My assignment is to describe how I work. I take on this task
with mixed feelings. One can easily become vain in the process
of public introspection, and vanity is a trait best left private. It is
not entirely clear to me why anyone should care about
idiosyncrasies--except, perhaps, for my colleagues, students,
and family, who have no choice but to live with them.
Yet when other economists write essays of this sort, I enjoy
reading them. I like to think that these essays edify me in some
way, but at the very least they appeal to the voyeur in me. So, I
figured, others may learn from a brief essay about how I work.
Or, at least, they may be amused by it.
I have organized this essay around six rules of thumb that I
follow as I go about my working life. I have chosen these rules
largely for their positive value-- they describe my behavior. I do
not pretend that the way I work necessarily holds any
prescriptive value for anyone else. But it may. If these rules of
thumb ring true to others and help them to run their lives, so
much the better.