BIRTH
George
Joseph Stigler was born in Seattle, Washington D.C on January 17, 1911. A US
Economist, Joseph Stigler is one of history’s most outstanding modern
economists.
EDUCATION
Stigler
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 the Northwestern University that Stigler developed an
interest in economics and decided on an academic career. Due to a tuition
scholarship that he received from the University of Chicago, Stigler 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. Stigler was one of four Students that
ever managed to complete their Ph.D dissertation under Frank Knight in his 28
years at Chicago.
SPECIALIZATION
Stigler
confined a large part of his study to microeconomics once stating, “I know very
little macroeconomics, and I thank God for it everyday, because it changes once
a year.” Within Microeconomics, his contributions were far-reaching. He also
wrote extensively on the history of economic thought and also contributed to
several aspects of the field of Industrial Organization.
INFLUENCE
George
Joseph Stigler was greatly influenced by his Ph.D Supervisor, Frank Knight at
the University of Chicago. Other Economists who influenced him include Jacob
Viner, Henry Simons and Milton Friedman, his friend and colleague at the
Chicago School.
In the same
vein, He influenced Jacques Dreze, Thomas Sowell, Kenneth Lyon and many of his
Students throughout his career. As part of his special interest in the study of
history of economic thought, He did a lot of analysis on the works of Adam
Smith but opposed Lord John Maynard Keynes.
CAREER AND SERVICE
Stigler’s
teaching experience began in 1936 at Iowa state College where He taught until
1938. He spent much of the World War II period at Columbia University,
performing mathematical and statistical research for the Manhattan project. He
then spent one year at Brown University from where he proceeded to serve on the
Columbia faculty from 1947 to 1958. He later lectured at the London School of
Economics (LSE).
Stigler went
on to become the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of
American Institutions, and Director of the Walgreen Foundation, Graduate School
of Business, at the University of Chicago. In 1941, Stigler became a member of
the Research Staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He was
also a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Economic
Association, the Royal Economic Society as a Fellow, and the American
Statistical Association. He later became the President of the American Economic
Association.
In 1971,
Stigler became the Vice-Chairman of the Securities Investors protective
Commission, and in 1969-70, He was a member of the Blue Ribbon Defense Panel.
In 1960-61, He was Chairman of the Price Statistics Review Committee of the
National Bureau of Economic Research. In 1954-55, Stigler served as a member of
the Attorney General’s Committee for the Study of Anti-Trust Laws.
He was a
founding member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and was President of the Society
from 1976 to 1978.
PUBLICATIONS
Stigler has
a number of publications to his credit. He left behind a well-known
intellectual legacy as embodied in his books, his over 100 major articles, and
his many book reviews and short works. However , Stigler’s most notable works
and most-highly cited as reported in the “Web of Science” as at
19/7/2002include but not limited to:
The Theory of Economic regulation (1971)
The Economics of Information (1961)
De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum(1977)
A Theory of oligopoly (1964)
Information In the Labour Market (1962)
The Economics of scale (1958)
Perfect Competition, Historically Contemplated (1957)
However, what could be said to be
Stigler’s magnum opus is his seminal studies of industrial structures,
functioning of markets, and causes and effects of public regulation and the
economics of information for which he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1982.
However, as Coase (1982) would argue, Stigler’s studies of the history of
economic thought is where he is seen at his best.
AWARDS/HONOURS
Stigler
earned many honours and awards for his contributions in the field of Economics
most notably the National Medal of Science (1987). When in 1982, Stigler was
awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, many saw it as long over
due. Ronald Coase particularly described the award as something that was
clearly right, in a world in which so much offends. When Stigler died in 1992,
it was clear the field of Economic science had lost a Colossus and an
intellectual powerhouse.