The following list of readings and examination questions come from the Milton Friedman papers. Only the examination questions are from a typed copy, the list of reading assignments has been transcribed from Friedman’s handwritten notes from when he took the course with Jacob Viner. Links have been added whenever found. Anything within square brackets has been added by me, otherwise I have left the text for the most part as I found it.
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From Courses of Instruction 1932-33.
303. Modern Tendencies in Economics.–A critical study of controversial questions in the general body of orthodox theory, and of some modern departures from orthodox theory. The discussion covers questions as to the selection of problems in economic theory, methods, tools of thought, assumptions, laws and standards of validity appropriate to the central body of economic though under present conditions. Prerequisite: Economics 301 or its equivalent. Spring, Viner.
Source: Announcements,Arts, Literature and Science, vol. XXXII, February, 1932, no. 12 (for the sessions 1932-33), p. 354.
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Economics 303 [Spring Quarter 1933]
Modern Economic Tendencies
Jacob Viner
Assignments
J. S. Mill—System of Logic
Bk III, chs 8, 10, 11
Bk VI, chs 1,3,7,8,9
Some Unsettled Questions, Essay V
W. H. Hamilton—The Place of Value Theory in Economics. J.P.E. March-May [sic], 1918
[Part I, March; Part II, April]
Lionel Robbins: Essay on the Nature etc of Economics ch 1 & 2
Wesley Michel [Mitchell] Role of Money in Ec[onomic] Theory Am Ec Rev Supplement March 1916
Fetter, Price Ecs vs Welfare Ecs. Am Ec Rev. Sept, ‘20
Marshall. Consumer’s Surplus & Max satisfaction
Bk II ch VI
Bk V ch XIII, 94-97
Math App. Cost & ¶ of note XIII
J.A. Hobson, Work & Wealth. Ch 1-5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 22.
[J. A. Hobson] Free Thought & the Social Sciences pp. 131-145
Viner. Utility Concept Aug 1925, J.P.E.
Robbins: Essay on the Nature etc of Economics ch 6
Pigou Ec’s of Welfare—3rd ed only
Part I ch 1-2
Part II ch 1-5, 9, 11
Appendix III pp. 787-815
[last two items “minimum”]
[4th edition, The principal changes made in this edition affect Chapter IV. and Chapter VI. §§ 12-13 in Part I.; Chapter XI. § 2 and Chapter XV. in Part II.; and Chapter IX. §§ 2-3 and Chapter XIV. § 1 in Part III.]
Veblen: “Why is Econ not an Econ Science? Place of Science pp. 56ff or Q. J. E. July 1898
Instinct of Workmanship. Chs 5 & 6
Theory of the Leisure Class. chs 1-5
Prof. Clark’s Ec’s [Economics]: Place of Science 180 ff.
Homan. Ch. VIII in Odum Am[erican] Masters of Soc[ial] Science or in Contemporary Ec[onomic] Thought pp. 105-192.
[Homan, Paul T. (1927) ‘Thorstein Veblen’, in Odum, Howard W. (ed.) American Masters of Social Science (New York: Holt), pp. 231-70.
Homan, Paul T. (1928). Contemporary Economic Thought, Harper & Bros.]
Institutionalism
W. C. Mitchell Prospects of Ec[onomic]’s in Tugwell. Trends pp. 1-34.
[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.]
Hamilton The Institutional Approach. Amer. Ec. Rev. Suppl. IV, 309-324.
[Walton H. Hamilton. The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory
The American Economic Review. Vol. 9, No. 1, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-First Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (Mar., 1919), pp. 309-318.]
Hamilton. Control of Wages ch 10, 11, 12
[Walton Hamilton and Stacy May. The Control of Wages. New York: George H. Doran, 1923).]
A. A. Young pp. 249-260 in Ec. Problems, New & Old [sic]
[Allyn Abbott Young. Economic Problems: New and Old. Houghton Mifflin Comp, 1927]
[A. A. Young] English Pol. Ec. Economica, [illegible word(s)]
[Allyn A. Young. English Political Economy. Economica. No. 22 (Mar., 1928), pp. 1-15]
Suggestion:
Albion Small [1924] “Origins of Sociology” ch. 11 [The Attempt to Reconstruct Classical Economic Theory on the Basis of Comparative Economic History, 1850], 14 [Later Phases of the Conflict Between the Historical and the Austrian Schools].
[Albion W. Small, Origins of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1924.
This book was first published serially in the American Journal of Sociology, January, 1923-November, 1924, with the title Some Contributions to the History of Sociology (Section XI and XIV). The corresponding articles are found at Vol. 29, No. 4 (Jan., 1924), pp. 443-454 and Vol. 29, No. 5 (Mar., 1924), pp. 571-598.]
Cliff. Leslie [T. E. Cliffe Leslie] “Philos. Essays” Essay 14
[cf. First edition (1879, Essay XIV “On the Philosophical Method of Political Economy”) with Second edition (1888, Essay XIV Economic Science and Statistics). Essay XVI “Political Economy and Sociology” of the second edition appears to me the reading that best fits to the sociology theme at this point in the reading list..]
Parsons “Summary of …” J. P. E. Dec. 1928, Feb. 1929
[Talcott Parsons. “Capitalism” In Recent German Literature: Sombart and Weber. Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 36, No. 6 (Dec., 1928), pp. 641-661; Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb., 1929), pp. 31-51.]
Mitchell “On Sombart” Feb ‘29
[Wesley C. Mitchell. Sombart’s Hochkapitalismus. The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1929), pp. 303-323]
Rogin “On Sombart” Apr. ‘33
[Leo Rogin. Werner Sombart and the “Natural Science Method” in Economics. Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 41, No. 2 (Apr., 1933), pp. 222-236]
Sombart “Die Drei Nationalökonomien”
[Werner Sombart. Die drei Nationalökonomien : Geschichte und System der Lehre von der Wirtschaft. München [u.a.] : Duncker & Humblot, 1930]
F. C. Mills in Tugwell, Trends “On Imp[?] Methd[?]”
[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.]
Mitchell Nov[sic] 1925. Proceedings of Am. Ec. Assoc.
[Wesley C. Mitchell. Quantitative Analysis in Economic Theory. The American Economic Review. Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 1925), pp. 1-12]
[Mitchell] Mar 1929 pp. 28… (A.E.R)
[Frederick C. Mills , Jacob H. Hollander , Jacob Viner , E. B. Wilson , Wesley C. Mitchell , F. W. Taussig , T. S. Adams , John D. Black and John Candler Cobb in “The Present Status and Future Prospects of Quantitative Economics”. The American Economic Review. Vol. 18, No. 1, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (Mar., 1928), pp. 28-45]
Viner. Q. J. E. Feb ’29—Rev. of Millis on prices.
[Jacob Viner. Review of Behavior of Prices by Frederick Mills. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1929), pp. 337-352]
Spann “ Types of Econ Theories[“] Preface, ch. 4, 12.
[Othmar Spann. Types of Economic Theory. 1929 English translation of the 19th edition of Die Haupttheorien der Vokswirtschaftslehre, 17th edition in German]
Schultz assignments
Chp 3, Manuel of Pareto
[Vilfredo Pareto. Manuel d’Économie Politique. Paris: V. Giard & E. Brière, 1909]
Pareto, Traité de Sociologie Général, look in index under Dependance Mutuel, & Equilibrium
[Cf. George C. Homans and Charles P. Curtis, Jr. An Introduction Pareto: His Sociology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934.]
Zawadzki, W. Les mathématiques appliqués à l’économie politique. [Paris, Rivière, 1914].
On In[stitutional] Ec’s [Economics]
Mitchell’s essays[sic] in Trends[sic] in Ec’s[Economics] by Tugwell & paper by Mills and Mitchell’s Pres. Address to Am. St. Ass. in 1927 volume. [?]
[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.
Wesley C. Mitchell. Statistics and Government. Publications of the American Statistical Association. Vol. 16, No. 125 (Mar., 1919), pp. 223-235]
Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 120. Handwritten notes for Economics 303,Modern Economic Tendencies, Jacob Viner.
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[signature: Milton Friedman]
Economics 303
1st Examination—1 hour
- What was J. S. Mill’s position with respect to:
(a) the scope for induction in the social sciences;
(b) the use of the “geometric method” in political economy; in the social sciences;
(c) the “economic man.”
- Explain and appraise Marshall’s technique of “maximum satisfaction” analysis.
(a) What were Veblen’s principal contributions to economic methodology?
(b) What are the differences and what the resemblances between the content of what Hobson calls “human values” and what ordinary utility theorists call “utility” or “satisfaction” or “economic welfare”?
(c) In what manner and degree does Pigou’s technique of welfare analysis overcome the difficulties in the way of accepting price as the measure of welfare.
Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 115, Folder 13. “Biographical: Class Exams circa 1932-1938”.
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[signature: Milton Friedman]
Economics 303
2nd Examination—1 hour
- Explain, with reference to exponents of these types of economics, any five of the following:
(a) institutional economics; [✓]
(b) genetic economics; [✓]
(c) historical economics; [✓]
(d)“verstehende” economics; [✓]
(e) functional economics; [✓]
(f) experimental economics; [✓]
(g) social economics;
(h) romantic economics[✓]
2. (a) List all of the empirical (historical) laws of economics which have been allegedly discovered by quantitative methods, and indicate for each very briefly whether you are inclined to accept it as a law, and if so on what grounds.
(b) State as briefly as possible the nature of the difficulties in the way of the discovery of genuine empirical laws of a quantitative nature in the field of economic phenomena.
- Write on either:
(a) Give the equations of the general equilibrium of exchange and production indicating the underlying assumptions, and the economic meaning of each equation. Compare the general equilibrium approach with that of Marshall.
or
(b) Explain the way in which pure theory has been used to determine one of the following:
(1) the concrete, statistical curve of the marginal utility of money.
(2) statistical demand curves, with special reference to the demand for related (completing or competing) goods.
(3) theoretical “cycles” of production and prices.
Point out the underlying assumptions and critically appraise the results obtained.
Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 115, Folder 13. “Biographical: Class Exams circa 1932-1938”.
Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08488, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. The photograph is dated 14 June 1944.