A Year of Transition: Faculty Recruiting at Chicago in 1946

Abstract

The year 1946 has been seen as a pivotal year of transition by historians of the Chicago Economics Department, in large part as a result of the arrival of Milton Friedman that year. This essay examines new evidence on department deliberations on faculty hiring in February of 1946. It argues that Friedman’s recruitment reflected a compromise between Frank Knight and his followers on the one hand and those associated with the Cowles Commission on the other.