George Stigler - Intellectual Prestige

Why Your Degree Is an Information Product, Not an Education: The Signaling Game

Economics, Contemporary, Culture, George Stigler

You spent four years in lecture halls. You wrote essays at 2am fueled by caffeine and quiet desperation. You walked across a stage, shook a hand, and received a piece of paper. And here is the uncomfortable question that George Stigler, the Nobel laureate economist who spent his career studying how information moves through markets, […]

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The Policy Factory: Why Laws Are Manufactured Exactly Like Sausages

Contemporary, Economics, George Stigler

There is an old line, usually attributed to Bismarck but probably older than him, that laws are like sausages. You should never watch either one being made. Most people hear this and chuckle. George Stigler, the Nobel laureate economist from the University of Chicago, heard it and thought: actually, let us watch. Let us watch

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Stigler's Razor- If a Regulation Exists, Someone is Making Money Off It (George Stigler)

George Stigler’s Razor: If a Regulation Exists, Someone is Making Money Off It

George Stigler, Contemporary, Economics, Innovation

The Story We Tell Ourselves About Regulation When you think about regulations, you probably imagine stuffy government bureaucrats protecting you from dangerous products or crooked businesses. That mental picture makes sense. After all, that is what we learn in school. Regulations exist to protect the little guy from the big bad corporation. They keep our

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