On Being an Economist

Friedrich von Hayek

Chapter 10 in What do Economists Contribute?, 1999, pp 133-149 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract It is reported of the greatest economist whom I have personally known that he used to say that if he had seven sons they should all study economics. If this was meant to suggest the magnitude of the task economists have to solve, this heroic resolution cannot be highly enough commended. If it was meant to suggest that the study of economics is a sure path to personal happiness, I am afraid I have no such cheerful message for you. And it may be that Carl Menger himself later changed his views: when at last, at the age of sixty-two, he produced one son, this son did not become an economist, though the father lived to see him become a promising mathematician.

Keywords: Personal Happiness; Creative Economist; Cheerful Message; Public Approval; Intellectual Humility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-14913-1_10

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