Price Theory (Milton Friedman)

Milton Friedman had a significant impact on graduate education in economics at the University of Chicago. He played a role in shaping the Chicago tradition in price theory, which began with Frank Knight and Jacob Viner in the 1920s and 1930s. This tradition has been spread globally by numerous students and scholars, including Friedman himself, as well as other notable economists from Chicago such as George Stigler, Gary Becker, and Ronald Coase.^[1]

Friedman studied mathematics and economics at Rutgers University before pursuing graduate studies at the University of Chicago and later Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1946 and held various appointments outside academia during the period from 1935 to 1946. Friedman joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1946, where he taught price theory classes.^[1]

Despite being known for his work in macroeconomics and monetarism, Friedman's teaching helped solidify the Chicago tradition in price theory. Price theory was a significant aspect of his legacy as a teacher, and he taught the subject from 1946 to 1964 and again from 1972 to 1976. Notable economists who took Friedman's price theory course include James M. Buchanan, Gary Becker, and Robert Lucas Jr., all of whom later became Nobel laureates.^[1]