Author: Irwin Collier

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Chicago Courses Syllabus

Chicago. Price Theory. Economics 300 A&B. Friedman. 1948

 

 

In the previous posting I provided transcriptions of Milton Friedman’s handwritten record of classes for the first time he offered the first quarter of a two-quarter sequence in price theory together with a handout and examination questions. Unfortunately I was unable to find a comparable record of classes for the second quarter of the sequence, Economics 300B for the Winter Quarter 1947. Below we have a draft of assigned and recommended readings for the following year. This can be compared to the readings for the price theory course Friedman taught at Columbia in 1939-40.

Interesting to note is the double appearance of Keynesian economics, something one might have not expected in a price theory course, once for the determination of interest rates (after dealing with the theory of wages) and later (apparently) to illustrate general equilibrium.

The October 1951 version of the Reading Assignments for Economics 300A and B is printed as an appendix to J. Daniel Hammond’s “The development of post-war Chicago price theory” in The Elgar Companion to Chicago School Economics, edited by Ross  B. Emmett, pp. 7-24. It is nearly identical to the handwritten draft of reading assignments I have transcribed here from 1948.  This Hammond article offers much context and is very much worth consulting.

______________________________

September, 1948

Economics 300 A&B
Reading Assignments by M. Friedman

(Notes:

  1. It is assumed students are familiar with material equivalent to that contained in George Stigler, Theory of Price, or Kenneth Boulding, Economic Analysis.
  2. Readings marked with asterisk (*) are recommended, not required.)

Knight, F. H., The Economic Organization, esp. pp. 1-37.
Keynes, J. N., The Scope and Method of Political Economy, ch. I and II, pp. 1-83.

 

Marshall, Alfred, Principles of Economics, Bk III, ch 2, 3, 4; Bk V, ch 1,2.
Schultz, Henry, The Meaning of Statistical Demand Curves, pp. 1-10.
Working, E. J. “What do Statistical ‘Demand Curves’ Show?”
Knight, F. H. Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, ch 3.
*Lange, O., “On the Determinateness of the Utility Function”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol I (1933-34), pp. 218 ff.
*Allen, R.G.D., “The Nature of Indifference Curves,” Ibid, pp 110 ff.
Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital, Part I (pp 11-52).
*Wallis, W. A., and Friedman, Milton, “The Empirical Derivation of Indifference Functions”, in Lange et al, Studies in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics
*Friedman, Milton and Savage, L. J., “The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk,” Journal of Political Economy LVI (August 1948) pp. 279-304.

 

Marshall, Book V, ch 3, 4, 5, 12, Appendix H.
Meyers, A. L. Elements of Modern Economics, ch 5, 7, 8, 9.
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition, ch 2.
Clark, J. M., The Economics of Overhead Costs, ch 9
Viner, Jacob, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift fuer Nationaloekonomie, Bd III (Sept, 1931), pp 23-46.
Chamberlin, Edward, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, ch 3, sec. 1, 4, 5, 6; ch 5.
Harrod, R. F. “Doctrines of Imperfect Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1934, sec. 1, pp. 442-61.

 

*Triffin, Robert, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, esp. Part II.
*Robinson, E. A. G., The Structure of Competitive Industry.
*___________________, Monopoly.
*Plant, Arnold, “The Economic Theory Concerning Patents for Inventions,” Economica, Feb, 1934.
*Dennison, S. R., “The Problem of Bigness,” Cambridge Journal, Nov. 1947.

 

Marshall, Book IV, ch 1, 2, 3; Bk V, ch 6.
Clark, J. B., The Distribution of Wealth, Preface, ch 1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 23.
Mill, John Stuart, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, ch 14.
Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Wages, ch 1-6.
Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations, Bk I, ch 10.
Marshall, Bk VI, ch 1-5.
Friedman, Milton, and Kuznets, Simon, Income from Independent Professional Practice, Preface, pp. v to x; ch 3, Sec 3, pp. 81-95, ch 4, Sect 2, pp. 118-137, App, Sec 1 & 3, pp 142-151, 155-61.
Knight, F. H. “Interest” in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, also in Ethics of Competition.
Keynes, J. M. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, ch 11-14.

 

Cassell, Gustav, Fundamental Thoughts in Economics, ch. 1, 2,3.
_________________, The Theory of Social Economy, ch 4.
J. R. Hicks, “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation”, Econometrica, vol 5, April 1937, pp. 147-159.
Franco Modigliani, “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, vol 12, No. 1 (Jan 1944) esp. Part I, sec. 1 through 9, sec 11 through 17, Part II, sec 21.
A. C. Pigou, “The Classical Stationary State,” Economic Journal, vol 53, December, 1943, pp. 343-51.
____________, “Economic Progress in a Stable Environment,” Economica, 1947, pp. 180-90.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archive, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 77, Folder 1 “University of Chicago, Economics 300 A & B”.

 

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Chicago Courses Exam Questions Syllabus

Chicago. Price Theory. Econ 300A, Friedman. 1946.

The first cohort of students to receive their graduate price theory training from Milton Friedman during the autumn quarter of 1946 at the University of Chicago (Economics 300A ) included a future Nobel prize winner (James Buchanan), a future labor economist and Chicago/Princeton professor (Albert Rees), a future textbook author (Richard Leftwich, whose text incidentally was the text used in the early concentration freshman economics course I took at Yale in the Fall semester of 1969), and Army Air Corps Silver-Star recipient and the future head of C.I.A. Soviet economics research (Rush V. Greenslade).

Interestingly enough, Milton Friedman is listed as a member of the faculty in the Announcement for the Sessions of 1946-1947 but the courses 300A, B were not yet in included in the May 15, 1946 Announcements. The readings and basic structure of the course were slightly modified from the course he offered at Columbia in 1939-40.

_________________________________

[Course Description]

300A,B. Price Theory. A systematic study of the pricing of final products and factors of production under essentially stationary conditions. Covers both perfect competition and such imperfectly competitive conditions as monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. 300A deals primarily with the pricing of final products; 300B, with the pricing of factors of production. Prereq: Econ 209 or equiv. and Econ 213 or equiv or consent of instructor.

300A. Aut: MWF 9:30; Win: MWF 10:30; Friedman.

300B. Win: MWF 9:30; Spr: MWF 9:30; Friedman.

 

Source:   University of Chicago, Announcements. Vol. XLVII, No. 4 (May 15, 1947), The College and the Divisions. Sessions of 1947-1948, p. 224.

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Econ 300 A. Autumn Quarter [1946]
Record of Meetings

[Handwritten notes by Milton Friedman]

Wed Oct 2 Qualifying exam.
Fri Oct 4 a) Marshall a la Memorials, pp. 47, 86.
b) Defn of the economic problem[,] Economics
c) Distnctn betw. positive & normative
Mon Oct 7 Knight[‘]s fcns of econ organization
Wed Oct 9 [ditto] completed
Fri Oct 11 Reln betw wants & activities
Mon Oct 14 a) Initial discussion of d. c.
Wed Oct 16 [ditto] completed
b) [Initial discussn ] of s. c.
Fri Oct 18 No meeting (to be held later
Mon Oct 21 Equil of d & s.
Wed Oct 23 Elast. of Dem
Fri Oct 25 Elast completed & assumptns ind. demand
Mon Oct 28 Ass. and dem. c. completed; stat. d.c.
Wed Oct 30 Complete statistical demand curves
Fri Nov 1 Stochastic dem. curve. d.c. of ind cons. throu m. u.
Mon Nov 4 Eqn of ind cons; math & graph. demontratn
Wed Nov 6 Dervatn of d & eng curves
Fri Nov 8 Diff with utility theory
Mon Nov 11 Indiff curve theory
Wed Nov 13 [ditto]
Fri Nov 15 Examination
Mon Nov 18 Discussion of exam: Income vs. substitution effects
Wed Nov 20 Diff with indifference theory; dem curve for prod of an indiv prod.
Fri Nov 22 Dem curve for prod of ind prod; Econ of Ind firm
Mon Nov 25 Relat of cost curves of ind foirm to supply curve of industry
Wed Nov 27 (extra meeting to make up for Oct. 18)
Reading period
Mon Dec 9 Diff kinds of monopolistic conditions
Wed Dec 11
Fri Dec 13
Mon Dec 16
Wed Dec 18 examination
Fri Dec 20 examination

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Qualifying Examination, Economics 300A
Autumn Quarter, 1946

1. Comment briefly on the following two sentences, taken from newspaper stories:

a. “Demand went up and therefore price went up.”

b. “Price went up and therefore demand declined.”

 

2. Indicate which of the following statements are true (T) and which false (F):

[T] If a one per cent increase in price will cause more than a one per cent reduction in amount demanded, the demand for the commodity is elastic.

[F] Cost of production affects price only through its effect on the rate of production.

[F] If production of a commodity is completely monopolized, and if the monopolist takes full advantage of his position, no changes in the cost of production will have any effect upon price.

[F] A fixed tax (say, a license tax of $10,000) would operate to increase the price at which a monopolist would make the largest net return (or largest net earnings).

[blank] An individual firm will undertake to equalize marginal revenue and marginal cost.

[F] An excise tax is likely to increase the price of a competitively produced commodity by the full amount of the tax.

[T] If price exceeds the competitive producer’s average expense it will therefore be advantageous for him to increase his rate of production.

[T] A monopoly will never operate at a price at which the demand of its product is inelastic.

 

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[undated copy of a class handout, ca. 1946-47]

An arithmetical example of the effects of changes in tastes and the distribution of income on the distribution of commodities.

1. Descriptive data:

a. Population. There are three classes in the community—rich, middle-class, and poor. Their numbers are fixed throughout the example, but their incomes vary. The numbers and original family incomes are:

Rich: 1,000 families, $10,000 income

Middle-class: 10,000 families, $3,000 income

Poor: 1,000 families, $1,000 income

b. Commodities. There are two commodities: housing; and all other, which will be treated as a single commodity.

c. Tastes. In the original position the tastes of all income classes are identical. The tastes are described by the following schedules of marginal utilities, which, it will be noticed, follow the Bernoulli hypothesis. (It will be observed also that the analysis is independent of the measurability of utility. Marginal utilities are used only for simplicity of exposition. If the student will triple the marginal utilities for one income class and carry through the analysis, he will reach the same answers, assuming he does not make arithmetical mistakes.)

 

Housing

Other

Quantity

 Marginal Utility Quantity

Marginal Utility

1

 1.00 1

1.00

2

 0.50 2

0.50

3

 0.33 3

0.33

4

 0.25 4

0.25

5

 0.20 5

0.20

Additional values can be found for either schedule from the formula, marginal utility = 1/quantity.

 

2. The Original Distribution of Goods.

a. Each family will seek maximum utility, and this entails buying housing and other commodities in such quantities that

marginal utility of housing = marginal utility of other
  price of housing                                 price of other

In addition each family is faced by the budget limitation that the amount spent on housing plus the amount spent on other equal income.

b. We can construct a demand curve for (say) housing by (say) the poor, using arithmetical procedures.

i. First divide the marginal utilities of housing and other by their unit prices. Let these prices be $2 per unit and $1 per unit, respectively. We secure schedules:

Housing

Other

Quantity

 Marginal Utility
Per Dollar		 Quantity

Marginal Utility
Per Dollar

1

 0.500 1

1.00

2

 0.250 2

0.50

3

 0.167 3

0.33

4

 0.125 4

0.25

5

 0.100 5

0.20

 

ii. Then find the combinations such that the marginal utility per dollar is equal. For example, 1 housing unit and 2 other units; 2 housing units and 4 other units. Only one of these many combinations meets our budget limitation, that the poor family spend $1,000. Continuing the table or the logic, the family will buy 250 housing units if the prices are as given.

iii. Carry this procedure through for all possible prices of housing and other, for each income class.

iv. Add the demand schedules so secured, compare with the given supplies, read off prices, and then the quantities received by each type of family.

v. Since steps iii and iv will require several years, it is more economical to take a course in sub-freshman algebra and proceed as follows:

c. Our two conditions of proportionality of marginal utilities to prices and the budget limitation can be written as

1/(q1p1) = 1/(q2p2)

q1p1 + q2p2 = R,

where q1 is the quantity of housing, p1 its price, the corresponding symbols with subscript 2 refer to other, and R is income.

We then proceed deftly as follows:

i. The demand curve for housing by a family is the quantity that will be purchased at various prices, so we wish to find how q1 varies with p1. If we substitute the proportionality-of-marginal-utilities equation into the budget equation, we secure

q1p1 + q1p1 = R,

or q1=R/(2p1).

By symmetry the same demand curve holds for other, using subscript 2.

ii. We now add up the demand curves of all families. The aggregate demand of the 1,000 rich families is

1,000 x 10,000/(2p1) = 5,000,000/p1

that of the middle class,

10,000 x 3,000/(2p1) = 15,000,000/p1

and that of the poor, starving families is

1,000 x 1,000/(2p1) = 500,000/p1.

iii. The fixed supply of both housing other is 205,000 units. The price is set where quantity supplied equals quantity demanded, i.e.,

205,000 = 20,500,000/ p1

so the price of housing (and of other) will be $100.

iv. And now by going back to demand curves, in i above, we can find the quantity each family secures of each commodity.

d. The final answers are:

i. The rich family secures $10,000/(2x$100) = 50 units of housing and 50 units of other.

ii. The middle class family secures $3,000/(2x$100) = 15 units of housing and 15 units of other.

iii. The poor family secures $1,000/(2x$100) = 5 units of housing and 5 units of other.

3. After the War: Larger Money Incomes and a More Equal Distribution of these Incomes.

a. Let us assume that after a highly successful war, this community now has the following income structure:

Rich: 1,000 families, $18,000 income

Middle-class: 10,000 families, $6,000 income

Poor: 1,000 families, $4,000 income

Thus the aggregate money income of the community has doubled, but is now more equally distributed by any reasonable measure.

b. We proceed to the solution exactly as before. Indeed nothing has changed but the incomes of individual families so we may use the same demand equations.

c. The final answers are:

i. The rich family secures 45 units of housing and 15 units of other.

ii. The middle-class family secures 15 units of housing and 15 units of other.

iii. The poor family secures 10 units of housing and 10 units of other.

The price per unit of either commodity has risen to $200.

4. Still After the War: The Rich get House-Conscious

a. For various reasons best left unexplored, the rich acquire a greater desire for housing. In terms of our example, the marginal utility of any quantity of housing doubles for them (so marginal utility = 2/q). We proceed as usual.

b. The final results are:

The price of a unit of housing soars to $214.63; that of a unit of other commodities crashes to $185.37.

i. The rich family secures 55.91 units of housing and 32.37 units of other commodities.

ii. The middle-class family secures 13.98 units of housing and 16.18 units of other commodities.

iii. The poor family secures 9.32 units of housing and 10.79 units of other commodities.

5. The Final Comparison

Original
Position

Greater Equality

Same Tastes

Rich-roof-ravenous

Housing

Rich

 50,000 45,000

55,000

Middle-class

 150,000 150,000

139,800

Poor

 5,000 10,000

9,300

Other Commodities

Rich

 50,000 45,000

32,400

Middle-class

 150,000 150,000

161,800

Poor

 5,000 10,000

10,800

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MIDQUARTER EXAMINATION IN ECONOMICS 300A
Autumn, 1946

1. Descriptive data:

a. Population: a community consists of three classes—rich, middle-class, and poor. The numbers and family incomes are:

Rich: 1,000 families, $10,000 income per family.

Middle-class: 10,000 families, $3,000 income per family.

Poor: 1,000 families, $1,000 income per family.

b. Commodities: There are two commodities: housing and food, considered as single composite commodities.

c. Demand curves: All individuals in the community have the following demand curves:

h = I/(2 ph)

f = I/(2 pf)

where

h= number of housing units per time unit.

ph = price per housing unit.

f = number of food units per time unit.

pf = price per food unit.

I = income of the family per time unit.

d. Supplies available.

There are available 205,000 housing units, and 205,000 food units. These amounts are available regardless of price and cannot be increased in the period considered.

Questions:

Determine:

a. The aggregate demand curve for the entire community for (1) housing, (2) food.

b. The prices that will prevail, assuming a free market.

c. The quantity of food and housing consumed by a family of each class.

d. The elasticity of the market demand curve for each product at a quantity of 205,000 units.

 

2. Appraise the following quotation from A. C. Pigou: “Since elasticity measures variations in quantity (demanded or offered) divided by variations in a price, the elasticity of demand for anything will be seven times as large for seven similar demanders as it is for one.”

 

3. “As Sir R. Giffen has pointed out, rise in the price of bread makes so large a drain on the resources of the poorer laboring families and raises so much the marginal utility of money to them, that they are forced to curtail their consumption of meat and the more expensive farinaceous foods: and, bread being still the cheapest food which they can get and will take, they consume more, and not less of it.” Marshall, p. 132.

a. Give your own verbal explanation of how such a positively sloping demand schedule can arise.

b. Draw an indifference curve diagram that will display this phenomenon.

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Final Examination for Economics 300A
Autumn, 1946
Part I

1. Define briefly the following terms:

a. Income elasticity of demand

b. Demand curve for the product of an individual firm

c. Supply curve

d. Marginal revenue

e. Cross elasticity of demand

f. Oligopoly

 

2. Discuss critically the following quotation from Stigler:

“The principle of an increasing Syx [the marginal rate of substitution of y for x] corresponds to the older theory of diminishing marginal utility of a commodity as its quantity increases. More precisely: if Syx is increasing, then the marginal utilities of y and x must be decreasing; if the marginal utilities of y and x are decreasing, then Syx is probably, but not necessarily, increasing.”

3. Assume that the demand curve for complete flashlights of a standardized type is known; that the case and bulb are produced separately from the batteries; that the cost of putting the batteries in the case can be neglected; that the number and type of batteries put in each flashlight is fixed and unchangeable; that the supply curves of (1) case and bulb assembly and (2) batteries are known; and that the markets for complete flashlights, case and bulb assemblies, and batteries are reasonably competitive.

a. Indicate how to derive the demand curve for batteries alone. Under what assumptions is this demand curve valid; and for what kinds of problems is it relevant?

b. Suppose the supply curve of case and bulb assembly shifts to the right (i.e., supply increases). What effect will this have on the price of batteries?

c. Under what conditions would you expect the derived demand curve for batteries to be extremely inelastic?

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Final Examination for Economics 300A
Autumn, 1946
Part II

4. Statistical demand curves for fluid milk are derived by two different procedures.

(1) Data for a particular year for the 48 states of the United States are used to obtain a correlation equation expressing (a) the price of fluid milk in a state as a function of (b) per capita consumption of fluid milk in that state and (c) per capita income in that state.

(2) Data for a period of years for the United States are used to obtain a correlation equation expressing (a) the price of milk in the United States as a function of (b) the per capita consumption of fluid milk in the United States and (c) the per capita income in the United States.

Under what conditions, if any, would you expect the results to be identical? If the results are not identical, discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. Indicate the conditions under which you would expect (1) to give a better estimate of “the” demand curve for milk and, the conditions under which you would expect (2) to give a better estimate. How, if at all, could one determine which set of conditions prevails.

5. “In conversations with gold mining engineers a phrase glibly and frequently repeated is ‘sweetening the ore.’ By this phrase reference is made to the practice of diverting production in profitable periods to the poorer ores and perhaps restricting output in the richer fields. Under this practice the better ores are preserved for periods in which mining costs have risen so that over a long period of time output can be held more steady. Contributing also to a policy of sweetening the ores is the reluctance of producers to install capital equipment in a period in which the tendency is for mining expenses to increase with the general advance of wages and living costs. By the time the equipment is installed it might be expected that wages and price levels would be adjusted to the increased price of gold.”

Discuss the wisdom of the policy described in this quotation from the point of view of the individual producer. Assume that the individual producer seeks to maximize the present net capital value of his mining properties. Discuss separately (a) the alleged policy of “diverting production in profitable periods to the poorer ores and perhaps restricting output in the richer fields”; (b) the alleged policy of postponing the installation of capital equipment.

6. Assume a change in the laws so that less stringent conditions are imposed for bankruptcy and reorganization in a particular field (say the production of steel). As a consequence, a number of steel firms reorganize, wiping out a large part of their bonded debt. What would you expect to be the short- and long-run effects of these events on (a) the output and prices of the reorganized firms; (b) the amount of investment in the industry; (c) the rate of interest paid by the industry for new loans; (d) the output and prices of the industry? In each case, give the basis for your answer.

_________________________________

Source: Hoover Institution Archive. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 76, Folder 9 University of Chicago Econ. 300A.

Image Source: Columbia University, Columbia 250 Celebrates Columbians Ahead of Their Time.

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Chicago Regulations

Chicago. Committee on Ph.D. Outlines & Requirements, 1949-50 (3)

This is the third of a series of  items related to the University of Chicago Department of Economics’ Committee on Ph. D. Outlines and Requirements chaired by Milton Friedman (1949-50). The first installment and second installment were previously posted. A fourth installment was published after this post originally appeared.

Two seminar appearances, first as prospective candidates for the Ph.D. and ultimately to provide a definitive report of findings, are seen to constitute book-ends for thesis writers. Scope and quality of a thesis to be “comparable to [a] first-rate journal article” with quality control enforced through essentially an iterated process of revise-and-resubmit under the direction of the thesis committee.

___________________________

[MEMO #6, 13 June 1949]

[Carbon copy]

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

[Date]   June 13, 1949

[To]    T. W. Schultz                                                                        [Department] Economics

[From] R. Blough, M. Friedman, D. G. Johnson                             [Department] Economics
and J. Marschak

[In re:]           Report of committee on Ph. D. outlines and requirements.

Your note of December 10 establishing this committee asks us to “prepare a memorandum setting forth the problem of students’ Ph.D. outlines and the procedure to be followed by the Department in appraising and approving Ph.D. thesis projects, including the type of outlines and supporting materials that a student should submit to the Department for its use when it passes upon the petition for admission to candidacy.”

We have interpreted this assignment rather broadly, in the belief that an appropriate procedure for admission to candidacy could be formulated only as part of an integrated program for handling the entire thesis requirement. Accordingly, section 1 below presents our conclusions about the standards to be applied to a thesis, and section 2, about the methods for getting more effective supervision, direction, and criticism of a thesis. Section 3 restates and extends our conclusions in the form of specific proposals for action.

  1. Standards to be applied to a thesis.

It is our feeling that the existing (implicit) standards for a thesis are both too high and too low: too high ex ante and too low ex post. In our opinion, we should seek to stimulate shorter, better organized, and better written theses than those ordinarily submitted. The problems here are first, to avoid simply reducing length without improving quality; second, to enforce the standard and make it part of the mores of the Department.

In order to accomplish these purposes we recommend (a) that a statement on the role of the thesis should be prepared for distribution to candidates; (b) that every thesis should be required to have a central core not to exceed roughly 15,000 words.

(a) Role of the thesis

The thesis, in our view, is to be viewed primarily as part of the training of the economist, not as a means of securing additions to knowledge. Any addition to knowledge is a welcome by-product, not a major objective. Up to the point at which he writes a thesis, the student has been concerned primarily with absorbing substantive material, acquiring tools, and becoming familiar with techniques of analysis. He has only incidentally applied these techniques. Equally important, he has had little occasion to acquire absolute standards of quality; most of his written work has been of a “one-shot” variety involving doing his best once and then being through with it. He has not had the experience of re-doing a thing again and again until it is satisfactory in an absolute sense and not merely the best he can do in an hour or a week.

The role of the thesis is to round out the student’s education by remedying these deficiencies. More specifically it should:

(1) give the student training in research by “doing” and instill in him absolute standards of quality in research.

(2) Deepen the student’s knowledge of the technique and subject matter he has acquired in course work by requiring him to apply what he has learned to a particular problem. In the process, he should think through the material he has been subjected to and make it his own.

These objectives affect both the choice of topic and the character of the thesis. The topic should be chosen less from the point of view of novelty or importance than of the contribution it can make to the student’s education—the opportunity it offers for improving and expanding his capacities. As a general matter, this suggests topics sufficiently narrow and specific to permit the student to do a thorough and exhaustive piece of work in the time available. It argues against broad general topics in which maturity and judgment are the prime requisites.

To accomplish these objectives, the final thesis should satisfy exceedingly high standards of quality; this is far more important than quantity. As a regular matter, it should be expected that a thesis will undergo several substantive revisions before final acceptance, that an absolute standard of excellence rather than a labor-theory of value will be applied. This means that at least the central core of the thesis must be relatively brief. The standard should be a first-rate journal article, no a full-length book.

(b) The scale of the thesis

We recommend that every thesis should be required to contain a central core of not more than roughly 15,000 words. This central core is to be self contained. It may, however, be supplemented by additional chapters or appendices containing more detailed material, expansions of points in the central core, etc.

The central core should, in general, not give much space to the general character of the problem [handwritten note: “suggest to insert ‘methodological’ before ‘character’ or otherwise indicate that while we do want to have the problem stated at the beginning (the 3 lines further below) we don’t want vague methodological discussions on its place in the universe of science.”], earlier work on the problem, and the like; those belong in supporting appendices if anywhere. It should concentrate on the original material developed by the writer. It must contain a precise statement of the problem and its economic analysis, not simply summarize data, report views, or describe events. In this context, of course, economic analysis is to be interpreted broadly, not as synonymous with technical economic theory.

It should be emphasized that the restriction of the central core to 15,000 words is not intended in any way to reduce the quantity or quality of performance expected from the student. Its main objective is to improve quality. One further reason for keeping theses to this scale is the desirability of having every member of the faculty read every thesis and vote for or against its approval. This is not at present feasible but might become so if the scale of the thesis were restricted.

  1. Methods for getting more effective supervision, direction, and criticism of theses.

Our chief recommendation on this topic is that there be established a thesis seminar. This seminar should be attended as a regular matter by all students writing theses in residence. By as many faculty members as can find it possible to attend, and, in any event, by the faculty members on the thesis committee of the student reporting at a particular session. Ideally, some one or more faculty members should have direct responsibility for the seminar as part of his teaching load.

The student scheduled to report at any meeting should prepare a written report sufficiently in advance of the meeting to permit duplication and circulation among all faculty members and all student participants in the seminar. He might then begin the discussion with an introductory summary taking not more than, say, five minutes. The rest of the time would be devoted to critical discussion.

It might be expected that a student would ordinarily appear before the seminar twice: once early in his work for a discussion of the topic and its possibilities on the basis of a brief circulated report (on the scale of a term paper); once, toward the end, for a discussion of his results, on the basis of a more detailed report and possibly a draft of the “central core” of the thesis itself.

We recommend that this thesis seminar be integrated with two other steps in the thesis procedure with which there is at present some dissatisfaction: (a) admission to candidacy, (b) the final examination.

The first appearance of the student before the seminar, and the paper prepared for that purpose, should also be used as a basis for deciding on admission to candidacy. At present, it is the general feeling that we have inadequate evidence on which to judge suggested theses. The suggested change in the scale of the thesis opens up the possibility that more time can be spent in the preparatory stages and more can be asked for from the student in the way of supporting evidence. Something of the scale of a term paper is perhaps not too much to ask. In order to insure faculty participation, a tentative faculty committee should be established prior to the student’s first appearance and those named to it should be expected to attend for the department in addition to as many others as can do so.

Dissatisfaction with the final examination arises from a different source. The exam is in fact a pure formality, in view of the stage at which it comes. Candidates are in practice almost never failed at that stage. Yet the candidate is not told that it is a pure formality; he regards it as a crucial and important test.

In place of dispensing with the final exam, the second appearance of a candidate before the thesis seminar might take its place, not in the sense of an occasion for final approval of the candidate, but in the sense of a public exhibition, as it were, testifying to the candidate’s stage of development. Final approval of the thesis would be based on the decision of the thesis committee plus a poll of the entire faculty.

  1. Summary of specific recommendations

To implement the general recommendations outlined above, it is proposed that the department approve the following actions and rules:

(1) Every Ph.D. thesis submitted for final approval must contain a central core not in excess of 15,000 words in length. This central core must be self-contained but may be supplemented by supporting material. The standard of comparison should be a first-rate journal article.

(2) Preparation of a statement on the role of the thesis and the standards to which it is expected to conform for distribution to candidates.

(3) Establishment of a thesis seminar. Regular participation in this seminar is to be required of all candidates writing theses in residence. One or more faculty members is to have direct responsibility for this seminar as part of his teaching load. All other faculty members shall be encouraged to attend.

(4) A Ph.D. candidate, whether or not he writes his thesis in residence, shall be required to make at least two appearances before this seminar.

(5) The candidate’s first appearance before the seminar shall be part of the procedure for admission to candidacy. In advance of this appearance, the candidate shall prepare a brief report (on the scale of a term paper) explaining his thesis topic, the existing state of knowledge on the topic, its potentialities, and his projected plan of attack on the problem. This report shall be duplicated and circulated to all members of the seminar an all members of the faculty in advance of the meeting of the seminar. This report plus the performance of the student before the seminar shall be the principal evidence for granting admission to candidacy, provided, of course, that other requirements are met.

(6) A candidate shall be permitted to make this first appearance preparatory to admission to candidacy if he has passed at least two of the three Ph.D. preliminary examinations.

(7) A tentative faculty committee shall be named for each candidate prior to this first appearance, and shall be expected to attend the meeting of the seminar at which it takes place.

(8) The candidate’s final appearance before the seminar shall be on the basis of a more detailed report of his findings, preferably on the basis of a draft of the “central core” of the thesis. This report shall be duplicated and circulated to all members of the seminar and all members of the faculty in advance of the meeting of the seminar.

(9) This final appearance before the seminar shall replace the present final examination on the thesis.

(10) The candidates thesis committee shall be expected to attend this final appearance before the seminar.

(11) The central core of the thesis or its equivalent shall be circulated to all members of the faculty before the final acceptance of the thesis. Final acceptance shall be based on approval by the thesis committee plus a vote of all other members of the faculty.

(12) The new procedure for admission to candidacy should apply to all students in residence at the time of its adoption, and to students not in residence who have not been admitted to candidacy prior to January 1, 1950.

___________________________

 

[MEMO #7, 2 February 1950]

[Carbon copy.  Additions to the change in the text are highlighted. Items (7) and (10) are the significant additional changes in the specific recommendations.]

[THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO]

[Date]   February 2, 1950

[To]    T. W. Schultz                                                                        [Department] Economics

[From] R. Blough, M. Friedman, D. G. Johnson                             [Department] Economics
and J. Marschak

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PH. D. OUTLINES AND REQUIREMENTS

The following summary of specific recommendations is a revision of the summary on pp. 4 and 5 of our earlier report, incorporating comments and suggestions made at the department discussion of the problem. It is proposed that the department approve the following actions and rules:

(1) A Ph.D. thesis submitted for final approval will ordinarily contain a central core not in excess of 15,000 words in length. This central core must be self-contained but may be supplemented by supporting material. In scope and quality, it shall be comparable to first-rate journal article.

(2) Preparation of a statement on the role of the thesis and the standards to which it is expected to conform for distribution to candidates.

(3) Establishment of a thesis seminar. Regular participation in this seminar is to be required of all candidates writing theses in residence. One or more faculty members is to have direct responsibility for the organization and scheduling of this seminar. A session of the seminar will ordinarily be conducted by the chairman of the tentative or final thesis committee of the student presenting a report (see point 7 below). All other faculty members shall be encouraged to attend.

(4) A Ph.D. candidate, whether or not he writes his thesis in residence, shall be required to make at least two appearances before this seminar.

(5) The candidate’s first appearance before the seminar shall be prior to his admission to candidacy. In advance of this appearance, the candidate shall prepare a brief report (on the scale of a term paper) explaining his thesis topic, the existing state of knowledge on the topic, its potentialities, and his projected plan of attack on the problem. This report shall be duplicated and circulated to all members of the seminar an all members of the faculty in advance of the meeting of the seminar.

(6) A candidate shall be permitted to make this first appearance preparatory to admission to candidacy if he has passed at least two of the three Ph.D. preliminary examinations.

(7) The candidate shall have responsibility for applying for the appointment of a tentative thesis committee prior to his first appearance at the seminar. He shall be permitted to make such application at any time after he has passed at least two of the three Ph.D. preliminary examinations. The chairman of the department shall name a tentative faculty committee for each candidate, and this committee shall be expected to attend the meeting of the seminar at which it takes place. At least one member of the tentative committee shall be a person whose major field of interest is outside of the field of the proposed thesis. If admission to candidacy is granted, a final thesis committee shall be appointed by the chairman of the department.

(8) The candidate’s final appearance before the seminar shall be a definitive report of his findings. A brief resume of this report shall be duplicated and circulated to all members of the seminar and all members of the faculty in advance of the meeting of the seminar. The candidate’s thesis committee shall be expected to attend this final appearance before the seminar. [Last sentence was recommendation (10) of previous draft]

(9) The central core of the thesis or its equivalent shall be circulated to all members of the faculty before the final acceptance of the thesis. Final acceptance of the thesis shall be by vote of the members of the faculty upon the recommendation of the thesis committee.

(10) The final examination by the department shall be on the candidate’s major field. The examination shall be a function of the whole department but in any event shall be attended by members of the thesis committee and other faculty members specializing in the field.

(11) The new procedure for admission to candidacy should apply to all students in residence at the time of its adoption, and to students not in residence who have not been admitted to candidacy prior to July 1, 1950.

___________________________

[MEMO #8, undated, almost certainly 1950]

[Mimeographed copy.]

STANDARDS FOR Ph.D. THESIS

(Draft proposal for
circulation among
prospective candidates)

In order to guide candidates for the Ph.D. degree in selection of a thesis topic, the Department of Economics has formulated the following statement of standards which shall apply to doctoral dissertations in the future. Each candidate is urged to familiarize himself with the four main criteria set forth below.

I. The role of the thesis in the educational process is to develop the candidate’s ability to make significant contributions to knowledge in economics. To accomplish this objective the thesis must make a contribution to knowledge.

In addition:

a. The thesis must be concerned with an important and significant problem.

The “importance” and “significance” of a problem are, of course, to some extent matters of individual judgment. Different candidates will have different concepts of what is important what is relatively inconsequential. In selecting a topic, however, the candidate should first ask himself questions such as these: Why is the proposed topic “important”? Why is it worth spending time on? Would research on the topic contribute to general understanding of some central problem of our time? Would it contribute to clarifying or improving the conceptual or logical basis of economics? Questions such as the availability of material, opportunity for utilizing a particular technique, or the possible conclusiveness of findings, though important, are definitely secondary. The candidate should work on something that “matters”.

b. The thesis must involve analysis of an economic problem

Conceivably, any kind of original work, such as for example the mere gathering of statistics which have never been compiled before, might be “a contribution to knowledge”. However, such a task would not meet the requirements for a thesis unless it involved independent analysis of an economic problem. In other words, the compilation of material is not an end in itself; it is only a mans of achieving the objective of the thesis.

II. The topic should be sufficiently limited and specific to permit the candidate to do a thorough and exhaustive piece of work.

The doctoral candidate is not expected to tackle a broad or general problem in its entirety. On the contrary, in most cases, he can make the best contribution to knowledge and develop his capacity for undertaking research by concentrating on a clearly defined segment of an important and significant problem. Since quality rather than quantity will be the main standard for judgment of the thesis, the topic should be limited in scope in order to enable the candidate to concentrate his energies on intensive and exhaustive analysis.

Insofar as possible, the candidate should choose a topic in the broad problem area in which he feels he might want to do further research beyond the thesis. In other words the thesis should be looked upon as a stepping stone to more comprehensive research as the candidate acquires greater maturity and judgment after completing of the formal requirements for the degree. In short, the candidate should avoid choosing a “blind-alley” topic which offers few avenues to future research.

III. Every thesis must contain a central core of not more than roughly 15,000 words, (or approximately 50 typewritten pages.)

This central core is to be self-contained. It may, however, be supplemented by additional chapters or appendices containing more detailed data, expansions of points developed in the central core, etc.

The central core should, in general, not give much space to the general character of the problem, earlier work on the problem, and the like; those belong in supporting appendices, if anywhere. It should concentrate on the original material developed by the writer. It must contain a precise statement of its problem and its analysis, not simply summarize data, report views, or describe events.

IV. The thesis must conform to high standards of quality

The central core of the thesis should be comparable in quality and scope to a first-rate journal article, and the candidate should strive to have the central core of the thesis, or an adaptation thereof, published in a journal.

In order to achieve the standards of quality set forth above, it is assumed, as a regular matter, that the thesis will undergo several substantive revisions before final acceptance. Up to the point of writing a thesis, most candidates have had little occasion to acquire high standards of quality, since most of their written work has been of a “one-shot” variety. The thesis, on the other hand, must be a thorough and well-written piece of research. In other words, it must represent the best work of which the candidate is capable.

The initial reputation of the candidate is made largely on the basis of the excellence of his doctoral dissertation, and his capacity for further research is dependent upon the development of his ability to complete successfully a piece of research requiring analytical capacity, sound judgment and continued application. The thesis, then, is a challenge to the candidate to demonstrate his right to belong to the profession. It is, consequently, a major undertaking, and no something to be brushed off speedily or lightly.

___________________________

Source: Hoover Institution Archives, Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 79, Folder 5 “University of Chicago. Minutes. Ph. D. Thesis Committee.”

Image Source:  T. W. Schultz, University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07484, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Economists

Bromance of the Scottish Enlightenment: Smith and Hume

Back from my trip to Edinburgh. Normal weblogging resumes today. Image above from the Main Hall of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Last image from the trip: David Hume and Adam Smith by David Watson Stevenson on the facade of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. HumeSmithEdited

 

 

Categories
Economists Funny Business

Hume’s Toes

Rubbing Hume’s big toe and saying MV = PY three times still doesn’t make it come true.

image

 

Categories
Uncategorized

David Hume’s Grave

At the Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh.

Categories
Economists Irwin Collier

Adam Smith @ Rest

Where Adam Smith’s remains have been deposited.

Categories
Irwin Collier

Pilgrimage to Edinburgh

On the road this week so few opportunities to add content. But today I did get to Adam Smith’s Edinburgh house where I took this picture.

Categories
Chicago Regulations

Chicago. Committee on Ph.D. Outlines & Requirements, 1949 (2)

After the University of Chicago Economics Department’s Committee on Ph.D. Outlines and Requirements (Blough, Friedman, D.G. Johnson and Marschak) met twice, Milton Friedman, the chair of the committee, circulated a five page summary of the committee’s deliberations. This summary along with brief comments by Blough and Marschak are included in this posting.  

Core sentences: “The standard should be a first-rate journal article, not a full-length book.” “The student scheduled to report at any meeting [of the thesis seminar] should prepare a written report sufficiently in advance of the meeting to permit duplication, and circulation among all faculty members and all student participants in the seminar. He might then begin the discussion with an introductory summary taking not more than, say, five minutes. The rest of the time would be devoted to critical discussion.”

___________________________

[MEMO #3, 23 MAY 1949]

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date   May 23, 1949

 

To       R. Blough, J. Marschak and                                       Department Economics
D.G. Johnson

From   M. Friedman                                                                Department Economics

In re:   Tentative Agreements reached by committee on Ph.D. outlines and requirements.

[p. 1] In the two meetings our committee has held so far we have concentrated on two main problems: (1) the standards to be applied to a thesis; (2) methods for getting more effective supervision, direction, and criticism of a thesis. The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize the tentative agreements reached on these points.

  1. Standards to be applied to a thesis.

It was our feeling that the existing (implicit) standards for a thesis are both too high and too low: too high ex ante and too low ex post. It was agreed that we should seek to stimulate shorter, better organized, and better written theses than those ordinarily submitted. The problems here are first, to avoid simply reducing length without improving quality; second, to enforce the standard and make it a part of the mores of the Department.

In order to accomplish these purposes it was agreed (a) that a statement should be prepared in the role of the thesis for distribution to candidates; (b) that every thesis should be required to have a central core not to exceed roughly 15,000 words.

(a) Role of the thesis

The thesis, in our view, is to be viewed primarily as part of the training of the economist, not as a means of securing additions to knowledge. Any additions to knowledge is a welcome by-product, not a major objective. Up to the point at which he writes a thesis, the student has been concerned primarily with absorbing substantive material, acquiring tools and becoming familiar with techniques of analysis. He has only incidentally applied [p. 2] these techniques. Equally important, he has had little occasion to acquire absolute standards of quality; most of his written work has been of a “one-short” variety involving doing his best once and then being through with it. He has not had the experience of re-doing a thing again and again until it is satisfactory in an absolute sense and not merely the best he can do in an hour or a week.

The role of the thesis is to round out the student’s education by remedying these deficiencies. More specifically it should:

(1) Give the student training in research by “doing” and instill in him absolute standards of quality in research.

(2) Deepen the student’s knowledge of the techniques and subject matter he has acquired in course work by requiring him to apply what he has learned to a particular problem. In the process, he should think through the material he has been subjected to and make it his own.

These objectives affect both the choice of topic and the character of the thesis. The topic should be chosen from the point of view less of novelty or importance than of the contribution it can make to the student’s education; the opportunity it offers for improving and expanding his capacities. As a general matter, this suggests topics sufficiently narrow and specific to permit the student to do a thorough and exhaustive piece of work in the time available. It argues against broad general topics in which maturity and judgment are the prime requisites.

To accomplish these objectives, the final thesis should satisfy exceedingly high standards of quality; this is far more important than quantity. As a regular matter, it should be expected that numerous re-writings of the thesis will be required, that an absolute standard of excellence rather than a labor-theory of value will be applied. This means that at least the central core of the thesis must be relatively brief. The standard should be a first-rate journal article, not a full-length book.

[p. 3] It should be emphasized that this objective is unlikely to be attained if the students sets out from the beginning the objective of writing not more than, say, 50 pages. A final acceptable thesis containing 50 pages will ordinarily require the writing of several hundred pages in the process. Indeed, it is frequently easier to write 300 pages on a topic than to write 50 pages of high quality, and the 300 pages will frequently be a preliminary step in getting to the 50 pages.

(b) The scale of the thesis

It was agreed to recommend that every thesis should be required to contain a central core of not more than roughly 15,000 words. This central core is to contain an integrated development of the topic and to be self contained. It may, however, be supplemented by such documentary evidence as is required to support it in the form of supporting appendices.

The central core should, in general, not give much space to the character of the problem, earlier work on the problem, and the like; these belong in the supporting appendices if anywhere. It should concentrate on the original material developed by the writer. It must contain an economic analysis of the problem tackled, not simply summarize date, report views, or describe events. In this context, of course, economic analysis is to be interpreted broadly, not as synonymous with technical economic theory.

One further reason for keeping theses to this scale is the desirability of having every member of the faculty read every thesis and vote for or against its approval. This is not at present feasible but might become so if the scale of the thesis were restricted.

 

  1. Methods for getting more effective supervision, direction, and criticism of theses.

Our chief recommendation on this topic is that there be established a thesis seminar. This seminar should be attended as a regular matter by all students writing theses in residence, by as many faculty members as can find [p. 4] it possible to attend, and, in any event, by the faculty members on the thesis committee of the student reporting at a particular session. Ideally, some one or more faculty members should have direct responsibility for it as part of his teaching load.

The student scheduled to report at any meeting should prepare a written report sufficiently in advance of the meeting to permit duplication, and circulation among all faculty members and all student participants in the seminar. He might then begin the discussion with an introductory summary taking not more than, say, five minutes. The rest of the time would be devoted to critical discussion.

It might be expected that a student would ordinarily appear before the seminar twice: once early in his work for a discussion of the topic and its possibilities; once, toward the end, for a discussion of his results.

This thesis seminar might be integrated with two other steps in the thesis procedure with which there is at present some dissatisfaction: (a) admission to candidacy, (b) the final examination.

The first appearance of the student before the seminar, and the paper prepared for that purpose, might also be used as a basis for deciding on admission to candidacy. At present, it is the general feeling that we have inadequate evidence on which to judge suggested theses. The suggested change in the scale of the thesis opens up the possibility that more time can be spent in the preparatory stages and more can be asked for from the student in the way of supporting evidence. Something of the scale of a term paper I perhaps not too much to ask.

Dissatisfaction with the final examination arises from a different source. The exam is in fact a pure formality, in view of the stage at which it comes. Candidates are in practice almost never failed at that stage. Yet the candidate is not told that it is a pure formality; he regards it as a crucial and important test. The entire procedure has an element of sadism about it.

[p. 5] In place of dispensing with the final exam, might the second appearance of a candidate before the thesis seminar take its place, not in the sense of an occasion for final approval of the candidate, but in the sense of a public exhibition, as it were, testifying to the candidate’s stage of development. Final approval of the thesis would be based on the decision of the thesis committee plus a poll of the entire faculty.

___________________________

[MEMO #4, 6 June 1949]

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date   June 6, 1949

 

To       (R. Blough                                                                              Department of Economics
(M. Friedman
(D. G. Johnson

From   J. Marschak                                                                          Department of Economics

In re:   Ph.D. Theses.

 

M. Friedman’s draft of May 23 seems to express well the views of the Committee, with the following amendments suggested:

p. 3, par. 1. I propose to cancel this paragraph. To write 300 pages, later to be condensed to 50, is one possible method, but neither the most frequent nor a particularly commendable one. I think this should be left to the students and to their immediate advisers.

p. 3, par. 3, sentence 3. I suggest (suggested insertion underlined): “It must contain a precise statement of the problem and its economic analysis…” It is often unclear what the thesis writer proposes to prove.

p. 4, par. 3. I suggest (suggested insertion underlined):

“…once, early in his work for a discussion of the topic and its possibilities, on the basis of a brief circulated report (on the scale of a term paper); once, toward the end, for a discussion of his results, on the basis of a more detailed report and possibly of the draft of the ‘central core’ of the thesis itself.”

(signed)
Jacob Marschak

JM/fs

___________________________

[MEMO #5, 9 June 1949]

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date   June 9, 1949

 

To       M. Friedman                                                                          Department Economics
D.G. Johnson
J. Marschak

From   Roy Blough                                                                             Department Economics

In re:   Ph.D. Theses.

Milton Friedman’s draft of May 23 seems to be a correct reflection of the views of the Committee. I am in agreement with Mr. Marschak’s suggestions of June 6.

The following afterthoughts are presented for discussion:

  1. I suggest eliminating the reference to sadism in the final examination. I do not so interpret the examination and, in any event, think the reference is a reflection on our colleagues and predecessors.
  2. The reference to frequent rewriting of the theses seems to put the emphasis on writing style. While this is important, there are other factors such as precise formulation of purpose, imaginative use of techniques, and logical organization.
  3. I suggest eliminating any implied criticism of the length of theses except as a criticism of verbosity. The kinds of theses vary so widely that comments which are applicable to one kind of subject would not apply to others. This is not any criticism of the recommendation for a central core for every thesis.
  4. One danger in suggesting that theses should approach articles rather than books in size is that some substitute will then have to be found as evidence that the student has done the equivalent of a year’s work, in general, on the dissertation. It would be most unfortunate if a few glib students should write plausible theses in a month or two and have them accepted. These students would not receive the research training which the thesis is intended to give, and the effects on the morale of other students might be disastrous.

 

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 5 “University of Chicago Minutes, Ph.D. Thesis Committee”.

Image Source: Roy Blough photo from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00758, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
Chicago Regulations

Chicago. Committee on Ph.D. Outlines & Requirements, 1949 (1)

The University of Chicago Department of Economics was dissatisfied with its procedures for appraising and approving dissertation projects in late 1948 and a committe was formed to make recommendations with Milton Friedman as its chairperson. Here I post T.W. Schultz’s official memo naming the members of the committee and Milton Friedman’s initial memo to the committee clearly signalling his intention of having a major rethink about what a Ph.D. thesis is supposed to be about. 

___________________________

[Memo #1, 10 Dec 1948]

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Date   December 10, 1948

 

To      Mr. Friedman, Mr. Blough, Mr. Marschak,                        Department Economics
Mr. Johnson

 

From T. W. Schultz                                                                             Department Economics

 

The faculty of the Department of economics authorized a committee to prepare a memorandum setting forth the problem of students’ Ph.D. outlines and the procedure to be followed by the Department in appraising and approving Ph.D. thesis projects, including the type of outlines and supporting materials that a student should submit to the Department for its use when it passes upon the petition to admission to candidacy.

May I ask you to serve as members of this committee with Professor Friedman acting as chairman?

The report should be directed to the Department to be circulated well in advance of the departmental meeting in which it is to be considered.

___________________________

[Memo #2, early 1949]

[Undated, written sometime after the Schultz memo of December 10, 1948 and the Friedman memo of May 23, 1949 that followed two meetings of this Committee which had taken place.]

TO:                  R. Blough, J. Marschak, G. Johnson

FROM:            Milton Friedman

SUBJECT:       Committee on Ph.D. Thesis Outlines and Requirements

 

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide a basis for discussion by our committee, of which I am chairman. I have been derelict in my duty in not having prepared it much earlier, or not having called a meeting earlier.

 

  1. Our Assignment

To refresh our memories, I quote from Mr. Schultz’s note establishing the committee: “To prepare a memorandum setting forth the problem of students’ Ph.D. outlines and the procedure to be followed by the Department in appraising and approving Ph.D. thesis projects, including the type of outlines and supporting materials that a student should submit to the Department for its use when it passes upon the petition to admission to candidacy.”

Interpreted literally, this assignment would limit us to the steps up to and including admission to candidacy, and would exclude consideration of the characteristics of the thesis itself and the criteria used in its acceptance. Since it seems to me the earlier stages cannot properly be judged except in terms of the desired end product, I suggest that, at least in our own discussions, we interpret the assignment more broadly to include all problems associated with the thesis requirement.

 

  1. Present Procedure

a. Admission to candidacy. As I understand it, we have no very formalized procedure or requirements. Students typically discuss possible thesis topics with one or more faculty members, construct outlines of the projected thesis, ordinarily get the reaction of one or more faculty members to it, revise it accordingly, and then formally submit the thesis topic and outline to the Department for approval and admission to candidacy. The submitted outline is occasionally extremely detailed, occasionally very general, and is sometimes accompanied by a general statement of objective and purpose, sources of material for the thesis, etc.

b. Thesis requirements. Aside from the general and vague requirement that the thesis be an “original contribution to knowledge”, we have, so far as I know, no concrete standards for theses. Among ourselves, we have frequently expressed the view that short theses of high quality were desirable and to be promoted, and have bemoaned the tendency on the part of students to prepare lengthy, pedestrian, theses. It is my feeling, however, that the students themselves think of the thesis in terms of a full-length book, and feel that quantity is an important requirement.

The procedure for guidance of theses is informal and vague. The student ordinarily consults separately with the members of his committee as he feels the need to do so.

 

  1. The Immediate Reason for a Committee

The immediate occasion for the appointment of a committee to consider the problem is primarily the feeling of frustration and incompetence we all feel when we are required to consider thesis topics and outlines and to approve admission to candidacy. The topics are often, if not typically, vague and broad, the outlines have the appearance of being “dreamed up” along rather formal lines in order to get approval rather than of being really working outlines providing a pattern for work or a real prediction of the final organization of the thesis. We are typically reduced to approving or disapproving the tesis larely on the basis of our knowledge of the ability of the student submitting the outline rather than on the merits of the project itself.

 

  1. The More Fundamental Problem

It seems to me that the dissatisfaction with the procedure of approving admission to candidacy reflects a more basic problem—the function of the thesis in the education of the students and the best means of accomplishing that function. I feel that we will make more progress on our particular assignment by considering afresh the general problem.

It is my own feeling that nothing has done so much in the United States to degrade standards of research in economics as the Ph. D. dissertation in its existing form. (These comments do not apply in any special sense to Chicago—indeed, it seems to me that our record in this respect is outstandingly good). The standard which has, in principle, been set for the dissertation is that it be a major piece of work making an original contribution to the field, the model being a book of substantial magnitude. The usual graduate student, expected to begin his dissertation after two years of graduate work and supposed to be able to complete I in another year, is not at all prepared to do a piece of work of this character or quality in the time allotted. He does not have enough background in the field, or broad enough experience, and even if he had, he could hardly complete the dissertation in one year. Equally important, even if the student could do it, faculty advisers would find it impossible to supervise properly more than one or two studies of this magnitude and scope. Proper supervision would mean applying to the work the standards they would apply to their own work; it would mean repeated and detailed consultations with the student, word-by-word and sentence-by-sentence criticism of drafts of pieces of the thesis and of the entire thesis, some independent checking on the student’s work, etc.

The result is naturally a compromise. Faculty advisers do not provide the supervision and critical guidance required, they do not and cannot be expected to go over manuscripts in great detail and require that it be rewritten repeatedly until it meets a high standard. Even aside from the time and effort required, competition prevents such a course of action. The Ph.D. is something of a trade-union card, competition from other schools and the fair treatment of our own graduates requires that they be able to get one on terms that are not intolerably stiffer than those at other institutions. The result is that the theses all of us accept are typically pretty poor products, poorly organized, and full of poor grammar and writing, to say nothing of bad economics and analysis. The student who has a dissertation of this type accepted not only fails to get the training in economic research the thesis should provide, he also goes away, at least to some extent, with the idea that this is the kind of work that is done in economics and that is acceptable and respectable. In latter years, he is not unlikely to produce a flood of additional work no higher in quality than his original effort and even more useless since it does not even provide a trade-union card.

 

  1. The Role of the Thesis in the Education of the Student

There are a number of different functions that can be assigned to the thesis in the educational process:

 (a) To give the student training in research by “doing” and some feeling for standards of quality in research.

 (b) To sharpen the student’s knowledge of the techniques and subject matter he has acquired in course work by requiring him to apply what he has learned to a particular problem in the belief that in the process he will be forced to think through the material he has been subjected to and make it his own.

(c) To establish habits of work and some feeling for research, in the hope thereby of stimulating him to do work on his own in latter years.

(d) To give him the unquestionably important experience of carrying through to completion a major piece of work.

            The thesis might also be viewed, not solely as a part of the educational process, but also as a means of advancing knowledge in economics. I am myself inclined to give this little or no weight. At the stage at which students are not now expected to write their theses, not one student in a hundred is capable of making a “real” contribution to knowledge. Any contribution to knowledge ought in my view to be considered a welcome by-product, not a major objective.

Of the objectives listed, only the first two seem to me capable of accomplishment, with the present general standards about the stage in his career at which the student is expected to write his thesis and the time he is expected to devote to it. The last two, and particularly (d) would require something of a revolution of these standards.

 

  1. Possible Solutions of the Fundamental Problem

There seem to me only two directions in which one can proceed to solve the fundamental problem if one takes as given roughly the present student-faculty ratio.

(a) One approach would be to restrict the Ph.D. degree to many fewer persons and to make it mean something very different from what it now means. As I understand it, this is more or less the approach followed in the Scandinavian countries where the Ph.D. is ordinarily no granted except for a major piece of work done by a man ten, fifteen, or more years after he has begun his professional career. This approach, while promising and desirable if it could be followed, does not seem to me feasible. It consists essentially in saying that one ought to establish a more advanced degree than the present Ph.D. It still leaves the problem of an intermediate degree like our present Ph.D., which would be a mark of certification that an individual is ready to begin his scientific career. It seems hardly possible for one school to do so or to overturn our established custom that a thesis is part of the attainments certified to by such a degree.

(b) The other alternative that seems to me to be open is to make the professed standard of the Ph.D. more modest while raising the attained standard. Instead of a book, the standard would be a journal article. In a way, this does not involve any change, since I do not believe there is anything in our present rules which would prevent us from accepting the equivalent of a journal article as a thesis. However, unless we explicitly make an effort to change our standard and to set a different standard for our students, I doubt very much that they, or we ourselves, will depart from the standard of a book.

What I have in mind is that we should emphasize that the requirement for the Ph.D. would be satisfied by a piece of work not to exceed a specified number of pages in length and of a quality suitable for publication in a professional journal—whether actually published or not is immaterial. The emphasis should be on quality of performance, not on quantity. The expectation would be that the faculty advisers could really go over a piece of moderate length in great detail, that they could if necessary require it to be rewritten any number of times without imposing too great a hardship on the student. It could further be expected that a larger number of members of the faculty would be led to read the thesis before final acceptance, and that in this way higher standards of quality would both be imposed and actually effected. I should be inclined myself to set something like fifty double-spaced typewritten pages as the absolute maximum limit on the size of any dissertation.

 

  1. The Problem of the Thesis Outline

If we were to follow the line just suggested, it seems to me we could appropriately require higher standards in the thesis outline itself. Instead of the present brief and formal statement, we could require something of the order of a brief term-paper. This paper could be expected to contain three items as a minimum: (1) A brief statement of the problem; (2) a succinct but reasonably comprehensive summary of existing literature on the problem; (3) a fairly precise statement of the particular respects in which the student expects to extend or supplement the existing literature. Whether it contained an outline of the present form seems to me immaterial. In addition there ought to be a flat prohibition on any attempts to “justify” the topic in terms of its path-breaking importance for economic science. If we set the training of students as the primary objective, topics should be judged primarily in terms of the training the student will get, only secondarily in terms of their importance to economics.

It should be expected that the student will in general have gone over this statement with some faculty member and have gotten tentative clearance from him.

This is not a very specific recommendation, and I am hopeful that something better will come from the other members of the committee.

Beyond admission to candidacy, there are a number of additional possibilities we should investigate. I mention them only briefly.

(a) There seems to me considerable merit in the suggestion that has been made by Koopmans that the committee as a whole should meet with the candidate shortly after admission to candidacy so that there can be a meeting of minds on the direction his work should take.

(b) I have the feeling that much could be gained by getting the students to help one another by criticism and discussion. This would be valuable training both for the critic and the criticized. Could we set up some sort of a seminar for students writing their theses? In such a seminar, a student would be expected to submit something in written form, duplicated so that the other members have copies in advance. Some students now get the benefit of such discussion through the Cowles Commission and Agricultural Economics groups. Ought we to extend it to all? Or are informal groupings really more effective?

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 5 “University of Chicago Minutes, Ph.D. Thesis Committee”.

Image Source: Clipping from a photograph from Hoover Institution Archives (Milton Friedman Papers Box 115) in online Wall Street Journal  (18 Oct 2012): Dalibor Rohac’s review of  The Great Persuasion by Angus Burgin.