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by John McClure (Editor), Frank H. Knight (Author)
Frank Knight's famous dissertation "Risk, Uncertainty and Profit" (1921) remains one of the most interesting reads in economics even today. In it, Knight made his famous distinction between "risk" (randomness with knowable probabilities) and "uncertainty" (randomness with unknowable probabilities), set forth the role of the entrepreneur in a distinctive theory of profit and gave one of the earliest presentations of the now-famous law of variable proportions in the theory of production. This work is a must-read for any serious student of economics.
Author Biography
FRANK H. KNIGHT (1885-1972) was a graduate of the University of Tennessee where he received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts degree. He then pursued his doctorate in Economics at Cornell University, studying under Professors Alvin Johnson and Allyn Young. This was where he completed his dissertation Cost, Value and Profit in 1916 which formed the basis of his later book Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit. Knight then joined the faculty of the University of Chicago where he eventually became chair of the Department of Economics. In this role, Knight was an early leader of what came to be known as the "first" Chicago school of economics. He was a prolific writer and had a great deal of influence on a generation of economists.
