Tag: Wald

Columbia. Promotions and Memorial Minute for Abraham Wald

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2020-04-06

Abraham Wald (1902-1950) got his foot into the Columbia economics department door thanks to a grant from the Carnegie Foundation arranged for him by Harold Hotelling in 1938. In this post we follow Wald’s Columbia career up through the faculty memorial minute that followed his tragic, untimely death in an airplane accident during a lecture tour in India in December 1950.

___________________

Promotion to Assistant Professor

From the November 26, 1941 letter to President Nicholas Murray Butler from Robert M. Haig, Chairman of the department of economics (pp. 3-5 and supporting annex B).

“…We feel that it is important, if at all possible, that the following action be taken.

Appoint Abraham Wald to an assistant professorship at $3,600 (Wald is now a lecturer at $3,000, of which $2,400 is financed by a special grant, the continuance of which is not assured.
(See Annex B)

A recent development in the case of Wald is an offer of a permanent post (presumably an assistant professorship) at Queens College. This post will be open to him in case it proves impossible for us to give him the status recommended. Our enthusiasm for him has increased since last year when I wrote as follows:—

“The position of this recommendation at the very head of our list is attributable primarily to a conviction that Abraham Wald is an unusually interesting gamble. By risking a moderate stake, the University can put itself in a position where it may (and in our judgment probably will) be rewarded a hundred-fold. For Wald is not only a young scholar whose attainments are of a high order of merit, but one whose potentialities are obviously large.

“When Wald came to us two years ago, as a lecturer whose stipend was supplied by a special and presumably temporary grant, we were frankly apprehensive lest we should presently find ourselves indirectly committed, without adequate consideration, to a permanent addition to our staff concerning whom we might not be enthusiastic. Consequently care was exercised to make it clear to all concerned that his appointment as a lecturer supported by a special grant carried with it no future obligation. Fortunately then, we are able to approach the consideration of his case at this juncture free from any pressure of old commitments, express or implied.

“Our recommendation of Wald should be interpreted then as a free and fresh expression of our admiration for his accomplishments and of our faith in his future. As a result of our contacts with him and with his work, we are convinced that here is a man whose contributions are reasonably certain to continue to break new ground on a section of the frontier of knowledge where notable progress seems imminent.

“We recognize that Wald’s field is one that is of interest and significance to several departments of the University and that there are unsettled questions as to whether ultimately it should be attached to our own or to some other department or whether it should constitute a separate department in its own right. Irrespective of the answers that may ultimately be given to such questions of structural organization, we, in the Department of Economics, desire to express the hope that it will prove possible for the University to provide for the further development of teaching and research in statistics on a high level and we wish to take this opportunity to make it clear that, pending a final decision as to organization, we should consider it an honor to be permitted to shelter and to stand sponsor for scientific work such as that of Wald.”

[…]

ANNEX B.
BIOGRAPHIC MEMORANDUM OF ABRAHAM WALD

I was born in Cluj, October 31, 1902. I studied at the University in Cluj and at the University of Vienna, and obtained my doctor’s degree in mathematics at the University of Vienna in 1930. The subject of my doctor’s thesis was the Hilbert system of axioms of Geometry.

For the next four years I did mathematical research at the University of Vienna and collaborated with Professor Karl Menger. I was co-editor with him of “Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums.” During this time my interests were chiefly in general abstract and metric geometry, theory of probability, and mathematical economics, in which fields my papers were written.

In 1934 I became in addition a research associate of the Institute for Business Cycle Research in Vienna and published several papers in mathematical economics. My interest in statistics and its application in economics dates from this time, when I became the statistical expert of the Institute.

After the annexation of Austria, I came to the United States and was for several months a fellow of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics. Thereafter I became a lecturer at Columbia University which is the position I hold at present. Since my arrival in the United States I have been interested chiefly in statistics and mathematical economics and have published a series of papers in these fields. I have been elected a fellow of both the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Econometric Society.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

Abstract and metric geometry
1. Über den allgemeinen Raumbegriff, Ergebnisse eines math. Kolloquiums, Heft 3, Vienna. [1931]
2. Axiomatik des Zwischenbegriffes in metrischen Räumen, Mathematische Annalen, Vol. 104. [1931]
3. Der komplexe euklidische Raum [Komplexe und indefinite Räume], Erg. eines mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
4. Indefinite euklidischen Räume, Erg. eines mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
5. Vereinfachter Beweis des Steinitzschen Satzes, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
6. Bedingt konvergente Reihen von Vektoren, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
7. Riehen in topologischen Gruppen, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 5, Vienna.
8. Eine neue Definition der Flächenkrümmung, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 6, Vienna
9. Sur la courbure des surfaces, C. R. [Acad. Sci.] Paris, 1935.
10. Aufbau [Begründung] einer kooridinatenlosen Differentialgeometrie der Flächen, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.
11. Eine Characterisierung des Lebesgueschen Masses, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.

Probability, Statistics and Mathematical Economics.
1. Sur la notion de collectif dans le calcul des probabilités, C.R. [Acad. Sci.] Paris, 1936.
2. Die Widerspruchsfreiheit des Kollektivbegriffes, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 8, Vienna.
3. Die Widerspruchsfreiheit des Kollektivbegriffes, Actualités Scientifiques, 1938, Paris.
4. Berechnung und Ausschaltung von Saisonschwankungen, Julius Springer, Vienna, 1936.
5. Zur Theorie der Preis Indexziffern, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, Vienna, 1937.
6. Über die Produktionsgleichungen der ökonomischen Wertlehre, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 6, Vienna.
7. Über die Produktionsgleichungen der ökonomischen Wertlehre, zweite Mitteilung, Erg. mathem. Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Vienna.
8. Über einige Gleichungssysteme der mathematischen Ökonomie, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, Vienna, 1936. [translated into English by Otto Eckstein, Econometrica, 1951, pp. 368-403]
9. Extrapolation des gleitenden 12-Monatsdurchschnittes, Beilage zu den Berichten des Öster. Institutes für Konjunkturforschung, Vienna, 1937.
10. Grundsaetzliches zur Berechnung des Produktionsindex, Beilage zu den Berichten des Öster. Institutes für Konjunkturforschung, Vienna, 1937.
11. Generalization of the inequality of Markoff, The Annals of Math. Statistics, December, 1938.
12. Long Cycles as a result of repeated integration, American Mathem. Monthly, March, 1939.
13. Confidence limit for continuous distribution functions (co-author J. Wolfowitz), The Annals of Math. Statistics, June, 1939.
14. Limits of a distribution function determined by absolute moments, Transact. of the Amer. Mathem. Society, September, 1939.
15. A new formula for the index of cost of living, Econometrica, October, 1939.
16. Contributions to the theory of statistical estimation, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, December, 1939.
17. A note on the analysis of variance with unequal class frequencies, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, March, 1940.
18. The approximate determination of indifference surfaces, Econometrica, April, 1940.
19. On a test whether two samples are from the same population (with J. Wolfowitz), The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, June, 1940.
20. Fitting of straight lines when both variables are subject to error, The Annals of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1940.
21. Asymptotically most powerful tests of statistical hypotheses, Annals of Mathem. Statistics, March, 1941.
22. Some examples of asymptotically most powerful tests will appear in the December, 1941 issue of the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
23. Asymptotically shortest confidence intervals paper presented at the meeting of the Amer. Math. Soc., September, 1940. Accepted for publication in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
24. On the distribution of Wilks’ statistic for testing the independence of several groups of variates (in collaboration with R. Brookner), Annals of Mathem. Statistics, June, 1941.
25. The large sample distribution of the likelihood ratio statistics, paper presented at the meeting of the Institute of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1941, Chicago. It will be published in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
26. On testing statistical hypotheses concerning several unknown parameters, paper presented at the meeting of Amer. Mathem. Society, February, 1941, New York City. It will be published in the Annals of Mathem. Statistics.
27. On the analysis of variance in case of multiple classifications with unequal class frequencies, Annals of Mathem. Statistics, September, 1941.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890—Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941-6/1942”

Cf: “The Publications of Abraham Wald” [1931-1952] was published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 23:1 (March 1952, pp. 29-33.

___________________

Aliens in the Department of Economics

December 19, 1941

Mr. Philip M. Hayden, Secretary,
213 Low Memorial Library.

Dear Mr. Hayden:

In reply to the request contained in your recent Memorandum to executive officers, I report the following aliens from the Department of Economics:

Harold Barger

29 West 8^th Street, New York City

Nationality: British
Age: 34
Alien Registration No.: 3239174

Donald Bailey Marsh

106 Morningside Drive, New York City

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 30
Alien Registration No.: 1152252

Robert Valeur

40 Barrow Street, New York City

Nationality: French
Age: 38
Alien Registration No.: 5061531

Abraham Wald

241 West 108^th Street, New York City

Nationality: born in Kolozsvar [Note: Hungarian spelling of Cluj-Napoca], Transylvania, Alien Registration officials were in doubt how to describe nationality.
Age: 39
Alien Registration No.: 4506027

Very truly yours,
Chairman, Department of Economics

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Department of Economics Collections, Faculty. Box 2, Folder “Faculty Beginning Jan 1, 1944 [sic]”.

___________________

Promotion to Associate Professor

February 7, 1944

Professor Abraham Wald,
608 Fayerweather.

Dear Professor Wald:

I am authorized by the Provost of the University to inform you that in the provisional budget for the academic year 1944-45 you are designated associate professor of Statistics at an annual stipend of $5,000. This provisional budget goes to the Trustees with the approval of the Committee on Educational Policy. While your promotion is not final until it is adopted by the Trustees at their meeting on the first Monday in April, the Provost and I agree that there is no reason whatsoever to doubt that the recommendation for your advancement will be approved, and that you run hardly an risk in declining the offer of an associate professorship at the University of Chicago.

As an associate professor you would hold your position at the pleasure of the Trustees, i.e., you would no longer be subject to year-to-year appointment and would, in effect, have continuing tenure. The position of associate professor in this respect is the same as that of a full professor.

I should like to add my personal assurance that the Department and the Administration stand behind the recommendation for your advancement. The reputation that you have won for yourself at Columbia is a very high one indeed. You have the friendship and warm support of all of your associates in the graduate faculties. I believe that you will have here a rich and promising career of creative scholarship.

Sincerely yours,

[copy unsigned, Frederick C. Mills?]

Source Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Columbiana. Department of Economics Collection. Box 3 Budget, 1915-1946-47, Folder “Budget Material 1944-1945”.

___________________

Promotion to Professor

April 23, 1945

President Nicholas Murray Butler,
Columbia University.

Dear Mr. President:

A recent development makes it necessary for me to supplement my letter of November 30^th, 1944, in which I submitted to you a provisional budget for the Department of Economics for the year 1945-46. Professor Abraham Wald, who occupies a place of strategic importance in our work in Mathematical Statistics, has received a very attractive offer from another institution. If we are to hold him at Columbia we must give him some advancement here. Although I am reluctant to approach you at this time, to request that you re-open the Department budget for next year, it is my strong opinion that this should be done. This opinion is shared by my colleagues who are interested in Columbia’s past and prospective accomplishments in Mathematical Statistics.

Work in Mathematical Statistics in American universities is in a pioneering stage. The fundamental bases of statistics, in mathematics and logic, have recently been materially extended. New horizons have been opened. We may expect in the next several decades further fruitful advances bearing upon the whole range of inquiry in the social and the natural sciences and in the arts of production and administration. In this field Columbia has already, through the work of Hotelling and Wald, achieved a leading position, one that is recognized throughout the world. Some indication of Columbia’s standing, and of the scientific and practical fruitfulness of our work in this field, I given by the accomplishments of the Statistical Research Group now serving the Army and the Navy as part of Columbia’s contribution to the war effort.

Columbia must hold and extend the position of preeminence we have won. We believe that in Hotelling and Wald we have men of intellectual vigor and established scientific competence who will be in the forefront of future advances in Mathematical Statistics. Their work will supplement and strengthen that of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, in which Columbia will cooperate with the International Business Machines Corporation, as the work of that Laboratory will enhance the effectiveness of our efforts in Mathematical Statistics.

The scholarly record of Professor Wald is set forth in an attached statement. I need only add here that Wald’s researches in statistical theory have been fundamental in character and seminal in their influence. A recent outstanding example of the fertility of his thought is provided by his contribution of a new mathematical basis for techniques of quality control in manufacturing production, techniques that have been widely adopted in the control of war production. The sequential methods utilized in Dr. Wald’s procedures are capable of application in scientific experiments, and in a wide variety of other fields.

In the conviction that Columbia should reinforce success, in planning for the future, and should build where firm foundations have already been laid, I urge that the position of the University in the field of Mathematical Statistics be maintained, and strengthened. Dr. Abraham Wald’s continuance here is crucial in such a program. I recommend, therefore, that Dr. Wald, who is now Associate Professor of Statistics at an annual salary of $5,000, be appointed Professor of Mathematical Statistics, at a salary of $7,500 a year, the appointment to be effective July 1, 1945.

Respectfully submitted,

FREDERICK C. MILLS

Source Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Columbiana. Department of Economics Collection. Box 3 Budget, 1915-1946-47, Folder “Budget Material 1944-1945”.

___________________

April 27, 1951

Memorial Minute for Professor A. Wald

Professor Wolfowitz then presented a minute memorializing the late Professor Abraham Wald. It was adopted by a rising vote, and a copy was ordered sent to Professor Wald’s family.

ABRAHAM WALD

Abraham Wald, Professor of Mathematical Statistics and a distinguished member of this Faculty, was killed in an airplane accident in India on December 13, 1950. He had been on a lecture tour of Indian universities and research centers. Mrs. Wald was killed in the same accident.

Dr. Wald arrived in the United States in the summer of 1938, a refugee from Nazi persecution. In the fall of 1938 he came to Columbia as a fellow of the Carnegie Corporation. He became a member of this Faculty in 1942 and professor of Mathematical Statistics in 1945. Much of his statistical work was done here. It shed luster on Columbia and largely helped to make Columbia an important center of mathematical statistics. His work changed the whole course and emphasis of modern mathematical statistics. In addition to many other contributions the theory of statistical decision functions and the theory of sequential analysis were founded by him. He also made important contributions to mathematical economics, the theory of probability, and metric geometry.

He was a good friend to many, a genial colleague, and an inspiring teacher. By his death the University and science have sustained a grievous loss.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Minutes of the Faculty of Political Science, 1950-1962.

Image Source: Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern, California from the obituary by J. Wolfowitz published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 23:1 (March, 1952), pp. 1-13.

Tags Haig, Hotelling, MillsFC, Wald, Wolfowitz

Barnard Columbia Economists Gender Salaries

Columbia. Pay raise for Barnard lecturer Clara Eliot supported, 1941

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-01-19

Columbia economics Ph.D. alumna (1926), Clara Eliot published her dissertation as The Farmer’s Campaign for Credit (New York: D. Appleton, 1927). Looking at the Columbia Department of Economics budget proposal from 1941, I saw a statement of support for a salary increase for Clara Eliot and promotion to the rank of assistant professor at Barnard. A brief annex to the budget introduces Eliot. I have added at the end of the post her 1976 New York Times’ obituary to round out her life story.

Since I was looking at Columbia economists’ salaries, I thought it worth seeing how her actual 1941-42 salary of $2,700 and the proposed assistant professor salary for 1942-43 of $3,600 fit into the structure of salaries paid to men at those ranks. It turns out (see the attached budget lines for lecturers and assistant professors), there was salary parity at both ranks. I have been unable to confirm yet whether Clara Eliot actually got her promotion with that pay raise at Barnard then.

The other woman economist, Eveline M. Burns, and her husband Arthur R. Burns were both quite unhappy with the ceilings to their respective advancement in 1940/41. Their story is worth a future post or two. Today is dedicated to Clara Eliot.

_____________________________________

Women in the Columbia Economics Department Budget Proposal
November 26, 1941

[…]

(2) Last year my colleagues directed me to inform Dr. Eveline M. Burns that they found themselves unable to offer her any ground for hope that she could be granted professorial status and she indicated her unwillingness to continue on the basis of a full-time lecturer at the stipend available (viz., $3,000). Thereupon a temporary arrangement was entered into for part-time service for the current academic year, with the specification that no commitment was implied beyond June, 1942. In this budget letter it is recommended that the connection of Dr. Burns with the Department be terminated at that date. The question of the future of her field of social insurance in the departmental plans is being studied by the Mitchell Committee mentioned above. Moreover, this is a field in which the School of Business has an interest…It is therefore suggested that for the present the sum that has in previous budgets been allocated to Dr. Burns be tentatively reserved pending the formulation of a definite proposal which should be forthcoming within perhaps a fortnight [reduced from $2,500 to $2,300 reserve in final budget].

[…]

Should the Barnard budget, when submitted, include a recommendation that recognition be given Clara Eliot, such a recommendation would be supported by the department to the extent of promotion to an assistant professorship and an increase in salary of $900 (Miss Eliot is now a lecturer in Barnard College at $2, 700).

(See Annex G)

[…]

ANNEX G

Statement concerning the Professional Preparation
and Experience of Clara Eliot

A. B. 1917, Reed College (major in sociology)

1917-1918, Instructor in Sociology, Mills College, Calif.

1918-20, Research Assistant to Prof. Irving Fisher, Yale Univ.

1920-23, Assistant in Economics, Barnard College (salary, $1,000)

1923-28, Instructor in Economics, Barnard College
(salary: 1923-25, $2,000; 1925-27, $2,200; 1927-28, $2,400)

1926, Ph.D. in Economics granted by Columbia.

1928-29 On leave without pay, travel and study abroad — in Germany and Austria.

1929-36, Lecturer in Economics, Barnard (part-time) (salary, $1,200)

From April 1^st, leave of absence without pay to join the Consumer Purchases Study (on a salary basis of $5,600). Despite urging by Dr. Monroe, Chief of the Economics Division of the Bureau of Home Economics, leave could not be continued in the Fall because of the situation in the Barnard Department, with others on leave or ill)

1936—to date, Lecturer in Economics , Barnard College (full-time)
(salary: 1936-37, $2,400; 1937-40, $2,400; 1940-41, $2,700)

Projected research:

An analysis of family expenditure data (scale of urgency, “income elasticity of demand”, etc.).
Compiling of materials for use in connection with an introductory course in statistics, non-mathematical, stressing the possibilities and limitations of the quantitative method, stating hypotheses in quantitative terms, illustrating problems of interpretation, relating statistics to logic.

Source: Department of economics budget proposal for 1942-43 (dated November 26, 1941) submitted to Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler by Robert M. Haig, Chairman, Department of Economics (pp. 2, 6 and Appendix G). Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941—6/1942”.

_____________________________________

ANNEX A

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
The [Revised] Budget as Adopted for 1941-1942
Compared with the Budget as Proposed for 1941-1942.
December 30

Office or Item	Incumbent	1941-1942 Appropriations	1942-43 Proposals
Assistant Professor	Arthur R. Burns	$4,500	$5,000¹
Assistant Professor	Robert L. Carey	$3,600	$3,600
Assistant Professor	Boris M. Stanfield	$3,600	$3,600
Assistant Professor	Joseph Dorfman	$3,600	$3,600

¹Promotion to rank of associate professor recommended.

Office or Item	Incumbent	1941-1942 Appropriations	1942-43 Proposals
Lecturer	Carl T. Schmidt	$3,000	$3,000
Lecturer (Winter Session)	Robert Valeur	($1,500)	—
Lecturer	Eveline M. Burns	$2,500	—¹
Lecturer	Louis M. Hacker	$3,000	$3,600²
Lecturer	Michael T. Florinsky	$2,700	$3,000
Lecturer	Abraham Wald	$3,000	$3,600⁴

¹Not to be reappointed.
²Promotion to rank of assistant professor recommended.
³ Promotion to rank of assistant professor recommended.

Source: Department of economics revised budget proposal for 1942-43 (dated December 30, 1941) submitted to Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler by Robert M. Haig, Chairman, Department of Economics. Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1941—6/1942”.

_____________________________________

Clara Eliot (1896-1976)

Prof. Clara Eliot, who taught economics and statistics at Barnard College, Columbia University, for almost 40 years until her retirement in 1961, died Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. She was 80 years old.

Dr. Eliot, who used her maiden name professionally, was the wife of Dr. Robert Bruce Raup, professor emeritus of philosophy of education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Dr. Eliot contributed to research in consumer economics. She was the author of “The Farmer’s Campaign for Credit,” a study of basic issues in credit theory as they were involved in United States agricultural policies early in this century.

She graduated from Reed College in 1917 and received her doctorate from Columbia in 1926. After teaching at Mills College in 1917-18 she was economics secretary to Prof. Irving Fisher at Yale University from 1918 to 1920.

Surviving, besides her husband, are a son, Robert B. Raup Jr.; three daughters, Joan R. Rosenblatt, Ruth R. Johnson and Charlotte R. Cremin; two brothers, a sister and eight grandchildren.

Source: New York Times, January 19, 1976 (page 32).

Image Source: Barnard College, Mortarboard 1950.

Tags BurnsAR, BurnsEM, Carey, DorfmanJ, EliotClara, Florinsky, Hacker, SchmidtCT, Stanfield, Valeur, Wald

Chicago Economists

Chicago. Simons urges the recruitment of Milton Friedman, 1945

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2017-05-21

The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was less than two weeks history and the declaration of the surrender of Imperial Japan only five days old. Nothing says “back to business as usual” at the university better than active lobbying on behalf of one’s preferred candidate for an upcoming vacancy, as we see in the following memo for the 33 year old Milton Friedman written by Henry C. Simons to the Chicago economics department chair, Simeon E. Leland. The copy of this memo comes from the President’s Office at the University of Chicago. Simons’ grand strategy was to seamlessly replace the triad Lange-Knight-Mints with his own dream team of Friedman-Stigler-Hart. He feared that outsiders to the department might be tempted to appoint some convex combination of New Dealer Rexford Tugwell and trust-bustin’ George W. Stocking Sr., economists of the institutional persuasion who were swimming on the edges of the mainstream of the time.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror also has transcribed excerpts from an earlier 77 page (!) memorandum (10 April, 1945) to President Robert M. Hutchins from Simeon E. Leland 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”.

____________________________

Henry C. Simons Urges his Department Chair to Recruit Milton Friedman

August 20, 1945

To: Simeon E. Leland Economics

From: Henry C. Simons Economics

If Lange is leaving, we should go after Milton Friedman immediately.

It is a hard choice between Friedman and Stigler. We should tell the administration that we want them both (they would work together excellently, each improving what the other did), Friedman to replace Lange, Stigler to replace Knight and to be with us well ahead of Knight’s retirement. We might also say that we want Hart to replace Mints at Mints’s retirement, and also to be with us in advance, but are happy to have him financed by C.E.D. [Committee for Economic Development] for the present.

Yntema evidently is thinking of getting Friedman shortly. We should exploit this possibility. Milton has now a great yen for a University post and would probably turn down an offer from C.E.D., even at much financial sacrifice, if a good academic post were the alternative (as it might be, at Minnesota or elsewhere). He is rather footloose—not anxious to go back either to the Treasury or to the National Bureau. We should grab him now, offering temporary joint appointment with C.E.D. and full-time, permanent appointment when he is through with C.E.D.

Friedman is young, flexible, and available potentially for a wide variety of assignments. He is a first-rate economic theorist, economic statistician, and mathematical economist, and is intensely interested over the whole range of economic policy. He has been outstanding in every organization where he has worked—here with Henry Schultz, at the National Bureau, at the Treasury, and now recently in the Army project at Columbia. Moreover, he is one of those rare cases of able young men who have enjoyed large experience and responsibility in Washington without being at all disqualified thereby for academic work.

The obvious long-term arrangement is a joint appointment with the Cowles Commission. Marschak would, I’m sure, like to have him; and Milton would like to settle into a major project of empirical research, e.g., on enterprise size and productional efficiency. Bartky may be expected strongly to support the appointment, for its strengthening of the University in statistics. The School of Business could well use Milton, to give its few advanced courses in statistics, if Yntema continues to price himself out of the University. Moreover, Milton probably would be delighted to work partly in the Law School, and be extremely useful there. In the Department, he would be available for statistics, mathematical economics, pure economic theory, taxation, and almost any field where we might need additional courses.

If University officers want outside testimony, they could get it from Randolph Paul or Roy Blough (as regards the Treasury), from Arthur F. Burns (National Bureau), from Abraham Wald, Allen Wallis, and Barky (as regards war research), and from Bunn at Wisconsin (as regards possible usefulness to the Law School)—not to mention George Stigler, Harold Groves, Wesley Mitchell, Simon Kuznets, Erwin Griswold, et al.

Perhaps the best thing about Milton, apart from his technical abilities, is his capacity for working as part of a team. He is the gregarious kind of intellectual, anxious to try out all his ideas on his colleagues and to have them reciprocate. He would doubtless be worth his whole salary, if he neither taught nor published, simply for his contribution to other people’s work and to the Department group as a whole. But he is also intensely interested in teaching, and far too industrious not to publish extensively. Our problem would be not that of finding ways to use him but that of keeping him from trying too many tasks and, especially, of leaving him enough time for his own research.

It would, I think, be good policy and good tactics to submit a major program of appointments, including [Frank W.] Fetter, Friedman, Stigler, Hart, and an economic historian (Innis or Hamilton), in the hope of getting them all within a few years, some on joint appointments with, notably, the Cowles Commission, the Law School, the School of Business (?) and, temporarily, the C.E.D. Research Staff. Such a program would serve to protect us against administration pressure for less good appointments (e.g., Stocking [George Ward Stocking, Sr., Ph.D. Columbia, 1925]), and from Hutchins’s alleged complaint that, while he wanted to consider major appointments in economics, the Department simply would not make recommendations. We should, in any case, err on the side of asking for more appointments than we can immediately get. Otherwise, available funds may go largely elsewhere—e.g., into Tugwell-like, lame-duck appointments, and into Industrial Relations, Agricultural Economics, and other ancillary enterprises, at the expense of the central field of economics.

There is, I trust, substantial agreement within the Department, on the men mentioned above. This fact, if fact it is, should be made unmistakably clear to the administration.

Incidentally, if we are going to explore possibilities of an appointment in American economic history (and I’m probably alone in opposing), we should do so only in co-operation with the History Department and with (from the outset) joint plans for joint appointments.

HCS-w

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 73, Folder “Economics Dept., 1943-45”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07613, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Tags Blough, FetterFW, Friedman, Groves, Hamilton, Hart, HartAG, Innis, Knight, Kuznets, Lange, Leland, Marschak, Mints, Mitchell, SchultzH, Simons, Stigler, Tugwell, Wald, Wallis, Yntema

Chicago Economists

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

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-10-09

__________________________

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

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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″.

Tags Bergson, BlackJD, Blough, Boulding, BrandtK, BrownHG, BrownJD, Bryce, Buchanan, Chamberlin, ClarkJM, Condliffe, DavisJS, Dearing, EdwardsCD, Friedman, GilbertM, Haavelmo, Hamilton, Hansen, HartAB, Hayek, Hicks, Hoyt, Innis, Jaszy, Jesness, Kaldor, Kalecki, Kelso, KendrickMS, Kent, Keynes, Koopmans, Kuznets, Leland, Lerner, Lilienthal, Mosaic, Mosk, Myers, PaulR, Rostow, Salter, Samuelson, Scitovszky, Seltzer, Shoup, Slichter, Smithies, Staley, Stigler, Stone, Tawney, Wald, Wallis, Wilks, Williams

Columbia Courses Economists

Columbia. Course Descriptions. Hotelling. 1931-1945

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2015-07-15

Class rolls from Hotelling’s courses on mathematical economics he taught at Columbia have been posted, as have course outlines and a final exam from the course as taught at the University of North Carolina in 1946 and 1950.

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[1931-32]

Economics 311-312—Statistical inference. 3 points each session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Summarizing and interpretation of data; probability, mathematical and philosophical; the normal law of error; probable errors; student’s distribution and the work of R. A. Fisher; least squares; fitting trend lines and other empirical curves; their reliability; accuracy of forecasts; tests of stability, homogeneity, and goodness of fit; analysis of variance; simple, partial and multiple correlation coefficients and their interpretation in terms of probability; periodogram analysis.

Prerequisite: Calculus. A knowledge of determinants is desirable.

Economics 313-314—Mathematical economics. 3 points each session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 4:10. 302 Fayerweather.

Supply and demand functions; monopoly; competition; duopoly; utility; taxation; tariffs; index numbers; exhaustible resources; dynamical economics.

Prerequisite: Calculus.

[1932-33]

Economics 311—Statistical inference. 3 points Winter Session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Summarizing and interpretation of data; probable errors; significance of means, of differences of variances; and of least-square determinations; accuracy of forecasts; Student’s distribution and R. A. Fisher’s extensions; comparison of observed with theoretical frequencies; tests of independence, homogeneity and goodness of fit. Proofs of the formulae are considered. Examples are drawn from a variety of fields, both within and outside of the social sciences.

Prerequisite: Calculus is a prerequisite. Mathematics 101 (Probability. Professor B. O. Koopman. Tu. and Th., 2:10-3) must be taken simultaneously. Mathematics 57 (Higher algebra. Professor L. P. Siceloff. M., W., and F. at 11) should also be taken at the same time if the student is to go on with Economics 312 or undertake research in statistics, unless he is already familiar with determinants and quadratic forms.

Graduate credit in economics will be allowed for Mathematics 57 and 101, which are required for this work in statistics.

Economics 312—Modern statistical theory. 3 points Spring Session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Correlation, simple, partial and multiple, with exact and approximate tests of significance; comparison and analysis of variances; the theory of estimation and efficiency; frequency curve fitting; analysis of time series; periodicity. Recent discoveries will be discussed.

Prerequisites: Economics 311 and Mathematics 57 and 101.

Economics 313-314—Mathematical economics. 3 points each session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 4:10. 302 Fayerweather.

Supply and demand functions; monopoly; competition; duopoly; utility; taxation; tariffs; index numbers; exhaustible resources; dynamical economics.

Prerequisite: Calculus. Mathematics 57 will also be found helpful, though it is not a required prerequisite.

[1933-34]

[Starting this year the two courses in Statistics were moved from “Research Courses” to “General Courses” as reflected in the course numbering. Note the label “Statistics” instead of “Economics” before the course numbers]

Statistics 111—Statistical inference. 3 points Winter Session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Calculus is a prerequisite. Mathematics 101 (Probability. Professor B. O. Koopman. Tu. and Th., 2:10-3) should be taken simultaneously. Mathematics 57 (Higher algebra. Professor L. P. Siceloff. M., W., and F. at 11) should also be taken at the same time if the student is to go on with Statistics 312 or undertake research in statistics, unless he is already familiar with determinants and quadratic forms.

Graduate credit in economics will be allowed for Mathematics 57 and 101, which are required for this work in statistics.

Statistics 112—Statistical inference. 3 points Spring Session. Professor H. Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Prerequisites: Economics 111 and Mathematics 57 and 101 or equivalent knowledge.

Economics 117-118—Mathematical economics. 3 points each session. Professor H. Hotelling. [Starting this year Mathematical Economics was moved from “Research Courses” to “General Courses” as reflected in the course numbering.]
M. and W. at 4:10. 418 Business.

Supply and demand functions; monopoly; competition; duopoly; utility; taxation; tariffs; index numbers; exhaustible resources; dynamical economics.

Prerequisite: Calculus. Mathematics 57 will also be found helpful, though it is not a required prerequisite. Graduate credit in economics is allowed for Mathematics 57 and Mathematics 101.

[1934-35]

Statistics 111—Statistical inference. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Summarizing and interpretation of data; probable errors; significance of means, of differences of variances; and of least-square determinations; accuracy of forecasts; student’s [sic] distribution and R. A. Fisher’s extensions; comparison of observed with theoretical frequencies; tests of independence, homogeneity and goodness of fit. Proofs of the formulae are considered. Examples are drawn from a variety of fields, both within and outside of the social sciences.

Graduate credit in economics will be allowed for Mathematics 57 and 101, which are required for this work in statistics.

Statistics 112—Statistical inference. 3 points Spring Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

Prerequisites: Economics [sic, Statistics] 111 and Mathematics 57 and 101 or equivalent knowledge.

Statistics 301—Seminar in advanced mathematical statistics. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Hotelling.
[According to Bulletin 1935-36 this course was given in 1934-1935 but not given in 1935-1936]

Economics 117-118—Mathematical economics. 3 points each session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 4:10. 418 Business.

The fundamentals of economics as a set of problems in maxima and minima. The maximizing of utility or of profits by individuals and the consequent equations of general equilibrium; the nature and interrelations of utility, curves and surfaces of indifference, demand and supply functions, consumers’ surplus, and welfare. Monopoly and various forms of competition. The extent to which selfish activities of individuals promote the general welfare; contrasts and resemblances of a planned society with the outcome of competition. Interrelation of prices. Taxation. Dynamical economics: cycles, lagging effects, and exhaustible resources.

The theory of maxima and minima of functions of n variables, with and without restraining conditions; the elements of the calculus of variations; tensors. The effects of variation of parameters on maximizing conditions are applied to discover consequences of taxation and other interferences.

A thorough knowledge of calculus, with something of differential equations, is an essential prerequisite. Mathematics 57 (Higher algebra; M., W., and F. at 11) is highly desirable. Graduate credit in economics is allowed for Mathematics 57 and Mathematics 101.

[1935-36]

Statistics 111—Statistical inference. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 4:10 611 Business.

Summarizing and interpretation of data. Frequency distributions. Significance of the normal distribution. Accuracy of means and of differences of means. Relations of statistics and probability.

Prerequisites: Calculus and Mathematics 101 (probability); but the latter may be taken simultaneously. Mathematics 57 (higher algebra) is recommended.

Graduate credit in economics will be allowed for Mathematics 57, and Mathematics 101.

Statistics 112—Least squares and the treatment of time series. 3 points Spring Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 412 Fayerweather.

The classical method of least squares and modern modifications and developments, with stress on the interpretation of results in terms of probability. Diverse applications, both to social and to natural sciences.

The problems of observations ordered in time. Correlation and regression of time series. Seasonal variation and secular trend. Methods of correcting lack of independence and avoiding fallacies. Periodogram analysis. Recent discoveries and improvements.

Prerequisites: Statistics 111, Mathematics 57, and Mathematics 101 or equivalent knowledge.

Statistics 114 [new course]—Correlation, analysis of variance, and the χ² test. 3 points Spring Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 4:10. 611 Business.

The multivariate normal distribution. Simple, partial, multiple, and vector correlation. Rank correlation and the problem of non-normal populations. Tests of independence, homogeneity, and goodness of fit for tables of frequencies. The analysis of variance and covariance to segregate factors producing significant variation. Recent discoveries in statistical theory.

Prerequisites: Statistics 111, Mathematics 57 and Mathematics 101.

[Statistics 301—Seminar in advanced mathematical statistics. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Hotelling.
Given in 1934-1935; not to be given in 1935-1936]

Economics 117 [Course reduced to a single semester]—Mathematical economics. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Hotelling.
M. and W. at 10. 507 Business.

The consequences of the simultaneous attempts by different persons to maximize their respective profits or degrees of satisfaction. Utility, indifference curves, demand, supply and cost functions, monopoly and various forms of competition, interrelations of prices, taxation. Theory of interest, depreciation, exhaustible resources. Contrasts and resemblances of a planned society with the outcome of competition. Dynamical economics: cycles and lagging effects.

The theory of maxima and minima of functions of n variables, with and without constraining conditions, is developed beyond the treatments in calculus books to include the second-order conditions. Elements of the calculus of variations.

Prerequisite: A thorough knowledge of calculus. Mathematics 57 (higher algebra) is highly desirable. Graduate credit in economics is allowed for Mathematics 57 and Mathematics 101.

[1936-37]