Becker named to Pontifical Academy

Gary Becker, a pioneer in applying the theory of human capital to show ways in which family decisions are made on the basis of economics, has been appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences by Pope John Paul II.

Becker, University Professor in Economics, has joined a group of scholars chosen "to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences in the study of epistemological problems."

Candidates are chosen by the academy itself on the basis of "eminent original scientific studies and their knowledge of moral personality, without any ethnic or religious discrimination, and are nominated for life by sovereign act of the Holy Father."

Becker, a University faculty member since 1970, received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992.