Stigler thought public lectures on economics were useless and politically dangerous

Evidence

Stigler took exception to what he believed to be the confused image of the marketplace for ideas that was implicit in Capitalism and Freedom. If Friedman’s popularization of Chicago neoclassical economics in his advice to the public was effective, this would imply that the public “underinvests” in knowledge—a market failure. But if agents maximize in collecting information (since his 1961 paper “The Economics of Information,” Stigler argued that they did), they will already have gathered all the information that it was appropriate for them to have. Friedman’s efforts at popularization would be of no use to them. Worse still, Stigler believed any reference to market failure tended to provide intellectual support for objectionable efforts to expand regulation, and so popularizations of neoliberal views might turn out to be politically dangerous. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 145

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to internal neoliberal debate over popularization vs technocratic expertise; resonates with Mirowski’s nominalism vs realism theme across the volume. — connects to: Stigler saw markets as producing wrong knowledge because they satisfy popular prejudice — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 120; Stigler accused Friedman of assuming voters are dumber than market agents — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 143
• SEED: An essay on the contradiction at the heart of public economics: arguing to the public implies the public is ignorant, which implies market failure, which legitimates regulation.

Broader Connections

• Stigler saw markets as producing wrong knowledge because they satisfy popular prejudice #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 120
• Stigler accused Friedman of assuming voters are dumber than market agents #complicates (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 143