Bill Black — Gary Becker’s Imperialistic Blunders about Crime

This is the fourth installment of my series of articles about the absurdity of the Swedish Central Bank’s selection of Gary Becker for its Prize in 1992 on the basis of his embarrassing imperialistic forays into other disciplines.  One of the forays the Swedish Central Bank cited was Becker’s work on crime.  Becker was a terrible criminologist, just as he embarrassed himself in his related work on families, “human capital,” and discrimination.  He may have done the most damage in the field of criminology because he, and his disciples, influenced harmful policy changes.  As I have explained in earlier articles in this series, parents were far smarter than Swedish Central Bankers.  American parents ignored his advice that it was “optimal” not to educate girls.  Conservative politicians involved in setting our policies about crime, sadly, loved Becker’s ideas.

New Economic Perspectives
Gary Becker’s Imperialistic Blunders about Crime
William K. Black | Associate Professor of Economics and Law, UMKC

This Is Rich ... Ironically.

Commentary by Roger Erickson

If it wasn't so tragic, I'd laugh at this foolish electorate, so quickly separated from their real options ... all by simple sleight of hand.

Middle Class penalized for failure to regulate Congress.

The rich really are not like you or I. They commit assisted-suicide in remarkably obtuse ways.