Gary Becker, the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Economics, is a conservative writer and economist
based at the University of Chicago and Stanford University's Hoover
Institution. A well known proponent of reduced taxes and reduced government spending, Becker,
who served on the Defense Policy Board in the Donald
Rumsfeld Pentagon, has also championed an aggressive "war on terror" and the use of
preemptive force against suspected terrorist targets. Becker has been associated with a number of rightist
and neoconservative-led policy outfits, including the American
Enterprise Institute, where he served on the council of academic advisers, and the Manhattan
Institute, where he was member of the board of trustees.
In a December 2004 entry in his blog, the Becker-Posner Blog, which he coauthors with the conservative
judge Richard Posner, Becker echoed the arguments of many proponents of the George W. Bush administration's "war
on terror" that in an age of terrorism deterrence is no longer an adequate tool. Without citing
any examples, Becker alleged that "it is becoming increasingly possible for terrorist organizations
and governments to unleash biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons that will cause massive destruction." Thus,
he argued, "the only really effective approach is to stop them before they engage in their attacks.
This is accomplished by tracking them down and imprisoning or killing them based on evidence that they
intend to engage in suicidal attacks. Those planning such acts can also be punished on the basis of
intent. The same argument applies to dictators who are willing to use weapons of mass destruction to
attack their enemies when they do not care if many of their populations are killed and maimed by retaliation
from other countries."
More recently, in an August 2006 blog entry, Becker justified vigorous state surveillance of individual
citizens in combating terrorism. He wrote: "Yes, I am skeptical of government since government
actions are typically very inefficient and heavy-handed. Yet I support public police, a public armed
forces, various regulations, and so on. In many areas even inefficient government actions are better
than leaving them to the private sector alone. Terrorism is one of these important areas."
Why Becker, an economist with little experience in foreign and military policy, was chosen to serve
on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board during the first Bush administration is a minor mystery. He
was one of eight Hoover Institution fellows chosen to serve on the 31-member panel, which was heavily
criticized during the first Bush administration because of the perceived conflicts of interests of
its members, many of whom had strong ties to defense companies that stood to benefit from privileged
information gleaned by board members (see "Advisers of Influence," Center for Public Integrity).
Becker's Nobel Prize was won, according to a Nobel Prize press release, for his efforts to extend "the
domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket
behavior." According to the press release: "Gary Becker's research consists primarily of
having extended the domain of economic theory to aspects of human behavior which had previously been
dealt with—if at all—by other social science disciplines such as sociology, demography, and criminology.
In so doing, he has stimulated economists to tackle new problems. ... Becker's applications of his basic
model to different types of human behavior can be accounted for by distinguishing among four research
areas: (i) investments in human capital; (ii) behavior of the family (or household), including distribution
of work and allocation of time in the family; (iii) crime and punishment; and (iv) discrimination on
the markets for labor and goods."
Describing his core economic views during a 1996 PBS interview, Becker said: "I think the main
issue is government spending, and I would be willing to take a deficit if we can reduce government
spending. I'm afraid we're going to mainly end the deficit by increasing taxes, rather than by cutting
spending, and I think that will be a big mistake. ... I much prefer people to spend their own money
their way than have the government spend the money for them the way they think it should be spent."
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Affiliations
Hoover Institution: Senior Fellow
University of Chicago: Lecturer in Law, University of Chicago Law School; Ford Foundation Visiting Professor of Economics, 1968-1969; Assistant Professor, 1954-1957; Recipient of Professional Achievement Award
Cato Institute: Member of Project Board, Project on Social Security Choice
American Economic Association: Distinguished Fellow, 1988; President, 1987; Recipient of John Bates Clark Medal
Manhattan Institute: Former Member, Board of Trustees
Mont Pelérin Society: Member; President, 1990-1992
National Academy of Education
Heartland Institute: Recipient of Liberty Prize, 2002
National Science Foundation: Recipient of National Medal of Science, 2000
Dole Presidential Campaign: Economic Policy Adviser, 1996
Liberální Institut: Recipient of Liberální Institut Annual Award, 1995
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Recipient of Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, 1992
American Enterprise Institute: Council of Academic Advisers, 1989
Columbia University: Part-time Professor, 1957-1968
National Bureau of Economic Research: Researcher, 1957-1968
University of Michigan: Recipient of W.S. Woytinsky Award
National Institute of Health: Award of Merit
Government Service
Defense Policy Board: Former Member
Education
Princeton University: B.A., 1951
University of Chicago: M.A., 1953; Ph.D., 1955
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