Stigler saw economists as suppliers responding to buyers’ demand for ideas.

Evidence

But “society” doesn’t purchase knowledge. People do, and for specific purposes. Students decide from which college or university to purchase knowledge. Patrons of research do much the same: in an unpublished 1977 lecture whose title “To What Tune Does Science Dance?” clearly echoed Rogge, Stigler observed: “[the] huge area of antitrust & I[ndustrial] O[rganization economics] in [the] US [was] generated by both public policy and business defenses against it.” Stigler was in an excellent position to make such an observation. He played an important role in developing a distinctive Chicago approach to industrial organization, and had consulted for firms facing antitrust action. Economists develop ideas in response to consumer demand for them. In Stigler’s words, the economist was a “customer’s man.” — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 148

Categorization

• DEFINE: The ‘customer’s man’ phrase encapsulates Stigler’s demand-side theory of where economic ideas come from — a genuine conceptual contribution worth pinning down.
• XREF: connects to: Stigler doubted that the public’s demand for economic science was significant. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 146

Broader Connections

• Stigler doubted that the public’s demand for economic science was significant. #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 146