Pondering the evolution of Minnesota's economy
I am the William E. and Virginia Clemens Professor of Economics and the Liberal Arts at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint Johnโs University in Saint Joseph, Minnesota. I tell stories about the economy, past and present.
Essays on the emotional and physical consequences of work, and how they are portrayed in literary fiction.
We are small group of academics who live and work in the Avon Hillsโa tract of hills, woods, lakes, marshes, and oak savanna in central Minnesota, roughly contiguous with Keillorโs fictional Lake Wobegon --sharing an interest in writing and public life.
Join me for a weekly glimpse into the history of this place where my great-grandparents homesteaded on Ojibway land near Lake of the Woods on the Canadian border.