Lives of the laureates : eighteen Nobel economists
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Lives of the laureates : eighteen Nobel economists
MIT Press, 2004
4th ed
Available at 21 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Lives of the Laureates offers readers an informal history of modern economic thought, as told through autobiographical essays by eighteen winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics. The essays not only provide unique insights into major economic ideas of our time, but also shed light on the processes of intellectual discovery and creativity. This fourth edition adds five new Nobel laureates to its list of contributors: Gary S. Becker, 1992 recipient; John C. Harsanyi, co-recipient in 1994; Robert E. Lucas, Jr., 1995 recipient; Myron S. Scholes, co-recipient in 1997 and James J. Heckman, co-recipient in 2000. This edition also includes a new afterword by the editors, "Lessons from the Laureates." Lives of the Laureates grows out of a continuing lecture series at Trinity University in San Antonio, for which Nobelists at American universities are invited to give an account of "My Evolution as an Economist."
Some common themes emerge: the importance of real world events and a desire for relevance - as seen in James Tobin's decision to enter economics in order to understand the ruin caused by the Great Depression and in Gary Becker's need for economics to help him understand such issues as inequality, race and class; the influence of great teachers - several cite the charismatic Milton Friedman; the right conditions for creativity and intellectual discovery - as found at the University of Chicago starting in the late 1940s and the Rand Corporation in the 1950s; and the role of chance in their careers - the "lucky accidents" that set them on one path rather than another. Together, these individual accounts give what the editors call a "comprehensive picture of the diverseness, richness, and profundity that is the hallmark of contemporary economic thought in America."
by "Nielsen BookData"