ABSTRACT
The truth is: we study economics to find out what other economists have to offer in the bunch of conversations that are about truth. Graduate school sucks students, willy-nilly, into the conversation of economists. They want to know the truth and find themselves writing term papers, a thesis, and then more papers, and then research proposals. Instead of asking questions like, “Is this really true?” they find themselves asking, “Will my writing interest them?” – “them” being teachers and, later, colleagues, referees, editors, other researchers, economists at large, and, who knows, those guys in Sweden. Instead of looking for the thrill of knowing it all, students (and economists) are looking for good grades, refereed publications, tenure, grants, conference invitations, citations, fame and, why not, the Nobel Prize. In the process they find out how tough it is, how seldom papers get accepted and cited, how reluctantly “they” embrace your ideas. So they keep on talking, writing, talking again, writing more. When will it ever stop? When will they know the truth?
