Gottfried Haberler returned to Harvard in 1936 to begin a five-year appointment as associate professor of economics offered to him in 1935. Besides the official department package submitted to the Dean’s Office to justify his appointment, this post also includes a note to Harvard President Conant written by then chairman of the Visiting Committee for the Economics Department, Walter Lippmann, that quoted a scathing opinion of Haberler’s potential from John Maynard Keynes. Lippmann’s note was too late to derail the hiring process but it stands as Keynes’ testimony. Haberler and Keynes were not mutual admirers. We have seen earlier that Haberler himself was not above writing the occasional bitchy note (Galbraith and Bowles).
From Haberler’s 1931-32 year at Harvard.
Fun Fact: Anna Maria Island, where Walter Lippmann was writing from, is a barrier island on the West coast of Florida, immediately north of Long Boat Key which is where Paul Samuelson later had a vacation condo. And for what it’s worth, my maternal grandmother even had a little bungalow on Anna Maria Island.
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Dr. Gottfried Haberler
Biography
Born: Purkersdorf near Vienna, July 20, 1900
Humanistisches Gymnasium, Vienna
Doctor rerun politicarum, University of Vienna, 1923
Doctor utriusque juris, University of Vienna, 1925
1927— , Privatdozent, University of Vienna (At Vienna, Haberler conducted an Economic Seminar and offered series of lectures on International Trade and the Theory of Value and Price)
1927-29, Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation (United States, England, France)
1929 (Spring), Lectured on Economic Statistics, Harvard University
1929-31, Secretary, Austrian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce
1930 (October), Visiting Lecturer, University of Cambridge
1931-32, Visiting Lecturer on Economics, Harvard University
Rechtskonsulent at the Chamber of Commerce of Vienna
1934, Selected by the Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations to make its study of the business cycle, Geneva
[I am informed that Haberler has been elected to a Professorship at Vienna. His duties at Geneva were completed at the end of 1934. He is to return to Vienna to resume his professorial work at the beginning of the spring term. H.H.B.]
January 7, 1935
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Research
Books Published:
Der Sinn der Indexzahlen. Eine Untersuchung über den Begriff des Preisniveaus und die Methoden seiner Messung. (Tübingen, 1927)
Der Internationale Handel. (Berlin, Julius Springer, 1933)
[This book is generally regarded as a distinct contribution. H. H. B.]
Liberale und Planwirtschaftliche Handelspolitik. Berlin: Junker und Dunnhaupt, 1934)
[Zwischenstaatliche Wirtschaft. Herausgegeben von Professor Herbert von Beckerath, Heft 8.]
Selective list of articles (to 1932):
“Die theorie der comparativen Kosten und Ihre Auswertung für die Begründung des Freihandels” (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv)
“Wirtschaft als Leben kritische Bemerkungen zu Gottl’s methodologischen Schriften” (Zeitschrift für Nationalöconomie)
“Transfer und Preisbewegung” (Zeitschrift für Nationalöconomie)
“The Meaning and Use of a General Price-Index” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1928)
“Irving Fisher’s Theory of Interest” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1931)
“Money and the Business Cycle” (Public Lecture of the Harris Foundation Institute, January, 1932)
“The Different Meanings attached to the term ‘Fluctuation in the Purchasing Power of Gold’ and the best Instrument for Measuring such Fluctuations” (Memorandum for the Gold Delegation of the League of Nations, Geneva, 1931)
“Internationale Kartelle und ihre Beziehungen zur Handelspolitik” (Österreichischer Volkswirt, 1931)
“Die Kredittheorie der Cambridger Schule” (Archiv für Sozialwissenschaften, 1929)
Book in preparation:
Dr. Haberler is carrying on an investigation initiated by the Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations into the Causes of the Recurrence of Periods of Economic Depression. A tentative memorandum, “A Systematic Analysis of the Theories of the Business Cycle” has already appeared. A complete report will be made at an early date.
January 7, 1935
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Vote of the Executive Committee
The Department of Economics recommended the appointment of Dr. Haberler May 23, 1934. This recommendation has been reconsidered by the Executive Committee of the Department a number of times this fall. On December 18 the Executive Committee voted to press the recommendation as strongly as it could and to urge that Haberler be appointed for a term of five years beginning in September, 1935. At that meeting, there were present and voting the following members of the Committee: Professors Black, Burbank, Crum, Gay, Schumpeter, and Taussig, Associate Professors Chamberlin, Mason, and Usher, and Dr. Monroe. The vote was unanimous. The Chairman of the meeting asked each member present to express any reservations he might have. The Chairman was assured that there were no reservations. Further, the Chairman was instructed to report that the vote was “unanimous and enthusiastic.” Professors Williams and Bullock were unavoidably absent from the meeting. Both had been consulted, however, and both had expressed their approval of the recommendation. In addition to the usual members of the Executive Committee voting on this appointment, the Chairman consulted Assistant Professors Frickey, Harris, and Leontief, all of whom were in favor of the appointment.
I am enclosing letters of recommendation from Professors Taussig, Williams and Mason. When Professor Bullock returns to Cambridge, I shall ask him to write.
January 7, 1935
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GOTTFRIED HABERLER
RECOMMENDATION OF THE DEAN OF THE FACULTY
Dr. Haberler is one of the foremost economic theorists of the present day and has in the past taught at Harvard with success. His appointment at Harvard for five years would in my opinion greatly strengthen our work in Economics and I recommend the appointment.
[signed] Kenneth B. Murdock
February 12, 1935
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NEW YORK
HERALD TRIBUNE
Anna Maria
Florida
Feb 16 [1935]
Dear Mr. Conant,
I have word from Keynes about Haberler and in view of what he says I think you will agree that his name should not be used in talking with the Department.
He says: “I should put H. as B plus rather than in the A class. He is by no means an inferior man, but I have been rather disappointed recently with his development. Shortly after he had taken his degree, when I first knew him, I had rather high hopes of him, and thought him one of the best of the younger! Harvard Austrians, but, in my judgment, he makes not much progress.
“You are no doubt aware that he is now employed in the Economic Intelligence Service of the League, preparing a work on the causes of depressions. He sent me an early draft of what he is doing, and I thought it rather poor, though other judges do not agree with me….To sum up, I should have thought it rather doubtful whether he was of such outstanding ability as to stand transplantation to a foreign country.”
This opinion seems to me to raise a very strong doubt about the appointment and should at least be checked against some equally authoritative opinion outside the Department.
I saw Wolman after his interview with you and gained a very definite impression that the only thing which keeps him from coming to Harvard is the feeling that he must see through to the end the work he is doing for the government. The more I learn about that work the more impressed I am with Wolman. You may remember that I did not rate him at the top intellectually, and I would still not do that, but he has certainly shown a very high degree of practical wisdom in a field which few economists know much about.
I heard from J.M. Clark the other day that a German economist named von Beckenrath (or approximately that) is in this country teaching at Bowdoin. He was read is a great authority on trusts and cartels[*] and his book, which I read last year was excellent. Taussig, I believe wrote an introduction and so could probably tell you about him. He might be a prospect and worth inviting for some lectures.
I shall be in Cambridge for the next Overseers meeting.
Yours
[signed] Walter Lippmann
[*] “A subject of [illegible word] importance and one not adequately covered in the Department today.”
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
20 UNIVERSITY HALL
February 23, 1935
Dear Jim:
Mr. Burbank has heard from Professor Haberler that he would accept an offer for five years at Harvard if one were made to him. I assume, therefore, that you will wish to carry the appointment through promptly.
Sincerely yours,
[signed] Kenneth B. Murdock
President J.B. Conant
University 5
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Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 29, Folder “Economics, 1934-1935”.
Image Source: Faculty portrait of Gottfried Haberler in Harvard Album 1939.