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Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist
In this witty and modest intellectual autobiography, George J. Stigler gives us a fascinating glimpse into the little-known world of economics and the people who study it. One of the most distinguished economists of the twentieth century, Stigler was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982 for his work on public regulation. He also helped found the Chicago School of economics, and many of his fellow Chicago luminaries appear in these pages, including Fredrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, and Gary Becker. Stigler's appreciation for such colleagues and his sense of excitement about economic ideas past and present make his Memoirs both highly entertaining and highly educational.
235 pages, Paperback
First published December 13, 1988
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About the author
George J. Stigler
35 books40 followersGeorge Joseph Stigler 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.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 24, 2007
The best way to sum up Stigler’s memoir is a quote from the book: a scholar is an evangelist seeking to convert his learned brethren to the new enlightenment he is preaching. The beginning is spent chronicling Stigler’s life, my general conclusion after reading the beginning was:
1. If I decide to seek my master’s in economics, I will most definitely apply to Chicago, and be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t live up to all of his lavish praise.
2. More name dropping than even “Howl,” which did a lot of name-dropping.
3. In regards to the voracious name-dropping, more explanation would have been helpful! The only ones I can remember and attribute things to are Frank Knight and Milton Friedman, who was his BFF.
4. Lots of book titles too. Can’t say I recall any offhand, but I’m sure they were thrillingly important!
5. He tries to be modest and say things like: my role in our work was so modest that my claim must be that I did not aid the enemy. But later on he has a page where he lists positions he’s held in the government. Plus he has won a Noble Prize. Granted the giant list of positions is later but, it wasn’t as though the arrogance wasn’t apparent in his cutting remarks about Leon Henderson. Henderson had garnered some acclaim for predicting the Great Depression. Stigler continues to say that an “indulgent public had forgiven or forgotten his identical but mistaken predictions in previous years,” thereby terming the “repetition of a prediction until it comes to pass the ‘Henderson method.’”
Once he delves into actual economic theory, however, he is much more interesting. Near the end of the memoir Stigler covers some examples of economics applied to things other than just markets. One example is Gary Becker who wrote a doctoral thesis entitled The Economics of Discrimination. He “employed the theory of international trade in studying discrimination” and reached two conclusions:
1. a small minority loses heavily by discrimination but a large majority loses a little
2. yet when a minority discriminates against the majority, discrimination against the minority increases.
He also goes on to analyze childbirth and marriage in economic terms and it is absolutely fascinating.
It’s interesting that Stigler never really concretely espouses his own philosophies, you can only infer what they are based on what he writes about the thoughts of others. He talks about how the regulation of utilities companies does not affect how much they charge their customers and how the Clean Air Act is an example of a small self-serving lobby passing legislation to benefit itself. The self-serving lobby being the Appalachian miners. The legislation prevents the building of factories that would reduce air quality in an area, regardless of what its current air quality is. Therefore, the building of new factories is very difficult. Which is good, until Stigler points out that most factories are in the North or Northeastern United States and burn Appalachian coal, which is high-sulfur. If these factories were to relocate to the South or West they could burn the local low-sulfur coal. But instead, scrubbers must be installed in the chimneys of preexisting factories, which will continue to burn the more destructive fuel, keeping the miners in business.
In conclusion, I have much higher hopes for my other Nobel (auto)biography about Marie Curie but do appreciate Stigler’s introduction to applied economics and the various applications thereof. And also for his glowing recommendation of the University of Chicago. He was also able to succinctly summarize quite a few important theories, which I appreciated, and made me rethink my ideas on the role government should play in economics. Because, like he quotes Friedrich Hayek as saying, voting on the different parts of an economic policy so that each portion is the majority consensus is about as effective as doing the same for a military strategy.
1. If I decide to seek my master’s in economics, I will most definitely apply to Chicago, and be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t live up to all of his lavish praise.
2. More name dropping than even “Howl,” which did a lot of name-dropping.
3. In regards to the voracious name-dropping, more explanation would have been helpful! The only ones I can remember and attribute things to are Frank Knight and Milton Friedman, who was his BFF.
4. Lots of book titles too. Can’t say I recall any offhand, but I’m sure they were thrillingly important!
5. He tries to be modest and say things like: my role in our work was so modest that my claim must be that I did not aid the enemy. But later on he has a page where he lists positions he’s held in the government. Plus he has won a Noble Prize. Granted the giant list of positions is later but, it wasn’t as though the arrogance wasn’t apparent in his cutting remarks about Leon Henderson. Henderson had garnered some acclaim for predicting the Great Depression. Stigler continues to say that an “indulgent public had forgiven or forgotten his identical but mistaken predictions in previous years,” thereby terming the “repetition of a prediction until it comes to pass the ‘Henderson method.’”
Once he delves into actual economic theory, however, he is much more interesting. Near the end of the memoir Stigler covers some examples of economics applied to things other than just markets. One example is Gary Becker who wrote a doctoral thesis entitled The Economics of Discrimination. He “employed the theory of international trade in studying discrimination” and reached two conclusions:
1. a small minority loses heavily by discrimination but a large majority loses a little
2. yet when a minority discriminates against the majority, discrimination against the minority increases.
He also goes on to analyze childbirth and marriage in economic terms and it is absolutely fascinating.
It’s interesting that Stigler never really concretely espouses his own philosophies, you can only infer what they are based on what he writes about the thoughts of others. He talks about how the regulation of utilities companies does not affect how much they charge their customers and how the Clean Air Act is an example of a small self-serving lobby passing legislation to benefit itself. The self-serving lobby being the Appalachian miners. The legislation prevents the building of factories that would reduce air quality in an area, regardless of what its current air quality is. Therefore, the building of new factories is very difficult. Which is good, until Stigler points out that most factories are in the North or Northeastern United States and burn Appalachian coal, which is high-sulfur. If these factories were to relocate to the South or West they could burn the local low-sulfur coal. But instead, scrubbers must be installed in the chimneys of preexisting factories, which will continue to burn the more destructive fuel, keeping the miners in business.
In conclusion, I have much higher hopes for my other Nobel (auto)biography about Marie Curie but do appreciate Stigler’s introduction to applied economics and the various applications thereof. And also for his glowing recommendation of the University of Chicago. He was also able to succinctly summarize quite a few important theories, which I appreciated, and made me rethink my ideas on the role government should play in economics. Because, like he quotes Friedrich Hayek as saying, voting on the different parts of an economic policy so that each portion is the majority consensus is about as effective as doing the same for a military strategy.
April 23, 2019
Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist (1988) by George Stigler is Stigler's intellectual autobiography. Stigler was a University of Chicago economist and a friend of Milton Friedman. According to people who knew him he was also pretty funny.
The book is sometimes quite amusing, Stigler is very fond of making wry observations of how the world works. It's interesting to get an insiders view of what the University of Chicago Economics department was like.
Stigler makes some interesting observations such as how experts are selected to testify to courts and to politicians. While not being paid they are selected in order to give whatever testimony somebody wants.
Stigler is very sharp about how economics proceeds and how rarely people change their views quickly in response to one argument. He says that Coase and his theories of externalities was one such event that he's seen but explains how mostly life isn't like that.
Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist isn't bad, for anyone interested in the Chicago School it's worth a look.
The book is sometimes quite amusing, Stigler is very fond of making wry observations of how the world works. It's interesting to get an insiders view of what the University of Chicago Economics department was like.
Stigler makes some interesting observations such as how experts are selected to testify to courts and to politicians. While not being paid they are selected in order to give whatever testimony somebody wants.
Stigler is very sharp about how economics proceeds and how rarely people change their views quickly in response to one argument. He says that Coase and his theories of externalities was one such event that he's seen but explains how mostly life isn't like that.
Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist isn't bad, for anyone interested in the Chicago School it's worth a look.
January 19, 2025
Stigler was an economist of the Chicago School, rubbing shoulders with the giants like Milton Friedman. He also worked in DC as an economist. This memoir touches on the roles of the economist in society, the relationship among academic professors, the changing use of economics as a discipline over the 20th century, and so on. The material is often dry, but is also leavened by his wit.
"However lucky Error may be for a time, Truth keeps the bank and wins in the long run."
--Edwin Cannan
November 14, 2021
Not really gripping but still interesting.
June 16, 2025
Muito foda, da um enfoque grande na escola de Chicago. Uma bibliografia importante de um dos economistas mais pika do século passado.
May 4, 2013
Stigler backs up observations about politics and society while weaving in anecdotes from his own history and from the history of the discipline. He addresses questions such as why one should study the history of thought; why history needs theory to make sense of it and theory needs history to be useful; how the Chicago school evolved and thrived even as its monumental personalities came and went; how political incentives shape what economists and economics predominate.
Some vignettes and observations:
-What social value does a Nobel have? It elicits prestige, and prestige is a sign of social value of the laureate's contributions.
-Stigler tells of his selective memory of the Mont Pelerin Society's first meeting. He remembers little of the discussion, but he remembers the joy with which Walter Eucken ate his first orange in five years, and Viner's calling him "Fremont the Explorer" for keeping them from getting lost on a walk about town.
-He says of Hayek that his "orderly mind could not comprehend the survivability of our disorderly world". The Road to Serfdom argues that the conflict among a multitude of inconsistent central plans leads to greater centralization of power -- but, Stigler says, society can prosper even with the multitude of disorderly interventions.
-He tells of how Friedman got sick at 23, stayed in bed for two days, and came out with an attack on Pigou that would come out in the QJE.
-The least successful parts of the Manhattan Project were in the most heavily regulated parts. When the government mandated that scientists keep their day's findings in a locked cupboard for the night, Oppenheimer (was it?) had to crack the locks in the morning when they forgot their codes.
-Theory is best honed through slow back and forth over decades -- not created in the midst of a crisis. Adolph Berle and Gardner Means said what the public wanted to hear and their theory of the separation of ownership and control of corporations carried the day.
-Sometimes the source of influence is clear, as when Warren Nutter departed on a plane to Rochester intending to write a critique of Coase. Friedman sat next to him, and when they landed Nutter wrote "ANother Way to Prove the Coase Theorem."
-Politics can neuter skilled economists. Herbert Stein called for the public to eat more cheese and less meat to fight inflation, although he surely knew of the more fundamental causes.
-Great universities arise in great cities, and it's because of the intermingling of peoples and ideas.
Stigler's memoirs offer valuable insight into a great economist's mind.
Some vignettes and observations:
-What social value does a Nobel have? It elicits prestige, and prestige is a sign of social value of the laureate's contributions.
-Stigler tells of his selective memory of the Mont Pelerin Society's first meeting. He remembers little of the discussion, but he remembers the joy with which Walter Eucken ate his first orange in five years, and Viner's calling him "Fremont the Explorer" for keeping them from getting lost on a walk about town.
-He says of Hayek that his "orderly mind could not comprehend the survivability of our disorderly world". The Road to Serfdom argues that the conflict among a multitude of inconsistent central plans leads to greater centralization of power -- but, Stigler says, society can prosper even with the multitude of disorderly interventions.
-He tells of how Friedman got sick at 23, stayed in bed for two days, and came out with an attack on Pigou that would come out in the QJE.
-The least successful parts of the Manhattan Project were in the most heavily regulated parts. When the government mandated that scientists keep their day's findings in a locked cupboard for the night, Oppenheimer (was it?) had to crack the locks in the morning when they forgot their codes.
-Theory is best honed through slow back and forth over decades -- not created in the midst of a crisis. Adolph Berle and Gardner Means said what the public wanted to hear and their theory of the separation of ownership and control of corporations carried the day.
-Sometimes the source of influence is clear, as when Warren Nutter departed on a plane to Rochester intending to write a critique of Coase. Friedman sat next to him, and when they landed Nutter wrote "ANother Way to Prove the Coase Theorem."
-Politics can neuter skilled economists. Herbert Stein called for the public to eat more cheese and less meat to fight inflation, although he surely knew of the more fundamental causes.
-Great universities arise in great cities, and it's because of the intermingling of peoples and ideas.
Stigler's memoirs offer valuable insight into a great economist's mind.
December 10, 2011
George Stigler participated in the insurrection against the then-dominant statist view of economic policy making. Read his first-hand account of how he helped build what would become the neoliberal "Washington consensus".
October 31, 2015
A cute, if wandering, memoir of economist George Stigler. It contains no hard hitting insights or even particularly funny stories. However, you do get something of a feel for a man from a different era, which was enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews