Gary Stanley Becker
- Born:
- December 2, 1930, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, USA
- Died:
- May 3, 2014, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Nationality:
- American
- Profession(s):
- Economist, Professor
Early Life and Education
- Graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1951.
- Received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1955.
Career and Major Achievements
- Professor of Economics at Columbia University (1954-1968).
- Professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Chicago (1970-2014).
- Made significant contributions to the fields of human capital, family economics, and the economics of discrimination.
- Developed the rational choice theory of crime.
- Awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 "for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including nonmarket behaviour".
Notable Works
- The Economics of Discrimination (1957)
- Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education (1964; 1975; 1993)
- A Treatise on the Family (1981)
- Accounting for Tastes (1996)
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Legacy and Impact
Gary Becker's work profoundly impacted the field of economics by applying microeconomic principles to areas previously considered outside of its scope, such as crime, family, and discrimination. His insights continue to influence policy debates and shape economic research.