I've written about him and his book in the past. I became aware of it via Stephen Williamson-enough to bias me somewhat against it, quiet honestly-and there have been some polemics both for and against it-Williamson for it, David Glasner, Krugman and others against it.
I was very pleasantly surprised when I came across Dr. Arthreya's email to me where he expressed gratitude for my positive remarks on his book
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/04/ive-listened-to-nick-rowe-but-what.html
He gave his consent for me to share his email with you. Here is what I initially wrote about regarding him which led to his gracious response:
"your reaction was gratifying to read. The reason is that I was hoping from the very beginning that more people like you, with an abiding interest in the subject, would want to know what ideas guide us--even if you decide in the end that you are unpersuaded. You hit it exactly right when you saw that the method is not, despite what some repeatedly say, any sort of bludgeon against government (or the poor, the unfortunate, and the otherwise disenfranchised for that matter). This, and its coherence, are part of why it is not, as you say, "easily vanquished."
I myself was very gratified by his response. Part of it no doubt is that I remain enough of an economics groupie to be a little star struck. I mean whenever a major economist takes the time to comment on my blog or email me-I've had a couple of others-I get just a little euphoric its true.Just the fact that they read it is just so gratifying for me. I still remember when Nick Rowe first commented on Diary.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2011/11/nick-rowe-answers-my-post.html
It was Brad Delong however-who has also reached out to me in the past-who by putting that link on his twitter feed helped it blow up like it did. Interestingly, till this day this remains the second most highly read Diary post ever. The most popular ever was my 'Anatomy of Sumner Post' post.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/04/anatomy-of-scott-sumner-post.html
What comes out clearly from this email is that Athreya is a true educator who wants to inform the public. In the book itself he identifies three types of readers-other economists, newer students to economics, and then the general interested lay public. In his email that gave consent to discuss his email he said this:
".Good luck in your evidently serious efforts to see what we are up to!"
It may seem a small thing but I appreciate his recognizing my serious good faith effort to do this. In my skirmishes with Sumner he has not only at times insulted me personally-'you are just ignorant of economics and need to stop' but not ever recognized that I am just trying to understand the economic and monetary world better.
Listen, in all fairness, I don't think Sumner is a terrible guy-he's a very smart guy and certainly has his good points. However, one of them is not an ability to answer skeptical questions without getting a bit huffy and snarky.
I have to say that as someone who's a professor-he only teaches undergraduate economics so he's dealing often with young minds-I hope his bedside manner is less prickly there than on his blog or that's a serious flaw as an educator. When you're a teacher you can't belittle people who ask a question-even if it's entirely stupid, even if they're 100% morons-you just don't point that out. LOL.
Athreya on the other hand seems to have something of the genuine educator in his blood-as does Nick Rowe. Nick is someone who whether you agree or not clearly loves to teach and explain the matter to interested minds. Again, not to wholly knock Sumner as we all have our different talents.
As I told Tom Brown, one of my talents, isn't drawing! So there have been a number of responses to Athreya's book. I would say that whether or not you agree with him or not he's very worth reading is your interest is genuine understanding.
I was very pleasantly surprised when I came across Dr. Arthreya's email to me where he expressed gratitude for my positive remarks on his book
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/04/ive-listened-to-nick-rowe-but-what.html
He gave his consent for me to share his email with you. Here is what I initially wrote about regarding him which led to his gracious response:
"your reaction was gratifying to read. The reason is that I was hoping from the very beginning that more people like you, with an abiding interest in the subject, would want to know what ideas guide us--even if you decide in the end that you are unpersuaded. You hit it exactly right when you saw that the method is not, despite what some repeatedly say, any sort of bludgeon against government (or the poor, the unfortunate, and the otherwise disenfranchised for that matter). This, and its coherence, are part of why it is not, as you say, "easily vanquished."
I myself was very gratified by his response. Part of it no doubt is that I remain enough of an economics groupie to be a little star struck. I mean whenever a major economist takes the time to comment on my blog or email me-I've had a couple of others-I get just a little euphoric its true.Just the fact that they read it is just so gratifying for me. I still remember when Nick Rowe first commented on Diary.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2011/11/nick-rowe-answers-my-post.html
It was Brad Delong however-who has also reached out to me in the past-who by putting that link on his twitter feed helped it blow up like it did. Interestingly, till this day this remains the second most highly read Diary post ever. The most popular ever was my 'Anatomy of Sumner Post' post.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/04/anatomy-of-scott-sumner-post.html
What comes out clearly from this email is that Athreya is a true educator who wants to inform the public. In the book itself he identifies three types of readers-other economists, newer students to economics, and then the general interested lay public. In his email that gave consent to discuss his email he said this:
".Good luck in your evidently serious efforts to see what we are up to!"
It may seem a small thing but I appreciate his recognizing my serious good faith effort to do this. In my skirmishes with Sumner he has not only at times insulted me personally-'you are just ignorant of economics and need to stop' but not ever recognized that I am just trying to understand the economic and monetary world better.
Listen, in all fairness, I don't think Sumner is a terrible guy-he's a very smart guy and certainly has his good points. However, one of them is not an ability to answer skeptical questions without getting a bit huffy and snarky.
I have to say that as someone who's a professor-he only teaches undergraduate economics so he's dealing often with young minds-I hope his bedside manner is less prickly there than on his blog or that's a serious flaw as an educator. When you're a teacher you can't belittle people who ask a question-even if it's entirely stupid, even if they're 100% morons-you just don't point that out. LOL.
Athreya on the other hand seems to have something of the genuine educator in his blood-as does Nick Rowe. Nick is someone who whether you agree or not clearly loves to teach and explain the matter to interested minds. Again, not to wholly knock Sumner as we all have our different talents.
As I told Tom Brown, one of my talents, isn't drawing! So there have been a number of responses to Athreya's book. I would say that whether or not you agree with him or not he's very worth reading is your interest is genuine understanding.
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