A reluctant founding father: Placing Jacob Mincer in the history of (labor) economics.

Although Jacob Mincer (1922 to 2006) is usually regarded as one of the most important labor economists of the second half of the twentieth century, his contributions to economics have been scarcely analyzed from an historical point of view. The main purpose of this text is to contribute for better understanding of Mincer's work and his relevance to the history of twentieth-century labor economics. The analysis of Mincer and his contribution to labor economics will also be used to highlight the promises and pitfalls of studying applied fields in the history of economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]