Before the 1958-59 academic year began, tragedy struck the Harvard economics department. Assistant professor of economics Stefan Valavanis (31 years old) was found shot in his tent near Mt. Olympus. He was to be the lead instructor for the Junior year honors course in economics during the up-coming year. With his loss the course was left to his assistant professor colleagues, Alfred Haskell Conrad and James Mitchell Henderson.
Alfred Haskell Conrad, Ph.D. 1954. The Redistribution of Incomes and the Matrix Multiplier: The Impact of Fiscal Policy on the Distribution of Income in 1950. Advisors: W.W. Leontief and John S. Chipman. (Mathematics Genealogy Project)
James Mitchell Henderson, Ph.D. 1955. The Efficiency of the Coal Industry: An Application of Linear Programming. Advisors: W.W. Leontief and Elizabeth Waterman Gilboy. (Mathematics Genealogy Project)
James M. Henderson was co-author with Richard Quandt of Microeconomic Theory: A Mathematical Approach, the leading graduate microeconomics text in its day and (fun fact) married Anne O. Krueger in July 1981 when they both were professors at the University of Minnesota. The two of them moved on to become professors at Duke University. Henderson died in 1992.
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Course Announcement
Economics 100. Junior Honors Course
Full course. M., 4-6. Assistant Professors [Stefan] Valavanis (in charge), [Alfred Haskell] Conrad and (spring term) [James Mitchell] Henderson.
Permission required of Assistant Professor Valavanis.
Required course for Economics concentrators who are candidates for honors. This course will deal with the theory of wages and prices; problems of public policy in the fields of Industrial Organization and Labor; the relation between descriptive material and theoretical analysis; methods of testing hypotheses. One two-hour group meeting each week organized as a seminar with papers by students. Additional papers and individual conferences with staff members.
Source: Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1958-1959. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LV, No. 20 (September 3, 1958), p. 89.
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Course Enrollment
[Economics] 100. Junior Honors Course. Assistant Professors Conrad and (S) Henderson. Full course.
(F) Total 49: 3 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Radcliffe
(S) Total 46: 4 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Radcliffe
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1958-59, p. 70.
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Final Reading List and Course Outline
Economies 100
Fall, 1958
I. Introduction: Some background and material on the nature and setting of American industrial enterprise. The market mechanism.
W. Adams (ed.), The Structure of American Industry, Chs. 5, 6, 7, 11, 13.
A.B. Jack, “The Channels of Distribution for an Innovation,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, IX, p. 113.
K.E. Boulding, Economic Analysis, Part I (any edition).
II. The Empirical Measurement of Economic Functions.
M.J. Moroney, Facts from Figures, Ch. 2, 4; (probability and central tendency).
R.E. Freund, Modern Elementary Statistics, Ch. 12, 13.
Jan Tinbergen, Econometrics, Chs. 1, 2, 5.
R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists, Ch. 2; Ch. 6 (recommended) (functions and derivatives).
III. Factors Determining Industry Structure.
A. Production Theory
E. A. G. Robinson, The Structure of Competitive Industry, Chs. 1-5.
T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chs. 6,7.
V. E. Smith, “The Statistical Production Function,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1944-45, pp. 543-62.
R. G. Bressler, Jr. “Research Determination of Economies of Scale,” Journal of Farm Economics, 1945, p. 526.
B. Cost Curves
Committee on Price Determination for the Conference on Price Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy, pp. 80-115, 291-301, 219-263, 321-329.
J. Viner, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Readings in Price Theory. Ch. 10, p. 198.
M. Colberg, et al, Business Economics, Ch. 4, 5.
C. Barriers to entry other than economies of scale
J. Bain, Barriers to New Competition, Ch. 6.
IV. Markets and Pricing:
A. Indifference Curves and Consumer Theory
George J. Stigler, The Theory of Price (any edition) Ch. 5.
Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chs. 2, 3, 4.
Boulding, Economic Analysis, Ch. 34 (revised edition).
B. Pure Competition and Pure Monopoly
E. H. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1, 2.
T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chs. 8, 16.
C. Oligopoly
Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 3, 4, 5.
Readings in Price Theory, Chs. 20, 21.
T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Ch. 20.
R. M. Alt, “Statistical Measurement of Price Flexibility,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949, p. 92.
J. Bain, Barriers, Ch. 7.
J. Vanek, “The Nature of Equilibrium in Monopolistic Competition,” Mimeographed.
V. Investment Theory
A. An outline of formal theory
Samuelson, Economics, Ch. 29.
Boulding, Chs. 35-37 (revised edition).
Joel Dean, Capital Budgeting, Chs. 1-3.
J. M. Clark, “Business Acceleration and the Law of Demand,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory.
J. Meyer and E. Kuh, The Investment Decision, Ch. 11 (2).
B. Uncertainty
R. Weckstein, “On the Use of the Theory of Probability in Economics,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1953, pp. 191-198.
Ward Edwards, “The Theory of Decision Making,” Psychological Bulletin, 1954.
A. G. Hart, Anticipation, Uncertainty, and Dynamic Planning.
C. Financial Considerations
J. Meyer and E. Kuh, The Investment Decision, Chs. 9, 12.
R. Mack, The Flow of Business Funds and Consumer Purchasing Power, Ch. VIII.
W. Heller, “The Anatomy of Investment Decisions,” Harvard Business Review, March 1951.
Fortune, “The Fine Art of Raising Capital,” u, July 1956 and ”How Much Can Business Borrow?” June 1956.
D. The Influence of Market Structure on the Investment Decision and Innovation.
W. Fellner,” The Influence of Market Structure on Technological Progress,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1951, pp. 556-577.
C. Kaysen, “A Dynamic Aspect of the Monopoly Problem,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1949, pp. 109-113.
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. VIIl, pp. 87-106.
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Economics 100
Reading List
Spring, 1959
I. General Equilibrium.
E. Phelps Brown, The Framework of the Pricing System, Chaps. II-IV.
F. Zeuthen, Economic Theory and Method, Chaps. 10-12 and pp. 194-197.
J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital, Part II.
W. W. Leontief, “Input-Output Economics,” Scientific American, October, 1951.
W. W. Leontief, “Input-Output Analysis and the General Equilibrium Theory,” in T. Barna, ed., The Structural Interdependence of the Economy, pp. 42-49.
Selected Applications
(The material listed under this heading may be used as the basis for tutorial papers and discussion. Specific assignments will be made by the instructor.)
W. W. Leontief, “Factor Proportions and the Structure of American Trade,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov., 1956.
R. S. Eckaus, “The Factor Proportions Problem in Underdeveloped Areas,” American Economic Review, September, 1955.
II. Welfare Economics.
T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chaps. 4, 8, 16. (for review).
J. de V. Graaff, Theoretical Welfare Economics. Chaps. I-V, X, XI. (omit the appendices)
K. Boulding, “Welfare Economics,” in Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, B. F. Haley, ed.
A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, Chaps. 3, 4.
Selected Applications
M. Friedman, in R. Solo, ed., Economics and the Public Interest, Chap. 9.
W. S. Vickey, The Revision of the Rapid Transit Fare Structure of the City of New York, (hectographed; in Littauer Library).
J. V. Krutilla and O. Eckstein, Multi-Purpose River Development, 1958.
N. Kaldor, The Expenditure Tax.
III. Macro Models — Cycles, Growth, Money.
G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chaps. 2, 3, 5.
A. Hansen, Business Cycles and National Income, Part Il.
A. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, Chaps. 3-6.
J. S. Duesenberry, Business Cycles and Economic Growth, Chaps. 2-5, 9-12.
C. Christ, “Aggregate Econometric Models,” American Economic Review, June, 1956
H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices and Monetary Theory,” in G. Stigler and K. Boulding, eds., Readings in Price Theory. Chap. 14.
J. Gurley and E. Shaw, “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, September, 1955.
Selected applications from the fields of wage and price policy, inflation, international trade and development will be assigned by the instructors.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University: Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1958-59 (1 of 2).”
Image Sources:
Left. 1959 Alfred Haksell Conrad, John Simon Guggeheim Memorial Foundation.
Right: 1959, James M. Henderson, University of Minnesota Archives.