Castle's memoir is grounded in the integration of his personal and professional experiences. He describes his roots as the son of Kansas tenant farmers, his service during World War II, his education, and his academic career, exploring the ways in which these experiences influenced his teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities.
An influential figure in the development of resource and environmental economics, Castle is also the pioneer of a rural economics based in the interdependence of the rural and urban. His memoir reflects the history of ideas in economics and agricultural economics. Drawing on more than ten years of leadership at Resources for the Future, a highly influential think tank on resource and environmental policy research, Castle gives special attention to contrasting elite and land-grant institutions.
Reflections of a Pragmatic Economist will be of particular interest to agricultural, resource, and rural economists, as well as to administrators at institutions of higher education, especially land-grant institutions, and to students and teachers of higher education administration.