What I find particularly striking in the following report of the Committee on Instruction in Mathematical Economics at Harvard (note the first named of the trio is E. B. Wilson) is the forecast that economics graduate students will need to acquire tools of mathematical economics and statistics already in the mid 1930s because they will need them later, 1953-63, when they will be “at the height of their activity” and by which time (implicitly) the “rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics” will have caught up with them. I have appended the course names for the statistics and mathematics courses referred to by number in the report.
Related postings:
- Memo from W. L. Crum and a proposal, April 1933
- 1936 letter from E.B. Wilson to W.C. Mitchell on mathematical economics at Harvard.
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Meeting of the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) on
Instruction in the Mathematical Economics
Tuesday, May 9 [1933]
In view of the rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics, and of the possibility that a considerable number of economists may have to be adequately familiar with both mathematical theory and statistical procedure twenty to thirty years from now, that is, when many of our present students will be at the height of their activity, the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) agreed on the following recommendations to be submitted to the Department which they believe to be both necessary and sufficient in order to provide facilities for events to work in mathematical theory as applied to economics:
(1) Any student who may wish to do so should be allowed to offer mathematical economics as his special field within the requirements for the Ph.D. This would involve but a slight alteration of existing practice which permits students to choose some branch of economic theory as a special field. The committee’s suggestion is merely that mathematical economics should be added to the other special subjects in economic theory which a student may select.
It seems desirable, moreover, to permit that any such student may select mathematics or rather some branch of pure or applied mathematics in place of one of the two remaining fields he has to offer.
(2) Advanced work in mathematical economics should conform to modern tendencies by stressing equally the mathematical side of economic theory and mathematical statistics. No student who elects mathematical economics as his special field should be allowed to do the one without the other. Especially courses 31a and 32b should be required also from students mainly interested in pure theory.
(3) Work in the Department of Mathematics through Math 5 should be considered as the minimum requirement as to mathematical training. Credit should be given only for Math 5, but not for any of the still more elementary course preparatory to it, which most of the students taking up mathematical economics will have had anyhow in their undergraduate period.
(4) No further steps should be taken at present. It seems best to see what the response will be before attempting to organize a special graduate course. The mathematical aspect of our subject is being dealt with in some courses already, and any Ph.D. candidates who may present themselves in case the rules be altered as recommended could easily be taken care of individually.
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Copy of Letter from Harold H. Burbank to Joseph Schumpeter
October 3, 1933
Dear Joe,
I have read and approved without qualification the report of the Committee on Instruction in Mathematical Economics.
I think this report should be brought before the Department on the evening of Tuesday, October 10.
Very sincerely yours,
Prof. J. A. Schumpeter
2 Scott Street
HHB:VS
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Graduate Instruction in the Mathematical Economics
Department Vote, October 10, 1933
In view of the rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics, and of the possibility that a considerable number of economists may have to be adequately familiar with both mathematical theory and statistical procedure twenty to thirty years from now, that is, when many of our present students will be at the height of their activity, the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) agreed on the following recommendations to be submitted to the Department which they believe to be both necessary and sufficient in order to provide facilities for events to work in mathematical theory as applied to economics.
The Department voted to accept the recommendations stated as follows:
(1) Any student who may wish to do so should be allowed to offer mathematical economics as his special field within the requirements for the Ph.D. This would involve no alteration of existing practice, which permits students to choose some branch of economic theory as a special field. The committee’s suggestion is that mathematical economics should be admissible.
(2) Any students using mathematical economics as his special field should be allowed to offer some branch of pure or applied mathematics as an allied field.
Work in the Department of Mathematics through Math 5, or the equivalent, should be considered as the minimum requirement as to mathematical training. Credit should be given only for Math 5, but not for any more elementary course preparatory to it.
(3) Advanced work in mathematical economics should conform to modern tendencies by stressing equally the mathematical side of economic theory and mathematical statistics. Therefore courses 31a and 32b should be required of anyone in electing mathematical theory as his special field.
(4) No further steps need be taken at present. It seems best to see what the response will be before attempting to organize a special graduate course. Any individual cases calling for special attention can be dealt with, under the proposed regulation, as our courses now stand.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and papers 1930-1961. (UAV349.11), Box 13.
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Statistics Courses offered in the Department of Economics
at Harvard, 1934-35
Economics 31a 1hf (formerly Economics 41a). Theory of Economic Statistics, I
Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Crum and Asst. Professor Frickey.
Economics 1a, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for this course.
Economics 31b 2hf (formerly Economics 41b). Theory of Economic Statistics, II
Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Crum and Asst. Professor Frickey.
Economics 1a, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for this course.
Economics 32b 2hf (formerly Economics 42). Foundations of Statistical Theory
Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., 3 to 4.30. Professor E. B. Wilson.
Economics 31a and one year of Calculus are prerequisites for this course.
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1933-34(second edition), Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXX, No. 39 (September 20, 1933), p. 128.
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Undergraduate Mathematics Courses
at Harvard, 1934-35
Mostly Freshmen
[Mathematics] A. Professors J. L Coolidge et al. — Analytic Geometry; Introduction to the Calculus.
Mostly Sophomores
[Mathematics] 2. Professors Graustein et al. — Differential and Integral Calculus; Analytic Geometry.
Mostly Juniors
[Mathematics] 5a1hf. Professor Morse. — Differential and Integral Calculus (advanced course), Part I
[Mathematics] 5a2hf. Professor Morse. — Differential and Integral Calculus (advanced course), Part II
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1934-35, p. 86.
Images: Left to right: William Leonard Crum, Joseph A. Schumpeter, Edwin Bidwell Wilson. From the 1934 (Crum) and 1939 (Schumpeter and Wilson) Harvard Class Albums.