Digging Myself Out of a Hole Unsuccessfully

An academic Faux Pas

Over sherry I was introduced to an economist (whose name I shall leave out).

Trying to be witty, but it was for me a serious question, I asked him, 'Is it now a time for Keynes or Shumpeter?'

He drew himself up like Gandalf castigating Bilbo, 'You're asking the wrong man. I edited Keynes' papers.'

'You must, then, have had to delve very deeply into the Bodleian archives,' I said.

'Keynes went to Cambridge,' he answered, almost curtly.

'Oh, I see,' I replied. Attempting to recover, I asked, 'Is it really true that Keynes kept Trinity College out of debt in perpetuity.'

'No,' he replied. 'And in any event, Keynes was at Kings College, not Trinity.'

(The awful thing is that I knew all these things, or at least did.)

That said, I still think it is a time for Shumpeter and not dear Maynard.