In a cryptic little response to my post last week on Chicago economics, the estimable Reiham Salam writes:
Justin Fox doesn't mention Frank Knight or Jacob Viner in this post. He also suggests that John Cochrane has nothing interesting to say.
This hit a nerve. I did consider discussing the pre-1950s Chicago economics tradition personified by Knight and Viner, but finally decided that I'd gone on long enough already. If I had written more I would have said that the Chicago economics department was distinguished by a free-market bent and a distrust of theories that were fashionable elsewhere long before Milton Friedman returned to campus in 1946 (he'd been a graduate student at Chicago in the early 1930s, although he completed his doctorate at Columbia). But it wasn't a school (or, really, a movement) in the way it became at some point in the 1950s. It had been home to Knight and Viner, but also to critic-of-capitalism Thorstein Veblen and liberal U.S. Senator Paul Douglas. It produced Friedman and George Stigler and Aaron Director, but it also produced Paul Samuelson and Wesley Mitchell. It was, as I described today's Chicago econ department in my previous post, "just another (excellent) economics department," not a major political force.
As for Cochrane, I'm sure he has lots of interesting things to say. I met him at a conference last year and found him to be quite entertaining. I just haven't heard anything from him that has enlightened me as to the causes of the financial crisis of 2008. Saying that it was all because George Bush gave a speech that scared markets just doesn't cut it for me.
[...] Update: More on the topic here. [...]
Get e-mail updates from TIME's The Curious Capitalist in your inbox and never miss a day.
The Curious Capitalist Favorite Links Adam Lashinsky Barry Ritholtz Brad DeLong Calculated Risk Econbrowser Econlog Epicurean Dealmaker Ezra Klein Felix Salmon Floyd Norris Greg Mankiw Growthology James Pethokoukis John Gapper Marginal Revolution Mark Thoma Matt McAlister Megan McArdle Michael Mandel Mike Moffatt Nicholas Carr Paul Kedrosky Paul Krugman Philip Coggan Planet Money Roger Parloff Ryan Avent The Stash adFactory.getCmAd(300, 250, "global", "tout").write(); adFactory.getCmAd(300, 100, "article", "tout").write(); ArchiveJanuary 2010SMTWTFS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 More News from Our Partners CNN CES shows us the Internet of the future 10 cool new toys from CES Opinion: Gay marriage should be debated online Huffington Post Huff TV: Move Your Money Director Eugene Jarecki Warns Colbert About 'Crazy Sociopaths Who Gamble With Your Money' (VIDEO) Big Bonuses Could Turn Tea Parties Against Banks Michael J. Panzner: Not a Positive Economic Picture DailyFinance.com Simon Cowell to Quit as American Idol's Prince of Darkness Anatomy of an Entreprenuer: He's Not Who You Think He Is Alcoa's Profit Disappoints, Knocking Down Its Shares Rotten Tomato RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hurt Locker and Moon Susan Sarandon: The RT Interview Weekly Ketchup: Sam Mendes "Consulting" on Bond 23 Life Fallen Heroes: Baseball & Steroids Marvelous Early Flying Machines Supersonic! Tribute to Concorde More on TIME.com » If Ted Kennedy's Senate Seat Isn't Safe... In the Siege of Gaza, Egypt Walks a Delicate Line The Five Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Masterpieces Quotes of the Day » Get & Share $Launchpad.CreateMenu({ wid : "491cae4a5db36d0d", actionElement : "myWidget",servicesInclude: ['facebook','yahoo','email','google','live','myspace','netvibes', 'wordpress', 'digg','embed'] }); "It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news." SARAH PALIN, former vice-presidential nominee, on why she's "thrilled" to be joining Fox News as an on-air contributor More Quotes » var ad = adFactory.getAd(88, 31); ad.setPosition(13) ad.write(); Today in Pictures » Cleaning Duty Stay Connected with TIME.com Learn More » Subscribe to RSS Feeds Sign Up for Newsletters Add TIME Widgets Read TIME Mobile on Your Phone Become a Fan of TIME Get TIME Twitter Updates adFactory.getCmAd(115, 42, "homepage", "tout").write(); © 2010 Time Inc. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | RSS | Newsletter | TIME For Kids | LIFE.com Subscribe | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Media Kit | Reprints & Permissions | Opinion Leaders Panel | Help | Site Map TiiAdTrackRevSci(); function tiQuantcast() { } _qoptions={ qacct:"p-5dyPa639IrgIw", labels:tiQuantcast() } BF_BB_DATA = null; (function( ){ document.write(''); var sid="740V07"; var c=""; var b=""; BF_BB_SCRIPT=document.createElement('script'); BF_BB_SCRIPT.type="text/javascript"; BF_BB_SRC="http://buzzbox.buzzfeed.com/wd/BuzzBox?sid=" + sid + c + b + '&it=1&cb=' + (new Date()).getTime(); setTimeout(function() { document.getElementById('BF_BUZZBOX').appendChild(BF_BB_SCRIPT); BF_BB_SCRIPT.src=BF_BB_SRC; },1); })(); Powered by WordPress.com VIP var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-10268691-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} _qoptions = { labels:"adt.0,language.en,posttag.chicago,vip.timecuriouscapitalist" };_qacct="p-18-mFEk4J448M";quantserve(); st_go({'blog':'5320466','v':'wpcom','user_id':'0','post':'7871','subd':'timecuriouscapitalist'}); ex_go({'crypt':'RDZ8LFkxbXF2TVluJVFmT0xoZkVaUCVrM3R3cCU2Wi10dWQ0JktGcGFFRkZuR0ZNW0dDN1J4NTFWaiU2Y1FZUHVSPytUVTJEWjhBQ2RTVEIleDJqNHZaP2FSaWcyY29XX2wyYUFMUlBsZnptRkZIQTVQclhtbFNwWjNSa1E/K01mLytLMnYzVzF+Xy1fSS1PSzBKSm5RJmV3eUElbDcsYXFnXU1FLWZKdCVPak1CcS5SZ2hvd0hwZEI9OF15aSZQSDhOMzBHT3BVUDBTeX4tOCYwZ11N'}); addLoadEvent(function(){linktracker_init('5320466',7871);}); Read Full Article »