From: Gary Mongiovi (MONGIOVG@STJOHNS.EDU)
Date: Tue Jan 01 2008 - 12:26:24 EST
I met Andrew Glyn only once, at a summer school/conference for young economists at the University of Siena, in the late 1980s. The theme was how to explain large-scale unemployment. Andrew was highly sceptical of my Sraffian orientation, which he didn't think was a useful way to approach any practical problem, and we sort of argued about this on & off a few times during the weeklong series of lectures. I'm sure my arguments were naive & not very persuasive, but it he took me seriously and took an interest in what I had to say. When we made our farewells he said to me that he thought I'd put forth as good a case as could be made for an essentially hopeless position--a gross overstatement of my debate performance, I must add. The kindness he showed me at this early stage in my career--indeed, before I had anything even remotely resembling a career--meant a lot to me. I am saddened by the news of his death. We've lost a first-rate economist and a wonderful human being. This, by the way, was the same conference at which future Nobel laureate Edward Prescott said to me that he thought I'd have made a good economist if I hadn't got my head full of nonsense from the New School. Gary -----Original Message----- From: OPE-L on behalf of GERALD LEVY Sent: Tue 1/1/2008 9:54 AM To: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Cc: Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Andrew Glyn obituary <http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2233746,00.html> Hi Jurriaan: Thanks for sending the link to this wonderfully informative obituary by Bob Sutcliffe. There are many valuable lessons here from his life for socialist scholars (e.g. treating students with respect, the merits of collaborative research and writing, the import of social activism and its relation to his scholarly work, etc.). I never met or communicated with Andrew but, based on what others have written, I wish I had. In solidarity, Jerry
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