On the left, the future blogmeister of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. On the right, the future Nobel laureate in economics…Franco Modigliani. MIT, E52, December 1975.
Category: M.I.T.
Already by the academic year 1950-51 the M.I.T. economics department could boast seven economics professors who would still be around over a quarter of a century later, including Samuelson, Solow and Kindleberger. The printed departmental brochure along with a one-page announcement of twelve graduate fellowships, presumably sent to be posted on college and university bulletin boards, have been transcribed for this posting. Minor changes in formatting have been used to enhance readability.
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Graduate Work in the Department of Economics and Social Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
THE PROGRAM
Our program in Economics is confined to students for the doctorate who are primarily interested in advanced study and research in
Economic Theory
Industrial Economics
Industrial Relations
International Economics
Statistics
We have an active program of continuing research in each of these fields and should like to invite a selected group of graduate students to participate with us in our explorations after they have completed their requirements for the general examinations here.
The work in Economic Theory is under the leadership of Professor Paul A. Samuelson. This includes, in addition to price analysis, the study of national income determination and business cycles. Research in these fields has been vigorous in recent years, and our objective is to train economists capable of understanding and appraising the results of this research and of adding to our empirical and theoretical understanding of these areas.
Industrial Economics, under the guidance of Professors W. Rupert Maclaurin and Max Millikan, is concerned primarily with the economic problems of the individual firm and of particular industries. The work should be enriched by the active research program now under way in the Department on “the economics of innovation,” “the process of business decisions,” and “the economics of the size of the firm.” We are anxious to have some advanced students who would like to participate in these research programs which are being worked out through “laboratory-type” collaboration of particular firms and industries.
Industrial Relations, under the leadership of Professors Charles A. Myers and Douglass V. Brown, is concerned with investigating the fundamentals of labor-management relations in modern industrial society. In addition to basic work in Economics, the program of study centers upon courses in Labor Economics, Collective Bargaining, Public Policy in Labor Relations, Personnel Administration, Social Psychology and Human Relations. A number of research projects are carried on by the Industrial Relations Section, which is a division of the Department.
Our work in International Economics is under the direction of Professors Charles P. Kindleberger and Richard M. Bissell, Jr. (who returns in June to M.I.T. from his position as Deputy Administrator of ECA). Emphasis in International economics is shared between the traditional fields of international trade and finance and that of national economic development. The training is designed to qualify the student for work in departments of government, including international institution., concerned with foreign and international economic problems. While no specialized courses are offered in the practical aspects of foreign trade, it is believed that the broad training will be regarded with increasing interest by American business concerns to aid them in the solution of their complex problems relating to foreign operations.
Instruction in Statistics, under Professor Harold Freeman, is largely centered in three areas: general theoretical statistics; probability and its foundations; modern theories of time series and prediction, particularly as applied in Economics. Some of the courses in these areas are given by the Departments of Economics and some by the Department of Mathematics. Courses are offered at elementary, intermediate, advanced and research seminar levels.
While there is ample opportunity at M.I.T. for the student interested in any one of these five fields to go as far as he wishes with his subject, there is also a common core of basic courses which the student will be expected to take in preparation for his general examinations.
We are also attempting to introduce greater realism into our program by operating a “practice school” in the summer between the first and second years of graduate study, in which we try to arrange internship experience in industry. This activity is under the guidance of Professor Paul Pigors.
For those who are going into university teaching, some pre-doctoral teaching experience will be encouraged and a considerable number of teaching fellowships will be available to students after they have completed their first year.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS
For the year 1950-51 we will offer up to five fellowships of $2,500, available to outstanding students in the fields mentioned above. These include the Westinghouse Educational Fellowship and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Fellowship.
In addition, about eight fellowships and teaching scholarships will be available, ranging up to $1,600. This group includes the Clarence J. Hicks Memorial Fellowship in Industrial Relations, given by Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., of New York.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION
(a) General requirements: S.B. or A.B. degree with a good academic record from a university of recognized standing. Special emphasis will be placed on recommendations from professors or administrative officers of the college. Only students with high qualifications will be admitted.
(b) Course requirements: Three full-year college courses in social science chosen from the fields of Economics, Psychology, Sociology and History. One full-year course in college mathematics (including at least a half-year of calculus) and a full-year course in college physics are required. However, students who have had no Physics can make up this deficiency by taking a special one-semester course at the Institute. In special cases a deficiency in calculus may also be satisfied in this manner.
At the end of the second year the candidate will normally take a general examination chosen from such fields as the following: Economic Theory, Industrial economics, Economics of Innovation, Labor Economics and Labor Relations, Human Relations, Personnel administration Statistical Methods and Theory, Economic Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy, and International Economics.
Following the Institute rules the candidate for the doctor’s degree will be required to take a minor in a related filed. Possibilities include: Business Administration, History, Regional Planning, Mathematics, or any of the technical fields of specialization at the Institute in which the student is qualified to participate. Exchange arrangements between M.I.T. and Harvard University also make it possible for graduate students at either institution to take advance work at the other without extra tuition.
In addition, the candidate for the Ph.D. degree must meet the usual language and thesis requirements.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Those persons who are interested in learning more about the program or who wish to obtain application blanks for fellowships to aid in financing such graduate work may direct inquiries to Professor Robert L. Bishop, Department of Economics and Social Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
INSTRUCTING STAFF
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Ralph Evans Freeman, M. A., B. Litt.
Professor of Economics; in charge of the Department
Donald Skeele Tucker, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
William Rupert Maclaurin, D.C.S.
Professor of Economics
Norman Judson Padelford, Ph.D., LL.D.
Professor of International Relations
Paul Anthony Samuelson, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Charles Andrew Myers, Ph.D.
Professor of Industrial Relations
Paul Pigors, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Industrial Relations
Harold Adolph Freeman, S.B.
Associate Professor of Statistics
Charles Poor Kindleberger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics
Max Franklin Millikan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics
Alex Bavelas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Robert Lyle Bishop, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
Edgar Cary Brown, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
Morris Albert Adelman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
George Pratt Shultz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Industrial Relations
Robert Solow, M.A.
Assistant Professor of Statistics
Lecturer
Joseph Norbert Scanlon
Instructors
John Royston Coleman, M.A.
Stanley Martin Jacks, A.B., LL.B.
James Earnest Boyce, A.M.
Louis Cass Young, S.M.
John Lang Rawlinson, A.M.
Gilbert Koreb Krulee, S.B., M.Ed.
Roy Olton, M.A.
Herman Thomas Skofield, M.A.
Jesse Harris Proctor, Jr., M.A.
Research Associates
Robert Keen Lamb, Ph.D.
Kingman Brewster, Jr., LL.B.
Peter Robert Hofstaetter, Ph.D.
Research Assistants
William Theodore Bluhm, M.A.
Sidney Layton Smith, S.M.
Teaching Fellows
Hugh Gilbert Lovell, B.A.
Jack Dean Rogers, B.S., M.B.A.
Assistants
Ralph Haskel Bergmann, A.B.
Kenneth Alden Bohr, S.M.
Daniel Monroe Colyer, B.A.
Harold Emil Dreyer, B.S.
David Allen Eberly, S.B.
Herman Gadon, A.B.
Stuart Lee Knowlton, A.B.
Walter Sparks Measday, A.B.
Beatrice Allen Rogers, A.B., S.B.
George Joseph Strauss, B.A.
Librarian
Barbara Klingenhagen, A.B.
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MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Economics and Social Science
Graduate Fellowship
1950 – 1951
In the year 1950-1951 M.I.T. will offer:
Up to five fellowships of $2,500 for students in the following fields:
Economic Theory
Industrial Economics
Industrial Relations
International Economics
Statistics
Up to seven fellowships with stipends up to $1,600 for specialization in these same fields.
Fellowships are available to students who wish to undertake a program of graduate work in Economics leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy. Applicants should have an A.B. or S. B. degree or anticipate the award of such a degree not later than July 1, 1950. Fellowships are awarded for one year, with possibility of renewal. They include the Westinghouse Educational Fellowship , the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Fellowship and the Clarence J. Hicks Memorial Fellowship in Industrial Relations, given by the Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., of New York.
Fellowships are offered to those who seek career opportunities in university teaching and research, in industrial concerns in this country or abroad, in research departments of unions, and in government agencies concerned with the regulation of industry.
The Institute’s close contacts with industry, and the development within the Department of Economics and Social Science of specialized work in economic theory, the economics of innovation, industrial relations, statistics, and international economics have created a suitable environment for advanced study and research in these particular fields.
Teaching fellowships are also available; but these are normally reserved for second and third-year students.
Requests for further information or for application blanks should be addressed to Professor Robert L. Bishop, Department of Economics and Social Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Applications should be filed by March 15, 1950.
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Source: MIT Archives. Office of the President. Records, 1930-1959. Box 77 (AC4/77), Folder 10: Economics Department 1934-49.
Image Source: MIT, Technique, 1949.
Because the Washington Post story, dated Oct 2 2015, by Steven Pearlstein about Olivier Blanchard (“The smartest economist you’ve never heard of” [sic]) has picked up considerable social media attention, I decided to post (way out of sample for me–Blanchard hardly deserves to be transported into the defunct class of academic scribblers) a transcription of a copy of his course outline and readings for the first half-semester course of macroeconomics in the MIT graduate program during the academic year 1996-97. The copy can be found in Robert Solow’s papers in the Economists’ Papers Project at Duke. Solow taught the same course in 1998 and undoubtedly wanted to see what material Blanchard had covered.
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14.451 Macroeconomics I Spring 1997
Olivier Blanchard, […]
TA: Brian Sack, […]
The purpose of this first course is to introduce the workhorses of the field, and use them to analyze current issues.
I shall assume familiarity with macroeconomics at the level of undergraduate macro-textbooks (you will get much more out of the course if you are very familiar with macroeconomics at the intermediate undergraduate level.) Two such textbooks, taken completely at random, are:
Dornbusch, R. and S. Fischer, Macroeconomics, McGraw Hill, 6th edition
Blanchard, O. Macroeconomics, Prentice-Hall, 1996
You should before you graduate, and preferably sooner, read some of the classics in the field. Three essential readings are:
Keynes, J. M. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1964 (first edition, 1936)
Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital, Oxford University Press, 1968 (first edition, 1939)
Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money”, Econometrica 12, January 1944, 45-88 (reprinted in Collected papers, Volume 1, MIT Press, 1982)
The textbook for the course is:
Blanchard, O. and Fischer, S. Lectures on Macroeconomics, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1989 (BF in what follows)
A text, which covers roughly the same set of issues at a slightly lower level, is:
David Romer, Advanced macroeconomics, McGraw Hill 1996.
A star denotes required reading.
1. Basic macroeconomic facts.
* BF, Chapter 1
Gordon, R., “Postwar Macroeconomics: The Evolution of Events and Ideas”, in The American Economy in Transition, Martin Feldstein ed., NBER and the University of Chicago, 1980, 101-182
Stock, J. and Watson, M., “Variable Trends in Economic Time Series”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1988, 147-174
Blanchard, O. and Quah, D., “The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances”, AER, September 1989, 655-673
Abraham, K. and J. Haltiwanger, “Real Wages and the Business Cycle”, JEL, September 1995, volume 33-3, 1215-1264
Christiano, L., Eichenbaum M., and C. Evans, “The Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks: Evidence from the Flow of Funds”, Working paper, 1994.
2. The Ramsey Model and RBC’s.
*BF, Chapter 2 (Romer, Chapters 2, Part A, and 4)
Prescott, E., “Theory Ahead of Business Cycle Measurement”, Quarterly Review, Fed of Minneapolis, Fall 1986, 9-22
*Cooley, T. and E. Prescott, “Economic Growth and Business Cycles”, in Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, T. Cooley (ed), Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1995, 1-38
Evans, C. and F. Santos, “Monetary Policy Shocks and Productivity Measures in the G-7 countries”, WP 93-12, November 1993, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
3. The Diamond Model, and Capital Accumulation.
*BF, Chapter 3 (or Romer, Chapter 2, Part B)
*Kotlikoff, L., “Privatization of Social Security: How it Works and Why it Matters”, mimeo, Boston University, October 1995
Barro, R., “World Real Interest Rates”, NBER Macroeconomics, 1990, 15-60
Orr, A., Edey M. and M. Kennedy, “The Determinants of Real Long-Term Interest Rates: 17 Country Pooled-Time-Series Evidence”, OECD Working Paper 155, 1995
4. The Cagan Model, and Hyperinflations.
*BF, chapters 4-7, and 10-2 (Romer Chapter 9-7)
Dornbusch, R., Sturzenegger, F. and H. Wolf, “Extreme Inflation: Dynamics and Stabilization”, BPEA, 1990-2, 1-84
5. The AS-AD Model; Money, Prices and Output
*BF, chapter 8 (Romer, Chapters 5 and 6)
*Friedman, M., “The Role of Monetary Policy”, AER, March 1968, 1-17
*Lucas, R., “Some International Evidence on Output-Inflation Trade-offs”, AER, June 1973, 326-334
*Taylor, J., “Staggered Wage Setting in a Macro Model”, AER, May 1979, 69-2, 108-113
Tobin, J., “Keynesian Models of Recession and Depression”, AER, May 1975, 195-202
Chari, V.V., Kehoe Patrick, and Ellen McGrattan, “Sticky Price Models of the Business Cycle: Can the Contract Multiplier Solve the Persistence Problem?”, Staff Report 217, Minneapolis Fed, September 1966
Blanchard, O. and L. Summers, “Hysteresis in Unemployment,” European Economic review, 31, 1987, 288-295
Ball, L., “Disinflation and the Nairu,” NBER Working Paper 5520, March 1996
OECD, The OECD Jobs Study, Part I. Labour Market Trends and Underlying Forces of Change, 1994.
6. The IS-LM Model; Goods and Financial Markets Revisited.
*Blanchard, O., “Output, the Stock Market, and Interest Rates”, AER, 1981, 71-1, 132-143.
*Dornbusch, R., “Expectations and Exchange Rate Dynamics”, JPE, 84-6, December 1976, 1161-1176
Kashyap, A. and J. Stein, “Monetary Policy and Bank Lending”, in Monetary Policy, G. Mankiw (ed), NBER and the University of Chicago Press, 1994, 221-262
*Giavazzi, F. and M. Pagano, “Can Severe Fiscal Contractions Be Expansionary; Tales of Two Small European Countries”, NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 1990, 75-122
Alesina, A. and R. Perotti, “Fiscal Expansions and Adjustments in OECD Countries”, Economic Policy, 1995 (mimeo, Harvard, June 1995)
Obstfeld, M., “International Currency Experience: New Lessons and Lessons Relearned,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1995-1, 119-220
King, R. and A. Wolman, “Inflation targeting in a St Louis model of the 21st Century”, NBER WP 5507, March 1996
7. The Bigger Machines.
Bryant, R. et al, Empirical Macroeconomics for Interdependent Economies, Brookings Institution, Washington, 1988, chapters 1 to 3.
Taylor, J., Macroeconomic Policy in a World Economy, Norton, New York, 1993, chapters 3 to 5
Source: Robert M. Solow papers, Duke University Rubenstein Library, Box 69, Folder “Teaching Materials (2 of 2)”.
The Graduate Economics Association of MIT held a celebration in honor of Adam Smith and the 200th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations. The event took place April 12, 1976 at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I chaired the organizing committee for the event that was run like a Friar’s Club Roast. It featured a star-studded cast that included Alan Blinder (Princeton), William Parker (Yale), Paul Samuelson (MIT), Robert Solow (MIT), and James Tobin (Yale) and special surprise guest-of-honor to receive the Invisible Hand Award, Adam Smith a.k.a. Jerry Goodman. Before Mr. Goodman entered dressed in Adam Smith attire, the MIT economics children’s choir (i.e. a sample of graduate students who could carry a tune, sort-of) sang the following hymn set to the tune of “Rock of Ages” with a new text written by my old professor of American economic history at Yale, William Parker.
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WEALTH OF NATIONS!
Text by William N. Parker
Wealth of Nations! Writ for me!
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Not the Profits, nor the Rent,
But the Labour Time that’s spent,
Be of Value the true source.
Make me better; no one worse.
Every man looks to his need,
Counting on the butcher’s greed.
Public goods are little prized,
Model that is dynamized.
Half the world is cold and bare,
Still we cling to Laissez-faire.
Hand invisible whose love
We believe that we can prove!
With thy panapoly of saints,
Mill, Ricardo, Marshall, Keynes,
Save us all from Marxist sins.
Keep us gaily making pins!
When our earthly race is run,
Will we soar to Samuelson?
Will we sink to realms below,
There to meet with our So-low?
Was it neo-classic myth?
Tell us, tell us, Adam Smith!
Wealth of Nations, write for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee!
Source: From the back of the program to the celebration.
Below, my autographed copy of the program:
Jerry Goodman’s journalistic attempt at making sense of the economists at play when he was observer-participant.
Image Sources: Portrait of William Parker from the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 151, No. 2, June 2007; Adam Smith program, personal copy; Jerry Goodman’s account from New York (May 3, 1976).
This reading list comes from Paul Samuelson’s second year at M.I.T. While not designated on the reading list itself, from its location in his papers (filed with other Business Cycle course materials) and according to the courses he taught that in the second term of 1943 (according to the MIT Course Catalogue), this is almost certainly for the course Ec26: Business Cycles.
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Course Description from 1942-43 Catalogue.
Ec26. Business Cycles (A). A statistical, historical, and theoretical examination of the determinants of income, production and employment. Modern methods are brought to bear on problems of analyses, forecasting, and control.
Prerequisite: Ec40 (Money & Banking). Primarily for graduate students, 2nd term
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February, 1943 READING LIST P. A. Samuelson
Asterisks indicate required reading, other items suggested reading
I NATIONAL INCOME, EMPLOYMENT & PRODUCTION
M. Gilbert, “War Expenditures & National Production,” Survey of Current Business, March, 1942.
S. S. Kuznets, National Income & Its Composition, 1919-1938, Vol. I.
W. L. Crum, J. F. Fennelly, L. J. Seltzer, Fiscal Planning for Total War.
S. Fabricant, Productivity of American Manufacturing Industries, [sic, probable or at least related publication: Solomon Fabricant, Employment in Manufacturing, 1899-1939: An Analysis of Its Relation to the Volume of Production, NBER, New York, 1942.]
Federal Reserve Board Bulletin, August & September, 1940. [New index of industrial production]
R. A. Nixon & P. A. Samuelson, “Estimates of Unemployment in the U. S.,” Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1940.
II NATURE OF BUSINESS CYCLE
*A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy & Business Cycle, Ch. 1-4
*Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, 1941 Reprint of 1913 edition, Ch. V, part I.
*J. P. Wernette, The Control of Business Cycles, pp. 3-23 and Conclusion.
*J. R. Meade & H. Hitch, Economic Analysis & Policy, Ch. I.
*G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, Ch. 9, 1 & 2.
*S. H. Slichter, Towards Stability, Ch. I.
A. H. Hansen, Business Cycle Theory, Chs. I, II, IV, & VI.
S. H. Slichter, Towards Stability, Chs. II & IV.
G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, any part.
III SAVING AND INVESTMENT
*Joan Robinson, Introduction to the Theory of Employment.
*T.N.E.C. testimony of Hansen & Currie.
[Hearings Before the Temporary National Economic Committee, Seventy-Sixth Congress, First Session. Part 9. Savings and Investment. May 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, 1939]
*A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy, Chs. 11, 12, 15, & 24.
*L. V. Chandler, Introduction to Monetary Theory, Chs. VI & VIII.
O. Altman, T.N.E.C. monograph #37, Saving & Investment.
IV THE PROPENSITY TO IMPORT & THE FOREIGN TRADE MULTIPLIER
*R. F. Harrod, International Economics, (Rev.Ed.) 6, 7. (8 & 9, optional)
*W.A. Salant, “Foreign Trade Policy in the Business Cycle,” in Public Policy II (editor E. S. Mason)
*J. M. Keynes, General Theory, Preface, Chs. 23 & 24
I. DeVegh, Review of Economic Statistics, 1940 [De Vegh, Imre. “Imports and Income in the United States and Canada.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 23, no. 3 (1941): 130-46. ]
C. Clark & J. Crawford, National Income of Australia
[Colin Clark and John G. Crawford,National Income of Australia.Sydney and London: Angus & Robertson limited, 1938.]
L. Metzler, Journal of Political Economy, 1942
[Metzler, Lloyd A. “The Transfer Problem Reconsidered.” Journal of Political Economy 50, no. 3 (1942): 397-414.]
V INTERNATIONAL PROPAGATION OF BUSINESS CYCLES
*G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, Ch. XII, pp. 455-473
*J. Viner, Studies, pp. 432-436
[Studies in the Theory of International Trade.]
*League of Nations, Annual Survey, 1939-40
*Sir A. Salter, Recovery, pp. 27-66, (101-195 optional)
[Recovery. The Second Effort. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1932]
R. Bennett, National Bureau, manuscript [Rollin F. Bennett, Columbia University: might be a paper presented at the 1940 or 1941 meeting of the NBER Conference of Income and Wealth which were not published (insufficient general interest to warrant publication) ]
P. Einzig, Bankers, Statesmen & Economists
League of Nations, B. Ohlin, Course & Phases of the World Economic Depression, especially pp. 116-215
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Source: Paul A. Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.451 Business Cycles, 1943-1955”. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.