Economists—and Economists

Essays in the history of ideas should be written by such men as George Stigler, who was president of the American Economic Association in 1964. He remains reasonably young, but he is not angry. In both his presidential address (American Economic Review, March 1965) and in these collected essays, he looks on his discipline, “economics,” and finds much to praise, relatively little to censure. What a distance there is between this Stigler and his mentor, Frank Knight, who tells us to read others only to learn from their mistakes, or between this Stigler and some of his friends and contemporaries to whom the discipline seems confused and on the verge of disintegration.

Essays in the History of Economics, by George Stigler. Chicago, $6.95

JB

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James M. Buchanan

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Essays in the history of ideas should be written by such men as George Stigler, who was president of the American Economic Association in 1964. He remains reasonably young, but he is not angry. In both his presidential address (American Economic Review, March 1965) and in these collected essays, he looks on his discipline, “economics,” and finds much to praise, relatively little to censure. What a distance there is between this Stigler and his mentor, Frank Knight, who tells us to read others only to learn from their mistakes, or between this Stigler and some of his friends and contemporaries to whom the discipline seems confused and on the verge of disintegration.

Essays in the History of Economics, by George Stigler. Chicago, $6.95