The Art of Law and Economics: An Autobiographical Essay

Abstract

ground will be deterred from choosing a career in economics. This was not always the case. Like Krugman, I came economics from a liberal arts background, picking up technical skills as needed both during and after graduate school. My journey, however, was more circui tous and unplanned than Krugman's. That I ended up a professor of economics and law is the outcome of an unlikely chain of events. I started out as an art major at the High School of Music & Art in New York City. Although art majors also were required take the standard fare of academic courses, it was not a strenuous academic program, and it was possible do reasonably well without much effort. The emphasis was clearly on the arts, and many graduates went on specialized art and music colleges in the New York area. I ruled that out since I was only an average art student. I also experimented with architecture in high school. But here I fared no better and decided not pursue it further, in part, because my closest friend had far more talent than I.2 When I entered Columbia College at seven teen I was not well prepared for its demanding academic program (which remains largely intact this day). I had a good background in the arts but undeveloped study habits. Playing tennis and piano, frequenting jazz clubs and just hanging around Greenwich Village with my high school friends held my interest more than studying western civilization and humanities. But in one respect Music and Art taught me a valuable lesson. It impressed upon me the importance of being creative and imaginative in one's work. I have carried that lesson with me throughout my academic career. I strive be imaginative both in my choice of topics and my approach them. Rarely have I come up with a topic by sifting through the economics literature or scouring footnotes hoping find loose ends tidy up. I have often stumbled upon a good topic while preparing my classes, participating in seminars and workshops, auditing law school classes, talking colleagues or just reading the newspaper. The trick is recognize what one has stumbled upon, or as Robertson Davies writes in his latest novel: to see what is right in front of one's nose; that is the task. . .3

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