Stigler, George J. (1911–1991)

George J. Stigler was one of the central figures of the Chicago School of Economics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982 for “his seminal studies of industrial structures, functioning of markets and causes and effects of public regulation.”

Stigler was born and raised near Seattle. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and then moved to Northwestern University, where he received his MBA. In 1933, he enrolled in a PhD program in economics at the University of Chicago and studied under the three scholars most closely identified with what some have called the “first” Chicago School of Economics: Henry Simons, Jacob Viner, and Frank Knight. Stigler wrote his dissertation on the history of economic thought under Knight and was awarded his ...