Keynes, J. M. 1924. "Alfred Marshall, 1842-1924." The Economic
Journal, 34: 135 (September): pp. 311-372; Essays in Biography, p.
158.
 321-2: "The study of economics does not seem to require any
specialised gifts of an unusually high order.  Is it not,
intellectually regarded, a very easy subject compared with the higher
branches of philosophy and pure science?  Yet good, or even competent,
economists are the rarest of birds.  An easy subject at which very few
excel!"


On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Sumitra Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear folks,
>
>
>
> I would appreciate knowing the exact source of this quote from Keynes - not from the collected works, but from which if his article or book does it come from? Thank you.
>
>
>
> Sumitra Shah
>
>
>
> "The study of economics does not seem to require any specialized gifts of
>
> an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject
>
> compared with the higher branches of philosophy and pure science? Yet
>
> good, or even competent, economists are the rarest of birds. An easy subject,
>
> at which very few excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that
>
> the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must
>
> reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents
>
> not often found together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman,
>
> and philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and
>
> speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general,
>
> and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must
>
> study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No
>
> part of human nature or institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He
>
> must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and
>
> incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician."
>



-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA
95929

530 898 5321
fax 530 898 5901
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com