Interesting advice from Milton Friedman about letting politics be an avocation, not a career, so you won't be corrupted by a political paycheck. He always answered my letters, and I interviewed him on the phone twice. Early on, I confessed: "I'd really like to work at the Hoover Institution someday." And he said: "Don't gear up for a specific avenue of employment, but follow your heart." And that's what I did, and it all turned out for the best.
This is a fantastic interview! By the way, I too was going to go for an advanced degree in economics, but I foolishly thought that USC would be a better choice than UCLA, because I thought I should go to a private school, and not give a state school money. I'd had a good undergrad teacher at USC, who used the Alchian and Allen textbook, but grad school was dreadful. My first professor seemed to want us to prove that a socialist system was best. "Where's Art Laffer," I asked. "He's in the business school." Anyway, I had to take a computer science class and two calculus courses I'd never had, and it was 1980 and I saw how computers were revolutionizing everything, so I switched to a second undergrad degree in comp sci, dropping out when I realized I'd never be a good programmer. But I bought my first computer in 1983 and embarked on a whole new adventure, enjoying an internship at the National Journalism Center and then working with Donald Lambro on a book.
Interesting advice from Milton Friedman about letting politics be an avocation, not a career, so you won't be corrupted by a political paycheck. He always answered my letters, and I interviewed him on the phone twice. Early on, I confessed: "I'd really like to work at the Hoover Institution someday." And he said: "Don't gear up for a specific avenue of employment, but follow your heart." And that's what I did, and it all turned out for the best.
This is a fantastic interview! By the way, I too was going to go for an advanced degree in economics, but I foolishly thought that USC would be a better choice than UCLA, because I thought I should go to a private school, and not give a state school money. I'd had a good undergrad teacher at USC, who used the Alchian and Allen textbook, but grad school was dreadful. My first professor seemed to want us to prove that a socialist system was best. "Where's Art Laffer," I asked. "He's in the business school." Anyway, I had to take a computer science class and two calculus courses I'd never had, and it was 1980 and I saw how computers were revolutionizing everything, so I switched to a second undergrad degree in comp sci, dropping out when I realized I'd never be a good programmer. But I bought my first computer in 1983 and embarked on a whole new adventure, enjoying an internship at the National Journalism Center and then working with Donald Lambro on a book.
Interesting story.