About the Department / Historical Information

History and Background for the Department of Economics

The Department of Economics at Chicago has always ranked among the handful of leading departments in the world. It has claimed a disproportionate share of the honors the economics profession can bestow.

Since 1969, when the Nobel Prize in economic sciences was first awarded, twenty-two recipients of that prize have been faculty, students, or researchers in the Department of Economics, Law School, or Graduate School of Business (GSB) at the University of Chicago, including Milton Friedman and George Stigler. Four Nobel laureates are currently members of the department: Gary S. Becker, Robert W. Fogel, Robert E. Lucas, Jr., and James J. Heckman. In addition, four of the six recipients of the American Economic Association's Walker Medal were members of the faculty (J. M. Clark, F. H. Knight, Jacob Viner, and T. W. Schultz). The John Bates Clark Medal has been awarded to five Chicago economists: Milton Friedman, Gary S. Becker, James J. Heckman, Steven Levitt, and Kevin M. Murphy. Since World War II, the department has had, relative to its size, a larger number of faculty than any other serving as presidents of the American Economic Association. Former faculty members and students currently hold leading positions as economists inside and outside academic life.