Comments on: “I just discovered Deirdre N. McCloskey’s Economical Writing, and I’ve been smiling ever since.”

By: charles abbott

charles abbott — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 03:21:51 +0000

Just yesterday I drew upon this marvelous work. It was about putting the most important word/idea at the end of the sentence, the 2d most important at the beginning, the least important in the middle.

I also warned against “right justifying” the margin…

By: Deirdre McCloskey

Deirdre McCloskey — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:36:11 +0000

Dear Miss Duffy,

We’re all in the writing business, and can all use reminding or instruction or editing!

Regards, Deirdre McCloskey

By: mary duffy

mary duffy — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:23:20 +0000

Since I am in the writing business I will order Economical Writing right away!

By: Deirdre McCloskey

Deirdre McCloskey — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:59:46 +0000

Dear Dr. Harnack,

Thanks very much! It’s the kind of letter that writers cherish.

Regards,

Deirdre McCloskey

By: Nicolaus Harnack

Nicolaus Harnack — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:09:28 +0000

Prof. McCloskey

I was directed to your website in some early chapter of Superfreakonomics, which I have just finsihed while on holiday with my family.

The original “Writing of Economics”, in its odd orange and brown cover design, was forever inmidst the mess of working papers, notes, articles, and data series, and would become an irreplacable guide in making my undergraduate thesis in economics, at Queen’s University in Canada in the early 1990s, readable, and enjoyably so. “Make sure you write like this,” my advisor would say.

The book is still in my office shelf today, a little beaten up at the edges. Many thanks for an enjoyable read!

By: Economics Is Hard « Kvams

Economics Is Hard « Kvams — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:55:30 +0000

[...] at least, Deirdre McCloskey, who seem to know her stuff better than most, writes in her little gem Economical Writing: “[T]he proposition that property rigths matter to allocation in the case of high transaction [...]

By: Deirdre McCloskey

Deirdre McCloskey — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:34:35 +0000

Dear Brent,

That is so sweet—a teacher cannot get a more satisfying comment. Let me thank in turn Hal Melcher, who taught me writing in high school!

Regards,

Deirdre

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:39:33 +0000

I am ever in your debt for “Economical Writing”…. I have the original paper, have been haunted by its dictates for over 20 years and still regard it as involving one of the more important parts of my education.
Thank you – most sincerely
Brent