Abstract
Stephen Stigler grew up as the son of a famous academic. The experience promised to be less than a particularly felicitous, especially given the academic temptation to employ one’s theoretical leanings as the basis for his or her parental role. Such a home-life would appear to be particularly fraught given George Stigler’s (paterfamilias) nearly categorical imperative urge to reduce all human behaviour to rational self-interest. Yet, George Stigler, according to his son (and others) was a deeply loving family man spending constructive time with his children and if anything being a bit too generous with them. This other (softer) side of George Stigler is revealed in this conversation, as well as Stephen Stigler’s evaluation of his father’s mathematical and statistical abilities. (Stephen Stigler seemingly followed the path pioneered by his father in becoming a Chicago professor of statistics, while in addition harbouring a love for the history of his discipline.)
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Freedman, C. (2020). Fathers and Sons: A Conversation with Stephen Stigler. In: Freedman, C. (eds) George Stigler. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56815-1_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56815-1_4
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