Jim Devine wrote,
>(The adulation of Big Names is a symptom of the economics profession's
>sickness: one of my colleagues is almost breathless when he mentions
>Mankiw, for example.)
This adulation is by no means peculiar to the economics profession. From
time to time, I've been asked to recommend speakers for this or that
conclave of bureaucrats, inevitably the request includes the stipulation
that the speaker have a Big Name. The Big Name thing allows people to have
the _sensation_ of being engaged with ideas without actually having to
commit any mental energy to the effort.
Alas, no one can claim exemption from this fault. If Marx were alive today,
he could no doubt finance the takeover of Microsoft by borrowing against
future speaker's fees.
Regards,
Tom Walker
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