The ideas of economists and political philos ophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct econo mist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. Keynes (1936). In this time when so many are questioning the value and relevance of doing economics in the policy domain, the above quote from Keynes bears rereading. I first noticed it as a graduate student back in the early 1960s, it resonated (to use a modern term) then, and it still does. I have been practicing in the interesting field that might be called policy economics for three decades now. As is probably true of anybody in the field, there have been high points and low points, cases where my struggle was right and my side lost the battle, cases where my struggle was right and my side may have won the battle, cases where I still believe now what I believed then, and cases where I have changed my mind. But one point on which I have not changed my mind involves the overall value of the effort. Three decades ago I ventured forth in the idealistic hope that some time, in some way, what I might be doing would pay off. After all that has happened, I still retain this faith. A lot has happened, some of it depressing. Comparing the field of policy economics now and then, there has been a noticeable change. In the '60s there was a view (not always acted upon, to be sure) that policy should be far-sighted towards the future and generous towards those of low incomes. Policy research was viewed as an important link in both chains. Today, it is harder to make all arguments? harder to argue for far-sighted, high saving policies; harder to argue for generosity towards low income people; harder to defend policy research. Certainly there are reasons that these arguments are harder to make?some of the predictions of beneficial effects of anti-poverty programs have not been borne out, and some of the presumed values of policy research have not materialized. At the same time, I personally feel that now we have replaced too much optimism with too much skepticism on the other side of these arguments. But this is not the only domain of life where we are sadder but wiser, and sadder but wiser we still push on. Two other points bear mentioning at the outset. One is that policy economics has always been interesting and challenging. The problems that come along are new and complicated, often involving large changes in either the allocation of resources or the welfare of particular individuals. The outlets for one's efforts are diverse?not only does one try to publish articles in journals, but often one actually tries to influence legislation. This in turn can involve legislative testimony, advisory board reports, discussions with reporters, and even garden variety lobbying. The second point is that doing one's econom ics in the real world puts one in contact with a rich and varied set of colleagues and adversar ies. There are sympathetic and unsympathetic economists, political scientists, sociologists, politicians, reporters, business executives, law yers, social workers, teachers, students, and on down the list. It is usually not sufficient to invoke some theorem that everybody may have had in graduate school. Everybody may not have had the theorem, and one must often find ways to explain things in simple terms, to be persuasive to people from many different persuasions. The values of this requirement are obvious. This essay reviews some of the personal high points of my career in this interesting field.