Roads to Wisdom, Conversations with Ten Nobel Laureates in Economics

Karen Ilse Horn, Humboldt-University Berlin and Erfurt University, Germany

Karen Horn’s remarkable interviews with ten Nobel Laureates explore the conditions required for scientific progress by navigating the ‘roads to wisdom’ in economic science.

‘Horn presents extensive background material on the sample of laureates in economic methodology. The book contains chapters with elaborate discussions of purpose and theory, choices and methods as well as postscripts on findings and insights. . . The vocabulary of economics has been enriched by core thoughts of the ten contributors, which will provide practitioners of economics with challenging problems to be solved in the twenty-first century and beyond. This fine, absorbing and lucid book has the potential of serving as an inspiration to new generations of economics students.’
– Lall Ramratten and Michael Szenberg, EH.NET

‘This is a beautifully written and engaging book. At its heart is a series of structured interviews with ten Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics that provide fascinating insights into the main influences on their career paths and pioneering work. Karen Horn is to be applauded, not just for her wide-ranging scholarship and thought-provoking analysis but also for producing a non-technical yet rigorous book which is eminently accessible to non-specialists. In short this an excellent volume which comes highly recommended.’
– Howard R. Vane, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

‘Karen Horn’s questions are insightful, her notes are accurate and informative, and her summing up of the central question of creativity that she poses in the book is cogent and to the point. All in all, this book is difficult to put down and I can’t imagine any reader who will not fail to learn a great deal about economics along the way.’
– The late Mark Blaug, formerly of the University of London and University of Buckingham, UK