Free Market Economics

Episode Synopsis

In lecture five, we learn about the Chicago School of Economics through the contributions of Frank Knight, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Gary Becker, Ronald Coase, and Sam Peltzman. We examine Knight’s distinction between risk and uncertainty, Friedman’s work on monetary theory and the military draft, Stigler’s research on minimum wages and regulation, and Becker’s analysis of discrimination economics. The lecture concludes with Coase’s work on externalities and property rights and Peltzman’s research on regulation, highlighting how the Chicago School transformed economics through empirical analysis rather than abstract theory.