born Nov. 7, 1885, White Oak township, McLean county, Ill., U.S.
died April 15, 1972, Chicago, Ill.
U.S. economist.
He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1916. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1927 to 1952; Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (1921) distinguished between insurable and uninsurable risk s and asserted that profit was the reward entrepreneurs earned for bearing uninsurable risk. His monograph "Economic Organization" is a classic exposition of {{link=microeconomics">microeconomic theory. He is considered the founder of the Chicago school of economics.