Knight, Frank Hyneman

Knight, Frank Hyneman

▪ American economist
born November 7, 1885, White Oak township, McLean county, Illinois, U.S.
died April 15, 1972, Chicago, Illinois

      American economist who is considered the main founder of the “Chicago school” of economics.

      Knight was educated at the University of Tennessee and at Cornell University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1916. He then taught at the University of Iowa (1919–27) and at the University of Chicago (1927–52), becoming an emeritus professor in 1952. Among his more notable economics students were future Nobel laureates Milton Friedman (Friedman, Milton), George Stigler (Stigler, George J.), and James Buchanan (Buchanan, James M.).

      Knight's book Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, published in 1921, is one of his most important contributions to economics. In it, he makes an important distinction between insurable and uninsurable risks (risk). According to Knight, profit—earned by the entrepreneur who makes decisions in an uncertain environment—is the entrepreneur's reward for bearing uninsurable risk.

      Knight also produced a monograph entitled The Economic Organisation, which became a classic exposition of microeconomic (microeconomics) theory. Its lucidity in perceiving logical distinctions may have been due to Knight's early training as a philosopher, which made him skeptical of much economic theory.

      Another of Knight's important contributions to economics was his 1924 article “Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost,” in which he challenged A.C. Pigou (Pigou, Arthur Cecil)'s view that traffic congestion justified the taxation of roads. If roads were privately owned, wrote Knight, then the profits realized from roadway tolls would help reduce congestion and thereby make government intervention unnecessary. This insight remains part of the conventional economic wisdom.

      Knight wrote extensively on liberal forms of social organization, criticizing attempts at social engineering. In one of his most famous speeches, his 1950 presidential address to the American Economic Association, he delivered a scathing yet humorous attack on government-imposed price controls. He was also a leading critic of the Austrian school of economics and its theory of capital.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Frank Hyneman Knight — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Frank Hyneman Knight (7 de noviembre de 1885 15 de abril de 1972) fue un importante economista durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. Nació en el condado de MacLean, Illinois en el seno de una devota familia… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Frank Hyneman Knight — (* 7. November 1885 im McLean County, Illinois; † 15. April 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als Begründer der Chicagoer Schule der Ökonomie. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Knight — /nuyt/, n. 1. Eric, 1897 1943, U.S. novelist, born in England. 2. Frank Hyneman /huy neuh meuhn/, 1885 1972, U.S. economist. * * * I French chevalier German Ritter In the European Middle Ages, a formally professed cavalryman, generally a vassal… …   Universalium

  • knight — knightless, adj. /nuyt/, n. 1. a mounted soldier serving under a feudal superior in the Middle Ages. 2. (in Europe in the Middle Ages) a man, usually of noble birth, who after an apprenticeship as page and squire was raised to honorable military… …   Universalium

  • frank — frank1 frankable, adj. franker, n. /frangk/, adj., franker, frankest, n., v. adj. 1. direct and unreserved in speech; straightforward; sincere: Her criticism of my work was frank but absolutely fair. 2. without inhibition or subterfuge; direct;… …   Universalium

  • Frank — /frangk/, n. 1. a member of a group of ancient Germanic peoples dwelling in the regions of the Rhine, one division of whom, the Salians, conquered Gaul about A.D. 500, founded an extensive kingdom, and gave origin to the name France. 2. (in the… …   Universalium

  • Frank H. Knight — Frank Hyneman Knight (* 7. November 1885 im McLean County, Illinois; † 15. April 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als Begründer der Chicagoer Schule der Ökonomie. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Frank Knight — Frank Hyneman Knight (* 7. November 1885 im McLean County, Illinois; † 15. April 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US amerikanischer Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Er gilt als Begründer der Chicagoer Schule der Ökonomie. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chicago, University of — Independent university in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It was founded in 1890 with an endowment from John D. Rockefeller. William Rainey Harper, its first president (1891–1906), did much to establish its reputation, and under Robert M. Hutchins… …   Universalium

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