ABSTRACT
Dear Stefano: I am much honored by your invitation to contribute to the forthcoming Festschrift for Vela, and consider it a privilege to express my deep respect for Vela as a scholar and my gratitude for his friendship over many decades. Because of my current physical (though not medical) infirmities and the fact that I have not kept up with the profession since my retirement, I cannot do justice to Vela’s considerable contributions. Indeed my admiration for Vela’s work in recursive functions and computable economics is such that I feel anything short of a Nobel Prize would be a virtual insult. Nothing I write can adequately convey my esteem for Vela’s intellectual breadth, his discriminating focus and, not least, the grace and eloquence of his writing. The world does not often produce such generous and fertile mind and I consider myself fortunate to be counted among his friends. I wish Vela a long future in which he may continue to enlighten his colleagues and fans.
