Sounds like a useful series, looking forward to it!

Thanks, Stigler was firing on all guns in his tanner lectures.

I am planning to use them as a start for a blog post on why is efficiency such as dirty word?

Had a quick skim of the first lecture, and I like it. Will have to give it a more solid read soon. I see a lot of similarities with McCloskey’s work – and the more general idea that definitions of descriptive terms can differ between groups (and be used differently when trying to persuade a different auidence).

My own rule of thumb is that, if it gives a policy “conclusion” it is undeniably normative – the best thing we can do is to ask what value judgments go into making that conclusion the way it is.