Mata, TJ; (2011) Godley Moves in Mysterious Ways: Economic Judgment in Postwar Britain. In: Papadimitriou, Dimitri and Zezza, Gennaro, (eds.) Contributions in Stock-Flow Modeling: Essays in Honor of Wynne Godley. (pp. 12-35). Palgrave Macmillan: London, UK.

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Abstract

Economists are not memorialized in monuments. Wynne Godley is the exception, his likeness is cast in bronze upon Coventry Cathedral as archangel Michael (‘St Michael’s Victory over the Devil’, 1958) in a sculpture by his father-in-law Jacob Epstein. On his passing, Godley was remembered in obituaries in the major British broadsheets, that recalled his dotted career, his engagement with the arts, his grace as a host and his tragic family history.1 At the venerable age of 75, Godley penned an essay to the London Review of Books on his battles, four decades earlier, with an abusive psychoanalyst (Godley 2001). If one were to write Godley’s biography (and I know of no such plans) the defining features of his character would be taken from this autobiographical account: a search for his true voice, and as he took many public roles, a nagging fear that he might disappoint such responsibilities. The tensions that made up the intimate structures of his psychoanalytic self help also to describe his approach to economics: an anxious affirmation of voice and judgment.

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