Category: Chicago

Chicago. Requirements for M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees in Economics, 1934-35

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2026-01-07

The requirements for a graduate degree in economics at the University of Chicago in 1934-35 are transcribed below. First we have general Division requirements. These are followed by the specific requirements determined by the economics department.

Earlier, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has transcribed the analogous requirements at Harvard University in 1934-35 and those for Columbia University in 1934-35.

Chicago, 1892.
Chicago, 1903.
Chicago, 1904-05 (with thick course descriptions)

_______________________

[DIVISION] REQUIREMENTS
FOR HIGHER DEGREES
UNDER THE OLD PLAN
[pp. 7-9]

In order to avoid misunderstandings, candidates for higher degrees should consult their Deans concerning all technical requirements for such degrees, including foreign language examinations, and requirements for the final oral examinations, before application is made for admission to candidacy. In all cases candidates should consult early with the chairman of the department of specialization.

Degrees will not be conferred under this plan after the Summer Quarter, 1935.

THE MASTER’S DEGREE

Two degrees are conferred, viz., Master of Arts and Master of Science.

Candidacy. —Any student who has been in attendance one quarter or more, whose undergraduate course is equivalent to that required for a corresponding Bachelor’s degree in the University of Chicago,* and whose dissertation subject has been approved by the department of specialization, may, on recommendation by the department and approval of the divisional faculty, be admitted to candidacy for a Master’s degree. The student should consult his dean with reference to the requirements for admission to candidacy. The application must be on file in that office at least two months before the degree is conferred.
Requirements.—-Students thus accepted as candidates will be given a Master’s degree on fulfilment of the following requirements:
1. At least 8 courses of satisfactory advanced work taken in residence at the University of Chicago, of which not more than the equivalent of three courses may be taken as half-courses. These 8 courses need not be all in one department, but are selected from courses taken in residence at the University of Chicago according to some rational plan approved by the chairman of the department and by the Dean at least six months before the degree is conferred.
  At the discretion of the department concerned, and corresponding registration in advance with the Deans, wide reading or other special work carried out by the student under the supervision of the department and subject to such tests as the department may prescribe, may be accepted as one or more courses of the required work.
2. A satisfactory dissertation on a subject approved by the head (or chairman) of the department at least three months (earlier at the option of the department) before graduation.
3. The delivery of three printed or typewritten copies of the dissertation together with a certificate signed by the chairman of the department, that the work, as submitted, is accepted as the candidate’s dissertation for the Master’s degree to Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 203, at least two weeks before the Convocation at which the degree is to be conferred.
4. Subsequent to admission to candidacy, a satisfactory final examination on the work taken for the degree. When the examination is oral, the candidate must file six copies of a summary of his dissertation and six copies of the list of courses submitted for the examination in the office of the Dean ten days before the date of examination.
5. Additional qualitative and specific requirements for the degree may be prescribed by any department or faculty.

[Note]

*Attention is particularly called to the fact the term “equivalent” in this connection refers to quantity only. It does not affect the question of the specific Master’s degree (Arts or Science) to which a given student’s work would lead. In case the candidate did not obtain his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago, he will present to the Director of Admissions on blanks furnished for the purpose a detailed statement of his undergraduate work. The Director of Admissions cannot always report upon these statements during the opening week of the quarter.

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is given in recognition of high attainments and ability in the candidate’s chosen field, shown, first, by a dissertation evincing power of independent investigation and forming an actual contribution to existing knowledge; and, secondly, by passing an examination covering the general field of the candidate’s subject. It is to be understood explicitly that this degree is not conferred on the completion of a specified number of courses, or after a given period of residence.

Candidacy.—Any student of graduate status in the University, who has been in attendance one quarter or more (one month, in the case of a student entering with two years of residence graduate credit from another institution), whose thesis subject has been accepted by the head (or chairman) of the department, and who has a reading knowledge of French and German, may, on recommendation of the department and approval of the divisional faculty, be enrolled as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. On recommendation of a department, approved by the Dean, any other Germanic language may be substituted for German and any other Romance language for French. A reading knowledge of the foreign languages must be certified by the appropriate departments and the application for admission to candidacy must be filed by the applicant at the Dean’s office on the blank provided for that purpose not fewer than eight calendar months before the final examination for the degree. Responsibility for admission at the proper time rests with the student.
Requirements.—Students accepted as candidates will be given the Doctor of Philosophy degree upon the fulfilment of the following requirements:
1. Normally three years of residence work in pursuance of an accepted course of study, at least three full quarters of which shall be in residence at the University of Chicago.
2. The work offered in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in any department is outlined by that department and approved by the Dean, for each candidate, not later than the first quarter of his last year of residence work. The work required includes such courses in allied departments as may be deemed necessary by the department of specialization. The work is selected with regard to the needs of the individual student, with the double purpose (1) of giving him a knowledge of the relations of his subject to cognate branches of learning, and (2) of preparing him for productive scholarship.
3. The presentation of a satisfactory dissertation upon a subject which has been approved by the chairman of the department.
4. A satisfactory final oral examination on the subject presented for the degree.
Dissertation.—
1. Each candidate prepares a dissertation upon some topic connected with the subject of his specialization. This production constitutes an actual contribution to knowledge. Its subject is submitted for approval to the head (or chairman) of the department concerned at least twelve months before the date of the final examination.
2. The dissertation is submitted to the Department in typewritten form at least one month before the date of the final examination, unless otherwise recommended by the Department.
3. Three weeks before the Convocation at which the degree is to be conferred, unless the candidate is prepared to deposit 100 bound copies of the complete dissertation, he must deliver at the Dissertation Desk, Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 203, three printed or typewritten copies of the dissertation, together with a certificate signed by the chairman of the department that the work, as submitted, is accepted as the candidate’s dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and approved for publication without alteration.
4. For details concerning the publication and distribution of dissertations, the candidate is referred to the Handbook of the Divisions and the Professional Schools, obtainable at the office of the Dean.
Final examination. —After admission to candidacy the student may present himself for the final oral examination as soon as he has fulfilled the other general and departmental requirements. The candidate prepares a typewritten or printed brief of his work, including an analysis of the dissertation, and files six copies of the same with his Dean ten days before the time set for the examination.
The examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy shall be taken at least ten days before the Convocation at which the degree is to be conferred
Non-resident work.—After being admitted to graduate status, the student, in some cases, may be allowed to substitute non-resident work for resident work to a limited extent, under conditions to be arranged in consultation with the Dean and the heads of the departments concerned.
Work done in other universities.—Graduate work done in another university will be accepted as equivalent to resident work in the University of Chicago, provided the institution in which the work was done is of high standing, and adequate evidence is furnished that the work done there was satisfactorily performed. Graduate work done in other institutions, and credit allowed for non-resident work, cannot reduce the residence requirement at the University of Chicago to a period of less than one year (three full quarters), during which the major part of the student’s time will be spent in the department in which he expects to take his degree.

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

ECONOMICS, HIGHER DEGREES
[ DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS]
[pp. 282-284]

The Department expects that students who are candidates for the Master’s or the Doctor’s degree in Economics will observe the special departmental requirements set forth below, in addition to the general regulations of the Division, stated on pages 274-75 of the Announcements.

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

Candidates for the Master’s degree should file with the Departmental Examiner, on or before the opening of their second quarter of residence, a complete statement of the work they intend to offer. The Examiner will submit this schedule to the Department for approval.

The specific requirements for the Master’s degree are:

A minimum of 8 courses, or their equivalent (of which at least 6 must be in Grades II and III above). At some previous time the candidate should have covered the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in Economics. This equivalence may be shown by courses taken or by examination. The candidate must also have the preparation in the other social sciences required for the Bachelor’s degree at the University.
A thesis involving research of at least semi-independent character. The thesis should be completed and three copies delivered to the office of the Department for examination at least six weeks before the Convocation at which the degree is to be conferred.
A final examination. This may be either oral or written as decided by the Depart-ment. The examination will be on the thesis and its field; and one other field proposed by the candidate and approved by the Department.
All candidates for the Master’s degree, whether or not courses in general economic theory are included among the courses specifically offered for the degree, are expected to show, in examination and throughout their work, ability to think clearly and effectively on abstract economic questions, and familiarity with the terms and common concepts of economic science.

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

A candidate for the Doctor’s degree in Economics is expected to have a reading knowledge of French and German, or one of these languages and a second modern language approved by the Department, the preparation in the other social sciences required for the Bachelor’s degree at the University, and such grounding in other technical, scientific, or philosophical subjects as may be necessary for an intelligent pursuit of the studies in which he proposes to specialize. He should have covered the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University, and must be able to deal on a graduate level with the range of material covered in the sequence for that degree. The following courses or their equivalents should be included as part of his preparation: 209, “Intermediate Economic Theory”; 210, “Introduction to Accounting”; 211, “Introduction to Statistics”; 220, “Economic History of the United States”; 221, “Economic History of Classical and Western European Civilization”; and 230, “Introduction to Money and Banking.”

The candidate is expected to have general training in the important fields listed below and to specialize in three fields, one of which must be Economic Theory, including Monetary and Cycle Theory, and another must be the field of his thesis. The fields to be chosen (in addition to Economic Theory) may be taken from (1) Statistics; (2) Accounting; (3) Economic History; (4) Finance and Financial Administration; (5) Government Finance; (6) Labor and Personnel Administration; (7) Trusts and Public Utilities; (8) International Economic Relations; (9) some other field proposed by the candidate. A field proposed by the candidate may be in Economics or in another social science, the arrangement in either case being made with the Department of Economics. It is desired to develop that program of work which best meets the needs of the individual student. This usually involves the election of some courses in other departments and possibly the development of a field in another social science as a substitute for one of the fields in economics.

The candidate’s grasp of his three fields of specialization is tested by preliminary written examinations which must be passed to the satisfaction of the Department before admission to candidacy. The final oral examination is on the field of concentration and on the thesis. The written examinations can be taken in one quarter or they can be divided between two quarters, not necessarily consecutive quarters, at the option of the candidate. The written examinations are given in the sixth, seventh, and eighth weeks of the Autumn, Spring, and Summer quarters. The written examination in general economic theory, including monetary and cycle theory, is in two parts and will require five hours in all. The written examination in each of the other fields requires from three to four hours. Notice of intention to take any written examination must be filed with the Department at least three weeks before the examinations begin. In written examinations for the doctorate the questions cover both the theoretical and administrative aspects of the field.

The thesis must indicate power of independent investigation and form a significant contribution to existing knowledge.

The final examination for the Doctor’s degree is an oral examination in the field of the student’s special work and on the thesis. The purpose of this examination is to test the quality of the candidate’s scholarship as evidenced by his mastery of his special field and by his ability to deal originally, critically, and authoritatively with problems in that field. He is expected to show a discriminating acquaintance with the literature and with both the historical and theoretical aspects of his subject, and to have intelligent opinions on current events within the range of his special knowledge. He will not be expected at the final examination to answer detailed questions on subjects not immediately related to his specialty.

It is the desire and policy of the Department that advanced students, in planning their studies, should not confine their attention to courses of formal instruction. Students of proved ability are so far as is practicable relieved from the routine requirements of ordinary courses of instruction and given large opportunities for individual reading and inquiry in connection with special courses of research.

Source: The College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1934-35 in Announcements [of] the University of Chicago, Vol. 34.

Image Source: Coat of arms of the University of Chicago.

The University Coat of Arms, a shield displaying the phoenix below and the book and motto above, was adopted by the Board of Trustees on August 16, 1910. The University motto Crescat scientia; vita excolatur was adopted by the Board on January 17, 1911 and added to the Coat of Arms on the pages of the open book.
The Coat of Arms was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, a heraldic specialist in Boston working under contract to the Board of Trustees. No surviving documents make clear precisely why the phoenix was adopted as the central element on the Coat of Arms, but the most probable assumption is that the phoenix can be seen as a symbol of the city of Chicago, which was seriously damaged by the great Chicago Fire of 1871 and then was successfully rebuilt, or reborn, within just a few years.

Budgets Chicago Economist Market Economists

Chicago. Economics Department Budget Proposal for 1944-45 by Simeon Leland, Feb 1944

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-12-28

The 1944-45 budget file for the department of economics consists of a three page spreadsheet, is followed by fifteen pages of line item justifications for changes signed by the chairman of the department Simeon E. Leland and a one page budget memorandum by the assistant comptroller (Lincicome) to the Vice President (Filbey). This is an informationally rich document.

For this posting I have converted the item rows of the budget spreadsheet into individual columns for the items. The separate items have then been paired with the line item justifications.

An excerpt from a 1945 development plan by Chairman Leland for the department has been transcribed and posted.

___________________________________

Named in the Instructional Budget, 1944-45

Harbison, Frederick H.

McGuire, Christine H. (Mrs. Jules Masserman)

___________________________________

The University of Chicago
Budget and Appointment Recommendations
1944-45

Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics

February 21, 1944

Departmental Recommendations

In presenting the Budget for 1944-45, I am transmitting the recommendations of the Professors in the Department of Economics as decided upon at their meeting February 15, 1944. The specific recommendations, save as to dissents where their own welfare was involved, were unanimous. For convenience, the recommendations are presented in two divisions: (I) The college; (II) The Department. An attempt is also made to consider problems of the future development of the Department.

The College

Recommendations concerning those members of the College staff who have status in the Department will be appended hereto when they are received from Dean Faust. As in the past, the Department has no responsibility in connection with the College and hence does not assume responsibility for recommendations in the College. The Department is glad to incorporate in its budget or transmit through customary channels any recommendations Dean Faust desires to make.

The Department

The recommendations of the Professors in the Department can be classified under four convenient headings: (A) Advancements in Rank and Increases in Salaries Related Thereto; (B) Recommendations as to Changes in Salaries; (C) Appointments ;(D) Future Development of the Department; (E) Recommendations as to Service and Equipment.

Instructional Budget Account

Item No.			1-20
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$54,600)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$65,550)
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[….]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Items requiring no change
in rank or salary

Professor Jacob Viner

Item No.			1
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Viner, Jacob, Prof.
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept….
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$10,000
	Proposed
		Chairman	$10,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor T. W. Schultz

Item No.			4
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Schultz, T.W., Prof.
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept….
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$9,000
	Proposed
		Chairman	$9,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor Jacob Marschak

Item No.			6
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Marschak, Jacob, Prof. ([Paid by] Commission
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Dec….
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3 [in Economics] 4 [in Cowles]
	If part-time, approx. %		50% [Economics] 50% [Cowles]
Salary Level
	1943-44		$7,500 Total From Economics $3,750 From Cowles $3,750
	Proposed
		Chairman	$7,500 Total From Economics $3,750 From Cowles, $3,750
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor Paul H. Douglas

Item No.			7
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Douglas, P.H., Prof. (On leave, 10/1/42—enlisted)
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept….
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		($7,000)
	Proposed
		Chairman	($7,000)
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Assistant Professor Frederick H. Harbison

Item No.			13
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Harbison, F. H., Asst. Prof. (On leave [to 9/30/44] Government Service)
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept. 45
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		($4,000)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$4,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[4,000]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Advancements in Rank and Increases in Salaries Related Thereto

[Note: All departmental recommendations for an advancement in rank were rejected by the President’s Office.]

___________________________________

Associate Professor Lloyd W. Mints

[11] The Department recommends that the rank of Lloyd W. Mints be changed from Associate Professor to Professor of Economics. Mr. Mints has been a member of the staff since 1920, rising successively from Instructor to Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. He has earned the respect of students and colleagues for the thoroughness of his teaching and for his insight into economic and monetary theory. He has been a willing worker and has carried a heavy load of administrative routine for many years in connection with the advising of students. The Department has considered this recommendation on several occasions within the last few years and expected to make the recommendation at a time when Mints’ book on A History of Banking Theory would appear. Through no fault of his own the publication of this work — the fruition of several years’ research — has been delayed due to the war and the shortage of paper. Harper and Brothers have the manuscript in their possession and have agreed to publish it, but because of market difficulties plus rationing of paper stocks actual publication will probably be postponed for some time. It does not seem fair to delay this promotion in hope of finding a strategic occasion for its presentation. If one looks ahead to retirement and the possibility of accumulating a satisfactory annuity, the earlier this promotion is given the greater will be its worth to Mr. Mints. On the other hand, delay may tend to impair morale and produce discouragement, especially when the length of Mints’s service to the University is considered. It is recommended that Mr. Mints’s salary be increased $1,000.

Item No.			11
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Mints, L. W., Prof. (Assoc. Prof.)
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept. 45
	New appointment
		From	10/1/44
		Yrs.	[Ind]
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$4,000
	Proposed
		Chairman	$5,000
		Dean	Ac. Prof.
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$4,500]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Associate Professor Henry C. Simons

[10] The Department recommends the promotion of Henry C. Simons from Associate Professor to Professor of Economics. Simons has earned the reputation here and among his peers at other institutions of being a brilliant economist. His powers of theoretical analysis are equaled by few men: his scintillating suggestions as to public policy in the fields in which he has written have been widely recognized and favorably quoted; his writings have an originality and style which matches the subjective contributions of his works. Simons’ opinions on many economic subjects are eagerly sought. The Department recommends that his salary be increased $1,500. The recommendations as to advancement in rank and increase in salary will also be supported by the Law School, to which Simons devotes ono-third of his time.

See the Law School recommendations, Item 12. Since the present contract for the Civil Affairs Training Program does not extend throughout the year 1944-45, provision must be made in the regular budget for the salary if a new appointment is to be made from the budget.

Item No.			10
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Simons, H.C., Prof. (Assoc. Prof)
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept….
	New appointment
		From	10/1/44
		Yrs.	[Ind]
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %		67 (Econ.) 33 (Law School)
Salary Level
	1943-44		$4,500 (Total) $3,000 (Econ.) $1,500 (Law School)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$6,000 $4,000 (Econ.) $2,000 (Law School)
		Dean	[Ac. Prof]
President’s Recommendation
	Rank		[Ac. Prof]
	Salary Level		[$5,000 (Total)] [$3,333 (Econ.)] [$1,667 (Law School])
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Instructor H. Gregg Lewis

[14] The Department proposes that H. Gregg Lewis be promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor and that his salary be increased $500, effective upon his return to the University at the close of the war. His work merits this recognition. By the time he returns, it is believed that Lewis will have received his Ph.D. His dissertation is in final stages of preparation.

The leave must be extended if the salary is not to be included in the budget totals.

Item No.			14
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Lewis, H. G. Asst. Prof. (Instructor) (On leave, Govt. Serv. To 9-30-44 to be extended to 9/30/45)
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept. 44
	New appointment
		From	10/1/44
		Yrs.	3
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		($3,500)
	Proposed
		Chairman	($4,000)
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank		[Instructor]
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45		[$4,000]

___________________________________

Lecturer Robert K. Burns

[15] The Department desires to recommend the appointment of Robert K. Burns as Assistant Professor, to serve the University on a half-time basis at a stipend of $2,000 per annum. Burns, who holds the title of Lecturer, has carried the bulk of the work of the Department in the field of labor during the past two years. Not only has he carried a heavy instructional load but he has supervised class research, and dissertations as well. Burns has been Regional Director of the War Labor Board in Chicago and has recently been transferred to the Washington office to direct certain new activities of the Board. This promotion came as a recognition of outstanding work. How soon Burns could assume increased responsibilities in the University is not known, but any time his services can be made available the Department is in a position to utilize them effectively. With Harbison and Douglas also in the field of labor, it is believed that a half-time appointment for Burns is all that is now required.

Item No.			15
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Burns, R. E., Asst Prof. (Lecturer, part time).
Tenure
	Present Expira.		June, 44
	New appointment
		From	7/1/44
		Yrs.	3
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %		50
Salary Level
	1943-44		$1,400
	Proposed
		Chairman	$2,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank		[Lect]
	Salary Level		[$2000]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Changes in Salaries

Professor Frank H. Knight

[2] The Department, over the protest of Frank H. Knight, recommends to the Division that Knight’s salary be increased $1,500 so as to place his compensation on the $10,000 level. If a Distinguished Professorship is available, Knight should receive it; if such a Professorship is unavailable, Knight should receive a stipend as though he were so honored. He is known throughout the world as one of its outstanding economists. His reputation and scholarship extend to the fields of philosophy, ethics, religion, and history, to name but a few. His fellow economists have honored him on many occasions; he has represented them for many years on learned societies. He has been tempted with offers from other institutions. He has been made a Professor of the Social Sciences in recognition of the breadth of his competence. Honor is bestowed on him everywhere; only the University can give him the freedom from financial ills he sorely needs and deserves. His present salary is an embarrassment to the Department, even though it is all charged against the Division.

Item No.			2
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Knight, F. H., Prof. (also Soc.Sci.Div.Instr.
Tenure
	Present Expira.		June….
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$8,500 From Econ. …. From Soc.Sci.Div. $8,500
	Proposed
		Chairman	$10,000 From Econ. …. From Soc.Sci.Div. $10,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		From Soc.Sci.Div. [$9,000) 4]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor John U. Nef

[5] The Department would like to recommend an increase in salary of $1,000 for John U. Nef, but Nef says that he will not hear of it nor accept an increase in compensation. The Department believes that such an increase is well deserved and wants its recommendation to be recorded even if Mr. Nef declines to receive what is manifestly his due.

Item No.			5
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Nef, J.H., Prof. (also History
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept….
	New appointment
		From	[10/1/44]
		Yrs.	[Ind]
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3 [in Economics and History]
	If part-time, approx. %		50% [Economics] 50% [History]
Salary Level
	1943-44		$7,500 Total From Econ. $3,750 From Hist. $3,750
	Proposed
		Chairman	$8,500 Total From Econ. $4,750 From Hist., $3,750
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$8,000 Total] [From Econ. $4,250] [From Hist. $3,750 (4]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor Oscar Lange

[9] The Department recommends an increase in salary of $500 for Oscar Lange. When Lange returned to the University of Chicago after a year’s leave at Columbia, he did so at a distinct financial sacrifice. Any continuation of that disadvantage should be removed. It is the opinion of the Department, too, that Simons and Lange should be treated equally with respect to salary and rank. In view of the salary proposed for Mr. Simons, this increase is doubly appropriate.

Item No.			9
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Lange, Oscar, Prof.
Tenure
	Present Expira.		June….
	New appointment
		From	[7/1/44]
		Yrs.	[Ind]
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$5,500
	Proposed
		Chairman	$6,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$6000]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Appointments

Professor Simeon E. Leland

The new appointment information should be inserted for the position of Chairman.

Item No.			3
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Leland, S.E., Prof. and Chairman (also Political Sci.
Tenure
	Present Expira.		June…. [As Chairman Jun 44]
	New appointment
		From	[7-1-44] [As chairman 7-1-44]
		Yrs.	Ind [as Prof] 3 yrs [as chairman]
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3 [in Economics and Pol. Sci.]
	If part-time, approx. %		50% [Economics] 50% [Political Sci.]
Salary Level
	1943-44		$8,000 Total From Econ. $4,000 From Pol.Sci. $4,000
	Proposed
		Chairman	$8,000 Total From Econ. $4,000 From Pol.Sci. $4,000
		Dean	$9,000 Total From Econ. $4,500 From Pol.Sci. $4,500
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$9,000 Total] [From Econ. $4,500] [From Pol.Sci. $4,500 (4]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor Chester W. Wright

[8] At the end of the present year Chester W. Wright becomes Professor Emeritus. Up to the present time the Department has been unable to fill Professor Wright’s post. Outstanding scholars of American Economic History are few; promising young men are scarce. Professor Wright’s health and energy are unimpaired. He is at the peak of his career. His recently completed Economic History of the United States is an outstanding achievement. The Department believes that Professor Wright should be invited to remain at the University during the coming year on a half-time basis. The continuance of his work and his presence here will make easier the finding as well as the appointment of a successor. As long aa Professor Wright is in the city the University will be the beneficiary of his work on Library acquisitions. His painstaking labors in the Library over a period of years is reflected in the excellence of the collections of books in Economics and Social Sciences — collections which include rare books, historic volumes and current issues, making our Library one of the best of university libraries.

The desirability of the renewal of Professor Wright’s appointment is strengthened by the fact that Mr. Harold Innis of the University of Toronto, to whom a Professorship in the Department has been offered, has declined our offer for the duration due to his feeling of responsibility toward his own institution in the present emergency. Innis has indicated that when the war is over he will be glad to reconsider our offer. Due also to his great regard for Professor Wright, the renewal of Wright’s appointment for the duration (on a year-to-year basis, as may be required) will be an important factor in inducing Innis to come to the University of Chicago. Probably more than any one person, Wright may be able eventually to induce Innis to join the staff.

If Innis does come to the University of Chicago, he will doubtless wish to devote his attention to Canadian economic history and only gradually devote his energies to continental developments. It will be necessary, therefore, to bring in a young man to teach United States economic history. As has been indicated, promising candidates are hard to find and the Department is unable to recommend a person for appointment at this time. Both Professors Wright and Nef emphasize the difficulties of this task. And, if a recommendation is to be made, the candidate must enjoy the support of senior professors in this field. All of which strengthens the recommendation of the Department for the continuance of Professor Wright’s teaching.

Is the proposed salary to be in addition to the retiring allowance at $3,000 per year?

Item No.			8
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Wright, C. W., Prof. Emer. (Prof.) [(also Retiring Allowance (Total Salary]
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Sept. 44
	New appointment
		From	[10/1/44]
		Yrs.	1
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		3
	If part-time, approx. %		50
Salary Level
	1943-44		$6,500
	Proposed
		Chairman	$3,250
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank		[Retire 10/1/44]
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45		[$1625]

___________________________________

Instructor Henry S. Bloch

[16] It is recommended that the appointment of Henry S. Bloch as instructor be renewed. Bloch at present is devoting his time exclusively to the CATS program, where his salary is charged. Should that training program be liquidated, Bloch’s services can be transferred immediately to Departmental teaching, research, and assistance in advising students. During the past year such needs have arisen, but because of the demands of the military program Bloch has not been able to assist the Department in its civilian program. Attention is called to the fact that Bloch’s salary is on a four-quarter basis.

Our payroll department states that the present appointment for Mr. Bloch at $2,200 per year is charged to the Economics budget and expires June 30, 1944. There is no record of the appointment chargeable to the Civil Affairs Specialists Training Program. Will you please check your records. Also, since the Training Program contract does not cover 1944-45, it is assumed that any salary for next year must be included in the department totals.

Item No.			16
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Bloch, H. S., Inst. (also CATS).
Tenure
	Present Expira.		9/30/44
	New appointment
		From	10/1/44
		Yrs.	1
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		4
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$3,600 (CATS)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$3,600 (CATS)
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$3,600 (CATS)]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Visiting Professor D. H. Buchanan

[12] D. H. Buchanan of the University of North Carolina is a Visiting Professor assisting in the military training program of the University. It is our understanding that his appointment is for the duration or during the continuance of the military training program. Mr. Buchanan’s salary has been charged against the CATS budget and I presume his appointment will continue at the same rate and so long as this program continues. Buchanan is included in this budget only for the sake of completeness.

Item No.			12
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Buchanan, D. H., Vis. Prof. (also CATS
Tenure
	Present Expira.		Aug. 44
	New appointment		9/1/44 (CATS)
		From	10/1/44
		Yrs.	1
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		4
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$8,000 (CATS)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$8,000 (CATS)
		Dean	[Do not appoint] [illegible word]
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Research Associate Gale Johnson

[18] The appointment of Gale Johnson as a Research Associate in Agricultural Economics at a four-quarter stipend of $3,700 was recommended during the current year to provide research assistance for Professor T. W. Schultz. Johnson’s appointment will commence as of April 1, 1944.

Item No.			18
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Johnson, Gale, Res.Assoc. in Agri. Economics
Tenure
	Present Expira.		6/30/44
	New appointment
		From	7/1/44
		Yrs.	1
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		4
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$3,700
	Proposed
		Chairman	$3,700
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Lecturer John K. Langum

[17] The Department recommends the appointment of John K. Langum, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in charge of the Bank’s economic research and statistics, as Lecturer in Banking and Banking Policy. The Department would like to appoint Langum as a Lecturer, with the expectation that the arrangement would continue for many years to the mutual advantage of both institutions. A stipend of $500 is proposed, in return for which Langum would be invited during two Quarters of the academic year to give a seminar or series of evening lectures on current topics in banking and banking policy. These lectures should greatly strengthen the work of the University in the field of banking, a defect in our training and research of which we have long been cognizant. We are anxious to make the appointment at an early date, but will make the expenditure of funds contingent upon adequacy of registrations.

The Langum appointment should bring credit to the University. He is well and favorably known in economic and banking circles. He holds his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of numerous articles in his field. Recently he has prepared a monograph which the Committee on Economic Development is to publish.

Item No.			17
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Langum, J.K., Lecturer
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From	1/1/45 (Winter and Spring Quarters)
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		2
	If part-time, approx. %		Pt.
Salary Level
	1943-44
	Proposed
		Chairman	$500
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$500]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Items 12a, 13a, 15, 1, and 16a are inserted since the individuals have appointments extending beyond June 30, 1944.

Professor Maynard C. Krueger

Item No.			[12a]
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			[Krueger, M. C. As Prof. (also College]
Tenure
	Present Expira.		[Sept. 44]
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		[$4,000]
	Proposed
		Chairman	[$4,000) 4]
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$4,000]
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Assistant Prof. Gerhard E.O. Meyer

Item No.			[13a]
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			[Meyer, G.E.O. As. Prof. (also College]
Tenure
	Present Expira.		[Sept. 44]
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		[$2,700]
	Proposed
		Chairman	[$3,500) 4]
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$4,000]
	Amount 1944-45

From the spreadsheet it is not clear about the breakdown of source of funding between the Department of Economics and the College.

___________________________________

Instructor/Dean of Students Christine McGuire Masserman

Note: items 15a and 16a refer to the same person. Christine H. McGuire (who married the psychiatrist Jules H. Masserman). Christine H. McGuire is listed in the U.S. National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel, 1921-1970 as having received a master’s degree in 1938. She later moved from teaching economics to

Item No.			[15a]
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			[McGuire, Christine (Mrs. Jules H. Masserman), Inst. (also College and Dean of Students]
Tenure
	Present Expira.		[Sept 44]
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.	1
Service Basis
	Number of quarters		4
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		[$2,000
	Proposed
		Chairman
		Dean	[$2,000 Total College (?) $1,500 )4 Economics (?) $500)4]
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$2,000 Total College (?) $1,500 )4 Economics (?) $500)4]
	Amount 1944-45

Instructor C. H. Masserman

Item No.			16a
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			[Masserman, H. H., Inst.]
Tenure
	Present Expira.		[Sept 44]
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		[$2,000]
	Proposed
		Chairman
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

The Future Development of the Department

From time to time the Department has called attention to its future needs. It has appraised its deficiencies and has projected problems certain to arise with the retirement of its staff. Some of the problems are still unsolved; one has been solved with brilliance and good fortune.

1. Agriculture

During the past year one of the long standing weaknesses of the Department was cured with the appointment of T. W. Schultz as Professor of Agricultural Economics. With his coming, two important developments can be undertaken. First, a plan for joint degrees in Agricultural Economics cooperatively undertaken by a few selected land grant colleges can be developed. Already we are negotiating with Purdue University to see if we can agree on the details and administration of such a plan. Second, we hope to introduce Agricultural Economics as a field to be studied by undergraduates in the typical four-year college program. At the present time economics departments throughout the country do not call the attention of students to the problems of agriculture either in the so-called “applied economics” courses or in their general survey courses. This is partly due to the fact of specialization, in which work in agriculture and in agricultural economics has been developed almost exclusively in the land grant colleges. It is also due to the fact that few students as part of their graduate education have been exposed to courses In Agricultural Economics. The Department is offering courses in Agricultural Economics to students as part of a general educational program and as part of their training for advanced degrees. Eventually this should bring to the student in urban colleges of liberal arts, where our students are employed, a better understanding of the problems of agriculture. Sooner or later the general courses in economics should deal with agricultural questions just as they now give attention, for example, to the problems of labor, capital, transportation, taxation, or business organization. It is believed that our Department is pioneering in this field, thanks to the active support and encouragement of the University.

2. Transportation

In times past the Department has called attention to the need for strengthening the work offered in Railroads and Transportation. Chicago is the strategic place for the development of advanced training and research in these related fields. It is the railroad center of the United States; it is its central airport; it is a dominant market for railroad equipment and supplies, and during the war has become an important airplane parts manufacturing center. Motor bus and truck-line activities teem in and around Chicago. To meet this opportunity, the University boasts of but one professor whose interests are largely centered in railroad freight rates and who in recent years has typically been on leave. More emphasis in the future should be given to transportation by motor vehicles and airplanes. A major professorial appointment should be contemplated in the field of transportation.

3. Trusts and Monopolies

The retirement of Professor Wright raises the question as to what should be done with respect to teaching and research in the field of Trusts, Monopolies and Business Combinations. Once each year Professor Wright has given a course in Trusts which from the point of view of training of graduate students has been adequate. The decrease in student enrollment during the war has not made the problem critical. The renewal of Professor Wright’s appointment will solve the question for another year.

The field of Trusts alone is not one of sufficient importance, It is believed, to justify a full-time staff appointment. It could easily be combined with Public Utilities or the Control of Business, depending upon the interests of possible candidates for appointment, but some provision should be made to cover this field in the near future.

4. Public Utilities and Control of Business

The offerings of the Department in the field of Public Utilities has been scant, if courses and research over the years are listed. This is true even if the offerings of other Departments and Schools are taken into account. Prior to the depression, efforts were made to make a professorial appointment in this field. Unfortunately, the nominees of the Department could not be induced to join the faculty. Visiting professors were employed on several occasions but with the advent of the depression this practice had to be discontinued. It may be doubted whether Public Utilities is as important a field as it was over a decade ago. Emphasis now has shifted to the Control of Business, with the regulation of public utilities, the dissolution of trusts and the reduction of competition as phases of larger general problems. The control of business by government (and perhaps by other institutions) has long been of interest to economists and political scientists, as well as business men. It has likewise been the concern of lawyers.

The field is of increasing importance in the future. An outstanding professorial appointment would greatly strengthen the University as a whole.

5. Advanced Statistical Theory

In proposing a joint professorship with the Mathematics Department for Professor Abraham Wald, the Department gave expression to a long-felt desire to expand the work of the University in the field of advanced mathematical theory as applied to statistics. Such an appointment with mathematical advice and consultation available to the faculty on their own research and teaching problems would be invaluable. On the whole, the training of students is secondary to this need and service. By such an appointment our research could be strengthened greatly. It offers the opportunity, too, to develop graduate work in the field of statistics far beyond present limits. It is believed that this view and this conception is shared by the Mathematics Department.

As a matter of University policy a closer integration of courses, training and research in the field of statistics would seem to be desirable. The Institute of Statistics has made progress in this direction. More and more the foundations and advanced training in the field should center in the Mathematics Department, with applications being taught in other Departments and Schools. A major appointment such as the one proposed for Wald would strengthen and facilitate these developments.

Although Wald declined our offer, the Department hopes to join Mr. Bartky, Professor of Applied Mathematics, Associate Dean and Dean of Students in the Division of the Physical Sciences and Chairman of the Institute of Statistics, and Mr. Lane, Chairman of the Department of Mathematics, in presenting another recommendation for an outstanding appointment in this field. Such an appointment is a University need which the Department of Economics shares. The Department will help in any way it can to bring about a noteworthy appointment.

6. Joint Appointments with Other Departments

In suggesting appointments in the fields of Trusts and Monopolies, Railroads and Transportation, Public Utilities and the Control of Business, Advanced Mathematical and Statistical Theory, the Department is cognizant of the fact that University resources are limited and that at any time only the most urgent or most important things can be done. Other Departments and Schools, as well as our own, have problems and claims for financial support. Without attempting to weigh the importance of alternative claims or uses for funds, the recommendations of the Department have been made because we think they are important. They represent a portion of a program oriented toward the future.

In making the suggestions enumerated, appointments to the Department of Economics are not being urged per se. Most of the problems also concern other Departments and Schools. In these fields joint appointments are in order. Thereby other parts of the University as well as our own Department would be strengthened. An appointment in Trusts and Monopolies concerns both the Law School and the Department of Political Science, as well as Economics; Railroads and Transportation also concerns the School of Business; Public Utilities and Control of Business should involve Law, Political Science, Business, and Economics; Urban Planning involves the Departments of Geography, Political Science, Economics and the Schools of Law and Business; Social Legislation affects Social Service Administration, Law and Economics. If the University is interested in furthering this suggested development, the Department is ready to take the initiative. Joint appointments will help us improve our Department, its research and teaching.

7. Visiting Professors

Whenever a need arises or a deficiency becomes evident, the easy solution is to suggest “an outstanding appointment.” This may also be the most costly solution even though it may temporarily increase the size, the number of course offerings or the ego of particular departments. It tends to increase the emphasis on less important aspects of particular branches of knowledge. It expends the applications, or the applied courses, rather than the basic elements of theory or science. The growth and strength of certain departments may be increased by concentrating on the development of the fundamental aspects of their subject matter by the regular full-time members of their faculty and by funds spent on increasing the eminence of this central group, the requisite diversification of teaching or research being secured by means of visiting professorships, continuously utilized to cover first one peripheral subject and then another. By bringing to the Department various men for one or two quarters a year, the best they have to offer both in instruction of students and stimulation of faculty colleagues can be secured at relatively low cost. As different men are brought to the Department the gains from this policy can be extended first to one field and then to another. If it is pursued regularly, it will soon become a tradition that new people with unique contributions to supplement those of the regular staff are always in residence in the Department of Economies at the University of Chicago. The Visiting Professorships should be chosen quite as much for their ability to stimulate and educate their faculty colleagues as to enrich the graduate program, though it is hard to see how one could take place without the other.

Next year may not be the time to inaugurate this policy due to difficulties connected with the war and the possible decrease in exceptional graduate students who would profit most from it, but it is urged that the plan be given a careful trial over a period of several years, within which the Department be allowed to experiment freely to see what could be accomplished. It is suggested that $5,000 per annum be placed at the disposal of the Department for 3 to 5 years to see what it can do for itself and the University in the execution of this policy. If it can not demonstrate the gains from this policy, it should be held to account for its failure.

8. Departmental Lectures

A similar line of thought prompts the Department to ask in addition for the sum of $600 per annum for expenditure on occasional lectures to be given by individuals doing new and unique things about which staff members and their best students would otherwise remain ignorant. Such lectures would have little popular appeal and would attract few outside of the Department, but they would give the faculty the benefit of discoveries, hypotheses an ideas before they become current in the profession. Such Iectures could find their way into print via the Journal of Political Economy, Econometrica, or otherwise, as might be determined. The $600 requested would probably provide only two or three such lectures a year due to the payment of expenses and honoraria.

9. A Special Fund for Student Assistance

The suggestion has been made that there be included among the worthy projects to be submitted to prospective donors proposals for the creation of Departmental Funds for the Assistance of Brilliant Students, such as the Littauer Fund now available at Harvard. This would not be a loan fund but a source of grants-in-aid to supplement fellowships, scholarships, loans and other assistance and would be administered by the respective departments which are close to students, and are, therefore, familiar with their needs. A study of the results attained by the Littauer Center might well justify the search for a similar fund.

Recommendations as to Service and Equipment

The Department is unanimous in recommending an increase in salary of at least $35.00 per month for Mrs. Margaret Finnamore who by vote of the faculty has been acting as Secretary of the Department. If it is possible to have this title confirmed and a new salary classification adopted so as to give effect to the work now being performed by Mrs. Finnamore, the wishes of the Department will be carried out. [“]In running the Department, Mrs. Finnamore is the most essential person.”

The Department feels that it is appropriate to increase the salary of Mrs. Marian Woodyard from $145 to $150 per month.

With the continued increase in members of the Department and the increase in their scholarly output, present clerical and stenographic facilities are inadequate. The situation was eased somewhat last year by the addition of $500 to our Equipment and Expense Account. This sum has been utilized to provide additional typing service for staff members but the need can only be met by the addition of one full-time clerk-stenographer. To provide this assistance and to take care of the salary changes recommended above an increase of $2,040 is needed in our Service Account. (I have reduced our Equipment and Expense Account by $500.)

Item No.			21
Account No.			2624 Service
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$3,960)
	Proposed
		Chairman	$6,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[$6,000]
	Amount 1944-45

Equipment and Expense

Item No.			22
Account No.			2625 Equipment and Expense
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$1,360
	Proposed
		Chairman	$860
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45

An independent check on the present volume of office and stenographic work, as well as its work-program for the future, would be welcomed to test the reasonableness of this recommendation.

Respectfully submitted,
[signed] Simeon E. Leland

___________________________________

Three items crossed out of economics departmental budget by President

Visiting Professors

Item No.			19
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Visiting Professors
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44
	Proposed
		Chairman	$600
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[….]
	Amount 1944-45

Lecturers

Item No.			20
Account No.			2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)			Lecturers
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44
	Proposed
		Chairman	$5,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level		[….]
	Amount 1944-45

Agricultural Economic Research & Development

Item No.			23
Account No.			2626 Agricultural Economic Research & Development
Name and Proposed Rank (Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Tenure
	Present Expira.
	New appointment
		From
		Yrs.
Service Basis
	Number of quarters
	If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
	1943-44		$5,000
	Proposed
		Chairman	$5,000
		Dean
President’s Recommendation
	Rank
	Salary Level
	Amount 1944-45		[In Division Budget]

___________________________________

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

Image Source: Portrait of Simeon E. Leland. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-03716, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Tags Bloch, BuchananDH, BurnsR, Douglas, Harbison, JohnsonDG, Knight, KruegerM, Lange, Leland, LewisHG, Marschak, McGuire, MeyerGEO, Mints, Nef, SchultzTW, Viner, WrightCW

Chicago Exam Questions Theory

Chicago. Preliminary Exam in Economic Theory, Summer 1956

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-11-17

One oddity in the economic theory preliminary examination from the summer quarter of 1956 transcribed below is that the True-False-Uncertain section consisted of 23 questions for a total of 140 points.

The mimeographed copy of the exam was fished from the papers of Zvi Griliches (U. Chicago Ph.D., 1957) at Harvard University Archives.

_________________________

Previously transcribed and posted Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

Note: The chronological ordering of quarters at the University of Chicago during a calendar year goes Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. For this reason the following is arranged chronologically.

_________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY
Preliminary Examination
Summer Quarter 1956

Write your number and not your name on your examination paper. Answer all questions. Time: 4 hours.
Total points: 240.

I. (140 points) True, False, or Uncertain. Explain your answer in each case. Your score will depend heavily on your explanations.

If a firm is producing in the region of rising marginal costs, the firm is realizing profits.
If a commodity has a negative income elasticity, the function relating price and quantity consumed may have a positive slope.
If two goods are substitutes in consumption, a fall in the price of one will always result in a fall in the price of the other.
A demand schedule for labor shows the amount of labor in physical units that will be taken at each wage. A demand schedule for capital shows the amount of capital in physical units that will be taken at each interest rate.
For a single consumer, the sum of the income elasticities of demand for all commodities is unity, while the sum of their price elasticities is zero.
An excise tax affects the allocation of resources among different uses, whereas an income tax does not.
The competitive firm attempts to equalize price, marginal cost and average cost.
The marginal cost of producing a commodity is equal to the price of any one factor divided by its marginal physical product, even though many factors are used in producing the commodity.
An effective price ceiling on cotton, i.e., one that holds its price below the free market level, will decrease the market price of textiles.
A subsidy of a fixed number of dollars per unit of output might be used as part of a program to control a monopoly in the public interest.
If the “true cost of living” for a consumer is interpreted to mean the cost of staying on a given indifference surface, then upper and lower limits for the change in a consumer’s true cost of living between period 0 and period 1 are given respectively by the Laspeyres and Paasche indexes using the consumer’s own purchases as weights.
The supply curve for the output of a monopolist is inelastic at the point of maximum monopoly profit.
Resources are seriously misallocated in the broadcasting industry in the U.S., through the fact that the cost of broadcasts is borne by advertisers rather than by listeners and viewers directly.
The rate of interest in a stationary state would be zero.
It is a convention in economics to draw consumption indifference curves convex to the origin, but we have no way of knowing whether they really are.
Assume that if the prices of farm products fall farmers will expend more effort in an attempt to maintain their income. Under these circumstances, a reduction in effective farm price supports will increase the volume of farm surpluses.
If a worker’s utility function in the two dimensions, (1) leisure and (2) all other goods and services, is homogeneous of first degree, then his supply curve of labor will be backward sloping.
If it takes one day to catch a beaver and two to catch a deer, one deer will exchange for two beavers.
Almost all railroads are reported to have gross revenues from dining car service that are less than the direct expenses of providing the service. In their own interest the railroads should increase the price of dining car meals.
Because of the facts stated in number 19, the railroads should discontinue dining car service.
The elasticity of a linear supply function that passes through the origin is always unity.
The price of haircuts in Chicago is approximately 40 per cent higher than in New York; therefore, average earnings of barbers in Chicago are higher than in New York.
Take it as a fact that grade one cocoa commands a premium on world markets over inferior grades; that the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board (which is the sole purchaser from producers) has set a differential between grades in prices paid to producers wider than the world market differential; and that they have succeeded in this way in raising sharply the proportion of Nigerian production which is grade one. By so doing, they have greatly improved the efficiency of the Nigerian economy.

II. (60 points)

The competitive private enterprise form of economic organization is regarded by many economists as a sort of ideal which it would be desirable to approximate in practice.

(a) On a purely theoretical level, use the tools of economic analysis to explain to a skeptic precisely in what way(s) and why the competitive private enterprise form is so good. State whatever assumptions and define whatever terms you require, and state explicitly the criteria of excellence that you are using.

(b) Assume an economy that is perfectly competitive. What important economic problems, if any, may still be unsolved despite the fact that perfect competition has been achieved? Explain in each case why the problem is important and why perfect competition does not solve it, or explain why there are no unsolved problems.

III. (40 points)

Some prominent manufacturers such as Sunbeam, Eastman Kodak, and Bayer Aspirin, set minimum prices below which retailers may not resell their products. In most states an agreement to this effect between a manufacturer and some retailers is legally enforceable on all retailers.

(a) What is the probable effect of this practice on the net rate of return on factors of production used in retailing?

(b) What is the probable effect of this practice on the net profits of the manufacturers concerned?

Explain your answers fully.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1955-1957”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, Zvi Griliches portrait (undated), apf1-06565, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Tags Griliches

Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic Theory Preliminary Examination. Griliches Copy. Winter, 1957

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-10-02

There is something of a mystery about the following transcription of the “Economic Theory I” Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees at the University of Chicago from the Winter quarter of 1957 that I found in the Zvi Griliches papers at the Harvard University archives. It does not match the Economic Theory I preliminary examination from the same Winter Quarter found in the Milton Friedman papers at the Hoover Institution archives. The most likely explanation is that some anonymous soul simply failed to have updated the quarter of the exam in a copy-and-paste rough draft.. The mystery then, is which came first, the Friedman copy or the Griliches copy?

_________________________

Previously transcribed and posted Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

_________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY I
Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees

Winter Quarter 1957

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the Examination will be sent to you by letter after results on all preliminary examinations have been received.

Answer all questions: Time: Four hours.

Do section I of the examination on this paper and turn it in to the proctor with the rest of your examination. You are to do sections II-VII separately.

Indicate whether each of the following statements is true (T), false (F), or uncertain (U). Explain briefly the basis for your answer.
1. A tax on a product whose supply is of zero elasticity will have no effect on resource allocation.
2. If factors of production are used in absolutely fixed proportion in the production of a particular product, the demand for each of the factors by the producers of the product will be completely inelastic with respect to price.
3. Since 1951 interest rates have risen by about 50 percent whereas real wages have risen only by approximately 24 percent. This implies that firms are and will be using more labor per unit of capital than they did in 1950.
4. An income tax has no resource misallocating effects.
5. A competitive firm will increase its demand for factor A as a result of a fall in the price of factor B.
6. “A monopolist has no supply curve.” Hence it is impossible to predict his response to a shift in the demand curve facing him.
7. Budget studies have yielded an income elasticity of demand for food of .5 for urban families and of . 35 for farm families. This implies that farm families have substantially different tastes or consumption habits.
8. Price stabilization at the mean of fluctuating prices would harm consumers.
9. Product A is one of the major inputs used in the production of product B. Price control is imposed on product A, but not on product B, at a level below the equilibrium price of A. This will result in a fall of the price of B.
10. A tax of 50% of the gross sale price of all new automobiles in the U. S. will in the short run tend to double the market value of used automobiles, and in the long run tend to double the gross market price of new automobiles as well.
Suppose the armed forces want to raise a fixed number of men. One way to do this would be to set a price at which the number of volunteers would equal the number wanted. Another way would be to set a lower price and draft the difference between the number wanted and the number volunteering. Assume that each person receiving a draft notice would be permitted not only to enter as a draftee but also either to buy a substitute or to be a substitute for someone else.
Contrast the two schemes in terms of the personnel secured, the pay received, and the source of this pay.
In a recent study, David Blank and George Stigler note the existence of an interrelation between the demand for higher education and the supply of faculty for institutions of higher education. “For”, they write, “the very presence of a much increased demand [for higher education] … carries with it a much increased supply of trained individuals” from whom faculty members can be recruited.
1. What do you regard as the essential feature of the interrelation? Can you cite other examples? Contrast with specific examples where this particular interrelation does not arise.
2. Suppose the increased demand for higher education led to no increase in the student body but was met entirely by severer rationing, by price or otherwise, of entry into college. Would the statement quoted above be rendered false?
  Justify your answer.
Producers in one area of goods that are also produced elsewhere often claim that the distant producers keep their high quality product at home and sell only their low quality goods elsewhere. On the other hand, consumers often complain that local producers ship all their high quality products elsewhere and sell only the poor quality material locally (as in the standard California complaint that you can’t but a decent orange in retail markets in California). Obviously, either group might be right in some special case. But can you think of any general factors that would on the average tend to produce the one result or the other? I.e., in any particular case, what indirect information would you consider relevant in forming a judgment about which was right?
We frequently speak of “the substitution of capital for labor”. What do you take this phrase to mean (a) for an individual firm; (b) for the economy as a whole? Does your interpretation allow for the fact that the major part of the cost of new capital equipment is labor cost?
Indicate briefly the meaning of each of the following phrases, identify the economist (or economists) associated with each, and state his major contribution to economics:
1. Pareto optimum
2. Pigou effect
3. Walrasian equilibrium
4. Schumpeterian innovators
5. Cobb-Douglas production function
6. Conspicuous consumption
7. Wicksellian natural rate of interest
8. Contract curve
Many families carry life insurance for the husband, and very few carry it for the wife or children. There have been several attempts to explain this. Some say that the loss from the death of the wife or children is mostly a psychic loss, and psych losses cannot be insured. Others say that the loss from the death of the wife or children is too small to be worth insuring. Evaluate these arguments. Can you give an explanation consistent with rational behavior?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1955-1957”.

Tags Griliches

Chicago Economists UWash

Chicago. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Shirley Jay Coon, 1926

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-09-15

The work for this post was begun under a wrong assumption. I thought that the Chicago economics Ph.D. (1926) Shirley J. Coon was a woman and I quite honestly expected to add another PhD trained woman economist to the alumnae list of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. The portrait of Shirley J. Coon from the University of Washington yearbook from 1931 and the discovery that “J” stood for “Jay” forced me to update my Bayesian prior in the matter of Shirley’s identity.

The post turns out to be rather short as I have been unable to find many footprints left in the sands of time by Dean Shirley Jay Coon. A dissertation on the economic development of Missoula, Montana seems as inauspicious a topic as one could imagine, even for the German Historical School, so Coon’s academic obscurity comes as little surprise one century after his dissertation year at the University of Chicago.

_______________________

Shirley Jay Coon
Timeline

1887. Born 16 June in Walworth, Wisconsin.

1909. Beloit College undergraduate.

1915. M.A., Ohio State University

1915-19. Member of the department of economics and business administration at Ohio State.

Price expert for the Ohio food administrator during WWI

1919-1927. On the faculty of Montana State University.

1920-27. Dean of the Business School, Montana State University.

1925-26. Sabbatical to complete Ph.D. at Chicago.

1926. Ph.D. University of Chicago. “Economic Development of Missoula, Montana,” unpublished doctoral dissertation.

1927-1938. Professor of Economics at the University of Washington.

1931-38. Dean of the college of economics and business at University of Washington.

1938. Resigned due to ill health.

1938. Died 4 October in Seattle, Washington.

Sources: Obituary in The Daily Missoulian (Missoula, Montana) · Oct 5, 1938 and University of Washington yearbooks.

Image Source: University of Washington yearbook TYEE 1931, p. 38.

Tags CoonSJ

Chicago Exam Questions Microeconomics

Chicago. Price Theory Core Examination. Summer 1961

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-06-09

Another gap just filled in a quarter century of University of Chicago graduate qualifying exams in price theory.

___________________

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

Summer 1949
Summer 1951
Summer 1952
Winter 1955
Summer 1955
Winter 1957
Winter 1958
Summer 1960
Winter 1961
Summer 1962
Winter 1963
Winter 1964
Winter 1965
Winter 1969
Summer 1975

___________________

ECONOMIC THEORY (Old Rules)
Summer 1961

Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

Answer all questions. Time: 4 hours.

Indicate whether statement is true, false, or uncertain, and briefly give your reason.
1. A firm has a monopoly in its home market and also sells in a perfectly competitive world market; if its home-market price is 50% above the world market price, the elasticity of demand in the home market must be 3.
2. If a multiplant firm has to produce a given quantity of output, it will never pay it to produce in more than one of its plants if that plant has decreasing marginal costs.
3. The development of more rapid urban transport will inevitably raise the aggregate rental value of urban residential property.
4. If the number of acceptable applicants for admission to medical schools is less than the number that could be accepted, the medical profession cannot be raising its earnings by artificially restricting entry.
5. The rate of interest is determined by the marginal productivity of capital.
6. If a particular commodity is subject to a special tax not imposed on other commodities, removal of that tax will always increase economic welfare.
7. If the supply curve of a competitive industry has a positive slope, it means that the industry is subject to decreasing returns to scale.
8. If wage rates, on the average, increase at the same rate as average product per worker, this means that the marginal return on investment declines over time.
9. Entrepreneurs in a competitive industry may realize short term gains or profit as a result of an increase in the price of an input (due to a shift in the supply function for the input), even if the demand curve for the industry remains unchanged.

A. A drug manufacturer stated that the prices of drugs sold in England were priced at about one half the price of similar drugs in the United States. The reason given for the price difference was that per capita incomes were much lower in England than in the United States and the English could not afford to pay as much for the drugs.
Accept the factual statements as valid. Discuss the statement in terms of:
1. Demand functions for drugs in the two countries (income and price elasticities).
2. Whether the manufacturer could be maximizing his profits.
3. International trade restrictions on drugs in the two countries.

B. In a given competitive industry, both price and output increase between two time periods. Indicate why each of the following statements is consistent or inconsistent with the observed changes in price and output or is simply irrelevant:
1. The industry has a perfectly elastic supply curve.
2. The demand curve has shifted to the right.
3. The factor supply curves are upward sloping.
4. The industry is subject to diminishing returns.
5. Total revenue has increased because the price elasticity of demand is greater than unity.
6. Rents and quasi-rents have increased.
A. In the effect of union-produced wage increases on prices, one economist says,

“A competitive industry (with a horizontal long run supply curve] will eventually pass all of a wage increase on to consumers in higher product prices” but “a monopolized industry, if it maximizes profits both before and after the wage increase, will not pass on the full amount of the wage increase in prices.”

Assume that the monopolized industry, like the competitive, operates under long-run constant costs.

1. Explain precisely what “pass all of a wage increase on to consumers in higher prices” means.
2. Is the statement for the monopolized industry correct? If so, prove it. If not, state why not and indicate any additional conditions required to make it true.

B. This economist also says that the competitive industry “will regain its normal rate of profit”, whereas, in the monopolized industry, “the wage increase will lower monopoly profits”
1. What does the word “profit” mean in these statements? in the phrase “maximizes profits” of the preceding question?
2. Do the two statements imply a difference in results in the sense that the monopolized industry will not regain “its normal rate of profit”?
3. Indicate briefly what other meaning or meanings, if any, does the term “profit” have in economic theory.
Discuss the relation between forward (and/or futures) prices and spot prices on commodity markets and foreign exchange markets and the role of “speculators” and “hedgers” in these markets. State some of the leading theories about this relationship and discuss the kinds of evidence used in testing them.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1957-1965”.

Chicago Exam Questions Microeconomics

Chicago. Price Theory Core Examination. Summer 1962

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-06-04

What would your reaction be to the remark in your exam “Remember that you are writing an examination in economic theory”? But, hey, Chicago, you do you.

___________________

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

Summer 1949
Summer 1951
Summer 1952
Winter 1955
Summer 1955
Winter 1957
Winter 1958
Summer 1960
Winter 1961
Winter 1963
Winter 1964
Winter 1965
Winter 1969
Summer 1975

___________________

CORE EXAMINATION
Theory
Summer 1962

Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A. M. Degrees

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

Answer all questions. Time: 3 hours. The suggested times for the various questions are guides to their weights in the grading.

(60 minutes) True-False. State very briefly the reason for your answer to each question.
1. The cross-elasticity of demand of left shoes with respect to the price of right shoes is zero.
2. A competitive firm buying electrical equipment was not injured by the collusion of the producers (General Electric case) even if the collusion raised prices above the competitive level.
3. If a consumer’s income rises in the same proportion as a Laspeyres index of his cost of living, his real income is rising.
4. Duopolists with different costs cannot achieve a monopoly price without transfer payments between the firms.
5. The marginal utility of income is not constant for a worker who increases his hours of work when the wage rate rises.
6. If two goods are substitutes in consumption, a 10 cent fall in the price of either good will lead to the same increase in the consumption of the other good.
7. A minimum wage law may increase the demand for labor by some firms.
8. A competitive firm will have a more elastic demand function for a factor of production than a monopsonist.
9. If a firm is operating in the region of falling marginal costs it must be making losses, since marginal cost is then less than average cost.
10. A multiplant firm will schedule its output so that marginal costs are equal in all plants.
(30 minutes) The stock market break of May 28 elicited many explanations. Comment upon the relevance of each of the following explanations.
1. Stock prices had previously been too high.
2. There was a holding back by big buyers.
3. Inflation was no longer feared.
4. Sellers became panic-stricken.
5. The gold outflow, it was feared, would lead to exchange controls.

Remember that you are writing an examination in economic theory.

(30 minutes) Capital formation may be defined as the use of current resources in such a way as to increase future income, and on this definition capital formation includes investments in equipment, human beings, and discovery of new knowledge. Discuss the problem of the meaning of the marginal product of capital, and whether capital as defined is subject to diminishing returns.
(20 minutes) Each firm in an industry is given a license to operate, and no new firms are allowed to enter. The value of a license rises over time — does this prove that firms operate subject to diseconomies of scale?
(40 minutes) It appears that the Federal Communications Commission will be given the power to compel manufacturers of television sets to build them in such a way that they will receive ultra-high frequency broadcasts (at an additional cost of about $25 per set). Then every community can have (say) a dozen channels. Will consumers be benefitted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1957-1965”.

Image Source: The School of Chicago (1972) as drawn by Roger Vaughan.

Chicago Columbia Economists Gender

Columbia. Meet an ABD economics alumna. Dorothy Beal Christelow, 1937-1940

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-06-04

The combination of government service during the Second World War and marriage followed by the birth of a daughter and son was probably sufficient to have gotten in the way of Dorothy Beal Christelow completing an economics Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia.

I stumbled across Dorothy Beal in an economics department request for emergency funding on her behalf in 1938 (transcribed below). This led me to conduct my own background check on her life and career, the results of which are included in this post. Her obituary in the Springfield Reporter provides most of the details.

__________________________

Almost certainly related to
Dorothy Beal’s Family’s
“Financial Catastrophe”

“Henry S. Beal, president of the Sullivan Machinery company since March, 1933, resigned his position Friday at a meeting of the directors in Boston. Preston Upham of Boston, grandson of one of the company’s founders, was named as chairman of the board…Mr. Beal assumed the presidency of the Sullivan Machinery company March 6, 1933.

Source: From the Springfield Reporter (Springfield, VT, 13 October 1938, p. 1.

__________________________

Emergency Funding Request
on Behalf of Dorothy Beal

Columbia University
in the City of New York

Faculty of Political Science

September 27, 1938

Committee on Education,
Board of Trustees,
Columbia University.

Gentlemen:

One of our outstanding students in Economics, Miss Dorothy Beal, very suddenly finds herself facing a financial emergency, due to a financial catastrophe which has just struck her family. Instead of having her year’s work financed, as she expected, she finds herself completely without resources. Inasmuch as she is one of the strongest students we have had in the Department from the standpoint of social and scholastic background, as well as in terms of work done with us during the past year, it is my hope that your Committee may find it possible, out of accumulated funds, to make a grant which will relieve her necessities sufficiently to enable her to go on to complete this year’s academic work. I know her personally, and colleagues with whom she has studied confirm my judgment that she is a very exceptional person. At the moment she is engaged on one piece of scientific research which Professor Wolman pronounces so promising that he is eager to have it pushed to successful completion. If an award could be made her which would cover tuition and a meagre allowance for living expenses for about eight months, I am sure that such action would be not only generous but wise. [handwritten insert:] $800 in all.

I might add that if the grant-in-aid fund had not already been exhausted, Miss Beal would unquestionably have received recognition from that quarter.

Yours faithfully,
[signed] Roswell C. McCrea

* * * * * * * * * * *

Copy of letter

October 8, 1938

Professor Roswell C. McCrea
Department or Economics

Dear Professor McCrea:

Pursuant to the recommendation contained in your recent letter, the Trustees at their meeting today made available for a special award to Miss Dorothy Beal for the current academic year the sum of $800, chargeable to the accumulated income of the Garth Fellowship Fund.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned]
Frank D. Fackenthal

* * * * * * * * * * *

Columbia University
in the City of New York

Faculty of Political Science

October 6, 1938

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

Dear Mr. Hayden:

Thank you for the information that the Trustees had acted favorably on my request that $800 from the accumulated income in the Garth Fellowship be given to Miss Dorothy Beal, candidate for the degree of Ph. D. in the Department of Economics. I now wish formally to nominate Miss Beal for a Special Fellowship from the fund mentioned above.

Will you kindly arrange with the Bursar to have made available to Miss Beal now, at his office, a check for $400, and another check for $400 on Wednesday, February 1st. Miss Beal’s present address is 220 East 73d Street, New York.

With appreciation of your cooperation, I am

Yours faithfully,
[signed] Roswell C. McCrea

Source: Columbia University Archives. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Central Files 1890-, Box 329, Folder “McCrea, Roswell C., 7/1938 — 5/1942”.

__________________________

Cherchez l’homme!

“[Miss Beal] attended Mont Choisi in Lausanne and Wellesley college. She was graduated from the University of Chicago and after graduate work at Columbia university has been on the research staff of a division of the Treasury Department in Washington.” … [Mr. Allan] Christelow studied at the University of Leeds, Oxford university and the University of California, and has been on the teaching staff of Oxford [Tutor in Queens College Oxford in 1939] and of Princeton university [1940]. He is with the British Advisory Council in Washington.”

Source: From the wedding announcement published in the Springfield Reporter (Springfield VT), 14 May 1942, p. 7.

__________________________

Background of Dorothy’s husband,
Allan Christelow

b. January 31, 1911, Bradford, Yorkshire, England
d. August 8, 1975, New Canaan, Connecticut
A.B. University of Leeds, 1932.
B. Litt. Oxford University, 1934
Commonwealth Fund Fellow, History.

__________________________

Obituary of Dorothy Beal Christelow

HANOVER — Dorothy Beal Christelow, 89, died May 28, 2005, in Hanover.

Mrs. Christelow was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. specializing in Japanese economics. She was the author of When Giants Converge: The Role of U.S.-Japan Direct Investment, which was published by M.E. Sharpe in 1995, as well as many articles.

She was born in Springfield. Vt., on March 19, 1916. the oldest of three daughters of Henry Starr Beal and Alice Ada (Colburn) Beal. On graduating from Springfield High School, she began studies at Wellesley College. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1937 from the University of Chicago.

She was accepted into Columbia University’s graduate program in journalism. While in New York City, about to embark on this new stage of her life, a family friend asked her what she was interested in writing about. When she replied “economics,” he recommended that she study economics rather than journalism. She took his advice to heart and entered Columbia’s economics program instead. She was a student there from 1937 to 1940, with the exception of a year of work as a researcher at Fortune magazine. She ultimately completed all of the requirements for a doctorate except for a dissertation.

In 1941, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work as an economist for the U.S. Treasury Department, Division of International Monetary Research. Over the next six years she went on to work for the U.S. Offices of Price Administration and of War Mobilization and Reconversion. During this period. she was introduced by a friend to Allan Christelow, an Englishman who was working in Washington, D.C. for the British Treasury. They were married in 1942, in Westerly, R.I.

In 1953. Mr. Christelow went to work for Standard Vacuum Oil Co. and the family moved to New Canaan, Conn. His work took him to Asia frequently, and the family moved to Japan for a year in 1957. Four years later, with their two children in college and boarding school, they returned to Tokyo. A series of strokes incapacitated Mr. Christelow, leaving him an invalid until his death in 1974 [sic, death was August 8, 1975]. They returned to New Canaan, and Mrs. Christelow to the work force, to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

On retirement from the Federal Reserve in 1986, she continued to work for it as a consultant for a time while also embarking on the writing of her book. She was an active member of the Yale China Association, acting as a trustee from 1983 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1995, and traveling to China on a trip organized by that organization. She served on the town of New Canaan’s board of finance from 1976 to 1992.

Mrs. Christelow maintained close ties to Vermont throughout her life. On retirement her parents purchased a farm in Windsor. The family spent a portion of each summer there. In 1996, she moved to Kendal at Hanover, where she continued to be active in fiscal affairs, serving on the community’s finance committee for several years.

Mrs. Christelow is survived by a daughter, Eileen Christelow of East Dummerston, Vt., a son, Allan Christelow of Pocatello, Idaho; and two grandchildren.

Source: Valley News (West Lebanon, N.H.), 11 June 2005, p. 4.

Image Source: Picture of Eileen, Dorothy, and Allan Christelow. From the “About Me” page of the website of Eileen Christelow, Picture Book Author & Illustrator. Image mildly enhanced by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Tags ChristelowD, McCrea, Wolman

Chicago Economists M.I.T.

Chicago. Caricature of Stanley Fischer by Roger Vaughan, 1973

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-06-01
1 Comment on Chicago. Caricature of Stanley Fischer by Roger Vaughan, 1973

Yesterday (May 31, 2025) I learned that another of my professors, Stanley Fischer, passed away. Many cohorts of the graduate program in economics at M.I.T. learned their macroeconomics as well as advanced monetary theory from him. My personal debt to Stan is that I finally “got” an understanding and intuition of macroeconomics from his courses. He was a phenomenal lecturer and we can all look forward to the coming testimonies from the legions of thesis advisees. With this post the fine line drawing of the young Stanley Fischer seen above enters the internet record for the first time.

The 1973 caricature of Stanley Fischer was drawn by the University of Chicago graduate student in economics Roger Vaughan and published in his series Great Moments in Economics. Roger Vaughan’s monumental work “The School of Chicago” can be viewed in an earlier post. Biographical information about the artist can be found at that link as well.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129, Folder “Posters, ca 1960s-1970s”.

Tags Fischer

Chicago Exam Questions Microeconomics

Chicago. Preliminary Graduate Examination in Economic Theory. Winter Quarter, 1961

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-05-28

Detail of Friedman and Stigler in Vaughan's "The School of Chicago 1972"

Two things perhaps worth noting for this post. (1) The winter 1961 examination is for Economic Theory. The title of the prelim exam only morphs to Price Theory in the 1962-63 academic year, coinciding with the publication of Milton Friedman’s text “Price Theory: A Provisional Text”; (2) this exam has one, and only one, equation:

q = 100 – p.

Sputnik was lauched less than four years before these questions were written. While economic theory had not yet attained the status of “rocket-science” in 1961, let’s not fool ourselves, this is an exam designed to make or break character!

____________________

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

Summer 1949
Summer 1951
Summer 1952
Winter 1955
Summer 1955
Winter 1957
Winter 1958
Summer 1960
Winter 1963
Winter 1964
Winter 1965
Winter 1969
Summer 1975

____________________

CORE EXAMINATION
ECONOMIC THEORY
Winter 1961

Preliminary Examination for the Ph. D. and A.M. Degrees

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

Answer all questions. Time 3 hours.

(1 hour) Answer each question “true” or “false” and explain your answer very briefly.

1. It is a tautology that the average costs of all firms are equal in equilibrium in a competitive industry.
2. A cartel which allows its members to buy and sell output quotas will have a larger net profit for all firms combined than one which does not.
3. Since all firms in a competitive industry have the same marginal costs, it is meaningless to speak of more and less efficient firms.
4. A fall in the price of houses will increase the sales of doorbells; a fall in the price of doorbells will not increase the sales of houses; therefore Slutsky’s equation is wrong.
5. The average size of farm has risen in recent decades in the United States and Canada. This shows that the farm enterprise is typically subject to increasing returns to scale.
6. A specialized machine has a life of 5 years. Total returns to it in periods of less than 5 years are quasi-rents.
7. Assume that the world demand elasticity for tin is -2, and that Bolivia produces 1/3 of the world’s tin. Therefore, the elasticity of demand for Bolivia tin is at most -6. 0.
8. If factors of production are used in absolutely fixed proportion in the production of a particular product, the demand for each of the factors by the producers of the product will be completely inelastic with respect to price.
9. A supply curve is a curve displaying the quantities which will be supplied at all possible prices. It follows that there is no supply curve under monopoly.
10. If a firm is operating in the region of falling marginal costs, it must be making losses because marginal cost is then less than average cost.

(40 minutes)

1. The long run demand function for a commodity is
  q = 100 – p. The price has been $30 for several years; it now drops to $20. Half the consumers react to the new price immediately; the other half (due to habit, etc.) do not adapt until a year later. Calculate the elasticity of demand at a price of $20 (1) the first year, and (2) the second year after the price reduction.
2. A consumer assures you that his indifference curves intersect each other. You have an unlimited number of observations on his purchases at various incomes and prices. What tests can you make of the alleged intersections?

III. (40 minutes)

1. It has often been suggested that the demand for a durable good could be increased if “something were done about the large number of used items on the market” The practical suggestions usually are (1) a government regulation forbidding the use of items older than some specified age, e.g. declaring all pre-1950 cars as “unsafe” and withholding license plates from them or (2) “the manufacturers should buy up the used items and destroy them or export them at a loss. [sic, closing quotation marks missing in original] Discuss the consequences of these two types of policies on (a) the demand for new durable equipment and (b) the profitability to the industry of the two policies.

IV. (40 minutes)

1. “The first impact of this policy (tight money) is the higher interest rate. Plainly the impact of this will be very different on a firm that has control over its prices and hence can pass along this higher cost as compared with the firm whose prices are given and which, accordingly, must bear the cost itself. The point need not be labored.
  “The U.S. Steel Corporation justified its price increase of 2 weeks ago by the contention that its cost had risen. In doing so it not only conceded its ability to pass higher costs, including higher interest charges, to the consumer but based its policy on the need to do so. But no such opportunity is open to the farmer or to the smaller businessman. They cannot raise their prices, for they are market-determined. They shoulder themselves the costs of this policy.”
  Analyze and evaluate this statement. Disregard the peculiar problems of monetary policy. Treat it as a question about the differential impact of a change in any factor price on a competitive firm or industry as against the impact on a monopolistic firm. Does a change in factor cost “hurt” less in one case than in the other? What do you understand by “passing the cost on to the consumer” and how does the distinction between a monopoly and a competitive industry affect this? Assume the same cost curves and the same shifts in both cases.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129, Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1957-1965.”

Image Source: Roger Vaughan’s classic drawing “The School of Chicago 1972”.

[DIVISION] REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGHER DEGREES UNDER THE OLD PLAN [pp. 7-9]

THE MASTER’S DEGREE

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ECONOMICS, HIGHER DEGREES [ DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS] [pp. 282-284]

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Named in the Instructional Budget, 1944-45

The University of Chicago Budget and Appointment Recommendations 1944-45

Division of the Social Sciences Department of Economics

Instructional Budget Account

Items requiring no change in rank or salary

Professor Jacob Viner

Professor T. W. Schultz

Professor Jacob Marschak

Professor Paul H. Douglas

Assistant Professor Frederick H. Harbison

Associate Professor Lloyd W. Mints

Associate Professor Henry C. Simons

Instructor H. Gregg Lewis

Lecturer Robert K. Burns

Professor Frank H. Knight

Professor John U. Nef

Professor Oscar Lange

Professor Simeon E. Leland

Professor Chester W. Wright

Instructor Henry S. Bloch

Visiting Professor D. H. Buchanan

Research Associate Gale Johnson

Lecturer John K. Langum

Professor Maynard C. Krueger

Assistant Prof. Gerhard E.O. Meyer

Instructor/Dean of Students Christine McGuire Masserman

Instructor C. H. Masserman

Previously transcribed and posted Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

ECONOMIC THEORY Preliminary Examination Summer Quarter 1956

I. (140 points) True, False, or Uncertain. Explain your answer in each case. Your score will depend heavily on your explanations.

II. (60 points)

III. (40 points)

Previously transcribed and posted Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

ECONOMIC THEORY I Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees

Winter Quarter 1957

Shirley Jay Coon Timeline

Chicago Price Theory Preliminary/Core Exams Previously Posted

ECONOMIC THEORY (Old Rules) Summer 1961

Chicago Price Theory Preliminary/Core Exams Previously Posted

CORE EXAMINATION Theory Summer 1962

Almost certainly related to Dorothy Beal’s Family’s “Financial Catastrophe”

Emergency Funding Request on Behalf of Dorothy Beal

Columbia University in the City of New York

Faculty of Political Science

Copy of letter

Columbia University in the City of New York

Faculty of Political Science

Cherchez l’homme!

Background of Dorothy’s husband, Allan Christelow

Obituary of Dorothy Beal Christelow

Chicago Price Theory Preliminary/Core Exams Previously Posted

CORE EXAMINATION ECONOMIC THEORY Winter 1961

[DIVISION] REQUIREMENTS
FOR HIGHER DEGREES
UNDER THE OLD PLAN
[pp. 7-9]

ECONOMICS, HIGHER DEGREES
[ DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS]
[pp. 282-284]

The University of Chicago
Budget and Appointment Recommendations
1944-45

Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics

Items requiring no change
in rank or salary

ECONOMIC THEORY
Preliminary Examination
Summer Quarter 1956

ECONOMIC THEORY I
Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees

Shirley Jay Coon
Timeline

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

ECONOMIC THEORY (Old Rules)
Summer 1961

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

CORE EXAMINATION
Theory
Summer 1962

Almost certainly related to
Dorothy Beal’s Family’s
“Financial Catastrophe”

Emergency Funding Request
on Behalf of Dorothy Beal

Columbia University
in the City of New York

Columbia University
in the City of New York

Background of Dorothy’s husband,
Allan Christelow

Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

CORE EXAMINATION
ECONOMIC THEORY
Winter 1961