The Milton Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago

The intellectual legacy of Milton Friedman will live on for decades to come,  not only because Milton Friedman was one of the greatest economists and intellectuals of the 20th century but also because the University of Chicago is establishing The Milton Friedman Institute (MFI). MFI will “build on the University’s existing leadership position” and be a “primary intellectual destination for economics by creating a robust forum for engagement of our faculty and students with scholars and policy-makers from around the world,” explained President Zimmer. “The Milton Friedman Institute will continue Chicago’s extraordinary tradition of creating new ideas that stimulate the academic world and innovative approaches that influence policy.”

MFI sounds like a dream of a research center! The University of Chicago will invest around $200 million in the institute with half of the amount as an operating endowment. It will occupy the beautiful old buildings that currently house the Chicago Theological Seminary. Gary Becker (and others such as Robert Lucas) has been instrumental in developing the idea. He sees the institute as building upon the important economics tradition at Chicago by “focusing on research questions that support development of economic models grounded in economic theory and empirical evidence and designed to evaluate a variety of questions related to economic policy.” MFI will have visiting scholars and post-docs; and the faculties of the economics department, the Graduate School of Business, and the Law School will play an active role (see here).

MFI could become one of the leading research and policy centers in economics in the world. Hopefully it will remain true to the legacy of Milton Friedman. In the proposal to set up the institute, the words “free market” are not used once! However, the proposal states: “Following Friedman’s lead, the design and evaluation of economic policy requires analyses that respect the incentives of individuals and the essential role of markets in allocating goods and services. As Friedman and others continually demonstrated, design of public policy without regard to market alternatives has adverse social consequences.” Sounds like Friedman’s views will not be forgotten.

At the end of the day, what MFI stands for will largely depend on who is in charge. And for those interested Robert Zimmer announced (here) two weeks ago that they were looking for a director. Sounds like a job for someone we know…

Comments

[Eric]

"Sounds like a job for someone we know…"

Who are you referring to?

[Mario Rizzo]

This is just a fund-raising tactic for the University of Chicago. I very much doubt that it will have much to do with Friedman's policy legacy. Most of the young Chicago-style applied-price theorists have no special attachment to the free market. Their commitment is, at best, to rational-choice theory in the Beckerian tradition. Look for the very wide application of neoclassical economics and perhaps a de-emphasis on behavioral economics. Nothing more.

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