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I wanted to have a political career. I thought studying political science would be the best way to achieve it.

I like to think that since I was about 19, I have studied human decision-making and problem-solving.

I studied economics and made it my career for two reasons. The subject was and is intellectually fascinating and challenging, particularly to someone with taste and talent for theoretical reasoning and quantitative analysis.

I've always been most interested in the politics of everyday life: your relation to whatever you're doing, or what your ambitions are, where you live, where you find yourself in the social hierarchy.

I felt that politics was one place where I could possibly have a career in arguing, debating, and getting to write papers. I almost considered working in law enforcement or something like that, but that didn't really last long.

I want to have the career that is my choice - what interests me, what doesn't. I feel more and more strongly about that.

In this age of specialization, I sometimes think of myself as the last 'generalist' in economics, with interests that range from mathematical economics down to current financial journalism. My real interests are research and teaching.

My focus has to be on my career.

History and social sciences were my interests. I was always interested in knowing how societies get organized, why there is rich and poor divide, why there are classes. I was never apolitical. I think we are all political in a way. Politics decides our day-to-day life.

I've spent various periods of my career being thought of as various things, various degrees of substance and ideas.