ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: Academic Freedom Contra Intellectual Freedom: George Stigler and the Marketplace of Ideas
Author: Nik-Khah Edward
The concept of the “marketplace of ideas” has long structured discussions about the institutions promoting and the laws governing political and intellectual life. For example, in the US discussions pertaining to the First Amendment have frequently appealed to the marketplace of ideas. In recent years it has taken on an increasingly economic construction, opening the door for economists to assume increased responsibility for the development and circulation of this concept. This paper undertakes and archival-based examination the historical development of the “marketplace of ideas” at the hands of economists. It identifies the singular importance of George Stigler. This paper traces the development of Stigler’s ideas vis-Ã -vis those offered by fellow economists Benjamin Rogge, Fritz Machlup, and Milton Friedman. The view of the marketplace of ideas that emerged from this contest would be of one understood not primarily to promote “economic efficiency,” but freedom of inquiry. We will see that the exact notion of freedom for the inquirer would be a peculiar one.
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