Congratulations to my friend and colleague Gary Becker who will receive the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. He’ll have to find a place in his trophy cabinet, which already has a Nobel Prize, a National Medal of Science, the John Bates Clark Medal, and sixteen honorary doctorates.
No economist of Becker’s generation has had such a profound influence both inside and outside the profession. It is worth noting that when he first began doing some of his seminal research many years ago, on subjects like marriage and racism, he was looked down upon in the profession for straying too far outside the lines of what was considered normal, worthwhile research.
For more on Gary Becker, see this interesting autobiographical sketch, his wife Guity’s reflections on meeting Gary, and my own experiences with Gary.
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Angeline, I dont know what Gary Becker had to say about racism, but I did look at a sample of his work on marriage. I don’t see how anyone with any intelligence at all could find anything of value in those trivial offerings.
Ferdinand E. Banks
Angeline, I dont know what Gary Becker had to say about racism, but I did look at a sample of his work on marriage. I don’t see how anyone with any intelligence at all could find anything of value in those trivial offerings.
Ferdinand E. Banks
I hope one day you too win the nobel prize and the presidential medal of honor!
I hope one day you too win the nobel prize and the presidential medal of honor!
Mickey Mouse, you forgot the good housekeeping seal of approval, however for your information I do have the US Army’s Good Conduct Medal – even though I punched an MP in his stomach in Kobe Japan. Assuming that your “hope” is genuine, the significance here is that mistakes are made all the time.
Mickey Mouse, you forgot the good housekeeping seal of approval, however for your information I do have the US Army’s Good Conduct Medal – even though I punched an MP in his stomach in Kobe Japan. Assuming that your “hope” is genuine, the significance here is that mistakes are made all the time.
As a psychologist, I don’t necessarily agree with all facets of Becker’s “rational-model” approach to studying human behavior but I have interacted with him several times in a class that I took from him. I found him to be incredibly insightful, very clear, and importantly, quite kind. Moreover, he is incredibly humble in the face of uninformative and malicious attacks from individuals such as Mr. Banks. Such personal attacks are unscholarly and make me think less of Mr. Banks, certainly not Mr. Becker.
The biggest lesson that I learned from Becker w.r.t behavior is to take the constraints that individuals face seriously when modeling the cognitive foundations of their decision. This is an incredibly strong insight for psychologists who study behavior and I appreciate him greatly. Congratulations to him.
As a psychologist, I don’t necessarily agree with all facets of Becker’s “rational-model” approach to studying human behavior but I have interacted with him several times in a class that I took from him. I found him to be incredibly insightful, very clear, and importantly, quite kind. Moreover, he is incredibly humble in the face of uninformative and malicious attacks from individuals such as Mr. Banks. Such personal attacks are unscholarly and make me think less of Mr. Banks, certainly not Mr. Becker.
The biggest lesson that I learned from Becker w.r.t behavior is to take the constraints that individuals face seriously when modeling the cognitive foundations of their decision. This is an incredibly strong insight for psychologists who study behavior and I appreciate him greatly. Congratulations to him.