An Email from the Michael Jordan of Economics
By Paul
I received the following email from Dr. Gary Becker with regard to the post I had on him sometime back, The Secret of Gary Becker.
I DO REMEMBER THE LETTER FROM FRIEDMAN. IT WAS INITIALLY VERY UPSETTING, BUT I REALIZED HE WAS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. I BELEIVE I WROTE ABOUT THAT EPISODE IN MY ARTICLE ON FRIEDMAN AS A TEACHER.I FELT I HAD GOOD IDEAS IN THIS EARLY VERSION OF MY THESIS ON DISCRIMINATION, BUT I HAD MADE LITTLE EFFORT TO CONVEY THE IDEAS TO OTHERS. BY TRYING TO DO THAT, ONE USUALLY DISCOVERS WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND WELL AND WHAT YOU DO NOT. IT WAS A GREAT LESSON FOR ME THAT I HAVE TRIED TO INCORPORATE IN MY WRITING.
ON YOUR GENERAL POINT, I WAS VERY FORTUNATE THAT I HAD A FEW GREAT TEACHERS-WITH FRIEDMAN CLEARLY THE BEST.
-GARY S. BECKER
There is an interview (warning; a large file 9 MB) with Becker and Posner at Radio Economics blog. Mostly its about blogging but they also comment on issues like who will replace Alan Greenspan. I think the approach they are using at Becker and Posner with one person taking the lead on writing a post about an agreed topic and the other commenting is a useful model for a group blog. Posner also comments about his latest column in The New York Times: "Bad News". Daniel Drezner has links to blogosphere’s reaction to the Posner article. I was curious why the Anti Becker Posner Blog was not mentioned in their interview.
If anybody comes across the web link for the Becker article on Friedman as a Teacher, please let us know.
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