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The editors of American Economist invited the author to discuss professional aspects of his life as an economist as part of an ongoing series of similar discussions by others. The first full year of the Great Depression, 1930, is the date of the author's birth and the city of Chicago is the place. The work he chooses to do is not heavily armored with math and econometrics. It is focused on empirical and policy problems and on the logic of the theory that bears on these. He does regularly atte...
Journals, Editors, Referees, and Authors: Experiences at the Journal of Economic Literature
The author has been invited to write about his experiences as editor of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) and to reflect on what these experiences may mean for the status of journals in intellectual inquiry. As editor of JEL, he invited articles on topics that he knew little about and that he wanted to become much better informed of. He would approach a potential author and declare his interest in an accessible survey paper directed to non-specialist economists. The process of going fr...
Practitioner of the Dismal Science? Who, Me? Couldn't Be!!
When the author was in grade school, he did not dream of becoming an economist. What set him up to choose economics was Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of science fiction books. What cemented his choosing labor was Gary Becker's Human Capital. Pre the human capital revolution, labor economics was largely descriptive and institutional, more concerned with explaining why economics fell short than with making economics work. His thesis was on career choice, with a special focus on science and e...
Econ Agonistes: Navigating and Surviving the Publishing Process
During the author's career, he has refereed nearly 300 articles for professional journals and as a journal editor have made decisions on more than 1000 papers. Understanding the refereeing process makes it easier to navigate and survive it. Here are tips for maximizing your chances of getting published in a system that is partly a crapshoot and partly triage. First, history is important; and it is important in several ways. Before you submit any article, it is essential that you do your homew...
Epistemic Flagpoles: Economics Journals As Instrumental Rhetoric
Donald/Deirdre McCloskey has made a number of profound contributions to economics. Nothing in his/her prodigious output can match the masterful article offering clarity on the word rhetoric. Journals are epistemic flagpoles up which ideas are run to see who will and will not salute. Journal editors control the flagpole. Land Economics is an applied journal -- focusing on environmental economics, pollution regulation and enforcement, endangered species, law and economics, urban and rural land ...
Linking Labor Productivity to Economic Freedom
This paper provides a review of the role of enterprise in a capitalistic setting to promote economic growth. For this purpose, two indexes on productivity and economic freedom were utilized to compare countries grouped by region and income. The finding by relating productivity to economic freedom index of the Heritage Foundation indicates a statistically significant relationship between the two. This gives credence to the hypothesis that economic liberalization induces growth, despite signifi...
This paper explores the determinant factors of the time-variation in emerging markets closed-end fund premiums, price returns, and NAV returns. After controlling for variables previously proposed in the emerging market closed-end funds literature, such as the U.S. stock market risk, local stock market return, and the percentage change in exchange rates, two hypothesis are used to explain the variation in fund premiums: the U.S. investor sentiment and the market segmentation theory. The result...
The Influence of Economists On Public Attitudes Toward Government[Dagger]
The number of economists per capita in the United States has risen in the past few decades. At the same time, the public has become more comfortable with big government. This raises intriguing questions regarding just how economists are influencing public opinion; we are left wondering whether economists are instilling a desire in the public for more government or whether, in opposition to Keynes's statement, economists are losing influence. In this paper, we provide some answers. We find tha...
Explorations in the Economics of Intertemporal Asset Transfer in Roman Palestine
Following the Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE, there were large-scale destabilizations of the Jewish population in Palestine. Information regarding economic decisions has always been available indirectly from Jewish and Roman legalistic material, but it has been insufficiently mined for economic insights. Furthermore, over the last forty years, new documentary material has become available from the second century. This note discusses some interesting aspects of...
Book Review
Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade
Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade, by Jagdish Bhagwati, is reviewed.
