Cold-war ideology infected the development of economics in ways its practitioners were often not fully aware. The Chicago counter-revolution against the dominant post-war triumph of Keynesian analysis had an essential subtext, a perceived struggle between freedom and collective slavery. Ideological objectives subsequently influenced methodological concerns, pushing economists to adopt the zero-sum tactics of the courtroom rather than the mutually beneficial manners of the senior common room. In these ideologically charged times, economists stopped reading opposing views carefully, seeking instead to dismiss, out of hand, uncongenial ideas.In this collection of previously published and new material, Craig Freedman examines the problem of ideology through the reflection cast by the architects of the Chicago counter-revolution, George Stigler and Milton Friedman. The second half of the volume demonstrates the legacy of these ideological fires, namely a profession where the methodology of careless reading and zero-sum exchanges have persisted and come to dominate.

The University of Chicago has been and continues to be one of the most important global centres for economics. With six chapters on themes in Chicago economics and 33 chapters on the lives and work of Chicago economists, this volume shows how economics became established at the University, how it produced some of the world’s best-known economists, including Frank Knight, Milton Friedman and Robert Lucas, and how it remains a global force for the very best in teaching and research in economics. With original contributions from a stellar cast, this volume provides economists – especially those interested in macroeconomics and the history of economic thought – with an in-depth analysis of Chicago economics.

Many know the Chicago School of Economics and its association with Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Ronald Coase and Gary Becker. But few know the School's history and the full scope of its scholarship. In this Companion, leading scholars examine its history and key figures, as well as provide surveys of the School's contributions to central aspects of economics, including: price theory, monetary theory, labor and economic history. The volume examines the School's traditions of applied welfare theory and law and economics while providing a glimpse into emerging research on Chicago's role in the development of neoliberalism. A companion in the true sense of the word, this volume surveys a wide body of Chicago economic studies and guides readers carefully through each. The Companion offers biographies of leading Chicago economists and evaluations of the School's connection to approaches to economics that draw from and complement the School, including the Virginia School and the work of Armen Alchian and Edward Lazear. Moreover, this book is a first in many respects as it analyzes the interconnections of the Chicago School's theory, methodology, and policy, and considers by what means and ideas the School's policy framework is driven. The breadth and depth of the insights presented here will appeal especially to students and scholars of economics and historians interested in economics, social science and applied public policy.

Zusammenfassung: This book, set out over four-volumes, provides a comprehensive history of economic thought in the 20th century. Special attention is given to the cultural and historical background behind the development of economic theories, the leading or the peripheral research communities and their interactions, and a critical appreciation and assessment of economic theories throughout these times. Volume III addresses economic theory in the period of the new golden age of capitalism, between the years from the end of the Second World War to the mid1970s, which saw the establishment of the new mainstream, in particular in its Harvard-MIT-Cowles version. It was the period of the pre-eminence of the Neoclassical Keynesian Synthesis--the theoretical core of the period's dominant school of thought. This work provides a significant and original contribution to the history of economic thought and gives insight to the thinking of some of the major international figures in economics. It will appeal to students, scholars and the more informed reader wishing to further their understanding of the history of the discipline. Roberto Marchionatti is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Torino, Fellow of the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, and a Life Member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge. He has previously been a Visiting Scholar at the University of New York and the University of Cambridge. He is the editor of Annals of Fondazione Luigi Einaudi: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science and he has been co-editor of History of Economic Ideas. He has published almost 50 journal articles and more than 15 books as well as a great number of contributions in edited volumes

George Stigler (1911-1991) was unquestionably one of the post-war giants of the economics profession. Along with such compatriots as Milton Friedman, Aaron Director, Gary Becker and others at Chicago, he would manage to radically reshape the contours of the discipline, engineering a virtual counter-revolution against the previous post-war consensus. Stigler essentially pioneered the fields of industrial organisation and regulatory economics while contributing landmark studies to the history of economic thought. George Stigler was awarded a much-deserved Nobel Prize in 1982. At heart always a shy boy from the provinces, defending himself and his beliefs against the demands of a more wicked and devious world, he remained one of the only truly inscrutable figures in the history of modern economics. A kind, deeply caring family man, he fended off those outside his inner circle by employing a razor sharp, and often cruel, wit, keeping friends, colleagues and especially enemies at an arm’s distance. “... [there was] the student who came to George complaining that he didn’t deserve the ‘F’ he’d received in George’s course. George agreed but explained that ‘F’ was the lowest grade the administration allowed him to give.” Many who had the fortune, or misfortune, of coming within the range of his sharp tongue, even in the seeming context of an innocent encounter, would bear the scars of that contact for years to come. “With a paper like this, [delivering it] under the table, would not be inappropriate.” This volume is then one of the first to shed light on an entirely enigmatic figure by approaching both the man and his work from very divergent and original perspectives. Whether it succeeds is up to the whims of the reader. Or as George Stigler was wont to say, “Let the chips fall where they may.”

How modern economics abandoned classical liberalism and lost its way Milton Friedman once predicted that advances in scientific economics would resolve debates about whether raising the minimum wage is good policy. Decades later, Friedman’s prediction has not come true. In Where Economics Went Wrong, David Colander and Craig Freedman argue that it never will. Why? Because economic policy, when done correctly, is an art and a craft. It is not, and cannot be, a science. The authors explain why classical liberal economists understood this essential difference, why modern economists abandoned it, and why now is the time for the profession to return to its classical liberal roots. Carefully distinguishing policy from science and theory, classical liberal economists emphasized values and context, treating economic policy analysis as a moral science where a dialogue of sensibilities and judgments allowed for the same scientific basis to arrive at a variety of policy recommendations. Using the University of Chicago—one of the last bastions of classical liberal economics—as a case study, Colander and Freedman examine how both the MIT and Chicago variants of modern economics eschewed classical liberalism in their attempt to make economic policy analysis a science. By examining the way in which the discipline managed to lose its bearings, the authors delve into such issues as the development of welfare economics in relation to economic science, alternative voices within the Chicago School, and exactly how Friedman got it wrong. Contending that the division between science and prescription needs to be restored, Where Economics Went Wrong makes the case for a more nuanced and self-aware policy analysis by economists.

ÔWachter and Estlund have assembled a feast on the economic analysis of issues in labor and employment law for scholars and policy-makers. The volume begins with foundational discussions of the economic analysis of the individual employment relationship and collective bargaining. It then progresses to discussions of the theoretical and empirical work on a wide range of important labor and employment law topics including: union organizing and employee choice, the impact of unions on firm and economic performance, the impact of unions on the enforcement of legal rights, just cause for dismissal, covenants not to compete and employment discrimination. Anyone who wants to study what economists have to say on these topics would do well to begin with this collection.Õ Ð Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Indiana University Bloomington School of Law, US This Research Handbook assembles the original work of leading legal and economic scholars, working in a variety of traditions and methodologies, on the economic analysis of labor and employment law. In addition to surveying the current state of the art on the economics of labor markets and employment relations, the volumeÕs 16 chapters assess aspects of traditional labor law and union organizing, the law governing the employment contract and termination of employment, employment discrimination and other employer mandates, restrictions on employee mobility, and the forum and remedies for labor and employment claims. Comprising a variety of approaches, the Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law will appeal to legal scholars in labor and employment law, industrial relations scholars and labor economists.