I love to tell stories about how easy it was to get in touch with Nobel laureates during my graduate studies in the States. Herbert Simon, Franco Modigliani, and Wassily Leontief come to mind at once. Scholars at heart, they were always eager to talk to anyone who had anything interesting to tell them. By comparison with much of Europe, where scholars tend to keep themselves apart, America is quite a special place. Although I left it a quarter of a century ago, this is how I remember its academic circles to this day.

And so I sent an electronic-mail message to Robert Shiller from Yale in praise of his two books with George Akerlof, both of which are quite to my liking. I included a few links to pieces in my Residua that concern their second book. Some of them are critical of Shiller and Akerlof, which I mentioned in my message. Nonetheless, the message was written in the spirit of sincere appreciation. I sent it to Shiller’s Yale address yesterday evening in hope that he might come across it one fine day and perhaps even respond.

I found his response in my morning mail, though. His message is warm and friendly. Concerning the second book with Akerlof, he accepts that some things could have been a bit better. In particular, this concerns my disappointment that the book does not even mention greenery and greenwashing, as it is already known. Anyhow, I was delighted by the message, and I immediately responded to it with a few more words. Most important, I lauded him and Akerlof for bringing cheating and thieving into the dismal science. Whatever happens next, I am over the moon.

My delight has to do with the ease with which one can still get in touch with Nobel laureates, at least in the States. In other words, this is not something confined to the Seventies or Eighties as I remember them. Scholars there remain scholars to this day. And this makes me very happy, indeed. When I joined the academic world in my youth, this was what I grew to expect. And cherish. After many a disappointment with my colleagues around the world, I gave up. But I was wrong. Scholars to my liking are still around, I am delighted to say. And Robert Shiller is my proof.