One of the 2010 Nobel prize laureates in economics, Dale T. Mortensen, was still a year short of his Ph.D. degree from Carnegie-Mellon University when he taught advanced price theory at Northwestern University. I recently found a copy of his course reading list in the Robert Clower papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers archive.
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Department of Economies
Economics D-10
Advanced Price Theory
Mr. Mortensen
Fall, 1966
MW 3-5 P. M.
TEXTS:
Cohen and Cyert: Theory of the Firm
Hicks: Value and Capital
Samuelson: Foundations of Economic Analysis
Henderson and Quandt: Microeconomic Theory
- Introduction: The Role of Economic Theory
Lipsey and Steiner: Economics, Chaps. 2-4
*Cohen and Cyert: Chaps. 1-4
*Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 1 and Appendix
Samuelson: Chaps. 1-3 and Mathematical App. A
Allen: Mathematical Analysis for Economists, Chaps. 8, 10, 14
Yamane: Mathematics for Economists, Chaps. 3 and 5.
- Theory of Consumer Behavior
Stigler: The Theory of Price, Chap. 5
*Cohen and Cyert: Chap 5
*Hicks: Chaps. 1-3 [and/or] Samuelson: Chap. 5 [and/or] Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 2, pp. 6-32
Houthakker: “The Present State of Consumption Theory,” Ec. (Oct., 1961)
Becker: “Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory,” JPE (Feb., 1962)
- Theory of the Firm
Leftwich, The Price System and Resource Allocation, Chaps. 7-9
*Cohen and Cyert: Chaps. 6-8
*Hicks: Chaps. 6-7 [and/or] Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 3 [and/or] Samuelson: Chap. 4
Kurz and Manne: “Capital-Labor Substitution in Metal Machinery,” AER (September, 1963)
Dhrymes and Kurz: “Technology and Scale in Electrical Generation,” Ec. (Aug., 1964)
Walters: “Production and Cost Functions: An Econometric Survey,” Ec., (1963)
- Market Structure
*Cohen and Cyert: Chaps. 10-13
Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 6
Joan Robinson: The Economics of Imperfect Competition
E. H. Chamberlain: The Theory of Monopolistic Competition
William Fellner: Competition Among the Few
Martin Shubik: Strategy and Market Structure
Smith: “Effect of Market Structure on Competitive Equilibrium,” QJE (1964)
- Economic Efficiency
*Cohen and Cyert: Chap. 14 [and/or] Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 7
*Samuelson: Chap. 8
Bator: “The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization,” AER (March, 1957)
Lipsey and Lancaster: “The General Theory of Second Best,” RES (1956)
- Special Topics
Cohen and Cyert: Chaps. 15-17
Henderson and Quandt: Chap. 8
Baumol: Business Behavior, Value and Growth, Chaps. 6-8
Simon: “Theories of Decision Making in Economics and Behavior Sciences,” AER (June, 1956)
Modigliani: “New Developments on the Oligopoly Front,” JPE (June, 1958)
Simon: “New Developments in the Theory of the Firm,” AER (May, 1962)
Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Robert W. Clower papers, Box 4, Folder “Econ D-10, Exams, Outline”.
Image Source: Dale Mortensen’s senior year portrait from the 1961 Willamette University yearbook.