Frank H. Knight, 1885-1972

Frank Hyneman Knight, en colaboración con Jacob Viner, dirigió el Departamento de Economía de la Universidad de Chicago desde los años 20 hasta finales de los 40, jugando así un papel central en el establecimiento del carácter de ese Departamento, un papel comparable al que jugó Schumpeter en Harvard o Robbins en la LSE.

Estudió en la Universidad de Tennessee y se doctoró en la de Cornell, donde fue discípulo de A.A. Young.  Además de Chicago, también fue profesor en las Universidades de Cornell y Iowa.

Su famosa tesis Riesgo, Incertidumbre y Beneficio (1921) sigue levantando pasiones hoy día. En ella establece su famosa distinción entre "riesgo" (aleatoriedad con probabilidades conocidad) e "incertidumbre" (aleatoriedad con probabilidades desconocidas) subrayando el papel del empresario en la economía.

Sus numerosas recensiones en el Journal of Political Economy de la Universidad de Chicago le sirvieron para exponer sus ideas sobre muchos temas y le condujeron a polémicas con destacados autores sobre la teoría del capital, la economía del bienestar, el keynesianismo y el positivismo.

Obras

• "The Concept of Normal Price in Value and Distribution", 1917, QJE.
• Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, 1921.
• "Cost of Production and Price Over Long and Short Periods", 1921, JPE.
• "Cassel's Theoretische Sozialökonomie", 1921, JPE.
• "Ethics and the Economic Interpretation", 1922, QJE.
• "The Ethics of Competition", 1923, QJE.
• "Some Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost", 1924, QJE.
• "The Limitations of Scientific Method in Economics", 1924, in Tugwell, editor, Trend of Economics.
• "A Note on Professor Clark's Illustration of Marginal Productivity", 1925, JPE.
• "Economic Psychology and the Value Problem", 1925, QJE.
• "Economics at its Best: Review of Pigou", 1926, AER.
• "Historical and Theoretical Issues in the Problem of Modern Capitalism", 1928, Journal of Econ & Business History.
• "A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of the General Theory of Price", 1928, JPE.
• "Freedom as Fact and Criterion", 1929, Int J of Ethics
• "Statics and Dynamics: Some queries regarding the mechanical analogy in economics", 1930, ZfN.
• "Professor Fisher's Interest Theory: A case in point", 1931, JPE.
• "Modern Economic Society Further Considered", 1932, JPE.
• The Economic Organisation, 1933.
• "Capitalistic Production, Time and the Rate of Return", 1933, in Essays in Honor of Gustav Cassel.
• "The Nature of Economic Science in Some Recent Discussion", 1934, AER.
• "Social Science and the Political Trend", 1934, Univ of Toronto Quarterly
• "Common-Sense of Political Economy: Wicksteed Reprinted", 1934, JPE.
• The Ethics of Competitition and Other Essays, 1935.
• "The Ricardian Theory of Production and Distribution", 1935, Canadian JE.
• "A Comment on Machlup", 1935, JPE.
• "Professor Hayek and the Theory of Investment", 1935, EJ.
• "The Theory of Investment Once More: Mr. Boulding and the Austrians", 1935, QJE.
• "Some Issues in the Economics of Stationary States", 1936, AER.
• "The Place of Marginal Economics in a Collectivist System", 1936, AER.
• "The Quantity of Capital and the Rate of Interest", 1936, JPE.
• "Pragmatism and Social Action: Review of Dewey", 1936, Int J of Ethics
• "Note on Dr. Lange's Interest Theory", 1937, RES.
• "Unemployment: and Mr. Keynes's revolution in economic theory", 1937, Canadian JE.
• "On the Theory of Capital: In reply to Mr. Kaldor", 1938, Econometrica.
• "The Ethics of Liberalism", 1939, Economica.
• "Socialism: The nature of the problem", 1940, Ethics
• "`What is Truth' in Economics", 1940, JPE.
• "The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economics: a rejoinder", 1941, JPE
• "Religion and Ethics in Modern Civilization", 1941, J of Liberal Religion
• "The Meaning of Democracy: its politico-economic structure and ideals", 1941, J of Negro Education
• "Social Science", 1941, Ethics.
• "The Business Cycle, Interest and Money: A methodological approach", 1941, REStat.
• "Professor Mises and the Theory of Capital", 1941, Economica.
• "The Role of the Individual in the Economic World of the Future", 1941, JPE.
• "Science, Philosophy and Social Procedure", 1942, Ethics
• "Fact and Value in Social Science", 1942, in Anshen, editor, Science and Man
• "Some Notes on the Economic Interpretation of History", 1942, Studies in the History of Culture.
• "Social Causation", 1943, American Journal of Sociology.
• "Diminishing Returns Under Investment", 1944, JPE.
• "Realism and Relevance in the Theory of Demand", 1944, JPE.
• "The Rights of Man and Natural Law", 1944, Ethics
• "Human Nature and World Democracy", 1944, American J of Sociology.
• "Economics, Political Science and Education", 1944, AER
• The Economic Order and Religion, with T.W. Merriam, 1945.
• "Immutable Law in Economics: Its reality and limitations", 1946, AER.
• "The Sickness of Liberal Society", 1946, Ethics
• "Salvation by Science: The gospel according to Professor Lundberg", 1947, JPE.
• Freedom and Reform: Essays in economics and social philosophy, 1947.
• "Free Society: Its basic nature and problem", 1948, Philosophical Review.
• "The Role of Principles in Economics and Politics", 1951, AER.
• "Institutionalism and Empiricism in Economics", 1952, AER.
• On the History and Methods of Economics: Selected essays, 1956.
• Intelligence and Democratic Action, 1960.
• "Methodology in Economics", 1961, Southern EJ
• "Abstract Economics as Absolute Ethics", 1966, Ethics.
• "Laissez Faire: Pro and con", 1967, JPE.