Historical Figures Codexery

Gary Becker

Economist who applied rational choice to diverse social behaviors.

The 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom were both awarded to Gary Stanley Becker, an American economist.[1][2] Among living economists over 60, Becker was the top choice in a 2011 poll of economics professors.[2]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Gary Stanley Becker
School of thought
Chicago School of Economics
Born
2 December 1930
Birthplace
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died
3 May 2014
Place of death
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Institution
Columbia University (1957–1968); University of Chicago (1968–2014)
Field
Economics

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He worked as an assistant professor at Chicago, then moved to Columbia University in 1957.[3] Becker was one of the first economists to analyze topics like racial discrimination, crime, family organization, and rational addiction.[4] He argued that many types of human behavior, including those seen as self-destructive, can be viewed as rational and utility-maximizing.[4] Pottsville, Pennsylvania was the birthplace of Becker, who came from a Jewish family.[5]

A BA from Princeton University came in 1951 for Becker, and a PhD from the University of Chicago followed in 1955.[6] The economic concept of human capital was introduced in Becker's book Human Capital, his most well-known work.[7][8] Surgical complications led to Becker's death in Chicago in 2014 when he was 83 years old.[9]

What the cited sources add

The Becker Friedman Institute notes that Becker's second wife, Guity Nashat, is a professor emerita of history and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.[10] Nashat co-authored The Economics of Life with Gary Becker.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1992", NobelPrize.org; "Our Legacy", BFI; "The Fourth Generation in Chicago", Economic Principals, 2014-11-16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Justin Wolfers. "How Gary Becker Transformed the Social Sciences" New York Times May 5, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gary Becker, "Gary S. Becker – Biographical", Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 3 May 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Catherine Rampell. "Gary Becker, an economist who changed economics"Washington Post May 5, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gary Becker (1930–2014)", jewishvirtuallibrary.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Becker, "The Theory of Multi-Country Trade"; Gary Becker, "The Economics of Discrimination", University of Chicago Press, 1971; "Ideological profiles of the economics laureates: Gary S. Becker", Econ Journal Watch, September 2013, p. 285–291 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nelson, "Economics as Religion", Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001, p. 194 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Min Zhu, "Business, Economics, Financial Sciences, and Management", Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, p. 436 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Gary Becker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: William Harms, "Gary S. Becker, Nobel-winning scholar of economics and sociology, 1930–2014", University of Chicago, 4 May 2014; Palda, "A school in decline: In Chicago, economists honour Gary Becker", Financial Post, 4 November 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Guity Nashat (Becker)", Becker Friedman Institute. facts only, no text reused. bfi.uchicago.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gary Becker (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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