"As I remember, Bill X fixed my washing machine. My husband, Harry X, brought him home to talk economics after a Cambridge dinner in hall and they walked in on my frustration with the washer. I met a slight-statured, quiet man who modestly asked if he could help. He tried something with a screw-driver which may have worked - or perhaps it didn't work - and went back to talking economics'"
Who were "Harry" and Bill?
© 2013, David E. Giles
just guessing: harry markowitz and bill sharpe ?
ReplyDeleteBill has to be Bill Phillips
ReplyDeleteCorrect! And who was Harry?
DeleteHmm... I think Coase was still in London while Phillips was there.
DeleteHarry Johnson no doubt.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it was. The quote is from Elizabeth Johnson, "Economist - Washing Machine Fixer", in R. Leeson (ed.), "A. W. H. Phillips: Collected Works in Contemporary Perspective", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 200, p. 23.
DeleteI don't think the timelines match.
DeleteExcellent bit of trivia.
Delete