In Memoriam

Of a great intellect and once close friendship Edmund Strother Phelps had a superb — and genuinely open mind. Our conversations were genuine give and take through which minds were easily changed. He generously credited others for their work (inter alia citing me thrice in his Nobel lecture). He was funny, witty, and quick to laugh. His love for music was deep, genuine, and wide — from opera, to jazz to musicals. He played the lead trumpet in his school band and in later life would enthusiastically and engagingly (as I can testify) belt out The Old Man River.

In 2012 he inscribed in my copy of his book: “great friend, great mind” Here propriety demands I stop. “De mortuis nil nisi bonum.” In his Nobel autobiography he accurately and succinctly credited me with having developed the journal Capitalism and Society. Ned’s later accounts did not. Dedication to the truth is not always valued by towering intellects and the great are not always good. Was he sincere in the 2012 inscription? Our “great friendship” certainly didn’t last. Did he really think I had a “great mind?” Never mind. best to just remember the greatness of Ned’s intellect