Not a workaholic, but persistent
I retired today.
I’d like to thank the people at Mercatus, which has been by far the best job I ever had. Special thanks to program director David Beckworth, who is doing a great job. Also my program manager Pat Horan and my first manager Ben Klutsey, who were both a big help. And I should thank Tyler Cowen for encouraging me to come to Mercatus, as well as Ken Duda for providing generous funding to support my research on monetary reform. Despite a major setback in late 2021, I believe we are gradually making progress.
I plan to remain active promoting my ideas, and will continue my two blogs. I had hoped to restructure this blog, but that will take more time than I anticipated. I have a new book on monetary policy coming out this fall. The book has already been written and is current going through the editorial process. It will be different from my previous books:
1. It will only be available online.
2. It will be free.
3. It will be published in installments.
4. It will be continually revised over time, a living book.
5. It will be a sort of collaborative effort with my readers. The goal is to get feedback, and respond to that feedback in the book itself. Maybe I’ll let one of you contribute.
Not sure anyone is interested, but a brief reminiscence on my work life:
I’ve worked almost continually from roughly age 13. I had no social life as a teen, so when I was not in prison — err, I mean when I was not in school — I was working. In retrospect, I would have been better off reading books. (I coulda been an intellectual!) I had a newspaper route for 2 1/2 years, and I did a lot of other jobs, including cutting grass, raking leaves and shoveling snow for many of my neighbors. I also helped people move. I painted houses and even one apartment building. A bit of construction too. I graduated from high school a semester early and worked in a canning factory.
All through college I had a work-study job, and the same in grad school. Almost zero financial aid. I am quite jealous when I read about the financial aid that modern PhD students get. I was living below the poverty line (millennials would be horrified by my consumption bundle), and could have easily qualified for food stamps. (I actually went to the government office on Chicago’s south side, and then decided I didn’t really belong there.)
After grad school I worked a summer at the AMA, and then was unemployed for a semester (the only time I was unemployed after age 13.) I taught a semester at UW-Eau Claire, and then a year at St. Bonaventure. I was just drifting though life, sort of aimlessly. Then I taught for 33 years at Bentley, before working the past 7 years at Mercatus. While at Bentley, I had two brief overseas teaching gigs, in the UK and Australia.
I’ve never had any career ambitions, but I’ve had enough intellectual ambition to produce a reasonable amount of research. In retrospect, my biggest mistakes in life were decisions to do things for money—being a landlord in Boston and writing a principles of economics textbook. I’m retiring so that when (if?) I get to 80 I don’t look back and wish I’d retired sooner. If I had not taken the Mercatus job, my plan was to retire from Bentley at age 62. I’ll be 67 this month, and have aged more in 5 years than in the previous 30.
PS. Rereading this post makes my life seem bleak. I actually did develop a sort of social life once I got into my 20s. Not sure what Frank Capra would make of my life . . .
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14. September 2022 at 07:24
Congratulations on the retirement and with the new book. I look forward to reading it for years to come!
14. September 2022 at 07:32
” In retrospect, my biggest mistakes in life were decisions to do things for money”
Ironic for an economist isn’t it? 🙂
Congratulations!
14. September 2022 at 07:40
Cant wait to read the new book. I learned more from this blog and from
Midas on monetary policy than all of my formal classes combines. Please don’t quit blogging… I would have to find a new distraction from real work.
14. September 2022 at 07:48
Hope you enjoy your retirement and that you keep blogging( if the two are compatible).
14. September 2022 at 08:08
Thanks everyone.
14. September 2022 at 08:16
Congratulations and thank you for all you’ve done!
14. September 2022 at 08:24
Congratulations and thank you for your contributions!
14. September 2022 at 08:40
A hearty congratulations and a thanks for the teaching you have done on this blog as well.
14. September 2022 at 08:48
Congratulations on your retirement. Enjoy!
You appear to be intellectually honest and consistent, which is rare in today’s world.
14. September 2022 at 09:28
Enjoy your retirement, Scott!
14. September 2022 at 09:40
Hopefully a formal retirement will give you some much needed energy so you don’t feel so old! It was your blogging which inspired me to make monetary policy a part of my own studies, back in 2009. I’m looking forward to your new book.
14. September 2022 at 09:50
May you have a long and productive retirement Dr. Sumner. When I read someone who writes “I was just drifting though life, sort of aimlessly. Then I taught for 33 years at Bentley, before working the past 7 years at Mercatus.” I can’t help but wonder: does this person have a mild case of impostor syndrome? If you do, please keep putting it to good use.
14. September 2022 at 10:00
Congratulations Scott. Not one who has posted on your blog, but have been reading it for years. You’re a humble guy who truly has left his mark on the world. Looking forward to receiving more macro economic teaching from you for many years to come. Thank you, T
14. September 2022 at 10:00
Congratulations on your retirement! Very much looking forward to your new book and your blogs. Your Money Illusion book was one of the most insightful things I have read in a very long time. Thank you.
14. September 2022 at 10:55
Thanks for highlighting the fact that the GFC was caused by tight money.
14. September 2022 at 11:03
Scott:
Congratulations on achieving retirement and for having a long and distinguished working career. (I don’t believe your career was aimless or drifting. At a minimum, you supported your family and kid’s growth. I am reminded almost daily that I work for them now.). I am curious to see how you find retirement from intellectual stimulation point. One of the drawbacks for retirement I heard is the lack of intellectual engagement and stimulation, especially for those whose careers have dealt with ideas or intellectual pursuits. Do you see blogging and feedback as providing the stimulus you need?
14. September 2022 at 11:18
Congrats! Enjoy.
14. September 2022 at 11:49
what about being a top 3 current film critic!?
14. September 2022 at 11:51
Scott,
You’ve been a massive intellectual influence on me. I’m glad to have been your student and to have read all that you’ve written over the last 13 years. I remember what you wrote about me almost 10 years ago, “in my 32 years of teaching he is probably the student who is best qualified to be an investment manager,” and that still means a lot.
Best of luck in your future ventures, and I look forward to continuing to read your posts as long as it brings you pleasure.
Best,
Garrett
14. September 2022 at 12:34
Congratulations! Your persistence convinced me of some important truths. Thank you!
14. September 2022 at 12:42
I’m 70. I know about which Sumner speaks. Growing old is like the way a character in one of Hemingway’s novels describes how he went bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly”. My own description is that old age is like a chronic disease: there’s no cure for it. Sumner has made great contributions to his chosen field, and as a result, we and those who come after us will have a better future. Thank you.
14. September 2022 at 13:14
Thanks for everything, Scott. You should be very proud of how much influence your ideas have already had in the world, and I fully expect they will only increase in importance as they slowly permeate the world of professional economics.
-Ken
14. September 2022 at 13:18
Everyone, Thanks for the support.
Garrett, It was students like you that made teaching worthwhile.
Ken, Thanks again for the incredibly generous support. Without you none of this would be possible.
14. September 2022 at 13:36
Glad we will still get to read you. I have always thought we were closer in age but I am 5 years older! I look at your description of your age 13-30 and it must be a generational thing, but very similar to mine. One obvious difference is I believe you had a far more consistently intellectually disciplined life which is why you have been so successful in your writings
You are usually the first thing I read (except WSJ—-my one concession to keeping an eye on the world). That won’t change, meaning I will still read you daily. Oddly (not that oddly, if you think about it)I am glad you are younger than me!
14. September 2022 at 16:23
Allow me to join the chorus: Congratulations and Thank You so much!
14. September 2022 at 17:04
Have really enjoyed your blog (and book). Enjoy your retirement!!
14. September 2022 at 18:39
Best wishes and thank you for everything. You are a very grounded thinker and it seems you had an upbringing that was very grounded in reality.
14. September 2022 at 19:00
Thank you for everything, Scott.
You’ve changed how I think.
Your writing has taught me more than 6 years of economics schooling.
14. September 2022 at 19:14
I’ve been following your posts for years and I love your writing–monetary and otherwise. Thank you and congratulations.
14. September 2022 at 21:36
A blank life? What would Capra make of it? I think he already did, it’s called ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Just like George Bailey, in wishing for a wider world you’re missing the obvious, you touch so many lives right here. Don’t despair, we love you. Thanks for the Pottersvilles you’ve helped us avoid. Keep up the good work, writing is what retirement is made for 😉
15. September 2022 at 04:47
Congratulations, Scott. Long-time reader (10+ years), first time commenter. Your success is well earned and I am glad you will continue your blogs!
15. September 2022 at 05:05
Thank you for your on-going gifting of your writing, and your willingness to entertain questions and engage with comments. Best retirement wishes!
15. September 2022 at 06:06
Many congratulations and thanks for your work. I’ve been reading your blog(s) since the very beginning and have learned a lot, on many topics. Glad to know that will continue!
15. September 2022 at 06:38
GIGANTIC thank you for your ideas, passion, and energy, which have helped and will continue to help the world, including the least fortunate, become wealthier and consequently healthier, more comfortable, and longer-lived.
Thank you Ken Duda for helping Scott to make the world better.
And Scott, thank you for your incredible graciousness taking the time to help this eager layperson to understand your ideas!
15. September 2022 at 09:07
Congratulations Scott! Looking forward to reading your new book.
15. September 2022 at 14:16
I think this is great news for the world.
We have to to get rid of these war hawks, babyboomers, and crazy dotards that continue to walk around at our once prestigious universities, and we need to get them out of our government.
I do hope you now grab a helmet and go to Ukraine, instead of telling young people to do that for you. Ukraine volunteers do no have any age limits. At 67, you can still run out there on the battlefield. They will give you a weapon.
In the meantime, please refrain from sending my money, and asking congress to send my body.
Thank you and good luck.
15. September 2022 at 19:57
Thanks everyone.
Ricardo, How’s that Putin war machine working out for you?
15. September 2022 at 21:00
Congratulations, Scott and good luck with getting your new book up and running. It almost sounds like it will be a third blog, except perhaps more self-contained(?)
You have a way of writing about your life that I find often comes across as a bit melancholy. Maybe that would be the case for 99% of the world’s population if they wrote about their workings lives in a dispassionate way. But even for me, as someone with a greater interest in ideas (especially, economic ideas) than most people, and less interest in other people than most people, I find that my fondest memories from my 25-year working life thus far relate to the people I have worked with or to. They are the ones I’ve learnt from, helped train and with whom I’ve shared challenges, little achievements and plentiful humourous moments. While you talk about the people involved in your Mercatus stint, you don’t say much about your bosses, colleagues or students at Bentley. Do you have many good memories of that 33 years? When I left my previous job after 20 years, I didn’t reflect much on my minor and often superseded contributions, but on the things I learned and the experiences I had with others. Corny perhaps, but in my farewell speech, I couldn’t help reciting Roy Batty’s ‘tears in the rain’ monologue from Blade Runner.
Finally, I’m sorry to hear that age has been wearying you in recent years. Maybe your body needed the snow shovelling exercise you’ve given up in the love to California 🙂 I’m 50, and am going to pretend for as long as possible that it will never happen to me.
15. September 2022 at 21:38
Wow that’s a very modest way to summarize the career of one of the greatest economists of the 21st century.
15. September 2022 at 21:50
I m so grateful to the person who recommended themoneyillusion.com in the comments section of an economics site about nine years ago. Also, Ken Duda, thank you!
15. September 2022 at 23:04
[…] 3. Scott Sumner update. […]
15. September 2022 at 23:13
[…] Scott Sumner replace. […]
16. September 2022 at 00:11
One thing I learned about America when I was there is that Americans are extremely hardworking. They work so hard and so much, especially compared to the western and southern parts of mainland Europe. Scott definitely confirms that.
I actually don’t know any people who work harder. Not even the Japanese. Okay many countries in Southeast Asia I don’t know well enough. But the rest? Never.
Congratulations on your retirement, Scott. Maybe you’ll take it minimally easier on work now. Do you plan to travel a bit? If you’re ever in the south of Germany, I’d be happy to buy you a beer (and not only that). I live in the Porsche and Mercedes area, my brother is in Munich, my sister in Vienna, so that’s the circle I can offer.
16. September 2022 at 00:51
[…] 3. Scott Sumner update. […]
16. September 2022 at 02:03
Thanks for everything Scott,
and keep it coming. I’ve learned so much from you, not just in the monetary arena of which I knew little, and wasn’t really ever even interested in. But in how to think differently about facts, being a contrarian based on facts and without even trying to be a contrarian. Your most outstanding contributions to my own thinking were things such as, why singling out wealth inequality and not all the other inequalities of life? And if it is money we compare, why wealth and not consumption? Or, the glaring fact (in hindsight) that income inequality is reported without correcting for age / life cycle. Or, the many wonders of neoliberalism, adopted everywhere even where it is not admitted. I could go on and on. You are the living eye opener.
So please keep it coming. For your own sake too… activity is life. When we call it “work” it takes on a different flavor, but really, it shouldn’t.
16. September 2022 at 03:41
Scott,
Congrats on a great career. You have done a lot to develop and promote important ideas!
16. September 2022 at 04:18
Scott thanks for being one of the few truly original thinkers in your field.
I don’t agree that you would have been better off reading more books as a teenager. That would likely have caused your thinking to develop in more traditional, and less original, ways. The development of a great work ethic in your teenage years has served you very well.
I am often not sure whether or not you are right but you are the economist most likely to get me to think in new ways.
16. September 2022 at 05:47
Thank you for your writing and contributions! It’s a great pleasure for me to read your writing regardless of the subject. I guess it doesn’t hurt that I agree with you on most things (but not that Trump told Georgia officials to steal the election!) I hope you have a lot of healthy and enjoyable life ahead of you still.
16. September 2022 at 06:24
Congratulations and best wishes. Your writing has been an inspiration for a number of years now. And your intellectual impact – not that I understand the complexities or politics of American economic policy, but from the limited view I have online, your ideas are causing change.
Your decision to blog copiously and to make your book available online were absolutely right. Slowly and quietly and non-coercively, you are reaching unbelievable audiences.
Obviously, if you were to record a body transformation for Tiktok and jump into a bath of jelly you’d reach more people, so… have a fun retirement!
16. September 2022 at 06:32
Congrats on retirement Scott. I first heard you on an Econtalk podcast about the GFC and have sought out all of your writings and listened to all of the other podcasts with you that I can easily find ever since. If retirement means more time for blogging and podcast conversations then lucky for us!
16. September 2022 at 06:38
Yes, the best compliment I can think to give is one that was given both others. That is, that, I learned more reading this blog, by far, than I learned taking macro courses in college. I’m also confident that I learned more in many ways than I would have pursuing econ degrees.
16. September 2022 at 09:54
Congratulations Scott! I’m lucky to have been one of the people to have been reading this blog since it started, and I learned more about macro from it than from my PhD courses. Your ideas have had a great influence on me and many from my generation.
16. September 2022 at 10:23
You and Nick Rowe taught me more about macro than I learned in grad school. This helped me understand macro, but cost me a job. I told a Bank of Canada interviewer that the fiscal multiplier was zero, because of monetary offset. If I hadn’t been a faithful Moneyillusion reader since 2009 I would have given the “correct answer” of 1.5-2 (according to DSGE model with the monetary policy reaction function turned off!).
Best of luck in retirement!
PS WIV did COVID! 😉
16. September 2022 at 10:38
Not bleak, just the matter-of-fact approach of a Midwesterner. Reminds me of the Henry Rollins monologue of his life as Cain in the movie He Never Died.
I’m going to make $1 bet that Scott’s blogging frequency increases in retirement. I’m looking forward to the e-book.
16. September 2022 at 11:32
Rajat, The Mercatus job was on my mind when writing this post.
The other jobs were included just to give a sense of why I look forward to retiring—I need a break. But yes, I had good colleagues at Bentley.
I probably didn’t make this clear, but in retrospect I think I worked too much when young, just as I saved too much.
Everyone, Thanks for all of the very kind comments. I’ve also learned a lot from you guys, and indeed I’ve met a few of you in person.
16. September 2022 at 11:33
It wasn’t long after I started reading your blog (in 2009; HT: Tyler Cowen) that you had become my favorite blogger. You seem (to this non-economist) to have a better feel for the workings of the economy than any other pundit I know of. (I have also enjoyed your reviews of foreign films. And there is no shame in having no talent for philosophy!)
Thanks for all you have done; keep it up as long as the spirit moves you.
16. September 2022 at 13:25
Not one who understands much of economics ; most impressed by your courtesy in responding to comments and questions. Never retire that.
16. September 2022 at 13:55
You have also rigorously managed yourself on this platform, in spite of a range of comments, responses, and attacks. Even the snarkiest posts point at absurdities, rather than indulging in contempt and superiority. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement.
.
16. September 2022 at 19:33
“Not one who understands much of economics ; most impressed by your courtesy in responding to comments and questions.”
The same Scott Sumner who calls people idiots when they disagree with him? Yeah, classy guy…
16. September 2022 at 21:00
You worked very hard. Enjoy your free time. At end of day it matters how much you loved and cared for those around you including the stranger. The rest is not that important. Congrats!
16. September 2022 at 21:11
Congratulations.
17. September 2022 at 02:12
Scott,
” in retrospect I think I worked too much when young, just as I saved too much.”
From someone who saved too little, until age 50 … well I’m 55 now and I’ll spend the rest of my life catching up. I guess the grass is always greener…
17. September 2022 at 05:08
mbka wrote: “From someone who saved too little, until age 50 … well I’m 55 now and I’ll spend the rest of my life catching up.”
Both mbka and Scott are assuming the future looks basically like the present, so that Scott will live to 85 and die in 2039 and mbka will be working until maybe 75 in the year 2039 and then die at 85 in the year 2049 while not taking into account 1) the coming explosion in AI in the workplace and 2) the medical revolution from 2025.
(One of the top geneticists in the world told 60 Minutes in 2019 that he expects a type of age reversal starting in the early 2030s.)
17. September 2022 at 11:12
As a retirement present, ditch the 65 inch OLED and buy an 83 inch one
17. September 2022 at 11:20
Torcik, I already have a 77 inch set.
17. September 2022 at 17:49
You renewed my hope that monetary policy could be made coherent. Still hoping that comes to pass. Seems crazy to say it, but thank you for thinking and writing so lucidly and fearlessly. Still working through book #2 and look forward to #3. Hope you stay engaged. So much work to do.
I think you changed the world, even if the world doesn’t know it yet. And way to go, Mercatus, for supporting Professor Sumner!
18. September 2022 at 07:24
Congratulations, Scott! You taught me everything I know about macroeconomics and monetary policy. Inflation, unemployment, recessions — it was all a mystery for decades, and the 2008 Great Recession was the worst of all. Not that it lacked for “explanations” — but they were all incoherent and self-contradictory. And then you started blogging, and made it all so clear. And with a great touch of humor, too! Very much appreciated.
18. September 2022 at 07:49
A sampling of Sumner quotes from this blog:
“My opponents are like astrologers. When I say to an astrologer, “OK, lets take data on a million people, based on the sign they were born under, and correlate it with personality data. It’s an easy test.” They respond. “It’s more complicated than that, there’s all sorts of other factors to consider.” Well I’m a Libra, and we don’t believe in those sorts of excuses.”
“Am I really claiming that young people might be more mature than we are? Of course not. Seven-year olds rarely hold grudges for more than a few hours. I know adults who react to a real or imagined slight by holding a grudge for decades. Young people simply don’t have the discipline or maturity to persevere in that way.”
“If the ECB is going to be creating catastrophic recessions for no good reason at all, why shouldn’t markets hang on their every word? If I lived in a confined space with a rogue elephant, I might watch every little twitch of the elephant’s body with great interest, alert for future movements of the beast.”
“On many issues the Democrats are the party of bad ideas and the GOP is the party of no ideas. On monetary policy it’s the reverse.”
“I was particularly impressed with the talk given by the representative from the New Zealand government but will admit to knowing little about that place, other than that their people live in Hobbit-style dwellings.”
“My theory is that lots of men secretly look forward to Monday. Saturday and Sunday are a steady stream of “family fun” activities, the sorts of things politicians look forward to doing more of after they’ve been caught with their mistress.”
“Go to Japan and ask people how they’ve enjoyed the steadily falling cost of living since 1995, and I’ll bet you get a lot of blank stares (mostly because the Japanese don’t speak English).”
“Our current monetary regime is roughly like a car with a steering wheel that works fine — except when driving on twisting mountain roads with no guard rail.”
“It’s much better to live in a place like Switzerland where the problems are complex and the solutions are unclear, rather than North Korea where the problems are simple and the solutions are straightforward.”
“India is sometimes referred to as a “subcontinent.” But who cares how big India is, isn’t Greenland almost as large? (Well on my map it is!)”
18. September 2022 at 08:05
If Don Geddis is collecting Sumner quotes, I thought this one from the recent “issues” post was pretty zippy:
“The fight against nationalism is to the 21st century what the fight against communism was to the 20th.”
18. September 2022 at 08:10
“Not sure what Frank Capra would make of my life . . .”
Well, surely they would have assigned this one to someone like Lang or Sirk, not Capra. Change “a semester at Wisconsin-Eau Claire” to “5 years at Graz,” put in a beautiful widow (with a *very* interesting coin collection), and we’re in business.
18. September 2022 at 08:25
“The same Scott Sumner who calls people idiots when they disagree with him? Yeah, classy guy…”
C’mon, Todd K., that is such an impoverished and unimaginative view of how Sumner has handled his comment section over the years. The generosity of spirit with which he has dealt with the idiot commenters (like me) is amazing.
18. September 2022 at 12:16
Don, It depresses me to think that I was once capable of being witty. Do you have any more of those? Is there an AI app that could find them?
Anon/portly, Not sure about the Graz reference, but I certainly enjoy imagining a universe where Theresa Russell is attracted to middle-aged coin collectors.
18. September 2022 at 12:21
Don, Perhaps there was one in this post?
https://www.themoneyillusion.com/machete/
18. September 2022 at 19:04
Congratulations on your retirement Scott, and thank you very much for all you have done. This blog and your teaching means a great deal to me and is the reason I’m a central banker. All the best.
18. September 2022 at 21:47
Phew! Been a long journey. Your influence has spread far and wide. Really glad you now have the resources to continue doing what you love and we all appreciate so much.
19. September 2022 at 05:08
Congratulations Scott! Hope you continue being active on themoneyillusion.
19. September 2022 at 06:32
Thank you for enormous work you’re doing.
Thanks for clear writing, thanks for engaging with critics and commenters.
I’m looking forward to the day when the ideas of market monetarists movement on the causes of Great Recession will be viewed on par with the work of Friedman and Schwartz on Great Depression.
And while your taste in films is rather quirky (as you admit yourself 🙂 ), each of your “films of …” posts help to find some new films to enjoy.
Congratulations on well-earned retirement and finding a project to stay active
19. September 2022 at 08:46
“India is sometimes referred to as a “subcontinent.” But who cares how big India is, isn’t Greenland almost as large? (Well on my map it is!)”
Out of curiosity I looked it up:
Greenland 830,000 sq. mi.
India 1,300,000 sq. mi.
20. September 2022 at 01:25
Professor Sumner, many congratulations on your retirement! Given the number of students you had at Bentley not sure my name rings a bell, but you were one of my favorites and I’ve been following your blog for years. You are making a wise choice in my opinion and I know you will remain active here as well. Would love to hear you speak in the future and I’ll be first in line should your travels take you to London. Best wishes and thanks for all your work and insights.
-Ken
20. September 2022 at 10:40
Thank you so much!
21. September 2022 at 19:41
“A living book?”
Sounds a lot like someone who lacks conviction.
The only point of a living book is change previous statements that turned out to be wrong, which in Sumner’s case happens rather fequently. Like when he told us that inflation would be transitory (based on his own failed model). Not surpisingly, he was wrong and the Austrians were correct — yet again.
I also wonder whether he will include the “one-world-nato” in his “living book”; will he tell us how wonderful NATO is, then two weeks later say he’s worried about NATO encroaching on China, and then delete both statements from his living book when his contradiction becomes clear?
Sumner as an “intellectual” is laughable. You are NOT Richard Dawkins. You are NOT Jordan Peterson. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
You are insane! You are as doughty as a donut.
So good luck in retirement. And thank you for retiring. The less you get involved, the more freedom we will have.
In the meantime, I would even suggest spending your retirement in China, which is the type of government you enjoy. Your white skin would also provide their culture with “diversity” and “inclusion”, and you can tell them how you want them to “join nato” while simultaenously telling them to worry about “nato approaching their border”.
Xi will have a good laugh. Just don’t call him winnie the pooh.
22. September 2022 at 10:48
Thanks Ken. What year did you take my course?
22. September 2022 at 13:56
Many congratulations, Professor! I have enjoyed your work very much over the years, as it both challenges my own preconceptions and allows me to pass off your own ideas as my own, making others think even more highly of me!
Glad to hear that you will still remain active academically, as we need that, and in the blogosphere, as I need that. I look forward to keeping the dialogue running!
Best wishes,
Tacticus
23. September 2022 at 06:18
Best of good fortune to you. I suspect you’ll find things to do in retirement–being busy is a virtue i.e. a habit.
I was struck by how closely your life history tracks with my own. I suspect that’s the case with quite a number of people over the age of 60.
There are a number of differences between now and then but one of the greatest is that the jobs we were doing when young are now performed (mostly by immigrants) by people trying to make a living and supporting a family by doing them. Consequently, a 22 year old economics grad student today may have no work experience at all.
23. September 2022 at 11:42
Many congrats Scott, enjoy your retirement.
23. September 2022 at 21:43
Thanks everyone, and good point Dave.
14. October 2022 at 21:41
For what it’s worth your writing has had a great influence on me and helped me understand money/macro like nothing else before. I wish you a long, healthy and happy retirement and hope that you will have the energy to keep sharing with us your thoughts in your blogs.