Bob Solow shares Galbraith's skill with the pen, Friedman's dexterity with the spoken word, and Samuelson's way of making mathematics sing economics. Take pity on the poor soul—me—who has to stand here and pay tribute to such a man without sounding trite. Here is a man who has done everything, garnered every honor an economist can get, and yet has managed to earn not only the profound respect and admiration of his peers but also their deep affection. It is truly no exaggeration to say that many in our profession look upon him like a brother or like a father, and that economists' faces all over the world lit up when his Nobel Prize was announced.
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Alan S. Blinder (1989) studied this question.
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