But of course he does not understand it. His obduracy is bound to annoy an economist. Even so, we agree on an awful lot. Economic analysis cherishes the illusion that one good reason should be enough, but the determinants of complex processes are invariably plural and interrelated. I was a sophomore, a very wise fool, and did not agree with McClelland.
Landes does agree.
I wish I knew as much now as I did as a sophomore, but I now think my younger self was wrong. To do the science right you have to control for all the variables, not just pray that the S variables won't interfere. That said, Landes and I would now get back to quarreling about numbers. He would say that S variables are not measurable. The trouble is that culture is startling, ironically unpredictable.