Examining George Stigler's teaching career clarifies the requirements for an effective teacher of graduate economics and especially sheds light on the nature of Ph.D. supervision. The heterogeneous composition of graduate students in aggregate means that quite distinct approaches can prove to be...

The inability to agree on definitions ultimately can condemn economic analysis and debate to fruitless argumentation. The sharp interchange between Stigler and Leibenstein did little to clarify the issues surrounding the controversial theory of X-efficiency. Given their conflicting agendas,...