Steven Landsburg on Bob Lucas

Bob Lucas was a huge inspiration. I always thought that Lucas was single-mindedly committed to following the truth wherever it led him. Whenever I spoke to him, whenever I saw him talk, I had the feeling that this was the most thor- oughly honest man I had ever encountered. He just wanted to know what was true. He had no agenda. And, of course, he had this incredibly powerful mind and this incredibly powerful way of thinking about macroeconomics, which I found absolutely inspiring and brilliant and made me want to emulate him. And on a personal level, he, too, was excep- tionally kind to me. I asked him to read the first attempt at a macroeconomics paper I had ever written. And, in retro- spect, it was terrible. I should have been embarrassed to show it to him, but he was extremely kind and gentle about taking me through that paper, almost line by line. He spent far more time on it than any reasonable person would have spent. But he did it because he’s a very kind and giving person, and I will appreciate that forever.

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