It was during his studies at Northwestern that Stigler developed an interest in economics and decided on an academic career.

He spent much of World War II at Columbia University, performing mathematical and statistical research for the Manhattan Project.

Stigler's influences included Jacob Viner and Henry Simons as well as students W. Allen Wallis and Friedman.

[13] Stigler wrote numerous articles on the history of economics, published in the leading journals and republished 14 of them in 1965.

The American Economic Review said, "many of these essays have become such well-known landmarks that no scholar in this field should be unfamiliar with them...

"[14][15] However, Deirdre McCloskey has criticised his characterisation of Adam Smith as a father of the 'greed is good' school of economics as a poor reading of the Scottish philosopher's views.

His relative Antal Koppány[22][23] was famous for achieving a draw against chess champion Bobby Fischer who was himself of hungarian ancestry through his biological father Paul Neményi.

For comprehensiveness, see Vicky M. Longawa (1993), "George J. Stigler: A Bibliography," Journal of Political Economy, 101(5), pp.