Jacob Viner (May 3, 1892 – September 12, 1970) was an economist and as one of the early members of the modern day Chicago School of Economics. Viner was born in 1892 in Montreal, Quebec to Romanian immigrant parents and earned his undergraduate degree at McGill University in 1914. His doctorate was earned at Harvard University, where he wrote his dissertation under Frank W. Taussig, the international trade economist. He was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1916 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1946. At various times Viner also taught at Stanford and Yale Universities and went twice to the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1946 he left for Princeton University, where he remained until his retirement in 1960.[1][2] Viner was a noted opponent of John Maynard Keynes during the Great Depression. While he agreed with the policies of government spending that Keynes pushed for, Viner argued that Keynes's analysis was flawed and would not stand in the long run. Known for his enduring economic modelling of the firm, including the long- and short-run cost curves, his work is still used today. Viner is further known for having added the terms "trade creation" and "trade diversion" to the canon of economics in 1950. He also made important contributions to the theory of international trade and to the history of economic thought. While he was at Chicago, Viner co-edited the Journal of Political Economy with Frank Knight. Viner played a role in government, most notably as an advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau during the administration of FDR. During World War II he served as co-rapporteur to the economic and financial group of the Council on Foreign Relations' War and Peace Studies project, along with Harvard economist Alvin Hansen.[3] Viner spoke at the Conference on Atomic Energy Control in 1945, telling the conference 'that the atomic bomb was the cheapest way yet devised of killing human beings' and that atomic bombs 'will be peacemaking in effect' - perhaps making him the founder of nuclear deterrence.[4] At both Chicago and Princeton, Viner had a reputation as being one of the toughest professors, and many students were terrified by the prospect of studying under him. To his friends and family, however, he was known to be wise, witty and kind. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman studied under Viner while attending the University of Chicago.