Scholars collected into a group within a university department pollinate one another and sometimes come jointly to project a certain flavor or brand of scholarship, often led by minds of singular vision and originality. A notable case of such emergence sprang from the department of economics at...

Much of federal government policy-making and -implementing is economic in matter and repercussion. But most policy decisions are made ultimately by non-economists. There are many economists in government, some of them seasoned government careerists and some on leave from universities. But what...