Human Desire and Economic Satisfaction
Abstract
He makes us first of all realize that being black in the world of economists does
make a difference. And then he tells a story in which fortune has the better part
with him as the unwilling participant who nevertheless repeatedly generates controversy
with his ideas. Such a story, which is almost an apology for his being where he is,
forms a stark contrast with the one by Friedman or by Samuelson. Friedman also gives
credit to chance in his story but claims his stage without self-consciousness and
reservation; the latter sees himself so much the orchestrator of his own story that
he chooses to tell it in the third person...
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Timur Kuran
Gorter Family Distinguished Professor of Islamic Studies
Timur Kuran is Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor
of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His research focuses on (1) social change,
including the evolution of preferences and institutions, and (2) the economic and
political history and modernization of the Middle East. His current projects include
a study of the role that the Middle East’s traditional institutions played in its
poor political performance, as measured by democratization and human liber

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