steve levitt wanted to be a macro economist, one of the serious people who show up on the news telling you how global markets are moving or why inflation is rising. But when he started graduate school at m i t, "he saw immediately the tacky path" He shifted his focus from theory to crime and wrote landmark papers about abortion and crime. These are not the kind of topics usually show up in the best economic journals.
The British art superstar Flora Yukhnovich, the Freakonomist Steve Levitt, and the upstart American Basketball Association were all unafraid to follow their joy — despite sneers from the Establishment. Should we all be more willing to embrace the déclassé?