Topic 1:
Comparison within Chicago economics - such as two Chicago economists, or two articles by Chicago economists, or two fields as they developed at Chicago, or ideas of a Chicago economist at different points in time.
Topic 2: Continuity and Diversity in Chicago Economics
Both Ross Emmett's Elgar Companion to the Chicago School of Economics and this course presume that there are distinctive features of the practice and ideas in economics at the University of Chicago. As Emmett wrote in his "Introduction" to the Elgar Companion, "The University of Chicago has been identified with a unique brand of economic thinking for at least half a century" p. 1.
Yet George J. Stigler, a putative member of the Chicago School, expressed skepticism that such a school exists ("On the ‘Chicago School of Economics': Comment," Journal of Political Economy 70 (February 1962)).
Stigler wrote that:
"A school of economists is presumably a group whose views are relatively homogeneous on certain important questions, and these views must be somewhat different from those held by most other economists. Moreover, these views should and will be interrelated: They will form at least part of a coherent philosophy, whether that philosophy be ethical or scientific" (1962. P. 70).
Your assignment is to consider whether there is a Chicago School of economics. If so, what are "relatively homogeneous" views that distinguish Chicago economics from the broader landscape of economics, or have done so at some time in the past?
There are many ways to approach this question. In a short paper you cannot deal with them all. It is better to take one or two lines of analysis or "narrative arcs" and develop them in some depth than to attempt to deal with multiple dimensions of Chicago economics.