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George J. Stigler and the Industrial Organization of Economic Thought

There is a certain seamless quality about the development of economics. Considering that John Stuart Mill's and Alfred Marshall's texts dominated the English-language teaching of economics for almost 100 years, it is perhaps not surprising that many modern ideas have reasonably direct links to those of the past. The language and analytical style have changed, to be sure, but the substance is still there. A modern economist can read Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and many of the others with no more, and often with less, effort than is necessary to study the latest journal article. That many economists of the distant past speak so strongly to us now is supposed to be unusual in science, where it is said that radical paradigm shifts remold yesterday's ideas and often make them incomprehensible to later generations. Somehow the essentials of economics display much more continuity than that. Aspects of George Stigler's work and professional life illustrate this theme. Stigler had an enormous interest in the development of economic ideas. Over the years he assembled an extraordinary library of the classics, perhaps feeling closer intellectual proximity to those economists by holding their first editions in his own hands. There is a well-known story, still worth retelling, about a word game George invented for young children. He would give them, he said, a million dollars if they correctly answered three questions. The first, "Who was buried in Grant's tomb?" and the second, "Whose head was on the Lincoln penny?" inspired great confidence in the child for a pro