Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Many years ago I noticed that being paid to give a speech felt better than being paid to be a professor even though it was much less money. My payment for a speech was by people who wanted to hear it. My pay as a professor was decided by administrators, only indirectly by the students who were the consumers of what I was producing. It felt to my intuition less real, less something I deserved. I got the same pleasure out of collecting royalties when my books were first published. A friend and fellow professor who was also a serious gambler, a card counter at blackjack, told me that the money he got the most pleasure from was money he won from other players in open combat. I conclude that for me, perhaps for many others, being paid for something cuts both ways.” (11/11/25)