George Joseph Stigler (; January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was an American economist. He was the 1982 laureate in

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

and is considered a key leader of the

Chicago school of economics The Chicago school of economics is a Neoclassical economics, neoclassical Schools of economic thought, school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago, some of whom have constructed and populari ...

Early life and education

Stigler was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, the son of Hungarian Elsie Elizabeth (Erzsébet Hungler, born in Bakonypéterd, Veszprém county,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

) and Bavarian Joseph Stigler. He was of German and Hungarian descent and spoke German in his childhood. He graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1931 with a B.A. and then spent a year at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, from which he obtained his MBA in 1932. It was during his studies at Northwestern that Stigler developed an interest in economics and decided on an academic career. After he received a tuition scholarship from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, Stigler enrolled there in 1933 to study economics and went on to earn his PhD in economics in 1938.

Career

Stigler taught at Iowa State College from 1936 to 1938. He spent much of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, performing mathematical and statistical research for the Manhattan Project. He then spent one year at Brown University. He served on the Columbia faculty from 1947 to 1958. At Chicago, he was greatly influenced by Frank Knight, his dissertation supervisor.

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

, a friend for over 50 years, commented that it was remarkable for Stigler to have passed his dissertation under Knight, as only three or four students had ever managed to do so in Knight's 28 years at Chicago. Stigler's influences included Jacob Viner and Henry Simons as well as students W. Allen Wallis and Friedman. Stigler is best known for developing the ''Economic Theory of Regulation'' (1971), also known as regulatory 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 a component of the public choice field of economics but is also deeply opposed by public choice scholars belonging to the "Virginia School," such as Charles Rowley. He also carried out extensive research in the history of economic thought. Stigler's most important contribution to economics was published in his landmark 1961 article, "The Economics of Information." According to Friedman, Stigler "essentially created a new area of study for economists." Stigler stressed the importance of information: "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."Milton Friedman (1992)
"George Joseph Stigler January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991,"
''Biographical Memoirs''. National Academy of Sciences. His 1962 article "Information in the Labor Market" developed the theory of search unemployment. In 1963 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He was known for his sharp sense of humor, and he 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'': "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 and offered a supposed theoretical proof; he ended by announcing that his next essay would demonstrate that the price system does not exist. Another essay, "A Sketch on the Truth in Teaching," described the consequences of a (fictional) set of court decisions that held universities legally responsible for the consequences of teaching errors. The Stigler diet is also named after him. Stigler wrote numerous articles on the history of economics, published in the leading journals and republished 14 of them in 1965. The ''American Economic Review'' said, "many of these essays have become such well-known landmarks that no scholar in this field should be unfamiliar with them... The lucid prose, penetrating logic, and wry humor... have become the author's trademarks." However, Deirdre McCloskey has criticised his characterisation of

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

as a father of the 'greed is good' school of economics as a poor reading of the Scottish philosopher's views. Stigler was a founding member of the Mont Pelerin Society and was its president from 1976 to 1978. He was a libertarian/ classical liberal. Stigler was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1955, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1959, and the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1975. He received the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...

in 1987.

Trivia

His relative Antal Koppány was famous for achieving a draw against chess champion Bobby Fischer who was himself of Hungarian ancestry through his biological father Paul Neményi.

Bibliography

* (1939). "Production and Distribution in the Long Run," ''Journal of Political Economy'', 47(3), pp
305–327 (arrow-scrollable).
* ( 9411994). ''Production and Distribution Theories: The Formative Period''. New York: Macmillan
& Description arrow-scrollable preview.
* (1942) ''The Theory of Competitive Price''. The Macmillan Company. * (1945). "The Cost of Subsistence," ''Journal of Farm Economics'', 2, pp
303–314. Arrow-scrollable.
* (1961). "The Economics of Information," ''Journal of Political Economy'', 69(3), pp
213–225.
* (1962a). "Information in the Labor Market." ''Journal of Political Economy'', 70(5), Part 2
pp. 94–105.
* (1962b). ''The Intellectual and the Marketplace''. Selected Papers, no. 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Reprinted in Sigler (1986), pp
79–88
* (1962c). (With Claire Friedland) "What Can Regulators Regulate," ''Journal of Law and Economics'', pp
3–21.
* (1962d). "The problem of the Negro," "New Guard" 101(5), pp. 11–12. * (1963). (With Paul Samuelson) "A Dialogue on the Proper Economic Role of the State." Selected Papers, no. 7. pp
3–20.
Chicago: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business * (1963). ''Capital and Rates of Return in Manufacturing Industries''. National Bureau of Economic Research, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press * (1965). Reviewed at Shepard B. Clough (1965). "Essays in the History of Economics. George J. Stigler," ''The Journal of Modern History'', 37(3), p
357.
& Herbert M. Bernstein (1967), "Essays in the History of Economics by George J. Stigler," ''Technology and Culture'', 8(1), pp
136–138.
* (1968). ''The Organization of Industry''
Description

arrow-scrollable preview.
Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin * (1970). (With J.K. Kindahl) ''The Behavior of Industrial Prices''. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York: Columbia University Press * (1971). "The theory of economic regulation." ''Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science'', 2(1), pp. 3–21
(arrow-scrollable)
* (1972). "The Adoption of Marginal Utility Theory," ''History of Political Economy'', 4(2), pp
571
��586. Also below at * (1982b). * (1975). ''Citizen and the State: Essays on Regulation'' * (1982a)
"The Process and Progress of Economics,"
Nobel Memorial Lecture, 8 December (with bibliography) * (1982b). ''The Economist as Preacher, and Other Essays''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press * (1983). ''The Organization of Industry'' * (1985). autobiography * (1986). ''The Essence of Stigler'', K.R. Leube and T.G. Moore, ed. Arrow-scroll to respectiv
essays.
* (1987). '' The Theory of Price'', Fourth Edition. New York: Macmillan * (1988). ed. ''Chicago Studies in Political Economy'' For comprehensiveness, see Vicky M. Longawa (1993), "George J. Stigler: A Bibliography," ''Journal of Political Economy'', 101(5), pp
849–862. Arrow–scrollable.
* (2002). Zingales, L. et al. (Eds.)
George Stigler 50 Years Later
Stigler Center.

Notes

References

* Diamond, Arthur M. Jr. (2005). "Measurement, Incentives, and Constraints in Stigler's Economics of Science." ''The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought'' 12, no. 4637–63. * Friedman, Milton (1993). "George Stigler: A Personal Reminiscence," ''Journal of Political Economy'' 101(5), arrow-scrollable pp
768–773.
* Friedman, M. (1999). "George J. Stigler, 1911–1991. National Academies Press
A Biographical Memoir
* Hammond, J. Daniel, and Claire H. Hammond, ed. (2006). ''Making Chicago Price Theory: Friedman–Stigler Correspondence, 1945–1957''. Routledge. 165 pp. . * Levy, David M., and Sandra J. Peart. (2008). "Stigler, George Joseph (1911–1991)." '' The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'', 2nd Edition
Abstract.
* Palda, Filip (2016). ''A Better Kind of Violence: Chicago Political Economy, Public Choice, and the Quest for an Ultimate Theory of Power''. Cooper-Wolfling Publishers. . * * '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'' (1987). * "Stigler, George Joseph" by Peter Newman, v. 4, p. 498. * "Stigler as an historian of economic thought" by Thomas Sowell, v. 4, pp. 498–499. * "Stigler's contribution to microeconomics and industrial organization," by Richard Schmalense, v. 4, pp. 499–500 * Schmalensee, Richard (1983). "George Stigler's Contributions to Economics, ''The Scandinavian Journal of Economics'', 85(1), pp
77–86 (arrow-scroll searchable).

External links

*

* * . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Stigler, George 1911 births 1991 deaths American Nobel laureates American people of German descent American people of Hungarian descent Historians of economic thought 20th-century American economists Nobel laureates in Economics National Medal of Science laureates University of Chicago alumni Kellogg School of Management alumni University of Chicago faculty Columbia University faculty University of Washington alumni Scientists from Seattle Fellows of the Earhart Foundation 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Statistical Association Presidents of the American Economic Association Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association National Bureau of Economic Research Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Economists from Washington (state) Historians from Washington (state) 20th-century American male writers American libertarians Chicago School economists Member of the Mont Pelerin Society Journal of Political Economy editors Members of the American Philosophical Society