Robert Solow, “Notes on Coping.” In Szenberg ed. Eminent Economists: their Life Philosophy, 1992, p270
“Interest in personalities had already gone further than is healthy in the literature of economics, and further still in the culture at large. I do not suppose that anyone would be crass enough to say or believe that the personal characteristics of an author have any bearing on the truth or falsity or value of her or his written work. I would not deny that the personality traits of an author have quite a lot to do with the differential success and diffusion of ideas within the profession, and even more so outside the profession. But that is something to be deplored; and even if it is inevitable, it should certainly not be encouraged.”
