My favorite Art Goldberger quote

I saw a paper today on heritability and savings. It made me think of my econometrics teacher, Art Goldberger, who once wrote:

Professor Hans Eysenck was so moved by the twin study that he immedi- ately announced to Hodgkinson that it "really tells the [Royal] Commis- sion [on the Distribution of Income and Wealth] that they might as well pack up" (The Times, 13 May 1977). (A powerful intellect was at work. In the same vein, if it were shown that a large proportion of the variance in eyesight were due to genetic causes, then the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Eyeglasses might as well pack up. And if it were shown that most of the variation in rainfall is due to natural causes, then the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Umbrellas could pack up too.)

From "Heritability," Economica, 1979, 46, 327-47.