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.