After having received his Philosophy, Politics and Economics B.A. from Oxford as a Tasmanian Rhodes Scholar, Arthur Smithies entered the graduate program in economics at Harvard in 1932. Between the biographical bookends of this post, you will find the records of Smithies’ graduate education kept by the Division of History, Government, and Economics.
Smithies-related posts at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror include material from his courses.
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Best biographical sketch
A. J. Hagger, “Arthur Smithies (1907-1981)” in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (Vol. 18, 2012).
Good morning Vietnam
On Smithies’ work on economic development policy in South Vietnam for the Agency for International Development, CIA and Institute for Defense Analysis:
Seth M. Kupferberg, “An Academic in the War” in The Harvard Crimson (May 23, 1975).
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A Memorial Statement by
Harvard President Derek C. Bok
March 1982
ARTHUR SMITHIES, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, died on September 9, 1981 at the age of 74. An early Keynesian economist and authority on fiscal policy, he came to Harvard in 1948 as Professor of Economics, having taught at the University of Michigan, Oxford, and the Australian National University. He also served the U.S. government in a number of capacities during World War II for the Bureau of the Budget and the Fiscal Analysis Branch of the Economic Cooperation Administration, among others. Later, the government bodies he assisted would include the Agency for International Development. He was elected Harvard’s Ropes Professor in 1957. A most popular faculty member and teacher, he was an influential chairman of the economics department twice in the 1950s and well-loved Master of Kirkland House from 1965 to 1974. He wrote continuously and served as editor for the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Economic Abstracts. His 1948 book, The Federal Budget and Fiscal Policy, remained a standard text for 20 years. A colleague [John Kenneth Galbraith] said Mr. Smithies believed a sense of history made the difference between a good economist and an inferior one. His own caused him in the latter years of his career to move his major interest from federal fiscal policy to the economic problems of developing countries. A native of Tasmania, he earned degrees from its University and Oxford, and the Ph.D. from Harvard.
Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1980-81, pp. 40-41.
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.
[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]
I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.
Arthur Smithies. 12 December 1907, Hobart Tasmania.
II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)
University of Tasmania 1925-1929
Magdalen College Oxford 1929-1932
Harvard 1932—
III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)
L.L.B. University of Tasmania
B.A. (Philosophy Politics Economics), Oxford
IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your under-graduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc. In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)
[Left blank]
V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)
Economics
VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)
- Economic Theory.
at Oxford & Economics 11 & 15 at Harvard - Money and Banking
at Oxford & Economics 38 at Harvard - International Trade
at Oxford & Economics 39 at Harvard - Statistics
Economics 41A & 41B at Harvard - [Added later] (Jurisprudence) Satisfied by work at Univ. Tasmania. Degree LLB. Smithies first man in his class) H.H. Burbank
- [Added later] Economic Theory
VII. Special Subject for the special examination.
Economic Theory
VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)
[Added later] Aspects of Theory of Production
IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)
[Left blank]
X. Remarks
[Added later] Economic History requirement satisfied by work at Oxford.
Smithies has a preparation sufficiently broad to warrant the acceptance of this program.
[Committee for General Examination] Profs. Taussig, Leontief, Harris, Crum
[Committee for Special Examination] Profs. Taussig, Schumpeter, Leontief
Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.
[signed] H. H. Burbank
* * * [Last page of application] * * *
[Not to be filled out by the applicant]
Name: Arthur Smithies
Approved: May 28, 1933 [Added later] Sept. 11, 1933
Ability to use French certified by Dr. A. E. Monroe, March 3, 1933.
Ability to use German certified by Dr. A. E. Monroe, March. 3, 1933.
Date of general examination Friday, May 19, 1933. Passed. F.W.T.
Thesis received April 30, 1934.
Read by Professors Taussig and Schumpeter.
Approved May 18, 1934.
Date of special examination Friday, June 1, 1934. Passed F.W.T.
Recommended for the Doctorate February 6, 1935
Degree conferred Mid-years, 1935
Remarks. [left blank]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Partial transcript of Arthur Smities in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
1932-33
| Economics 11 (1 course) | A minus (mid-year grade) |
| Economics 151 (½ course) | A plus |
| Economics 38 (1 course) | A (mid-year grade) |
| Economics 41a1 (½ course) | B |
| Economics 41b2 (½ course) | now taking |
| Economics 392 (½ course) | now taking |
A.B. Univ. of Oxford, England, 1932.
Commonwealth Fund Fellow, 1932-33.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Proposed change in Mr. Smithies’ plan: [undated]
- Economic Theory
- Money & Banking
- Statistics
- Jurisprudence
- Economic History (course credit). Course taken at Oxford
- Economic theory.
(Professor Taussig wishes to examine him in Jurisprudence)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
General examination,
Departmental Report
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Report on Examinations for Graduate Degrees
Name of Candidate: Arthur Smithies
Date of Examination: May 19, 1933
Fields Examined: Economic Theory, Money and Banking, Statistics, Jurisprudence
The Committee certified that the General Examination of the candidate was
Excellent
Good
Fair
Unsatisfactory
Committee:
F. W. Taussig
W. L. Crum
S. E. Harris
W. W. Leontief
[signed] F. W. Taussig Chairman
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
General examination passed
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 22, 1933
Dear Professor Wilson:
As chairman of the committee for the general examination of Arthur Smithies I beg to report that the candidate passed the examination. The committee certifies that his showing was good, and I would add that on two of the subjects it was better than good. On no subject was it in any way unsatisfactory.
Very truly yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig
Professor G. G. Wilson
15 Little Hall
Cambridge, Massachusetts
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Special examination,
Division Report
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
Report on Examinations for Graduate Degree
Name of Candidate: Arthur Smithies
Date of Examination: Friday, June 1, 1934, in 42 Holyoke House, at 4.
Department of Economics
Fields Examined: Economic Theory (special field)
The Committee certified that the General Special Examination of the candidate was
Excellent
Good
Fair
Failed, no bar to re-examination
Failed, recommended not to request re-examination
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Leontief, and Schumpeter
Further comments may be made below.
Mr. Smithies’ examination confirmed the high opinion about him and his work which resulted from his thesis and his initiative in research
[signed] F. W. Taussig
Chairman
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Certificate of completed thesis
apparently misplaced
Mr. Smithies’ Certificate (for the thesis) has slipped away, and will have to be put in, with the proper signatures, when recovered.
[Handwritten note by Professor Frank W. Taussig]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics. PhD. Candidates Receiving Degrees in 1935-1936, Box 15.
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Course Names and Instructors (1932-33)
| Economics 11 Economic Theory |
Prof. William F. Taussig |
| Economics 151 Problems in Economic Theory |
Prof. Joseph A. Schumpeter |
| Economics 38 Principles of Money and Banking |
Professors John H. Williams and Joseph A. Schumpeter |
| Economics 41a1 Theory of Economic Statistics I |
Prof. William L. Crum and Asst. Prof. Edwin Frickey |
| Economics 41b2 Theory of Economic Statistics II |
Prof. William L. Crum and Asst. Prof. Edwin Frickey |
| Economics 392 International Trade and Finance |
Prof. Wassily Leontief |
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1932-33 , pp. 65-67.
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Arthur Smithies
Timeline of his life and career
1907. Born December 12 at Lindisfarne, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Attended Hutchins School in Hobart, Tasmania
1928. Won the James Backhouse Walker prize for proficiency, University of Tasmania.
1929. LL.B. University of Tasmania
1929-32. Tasmanian Rhodes Scholar, Magdalen College, Oxford University.
1932. B.A., Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Magdalen College, Oxford University.
1932-34. Commonwealth Fund Fellow and Harkness Fellow, Harvard University.
1934-35. Economics Instructor, University of Michigan.
1935. Ph.D., Harvard University. Thesis: Aspects of the Theory of Production.
[While the dissertation and special examination had been accepted/passed in June 1934, the Ph.D. was awarded at mid-year 1934-35.]
1935. Married Katharine Ripman, February 22. Three children.
1935-38. Assistant-economist to (Sir) Roland Wilson in the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Canberra.
1938-43. Assistant, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Michigan.
1943-48. Economist, chief of economic section, U.S. Bureau of the Budget.
1948. The Federal Budget and Fiscal Policy. “…regarded as the standard work in the field for two decades” (Otto Eckstein).
1948-49. Director of Fiscal and Trade Policy Division, Economic Cooperation Administration.
1948-74. Professor of Economics, Harvard University.
1950-55. Chairman of the economics department, Harvard University.
1951-52. Economic adviser to the Office of Defense Mobilization.
1954. Hoover Commission Task Force.
1954. “Economic Welfare and Policy”, one of the Brookings Lectures published as Economics and Public Policy, 1955.
1955. The Budgetary Process in the United States.
1955-56. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow and visiting professor, Oxford University.
1957-78. Nathanial Ropes Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University.
1957-65. Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
1959-61. Chairman of the economics department, Harvard University.
1962. Founder of the Journal of Economic Abstracts.
1962-63. Visiting professor, Australian National University.
1963. Lecture delivered at the University of Queensland, St. Lucia on September 13, published by The English, Scottish and Australian Bank as Economic Stability in Australia.
1965-74. Master of Kirkland House, Harvard University.
1978. Retired from Harvard, Professor Emeritus.
1981. Suffering a heart attack at the Cambridge Boat Club after rowing on the Charles River, Smithies died September 9 in Mt. Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Timeline sources: A. J. Hagger, “Arthur Smithies (1907-1981)” in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (Vol. 18, 2012); Obituary in the Boston Globe, September 11, 1981 (p. 37); Obituary in the Harvard Crimson, September 14, 1981; Who’s Who in America 40th Edition, 1978-79, p. 3041.
Image Source: Arthur Smithies in the Harvard Class Album 1952.