Mike Johnson writes:
Prof. McCloskey,
I stumbled on your blog site by accident, but glad I did. I was a former undergrad econ student of yours back in the early 80s. I started out in political theory (John Nelson) and intellectual history (Alan Megil), took one of your courses on British Econ History and I’ve been hooked on econ ever since. What really hooked me was your stuff on medieval granaries. I also recall your exchanges with Stephen Fenoltea (sp?). Wrote a term paper on the medieval wine trade. Good times.
But I’m afraid I have to make something of a confession. I have gone over to the dark side. I now make my living praying to the gods of Chi-square, VAR models and translog production functions. Sorry.
I still live in the Iowa City area. I hope you have a chance to come back for a guest lecture sometime.
Thanks.
Dear Mike Johnson,
Nice to hear from you! The cure for the Dark Side is Ziliak and McCloskey, The Cult of Statistical Significance. I know you are a person of integrity, and know you’ll come back to common sense after you read it!
Regards,
Deirdre
Written by Deirdre on April 29th, 2008.