Power without Glory - George Stigler's Market Leviathan

George Stigler, as much if not more than his colleague Milton Friedman, greatly shaped the direction of economics in the post-war era. Part of his ability to do so lay in his critical responses to views that opposed his own fiercely held framework. This paper attempts to supply a consistent rationale for both the opponents he chose and for his choice of adopting such an adversarial approach in combating them. By doing so, I hope to clarify three key issues that gripped the economics profession during this period. These are: redistribution versus market competition; market efficiency versus economic growth; and collective versus individual choice.