate. This history of Colombian economic thought provides a detailed account of major issues that have marked the constant feedback between economic ideas and economic practice in Colombia during the 19th and 20th centuries. This volume is thus a history of the interaction between ideas and policy. Those involved in these debates – politicians, public officials, journalists, and, latterly, professional economists – established direct contact with what can be identified as the centers of production of economic theory (both in Europe and the US) and entered regional and local networks in economics, but were not just importers of ideas or theories. The way in which they read, discussed, transformed and applied economic theories in Colombia makes for a rich environment for the production and implementation of economic policies that drew, diverged and transformed the way economics was understood and used as a source of knowledge for practical concerns. This is why the history of Colombian economic thought does not fit into traditional typologies of economic schools and why it must be understood as part of a political debate and within a political, social and cultural context that demanded specific solutions to urgent social demands. Through the study of what was taught, when and how, at the beginnings of the republican era, and why and how professional economists came to lead public debate and economic policy making in the 20th century, this book explores the foundations of this permanent interaction between theory and practice. This book will be of significant interest to readers of history of economic thought, economic history and the history of Colombian and Latin American economic, political and social life more broadly.