Aaron Director’s conversion from leftist politics shaped the Chicago School’s formation

Evidence

Aaron Director is therefore the third main protagonist in our account of the origins of the Chicago School and represents the other major link to Hayek. After undergoing conversion from leftist politics in the early 1930s at Chicago, Director had been working at the U.S. Treasury. In 1937, Director sailed to England to write a dissertation under Viner on the quantitative history of the Bank of England. When the Bank unexpectedly thwarted his efforts, Director became more closely associated with Arnold Plant and Lionel Robbins at the London School of Economics (LSE). In 1939, Director sailed back to Washington, where he worked until 1946. In 1938, his sister Rose married Milton Friedman. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 732

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to later chapters on how the Chicago School network formed around Director, Friedman, and Hayek. — connects to: Frank Knight’s lectures converted socialists into libertarians, founding the Chicago School — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 92; The Chicago workshops forged the school’s shared methodological identity — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 436; The Chicago School’s founding figures were often marginalized or despaired of its creation. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 714 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The Chicago School’s neoliberal network included prominent figures often thought hostile to it #expands (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 719