The last of the old-school UCLA economists

Peter Klein, at Organizations and Markets, writes about young George Mason economist Josh Wright:

Josh recently (2003) completed his PhD in economics at UCLA, where Ben Klein, Armen Alchian, and Harold Demsetz were on his dissertation committee. Josh is quite sure this committee had the highest median age of any dissertation committee on record.

That sounds right. The committee would rank very high on a scale of intellectual firepower, too.

Peter closes his post on this sad note:

Almost certainly Josh is the last representative of the UCLA tradition in economics which, like the Chicago school from which it sprung, has been absorbed into the Borg-like consciousness of mainstream (MIT) economics.

Comments

[kyle N]

My professors were from the Chicago school, so I absorbed those teachings, But I am unaware of the changes you are referring to. Can you elaborate on Mainstream Economics? From what I see online, there are still as many different opinions as there are people.
If there is a movement to solidify Economic teachings then how does a weirdo like Paul Krugman fit in? Is he laughed at by most Economists, even those who are not laissez fair?

[Josh]

Thanks for the link! I'm a big fan of the blog. Go Bruins.