Harold Demsetz, who died Jan. 4 at 88, was one of the greatest economists of the 20th century not to win a Nobel Prize. He made major contributions to the economics of property rights and industrial organization. He was also one of the few top economists of his era to communicate almost entirely in words and not math.
This is the opening paragraph of my article that will appear in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal tomorrow. My piece is titled “Chicago’s Lesser-Known Free Marketeer.” Those who have subscriptions can find it on line here.
Because of my agreement with the Wall Street Journal, I won’t be able to post the whole thing until 30 days from tomorrow.
The picture above, which the WSJ received permission from the Demsetz family to run, shows him at a fairly early age. I met him in early 1970, when he was 39. I think this picture was taken some years before then.
READER COMMENTS
William Connolley
Jan 14 2019 at 5:11am
The picture is somewhat unfortunate, because it shows him communicating with math, not words. Which is not-quite-trivia, because by putting him up with a mathsy looking graph, its promoting the stereotype you’re trying to avoid.
David Henderson
Jan 14 2019 at 9:28am
True, but it’s a graph. He used those a reasonable amount, although still way less than the median economist of his generation.
Jonathan Lipow
Jan 14 2019 at 2:13pm
I ran track with Liz Demsetz in high school and borrowed a book by Schumpeter from Demsetz for a school report. Incredibly nice and supportive guy. If only I had fallen in love with econ while at UCLA and not after graduation when i was in the military…
David Henderson
Jan 14 2019 at 4:12pm
I had no idea. Was Liz his oldest daughter? I know that he had at least 4 kids but he was very private about them: when I went to his office to discuss my dissertation, it was all business.
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