A copy of the syllabus for Jack Hirshleifer’s UCLA price theory course taught in 1972 comes as a serendipitous find in the papers of Robert Clower at Duke’s Economist Papers Archive.
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Posted Earlier
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Winter 1972
Econ 201B
Mr. Hirshleifer
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST
Pre-requisite: The student is presumed to have completed Econ 201A prior to undertaking this course; only in exceptional circumstances will this requirement be waived. Acquaintance with the elements of calculus remains a practical necessity.
Procedures: As in 201A, we will have lectures, class discussions, and problems. Students are reminded that classroom contributions and homework performances enter into the final grade.
Readings: The officially required texts are Stigler, THEORY OF PRICE (3rd ed.), Friedman, PRICE THEORY, and Lerner, ECONOMICS OF CONTROL. However, substantial readings are assigned in a number of other books that would make useful additions to one’s library. These include: (1) Baumol, ECONOMIC THEORY AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS. (But note that while chapters assigned refer to 2nd edition, a new 3rd edition is expected shortly.) (2) Becker, ECONOMIC THEORY. (3) Bronfenbrenner, INCOME DISTRIBUTION THEORY. And there are also a number of books of collected readings that are advantageous to own.
The Graduate Library has been asked to place all assigned materials on reserve. Insofar as possible, readings should be studied in order as listed. The fundamental readings for our purposes are starred below; unstarred items may provide basis for lectures and discussions.
- PRODUCTION AND DEMAND FOR FACTORS
*Stigler, THEORY OF PRICE, Ch. 6-9, 14.
*Hirshleifer, “Exposition of the Equilibrium of the Firm,” ECONOMICA, August 1962. [Reprinted in Kamerschen, READINGS IN MICROECONOMICS.]
*Allen, MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS FOR ECONOMICS, pp. 284-289, 315-322, 340-343.
*Lerner, ECONOMICS OF CONTROL, Ch. 11-17.
*Friedman, PRICE THEORY, Ch. 6-9.
*Becker, ECONOMIC THEORY, Ch. 7-8.
Hicks, VALUE AND CAPITAL, Ch. 6-7.
Marshall, PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS (8th ed.) Book V, Ch. 6.
V. L. Smith, INVESTMENT AND PRODUCTION, Ch. 2, Appendix on Kuhn-Tucker Conditions.
*Dorfman, “Mathematical or Linear Programming,” AER v. 43 (Dec., 1953)
*Baumol, ECONOMIC THEORY AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS (2nd ed.), Ch. 5-6 (omit appendix), 11-12.
Douglas, “Are There Laws of Production?”, AER v. 38 (March, 1948).
*Arrow, Chenery, Minhas, Solow, “Capital-Labor Substitution and Economic Efficiency”, Rev. Ec. and Stat., August 1961 (to p. 234).
- SUPPLY OF FACTORS; FACTOR MARKETS; ROLE OF THE FIRM
*J. Robinson, “Rising Supply Price” in AEA READINGS IN PRICE THEORY, Ch. 11.
Marshall, Book VI, Ch. 1-11.
*Stigler, THEORY OF PRICE, Ch. 15-16.
*Chiswick, “The Economic Value of Time and the Wage Rate”, WEJ (June, 1967).
*Lerner, ECONOMICS OF CONTROL, Ch. 18.
*Friedman, PRICE THEORY, Ch. 10-11.
*Becker, ECONOMIC THEORY, Ch. 9.
*Bronfenbrenner, INCOME DISTRIBUTION THEORY, Ch. 9-10.
Hilton, “The British Truck System,” JPE v. 65 (June 1957).
*Alchian and Allen, UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS, Ch. 20.
Schumpeter, THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT, Ch. 1, 2, 4.
*AEA READINGS IN PRICE THEORY, Ch. 16, 17 (Coase, Scitovsky).
Hicks, THEORY OF WAGES, Ch. 6
*Cheung, “Private Property Rights and Sharecropping,” JPE (Nov./Dec., 1968).
*Lindsay, “Measuring Human Capital Returns” (on reserve).
- WELFARE ECONOMICS AND GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM
Bronfenbrenner, INCOME DISTRIBUTION THEORY, Ch. 1-5.
*Lerner, ECONOMICS OF CONTROL, Ch. 6, 9.
*B. Hansen, A SURVEY OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM SYSTEMS, Ch. 3,4.
*Baumol, ECONOMIC THEORY AND OPERATIONS ANALYSIS, Ch. 16.
AEA READINGS IN PRICE THEORY, Ch. 12 (Ellis-Fellner).
*Bator, “The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization,” AER, March 1957
[Reprinted in Kamerschen, READINGS IN MICROECONOMICS, also in Breit and Hochman, READINGS IN MICROECONOMICS.]
*Arrow, “The Organization of Economic Activity,” in Haveman and Margolis, PUBLIC EXPENDITURES AND POLICY ANALYSIS.
Houthakker, “Economics and Biology: Specialization and Speciation,” KYKLOS, v. 9 (1956).
*Vickrey, “Some Objections to Marginal-Cost Pricing,” JPE, (June 1948).
Demsetz, “Why Regulate Utilities?”, JLE (1968).
*Coase, “The Problem of Social Cost,” JLE (Oct., 1960) [Reprinted in Breit and Hochman, READINGS].
Gordon, “The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery,” JPE (April, 1954).
*Worcester, “Pecuniary and Technological Externalities”, AER (Dec., 1969).
*Mishan, “The Postwar Literature on Externalities,” JEL (March, 1971).
*Demsetz, “The Private Production of Public Goods,” JLE (Oct., 1970).
Hochman and Rodgers, “Pareto Optimal Redistribution,” AER (Sept., 1969).
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Robert W. Clower Papers, Box 4, Folder “Econ 170-171: Org. of Enterprise + Industry”.
Image Source: Seal of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) at the Wikimedia Commons.