George Stigler

George Stigler
Chicago School of Economics
Birth January 17, 1911(1911-01-17)
Seattle, Washington
Death December 1, 1991(1991-12-01) (aged 80)
Chicago, Illinois
Nationality United States
Institution University of Chicago
Field Economics
Alma mater University of Chicago (Ph.D.), University of Washington (BA), Northwestern University
Influences Frank Knight, Jacob Viner, Henry Simons, Milton Friedman
Opposed John Maynard Keynes
Influenced Jacques Drèze
Thomas Sowell
Kenneth Lyon
Contributions Capture theory
Awards Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1982)
National Medal of Science (1987)
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George Joseph Stigler (January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was a U.S. economist. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1982, and was a key leader of the Chicago School of Economics, along with his close friend Milton Friedman.

While at Chicago, he was greatly influenced by Frank Knight, his dissertation supervisor. Milton Friedman, a friend for over sixty years, comments it as a remarkable feat since only three or four students ever managed to complete their PhD dissertation under Knight in 28 years of his service at Chicago. Jacob Viner and Henry Simons also had great influence on him. Among his students, W. Allen Wallis and Milton Friedman also had great impact on his economic thinking.

Stigler is best known for developing the Economic Theory of Regulation, also known as capture, which says that interest groups and other political participants will use the regulatory and coercive powers of government to shape laws and regulations in a way that is beneficial to them. This theory is an important component of the public choice field of economics. He also carried out extensive research into the history of economic thought.

Along with that, Stigler's most important contribution to Economics was disseminated in his landmark article titled "The Economics of Information".[1] According to Milton Friedman, Stigler "essentially created a new area of study for economists". In this article, Stigler stressed the importance of information by writing, "One should hardly have to tell academicians that information is a valuable resource: knowledge is power. And yet it occupies a slum dwelling in the town of economics".[2]

His 1962 article "Information in the Labor Market" developed the theory of search unemployment.[3]

He was well known for his sharp sense of humor, and wrote a number of spoof essays. In his book The Intellectual and the Marketplace, for instance, he proposed Stigler's Law of Demand and Supply Elasticities, that "all demand curves are inelastic, and all supply curves are inelastic, too." The essay referenced studies that found many goods and services to be inelastic over the long run, as well as offering a supposed theoretical proof; he ended by announcing that his next essay would demonstrate that the price system does not exist. Another essay, on "Truth in Teaching," described the consequences of a (fictional) set of court decisions that held universities legally responsible for the consequences of teaching errors.[4]

The Stigler diet was named after him.

Stigler was born in Seattle, Washington, graduated from the University of Washington in 1931 with a B.A and then spent a year at Northwestern University from which he obtained his M.B.A in 1932. It was during his studies at Northwestern that Stigler developed an interest in Economics and also decided on an academic career.[2]

Due to a tuition scholarship that he received from the University of Chicago, Sitgler enrolled at the university in 1933 to study economics and went on to earn his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1938. His teaching experience began in 1936 at Iowa State College where he taught until 1938.He spent much of World War II at Columbia University, performing mathematical and statistical research for the Manhattan Project. He then spent 1 year at Brown University. He then served on the Columbia faculty from 1947 to 1958.

Stigler was a founding member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and served as its president from 1976 to 1978.

He also received National Medal of Science in 1987.

Contents

Notes

  1. ↑ George J. Stigler (1961). “The Economics of Information,” Journal of Political Economy, 69(3), pp. 213-225 (press +).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Milton Friedman (1992). "George Joseph Stigler January 17, 1911—December 1, 1991," Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences.
  3. ↑ George J. Stigler (1962a). "Information in the Labor Market." Journal of Political Economy, 70(5), Part 2, Oct., p p. 94-105.
  4. ↑ George J. Stigler, 1973. "A Sketch of the History of Truth in Teaching," Journal of Political Economy, 81(2, Part 1), p p. 491-495.

Bibliography

See also

References

"Stigler, George Joseph" by Peter Newman, v. 4, p. 498.
"Stigler as an historian of economic thought" by Thomas Sowell, v. 4, pp. 498–99.
"Stigler's contribution to microeconomics and industrial organization," by Richard Schmalensee, v. 4, pp. 499–500

External links

Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics

Milton Friedman (1976) · Bertil Ohlin / James Meade (1977) · Herbert Simon (1978) · Theodore Schultz / Arthur Lewis (1979) · Lawrence Klein (1980) · James Tobin (1981) · George Stigler (1982) · Gérard Debreu (1983) · Richard Stone (1984) · Franco Modigliani (1985) · James M. Buchanan (1986) · Robert Solow (1987) · Maurice Allais (1988) · Trygve Haavelmo (1989) · Harry Markowitz / Merton Miller / William Forsyth Sharpe (1990) · Ronald Coase (1991) · Gary Becker (1992) · Robert Fogel / Douglass North (1993) · John Harsanyi / John Forbes Nash, Jr. / Reinhard Selten (1994) · Robert Lucas, Jr. (1995) · James Mirrlees / William Vickrey (1996) · Robert C. Merton / Myron Scholes (1997) · Amartya Sen (1998) · Robert Mundell (1999) · James Heckman / Daniel McFadden (2000)

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1960s

1964: Roger Adams · Othmar H. Ammann · Theodosius Dobzhansky · Neal Elgar Miller
1980s

1986: Herbert A. Simon · 1987: Anne Anastasi · George J. Stigler · 1988: Milton Friedman
1990s

1990: Leonid Hurwicz · Patrick Suppes · 1991: Robert W. Kates · George A. Miller · 1992: Eleanor J. Gibson · 1994: Robert K. Merton · 1995: Roger N. Shepard · 1996: Paul Samuelson · 1997: William K. Estes · 1998: William Julius Wilson · 1999: Robert M. Solow
2000s

2000: Gary Becker · 2001: George Bass · 2003: R. Duncan Luce · 2004: Kenneth Arrow · 2005: Gordon H. Bower · 2008: Michael I. Posner