ABSTRACT
I deliberately used the word provenance because it is a word that captures a more deeply rooted impact of my personal family history than potential alternatives. When I say ‘family’ I actually mean my father, Professor Keith Cowling, an industrial economist of some considerable note. My childhood years were often spent in the company of very famous economists at home and abroad in Berlin, St. Louis, and Philadelphia, to name but a few. I am without doubt the only living person who (with some help from my sister) broke Oliver E. Williamson’s basketball net and his kitchen window in a matter of days and witnessed Richard (Dick) Easterlin catch a baseball in the stands at a National League game. He received a signed certificate and an invite to meet the players. I also had the honour of sitting next to James Mirrlees at a reception on a boat in Japan to celebrate his Nobel Prize for Economics after he spotted me walking up the gangplank and recognised my family name. This was most upsetting for his Japanese hosts. Not only a brilliant economist, but a lovely man too.
