His research on any one or two of these issues might well have won him a Nobel Prize on its own; to develop important insights into such a wide range of questions is truly remarkable. He amply deserved the rare accolade accorded to him by his long-time mentor and friend, the late Milton Friedman (himself a Nobel laureate who, like Becker, transformed economists’ thinking in many areas).
他在这些问题中的任何一两个上的研究便已足以让他获得诺贝尔奖；在范围如此广泛的问题上做出重要洞见，这着实令人瞩目。他绝对对得起他的长期导师兼朋友、已故的米尔顿·弗里德曼（Milton Friedman，与贝克尔一样，他也是改变了经济学家在许多问题上的思维方式的诺贝尔奖获得者）的罕见的溢美之辞。弗里德曼说，贝克尔是“过去五十年在世和活跃的最伟大的社会科学家。”