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Like most people, I began life with no intention of becoming an economist. Yet here I am 60 years later telling anyone who will listen how economics can make their lives better. In my day job, I am the Chief Economist at a price regulation agency. I got there by being a consulting economist for about fifteen years. I didn't take the normal path to this career. First, my ambition was to be an astrophysicist, and that is where I got my degree. Then I thought architecture would balance out my left-brain tendencies with creativity. All the time it was dawning on me that some big things were happening to the world, and that economics was really the key to understanding the signal that was trying to break through all the static.
My chance came to do economics, and it was much more interesting than I expected, as someone with a non-economic background. Eventually, I found myself being cross-examined in the Federal Court in Melbourne by a distinguished barrister who was determined to prove that I was not a real economist. He failed to convince the judge, and so here we are!
Like most people, I am astounded that the modern world has gotten into the mess it has, given the number of good people and their good intentions, not to mention our towering scientific achievements of the past 2000 years or more. What went wrong? I started writing these books to find out for myself and to develop a road-map to a better place.
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