Monday, April 26, 2010

Econ: French Disease? Or Maladie Américaine?

Steve Levitt predicted a year ago that Esther Duflo would win the John Bates Clark medal, and he can prove it: "she is the odds on favorite," he said in 2009 "to win the Clark medal in 2010."

More interesting, to follow up on last week's UB snark, here's an item hoisted from Levitt's year-old comments, with a saucy suggestion as to why all these French wunderkinder (prodiges?) are working in the US:
In France, where I live, economics is regarded as an evil science that always leads to bad policies.. For that reason (?) french equivalent of the Treasury secretary is always chosen among CEO’s of big french corporation, not among good economists… It’s true that young french economists teaches mostly in U.S Universities, and writes mostyl in english, and in the local media, we never hear about them…
Afterthought: Well, wait a minute, how often does an American economist--as distinct from wheeler-dealer, financier, etc.--get to be secretary of treasury? Summers of course, but there was a fair amount of nervous giggling when he took the job, even among his friends.

1 comment:

Toni said...

Apropos of nothing but the title of your post, I got a kick out of the French doctor I saw while sick in Paris writing down on the discharge form: grippe.