A few weeks back, just as I finished up my stint as a journal editor, I asked a former University of Chicago economics professor to serve as an anonymous referee on a paper.
Usually I wouldn’t ask someone in his eighties to be a referee, but the last time I used this fellow (when he was just a young turk in his late seventies), he wrote one of the most insightful referee reports I ever received. He took a paper that I had a hard time understanding, distilled it, and then explained how it could be redone much more simply to accomplish the same goal. I made the authors redo the paper exactly along the lines the referee recommended.
In fairness, the referee should have been a co-author.
Anyway, when I asked the octogenarian economist if he could referee a paper for me, here is the response I received:
Much as I would like to do a review of this paper, my schedule looking ahead for as much as a year is just too crowded. Maybe next time!!
I hope when I am in my eighties “too busy” is the reason I am turning things down!
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Perhaps a Chicago professor in his 90s might have enough free time to referee the paper. Did you try Ronald Coase?
Maybe
“Much as I would like to do a review of this paper, my schedule looking ahead for as much as a year is just too crowded. Maybe next time!!”
really means
“The first time I refereed a paper for you, you lifted all of my notes and they ended up in the paper. Didn’t you address cheating in that book of yours?”
I had the good fortune of getting feedback on a paper from one of the elder statesmen of the Chicago school as a graduate student. I can only hope that I am half as sharp as this wonderful gentleman. I hold out little hope because he’s quicker on his feet today than me even now. It was truly an honor.
In 2001, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Wizard (Frank Herbert) and his wife. They both said one of the great joys of their retirement was only working 40 to 60 hours a week.
This just goes to show that if you want to be active well into your old age (as long as you’re lucid) and not be pressurised into retiring, academia is the way to go. There’s also politics, if you have the stomach for it. If you’re lucky and have the talent, the arts are also an option – I once knew a highly successful artist who worked till the day he died, in his mid-80s.
Becker and Lucas are both still a few years under eighty. It has to either be Fogel (81) or Arnold Harberger (83) which is a destinct possibility for a public finance paper.
Nominate that man for mensch-hood.
Good feedback is very, very hard to find.
Anyone who provides it – and provides it in their 80s no less – should be set forth by the profession as one to emulate.
Please say “thanks” to this person, even if only from an anonymous internet poster.
80.s is old, I am a securities broker and I come a cross investers that are old and by law i must make sure they are compitient before I can take there investment. In doing this I have learned much more about my industry from older wiser gentleman, some of my cliants have ivy leauge educations Yale, Harvard , chicago. Myself , I am a drop out due to the poor educational system in america. In order to protect my self from the violence I had to drop out unfortunatly educating my self was the only option, because of this. I turned out smarter then most ivy leauge educated people. only because I am more apt to question teachings. So is the man in his 80s. I would take the advise of a man in his 80s before i would a man in his 30s
Michael J. Carrington