Tag: Samuelson

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Chicago Economists

Chicago. Talent-Scouting for New Faculty, Joint Appointments and Visiting Faculty, 1945

__________________________

On April 10, 1945, the chairman of the University of Chicago’s economics department, Professor Simeon E. Leland, submitted a 77 page (!) memorandum to President Robert M. Hutchins entitled “Postwar Plans of the Department of Economics–A Wide Variety of Observations and Suggestions All Intended To Be Helpful in Improving the State of the University”.

In his cover letter Leland wrote “…in the preparation of the memorandum, I learned much that was new about the past history of the Department. Some of this, incorporated in the memorandum, looks like filler stuck in, but I thought it ought to be included for historical reasons and to furnish some background for a few of the suggestions.” 

In recent posts I have provided a list of visiting professors who taught economics at the University of Chicago up through 1944 (excluding those visitors who were to receive permanent appointments) and supporting tables with enrollment trends and faculty data (ages and educational backgrounds).

In this post we have three lists of names for economists who in 1945 could be taken into consideration for either permanent economics, joint appointments with other department or visiting appointments at the University of Chicago. Many names are immediately recognisable, others less so, and other known names left unnamed. Instead of observing the actual choices of the department, we have, so to speak, an observation of the “choice set” as perceived by the department.

______________________________

          The following list of possible additions to the staff of the Department of Economics represents an enumeration of suggestions made by various members of the Department. It, of course, does not include all of those whom the Department would like to invite as permanent members of the University staff. Many of those whom we would most like to have, it is well-known, are not available; nor can the Department be sure that those listed below would favorably consider an invitation to join our staff. Likewise, this list must not be construed as nominations for membership in the Department. Some members of the staff are known to object to the inclusion of some of the names listed below. But if unanimous consent were required before suggestions could be made, little progress in building a Department would be possible. In its present state, the list is only an enumeration of suggestions warranting further inquiry. The fields of interest of many of the potential candidates overlap and the appointment of some individuals would make it undesirable, or at least uneconomic, to appoint others. Nevertheless, the list does given an idea of some persons who might be considered for future appointments. This list, like any other enumeration, is subject to constant revision, both in the addition or subtraction of names.

Name

 Present Location

Field of Interest or Specialization
Abraham (sic) Bergson University of Texas Wages and Wage Theory
Robert Bryce Ottawa, Canada
Norman Buchanan University of California Public Utilities, Corporation Finance, Business Cycles (also possible interest in United States Economic History)
Earl Hamilton Northwestern University Economic History
Albert G. Hart C.E.D., Chicago Theory, Finance, etc.
J. R. Hicks University of Manchester, England Economic Theory
Harold A. Innis University of Toronto Economic History
Maurice Kelso University of Wisconsin Land Economics
Tjalling Koopmans Cowles Commission Statistics; Mathematical Economics; Business Cycles; Shipping
Simon Kuznets University of Pennsylvania National Income; Historical Statistics
Sanford Mosk University of California Economic History
Charles A. Myers Massachusetts Institute of Technology Labor; Industrial Relations
Walter Rostow Columbia University Economic History (XIX Century)
Leonard Salter University of Wisconsin Land Economics
T. Scitovszky London School of Economics; U.S. Army Theory of Capital and Interest; Theory of Tariffs
Arthur Smithies University of Michigan; Bureau of the Budget, Washington, D. C. Fiscal Policy; Theory; Money and Banking
Eugene Staley School of Advanced International Studies (Washington, D.C.) International Economics; Foreign Trade
George Stigler University of Minnesota Theory and Foreign Trade
R. H. Tawney London School of Economics Economic History
Allen Wallis Stanford University Statistics

______________________________

Joint Appointments

The Department of Economics shares an interest in many fields with other departments, schools and divisions of the University. It recognizes that most problems of the Social Sciences have economic aspects, and other aspects as well. Many of the fields embraced within particular disciplines are explained by accident or tradition, not always by logic. No one department can, therefore, assert a valid claim for the exclusive staffing of fields of interest held in common with other branches of knowledge. It seems wisest to develop these common grounds through joint appointments. Not only does this enable us to attract to the University more outstanding scholars than the fellowship of one department might provide, but it should also place at the disposition of those interested in promoting joint fields, perhaps, larger resources than either acting alone could command.

Joint appointments, too, will tend to integrate the Social Sciences with the other schools and departments affected, as well as contribute to the unity of the University as a whole. The Department of Economics, therefore, ventures to suggest joint appointments in the following fields:

Fields Units Affected
Trusts and Monopolies Business, Law, Economics
Railroads and Transportation Business, Economics
Public Utilities Economics, Political Science, Law
Social Control of Business Business, Law, Political Science, Economics
Advanced Applied Mathematics and Statistics Economics, Mathematics, Business, Institute of Statistics, other departments interested in statistics
Urban Planning (or the Utilization of Land) Geography, Political Science, Economics, Law, Business, Sociology
Social Legislation, particularly affecting Labor Business, Sociology, Social Service Administration, Law, Political Science, Economics

[…]

Among those who might be proposed for joint appointments are the following:

Name Present Location Field of Interest Appropriate Appointment
Charles L. Dearing Brookings Institution and U.S. Government Transportation Economics, Business
Corwin D. Edwards Northwestern University Trusts, Monopolies, Control of Business Political Science, Law, Economics
Milton Friedman Columbia University Economic Theory, Public Finance, Monetary Policy Economics, Institute of Statistics
Homer Hoyt Regional Plan Association, Inc., New York, N.Y. Land Planning Economic Geography, Political Science
David E. Lilienthal T. V. A. Public Utilities Political Science, Law, Economics
Abraham Wald Columbia University Applied Mathematics, Statistics Mathematics, Economics
Allen Wallis Columbia University Applied Mathematics, Statistics Mathematics, Economics
Samuel S. Wilks Princeton University Applied Mathematics, Statistics Mathematics, Economics

Visiting Professorships

Each department needs to diversify its courses. Too frequently the attempt at diversification is made by adding permanent members to the regular staff. The need can best be met by the appointment of visiting professors.

[…]

A list of some who might be invited to the University as Visiting Professors is as follows:

Name Present Location Fields of Interest
John D. Black Harvard Agricultural Economics
(J.) Roy Blough U. S. Treasury Public Finance
Kenneth Boulding Iowa State College Economic Analysis; Theory of Capital
Karl Brandt Food Institute, Stanford U. Agricultural Economics
Harry G. Brown University of Missouri Economic Theory, Public Finance
J. Douglas Brown Princeton University Industrial Relations
Edward H. Chamberlain(sic) Harvard Economic Theory; Monopolistic Competition
J. M. Clark Columbia University Economic theory
J. B. Condliffe California International Trade; International Commercial Policy
Joseph S. Davis Food Institute, Stanford U. Agricultural Economics
Milton Gilbert Office of Price Administration, Washington, D.C. Economic Theory; Price Control
T. Haavelmo Norwegian Shipping Administration, New York, N.Y. Econometrics
Alvin Hansen Harvard Economic Theory; Fiscal Policy
F. A. Hayek London School of Economics and Political Science History of Social Thought; Economic Theory; Monetary Policy
J. R. Hicks University of Manchester Economic Theory
George Jaszy U. S. Dept. of Commerce National Income; Business Analysis
O. B. Jesness University of Minnesota Agricultural Economics
Nicholas Kaldor London School of Economics Theory of the Firm; Imperfect Competition; Money; Business Cycles
M. Kalecki Institute of Statistics of University of Oxford, England Economic Fluctuations; Expenditure Rationing
M. Slade Kendrick Cornell University Public Finance; Farm Taxation
Arthur Kent San Francisco Attorney-at-Law Taxation
J. M. Keynes Cambridge University Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Simon S. Kuznets National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Pennsylvania Statistics; National Income and Its Problem
A. P. Lerner New School for Social Research Economic Theory; Fiscal Policy; Public Finance
Edward S. Mason Harvard University Economic Theory; International Trade and Trade Practices
Wesley C. Mitchell Columbia University Money and Prices
Jacob Mosak Office of Price Administration, Washington, D.C. Economic Theory; Statistics; Control of Prices
R. A. Musgrave Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D. C. Public Finance
Randolph Paul Lord, Day and Lord, Attorneys-at-Law Taxation
Paul A. Samuelson Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economic Theory; Money and Banking; Fiscal Policy
Lawrence H. Seltzer Wayne University Money and Banking; Public Debts; Fiscal Policy
Carl S. Shoup Columbia University Public Finance
Sumner H. Slichter Harvard University Business Economics
Richard Stone England Statistics; National Income
R. H. Tawney London School of Economics Economic History
Abraham Wald Columbia University Mathematics and Statistics
John H. Williams Harvard University Money and Banking

In the past, the Department has supplemented its staff by the appointment of visiting professors, but the invitations have ordinarily been restricted to the Summer Quarter in order (1) to relieve the regular staff from summer teaching and (2) to provide “window-dressing” to make the Summer Quarters more attractive to new students. The potentialities of the visiting professorship can hardly be realized when the practice is applied only to the Summer Quarter. That it has made that Quarter more attractive would seem to be indicated by the outstanding economists who have been guests of the University of Chicago.

[…]

The practice of inviting outstanding men to the University of Chicago seems to have been more prevalent in the early years of the University than it is today. Visiting appointments also declined with the strained finances of the University during the late depression. The Department is anxious to develop a program of instruction and research based upon the policy of the regular employment of visitors. A sum, equal to the stipend of a full professor, if used to finance a program of regular visitors, would add greater content and prestige to the Department than could be secured in any other way.

Source: University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration Records. Box 73, Folder “Economics Dept., “Post-War Plans” Simeon E. Leland, 1945″.

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Chicago Economists Funny Business M.I.T. Undergraduate

Chicago. Paul Samuelson’s 50th Class Reunion Questionnaire, 1985

For his 50th class reunion Paul A. Samuelson filled out the following one page questionnaire. Besides revealing the youthful musical taste of this Chicago educated Wunderkind, Samuelson’s responses sometimes even illustrate his writing style (e.g. 7 8/9 grandchildren). I was most struck by his declared favorite professor during these formative years. Guess, then read.

____________________________________

CLASS OF 1935 SURVEY

Your former classmates are interested in what you’re doing.

 

Name Paul A. Samuelson                Maiden Name [blank]

Address MIT E52-383

City/State/Zip Code Cambridge, MA 02139

Your past and present occupation and employer Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Anything you wish to mention about your job Overpaid/underworked

Spouse’s name and occupation Risha Samuelson, Painter

No. of children 6       No. of grandchildren 7 8/9            No. of great-grandchildren [blank]

Degrees received and institutions attended AB U of C 1935; AM 1936, Ph.D. Harvard 1941, 2 dozen honorary degrees, including Chicago

Favorite class and professor at the University, and why Henry Simons, Economics! Great economist, great person.

Most rewarding, exciting, or unusual experience as a student Being reborn as a scientist-scholar

Most memorable moments since graduation Nobel Prize, 1970; birth of triplets, 1953; first-born, 1946

Favorite song or band of the ‘30s Wayne King, Hal Kemp, Paul Whiteman

Other affiliations (clubs, professional associations, political parities) [blank]

Have you received any civic, community, or academic honors? Yes

Accomplishments, interests, hobbies that you find especially significant Tennis

Future plans Economic writing

Please share any other information that your classmates may find interest I was given a great education, in the Midway’s golden age

 

Please return this form by April 15, 1985. You may attach an additional sheet if needed. Mail to: Reunion ’85 Network, 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637

[pencil note: Sent 2/22-85]

 

Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Paul A. Samuelson Papers, Box 4, Folder “Personal”.

Image Source:  Henry Calvert Simons. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07614, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Economists Irwin Collier M.I.T.

MIT. Samuelson at the Joint Economic Committee, 1973

Marina v.Neumann Whitman and Paul A. Samuelson

Backstory:

When I was an undergraduate I was extremely fortunate to have received an internship at the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C. Even though I was anything but a Republican and the semester-long internship began less than three months after the bungled Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee by the White House “plumbers”, I eagerly grabbed this opportunity when it was offered in August, 1972 to begin that September. I was assigned to two labor market economists, one of whom (June O’Neill) would be tasked to write chapter 4 “The Economic Role of Women” in the 1973 Annual Report of the CEA and for which I did all the tabulations and number-crunching at a time when research assistants at the Council had Wang calculators on their desks that were tethered to an “electronic package” with a data hose but that did possess the virtue of calculating logarithms (!) with a single keystroke. My bosses were sufficiently satisfied with my work that I was invited back for the Summer of 1973.

My time at the Council coincided not just with the Watergate scandal but also with some of the episode of wage-and-price controls. When concerned citizens wrote to the Council of Economic Advisers, their letters would be passed down the pecking order and most often landed on the desk of an intern to draft a polite, Econ 1 response. One of the women interns, came through the office in a rant because when she consulted Paul Samuelson’s Economics for some boiler-plate about shortages and price controls to include in a letter, she found a not untypical Samuelsonian wisecrack “Of course, there are always a few women and cranks, longer on intuition than brains, who blame their troubles on the mechanism of rationing itself rather than on the shortage.” Even though I was not even aware that I would be going to MIT myself a little more than a year later, I instinctively wanted to protect my hero, figuring my colleague consulted an old edition and times-have-changed-for-the-better. A nice thing about the Council of Economic Advisers is that it had economists of all generations in residence so that in a matter of no time we had multiple editions in which we could seek and then compare the offending passages. Indeed my intuition was correct, by the 1970 edition “women and cranks” was softened to “cranky customers” but to our procrastinating horror we discovered that the earliest edition referred to “women and soap-box orators” that was only later changed to the somewhat more offensive “women and cranks”.

Not long after this serendipitous discovery of Paul Samuelson’s personal journey in matters of gender awareness, I heard that Herbert Stein and Marina von Neumann Whitman were to testify before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress in a set of hearings devoted to the “Economic Problems of Women” and that no less an economist than Paul Samuelson was to testify as well. I quickly wrote up a memo to my boss, June O’Neill, suggesting that perhaps this would be a cute opening remark for Marina Whitman, albeit at Samuelson’s expense, illustrating the gradual rise in consciousness of economists with respect to women’s issues.

Today’s posting includes the relevant part of Marina von Neumann Whitman’s testimony where the input from my memo can be seen. (Thank you for the memory FRASER!)

I was slightly disappointed when I read Paul Samuelson’s printed testimony, because he led off with a remark to the effect that “I am surprised, given the magnitude of the economic problems facing the United States, that the President’s Council of Economic Advisers would have the time to go back to uncover my past errors.” That statement did not get recorded in the official transcript however. My memory of his facial expression at the time was of unamused to slightly irritated. Later as a graduate student I never did have the courage to ask Samuelson if he remembered that particular moment in the hearing much less confess to my complicity.

My feeble attempt at a reparation for even providing the backstory to this Samuelson anecdote rather than mercifully allowing it to remain in the obscurity of a transcript from a JEC hearing is to place into my blog record a few paragraphs from near the end of Samuelson’s spoken testimony.

In today’s summer of the American white-male’s discontent Samuelson’s casual remarks about the differences in labor market experiences of men and women seem quite prescient. 

_______________________________

 

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF WOMEN

Tuesday, July 10, 1973.

Congress of the United States,
Joint Economic Committee,
Washington, D.C.

 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:12 a.m., in room S-407, the Capitol Building, Hon. Martha W. Griffiths (member of the committee) presiding.

Present: Representative Griffiths and Widnall.

[…]

Mrs. Whitman. […] In fact, this fourth chapter of the 1973 Economic Report of the President represents the first time that the report of the Council of Economic Advisers has directed considerable attention to the economic problems of women. The formation of the Advisory Committee on the Economic Role of Women is another first for the Council. The economics profession has been slow in developing expertise on the special problems of women; and Federal data sources have only begun to tailor surveys so that they can yield appropriate statistics about women. One role of the Committee is to fill in some of the deficiencies and expertise on this subject for the Council. The association of the Committee with the Council provides a channel through which the interests of women are represented in economic policy decisions.

Indeed, we are glad to observe that finally women and economics are being included in the same breath without a knowing wink by the male economist. One sign of this is the change in a passage found in various editions of Professor Paul Samuelson’s well-known economics textbook. Lamenting the popular reaction to the results of rationing, Professor Samuelson wrote in his first edition (1948):

Of course, there are always a few women and soapbox orators, who are longer on intuition than brains and who blame their troubles on the mechanism of rationing itself rather than on the shortage.

In the seventh edition (1967), we find soapbox orders dropped and the sentence is changed to:

Of course, there are always a few women and cranks, longer on intuition than brains, who blame their troubles on the mechanism of rationing itself rather than on the shortage.

By the liberated eighth edition (1970) he writes:

Of course, there are always some cranky customers, longer on intuition than brains, who blame their troubles on the mechanism of rationing itself rather than on the shortage.

So by 1970 “women” had disappeared from that rather slighting reference.

We have asked to insert into the record chapter 4 of the 1973 economic report. I would like here simply to talk about a few highlights of the chapter and primarily to report on some additional information and analysis that we have been able to acquire and develop since the economic report…

[…]

Source: United States. Congress. Ninety-Third Congress, First Session. Joint Economic Committee. Economic Problems of Women: Hearings, Part 1 (July 10, 11, and 12, 1973), p. 33.

[…]

Representative Widnall.  Mr. Samuelson, you infer in your statement and in your chapter on discrimination in the new edition of your textbook that the economic problems of women are due to “confinement to a limited group of industries and occupations within those industries.”

Could you explain what other factors you theorize to be significant in creating the female-male differential in that field?

Mr. Samuelson. We have learned about some of the detailed studies that are made to break down the different factors that explain an obviously large differential. It seems to me that these studies are excellent, the studies done by the Council of Economic Advisors, in comparison with earlier councils. It seems to me that we need more of them. But they must not have a soporific effect upon us, because, as in the case of all discrimination, there is a self-fulfilling and a self-perpetuating circle involved in discrimination. Women have less experience than men, and therefore you explain away the differential. But you have to ask yourself. “Why is the world run in such a way that the women get less experience for the good jobs?” A white male apparently is what all of Darwinian evolution has set out to create. Out of the slime came DNA, and then a backbone or something of a backbone was created, and then humans came down from the trees, and all this to create a white male. For, by census analysis of my colleague, Prof. Robert Hall, the only group who get automatic advances with age in the community, let’s say, after the age of 25, 27, 29, are white males. Women don’t get it, whether they are white or black. Black men don’t get it.

There is little good reason for a woman to have continuity in the labor force. She is given a rotten job by and large; then she leaves; and when she comes back, she again gets a rotten job. For a man, it is usually different. Only this last recession was a recession which hit MIT graduates and other professionals. As my suburban neighbors said while they were polishing their cars, why it’s people like us who have been thrown out of work. For a long time prior to that, all they had done was go through the coffee breaks and funeral by funeral move up the promotion and salary ladder. Now, that does not happen to the rest of the community. That is why, when I do an analysis of wage variance, or when Prof. Mincer does it, we pick up these same facts of discrimination once again, yes, women lack capital. The curse of the poor is their poverty. They lack human capital. Human capital is the ability to earn a large amount of money. And if you haven’t got it, you don’t earn a large amount of money. These are all attitude conditioned.

Let me give an example. It used to be said – I don’t know what the full truth was – that Jews had a bad occupational outlook in engineering. There was said to be great discrimination against them. There were very few Jews in engineering. And it was said, they are really not fitted for it. They don’t like work for pay, they like to be their own boss, probably lending money at high interest rates, and other such nonsense. And then a great change came. After World War II, in contrast to after World War I, go out to Route 128, or to Pasadena or the bay area, or Seattle, and you find that suddenly these people who previously had no human capital in that engineering-science line, no wish for it, no proclivity, no talent, they turned out to be, I would say, well represented in any random sample.

Attitude becomes self-reinforcing, and the statistics then prove for you what you already know, if you understand the attitudes involved.

So we are only talking about the visible peak of the iceberg of custom and discrimination. There have to be great changes. A 1-year change in legislation of course is only the beginning of a very long process.

 

Source: United States. Congress. Ninety-Third Congress, First Session. Joint Economic Committee. Economic Problems of Women: Hearings, Part 1 (July 10, 11, and 12, 1973), pp. 66-67.

_______________________________

 Addendum from a 1964 Oral History regarding the Council of Economic Advisers &c.

Thanks to a tip from Paul Samuelson’s biographer, Roger Backhouse, we have the following Samuelson quote that is probably as much a wise-crack aimed at a President who would appear to have confused home-economics with economics as it is an example of the way even liberal M.I.T. economists expressed themselves in the men’s locker-room. 

Samuelson. “…President Johnson made some reference to how a consumer-minded woman might be a good member of the Federal Reserve. Do you remember that, at one of the press conferences that he had? It seemed to me that in the first place one of the big issues will always be whether there will be undue concern over inflation. Women are very estimable but the Federal Reserve is not necessarily the best place for them and a consumer-minded woman would not be what the economists would generally…” [Samuelson was cut off here and the interview moved to a different topic]

Source:  Council of Economic Advisers Oral History Interview (Interviewer: Joseph Pechman. Interviewed: Walter Heller, Kermit Gordon, James Tobin, Gardner Ackley, Paul Samuelson)–JFK#1, August 1, 1964, pp. 365-6.

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Economists M.I.T.

MIT. Department of Economics Group Photo, 1976

Back Row:  Harold FREEMAN, Hal VARIAN, Jerome ROTHENBERG, Peter DIAMOND, Jerry HAUSMAN

4th Row: Paul JOSKOW, Anne FRIEDLAENDER, JOHN R. MORONEY (VISITOR TO DEPARTMENT)

3rd Row: Stanley FISCHER, Jagdish BHAGWATI, Rudiger DORNBUSCH, Robert SOLOW, Robert HALL

2nd Row: Edward KUH, Morris ADELMAN, Abraham J. SIEGEL, Richard ECKAUS, Martin WEITZMAN

1st Row: Evsey DOMAR, Paul SAMUELSON, Charles KINDLEBERGER, E. Cary BROWN, Franco MODIGLIANI, Sydney ALEXANDER, Robert BISHOP

1976_MITEcon_blogCopy

Apparently didn’t get the memo and/or not pictured: Michael PIORE, Frank FISHER, Peter TEMIN.

Thanks to Robert Solow, the photo-bomber standing to Solow’s left in the picture has been identified as a guest from Tulane University, John Moroney. It is possible that I forgot some other person not included in this faculty picture.

I note that the entire front row has gone to that great Department of Economics in the Cloud.

Source: A graduate student buddy of mine who entered the MIT Ph.D. program in 1975/76.

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled of which this is the 250th. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

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Chicago Curriculum Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak. A.B. Comprehensive Exam Grades. 1935

November 2003. Samuelson and I after Bergson Commemoration.

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

__________________________

Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak were undergraduate classmates at the University of Chicago. The two of them along with 27 other students were required to take a battery of comprehensive examinations in economics for the Bachelor’s degree.   I found the distribution of grades for the comprehensive exams over the period 1934-1938 in the economic department records, as well as the distribution of grades for the separate courses taken by the 29 students.

Plot-spoiler: Paul Samuelson was the top undergraduate student at Chicago in the Spring Quarter of 1935 (or perhaps ever) and the first runner up, who lived to the grand old age of 99,  also went on to have a full and distinguished career as an economics professional. Mosak’s greatest research hit in economics was his Cowles Foundation Monograph, General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade (1944).

I have appended to this posting descriptive material about the comprehensive exams and the descriptions of the individual courses along with instructor names according to the 1934-1935 Announcements.

_______________________

REPORT ON PAST COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS FOR THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

 

Quarter

 A B C D E F

Total

Spring, 1934

 1 1

Winter, 1935

 1 3 3* 7

Spring, 1935

 3 11 12     3

29
Summer, 1935 1 2 1

4
Autumn, 1935 2 1 3

6

Winter, 1936

 1 1 3 2 7

Spring, 1936

 3 8 5 3 0 3 22

Summer, 1936

 1 4 3 8
Autumn, 1936 1 2 1

4
Winter, 1937 1 2 1

4
Spring, 1937 3 8 4 4 3

22

Summer, 1937

 1 5   2   2 10
15 35 35 14 0 25

124
*Includes one unfinished examination. [name omitted]
[Handwritten additions:]

Winter, 1938

   1 3     1 5

Spring, 1938

 3 4 10 3   2 22
18 40 48 17   28

151
% 11.92 26.49 31.79 11.25   18.54

 

______________________

[Number of students awarded a particular grade by economics course numbers for the Spring Quarter 1935 comprehensive examinations]

209 210* 211 212 220 221-2 230 240 260 270** [Comp. Avg. ]

A+

 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

A

 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 4 0 1

A-

 5 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 1

B+

 7 1 1 0 2 0 1 4 1 0 1

B

 6 4 2 0 1 0 3 5 3 4 9

B-

 4 1 1 0 2 0 5 3 1 2 1

C+

 0 2 6 0 0 0 4 3 3 7

4
C 1 6 5 0 4 9 3 1 0 1

8
C- 2 4 3 0 1 0 2 0 1 2

0
D+ 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0

0
D 0 2 3 0 1 3 2 0 0 2

0
D- 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0

0
E/F 2 3 4 0 0 1 1 0 2 3

3

Samuelson

 A A- A A A A A A+
Mosak A+ B+ A A+ C- B- A

A

*Numerical grades reported for this course, converted to letter grade using the following scale:

A+ (95-100); A (93-94); A- (90-92);
B+ (87-89); B (83-86);       B- (80-82);
C+ (77-79); C (73-76); C- (70-72);
D+ (67-69); D (63-66); D- (60-62);
F (0-59).

**For four cases of exact border-line grades in Economics 270, e.g. B+/A-, I have assigned the higher grade.

______________________

[Role of the Comprehensive Examinations]

THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE

On admission to the Division, the students specializing in the Department arranges with the Departmental Counselor a suitable program of study in economics. He is expected to include in his departmental program the materials of 7 courses beyond Social science I and II. His comprehensive examination in economics will cover economic theory, accounting, statistics, economic history, and money and banking, as developed in Economics 209, 210, 211, 220 or 221, and 230. The comprehensive examination will also cover two elective fields, preferably labor, government finance, or international economic relations, as developed in Economics 240, 260, and 270. The scope and content of the several courses mentioned are indicated in the course announcements printed below.

[…]

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

[…]

The specific requirements for the Master’s degree are:

  1. A minimum of 8 courses, or their equivalent (of which at least 6 must be in Grades II and III above). At some previous time the candidate should have covered the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in Economics. This equivalence may be shown by courses taken or by examination. The candidate must also have the preparation in the other social sciences required for the Bachelor’s degree at the University….

[…]

[Economics Course Descriptions 1934-35]

 

  1. Intermediate Economic Theory. – A course designed for undergraduates majoring in economics who have completed the other departmental requirements for the degree, and for graduate students with limited training in systematic theory. It deals with forces controlling, through the price system, the organization of economic activity. Prerequisite: Senior standing and Economics 210, 211, 230 or their equivalents. Summer, 10:00; Autumn, 11:00; Winter, 11:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Accounting. – (1) The principles of double-entry accounting. (2) The principles of valuation and of income determination; the mathematical problems arising from accumulating and discounting future sums and annuities. (3) A survey of the uses and limitations of accounting information and compares the concepts of cost used by accountants and by economists. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 11:00, [Wilfrid Merrill] Helms; Autumn, 9:00, Shields; Spring, 11:00, [Theodore Otte] Yntema.
  1. Introduction to Statistics. – The elementary principles of statistics. Main topics: frequency distributions, correlations, time series, index numbers. Prerequisite: Mathematics 104 or its equivalent. Summer, 10:00, [John Higson] Cover; Autumn, 11:00, [Henry] Schultz; Winter, 9:00,—.
  2. Intermediate Statistics. [not offered 1934-35, description from 1933-34 follows] This course extends the scope of Economics 211 to include a brief introduction to partial and multiple correlation, but its main objective is to make the elementary statistical methods part of the working equipment of the student. Prerequisite: Economics 211 and introductory courses in economics, accounting, finance, and marketing. Spring 9:00, [Aaron] Director.
  1. Economic History of the United States. – A general survey from the colonial settlements down to the present emphasizing the period since 1860. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 8:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Winter 1:30, [Chester Whitney] Wright.
  1. Economic History of Classical and Western European Civilization. –A survey of industrial conditions in their relation to economic, social, political, and cultural history at selected periods and in selected countries, undertaken with a view to understanding the nature and significance of modern industrialism. Prerequisite: Social Science I and 2 courses in European history, or equivalent. Autumn, 1:30; Spring, 1:30, [John Ulric] Nef.
  1. Introduction to Money and Banking. – A study of the factors which determine the value of money in the short and in the long run; the problem of index numbers of price levels; and the operation of the commercial banking system and its relation to the price level and general business activity. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Summer, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Autumn, 1:30, [Lloyd Wynn] Mints; Spring, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart.
  1. Labor Problems. – General survey of problems of labor arising in a system of free enterprise. Poverty, inequality, conditions of work, and unemployment are some of the topics considered. Trade-unionism and collective bargaining contrasted with state legislation as devices for dealing with these problems. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 10:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Government Finance. – A course dealing with fiscal problems of government, mainly in their economic aspect. Practices in regard to expenditure, taxation, and borrowing studied in problems of policy critically examined. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 11:00, [Henry Calvert] Simons.
  1. International Economic Relations. – A survey of international economic relations with special emphasis on the theory of international trade and the economic foreign-policy of the United States. Are Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Winter, 11:00, [Harry David] Gideonse.

 

Source: University of Chicago Announcements. The College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1934-1935. pp. 281-285.

Image Source:  Photo taken of Paul Samuelson and me at the Harvard Faculty Club following the memorial service for Abram Bergson in November 2003.

 

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

MIT. Business Cycles Reading List. Samuelson, 1952

We can see an enormous change in the syllabus of Paul Samuelson’s graduate course on business cycles in this first term of the 1952-53 academic year compared to the course he taught in the second term of the 1942-43 academic year. 

 

_________________________________________________

[Course Description]

14.481. Business Cycles (A). Statistical, historical, and theoretical examination of determinants of income, production and employment. Modern methods of analysis, forecasting, and control.

 

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin. Catalogue Issue for 1952-1953 Session. June 1952, p. 149.

_________________________________________________

[in pencil: 14.481]

Reading Assignments
Business Cycles, Fall, 1952

The periods of time allocated to various subjects are very approximate.

 

I. Some fundamental notions about economic dynamics, 2 weeks.
Frisch: “On the Notion of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 3, 1935, pp. 100-105.
Baumol: Economic Dynamics, Chapters 1, 7, 8.
Anyone who would like to learn a little about difference equations might study Chapters 9, 10, 11 of Baumol’s book.
Samuelson: Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. 11, pp. 311-344.
Harrod: Towards a Dynamic Economics, Lecture 1.
Samuelson: “Dynamic Process Analysis,” Chapter 10 in a Survey of Contemporary Economics, ed. Ellis, pp. 352-387.

II. Examples of informal theories of the business cycle, 2 weeks.
Pigou: Industrial Fluctuations, Chapters II-XII, pp. 18-138.
Clark: Strategic Factors in Business Cycles, pp. 160-226.
Mitchell: “Business Cycles” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 43-60.

III. Examples of formal models of the business cycle, 2 weeks.
Goodwin: Chapter 22 in Hansen: Business Cycles and National Income, pp. 417-468.
Goodwin: Innovations and the Irregularity of Economic Cycles,” Review of Economic Statistics, 1946.
Hicks: A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle, Chapters 7, 8, pp. 83-107.
Samuelson: “Interaction of the Multiplier and the Acceleration Principle,” Review of Economic Statistics, 1939, pp. 75-78. Reprinted in Readings in Business Cycle Theory.
Kaldor: “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, 1940, pp. 78-92.
Kalecki: Essays in the Theory of Economic Fluctuations, Chapter 6.
Metzler: “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles,” Review of Economic Statistics, 1941, pp. 113-129.
Metzler: “Factors Affecting the Length of Inventory Cycles,” Review of Economic Statistics, 1947, pp. 1-15.
Abramowitz: Inventories and Business Cycles, pp. 3-34, 90-131, 312-326.

IV. Econometric Models, 2-3 weeks.
Clark: “A System of Equations Explaining the United States Trade Cycle,” Econometrica, 1949, pp. 93-125.
Klein: Economic Fluctuations in the United States, pp. 1-12; 84-122.
Christ: “A Test of an Econometric Model for the United States, 1921-1947,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Conference on Business Cycles, pp. 35-130.

V. The Economics of Long-Run Growth, 3-4 weeks.
Harrod: Towards a Dynamic Economics, Lecture 3.
Hicks: Trade Cycle, Chapters 5, 6, pp. 56-83.
Domar: Expansion and Employment,” American Economic Review, 1947, pp. 34-55.
Baumol: Economic Dynamics, Chapters 2, 4, 9.
Robinson: The Rate of interest and Other Essays, pp. 67-142.
Schelling: “Capital Growth and Equilibrium,” American Economic Review, 1947, pp. 864-876.
Abramowitz: “Economics of Growth,” in Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, pp. 132-182.
Alexander: “The Accelerator as a Generator of Steady Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949, pp. 174-197.
Rostow: Aspects of Economic Growth, Part I.

VI. Reading Period, 1 week.
Hansen: Business Cycles and National Income, Part III, pp. 211-498.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Paul A. Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.451 Business Cycles, 1943-1955”.

Image Source: MIT, Technique 1950.

 

Categories
Economists M.I.T. Regulations

MIT. Graduate Economics Program and Fellowships. 1950-51

Already by the academic year 1950-51 the M.I.T. economics department could boast seven economics professors who would still be around over a quarter of a century later, including Samuelson, Solow and Kindleberger. The printed departmental brochure along with a one-page announcement of twelve graduate fellowships, presumably sent to be posted on college and university bulletin boards, have been transcribed for this posting. Minor changes in formatting have been used to enhance readability.

 _________________________

 

Graduate Work in the Department of Economics and Social Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

THE PROGRAM

 

Our program in Economics is confined to students for the doctorate who are primarily interested in advanced study and research in

Economic Theory
Industrial Economics
Industrial Relations
International Economics
Statistics

We have an active program of continuing research in each of these fields and should like to invite a selected group of graduate students to participate with us in our explorations after they have completed their requirements for the general examinations here.

The work in Economic Theory is under the leadership of Professor Paul A. Samuelson. This includes, in addition to price analysis, the study of national income determination and business cycles. Research in these fields has been vigorous in recent years, and our objective is to train economists capable of understanding and appraising the results of this research and of adding to our empirical and theoretical understanding of these areas.

Industrial Economics, under the guidance of Professors W. Rupert Maclaurin and Max Millikan, is concerned primarily with the economic problems of the individual firm and of particular industries. The work should be enriched by the active research program now under way in the Department on “the economics of innovation,” “the process of business decisions,” and “the economics of the size of the firm.” We are anxious to have some advanced students who would like to participate in these research programs which are being worked out through “laboratory-type” collaboration of particular firms and industries.

Industrial Relations, under the leadership of Professors Charles A. Myers and Douglass V. Brown, is concerned with investigating the fundamentals of labor-management relations in modern industrial society. In addition to basic work in Economics, the program of study centers upon courses in Labor Economics, Collective Bargaining, Public Policy in Labor Relations, Personnel Administration, Social Psychology and Human Relations. A number of research projects are carried on by the Industrial Relations Section, which is a division of the Department.

Our work in International Economics is under the direction of Professors Charles P. Kindleberger and Richard M. Bissell, Jr. (who returns in June to M.I.T. from his position as Deputy Administrator of ECA). Emphasis in International economics is shared between the traditional fields of international trade and finance and that of national economic development. The training is designed to qualify the student for work in departments of government, including international institution., concerned with foreign and international economic problems. While no specialized courses are offered in the practical aspects of foreign trade, it is believed that the broad training will be regarded with increasing interest by American business concerns to aid them in the solution of their complex problems relating to foreign operations.

Instruction in Statistics, under Professor Harold Freeman, is largely centered in three areas: general theoretical statistics; probability and its foundations; modern theories of time series and prediction, particularly as applied in Economics. Some of the courses in these areas are given by the Departments of Economics and some by the Department of Mathematics. Courses are offered at elementary, intermediate, advanced and research seminar levels.

While there is ample opportunity at M.I.T. for the student interested in any one of these five fields to go as far as he wishes with his subject, there is also a common core of basic courses which the student will be expected to take in preparation for his general examinations.

We are also attempting to introduce greater realism into our program by operating a “practice school” in the summer between the first and second years of graduate study, in which we try to arrange internship experience in industry. This activity is under the guidance of Professor Paul Pigors.

For those who are going into university teaching, some pre-doctoral teaching experience will be encouraged and a considerable number of teaching fellowships will be available to students after they have completed their first year.

 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS

For the year 1950-51 we will offer up to five fellowships of $2,500, available to outstanding students in the fields mentioned above. These include the Westinghouse Educational Fellowship and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Fellowship.

In addition, about eight fellowships and teaching scholarships will be available, ranging up to $1,600. This group includes the Clarence J. Hicks Memorial Fellowship in Industrial Relations, given by Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., of New York.

 

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

(a) General requirements: S.B. or A.B. degree with a good academic record from a university of recognized standing. Special emphasis will be placed on recommendations from professors or administrative officers of the college. Only students with high qualifications will be admitted.

(b) Course requirements: Three full-year college courses in social science chosen from the fields of Economics, Psychology, Sociology and History. One full-year course in college mathematics (including at least a half-year of calculus) and a full-year course in college physics are required. However, students who have had no Physics can make up this deficiency by taking a special one-semester course at the Institute. In special cases a deficiency in calculus may also be satisfied in this manner.

At the end of the second year the candidate will normally take a general examination chosen from such fields as the following: Economic Theory, Industrial economics, Economics of Innovation, Labor Economics and Labor Relations, Human Relations, Personnel administration Statistical Methods and Theory, Economic Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy, and International Economics.

Following the Institute rules the candidate for the doctor’s degree will be required to take a minor in a related filed. Possibilities include: Business Administration, History, Regional Planning, Mathematics, or any of the technical fields of specialization at the Institute in which the student is qualified to participate. Exchange arrangements between M.I.T. and Harvard University also make it possible for graduate students at either institution to take advance work at the other without extra tuition.

In addition, the candidate for the Ph.D. degree must meet the usual language and thesis requirements.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Those persons who are interested in learning more about the program or who wish to obtain application blanks for fellowships to aid in financing such graduate work may direct inquiries to Professor Robert L. Bishop, Department of Economics and Social Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

INSTRUCTING STAFF
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Ralph Evans Freeman, M. A., B. Litt.
Professor of Economics; in charge of the Department

Donald Skeele Tucker, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics

William Rupert Maclaurin, D.C.S.
Professor of Economics

Norman Judson Padelford, Ph.D., LL.D.
Professor of International Relations

Paul Anthony Samuelson, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics

Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Economics

Charles Andrew Myers, Ph.D.
Professor of Industrial Relations

Paul Pigors, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Industrial Relations

Harold Adolph Freeman, S.B.
Associate Professor of Statistics

Charles Poor Kindleberger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics

Max Franklin Millikan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics

Alex Bavelas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology

Robert Lyle Bishop, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics

Edgar Cary Brown, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics

Morris Albert Adelman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics

George Pratt Shultz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Industrial Relations

Robert Solow, M.A.
Assistant Professor of Statistics

Lecturer

Joseph Norbert Scanlon

Instructors

John Royston Coleman, M.A.
Stanley Martin Jacks, A.B., LL.B.
James Earnest Boyce, A.M.
Louis Cass Young, S.M.
John Lang Rawlinson, A.M.
Gilbert Koreb Krulee, S.B., M.Ed.
Roy Olton, M.A.
Herman Thomas Skofield, M.A.
Jesse Harris Proctor, Jr., M.A.

Research Associates

Robert Keen Lamb, Ph.D.
Kingman Brewster, Jr., LL.B.
Peter Robert Hofstaetter, Ph.D.

Research Assistants

William Theodore Bluhm, M.A.
Sidney Layton Smith, S.M.

Teaching Fellows

Hugh Gilbert Lovell, B.A.
Jack Dean Rogers, B.S., M.B.A.

Assistants

Ralph Haskel Bergmann, A.B.
Kenneth Alden Bohr, S.M.
Daniel Monroe Colyer, B.A.
Harold Emil Dreyer, B.S.
David Allen Eberly, S.B.
Herman Gadon, A.B.
Stuart Lee Knowlton, A.B.
Walter Sparks Measday, A.B.
Beatrice Allen Rogers, A.B., S.B.
George Joseph Strauss, B.A.

Librarian

Barbara Klingenhagen, A.B.

 _________________________

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Economics and Social Science

Graduate Fellowship
1950 – 1951

 

In the year 1950-1951 M.I.T. will offer:

Up to five fellowships of $2,500 for students in the following fields:

Economic Theory
Industrial Economics
Industrial Relations
International Economics
Statistics

Up to seven fellowships with stipends up to $1,600 for specialization in these same fields.

Fellowships are available to students who wish to undertake a program of graduate work in Economics leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy. Applicants should have an A.B. or S. B. degree or anticipate the award of such a degree not later than July 1, 1950. Fellowships are awarded for one year, with possibility of renewal. They include the Westinghouse Educational Fellowship , the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Fellowship and the Clarence J. Hicks Memorial Fellowship in Industrial Relations, given by the Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., of New York.

Fellowships are offered to those who seek career opportunities in university teaching and research, in industrial concerns in this country or abroad, in research departments of unions, and in government agencies concerned with the regulation of industry.

The Institute’s close contacts with industry, and the development within the Department of Economics and Social Science of specialized work in economic theory, the economics of innovation, industrial relations, statistics, and international economics have created a suitable environment for advanced study and research in these particular fields.

Teaching fellowships are also available; but these are normally reserved for second and third-year students.

Requests for further information or for application blanks should be addressed to Professor Robert L. Bishop, Department of Economics and Social Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Applications should be filed by March 15, 1950.

 _________________________

Source: MIT Archives. Office of the President. Records, 1930-1959. Box 77 (AC4/77), Folder 10: Economics Department 1934-49.

Image Source: MIT, Technique, 1949.

Categories
Economists Funny Business M.I.T.

From the 200th Anniversary of Wealth of Nations Roast of Adam Smith at MIT. 1976

The Graduate Economics Association of MIT held a celebration in honor of Adam Smith and the 200th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations.  The event took place April 12, 1976 at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I chaired the organizing committee for the event that was run like a Friar’s Club Roast. It featured a star-studded cast that included Alan Blinder (Princeton), William Parker (Yale), Paul Samuelson (MIT), Robert Solow (MIT), and James Tobin (Yale) and special surprise guest-of-honor to receive the Invisible Hand Award, Adam Smith a.k.a. Jerry Goodman. Before Mr. Goodman entered dressed in Adam Smith attire, the MIT economics children’s choir (i.e. a sample of graduate students who could carry a tune, sort-of) sang the following hymn set to the tune of “Rock of Ages” with a new text written by my old professor of American economic history at Yale, William Parker.

_____________________

WEALTH OF NATIONS!

Text by William N. Parker

Wealth of Nations! Writ for me!
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Not the Profits, nor the Rent,
But the Labour Time that’s spent,
Be of Value the true source.
Make me better; no one worse.

Every man looks to his need,
Counting on the butcher’s greed.
Public goods are little prized,
Model that is dynamized.
Half the world is cold and bare,
Still we cling to Laissez-faire.

Hand invisible whose love
We believe that we can prove!
With thy panapoly of saints,
Mill, Ricardo, Marshall, Keynes,
Save us all from Marxist sins.
Keep us gaily making pins!

When our earthly race is run,
Will we soar to Samuelson?
Will we sink to realms below,
There to meet with our So-low?
Was it neo-classic myth?
Tell us, tell us, Adam Smith!
Wealth of Nations, write for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee!

Source: From the back of the program to the celebration.

Below, my autographed copy of the program:

Jerry Goodman’s journalistic attempt at making sense of the economists at play when he was observer-participant.

Image Sources: Portrait of William Parker from the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 151, No. 2, June 2007; Adam Smith program, personal copy; Jerry Goodman’s account from New York (May 3, 1976).

Categories
Bibliography Courses M.I.T.

MIT, Business Cycles Reading List. Samuelson, 1943

 

 

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

___________________________

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

___________________________

Source: Paul A. Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.451 Business Cycles, 1943-1955”. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Course. Graduate Theory. Schumpeter. 1935-36

 

 

The graduate economic theory course, Economics 11, was taught by Schumpeter for both semesters of the academic year 1935-36. According to Schumpeter’s own handwritten list of students and grades for that course, Paul Samuelson received a grade of A+ and represented the local maximum of the “Ec 11 boys, graduates”.

1935_6_Ec11_SchumpeterGrades

____________________

Because the “cost controversy” was discussed during the first term of the academic year 1935-36 (one can gleam a glimpse of content from Schumpeter’s course notes from random names and words not written in his shorthand) I append here the corresponding readings assigned for the second term of the the academic year 1934-35.  Note that Pigovian welfare economics appears to have been covered some time during the second term of the academic year 1935-36, see the exam below.

____________________

The Laws of Cost and Returns. Probably three or four weeks. It is proposed to deal fully with the so-called “cost controversy”, a series of more or less closely connected articles which appeared in the Economic Journal from 1922 to 1932. The following is a list of the articles in the order of their appearance. Students will not be held responsible for those included in brackets, some of which are connected only remotely with the main controversy. 1) “On Empty Economic Boxes”, J. H. Clapham, Sept. 1922; “Empty Economic Boxes: a Reply”, A.C. Pigou, Dec. 1922; “Those Empty Boxes”, D. H. Robertson, March, 1924; “The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions”, P. Sraffa, Dec. 1926; [“The Laws of Diminishing and Increasing Costs”, A.C. Pigou, June 1927]; [“An Analysis of Supply”, A. C. Pigou; June 1928]; “Varying Costs and Marginal Net Products”, G. F. Shove, June 1928; [“The Instability of Capitalism”, J.A. Schumpeter, Sept. 1928;] [“The Representative Firm”, L.C. Robbins, Sept. 1928]; “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress”, A.A. Young, Dec. 1928; “Increasing Returns and the Representative Firm: a Symposium”, D.H. Robertson, G.F. Shove, and P. Sraffa, March 1930. The following two articles by R.F. Harrod are in effect a continuation of the “cost controversy”, but they will be considered later in connection with the discussion of imperfect competition: “Notes on Supply”, June 1930; and “The Law of Decreasing Cost”, Dec. 1931.

Source: Harvard University Archives,  HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: Ec11 Fall 1935.

____________________

Economics 11 [First term]

            Following is a list of some of the most important works in English dealing with problems outside the range of perfect competition. They are not all assigned, but assigned reading is taken altogether from this list.

Pigou, A. C., Economics of Welfare, 3rd Edition.
Chamberlin, E. H., The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
Chamberlin, E. H., On Imperfect Competition, in the March, 1934 Supplement of The American Economic Review, pp. 23-27.
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition.
Robinson, Joan, What is Perfect Competition, Q. J. E., Nov. 1934.
Zeuthen, F., Problems of Monopoly and Economic Warfare.
Cournot, A. A., Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth.
Edgeworth, F. Y., The Pure Theory of Monopoly (Papers, Vol. I)
Hotelling, Harold, Stability in Competition, E. J., March 1929.
Shove, G. F., The Imperfection of the Market, E. J., March 1933.
Harrod, R. F., Doctrines of Imperfect Competition, Q. J. E., May 1934.
Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Monopoly, Econometrica, Jan. 1935.

The subjects, in the order in which they will be taken up, together with the assigned reading, are given below.

I. The Technique and the Background.
Pigou, Part II, Ch. XIV.
Robinson, Chs. 1, 2.
Chamberlin, Chs. 1, 2.		 V. Monopolistic Competition
Chamberlin, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7.
Robinson, Ch. 7. Q.J.E., Nov. ‘34
Shove, E.J., March ’33.
Harrod, Q.J.E., May ’34.
II. Simple Monopoly.
Pigou, Part II, Ch. XVI.
Robinson, Chs. 3, 4, 5.		 VI. Discrimination.
Pigou, Chs. XVII, XVIII (Part II).
Robinson, Chs. 15, 16.
III. Duopoly and Oligopoly
Pigou, Part II, Ch. XV.
Chamberlin, Ch. 3.		 VII. Imperfect Competition and the Theory of Distribution.
Chamberlin, in March ’34 A.E.R. Supplement.
IV. Bilateral Monopoly.(To be discussed in class)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives,  HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: Ec11 Fall 1935.

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1935-36
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11

Four questions may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Discuss the concepts “internal economies” and “spreading of overhead” and explain what, if any, relations exist between the two.
  2. What do we mean by Production Function? Discuss its principal properties, and state why and for what purpose we need this instrument of analysis.
  3. “Wherever products are differentiated, the theory of monopoly seems adequately to describe their prices. Competition is not eliminated from the explanation; it is fully taken into account by the recognition that substitutes affect the elasticity of demand for each monopolist’s product.” Do you agree? Justify your answer.
  4. “Under imperfect competition, in conditions of full long period equilibrium, it is not only true that average costs for the individual firm may be falling; they must be falling.” Discuss. Does this necessarily imply falling supply price?
  5. Assume that a commodity is offered by two sellers. Disregard costs. Describe the courses of action open to the two sellers, and discuss the conditions of the case in which price and quantity sold are uniquely determined. Show that in this case price will as a rule be higher than under perfect competition and lower than under monopoly.
  6. In his 1926 article, Sraffa says, “It is necessary to abandon the path of free competition and turn in the opposite direction, namely, towards monopoly.” Discuss the considerations which led him to adopt this view.
  7. Discuss price and output under discriminating monopoly.
  8. State and discuss the principle involved in “Hotelling’s case.”
  9. “The economist has shown that, granted certain assumptions, a set of prices exists which, if established from the beginning, would produce a state of equilibrium; he has never demonstrated, however, that forces are at work which would tend to establish such a system of prices.” Discuss.

Mid-Year. 1936.

Source: Harvard University Archives,  HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: Ec11 Fall 1935.

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ECONOMICS 11 [Second term]

            The first four or five weeks of the second term will be devoted to a study of distribution, with special emphasis on the theory of wages. Topics to be covered include (1) marginal productivity, (2) the elasticity of substitution, and (3) opportunity costs. The following is a list of reading.

  1. Marginal Productivity and the Theory of Wages
    1. Marshall, Bk. VI, especially Ch. I.
    2. Hicks, J. R., “The Theory of Wages”, Chs. I and VI.
    3. ——-, Marginal Productivity and the Principle of Variation,” Economica, Feb., 1932.
    4. Schultz, Henry and Hicks, J. R., “Marginal Productivity and the Lausanne School: A Reply” and “A Rejoinder”, Economica, Aug., 1932.
    5. Clark, J. B., “The Distribution of Wealth”, Ch. VIII.
    6. Robertson, D. H., “Wage Grumbles” in the volume of essays entitled Economic Fragments.
  2. Elasticity of Substitution
    1. Hicks, Ch. VI (Cf. above).
      (mathematical treatment in Appendix for those who prefer)
    2. Machlup, Fritz, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution”, Review of Economic Studies, June, 1935.
    3. Also notes and articles on substitution in Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I, nos. 1 and 2, though not required reading, may be consulted.
  3. Opportunity Costs.
    1. Green, D.I., “Pain Cost and Opportunity Cost”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1894.
    2. Davenport, H.J. , “Economics of Enterprise”, Ch. VI.
    3. Knight, F.H., “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of the General Theory of Price”, Journal of Political Economy, 1928.

Source: Harvard University Archives,  HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: Ec11 1935-36.

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ECONOMICS 11  [Second term]

            The next two or three weeks will be devoted to the discussion of capital and interest. A select bibliography and the assigned reading are listed below. The readings from Wicksell and Knight will probably not be covered in class and may, therefore, at pleasure be postponed until the reading period. As usual in this course there will be no additional reading period assignment.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Böhm-Bawerk, E., Capital and Interest (a history of interest theories); The Positive Theory of Capital (the third edition, available only in German, containing the polemical Excursi, is to be preferred to the English translation)
  2. Marx, Karl, Capital (especially Vol. I, Parts III and VII; Vol. II, Part III; Vol. III, Parts II and III)
  3. Wicksell, Knut, Über Wert, Kapital und Rente;  Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. I
  4. Fisher, Irving, The Rate of Interest (1907);  The Theory of Interest (1930) (a rewriting of the earlier work)
  5. Taussig, F.W., Wages and Capital
  6. Knight, F.H., “Interest”, article in The Encyc. of Soc. Science
  7. For a rather complete list of the numerous recent articles on capital, interest and the structure of production, Cf. Machlup, Fritz, “Professor Knight and the Period of Production”, Journal of Political Economy, 1935, first footnote.
  8. For an exposition of Böhm-Bawerk, Wicksell and the later work along the same lines done in Sweden, particularly by Gustav Akerman, Cf. Kirchmann, Hans, Studien zur Grenzproduktivitätstheorie des Kapitalzinses.

 

ASSIGNED READING

  1. Fisher, The Rate of Interest, Part I, Chs. 1,2,3; Part III, Ch. 10
  2. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Book I, Ch. 2; Book II, Chs. 2,4,5; Book V, Chs. 1,2,3,4,5; Book VI, Chs. 5,6,7; Book VII, Chs. 1,2,3.
  3. Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, pp. 144-171; 185-195.
  4. Knight, “Professor Fisher’s Theory of Interest: a Case in Point”, Journal of Political Economy, April, 1931.

Source:  Harvard University Archives, HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: “Ec11 1935-36”

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[Given that Economic Welfare, the distinction between marginal social value and private net value product, and the national dividend show up in questions 5 and 6 in the final, I append here the corresponding readings assigned for the second term of the the academic year 1934-35]

Welfare and the National Dividend. Approximately two weeks. The discussion will turn around the following chapters from “The Economics of Welfare” by A.C. Pigou (3rd or 4th edition): Part I, Chapters 1,2,3,5,6,7,8; Part IV, Chapter 2; and Part II, Chapters 1,2,3,4,11. In the second edition the corresponding chapters from Part I are 1-7 inclusive and from Part II, 1,2,3,4,10. Chap. 10 Part II is completely revised in the third edition (where it appears as Chap. 11, Part II) and should if possible be read in the third.

Source:  Harvard University Archives, HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: “Ec11 Fall 1935”

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1935-36
Final Examination
Economics 11

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions:

  1. What is the relation between elasticity of substitution and elasticity of demand? Interpret the following statement: “If the demand price of capital increases as a result of a fall in wages, then the elasticity of demand for labor is greater than the elasticity of substitution.”
  2. How would you expect inventions to affect the rate of interest?
  3. Marginal productivity of labor is held to determine wages. How does this work out in the cases of perfect and of imperfect competition?
  4. State and discuss Boehm-Bawerk’s theory of interest.
  5. “If in all industries the values of marginal social and marginal private net product differed to exactly the same extent, the optimum distribution of resources [between their possible uses] would always be attained, and there would be, on these lines, no case for fiscal interference”. Discuss.
  6. Define Economic Welfare and National Dividend. Do you consider these two concepts to be serviceable instruments of economic analysis? Why or why not?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives, HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter, Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder: “Ec11 Fall 1935”

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