Becker, Gary S.

Becker, Gary S.

▪ American economist
in full  Gary Stanley Becker 
born December 2, 1930, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, U.S.

      American economist, awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1992. He applied the methods of economics to aspects of human behaviour previously considered more or less the exclusive domain of sociology, criminology, anthropology, and demography.

      Becker was educated at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1955. He taught economics at the University of Chicago until 1957, when he began teaching at Columbia University. In 1970 he returned to the University of Chicago as a professor of economics, and in 1983 he became a professor of sociology as well.

      Becker's central premise is that rational economic choices, based on self-interest, govern most aspects of human behaviour—not just the purchasing and investment decisions traditionally thought to influence economic behaviour. In his dissertation, published in 1957 as The Economics of Discrimination, Becker examined racial discrimination in labour markets, concluding that discrimination has costs for both the victim and the perpetrator. In Human Capital (1964), he argued that an individual's investment in education and training is analogous to a company's investment in new machinery or equipment. In studies such as A Treatise on the Family (1981), Becker analyzed the household as a sort of factory, producing goods and services such as meals, shelter, and child care. Applying theories of production to household behaviour, he was able to make predictions about family size, divorce, and the role of women in the workplace. Subsequent work focused on such subjects as criminal behaviour and addiction.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • BECKER, GARY STANLEY — (1930– ), American economist, Nobel Prize winner. Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Becker was educated at Princeton and the University of Chicago. He was the Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and, from 1985, a… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Becker, Gary S. — ► (n. 1930) Economista estadounidense. Profesor de la Universidad de Chicago, en 1992 recibió el premio Nobel de Economía por aplicar métodos propios de la economía al análisis de los comportamientos humanos desde el punto de vista sociológico,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Becker, Gary S(tanley) — born Dec. 2, 1930, Pottsville, Pa., U.S. U.S. economist. He studied at Princeton University and the University of Chicago. As a professor at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, he applied the methods of economics to aspects of… …   Universalium

  • Becker, Gary S(tanley) — (n. 2 dic. 1930, Pottsville, Pa., EE.UU.). Economista estadounidense. Realizó sus estudios en la Universidad de Princeton y en la Universidad de Chicago. Como profesor de la Universidad de Columbia y de la Universidad de Chicago, aplicó métodos… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Gary S. Becker — Gary Becker Pour les articles homonymes, voir Becker. Gary Becker Becker lors de l …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Gary S. Becker — Gary Becker, 2008 Gary Stanley Becker (* 2. Dezember 1930 in Pottsville / Pennsylvania) ist ein US amerikanischer Ökonom und Nobelpreisträger für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, der ihm 1992 „für seine Ausdehnung der mikroökonomischen Theorie auf… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gary Stanley Becker — Gary Becker, 2008 Gary Stanley Becker (* 2. Dezember 1930 in Pottsville / Pennsylvania) ist ein US amerikanischer Ökonom und Nobelpreisträger für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, der ihm 1992 „für seine Ausdehnung der mikroökonomischen Theorie auf… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Becker — Becker, Gary S. * * * (as used in expressions) Becker, Boris (Franz) Becker, Gary S(tanley) Modersohn Becker, Paula Paula Becker Helen Becker …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Gary Becker — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Becker. Gary Becker Becker à Chicago en 2008 Naissance 2  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Gary Becker — Infobox Scientist name = Gary Becker image size = 180px caption = National Science Medal award ceremony, 2000 birth date = Birth date and age|1930|12|2|mf=y birth place = Pottsville, Pennsylvania, U.S. nationality = United States field =… …   Wikipedia

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