The deeper question is perhaps the one raised by Stanislaw Ulam and his
challenge to Paul Samuelson to name one theory in the social sciences
which is both true and non-trivial. Samuelson harked back to Ricardo's
theory of comparative advantage, although his explanation for this theory
being non-trivial was perhaps tongue-in-cheek.

As ever

Bob


On Tue, February 25, 2014 19:49, CARLOS RODRIGUEZ BRAUN wrote:
> According to Mark Blaug, the Law in economics has both examples (Say's
> Law,
> Giffen's Paradox, Edgeworth Box, Engel's Curve, Walras's Law, Bowley's
> Law,
> Pigou Effect) and counter-examples (Pareto-optimality, Wicksell Effect).
>
>
> Cf. J.Segura and C. Rodríguez Braun eds., "An Eponymous Dictionary of
> Economics" (Edward Elgar, 2004).
>
>
> Carlos Rodríguez Braun
>
>
> Universidad Complutense
>
>
> Madrid, Spain
>
>
>
> 2014-02-25 17:27 GMT+01:00 Thomas Humphrey <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>
>> Perhaps so. Somebody once told me, but I never confirmed the truth of
>> the claim, that statistician Stephen M. Stigler, who stated the Law as
>> "No
>> scientific discovery is named for its original discoverer," already had
>> been scooped by his father, economist George Stigler, who stated the
>> law, although not in the words chosen by son Stephen, before Stephen
>> did. If true, Stephen Stigler's law, indeed a scientific discovery
>> bearing Stephen's name, was not discovered by him but rather by his
>> father George. But that requires that the law bear the first as well as
>> the last name of its formulator to distinguish him from his predecessor,
>> who had the same last name.
>>
>> I've also heard it said that, contrary to Stigler's law, there exist
>> cases in which original scientific discoveries have indeed been named
>> for their original discoverer. Perhaps this list's experts on Stigler's
>> law can elaborate on this and give examples.
>>
>>
>> On Feb 25, 2014, at 10:36 AM, michael perelman wrote:
>>
>>
>> Does Stigler's law prove that Stigler did not invent Stigler's law?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Michael Perelman
>> Economics Department
>> California State University
>> Chico, CA
>> 95929
>>
>>
>> 530 898 5321
>> fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>