There seemed to be three options: 1. Plow on regardless. 2. Quit economics entirely and move into Mom and Dad’s basement. 3. Find a new specialty within economics that wasn’t so dull. Number 1 was the easiest choice. A few more publications and our hero would likely earn tenure at a top economics department. This option exploited what academics call the status-quo bias, a preference for keeping things as they are—and, to be sure, a prime force against quitting anything. Number 2 had some intrinsic appeal
