Frank H. Knight (1885–1972)

Three topics are explored: who Frank Knight was, why he was important to the emergence of the Chicago tradition, and how he and the Chicago School diverged. The first section follows Knight from his early years to his doctorate at Cornell University and the writing of Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, to his first tenured position at the University of Iowa, and his subsequent career at the University of Chicago, where he remained until his death. The chapter then examines Knight’s importance to the birth of the Chicago School, both in terms of price theory and the formation of the Knight circle which laid the foundation for the subsequent return to Chicago of Milton Friedman, George Stigler, and others who formed the core of the Chicago School. The final section examines the difference between the Chicago School’s methodological vision and Knight’s broader social and philosophical orientation.