The Chicago School: How the University of Chicago Assembled the Thinkers Who Revolutionized Economics and Business

by Johan Van Overtveldt

When Richard Nixon said “We are all Keynesians now” in 1971, few could have predicted that the next three decades would result in a complete transformation of the global economic landscape. The transformation was led by a small, relatively obscure group within the University of Chicago’s business school and its departments of economics and political science. These thinkers — including Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, George Stigler, Robert Lucas, and others — revolutionized economic orthodoxy in the second half of the 20th century, dominated the Nobel Prizes awarded in economics, and changed how business is done around the world. Written by a leading European economic thinker, The Chicago School is the first in-depth look at how this remarkable group came together. Exhaustively detailed, it provides a close recounting of the decade-by-decade progress of the Chicago School's evolution. As such, it's an essential contribution to the intellectual history of our time.

Genres: Economics, History, Nonfiction, Politics

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Chicago MBA graduate and interested student of the Chicago School of free market economics and empirical analysis, i had high hopes for this book. There were some genuinely interesting insights and good analysis, especially relating to Becker and Stigler, and the intellectual movements their respective bodies of research launched. There was rather less about Milton Friedman than I expected, which leads to my main criticism.

I thought this book would be more about the practical influence of Chicago economics on the world at large, and tracing the ways in which the Chicago School (as opposed to, say, the Austrian School or Keynesian School) of economics impacted policies and the world. It certainly touches on that, but at times is seemed like more of a Leviticus-inspired, who-begat-whom description of all the economists who have studied or taught at Chicago. There were a number of scholars whose influence didn't seem to warrant discussion, yet there they were. I suspect many of those who are not acquainted with the scholarship at Chicago would be likely to wonder, at the book's conclusion, what's the big deal? Though it was an interesting read for me, I suspect there is a book yet to be written that is less a description of the evolution of the school's faculty, and more a discussion of the practical impact of the work of Chicago's scholars.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with some of the other mixed reviews of this book. The author dedicates far too much of the text to tedious biographical data about the various economists who passed through the University of Chicago and not enough space to the actual ideas and theories that made Chicago a hub of 20th century economic thought.
It's also clear that the author is clouded by a pro-Chicago bias that prevents him from asking tough questions and objectively analyzing varying schools of thought that differ with Chicago's strongly pro-market/anti-Progressive ethos. Nowhere is this bias more evident than in the discussion of the "Chicago Boys". The author skims over the turbulent political environment that brought Pinochet to power and fails to explore the murky ethical waters involved in working with a brutal dictator to bring about economic liberalization.
The book is strongest when it discusses actual ideas. The passages on Becker and his use of economic methods to explore sociological questions are particularly enlightening, and provide a good non-technical overview of Becker's innovations in labor relations, crime and racial discrimination. Equally fascinating are the discussions of public choice theory, of which Becker is also a prime contributor, and its treatment of political decision making in an environment of asymmetric influence.
I would have liked more depth on the evolution of monetarism and rational expectations, both of which are hallmarks of the Chicago tradition, but the descriptions provided are adequate for a beginner-level understanding.

[The Book Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw this book I knew I had to pick it up. I am a business major and love all things economics. The Chicago School tells the story of how the University of Chicago assembled a team of great thinkers who revolutionized economics and business.

I disagree with a lot of the reviews of this book. This book wasn't bad in my humble opinion. There are many things in this book I really liked. I felt like at points I ate the information up and wanted even more.

I loved the discussion of actual ideas. The talk about methods, I really wanted that to be expanded upon. I really enjoyed the topics of socioeconomic issues like race, poverty, jobs, and various other issues. About how much politics influences our economic system.

The biggest thing I disliked about this book was that the author spend so much time talking about tedious biographical data, which to be honest was a very time consuming to read. I am not an economist so I had to stop repeatedly to look up terms in order to grasp the concepts he was talking about.

I feel that this really weighed the book down. It made it a chore to read. I would have preferred more information about how Chicago became a major economic hub. I think it would have been interesting to read bout the various economic theories. I would have preferred to learn more about how Chicago shaped those modern theories

The other thing that is important to point out is biased. This author clearly is extremely interested in Chicago. To be honest I believe this influences his views and opinions. I don't believe he is able to be truly unbiased. He doesn't question the Chicago school of thought enough. It's all very one sided.

It is important to learn about the author, Johan Van Overtveld , Ph.D., is extremely knowledgeable in these areas. He is the director of the Belgium-based think tank VKW Metena, which works on a breadth of economics-related issues. Formerly, the editor-in-chief of a Belgian newsmagazine Trends, he has written many books and contributes to the Wall Street Journal Europe as well as other financial publications. He is currently the Minister of Finance of Belgium

I feel like this book does a great job at presenting this information at an entry level for beginners like me, but also is advanced for people who have more experience. I really recommend this book to anyone.

I was provided a free copy by Agate Publishing in exchange for my honest and completely unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Brendan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really disappointing. I hoped this book would tell the story of one of the great intellectual battles of the 20th century (Keynesian economics vs Monetarism) in a compelling and interesting way. Instead it is just 400 pages worth of short, boring biographies of the 30 or so economists from the University of Chicago who won Nobel prizes for often obscure and inaccessible economic modeling or some other such nonsense that is pretty much meaningless to a non-economist.

I guess I'll need to find a good biography of Milton Friendman or something.

[Pejman Yousefzadeh · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.chequer-board.net/story/20...

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ambivalent on its recommendation to attend "The Chicago School"

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical survey of Univ of Chicago economics thinking. Good review if you are familiar with economic theory and it's development.

[Craig Bolton]

The Chicago School: How the University of Chicago Assembled the Thinkers Who Revolutionized Economics and Business by Johan Van Overtveldt (2007)

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for help in an economics class and enjoyed it.