Money and Markets: Essays in Honor of Leland B. Yeager

28 William Breit, Kenneth Elzinga, and Thomas D. Willettstudent expressed their surprise, after serving as Yeager’s research assistant on abook manuscript, to see their name listed on the published book’s cover.The most notable characteristic of Yeager’s teaching duties outside the classroomwas his generous participation on dissertation committees, even those he did notdirect. That Yeager would give such careful attention to early drafts of a dissertation,in his role as even third reader, induced graduate students to seek him out for theircommittees. One student relates the windfall he encountered from Yeager beinghis third reader. Having completed a few chapters of his thesis, he sent them to hisfirst reader, Professor Gordon Tullock. Three weeks later he received a packagecontaining his first two chapters, but there was not a word from Tullock andnothing from the second reader. The student recounted:But attached to the first chapter were four yellow pages of single-spaced, typewrittennotes that extended from edge to edge, and covered both the front andback of each page. What these notes contained was a detailed line-by-line roadmap of how to fix my obvious pitiful mess – with specific references to articles toread, possible journals to consult, and useful insights of how all of my stuffrelated to the “big picture.” Egad, I thought, all of this from just the third reader!Nevertheless, I set about making all the necessary repairs suggested by Yeagerand over the months this whole process was repeated several times. SometimesI think Yeager would send me almost as much as I sent him. Still not a wordfrom Tullock or the second reader – and who could blame them with Yeager onthe job.Yeager’s largesse to students in the publishing realm was not limited to his researchassistants and his doctoral students. Sometimes he would invite students to hisresidence in Charlottesville for a weekend where he provided excellent cuisine andwine. A conversation with him on occasions like this could sometimes lead to apublishable manuscript. A fascinating instance is provided by one such lucky houseguest:I happened to ask him some questions on a topic in monetary theory. Well,Leland immediately brought out his tape recorder, and for the next severalhours I proceeded to ask him questions, which we then discussed fully. Every fewminutes he would summarize the discussion on his tape recorder. Very early thenext morning I could hear Leland typing away at his typewriter. When I got up,he presented me with 23 pages of transcript – he had typed up all that we hadrecorded the night before. We eventually converted that transcript into anarticle which was published by a major journal. I don’t think I will ever be ableto duplicate the excitement I felt during that discussion with Leland into the weehours of the night!Leland Yeager was a very different personality at his home than at the Universityof Virginia. On the grounds he appeared always serious, reserved, and diffident. Athome, he was an attentive host, thoughtful and warm. This change in external