Categories
Chicago Economists Money and Banking

Chicago. Ph.D. Thesis Committees in Monetary Economics. Patinkin’s Research, 1968

The first boxes of archival material that I examined as my research project on the evolution of graduate economics training was beginning to take shape came from Don Patinkin’s papers back when Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive still bore the modest descriptor of “Economists’ Papers Project”.

This post transcribes some of the research material collected by Patinkin in his survey of Chicago style monetary economics. Fun Fact: his research assistant while on leave at M.I.T. was the graduate student Stanley Fischer, from whom incidentally I was to take my first graduate macroeconomics course (Patinkin’s book was on the reading list, surprise, surprise).

Doctoral theses advisers were identified for a dozen and a half Chicago theses that drew Don Patinkin’s attention. This is the sort of information that doesn’t normally jump at you in digitised form through a duly diligent internet search, so I thought it worth my time to file this information for now in a blog post. Minor additions have been added in square brackets for the sake of completeness.

______________________________

List of Patinkin’s copy request for Chicago Ph.D. theses

Author

Article Details of parts photographed

Box No.

1.
Bach, George [Leland]

Price Level Stabilization: [Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations]

[blank]

[blank]

2.
Bloomfield, Arthur [Irving]

International Capital Movement and the American Balance of Payments 1929-1940 Title, Contents, Bibliography.
pp. 513-514, 578-579.

T-304

3.
Bronfenbrenner, Martin

Monetary Theory and General Equilibrium Title, Preface, Bibliography.
Chaps. 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

T-10250

4.
Brooks, Benjamin [Franklin]

A History of Monetary Theory in the United States Before 1860 Contents, Preface, Bibliography.
Chap. 11.

T-9885

5.
Caplan, Benjamin

The Wicksellian School—A Critical Study of the Development of Swedish Monetary Theory, 1898-1932 Title, Contents, Preface, Bibliography.

T-7847

6.
Cox, Garfield V.

Business Forecasting in the United States 1919-1928 Title, Contents, Preface, Bibliography.

T-17-91

7.
Daugherty Marion [Roberts]

The Currency-Banking Controversy Title, Contents, Bibliography
pp. 41, 54, 130, 133, 246, 316.

T-10282

8.
Harper, [William Canaday] Joel

Scrip and Other Forms of Local Money Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-145

9.
Leigh, Arthur Hertel

Studies in the Theory of Capital and Interest Before 1870 Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-554

10.
Linville, Francis [Aron]

Central Bank Co-operation Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-11508

11.
McEvoy, Raymond H.

The Effects of Federal Reserve Operations 1929-1936 Title, Contents, Preface Bibliography.

T-7731

12.
McIvor R. Craig

Monetary Expansion in Canadian War Finance, 1939-1946 Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-10268

13.
McKean, Roland Neely

Fluctuations in Our Private Claim-Debt Structure and Monetary Policy Title, Contents, Bibliography.
Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

T-90

14.
Reeve, Joseph [Edwin]

Monetary Proposals for Curing the Depression in the United States 1929-1935 [blank]

T-11022

15.
Shaw, Ernest Ray

The Investment and Secondary Reserve Policy of Commercial Banks Title, Contents, Preface, Bibliography.

T-8322

16.
Snider, Delbert [Arthur]

Monetary, Exchange, and Trade Problems in Postwar Greece Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-1031

17.
Tongue, William [Walter]

Money, Capital, and the Business Cycle Title, Contents, Preface, Bibliography.

T-670

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Don Patinkin Papers, University of Chicago School of Economics Raw Materials, Box 2, Folder “Chicago, general (?). from binder: “U. Chicago Ph.D. Theses”, folder 1 of 2”.

______________________________

The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Department of Economics

August 21, 1968

Professor Don E. Patinkin
Economics Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Professor Patinkin:

            I am listing below the information (Committee members) you requested in your letter of July 8, 1968. I am also hoping that you have received your microfilm by now. The Photoduplication department was to have mailed them to you on August 13.

Bach, George [Leland] 1940 S. E. Leland
C. W. Wright
H. C. Simon
Bloomfield, Arthur [Irving] 1942 J. Viner
Lloyd W. Mints
O. Lange
Bronfenbrenner, Martin 1939 Frank Knight, chr.
S. E. Leland
Brooks, Benjamin [Franklin] 1939 Frank Knight, chr.
Lloyd Mints
[Viner also thanked in thesis preface]
Caplan, Benjamin 1942 J. Viner
O. Lange
L. W. Mints
H. C. Simons
Cox, Garfield [V.] 1929 Lionel D. Edie, chr.
Jacob Viner
Chester W. Wright
Daugherty, Marion [Roberts] (Mrs.) 1941 Jacob Viner, chr.
Garfield Cox
Lloyd Mints
Harper, Joel [William Canady] 1949
[Summer 1948]
F. Knight
O. Lange
H. Simons
C. W. Wright
L. Mints
S. Leland
Leigh, Arthur [Hertel] 1946 Frank Knight, chr.
Jacob Viner
Oskar Lange
McEvoy, Raymond [H.] 1950 Lloyd W. Mints, chr.
Earl J. Hamilton
Lloyd A. Metzler
McIvor, Russel [Craig] 1947 Roy Blough, chr.
J. K. Langum
L.W. Mints [in thesis acknowledgement Mints as the doctoral committee chair]
McKean, Roland [Neely] 1948 Lloyd W. Mints, chr.
Lloyd A. Metzler
Earl J. Hamilton
A. Director
Reeve, Joseph [Edwin] 1939 Lloyd W. Mints, chr.
Garfield V. Cox
Jacob Viner
Shaw, Ernest [Ray] 1930 Lionel D. Edie, chr.
Lloyd W. Mints
Stuart P. Meech (Bus. School)
Snider, Delbert [Arthur] 1951 L. Metzler, chr.
R. Blough
Bert Hoselitz
Tongue, William [Walter] 1947 L. W. Mints, chr.
Frank H. Knight
H. Gregg Lewis

            As you can see in some instances the Chairman was not listed, but the examining committee was listed. I wrote to Professor Cox, 660 W. Bonita, Apt. 24 E, Claremont, California 91711, to get the committee members for him and for Professor E. Shaw. Professor Cox also gave me the address of Professor Lloyd W. Mints, 618 E. Myrtle St., Ft. Collins, Colorado, should you have any interest. I hope this is sufficient.

Yours truly,
[signed]
(Mrs.) Hazel Bowdry
Sec. to Professor Telser

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Department of Economics

October 23, 1968

Professor Don Patinkin
Department of Economics
The Eliezer Kaplan School of
Economics and Social Sciences
The Hebrew University
Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Professor Patinkin:

            In answer to your letter of October 4, I have rechecked the files and find the below listed information.

George Bach’s committee members:

L. W. Mints, chr.
S. E. Leland
C. W. Wright
Oskar Lange
F. H. Knight
H. C. Simons
Jacob Viner
Jacob Left
Maynard Krueger

This is the order in which the examining committee is listed.

Martin Bronfenbrenner:

Henry Schultz chr.
J. Viner
L. W. Mints
F. Knight
A. G. Hart
H. C. Simon

Joel Harper:

S. E. Leland, Chr.
H. Simons
L. W. Mints
Mr. Chatters

Benjamin Brooks:

L. Mints, chr.
J. Viner
F. Knight

            I checked Faculty records with Mrs. Mosby, and found a re-appointment for Henry Simons dated June 3, 1930.

            I hope this information is helpful, and I am sorry I cannot give more definite committee members in the case of Bach.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
(Mrs.) Hayzel Bowdry

P.S. I hope you have received the microfilm by now. It was mailed via airmail yesterday.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Don Patinkin Papers, University of Chicago School of Economics Raw Materials, Box 2, Folder “Chicago, general (?), Simons, Mints, Knight materials”.

Image Source: Don Patinkin article at Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s History of Economic Thought website. Colorized at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Chicago Economists

Chicago. Economics Ph.D. alumnus, Edwin Ferdinand Dummeier, 1926

 

From the University of Chicago economics department records we can assemble a fairly complete account of the process of earning a doctorate in economics for the agricultural economist Edwin F. Dummeier who entered the Chicago program with a year’s worth of graduate credit. Dummeier’s five quarters in Chicago (from Summer 1925 through Summer 1926) in residence seems to be a lower bound at a time when the official regulations had been changed to state that as a general rule three years residence in graduate studies were expected of Ph.D. degree candidates. 

It appears to me that Dummeier’s undergraduate degree at L.S.U. was the result of regular summer school attendance while teaching/administering during the regular school year. His collection of graduate credits from the Universities of California, Wisconsin, and Colorado also show a considerable portion of summer school credit. It is interesting to see that he could apparently be appointed the principal of a Louisiana high school without having a completed college education. 

________________________

Brief c.v. of Edwin Ferdinand Dummeier

1887, April 4. Born in Metropolis, Illinois.

1910-1917. Principal of Leesville, Louisiana High School

1917-1918. Principal of Minden High School, Webster Parish, Louisiana.

1918. A.B. Louisiana State University

1921. M.A. University of Colorado.

1921-23. Instructor in economics, Washington State College (Pullman, WA).

1923-1925. Assistant Professor, Washington State College (Pullman, WA).

1926. Ph.D. University of Chicago. Thesis: The marketing of Pacific coast fruits in Chicago.

1926-46. Professor of Economics, State College of Washington, Pullman, Wash.

1944, June 19. Married Binna Mason, school teacher

1946, June 17. Died in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Biggest publication:

Edwin F Dummeier and Richard Brooks Heflebower. Economics: with applications to agriculture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1940.

________________________

Dummeier’s application for graduate credit towards an economics Ph.D. from Chicago

The University of Chicago
The Graduate School of Arts and Literature
Office of the Dean

August 19, 1925

Mr. J. A. Field
Faculty Exchange:

I enclose application for graduate credit from Mr. Edwin F. Dummeier who is a graduate student in residence this quarter. While he is doing most of his work in Commerce and Administration at present, he wishes to go into Political Economy, and so I am asking you to estimate the amount of credit in Pol. Econ. that ought to be given in majors and in quarters for the work he lists. Please return the certificates from the University of California and the University of Wisconsin.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
G. J. Laing
Dean

GJL:M

________________________

Department will recognize three quarters of graduate work

August 29, 1925

Dean G. J. Laing
University of Chicago
Faculty Exchange

My dear Mr. Laing:

I enclose herewith application for graduate credit for Edwin F. Dummeier which I have certified as representing in my judgment the substantial equivalent of three quarters of graduate work in Political Economy.

Sincerely yours,

[unsigned copy, J.A. Field]

JAF:MLH
Enclosure

________________________

Dummeier proposing his examination fields and requesting departmental review of all his coursework to identify any further course requirements

5757 University Avenue, Chicago, Illinois,
January 21, 1926

Professor L.C. Marshall, Chairman,
Department of Political Economy
The University of Chicago.

Dear Sir:

Announcements from the Department of Political Economy to persons intending to become candidates for the Ph.D. degree state that “the candidate, subject to the advice and approval of the Department,” may choose his fields for specialization and written examination from designated lists. Other announcements of the University state that in the Graduate Schools of Arts, Literature and Science the courses to be offered must be “approved by the Deans of the Graduate Schools at least six months before the degree is conferred. The individual courses must receive the approval of the heads of the departments concerned.” It is also stated that the Department of Political Economy will ordinarily approve as an essential part of a student’s preparation for the degree a considerable amount of work in allied departments.”

In consideration of these announcements I am herby submitting the following statement of fields which, with the approval of the Department, I propose to designate as fields of specialization and examination: (1) General Economic Theory; (2) Market Structures and Functions, this being the thesis field; (3) The Pecuniary and Financial System; (4) Transportation and Communication.

Furthermore, I am submitting a list of courses in the past pursued and a statement of courses which I have taught, in order that the Department may take definite action of a character which will enable me to plan my work in the future with an assurance that all course requirements are being met.

My undergraduate work included courses in the principles of economics and accounting. It also included courses in history and political science.

Graduate work thus far completed and courses for which I am registered for this quarter are as follows:

Political Economy

At the University of Colorado, six quarters, 1919-1921
Money and Banking 24 weeks 2 hours per week
Taxation 36 weeks 2 hours per week
Socialism 24 weeks 2 hours per week
Immigration 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Business Organization 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Seminar in Economics 12 weeks 2 hours per week
Thesis, “Financing Public Education in Colorado,” 6 quarter hours credit.

 

At the University of California, summer 1923
Transportation, principles [& Hist. (Dixon)] 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Transportation, current problems 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Pacific Coast Rate Problems 6 weeks 5 hours per week

 

At the University of Wisconsin, summer 1924
The Classical Economists [Physiocrats thru J. S. Mill] 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Farmer Movements 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Statistics 6 weeks 7½ hours per week

 

At the University of Chicago, summer, spring, and winter Qtrs. 1925-26
Course No.
334 Money and Prices 1 major
388A Cooperative Marketing 1 major
388B Marketing Farm Products 1 major
301 Neoclassical Economics 1 major
345 Personnel Administration 1 major
386 Terminal Marketing Research 1 major
C & A. 375 Business Forecasting 1 major
335 Bus.Finance and Investment 1 major
499 Terminal Marketing Research 1 major

 

Sociology

At the University of Colorado, 1919-1921
Social Problems (poverty) 12 weeks 2 hours per week
Rural Sociology 12 weeks 2 hours per week
Psychological Sociology 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Social Viewpoints and Attitudes 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Criminology 12 weeks 2 hours per week

 

History

At the University of Colorado, 1919-1921
Colonization of North America 24 weeks 2 hours per week
The Westward Movement 6 weeks 5 hours per week

 

Education

At the University of Colorado, 1919-1921
History and Philosophy of Education 24 weeks 3 hours per week
Seminar in Education 24 weeks 2 hours per week

 

Political Science

At the University of Colorado, 1919-1921
Municipal Functions and Problems 12 weeks 3 hours per week
International Law 12 weeks 3 hours per week
World Govt. and Politics 6 weeks 5 hours per week
Political Parties and Party Problems 24 weeks 2 hours per week

 

Summary

Majors

Work in Political Economy at other institutions, certified by the Department of Political Economy of the University of Chicago as equivalent to…
Work in Political Economy at the University of Chicago… 9
Work in Sociology at other institutions, certified by the Dept. of Sociology of the Univ. of Chicago as equiv. to …
Work in History at other institutions, certified by the Dept. of History of the Univ. of Chicago as equiv. to…
Work in Education at other institutions, certified by the School of Education of the Univ. of Chicago as equiv. to… 2
Work in Pol. Science at other institutions, certified by the Dept. of Pol. Science of the Univ. of Chicago as equiv. to… 3
Total majors in Political Economy… 17½
Total majors in other subjects… 9
Grand Total… 26½

 

For the past four years I have been a member of the faculty of the Department of Economics of the State College of Washington, for the past three years with the rank of assistant professor of economics. During this time I have taught the following subjects, having given courses in all of these subjects several times: (1) Economic Geography; (2) Foreign Trade; (3) Railway Transportation; (4) Agricultural Economics; (5) Marketing Farm Products; (6) Co-operative Marketing of Farm Products; (7) Money and Banking; (8) Principles of Economics, elementary and intermediate courses.

For the spring quarter I am planning to register for Political Economy 303, Modern Tendencies in Economics, to continue the research work on my thesis subject, and if advised to do so to register for one additional course. I do not expect to be able to complete the thesis by the close of the spring quarter, but am trusting that I may be able to meet all course requirements and to complete the thesis and take the thesis examination before the close of the summer quarter.

It appears evident that my course requirements are dependent upon the amount of work in allied departments, consisting of courses already completed in other institutions, which will be approved by the Department as a part of the preparation for the degree. I am submitting this statement in the hope that I may have from the Department at an early date definite notification of the courses which I shall have yet to complete in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree.

Certified transcripts of records of courses completed at other institutions and of the valuations placed upon this work by the various departments of the University of Chicago, as enumerated in this communication, are on file in the office of the Deans of the Graduate Schools.

Respectfully yours,
[signed]
Edwin F. Dummeier

________________________

Dummeier proposing his doctoral thesis subject

5757 University Avenue, Chicago, Illinois,
January 21, 1926

Professor L.C. Marshall, Chairman,
Department of Political Economy
The University of Chicago.

Dear Sir:

I am hereby presenting for your approval the subject and a brief prospectus of the thesis which I propose later to submit in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Economy. The subject of the proposed thesis is “The Marketing of Pacific Coast Fruits in Chicago”.

While the prospectus is designed to give some idea of the general nature of the proposed study, it does not indicate the degrees of relative intensity with which it is proposed to treat the various phases of the general subject. All phases will be treated to the extent of critically surveying the existing literature pertaining to them and making some supplementary field study. But the study as a whole will be based not on existing literature, but on original field observations and a study of commercial records. As an exhaustive study of all phases of proposed subject by these methods is beyond the capacity of any one individual it is proposed to investigate with much more detail some phases than others. The degree with which this specialization will be devoted to particular ones of the subheads listed in the outline will depend in part upon the degree of cooperation received from the trade and, therefore cannot be definitely stated in advance. Representative, however, as a phase of the general subject in regard to which there is at the present time only the most meager published information and which may be studied is the fruit and vegetable auction as a marketing institution. As the auction is mostly used in connection with the marketing of Pacific Coast products this would be a natural subdivision of the main subject.

The whole study has as its primary object the evaluation of existing methods in regard to these products as to their social efficiency and social significance.

Yours respectfully,
[signed]
E. F. Dummeier

Thesis
THE MARKETING OF PACIFIC COAST FRUITS IN CHICAGO

Chapter

  1. Introduction
    1. The importance of the study
    2. Method of treatment
      1. Emphasis on a few commodities, especially apples
      2. Emphasis on change and development in marketing methods
    3. Specific objectives
      1. Primary objective: To evaluate comparative merits of different methods of performing marketing services.
      2. Secondary objectives: To show the relation of Chicago to the producing areas; to describe physical facilities of the market and the physical movements of these products thru the market; to determine costs of marketing these products and reasons for these costs; to examine factors influencing demand and to examine trends of change and their causes.
  2. Chicago and the Regions of Supply
    1. Data on production, arrivals, and unloads at Chicago. Data on storage movements and reshipments from Chicago.
    2. The historical development of the industry, its present status, and its current trends.
  3. The Physical Facilities of the Market and Physical Commodity Movements
    1. Transportation services and facilities
    2. Wholesale receiving
    3. Auctions
    4. Peddlers
    5. Retailers
  4. Carload Distributors, Brokers, and Carload Receivers
    1. Numbers and classes of dealers
    2. Marketing services performed and trade practices
    3. Charges for services
  5.  Auctions
    1. Extent of movement thru auctions
    2. Auction methods
    3. Auction charges
  6. Jobbers and Shippers
    1. Numbers and classes of dealers
    2. Methods of buying and selling
    3. Margins and costs
  7.  Retailers
    1. Numbers and classes of dealers
    2. Methods of buying and selling
    3. Margins and costs
  8. Marketing Costs
    1. Critical consideration of marketing costs, especially of oranges and apples, on the basis of differences in marketing methods employed until time of sale to jobbers.
    2. Particular consideration of the desirability of selling at auction.
  9. Marketing Costs (Continued)
    1. Critical consideration of marketing costs subsequent to time of sale to jobbers
  10. Factors Influencing Demand
  11. Summary and General Conclusions

________________________

Department approves Dummeier’s thesis subject

January 27, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

The Department of Political Economy accepts as your thesis subject “The Marketing of Pacific Coast Fruits in Chicago.”

It is our understanding that you will carry on work in connection with this thesis under Mr. Duddy.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy, L.C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Department Head Marshall asks his colleague to double-check the Dummeier transcripts for possible feedback

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy
February 1, 1926

Mr. C. W. Wright
University of Chicago
Faculty Exchange

My dear Mr. Wright:

I enclose a letter from Mr. Dummeier. I have written him concerning the field “Transportation and Communication.” Perhaps you will wish to look over his statement of courses and credits to see if any action needs to be taken concerning them.

Yours very sincerely,
[signed]
L.C. Marshall

LCM:MLH
Enclosure

________________________

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy

Edwin F. Dummeier

A. B. University of Louisiana, 1918
A. M. University of Colorado, 1921

Summer Quarter, 1925

Pol Econ. 334 A
C & A 388 A
C & A 388B A

French and German Exams. Passed. Sept. 1, 1925

Grad. Work in other insti. September 1, 1925

University of Colorado
Soc. (Faris) 2½ majors
Residence credit 1 Quarter

Grad. work in other insti. September 3, 1925

University of Colorado
Pol. Econ. (Field) 5½ majors
Residence credit 2 Quarters

 

University of California and Wisconsin
Pol. Econ. (Field) 3 majors
Residence credit 1 Quarter

 

Autumn Quarter, 1925

Pol Econ. 301 A
C & A 313 [blank]
C & A 345 A
C & A 385 A
C & A 386 A

 

Grad. work in other insti. Jan 4, 1925

University of Colorado
Educ. (C.H. Judd) 2
Pol. Sci. (C.E. Merriam) 3
Residence Credit 1 Quarter
History (C.F. Huth) 1 ½
Residence Credit ½ Quarter

________________________

Department requests clarification regarding the proposed field “Transportation and Communication”

February 1, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

It seems entirely probable that the Department will approve the four fields suggested in your letter of January 21st.

The Department has, however, asked me to secure from you a more detailed statement of your understanding of the territory that would be covered by the field “Transportation and Communication.”

Yours very sincerely,

[Unsigned: L. C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Schedule of written field examinations

February 2, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

This is just to let you know that I have you scheduled to take the following examinations on the dates mentioned.

February 13, Economic Theory. 8:30 A.M.

February 20th, Pecuniary and Financial Systems, 8:30 A.M.

February 27th, Transportation and Communication 8:30 A.M.

The questions will be given out at Harper E 57. Please let me know at once if the above schedule is incorrect.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: Margaret McKugo]

MM:MLH

________________________

Dummeier clarifies his understanding of the field “Transportation and Communication”

5757 University Avenue, Chicago, Illinois,
February 4, 1926

Professor L.C. Marshall, Chairman,
Department of Political Economy
The University of Chicago.

Dear Sir:

In reply to your letter of February 1st I am hereby submitting the following as my understanding of the territory that would be covered by the field “Transportation and Communication”, which was proposed by me as one of my fields of specialization in my candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.

As to agencies, I understand the field to include all the agencies of land and water transportation. Major emphasis should, however, be placed upon railway transportation in the United States. Agencies supplying communication other than physical transportation would include the telephone and telegraph. As compared with railway transportation these are of less importance, and as they present relatively few distinctive problems they may be said to be somewhat incidental to the main field.

With regard to the above mentioned agencies consideration should be given to phenomena and problems of the character of those with which Political Economy in general concerns itself. These should include the following:

  1. The historical development of the various transportation agencies,
  2. The services performed and economic significance of the various agencies,
  3. Theories of rate making, particularly railway rates,
  4. Rate making practices and rate systems,
  5. Railroad finance,
  6. Sufficient knowledge of the technic of operation to be able to consider intelligently questions of public policy with regard to railroads and other transportation agencies,
  7. The economic and legal bases of the regulation of public carriers and the history of their public promotion and regulation,
  8. Various present day transportation problems in which the general public has an interest, such as valuation, consolidation, and government ownership or operation.

The above indicates the general scope and to some extent the relative emphasis of the constituent parts of the field of Transportation and Communication as a field of Political Economy as I understand it.

Most respectfully yours,
[signed]
Edwin F. Dummeier

________________________

Wright’s Response to Marshall’s Feb. 1, 1926 Inquiry

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
The School of Commerce and Administration

Memorandum to Marshall from Wright
[no date, but probably early Feb. 1926]

After surveying Mr. Dummeier’s record of courses taken, it seems to me that in the four fields chosen he has not covered the following.

Theory: History of Theory. Only partly covered.

Unsettled Problems. He plans to take this in the Spring.

Marketing: Advertising. I am not certain as to this.

Transportation: Public Control of Railroads.

Of the specific general requirement he has covered Statistics and Accounting but not Economic History of the U.S. I gathered from the discussion at the Dept. meeting that the members of the Department would refuse to tell him specific courses that were required, though personally I do not consider this a reasonable attitude.

C.W.W.

________________________

Response of Department to Dummeier’s follow-up regarding his examination field “Transportation and Communication”

March 2, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5737 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

I spoke to Mr. Wright and he told me that your recommendation had come before the Department, but he could not at this time give you a written statement concerning it. He is turning your letter over to Mr. Marshall who will write you as soon as he returns to the office.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: Margaret McKugo]

MM:MLH

________________________

Economics Department Record of Dummeier’s Written Ph.D. Examination Grades
(First attempt)

Winter Qr. 1926

E. F. Dummeier

Economic Theory

Viner — Pass Fair
Clark — B

Pec. And Fin. Sys.

Mints — Failed
Wright — C
Meech — Failed

Trans. & Com.

Clark — Passed
Sorrell — [Blank]
Duddy — Passed

________________________

Department’s decisions
regarding credits recognized
plus advice on “possible gaps”

March 16, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

After examining your credits as officially certified by various departmental representatives it seems clear that you have met the general requirements as far as the total number of majors is concerned.

The only issues outstanding are these:

  1. There is a requirement that a candidate for the doctor’s degree shall have covered work in the Economic History of the United States. I am uncertain whether you have taken care of this requirement.
  2. You will, of course, need to be prepared to pass the examinations in four fields. As you know no specific courses are required in connection with these examinations. The candidate is expected to work up each field in a rather comprehensive way.

Certain questions arise in my mind with respect to these examinations. Have you prepared yourself in the field of Public Control of Railroads? Have you done so in the general field of Advertising? Have you done so in the History of Economic Thought? You will, I am sure, realize that these inquiries do not indicate the necessity of your taking specific courses in these territories. I mention them merely as possible gaps in your thinking in these fields.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: L. C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Dummeier informed that he passed two of his three written examinations
[Carbon copy]

March 24, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

The final reports for the written examinations taken by you during the Winter Quarter, 1926 in partial satisfaction for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy are as follows:

Economic Theory — Passed

Pecuniary and Financial System — Failed

Transportation and Communication — Passed

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: L. C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Economics Department Record of Dummeier’s Written Examination Grades
(Second attempt: Pecuniary and Financial Systems Field)

Pecuniary and Financial Systems

Mints — Pass
Cox — Pass

________________________

Dummeier told he successfully passes his third written examinations
[Carbon copy]

June 8, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

I am pleased to report that you have passed the Pecuniary and Financial System examination, taken in the Spring Quarter, 1926, in partial satisfaction for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: L. C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Dummeier’s Principal Advisor not in Chicago during the summer quarter (when the thesis is expected to be completed and submitted)

The University of Chicago
Local Community Research Committee
Address: Faculty Exchange. The University of Chicago

June 7, 1926

Mr. L.C. Marshall, Dean
Department of Political Economy
University of Chicago

Dear Mr. Marshall:

My absence during the Summer Quarter means that some one must supervise the students who have been working under me in community research. Mr. Dummeier, who plans to get his degree in Political Economy, is quite well along with his work and I should like to recommend that either Mr. Wright or Mr. Viner look after him. He is going to develop a section on price study and Viner would be a help there.

The other men, Davidson, Journey and Weaver, are planning to come up in Commerce and Administration, and I am making recommendations to Mr. Spencer to take care of them. In the case of all of these men, I shall want to read copies of their theses as they come in. Both Mr. Dummeier and Mr. Journey have their outlines fully developed and have begun to write.

Yours very truly,

[signed]
E.A. Duddy

EAD:JS

________________________

Department Head Marshall turns to Jacob Viner
for last-minute thesis advice

June 8, 1926

[Memorandum to:] Jacob Viner

[From:] L. C. Marshall

Mr. Dummeier has been working with Mr. Duddy, but Mr. Duddy is to be away this coming summer. I wonder if you would be willing to look after Mr. Dummeier’s work on the thesis since he is planning to develop a section on price study.

The matter is one upon which the Department needs to take action in view of the fact that Mr. Dummeier plans to take his degree in Political Economy.

LCM:MLH

_______________________

Viner “gratefully” accepts the “chore”

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy

June 10, 1926

Mr. L. C. Marshall
Faculty Exchange

My dear Mr. Marshall:

You may send on Mr. Dummeier to me. I will take over the job of supervision of his research during Mr. Duddy’s absence, inasmuch as I have been unable to think up a good excuse for evading the chore.

Gratefully yours,
[signed]
Jacob Viner

_______________________

Notification that Viner Will Serve as Substitute Research Supervisor

June 17, 1926

Mr. E. F. Dummeier
5757 University Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

My dear Mr. Dummeier:

I have had a note from Mr. Viner indicating his willingness to supervise your research in Mr. Duddy’s absence.

Yours very sincerely,
[Unsigned copy: L. C. Marshall]

LCM:MLH

________________________

Official Examination Notice for E. F. Dummeier
(with Prof. Meech’s scribbled note that he will be unable to attend)

________________________

COURSES PRESENTED BY EDWIN F. DUMMEIER
FOR THE DEGREE Ph.D. IN ECONOMICS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Majors
Pol. Econ. 334 Money and Prices. Hardy 1
C & A 388 B Marketing Farm Products, Weld 1
C & A 388 A Cooperative Farm Marketing. Jesness 1
Pol. Econ. 301 Neo-Classical Economics. Viner 1
C & A 345. Personnel Administration. Stone 1
C & A 386 Terminal Marketing Research. Duddy 1
C & A 355 Business Finance and Investment. Meech 1
C & A 375 Business Forecasting. Cox 1
Pol. Econ. 499 Terminal Marketing Research Duddy 3
Pol. Econ. 499 Terminal Marketing Research. Viner 3
TOTAL 14

Graduate Work at Other Institutions

Economics
Transportation. Principles Univ. of Cal. Dixon
Transportation. Current Problem[s]. Univ. of Cal. Dixon
Pacific Coast Rate Problems. Univ. of Cal. Harraman
Farmer Movements. Univ. of Wis. Hibbard
The Classical Economists. Univ. of Wis. Scott
Statistics. Univ. of Wis. Lescohier
Money and Banking. Univ. of Colo. Ingram
Taxation. Univ. of Colo. Ingram
Immigration. Univ. of Colo. Ingram
Business Organization. Univ. of Colo. Ingram
Seminar in Economics. Univ. of Colo. Bushee
Thesis “Financing Public Education in Colorado.”
Total (Field)
Economics Total   22½

 

 

Education Total Judd 2
Sociology Total Faris
Political Science Total Merriam 3
History Total Huth
Grand Total   31½

 

________________________

Memo from Millis announcing/reminding about oral examination date
[Carbon copy]

The University of Chicago
The Department of Political Economy

August 17, 1926

Memorandum to:

N. W. Barnes [Associate Professor of Marketing]
P. A. Douglas [Associate Professor of Industrial Relations]
L. H. Grinstead [Visiting Assistant Professor from Ohio State University]
G. G. Huebner [Visiting Professor from the U. of Pennsylvania]
L. C. Sorrell [Assistant Professor of Transportation and Communication]
Jacob Viner [Professor of Political Economy]
C. W. Wright [Professor of Political Economy]

From: H. A. Millis

This is just to let you know that E. F. Dummeier will come up for his oral examination on Monday, August 23, at 3 o’clock in Harper E 57.

If it is impossible for you to be present will you please notify Miss McKugo in Harper E 57?

________________________

Memo from Millis announcing/reminding about oral examination date
[Carbon copy]

[Memorandum To:] L. S. Lyon [Visiting Professor from Robert Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government]

[From: H. A. Millis]

August 18, 1926

This is just to let you know that E. F. Dummeier will come up for his oral examination on Monday, August 23, at 3 o’clock in Harper E 57.

If it is impossible for you to be present will you please notify Miss McKugo in Harper E 57?

________________________

A “Thank-you” to Marshall for his support
Note: Dunnmeier’s article on auctions apparently never published

 

The State College of Washington
Pullman, Washington
Department of Business Administration

December 28, 1926.

Professor Leon C. Marshall
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Professor Marshall:

I am enclosing herewith a review of Benton’s “Marketing of Farm Products” for the Journal of Political Economy. I had hoped to have gotten this review to you at an earlier date, but teaching duties have kept me so busy as to delay its completion somewhat longer than I anticipated.

Not long ago I received a letter from professor Duddy, in which he stated that you had spoken to him with regard to my writing an article for the Journal on the fruit auction as a marketing agency, the article to be based on my first hand research work in Chicago. I have started the preparation of such an article and hope to submit it within the very near future.

I have found on my return to my duties here that my year at the University of Chicago has been of very large benefit to me, and I continue to feel most grateful to you for your part in making that year possible.

Most cordially yours,
[signed]
E. F. Dummeier

EFD/EIB

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Economics Department. Records & Addenda. Box 6, Folder 12.

Image: “Dummeier Rites Are Held Today,” Spokane Chronicle, June 18, 1946.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Faculty Regulations

Chicago. Economics A.M. requirements amended to become “Consolation Prize”. Lewis and Schultz, 1950

 

In 1950 the Chicago economics department voted to convert its master’s degree into an award for the successful partial completion of its Ph.D. program. It was to serve as a “consolation prize” for good graduate students but those found not to have the right “Ph.D. stuff” (H. Gregg Lewis’ words in his memo of Sept. 29, 1950 to chairman T. W. Schultz, transcribed below). I have also included the relevant portion of the distributional and examination requirements for the Ph.D. that had already formed part of the so-called “alternate departmental master’s degree”. H. Gregg Lewis’ proposal was largely accepted by the department (minutes from the meeting of November 2, 1950 transcribed below), thereby eliminating distinct tracks for its A.M. and Ph.D. degree programs, respectively.

_______________________

ALTERNATIVE DEPARTMENTAL MASTER’S DEGREE
[1950-51 regulations]

Upon request the Department will consider recommending for the Master’s degree candidates who have satisfied the distribution requirement for the Ph.D. degree and have passed with satisfactory standing the three written field examinations for the Ph.D. degree. One modern foreign language is required. In place of a thesis such candidates may present an acceptable paper or report on a problem approved by the Department.

[…]

Distributional requirement [Ph.D.]. The candidate is expected to have familiarity with the subject matter equivalent to that covered in at least one course (200 or 300 level of reasonable comprehensivenss in each of ten fields (five required and five elected), satisfactory evidence of which can be provided by course credit or by passing a special examination. The required fields are: (a) economic theory, (b) accounting, (c) statistics, (d) economic history, and (e) money, banking, and monetary policy. The fields from which five may be elected are: (f) consumption economics, (g) industrial relations, (h) monopoly and public utilities, (i) agricultural economics, (j) government finance, (k) international economic relations, and (l) substitute fields, but not in excess of two, proposed by the candidate and approved by the Departmental counselor or the Department. One or both of these substitute fields may be outside the Department of Economics, and in general some work outside the Department is recommended with a view to rounding out a program appropriate for the individual student. In case of students transferring from other institutions, adequate training in general history may be substituted for economic history upon the written recommendation of the Departmental counselor.

Preliminary written field examinations [Ph.D.]. In each of three fields of specialization, in addition to presenting course credit or special examinations to show satisfactory preparation, the candidate will be required to pass a written examination.

The candidate is expected to select the three fields of specialization—a primary field and two secondary fields—for intensive graduate work. The primary field is that in which the [Ph.D.] thesis will be written. One of the three fields (primary or secondary) must be that of economic theory, including monetary theory. The fields from which selection is to be made are listed above under the heading “Distributional Requirement,” except that accounting may not be chosen as a field without approval of the Department. One secondary field of specialization may be a field named by the candidate outside the list above, and this may be in a department other than Economics. A secondary field may also be developed under one of the interdepartmental committees of specialization International Relations, Human Development, Planning or Social Thought. The program of work proposed, which ordinarily will include four to five courses, must be approved by the Department. No other secondary field may replace the required field in economic theory.* Students should consult with the Departmental counselor with respect to appropriate programs of work in preparation for the field examinations. The field examinations are given by the Department in the sixth and seventh weeks of the Winter and summer quarters. Application for any field examination should be made not later than the end of the first week of the quarter in which the examination is to be taken.

*Students who take the field examination in money, banking, and monetary policy will not be required to write the monetary theory part of the economic theory examination.

 

Source: University of Chicago, Announcements. The Division of the Social Sciences, Sessions of 1950-1951, Vol. L, Number 9 (July 20, 1950), pp. 25-26.

_______________________

ECONOMIC COURSES LISTED IN THE LEWIS MEMO (29 Sept 1950) AND INCLUDED IN THE DEPARTMENTAL MINUTES (2 Nov 1950)

209. Intermediate Economic Theory. (Procter Thomson/Harold Gregg Lewis) Designed for students majoring in economics. Deals with factors controlling production, value and relative prices, and distribution.

211. Introduction to Statistics. (Harold Gregg Lewis) Elementary principles of statistics. Main topics: frequency distributions, averages, dispersion, index numbers, elements of the theory of statistical inference.

220. Economic History of the United States. (Earl J. Hamilton) Facts and factors in American’s economic growth from the Colonial period to World War II, including the development of agriculture, industry, commerce, finance, and transportation; economic effects of wars; role of the entrepreneur; rise in living standards; unrest and utopias in periods of stagnation; commercial crises and economic basis of cultural progress.

222. The Rise of Industrial Civilization in Europe. (John Ulrich Nef) Economic development in its relation to religious, political, intellectual and artistic history since the seventeenth century.

230. Introduction to Money and Banking. (Milton Friedman/Lloyd Wynn Mints) Factors which determine the value of money in the short and in the long run; and operation of the commercial banking system and in relation to the price level and general business activity.

240. Introduction to Industrial Relations. (Albert E. Rees) The nature of the labor market; government regulation of wages; social security; the history, structure, and functions of American labor unions; and collective bargaining. Special attention is given to current problems of public policy.

255. Introduction to Agricultural Economics. (D. Gale Johnson). Nature of resources used in agriculture. Prices, production, resource allocation, and income distribution. Analysis of government programs, subsidies, storages, crop control, soil conservation, food-stamp plan.

260. Introduction to Government Finance. (Richard B. Goode) Survey of institutions and theories of government finance. Effects of public expenditures; functions of public revenue; forms of taxation; tax criteria; determination of tax policy; public borrowing; debt management; fiscal policy.

270. International Economics. (Bert F. Hoselitz) The nature of international payments and receipts; foreign trade and banking system. The gold standard in the interwar period. The breakdown of the gold standard and the period of fluctuating exchange rates. Exchange controls, clearing agreements and payments agreements. The second world war and the foreign exchange markets. The position of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the present world economy.

271. Economic Aspects of International Politics. (Bert F. Hoselitz) An introductory survey, with particular reference to the United States, of the economic policies and activities of governments. Topics: international specialization of production and the distribution of world resources, structure of international exchanges and the mechanism of international transfer of goods and services; tariffs and other regulatory measures; trade agreements and the most-favored nation clause; international flow of capital and investment; the position of the ITO, the IMF, the ECA and other official agencies in international trade and exchange.

300A, 300B. Price Theory. (W. Allen Wallis 300A/Lloyd A. Metzler 300B/Milton Friedman 300B) A systematic study of the pricing of final products and factors of production under essentially stationary conditions. Covers both perfect competition and such imperfectly competitive conditions as monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. 300A deals primarily with the pricing of final products; 300B, with the pricing of factors of production.

Source: University of Chicago, Announcements. The Division of the Social Sciences, Sessions of 1950-1951, Vol. L, Number 9 (July 20, 1950), pp. 27-28.

_______________________

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

September 29, 1950

To        T. W. Schultz

From   H.G. Lewis

In Re: Requirements for the Master’s Degree

This is an elaboration of comments made to you this summer concerning the Master’s degree.

I should like to recommend the following changes in our requirements for the A.M. degree:

  1. That the distinction between the “regular” A.M. and the “alternative” A.M. be abolished.
  2. That the departmental requirements for the A.M degree consist of the following alteration of the present alternative A.M. requirements:
    1. A distribution requirement covering five (rather than the present eight) fields of economics of which theory, statistics, and money and banking shall be mandatory. Students who do not hold the traditional A.B. degree must meet the requirement by passing satisfactorily a qualifying examination coving the subject matter of Economics 209, 211 (unless the student has passed the Divisional qualifying examination), 230, and two courses chose from 220, 222, 240, 255, 260, 270, 271.1/ Students holding the traditional A.B. may meet the requirement by showing equivalent course credit.
    2. The passing of two Ph.D. field examinations (with Part I of the Theory exam counting as a full exam) at a satisfactory level (that is, at either the Ph.D. level or at a level somewhat lower but not so low as not to warrant blessing the candidate with a Master’s degree).2/
    3. A showing of competence in economic principles; made either by passing (at the A.M. level or higher) Part I of the Theory examination, by course credits or course examinations in Economics 300A and 300B, or by equivalent course credit.

I would recommend that the changes in requirements become effective as of the beginning of the Summer Quarter, 1951 for students entering the Department in that and later quarters.

1/ This qualifying examination is now offered every quarter. This is an extravagant use of faculty. I should like to see the exam offered only once a year. Furthermore, I should like to permit students to substitute course grades for all or part of the exam provided the course grades are for courses taken here and provided they are not at a level lower than B.

2/ There would be therefore no special examinations for A.M.’s, but the examinations would be graded into three levels: passing for the Ph.D. and A.M. degrees, passing for the A.M. degree but not for the Ph.D., failing for both.

I would urge students to give requirement (b) high priority in preparing their programs of study.

Since the ends sought by these changes can be reached in other ways, I specify below what these ends are.

I view our principal instructional purpose as that of training high-level (Ph.D. and beyond) professional economists. I think we ought to view our training of “junior” economists and the awarding of the A.M. degree only as an incident arising from the fact that at the time a student applies for admission to the department, we cannot predict accurately either his calibre as a student or his academic goals.

It seems to me that the requirements for the Master’s degree should meet these tests:

  1. They should include no requirements which the Department would not make for the Ph.D. degree. Otherwise both student and faculty time will be spent in activities extraneous to the training of high-level economists. The present alternative A.M. meets this test but the regular A.M. does not.
  2. The requirements should be at a level high enough to be respected by the academic world. Both present degrees meet this test, I believe.
  3. But the standards for the degree should not be so high that potentially able Ph.D. candidates will be deterred from entering because of the considerable risk that if they fail to meet Ph.D. standards they will also fail to meet A.M. standards. If we set standards for the A.M. that are almost as likely not to be met as the Ph.D. standards we hold out no “consolation prize” to those good students who are fearful of not being able to meet Ph.D. standards. The present alternative A.M. requirements do not meet this test.

One of the ways by which we can raise the calibre of our Ph.D. candidates without reducing our enrollment is to increase the number of students who are given an opportunity to show at close hand their potentialities to us and to screen out at an earlier date those who are not of Ph.D. stuff. I am confident that quite accurate screening can take place ordinarily by the end of the first year of graduate residence. I contemplate our using the A.M. requirements as a screening device; the present alternative A.M. is not satisfactory from that point of view since it postpones too long the screening decision.

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics Records. Box 41, Folder “41.8”.

_______________________

MINUTES
Meeting of the Department

Time and Place: Thursday, November 2, 1950, at 1:00 p.m. in Room 424, Social Science Research Building.

Present: T. W. Schultz (chairman), H. G. Lewis, A. Rees, R. Goode, G. Tolley, D. G. Johnson, F. H. Harbison, J. Marschak, C. Hildreth, F. Knight, L. Metzler.

  1. Handling of Student Business
    It was agreed that all bona fide applications for admission to candidacy filed this quarter would be considered as falling under present degree requirements even though Departmental action does not take place until Winter quarter.
  2. Ford Foundation
    Schultz stated that as a Department we have an obligation to ourselves, to the University, and to the community more largely to think through carefully the problem of making the best use of the Ford Foundation’s present grant of $300,000 to the University as well as possible later grants. There was a brief general discussion of the problem.
  3. Departmental Rules Governing Residence and Availability to Students
    Schultz pointed out that in the current year we have been able for the first time to reduce direct teaching loads for most of our members to four courses per year or less. This reduction, he pointed out, makes it desirable that the Department impose upon itself rules governing residence and availability to students and others in the university community lest they be imposed upon us from outside. The problem of rules for residence involves not only a rule stipulating in some way minimum residence, but also the question of whether “free” quarters out of residence should be considered a matter of a right accruing to an individual from his residence or a privilege dependent upon ad hoc decisions made by the Department chairman and the Dean. Schultz expressed himself as being in favor of a rule somewhat similar to the rules for accumulating sabbatical leave under a 3Q contract. In addition there is the problem of insuring, perhaps by rule, “availability” when in residence. The formulation of appropriate rules is to come before the Department for its consideration in the Winter quarter.
  4. The Department considered Lewis’ recommendations for changes in the A.M. requirements. (See attached memo. [above]) the following amendment of Lewis’ recommendation was passed:
    1. That the distinction between the regular A.M. and the “alternative” A.M. degrees be abolished.
    2. That the Departmental requirements for the A.M. degree consist of the following:
      1. A distribution requirement to be met by passing a “Qualifying” examination covering the subject matter of Economics 209, 211 (unless the student has passed the Divisional qualifying examination) 220 or 222, 230 and two courses chosen from 240, 255, 260, 270, and 271. Students holding the traditional A.B. may satisfy the requirement by equivalent course credit.
      2. The passing of two Ph.D. field examinations (with Part I of the Theory examination counting as an examination) at a satisfactory level of A.M. candidates.
      3. A showing of competence in economic principles; made either by (at the A.M. level or higher) Part I of the Theory examination, by course credits or examinations in Economics 300A and 300B, or by equivalent course credit.
      4. An acceptable paper or report on a problem approved by the Department. The paper will be read by two members of the Department of which the course instructor will be one in the event the student submits a term paper prepared for a course.

The above changes in requirements are to become effective as of the beginning of the Summer quarter, 1951 for students entering the Department in that and later quarters.

It was understood that the above motion in no way changes present preliminary examinations or other requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Professor Knight asked the minutes to show his objection to dropping Economics 210 (Accounting) from the requirements for the A.M. degree.

  1. Student Business
    1. Petitions

Lawrence Bostow’s petition for approval of French and Russian as languages for the Ph.D. was approved.

Mr. H. M. Herlihy’s petition for the field of “Social Organization” (Sociology Department) as his third field for the Ph.D. degree was approved.

Mr. John Holsen’s petition for a third Ph.D. field in Planning (Planning Department) was approved. Mr. Johnson, his counselor, was asked to inform Mr. Holsen, however, that this approval does not entitle Holsen to shorten his total program in Economics for the Ph.D.

Mr. Edward Mishan’s petition for approval of Spanish as a Ph.D. language was denied.

    1. Admission to Candidacy

Mr. Howard Ammerman’s application for admission and for approval of a thesis topic was moved to the bottom of the list of applications.

Mr. Rondo E. Cameron’s application for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree was recommended to the Division for approval, contingent upon his passing the Theory examination (written Summer, 1950) and his proposed thesis topic, “French Foreign Investment, 1815-1870,” was approved. Thesis committee: E. J. Hamilton, chairman, L. Metzler, P. Thomson.

After some discussion, Mr. Clifford Clark’s application was moved down the list. Lewis was instructed to advise Clark to consult with Hamilton concerning the latter’s misgivings about the proposed thesis topic, and in addition to confer with Hayek, Knight, and other members of the Department concerning the thesis topic.

Mr. George P. Coutsoumaris’ application for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree was recommended to the Division for approval, contingent on his passing the Theory examination (written Summer, 1950), and his proposed thesis topic, “Possibilities of Increasing Economic Efficiency in Greek Agriculture,” was given qualified approval, the Department suggesting that he limit the topic somewhat preferably to a topic approximately the same as that covered in the sections (VII and VIII) of his outline dealing with capital in Greek agriculture. Thesis committee: D. G. Johnson, chairman, C. Harris, J. Margolis (planning).

Mr. David Fand’s proposed thesis topic, “Monetary Theory of the Federal Reserve Board,” was discussed. It was agreed to come back to it at the next meeting after several more of the members of the Department had an opportunity to discuss the topic with Fand.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m.

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics Records. Box 41, Folder “41.8”.

Images:  University of Chicago Photographic Archive, H. Gregg Lewis [apf1-03861] and T. W. Schultz [apf1-07479], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Economist Market Economists

Chicago. Memos discussing guests to teach during summer quarter, 1927

 

 

Apparently the 1926 summer quarter course planning at the Chicago department of political economy in 1926 was so wild that the head of the department, Leon C. Marshall, decided to start the discussion for 1927 on the second day of Summer, 1926. Four of the seven colleagues responded with quite a few suggestions.

This post provides the first+middle names where needed in square brackets. Also links to webpages with further information about the suggested guests have been added.

______________________

Copy of memo from
Leon Carroll Marshall

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Department of Economics

Memorandum from L. C. Marshall. June 22, 1926

To: C. W. Wright, J. A. Field, H. A. Millis, J. Viner, L. W. Mints, P. H. Douglas, W. H. Spencer

We really must break through the morass we are in with respect to our summer quarter. Partly because of delayed action and partly because of an interminable debating society in such matters we finally get a patched up program which is not as attractive as it should be.

I shall proceed on the basis of the homely philosophy that the way to do something is to do something. I shall try to secure from every member of the group a statement of his best judgment concerning the appropriate course of action for the summer of 1927 and then move at once toward rounding out a program.

Won’t you be good enough to turn in to E57 within the next few days your suggestions and comments with respect to the following issues.

  1. Do you yourself expect to be in residence the summer quarter of 1927?
  2. If you do, what courses do you prefer to teach? Please list more than two courses placing all of the courses in your order of preference. In answering this question, please keep in mind the problem of guiding research. Should you offer a research course?
  3. What are your preferences with respect to hours? Please state them rather fully and give some alternatives so that a schedule may be pieced together.
  4. What courses or subject matter should we be certain to include in the summer of 1927?
  5. What men from outside do you recommend for these courses which we should be certain to include? Please rank them in the order of your preference.
  6. Quite aside from the subject matter which you have recommended above, what persons from the outside ought we try to make contact with if our funds permit? This gives an opportunity to aid in making up the personnel of the summer quarter in all fields.
  7. Please give any other comments or suggestions which occur to you.

Yours very sincerely,

LCM:G

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Jacob Viner

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy

July 1, 1926

Dear Mr. Marshall

I will want to offer 301 (Neo-class Ec.) & 353 (Int Ec. Pol) as usual next summer, though if we have a good outside theorist to give 301, I would like to give a course on Theory of Int Trade in addition to 353. I think we need someone especially in Banking, next in theory. Beyond these we should offer work in some of the following, if we can get first rankers: statistics, private finance, transportation, economic history of Europe & ec. Hist. of U.S.

I suggest the following from which selections could be made:

Banking

Theory Statistics Transportation

Ec. Hist.

[Eugene E.]
Agger

 

[Benjamin Haggott] Beckhart

 

[Allyn Abbott]
A.A. Young

 

[Chester Arthur]
C. A. Phillips

 

[Oliver Mitchell Wentworth]
Sprague

 

[James Harvey] Rogers

 

[Ernest Minor] E.M. Patterson

[Allyn Abbott]
Young

 

[Jacob Harry]
Hollander[Frank Hyneman] Knight

 

[Albert Benedict] Wolfe

 

[Herbert Joseph] Davenport

[Henry Roscoe] Trumbower

 

[Homer Bews] Vanderblue

[Melvin Moses] M.M. Knight

 

[Abbott Payson] A.P. Usher

As other possibilities I suggest [George Ernest] Barnett, [James Cummings] Bonbright, [Edward Dana] Durand, [Edwin Griswold] Nourse, [Sumner Huber] Slichter, John D. [Donald] Black, Holbrook Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen.

[signed]
J Viner

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Paul Howard Douglas

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

June 29, 1926

Professor L. C. Marshall
Faculty Exchange

Dear Mr. Marshall:

You have hit the nail on the head in your proposal to get under way for next summer, and I am very much pleased at your action. Answering your questions specifically may I say—

  1. That I do not expect to be in residence for the summer quarter of 1927.
  2. &3. Since I shall not be in residence no answers to these questions are, I take it, necessary.

 

  1. We should, I think, be certain to include adequate work in the following fields (a) Economic theory, (b) Monetary and banking theory, (c) Labor problems, (d) Statistics and quantitative economics, (e) Taxation and Public finance, (f) Economic history.
  2. As regards men from outside, I would recommend the following in each field: (a) Economic theory—[Herbert Joseph] H. J. Davenport, [John Rogers] J. R. Commons, [Frank Hyneman] F. H. Knight; (b) Monetary and banking theory—[Allyn Abbott] A. A. Young, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] O.M.W. Sprague, [James Waterhouse] James W. Angell; (c) Labor problems—Selig Perlman, Alvin [Harvey] H. Hansen; (d) Statistics and quantitative economics—[Frederick Cecil] F. C. Mills, [Robert Emmet] R. E. Chaddock, [William Leonard] W. L. Crum; (e) Taxation and public finance—[Harley Leist] H. L. Lutz, [William John] William J. Shultz; (f) Economic history—[Norbert Scott Brien] N. S. B. Gras.
  3. As people from outside to try for, might it not be possible to secure some one from England, such as [John Atkinson] John A. Hobson, Henry Clay, or [Dennis Holme] D. H. Robertson? Might it not also be possible to get Charles Rist from France or [Werner] Sombart from Germany?

Faithfully yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Douglas

P.S. The news that [Henry] Schultz and [Melchior] Palyi are to be with us next year is certainly welcome. Should we not let everyone know that they are coming, and should not a news note to this effect be sent on to the American Economic Review? [Handwritten note here: “Mr. Wright doing this”]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Lloyd Wynn Mints

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

July 16, 1926

Memorandum to L. C. Marshall from L. W. Mints, concerning the work of the summer quarter, 1927.

  1. It is my present intention not to be in residence during the summer quarter, 1927, although I will be in the city, I suppose.
  2. It appears to me that we should attempt to get men from the outside who would represent some of the newer points of view rather than the orthodox fields. I should suppose that it would be desirable to have a man in statistics and, if he could be found, somebody to do something with quantitative economics. For the statistics I would suggest [William Leonard] Crum, [Frederick Cecil] Mills, [Frederick Robertson] Macaulay, [Willford Isbell] King, [Bruce D.] Mudgett, [Robert] Riegel. I am ignorant of the particular bents of some of the statistical men, but I should suppose that in quantitative economics [Holbrook] Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen, or [William Leonard] Crum might do something. Perhaps [Edmund Ezra] Day should be added to the men in Statistics.
    In economic history, as I remember it, we have had no outside help for a long time. I should like to see either [Noman Scott Brien] Gras or Max [Sylvius] Handman give some work here in the summer.
    Particular men who represent somewhat new points of view, and who might be had for the summer, I would suggest as follows: [Lionel Danforth] Edie, [Oswald Fred] Boucke, [Morris Albert] Copeland, [Sumner Huber] Slichter.
    In addition I should like very much to see either [Edwin Robert Anderson] Seligman or [John Rogers] Commons here for a summer.

[signed]
L.W.M.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Harry Alvin Millis

Answers to questions re Summer Teaching, 1927

  1. Yes, I feel that I must teach next summer unless that plan you have been interested in goes through.
  2. 342 [The State in Relation to Labor] and 440 [Research].
  3. 342 at 8; 440 hour to be arranged.
  4. 5. 6.: Should get a better rounded program than we have had. Should have an outstanding man in economic theory and another in Finance. For the former I would mention [John] Maurice Clark, [John Rogers] Commons, and [Frank Hyneman] Knight—in order named. For the latter I would mention [Allyn Abbott] Young, [James Harvey] Rogers. If we can get the money I should like to see [George Ernest] Barnett brought on for statistics and a trade union course.

 

  1. Would it be possible to have a seminar which would bring together the outside men and some of the inside men and our mature graduate students—these hand-picked? It might be made very stimulating.

[Signed]
H. A. Millis

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Chester Whitney Wright

The University of Chicago
The Department of Political Economy

Memorandum to Marshall from Wright

Summer 1927
First term some aspects of economic history
1:30 or 2:30
May have to teach the whole summer but hope I can confine it to first term.
Can teach any phases of subjects in any fields suitable for term.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
James Alfred Field

[No written answer in the folder: however L. C. Marshall noted that Field would not be teaching in the summer term of 1927]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
William Homer Spencer

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration
Office of the Dean

July 12, 1926

Mr. L. C. Marshall
The Department of Political Economy

My dear Mr. Marshall:

As Mr. [Garfield Vestal] Cox does not wish to teach during the Summer Quarter of 1927, I wish the Department of Political Economy would try to get Mr. [Edmund Ezra] Day of Wisconsin [sic, Michigan is correct] who could give both a course in statistics and a course in forecasting. Forecasting is not given this summer and unless we get someone from the outside to give it, I presume it will not be given next summer.

Why does not the Department of Political Economy for the coming summer get someone like Mr. [Leverett Samuel] Lyon to give an advanced course in economics of the market for graduate students? The Department of Political Economy could handle half of his time and I perhaps could handle the other half for market management

Now that it appears that the Department of Political Economy cannot get any promising young men in the Field of Finance, why do you not try for [Chester Arthur] Phillips of Iowa? He will give good courses and will draw a great many students from the middle west to the University.

So far as my own program is concerned, I have not made much progress. I tried to get [Roy Bernard] Kester of Columbia, but he turned me down. I am placing a similar proposition before [William Andrew] Paton of Michigan. In the Field of Marketing, I am trying for [Frederic Arthur] Russell of the University of Illinois to give a course in salesmanship primarily for teachers in secondary schools. Otherwise I have made no progress in getting outside men for next summer.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
W. H. Spencer

WHS:DD

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records. Box 22, Folder 7.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Economists Fields

Chicago. Schedule of the preliminary economics exams for the Ph.D. and A.M., Summer 1951

 

The following schedule for preliminary examinations in economics at the University of Chicago from the summer quarter of 1951 comes from Milton Friedman’s papers at the Hoover Institution Archives. We see that he was on the two economic theory examination committees along with Lloyd Metzler and Frank Knight. Besides providing the names of the faculty members serving on the nine committees, the schedule also provides the names of the sixty students registered for the examinations during that quarter.

____________________

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

SCHEDULE FOR PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS
FOR THE PH.D. AND FOR THE A.M.

Summer Quarter, 1951

The schedule below shows the examinations requested for the current quarter. Will the chairman of each committee please be responsible for turning in the complete examination at least one week before the date on which it is to be given?

 

Date

Examination Committee

Students Registered

Thurs., Aug. 2
8:30
Law Court

Agricultural Economics

D.G. Johnson, chr.
C. Hildreth
T.W. Schultz
Dunsing, Marilyn (A.M.)
Fox, Kirk (Ph.D)
Hughes, Rufus (Ph.D.)
Taylor, Maurice (Ph.D.)

Tues., July 31
8:30
Law Court

Economic Theory I

L. Metzler, chr.
M. Friedman
F. Knight
Baskind, Irwin (Ph.D.) in abs.
Bassett, Marjorie (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Blumberg, Lionel (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Chen, Ho-Mei (Ph.D.)
Chen, Sze-te (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Chien, Chih Chien (Ph.D.)
Cleaver, George (Ph.D.)
Dunsing, Marilyn (A.M.)
Emmer, Robert (Ph.D.)
Fox, Kirk (Ph.D.)
Frank, Andrew (Ph.D.-A.M.) in abs
Gustus, Warren (Ph.D.)
Heizer, Raymond (Ph.D.)
Herlihy, Murray (Ph.D.)
Hoch, Irving (Ph.D.)
Hughes, Rufus (Ph.D.)
Krawczyk, Richard (Ph.D.-A.M.) in abs
Lerner, Eugene (Ph.D.)
Liang, Wei K. Liang (Ph.D.)
Lininger, Charles (Ph.D.)
Lurie, Melvin (Ph.D.)
McGuire, Charles (Ph.D.)
Malhotra, Man Mohan (Ph.D.)
Malone, John (Ph.D.)
Mitcham, Clinton (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Morrison, George (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Sonley, Lorne (Ph.D.)
Taylor, Maurice (Ph.D.)
Terrell, James (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Toscano, Peter (Ph.D.)
Traeger, Gordon (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Viscasillas, Felipe (Ph.D.)
Waldorf, William (Ph.D.)
Weir, Thomas (Ph.D.)
Weiss, Roger (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Zelder, Raymond (Ph.D.)

Tues., Aug. 7
8:30
Law Court

Economic Theory II

L. Metzler, chr.
M. Friedman
F. Knight
Chen, Ho-Mei (Ph.D.)
Herlihy, Murray (Ph.D.)
Hoch, Irving (Ph.D.)
Toscano, Peter (Ph.D.)
Weir, Thomas (Ph.D.)

Thurs., Aug. 9
8:30
Law Court

Government Finance

P. Thomson, chr.
J. Marschak
D.G. Johnson
Frank, Andrew (Ph.D.-A.M.) in abs
Haskell, Max (Ph.D.) in abs
Henry, Edward L. (Ph.D.)
Horwitz, Bertrand (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Lininger, Charles (Ph.D.)
Selden, Richard (Ph.D.)

Thurs., Aug. 9
8:30
Law Court

Industrial Relations

F. Harbison, chr.
E. Hamilton
H.G. Lewis
Barghout, Saad (Ph.D.)
Bechtolt, Richard (Ph.D.)
Hoch, Irving (Ph.D.)
Liang, Wei K. (Ph.D.)
Mullady, Philomena (Ph.D.)
Ness, David (Ph.D.)

Thurs., Aug. 2
8:30
Law Court

International Economics

L. Metzler, chr.
B. Hoselitz
A. Rees
Alberts, William (Ph.D.)
Anderson, Edwin (Ph.D.) in abs
Chen, Sze-te (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Chien, Chih Chien (Ph.D.)
Cleaver, George (Ph.D.)
Frank, Andrew (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Glick, Milton (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Gustus, Warren (Ph.D.)
Lukomski, Jesse (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Mitcham, Clinton (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Morey, Donald J. (Ph.D.-A.M.)

Tues., Aug. 7
8:30
Law Court

Money, Banking, and Monetary Policy

L. Mints, chr.
E. Hamilton
J. Marschak
Alberts, William (Ph.D.)
Bauer, Milton (Ph.D.)
Blumberg, Lionel (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Chen, Sze-te (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Chien, Chih Chien (Ph.D.)
Cleaver, George (Ph.D.)
Conomikes, George (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Davis, George (Ph.D.) in abs
Emmer, Robert (Ph.D.)
Heizer, Raymond (Ph.D.)
Horwitz, Bertrand (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Hughes, Rufus (Ph.D.)
Krawczyk, Richard (Ph.D.-A.M.) in abs
Lerner, Eugene (Ph.D.)
Liang, Wei K. (Ph.D.)
Lukomski, Jesse (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Meckling, William (Ph.D.)
Mitcham, Clinton (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Morey, Donald (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Ogawa, George (Ph.D.)
Smulekoff, Suzanne (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Sonley, Lorne (Ph.D.)
Taylor, Maurice (Ph.D.)
Terrell, James (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Traeger, Gordon (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Zelder, Raymond (Ph.D.)
Zingarelli, Carla (Ph.D.-A.M.)
Rayack, Elton  (Ph.D.) in abs

Thurs., Aug. 2
8:30
Law Court

Statistics

T. Koopmans, chr.
C. Hildreth
H.G. Lewis
Cagan, Phillip (Ph.D.)
Hogan, Lloyd (Ph.D.)
Katzman, Irwin (Ph.D.)
Malhotra, Man Hohan (Ph.D.)
Waldorf, William (Ph.D.)

Thurs., Aug. 2
8:30
Law Court

Economic History

E. Hamilton Mullady, Philomena (Ph.D.)
Toscano, Peter (Ph.D.)

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 76, Folder “University of Chicago ‘Economic Theory’”.

Categories
Chicago Economists Salaries

Chicago. Selected salaries. Hayek visiting, Friedman as associate professor, 1946

 

 

Since economists put much store in the notion of people putting their (own or other people’s) money where their mouths are, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provides from time to time some historical faculty salaries to shine a little light on where those professors of economics before us stood in the willingness-to-pay of their respective departments and university administrations. In this post we see how the brief visiting professorship of Friedrich Hayek and the tenured associate professorship of Milton Friedman fit into the 1946 salary structure at the Univerity of Chicago’s department of economics.

Note: For his half-quarter service Hayek was offered $2,000 (quoted in a January 23, 1945 note  from the director of the U of Chicago Press to VP E. C. Colwell). I presume the $4,000 figure includes $2,000 compensation from (or on behalf of) Stanford University.

_______________________

Comparison: Selected 1945-46 Chicago Salaries
(and recommendations for 1946-47)

Jacob Viner. $10,000
Frank Knight. $9,000 ($10,000)
S.E. Leland. $9,000 ($9,500 Note: resigned to go to Northwestern)
T.W. Schultz. $9,000 ($9,000)
John U. Nef. $8,000 ($8,000)
Jacob Marschak. $8,000 ($8,500)
Paul H. Douglas. $7,000 ($8,000)
Oscar Lange. ($6,000) ($6,000) on leave 1 Oct 1945 to 30 June 1947
Henry Simons. $6,000 ($6,000)
L. W. Mints. $5,500 ($6,000)
Tjalling Koopmans $5250 ($6,740. Note: new salary effective 1 January 1946)

Source:  “Budget and Appointment Recommendations 1946-47 (December 7, 1945)”

_______________________

Hayek’s Half-Quarter, Spring 1946

 

May 10, 1946

Mr. Robert Redfield Social Sciences
R. G. Gustavson Central Administration

On May 9, 1946 the Board of Trustees approved the following recommendations:

It is recommended that Friedrich A. Hayek be appointed Visiting Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics for the period April 8, 1946 to May 11, 1946. For this service and a similar period of service at Stanford University it is recommended that an honorarium of $4,000 be approved.

cc:
Mr. T. W. Schultz
Mr. L. A. Kimpton)      Salary not mentioned
Mrs. K. Turabian)        Salary not mentioned

 

Board—5/9/46:

It is recommended that Friedrich a. Hayek be appointed Visiting Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics for the period April 8, 1946 to May 11, 1946. For this service and a similar period of service at Stanford University it is recommended that an honorarium of $4,000 be approved.

Form sent to Comptroller—5/13/46

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Milton Friedman’s tenured associate professorship
Effective October, 1946

March 19, 1946

Mr. Robert Redfield Social Sciences
R. G. Gustavson Vice President

On March 28, 1946 the Committee on Instruction and Research approved the following recommendation:

It is recommended that Milton Friedman be appointed Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics on indefinite tenure on a 4E Service basis at an annual salary of $6,000 effective October 1, 1946.

cc:
Mr. T. W. Schultz
Mr. L. A. Kimpton)      Salary not mentioned
Mrs. K. Turabian)        Salary not mentioned

 

I & R. 28 March 1946:

It is recommended that Milton Friedman be appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Economics on indefinite tenure on a 4E service basis at an annual salary of $6,000 effective October 1, 1946.

 

Source: University of Chicago Library. Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration Records. Box 284. Folder “Economics, 1943-1947”.

Image Source: National Portrait Gallery. Photographs Collection. NPG x187289. Friedrich August von Hayek by Walter Stoneman, half-plate glass negative, June 1945. The portrait has been cropped to fit the format of this webpage.
Creative Commons License Creative Commons license. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Categories
Chicago Economists

Chicago. Economics Department on Possible Candidate for Permanent Employment, 1950

 

How big was the split within the department of economics in 1950 at the University of Chicago? Judging from the decision by chairman T. W. Schultz to essentially table the matter of approaching the central university administration with a candidate for a permanent position, there was a departmental deadlock.

The half-dozen economists discussed were: George Stigler, Abba Lerner, Kenneth Boulding, Leonid Hurwicz, Kenneth Arrow, and Lawrence Klein. Contemplate those names for a moment and then read aloud the following two sentences:

Several members of the Department stated that none of these men had all of the qualities sought: a good mind reaching out fruitfully in new directions in economics. It was agreed, however, that there were no likely candidates possessing these qualities in a high degree.   

We can only speculate which alpha economists happened to lock horns in those three meetings.

_________________________

From the MINUTES, Meeting of the Department,
May 24, 1950.

Present: T. W. Schultz, T. Koopmans, A. Rees, H. G. Lewis, D. G. Johnson, E. J. Hamilton, R. Burns, J. Marschak, F. H. Harbinson, F. H. Knight, M. Friedman, B. Hoselitz, L. Metzler

[…]

II. Appointments

Schultz informed the Department that Hildreth’s position has been renegotiated for a term of three years. The Department approved a motion authorizing for Hildreth the courtesy rank of Associate Professor for a three year term.

The Department then considered the appointment problem raised by the leaving of Blough (probably initially on a one year leave of absence) and Brownlee. Schultz suggested that the Department had two alternatives open to it: a temporary replacement (construed broadly) and a permanent appointment of a top ranking person.

The Department considered first possible candidates for permanent appointment. Attention centered on George Stigler, Abba Lerner, Kenneth Boulding, Leonid Hurwicz, Kenneth Arrow, and Lawrence Klein. For a temporary appointment Schultz suggested Gunnar Myrdal.

[Meeting began at 3:30 pm and ended 5:45 p.m.]

_________________________

From the MINUTES, Meeting of the Department,
May 30, 1950.

Present: T. W. Schultz, R. Burns, D. G. Johnson, E. J. Hamilton, F. H. Knight, L. Metzler, R. Blough, F. H. Harbinson, A. Rees, H. G. Lewis, T. Koopmans, J. Marschak, M. Friedman.

Appointments

The discussion of appointments continued from the previous meeting. Schultz expressed the conviction that the time was propitious for a new permanent appointment. On Metzler’s suggestion, the Department returned to discussion of the following candidates for a permanent appointment: Stigler, Hurwicz, Boulding, Klein, Lerner, Arrow.

Several members of the Department stated that none of these men had all of the qualities sought: a good mind reaching out fruitfully in new directions in economics. It was agreed, however, that there were no likely candidates possessing these qualities in a high degree.

The chairman then polled those present with respect to their first choice (or ties for first) for a permanent appointment. As a result of the poll the list of candidates was narrowed to Hurwicz, Stigler, and Lerner. The chairman then polled those present on their position toward permanent appointment of each of these men.

The poll showed that of those present

4 would favor and 5 oppose the permanent appointment of Hurwicz
4 would favor and 5 oppose the permanent appointment of Lerner
6 would favor and 6 oppose the permanent appointment of Stigler

A motion was passed instructing the chairman to poll the absent members of the Department in the same way on the appointment of Hurwicz, Lerner, and Stigler and to report back to the Department for further discussion.

[Meeting began at 3:30 pm and ended 6:15 p.m.]

_________________________

From the MINUTES, Meeting of the Department,
June 8, 1950.

Present: T. W. Schultz, H. G. Lewis, D. G. Johnson, J. Marschak, H. Kyrk, P. Thomson, M. Friedman, T. Koopmans, A. Rees, E. J. Hamilton, F. H. Knight, R. Blough.

Appointments

Schultz reported that he had polled Kyrk, Thomson, Mints, and Nef (but had not heard from Goode) on the matter of a permanent appointment for Stigler or Hurwicz or Lerner. The upshot of the poll was that the Department, the Chairman not voting, was evidently divided in its rating of Stigler for a permanent appointment; both permanent members and temporary members of the faculty showed an even division. The Chairman explained that he would abstain from voting on the belief that the Department was not now prepared to advance, with a strong meeting of minds, a strong case to the Central Administration for a permanent appointment. Schultz proposed that we investigate a slate of names for a one-year appointment.

A motion was passed authorizing the Chairman to put Gunnar Myrdal in the first position on the slate for a one-year appointment.

Successive motions passed by the Department added the following names to the slate:

Nicholas Kaldor   Simon Kuznets
Arthur F. Burns
H. M. Henderson
W. Vickrey
A. Hart
H. Stein

The Department then, following the system of ranking used in fellowship appointments, ranked these seven persons. The rank order follows:

1. Kaldor
2. Burns
3. Henderson
4. Kuznets
5½. Vickrey
5½. Hart
7. Stein

[Meeting began at 3:30 pm and ended 6:00 p.m.]

Source: University of Chicago Archives, Department of Economics Records, Box 41, Folder 12.

Image Source: Social Science Research Building.  University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07466, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Money, Banking, and Monetary Policy Exam for A.M. and Ph.D. Friedman, Mints, Marschak, 1952

 

 

 

The committee for the Money, Banking and Monetary Policy examination for the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees for the Winter Quarter 1952 at the University of Chicago consisted of Milton Friedman (chairman), Lloyd Mints, and Jacob Marschak. The date of the examination was February 12, 1952 taken by 25 students. From Milton Friedman’s notes it appears that the committee agreed to pass ten examinees at the Ph.D. level, ten at the A.M. level and five were failed.

_________________________________

MONEY, BANKING, AND MONETARY POLICY
Written Examination for the A.M. and Ph.D. Degrees
Winter Quarter, 1952

 

Write on the first three and two other questions. Time: 4 hours.

DO NOT PLACE YOUR NAME ON YOUR PAPER. GIVE ONLY YOUR NUMBER.

 

  1. Suppose that (1) the national income is $270 billion; (2) the total wage bill is $180 billion; (3) the average annual wage is $3000, with only negligible variation among individual wages; (4) government’s demand for goods and services is $60 billion, and consumers’ demand is $200 billion. Suppose that, through joint action of employers and labor unions the wage rate is increased by 10%, and that the real volume of government demand is not changed. Indicate further conditions (such as, for example, the monetary policy, fiscal policy, technological conditions, initial level of employment, the behavior of consumers and of entrepreneurs) that you deem particularly important for a rough estimate of the effects of the rise in wages upon the levels of (present and future) consumption and of prices. Give two or three such estimates on the basis of your own hypothetical numerical specifications of those conditions.
  2. “It will be sound policy for the Treasury to borrow new funds insofar as possible from nonbank sources, to minimize the inflationary potential of the deficit.” (January 1952 Economic Report of the President, pp. 141-2.)
    Discuss the basis for and validity of this view. In your answer, distinguish between the effects of borrowing from the Federal Reserve Banks and from other banks; and justify your conclusions in detail.
  3. According to the Keynesian theory of income and employment, the change in money income equals the change in “investment,” or, more generally, the change in “autonomous expenditures” times the “multiplier.”
    (a) Explain the terms in quotation marks. How, if at all, does the value of the “multiplier” depend on the distribution of income, the stock of money, the rate of interest?
    (b) A shift from a balanced government budget to a deficit because of an increase in expenditures would generally be regarded as a corresponding increase in “autonomous expenditures,” and therefore, other things the same, as leading to an increase in money income equal to the multiplier times this amount. Can this statement, which suggests that any effect on money income of the deficit depends only on its size and the size of the multiplier, be reconciled with the quotation in question 2, which implies that “the inflationary potential of the deficit,” presumably meaning the rise in money income it produces, depends on the method of financing the deficit?
  4. It has been claimed that the British made the gold content of the pound sterling too high when they returned to gold in 1925. What would be the effects of such action? Did these effects actually appear to any significant degree? In any case, what means were available, if any, for determining the “correct” content of the pound?
  5. “The great difficulty, if not the impossibility, of reversing a downward movement [of business activity] by monetary means alone must be accepted as demonstrated by experience.” Is this statement warranted? Support your position.
  6. “Lowness of interest is generally ascribed to plenty of money. But money, however plentiful, has no other effect, if fixes, than to raise the price of labour…It is in vain…to look for the cause of the fall or rise of interest in the greater or less quantity of gold and silver, which is fixed in any nation” (David Hume, 1752).
    Discuss in light of “modern” theories of the rate of interest.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 76, Folder 9 “University of Chicago Econ 300A”. [sic, this and other money, banking and monetary policy exams have been filed with material for the price theory course]

Categories
Chicago Economists

Chicago. Simons urges the recruitment of Milton Friedman, 1945

 

 

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.

Categories
Chicago Courses Problem Sets Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Intermediate Economic Theory for Non-Majors, ca. 1933

 

 

Today’s post is provides an undated reading list, a partial course outline and the preliminary motivating statement for an intermediate level undergraduate course in economic theory targeted to non-majors in the University of Chicago’s Division of Social Sciences. This material was found in a folder in George Stigler’s papers. He was a student at the University of Chicago from 1933-1936, but it is unlikely that he took this course. One presumes he acquired a copy on his own account then. As far as the authorship, I have not had time to compare this material with that of Henry C. Simons cited in the following bibliographic tip. However the style does appear to have Simons’ handwriting all over it. Kyrk and Mints also regularly taught this course during these years.

Bibliographic Tip:  Notes to Henry Calvert Simons’ Course Economics 201 (1933-34) taken by F. Taylor Ostrander and Helen Hiett were published in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. Volume 23, Part 2. Documents from F. Taylor Ostrander, Warren J. Samuels (ed.). Emerald, 2005.

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Course Description

201. The Divisional Course in Economics.—A survey of price and distribution, monetary, and cycle theory, developed chiefly through the use of a series of problems. The course is designed primarily to meet the needs of students who are majoring in departments other than Economics and who expect to take the Divsional Comprehensive Examination in Social Science. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements, Arts, Literature and Science (for the sessions 1933-34), vol. XXXIII, March 25, 1933, No. 8, p. 265.

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ECONOMICS 201
MATERIALS AND PROBLEMS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION

ASSIGNMENTS

Indispensable Reading, first five weeks:

Henderson, H. D., Supply and Demand (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1922. $1.25).

This short treatise should provide a good review of previous work (it is among the materials for Social Science I). It should be read promptly, to renew acquaintance with the terminology and central propositions of economic theory; and the relevant chapters should be re-read later on, in connection with the class discussion of special topics.

Knight, F. H., in Syllabus and Selected Readings for Social Science II, pages 125-250.

This is also a review assignment; but no other material is likely to prove more valuable in connection with the first part of this course.

The first section (pages 125-137), on “Social Economic Organization and Its Five Primary Functions,” should be read promptly, in connection with the class discussion of the first week.

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics, 5th ed. (New York, 1930), Chapters IX, X, XI, XX, and Appendix A. (The corresponding chapters in the 4th edition will serve equally well for this course.)

The first three of these chapters should be read as one assignment. The first part of Chapter XI deals with what are, from the point of view of this course, highly controversial questions. Chapter XX merits very careful study.

Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine (New York, 1931), Chapters III, V, and VI.

The chapters should acquaint students with the main ideas of the mercantilists, and of Hume, Adam Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo. Appendix A of the Ely book should be read in connection with this assignment.

Indispensable Reading, last five weeks:

Roberson, D. H., Money, new edition revised (new York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929. $1.25).

This is an excellent, concise treatise by a leading English (Cambridge) economist. It should be studied with care, preferably in advance of class discussion of money and banking.

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics, 5th ed., Chapters XIII to XVIII inclusive.

These chapters also merit careful, deliberate study.

Gregory, T. E., The Gold Standard and its Future, 2nd (or 1st) ed., London (and New York), 1932.

An unusually fine treatise, excellent for its fundamental analysis, and closely relevant to currently interesting and urgent problems.

Optional Reading:

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics.

Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine.

Cassel, Gustav, Fundamental Thoughts on Economics.

Cassel, Gustav, The Theory of Social Economy (Barron translation), Book I and Book II.

Marshall, Alfred, Principles of Economics, 8th edition, especially Book V.

Hardy, Charles O., Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System.

 

Preliminary

Economics 201: Its Place in the Curriculum:

This course is intended primarily for students preparing for the Divisional Examinations, and not for students majoring in the Department of Economics. It is designed for students who have had Social Science I and Social Science II in the College, and for those students transferring to the Social Science Division from other colleges who have had some previous work in economics. In general, the course will presuppose some familiarity with the terminology of economics and some ability to follow careful analysis.

General Description of Content of the Course:

The course falls, as to subject matter, into two main parts. The first six weeks will be devoted to study of “price theory”—to study of the forces governing, in an exchange economy, the determination of relative prices and the allocation of resources among different, alternative uses (assuming a money economy but disregarding, or abstracting from, monetary disturbances and cyclical fluctuations). This part of the course is designed to give students a critical understanding, first and above all, of how a competitive system works and, second, of how the introduction of monopoly in particular areas will affect relative prices and relative production. The latter part of the course will be devoted to study of money, banking, and business cycles—to study of factors governing the general level of prices and, more especially, to analysis of forces underlying the cumulative, self-aggravating maladjustments of booms and depressions.

The total quantity of required reading is intended to be moderate; and it is to be hoped that students will do this relatively small amount of reading with considerable care — with serious effort to comprehend thoroughly and to understand, rather than with the intention of accumulating information or memorizing propositions. If a student must choose between doing all the reading but doing it hastily, and doing a smaller amount with care, the latter procedure will prove decidedly more profitable. The assignments are designed, however, to eliminate the necessity of such a choice.

Most of the class hours will be devoted to discussion of specific problem-exercises designed to bring out, and to give precision to, the central concepts and propositions of price theory and monetary theory. Little effort will be made to relate the class discussions from day to day to particular parts of the assignments; but familiarity with the required readings will always be helpful, and sometimes indispensable, to understanding of problems dealt with in class.

A considerable part of the student’s outside work should be devoted to assimilating and organizing in his own mind the content of discussions in class. Students should make a special effort to acquire facility with the language of more rigorous economics — with the main terms and concepts —, to understand clearly the assumptions under which particular analytical arguments proceed, to digest the analysis of particular problems as it proceeds in class, and to prepare themselves to carry on the discussion from day to day. Above all, they should try to discover at what points the content of class discussions has been unclear; and they should feel not only free, but actually obligated, to raise questions in class to clear up any confusion. If any individual feels hesitant about asking questions, let him remember that one can hardly raise a question about systematic economic argument which is so simple that most other students will not profit from its discussion.

Students are certain to find this course a more profitable and stimulating intellectual experience if they do their work, at least occasionally, with other students. This is especially true with reference to study of the various problem-exercises. Students can gain a great deal, by way of understanding, if they try to explain things to each other, if they criticize other people’s explanations, and if they attempt to argue out of differences of opinion. It is hard to develop real facility with definitions, concepts, and propositions merely by reading — or by talking to one’s self.

 

Headings from Course Outline
(63 pages)

INTRODUCTION

Definition of Economics and of Its Point of View

Basic Functions or Tasks in an Economic System or Organization

GENERAL PRICE THEORY

[Introduction]

General View of the Pricing Process

The Phenomenon of Industrial Fluctuations and Unemployment, digression

Circularity of the Pricing Process

The Pricing Process: EQUILIBRIUM

The Pricing Process for a Short Period

Conditions of Equilibrium

The Pricing Process over Long Periods

Some Conditions of Long-run Equilibrium

Some Interpretations of the Equilibrium Arrangements

Complexity and Intricacy of the Inter-relations

Some Supplementary Remarks

DEMAND, DEMAND FUNCTIONS, AND ELASTICITY OF DEMAND

Confusion as to Usage of the Word “Demand”

Utility, Utility Functions, and Demand Functions

Elasticity of Demand

COST OF PRODUTION AND PRICE UNDER COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS

Problem Exercise I

Preliminary Exercises
Conditions of Equilibrium in the Industry
Conditions of Demand

[missing pages 40-53]

MONOPOLY AND MONOPOLY PRICE

Contrasts between Complete Monopoly and Perfect Competition

Production and Prices under a special case of Partial Monopoly, “The Economics of Cartels”

An Arithmetic Exercise

 

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers,  Addenda, Box 24, Folder “Economics 201”.

Image Source:  Architectural element of the Social Science Research Building (1929). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07449, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.