In the previous posting I provided transcriptions of Milton Friedman’s handwritten record of classes for the first time he offered the first quarter of a two-quarter sequence in price theory together with a handout and examination questions. Unfortunately I was unable to find a comparable record of classes for the second quarter of the sequence, Economics 300B for the Winter Quarter 1947. Below we have a draft of assigned and recommended readings for the following year. This can be compared to the readings for the price theory course Friedman taught at Columbia in 1939-40.
Interesting to note is the double appearance of Keynesian economics, something one might have not expected in a price theory course, once for the determination of interest rates (after dealing with the theory of wages) and later (apparently) to illustrate general equilibrium.
The October 1951 version of the Reading Assignments for Economics 300A and B is printed as an appendix to J. Daniel Hammond’s “The development of post-war Chicago price theory” in The Elgar Companion to Chicago School Economics, edited by Ross B. Emmett, pp. 7-24. It is nearly identical to the handwritten draft of reading assignments I have transcribed here from 1948. This Hammond article offers much context and is very much worth consulting.
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September, 1948
Economics 300 A&B
Reading Assignments by M. Friedman
(Notes:
- It is assumed students are familiar with material equivalent to that contained in George Stigler, Theory of Price, or Kenneth Boulding, Economic Analysis.
- Readings marked with asterisk (*) are recommended, not required.)
Knight, F. H., The Economic Organization, esp. pp. 1-37.
Keynes, J. N., The Scope and Method of Political Economy, ch. I and II, pp. 1-83.
Marshall, Alfred, Principles of Economics, Bk III, ch 2, 3, 4; Bk V, ch 1,2.
Schultz, Henry, The Meaning of Statistical Demand Curves, pp. 1-10.
Working, E. J. “What do Statistical ‘Demand Curves’ Show?”
Knight, F. H. Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, ch 3.
*Lange, O., “On the Determinateness of the Utility Function”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol I (1933-34), pp. 218 ff.
*Allen, R.G.D., “The Nature of Indifference Curves,” Ibid, pp 110 ff.
Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital, Part I (pp 11-52).
*Wallis, W. A., and Friedman, Milton, “The Empirical Derivation of Indifference Functions”, in Lange et al, Studies in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics
*Friedman, Milton and Savage, L. J., “The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk,” Journal of Political Economy LVI (August 1948) pp. 279-304.
Marshall, Book V, ch 3, 4, 5, 12, Appendix H.
Meyers, A. L. Elements of Modern Economics, ch 5, 7, 8, 9.
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition, ch 2.
Clark, J. M., The Economics of Overhead Costs, ch 9
Viner, Jacob, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift fuer Nationaloekonomie, Bd III (Sept, 1931), pp 23-46.
Chamberlin, Edward, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, ch 3, sec. 1, 4, 5, 6; ch 5.
Harrod, R. F. “Doctrines of Imperfect Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1934, sec. 1, pp. 442-61.
*Triffin, Robert, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, esp. Part II.
*Robinson, E. A. G., The Structure of Competitive Industry.
*___________________, Monopoly.
*Plant, Arnold, “The Economic Theory Concerning Patents for Inventions,” Economica, Feb, 1934.
*Dennison, S. R., “The Problem of Bigness,” Cambridge Journal, Nov. 1947.
Marshall, Book IV, ch 1, 2, 3; Bk V, ch 6.
Clark, J. B., The Distribution of Wealth, Preface, ch 1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 23.
Mill, John Stuart, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, ch 14.
Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Wages, ch 1-6.
Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations, Bk I, ch 10.
Marshall, Bk VI, ch 1-5.
Friedman, Milton, and Kuznets, Simon, Income from Independent Professional Practice, Preface, pp. v to x; ch 3, Sec 3, pp. 81-95, ch 4, Sect 2, pp. 118-137, App, Sec 1 & 3, pp 142-151, 155-61.
Knight, F. H. “Interest” in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, also in Ethics of Competition.
Keynes, J. M. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, ch 11-14.
Cassell, Gustav, Fundamental Thoughts in Economics, ch. 1, 2,3.
_________________, The Theory of Social Economy, ch 4.
J. R. Hicks, “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation”, Econometrica, vol 5, April 1937, pp. 147-159.
Franco Modigliani, “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, vol 12, No. 1 (Jan 1944) esp. Part I, sec. 1 through 9, sec 11 through 17, Part II, sec 21.
A. C. Pigou, “The Classical Stationary State,” Economic Journal, vol 53, December, 1943, pp. 343-51.
____________, “Economic Progress in a Stable Environment,” Economica, 1947, pp. 180-90.
Source: Hoover Institution Archive, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 77, Folder 1 “University of Chicago, Economics 300 A & B”.