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Societies for the History of Economics <[log in to unmask]>
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David Mitch <[log in to unmask]>
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Wed, 4 Feb 2009 19:50:36 -0500
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One possibility for another Stigler quotation in place of the "Economics
or Ethics" quote given by David Colander is

"I know nothing about macroeconomics and I thank God for it every day."

One problem is that I cannot immediately provide a source for this. I
distinctly remember that Stigler made this statement but whether orally or
in print

I am not sure at this point. When I googled the statement, it did surface
on someone's blog attributed to Stigler but that didn't provide a source
either.

I think it fair to say that Stigler had this attititude about
Macroeconomics and the quote does capture the acerbic tone so distinctive
of Stigler. He does
convey this general sentiment on p. 51 of Memoirs of an Unregulated
Economist but in a much blander manner: "It says a good deal about my own
immunity to some of the important intellectual movements in economics that
I never became seriously engaged in the study of the movements of
aggregate income and employment --- now called macroeconomics. This
abstention from the subject was certainly not due to my training. Well
before Keynes's book appeared, the Chicago economists were urging the need
for monetary expansion and public works programs....Perhaps I had a
subconscious desire to avoid problems of overwhelming complexity..."

I don't have a copy of Stigler's _The Economist as Preacher and other
Essays_ ready to hand--so maybe   the "I know nothing about macro" quote
is in there. If anyone else can document where Stigler made the
"I know nothing about macro" statement I would be interested in the details.

David Mitch

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