On the memoirs issue, see his essay:
Blaug, M. (2000) ‘Mark Blaug (b. 1927)’, in R.E. Backhouse and R. Middleton
(eds) Exemplary economists. Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar,
vol. 2, pp. 198-223.
Roger Middleton
--On 24 November 2011 22:55 +0000 Pedro Teixeira <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I would like to join those honoring Mark's memory.
>
> Mark was my PhD supervisor (together with John Maloney) and although he
> had the reputation of being tough, I have a very fond memory of him as
> supervisor. (Incidentally, when I started considering contacting him to
> ask whether he would be willing to be my supervisor a senior colleague
> suggested me to think twice because I would be heading for a difficult
> experience. Fortunately, I decided to take the risk and I feel honored
> that he was my supervisor),
>
> Mark was a compulsive reader and had an outstanding erudition in the
> history of economics, in economics, and beyond. He was known for not
> expressing his views mildly, but he was willing to reconsider his views
> and to be convinced that he had got it wrong (and he recognized in print
> a few times that he had changed his mind). He was not a man of minutiae
> and this may have hindered his perceptions on some issues, but he was
> sharp and was known for being extremely perceptive when reading an
> article or book or listening to a presentation. Mark was a fantastic
> debater. It was an enormous pleasure seeing him "in action", especially
> against his intellectual "bętes noires". Mark was also a fantastic
> storyteller and it is unfortunate that he did not want to write his
> memories, because very few people were such a witty and privileged
> observer of economics over the last 60 years (several of us tried to
> convince him, but he thought it was not too important).
>
> I would only add a story that many of you may know and that he told me
> when I was starting my PhD: When in the early 1950s Mark went to see
> George Stigler (at that time Professor at Columbia), asking him to be his
> supervisor and telling him that he wanted to work on HET, Stigler told
> him to change his mind about doing a thesis in HET. Mark insisted and
> eventually Stigler accepted, but he warned him that he would pay a price
> for that (his other supervisor was Terence Hutchison). Mark could have
> changed his mind and most likely he would have enjoyed having a rather
> comfortable life at an elite Department in the US (apparently, the reason
> James Tobin gave him for not granting him tenure at Yale was because they
> were not interested in having a specialist in HET). However, Mark decided
> to devote most of his academic career to an area that he knew was losing
> visibility, but that provided him with deep intellectual satisfaction. In
> doing so, he made a great service to our field.
>
> I am quite confident that his legacy is far greater and enduring than
> that of many Ivy League economists that have been granted tenure over the
> years.
>
> Pedro
>
>
>
>
> Pedro Nuno Teixeira
>
> Director - CIPES, Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies
> Rua 1ş Dezembro, 399, 4450-227 Matosinhos; Portugal
> +351 - 22 9398790 (phone); +351 - 229398799 (fax)
>
> Associate Professor - Faculty of Economics, University of Porto
> Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200 Porto, Portugal
> +351 - 225571100 (phone); +351 - 225505050 (fax)
>
> Visiting Fellow, OxCheps, New College, Oxford University, Oct 2011- Feb
> 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Roger Middleton FRHistS AcSS
Professor of the History of Political Economy & Head, School of Humanities
University of Bristol
11 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TB, United Kingdom
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel. +44 (0) 117 928 7931 Fax. +44 (0) 117 331 7933
Email [log in to unmask]
URL http://eis.bristol.ac.uk/~hirm/rmhome.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
