Category: Economics Programs

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Columbia Economics Programs Faculty Regulations

Columbia. Graduate Degree Requirements in Economics for Faculty of Political Science, 1904-05

By the beginning of the 20th century the general structure of Ph.D. programs across the United States had gelled into a common form due to the demand for certification of college teachers and a desire to create the graduate research seminars of German universities. The relevant portions of the 1904-05 Ph.D. regulations for the Columbia Faculty of Political Science, within which the department of economics was housed, have been transcribed for this post.

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More Columbia Information from that time

Columbia University, Economics Courses with Descriptions, 1905-07

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Regulations for other economics programs

Chicago, 1904-05
Harvard, 1904-05
Wisconsin, 1904-05

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REGULATIONS
FOR THE UNIVERSITY DEGREES
1904-05

Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy
  1. Candidates for the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy must hold a baccalaureate degree in arts, letters, philosophy, or science, or an engineering degree, or an equivalent of one of these from a foreign institution of learning.
    Every candidate for a higher degree must present to the Dean of each school in which he intends to study satisfactory evidence that he is qualified for the studies he desires to undertake.
  2. Candidates for the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy must pursue their studies in residence for a minimum period of one and two years, respectively.* The year spent in study for the degree of Master of Arts is credited on account of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Residence at other universities may be credited to a candidate. In certain cases and by special arrangement, time exclusively devoted to investigation in the field will be credited in partial fulfilment of the time required. No degree will be conferred upon any student who has not been in residence at Columbia University for at least one year. The satisfactory completion, at not less than four Summer Sessions, of courses of instruction having in all a value of eight hours’ work a week for one academic year will be accepted as fulfilling the minimum requirement of one year’s University residence.

*In practice three years of University residence subsequent to the attainment of the Bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent, are usually necessary to obtain the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

  1. Each student who declares himself a candidate for the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, or either of them, shall, immediately after registration, designate one principal or major subject and two subordinate or minor subjects.
    Candidates are expected to devote at least one half of their time throughout their course of study to the major subject. In the case of laboratory courses this implies two days a week, or its equivalent, as determined by each department. Each minor subject is intended to occupy approximately one fourth of the time during one year for the degree of Master of Arts, and during two years for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
    Minor subjects may not be changed except by permission of the Dean, to be given only on the written recommendation of the heads of the departments from which and to which the change is desired; major subjects may not be changed except by a special vote of the Faculty in each case.
    Candidates for the degree of Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy may, with the consent of the Dean of the Faculty concerned and of the professor in charge of his major subject, select both minor subjects within the same department, and may divide a minor subject, taking parts of two subjects germane to his major subject.
  2. The subjects from which the candidate’s selection must be made are:

[…]

UNDER THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Group I.—History and political philosophy: 1. European history; 2. American history; 3. ancient history; 4. political philosophy.

Group II.—Public law and comparative jurisprudence: 1. Constitutional law; 2. international law; 3. administrative law; 4. comparative jurisprudence.

Group III.—Economics and social science: 1. Political economy and finance; 2. sociology and statistics.

In his choice of subjects under this Faculty, the candidate whose major subject lies within its jurisdiction is limited by the following rules:

A candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy must select one minor subject within the group which includes his major subject.

A candidate for the degree of Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy must select one minor subject outside of the group which includes his major subject.

The choice of subjects must in every case be approved by the Dean.

To be recognized as a major subject for the degree of Master of Arts, the courses selected must aggregate at least two hours per week throughout the year, and must also include attendance at a seminar; for a minor subject for the degree of Master of Arts the attendance at a seminar is not required.

To be recognized as a minor subject for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, courses must be taken, in addition to the requirements for a minor subject for the degree of Master of Arts, aggregating two hours weekly. All the courses and seminars offered in the major subject must be taken by candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

[…]

  1. Each student is given a registration book, to be obtained at the office of the Registrar, which should be signed by the professor or instructor in charge of each course of instruction or investigation at the beginning and end of the course. This registration book is to be preserved by the student as evidence of courses attended, and should be submitted to the Deans of the several Faculties at the end of each year that the proper credit may be given, after which the registration book becomes the permanent property of the student.
  2. —
    1. Students desiring to be examined for the degree of Master of Arts, Master of Laws, or Doctor of Philosophy shall make application to the Registrar of the University, on or before April 1 of the academic year in which the examination is desired, on blanks provided by the University.
    2. Immediately after April 1, the Registrar shall notify the Deans of the Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science, of the names of students applying for examination for higher degrees in each of these three Faculties, together with the subjects in which the candidate offers himself for examination and the degree for which he is a candidate.
    3. The examination shall be held under the authority and direction of the several Deans.
    4. The results of such examinations shall be reported as soon as possible to the Registrar, who shall transmit to the Secretary of the University Council the record of each successful candidate for a degree, as soon as such record is complete.
  3. Each candidate for the degree of Master of Arts shall present an essay on some topic previously approved by the professor in charge of his major subject. This essay must be presented not later than May 1 of the academic year in which the examination is to take place. The Faculty of Political Science requires the essay to be a paper read during the year before the seminar of which the candidate is a member.
    When the essay has been approved, the candidate shall file with the Registrar of the University a legibly written or typewritten copy of it. This copy is to be written on firm, strong paper, eleven by eight and a half inches, and a space of one and a half inches on the inner margin must be left free from writing.
  4. Each candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy shall present a dissertation embodying the result of original investigation and research on some topic previously approved by the professor in charge of the major subject. After the dissertation has been approved by the said professor, it shall be printed by the candidate, under the direction of the Dean of the Faculty, and one hundred and fifty copies shall be delivered to the Registrar of the University, unless, for reasons of weight, a smaller number be accepted by special action of the University Council. On the title-page of every such dissertation shall be printed the words: “Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of—, Columbia University.”
    Each dissertation shall contain upon its title-page the full name of the author; the full title of the dissertation; the year of imprint, and, if a reprint, the title, volume, and pagination of the publication from which it was reprinted; and there shall be printed and appended to each dissertation a statement of the educational institutions that the author has attended, and a list of the degrees and honors conferred upon him, as well as the titles of his previous publications.
    All dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy must be submitted for approval not later than April 1 of the academic year in which examination is desired.
    In case of excessive cost and delay in publishing a dissertation which has been approved by a department, and accepted for publication by a reputable journal or scientific or literary association, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy may be conferred before the publication is completed. The facts in every such case concerning the publication are to be certified to the Council by the Faculty concerned.
    In cases where advanced degrees are conferred before the copies of the dissertation are deposited with the Registrar, the diploma shall be withheld until such copies shall be received.
    In the Faculty of Political Science, the examination on the major and minor subjects and on languages, but not on the dissertation itself, may be held before the printed dissertation is submitted.

[…]

  1. Every candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy must pass, besides such other examinations as the Faculty may require, an oral examination on all three subjects, and must defend his dissertation in the presence of the entire Faculty, or of so many of its members as may desire or as may be designated by the Faculty to attend. The ability to read at sight French and German, to be certified in each case by the Dean of the Faculty concerned, is required by all the Faculties. The Faculty of Political Science also requires the ability to read Latin at sight; and candidates are examined on Latin, French, and German as upon other subjects, in the presence of the Faculty.

[…]

  1. No student shall continue to be a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for a longer period than three years from the time he ceases to be in residence.

[…]

1904-05
FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

In its course of instruction the Faculty of Political Science undertakes to give a complete general view of all the subjects of public polity, both internal and external, from the threefold point of view of history, law, and philosophy. The prime aim is therefore the development of all the branches of the political and social sciences. The secondary and practical objects are:

(a) To fit young men for the public service.

Young men who wish to obtain positions in the United States civil service—especially in those positions in the executive departments at Washington for which special examinations are held — will find it advantageous to follow many of the courses under the Faculty of Political Science — especially the courses on political history, diplomatic history and international law, government (including the governmental organization of the territories and dependencies of the United States), statistics, finance, and administration. Candidates for appointment in the administrative service of our dependencies may obtain adequate preparation by adding to the general courses on public law and on political economy and finance the special courses now offered in the School of Political Science on colonial history and administration, colonial economics, modern civil law (German, French, Italian, and Spanish), and the courses on the Spanish language and literature offered in the College and the School of Philosophy.

(b) To give an adequate economic and legal training to those who intend to make journalism their profession.

(c) To supplement, by courses in public law and comparative jurisprudence, the instruction in private municipal law offered by the Faculty of Law.

(d) To educate teachers of history, economics, sociology, public law, and jurisprudence.

To these ends courses of study are offered of sufficient duration to enable the student not only to attend the lectures and recitations with the professors, but also to consult the most approved treatises upon the political sciences and to study the sources of the same.

The courses under this Faculty are divided as follows:

GROUP I — HISTORY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Subjects

1. European History
2. American History
3. Ancient History
4. Political Philosophy

GROUP II — PUBLIC LAW AND COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE

Subjects

1. Constitutional Law
2. International Law
3. Administrative Law
4. Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence

GROUP III — ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Subjects

1. Political Economy and Finance
2. Sociology and Statistics

A complete statement of the courses will be found in the bulletin of the Division of History, Economics, and Public Law the Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science) for 1903-05, which will be forwarded without charge upon application to the Secretary of the University.

Source: Columbia University, Bulletin of Information. Fourth Series, No. 11 (April 2, 1904). Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy and Pure Science, Announcement 1904-1905, pp. 7-12, 30-31.

Image Source: Roberto Ferrari, Unveiling Alma Mater [Sept 23, 1903]. Columbia University Libraries. July 15, 2104.

Categories
Economics Programs M.I.T.

MIT. Minutes of Visiting Committee. Freeman and Brown, 1947

 

Topic 2 in the following minutes of the March 3, 1947 meeting with the visiting committee for Economics and Social Science at MIT is a foreshadowing of the coming attack on Paul Samuelson’s textbook in September 1947. See: M.I.T. Wingnut inspiration for Du Pont’s crusade against Paul Samuelson’s textbook, 1947

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By 1958, the “Minutes”
seem like “Hours”

Cf. Minutes of the Vising Committee 1958.

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Economics and Social Science
Visiting Committee
(March 1947)

Present

Walter Jay Beadle (b. 1896). S.B. MIT (1917). Treasurer, Vice-President and Director at E. I. duPont deNemours & Co.

Beardsley Ruml (b. 1894). Ph.D. (Chicago, 1917). Chairman of the Board of R. H. Macy & Company, Inc. (formerly Chairman of the Federal Reserve of N.Y. City, a Director of NBER.

Charles Eldridge Spencer, Jr. (b. 1882). Chairman of the Board of the First National Bank of Boston. Life member of the Corporation of MIT. Began as clerk in a bank in his hometown New Brunswick, NJ at age 17.

Hugh G. Pastoriza, Sr. (b. 1886) . MIT Class of 1907, course VI. Was a representative of Coffin & Burr, investment bonds of New York City. Lived in Bronxville, NY, Board of Education

Samuel Sommerville Stratton (b. 1898). Ph.D. (Harvard 1930). Former member of Harvard School of Business. President of Middlebury College. [or his son as a recent alumnus, Hugh G. Pastoriza, Jr., B.S. MIT in Electrical Engineering, 1943]

Absent

Oscar Sydney Cox (b. 1905). Attended MIT 1924. PhB (Yale, 1927), LL.B. (Yale, 1929) Had been author of the Lend-Lease Act Member of the Law firm Cox, Langford, Stoddard & Cutler in Washington, DC.
Fun Fact: according to his obituary (Washington Daily News, 6 October 1966, p. 56) he was a friend of composer Paul Hindemith who put two of Cox’s poems to music.

Ellis Wethrell Brewster (b. 1892). B.S. (MIT, 1913). President and treasurer of Plymouth Cordage Co.

_______________________

M.I.T. Staff

Dean Robert G. Caldwell. (b. 1882). PhD (Princeton 1918).

Douglass Vincent Brown (b. 1904). PhD (Harvard, 1932). Alfred P. Sloan professor of industrial management, MIT.

Ralph Evans Freeman. (b. 1894). B.Litt. (University of Oxford). Head of Department of Economics and Social Sciences, MIT.

Douglas Murray McGregor. (b. 1906). PhD (Harvard, 1935). Associate Professor of psychology, MIT.

_______________________

Minutes of
the Visiting Committee Meeting
March 3, 1947

Department of Economics and Social Science

The Committee met at about 10:00 A.M. on Monday, March 3, in the Fabian Room of the Graduate House. The following members were present: Walter J. Beadle (Chairman), Beardsley Ruml, Charles E. Spencer, Jr., Hugh G. Pastoriza and Samuel S. Stratton. Absent were Oscar S. Cox and Ellis W. Brewster. In addition the following members of the Institute staff were present: Dean Robert G. Caldwell, and Professors Douglass V. Brown, Ralph E. Freeman, and Douglas M. McGregor.

  1. The first topic taken up by the Committee was a survey of the courses currently being offered by members of the Department and the number of students enrolled in each. Statistics were submitted to show that 1780 students were attending 27 classes. A number of publications by the Department staff were presented to indicate the type of research upon which they have been engaged.
  2. The next topic was the new undergraduate program (Course XIV). The content and objectives of this program were outlined. The point was made that the staff does not attempt to indoctrinate the students with the theories of any particular school of economists. They try to give a fairly general understanding of the major points of view In Economics so that students can adopt that philosophy and theory which they believe to be best.
  3. Dean Caldwell outlined the Institute’s humanities program and explained the part played by the Department in this program. Professor McGregor, referring specifically to the Psychology option of the third year, explained the somewhat novel teaching techniques which he and his associates have developed.
  4. The Chairman expressed a particular interest in the course in economic principles (Ec11) which is required of all students at the Institute. Professor Freeman explained that this subject is oriented around the general problem of full employment. This is a departure from the usual method. The analysis of demand and supply and other theories are introduced for their bearing on the central theme of maintaining a full employment national income. Such an approach seems to be more meaningful and interesting than the traditional one which had formerly been employed.
  5. Mr. Ruml raised two questions – one as to the content of the program, the other as to the size of classes. He suggested the inclusion of an examination to test the students’ general knowledge of human physiology and of the functioning of the body. He raised the question as to whether it is economically desirable to try to teach in small sections rather than in large groups. He made the point that under proper conditions, and with a really competent lecturer, the large class may be superior to the small discussion section.
  6. The Committee discussed the Research Institute for Group Dynamics and its program. The problems created by the sudden death of Kurt Lewin were discussed briefly. Mr. Ruml felt that it would be a mistake to close up the Research Center without very careful examination of possibilities for its continuance. The point was made that the activities of the Industrial Relations Section need to be supplemented by the kind of basic research on problems of group living which is being undertaken by the Research Center.
    The Chairman expressed the sense of the Committee that it would be unwise to drop the Group Dynamics Center entirely, and suggested that the Committee might undertake to consider the problem in greater detail.
  1. The activities of the Industrial Relations Section were briefly outlined to the Committee along with the current problems of its financial status. The Administration’s policy of maintaining the Industrial Relations Fund at approximately its present level, or at least of reducing it only very gradually, received general approval from the Committee. The long-range problem of financing the activity of the Section was briefly discussed but no conclusions were reached.
  2. The members of the Committee raised various other questions as to the content of courses, methods of instruction, textbooks, employment opportunities for graduates and so forth. In fact, so much time was taken up by the process of getting acquainted with the various activities of the Department, that the Chairman felt the Committee should meet again. It was, however, decided to postpone the question of a fall meeting and it was agreed that the Chairman, through correspondence with members, would submit an interim report.

The Committee adjourned at 12:30 to attend the Corporation luncheon.

Source: M.I.T., Institute Archives and Special Collections. MIT Department of Economics Records (AC 394), Box 4, Folder “V.C. 47-64”.

Image: From the cover of the MIT yearbook The 1949 Technique.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Faculty Regulations

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

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)

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[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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

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Columbia Economics Programs Faculty Regulations

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

The requirements for a graduate degree in economics at Columbia University in 1934-35 are transcribed below. First we have the common requirements of the Faculty of Political Science (of which Economics constituted one of four departments). Next we have the specific requirements set by the economics department.

Earlier, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has transcribed the analogous requirements at Harvard in 1934-35.

Columbia. Organization of Graduate Education, 1908-10
Columbia Requirements for Ph.D., 1916
Columbia Requirements for Ph.D., 1920
Columbia Requirements for Graduate Degrees, 1946-47
Columbia Requirements for Ph.D., 1954-55

_______________________

FACULTY REQUIREMENTS
[pp. 11-13]

MASTER OF ARTS
  1. Residence. Every candidate for the degree must register for and attend courses aggregating not less than thirty tuition points distributed over a period of not less than one academic year or its equivalent.
  2. Courses. The candidate must satisfactorily complete, from the courses for which he has registered to satisfy the residence requirements, courses aggregating not less than twenty-one tuition points, of which at least fifteen must be selected from the general courses listed in this Announcement.
  3. Essay. The candidate must present a satisfactory essay prepared under the direction of some member of this faculty.
  4. Departmental Requirements. For special departmental requirements see Appendix, pages 46–52, of this Announcement. Departmental requirements are in addition to, not a substitute for, the faculty requirements.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
  1. General. The degree will be conferred upon students who satisfy the requirements as to preliminary training, residence, languages, subjects, and dissertation.
  2. Preliminary Training. The candidate must have received a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University or from some other approved university or college, or have had an education equivalent to that represented by such a degree, and must have been regularly accepted as a graduate student by the University Committee on Admissions.
  3. Residence. The candidate must have pursued graduate studies for at least two academic years, one of which must have been spent at this University, and the other of which, if not spent here, at an institution accepted as offering courses of similar standard. A year’s residence at this University is defined as registration for and attendance upon courses aggregating not less than thirty tuition points distributed over a period of not less than one academic year or its equivalent. Those desiring credit for graduate work completed elsewhere should send to the Director of University Admissions as soon as possible a request for the evaluation of such graduate work.
  4. Languages. The candidate must have demonstrated his ability to express himself in correct English and to read at least one European language other than English and such additional languages as may, within the discretion of the Executive Officer of the appropriate department, be deemed essential for the prosecution of his studies. Normally, the language requirements for each subject are as indicated in the following paragraph.
  5. Subjects. The candidate must have familiarized himself with one subject of primary interest and at least one subject of secondary interest, chosen from the following list of subjects:

• Ancient history (French, German, Latin, and Greek)
• Medieval history (French, German, and Latin)
• Modern European history (French and German)
• American history (two modern foreign languages — normally French and German, but substitutions may be made with the approval of the Graduate Chairman)
• History of European thought (Latin, French, and German)
• Jewish history, literature, and institutions (Hebrew and two from the following: Greek, Latin, Arabic, French, German)
• Political and social philosophy (French, German, and Latin)
• European governments (French and German)
• American government and constitutional law (French and German).
• International law and relations (French and either German or Latin)
• Roman law (Latin and either French or German)
• Comparative jurisprudence (French and German)
• Economic theory, history, and statistics (French and German)
• Public and private finance (French and German)
• Social economic problems, including labor, industrial organization, trade, transportation, etc. (French and German)
• Sociology
• Social legislation (French and German)

With the approval of the Committee on Instruction of the Faculty, the candidate may offer as a subject of secondary interest a subject not contained in the foregoing list, such as statistics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, etc.

  1. Dissertation. The main test of the candidate’s qualifications is the production of a dissertation which shall demonstrate his capacity to contribute to the advancement of learning within the field of his selection. Such dissertation must give evidence of the candidate’s capacity to present in good literary form the results of original researches upon some approved topic. The dissertation must be printed in a form acceptable to the Faculty before the degree will be awarded.
  2. Departmental Requirements. For special departmental requirements see the Appendix, pages 46-52, of this Announcement. Departmental requirements are in addition to, not a substitute for, the faculty requirements.
[FACULTY] PROCEDURE
FOR FULFILLING PH.D. REQUIREMENTS
  1. Notice of Prospective Candidacy. As soon as possible after the beginning of his graduate residence the student shall give notice of prospective candidacy to the Executive Officer of the department in which the subject of his primary interest lies, and in consultation with him make a choice of subjects.
  2. Languages and Written Work. As soon as possible after giving notice of prospective candidacy, the student shall submit to the Executive Officer of the department concerned an essay or other paper giving satisfactory evidence of his ability to make researches and to express himself in correct English. At the same time the student shall be tested, by some officer of instruction designated by the Executive Officer of the department, as to his ability to read the required languages.
  3. Examination on Subjects. Having pursued graduate studies in this University, or in some other institution approved by it, for the equivalent of at least six months after the satisfactory completion of the tests on languages and written work, the student, upon the advice of the professor in charge of the subject of his primary interest or of his researches, shall make application, through the Executive Officer of the department concerned, to the Dean for examination in subjects. Such application may be made at any time, but to secure the examination in any given academic year the application must be made before April 1. The applicant will be notified by the Dean of the date of his examination. This examination is an oral examination, which may be supplemented by a written examination when required by the department concerned, and is conducted by a committee of the Faculty appointed by the Dean. By it the applicant will be expected to demonstrate an adequate knowledge of the subjects of his primary and secondary interest and of the literature pertaining thereto.
  4. Matriculation. Upon the successful passing of the required examination in his subjects, the applicant will be recommended by the Executive Officer of the appropriate department to the Dean for matriculation, which is admission to candidacy for the degree.
  5. Dissertation. Investigations and researches for the dissertation may be pursued either in connection with the work of some research course or under the direction and supervision of some member of the Faculty independently of any course. In either case a very considerable part of the time of the candidate or prospective candidate for the degree should be devoted to work upon his dissertation. The dissertation may be completed either during the period of residence, or in absentia. In advance of its being printed for presentation to the Faculty it must be approved by the professor in charge and accepted by the Executive Officer of the department concerned. Such acceptance, however, is not to be construed as acceptance by the Faculty.
  6. Final Examination: Defense of the Dissertation. At least one month in advance of the time at which he wishes to present himself for the defense of his dissertation, but not later than April 1 in any academic year, the candidate must make application therefor to the Dean, who will thereafter notify him of the date of the final examination. This examination is an oral examination conducted by a Committee of the Faculty appointed by the Dean. By it the candidate will be held to a defense of his dissertation in respect of its content, the sources upon which it is based, the interpretations that are made, the conclusions that are drawn, as well as in respect of the candidate’s acquaintance with the literature and available sources of information upon subjects that are cognate to the subject of his dissertation.

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

ECONOMICS
[ DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS]
[pp. 49-50]

As soon as possible after deciding upon economics as the subject of primary interest for the Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy degrees, the prospective candidate should report through the secretary of the Department of Economics, 508 Fayerweather Hall, to a designated member of the Committee directing the work of graduate students in economics to receive fuller instructions. Before being permitted to matriculate for a graduate degree in economics, the prospective candidate must satisfy the committee that his prior preparation in economics has been adequate.

MASTER OF ARTS
  1. General Requirements. Students whose subject of primary interest is in the field of economics must include graduate courses in economics aggregating not less than fifteen points among the courses aggregating not less than twenty-one points, which they are required to complete before being recommended for the degree. Of these twenty-one, not less than eighteen points must be chosen from the general courses listed in this Announcement. It is also desirable, when the candidates’ own qualifications permit, that they should attend research courses aggregating six points.
  2. Essay. The candidate must select his essay subject and submit it to the appropriate professor within two months after registration as a candidate for the degree. The selection of a subject of importance within the field of his interests must be made by the student himself, and the ability to make a proper choice will normally be regarded as an essential qualification for the degree. The completed essay must be submitted for approval not later than four weeks before the date on which copies of the approved essay are to be filed with the Registrar. Under no circumstances should the candidate proceed beyond the preparation of his detailed program of investigation and the completion of a preliminary chapter or section without submitting his work to his adviser. In the approval of an essay attention will be paid to excellence of presentation and to expression in correct English as well as to specific content and to ability to use original material.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Every candidate must satisfy the Department of his grasp of seven of the subjects listed below. The candidate will be expected to show a thorough knowledge of the facts, principles, and literature of the subjects. Three of these subjects must be economic theory, economic or industrial history, and statistics. The procedure for meeting this requirement is as follows :

  1. The candidate must offer himself for oral examination in four of the subjects listed below. Of these four, one must be economic theory. The examination will be on subjects, not on courses;
  2. Before making formal application for this oral examination on subjects, the candidate must satisfy the appropriate professors that he has done work which is adequate both in scope and in quality in three other subjects, also chosen from those listed below, and different from the four subjects which the candidate proposes to offer in his oral examination. This requirement may be met in any manner satisfactory to the professors concerned — by taking courses, by formal or informal examination, or in other ways ; but when the requirement has been met, the candidate must secure corresponding written certification from the professors concerned. It will be noted that if the candidate does not propose to offer economic or industrial history on his oral examination, he must satisfy the requirement for that subject in the manner specified in this paragraph; and that the same requirement also applies to statistics

The subjects are as follows :

1. Accounting
2. Agriculture
3. Corporation and trust problems
4. Economic or industrial history
5. Economic theory
6. Insurance
7. International trade
8. Labor problems and industrial relations
9. Marketing
10. Mathematical economics
11. Money and banking
12. Public finance
13. Socialism
14. Statistics
15. Transportation
16. Any other approved topic within the field of economics. Optional subject may be outside of the Department. In such case this subject must be one of the four presented for the oral examination.

The candidate will be expected to show acquaintance with the main trends in economic thought, as well as intimate acquaintance with the writings of one prominent economist, the candidate’s selection to be approved by the Committee directing graduate work in economics. Before applying for the oral examination on subjects, the candidate must again consult the Committee.

Except when special permission has been granted by the Department, the candidate must satisfy these requirements on subjects before proceeding with the preparation of a dissertation.

Source: History, Economics, Public Law, and Social Science: Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science for Winter and Spring Sessions, 1934-1935. Published as Columbia University, Bulletin of Information (34th series, No. 33) May 19, 1934.

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Economics Programs Graduate Student Support Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Department of Economics Newsletter. Dunlop, Sept 1964

Just as families produce holiday newsletters to chronicle the comings and goings during the calendar year, economics departments over time have gotten into the habit of documenting the work of the department for each of their academic years. This post provides the report written by John Dunlop for the Harvard Economics Department and published in September 1964. By itself the report represents a single slice of history, but Economics in the Rear-view Mirror makes a special effort to transcribe such reports wherever and whenever they are found to assemble a complete loaf of departmental history.

___________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER

Prepared by
Professor John T. Dunlop
Chairman

Published by
THE HARVARD FOUNDATION FOR ADVANCED STUDY & RESEARCH
77 Dunster Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

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

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 1964

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

The undergraduate concentration in Economics in the year 1963-64 increased appreciably as indicated by the following tabulation:

1961-62 1962-63 1963-64
Sophomore Concentrators 90 78 (7) 135 (11)
Junior Concentrators 97 91 (3) 91 (10)
Senior Concentrators 85 100 (3) 94 (3)

(Numbers in parentheses indicate Radcliffe students and are included in the totals).

Enrollment in undergraduate courses in the Department continued at a high level. There were, for instance, 700 students in Economics I in the fall and 678 in the spring term.

After three years as head tutor, Dr. H. Francois Wilkinson, who helped appreciably to improve our undergraduate teaching, accepted a position at Dartmouth. Dr. Lars Sandberg, who was awarded his Ph.D. degree during the year, has been appointed Instructor and head tutor starting July 1, 1964. Dr. Sandberg was an undergraduate concentrator in the Department and was graduated summa cum laude in the class of 1961.

The Allyn Young Prize for 1963-64 was awarded to Mr. Lawrence J. White as the undergraduate concentrating in Economics who submitted the best honors thesis of “summa quality.” His thesis was entitled “Devaluation, Debacle, and Aftermath: The Canadian Dollar, 1960-63.”

Mr. Duncan M. Kennedy was the winner of the John H. Williams Book Prize, which is awarded each year to the outstanding Harvard senior graduating summa cum laude majoring in Economics.

GRADUATE INSTRUCTION

The Department announced a new Graduate Prize fellowship program designed to improve the competitive position in the recruitment of the best graduate students. The program provides for up to 15 prize fellowships to be awarded each year. The students are to be assured four years of financial support; in the typical case the first two years are to be on scholarships at the rate of $3,500 a year and the following two years on part-time teaching assignment. The program was worked out with the initiative and support of Dean Ford and Dean Elder. The Department believes that the program will be particularly helpful to meet the very difficult present problem of financial support in the second year of graduate school. Although it is too early to appraise the results even for the first year, the preliminary indications are that the new program was helpful in improving the quality of our acceptances for the year 1964-65.

The Department announced that it had received a gift to honor Mrs. Selma Goldsmith and had decided to use the funds to provide a prize for the best paper prepared in a graduate seminar. The Goldsmith Prize of $100 will be awarded in October 1964 for the first time for papers completed in the current academic year. The prize paper will also be considered for publication in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

The Department has been greatly concerned to increase the extent to which graduate students, particularly in their second year, take working seminars in which they write substantial papers and present them for discussion. The Department intends to press students in this direction, making at least one working seminar the normal pattern in the second year. The Department is increasing the number of such seminars to provide more opportunity for students to elect such seminars.

In 1963-64 the Department used a total of $8,000 in subsidized computer funds. This figure represents participation in subsidized computer time by 44 graduate students, 9 undergraduates and 9 members of the junior staff.

For the period July 1, 1963 to June 30, 1964, 34 Ph.D. degrees were awarded in the Department of Economics. The list is attached.

The Wells Prize for 1963-64 was awarded to Dr. Albert Fishlow of the Department of Economics of the University of California (Berkeley) for his manuscript entitled “Railroads and the Transformation of the Anti-Bellum Economy.”

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: IBM GRANT

A development of considerable potential significance to the Department was the announcement that IBM had agreed to provide Harvard University with $500,000 a year for ten years for a University-wide program in the general field of Science and Technology. Many members of the Department, and members of the junior staff and Ph.D. candidates, do research in areas relevant to this general field. Professors Kaysen and Dunlop of the Department are members of the University-wide committee which prepared the application and which has been appointed by President Pusey to administer the grant.

NEW PERMANENT POSITIONS AND CHANGES IN APPOINTMENTS

Three new professors were added to the senior staff of the Department of Economics from three newly created professorships. Two senior members retired during the year.

On April 4, 1963 Dean Ford authorized the establishment of a new permanent position in the Department. Professor Hollis Chenery of Stanford University and currently with A.I.D., has been appointed to the Department, and he is to be in residence starting with the Spring term 1965. Professor Chenery is a specialist in the fields of economic development and input-output analysis.

On January 20, 1964 the George Gund Professorship of Economics and Business Administration was established jointly in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (in the Department of Economics) and in the Graduate School of Business Administration. The funds for this new professorship were raised under the leadership of Mr. Dwight Robinson, who had been Chairman of the Visiting Committee for a term expiring June 30, 1963, and Mr. David Rockefeller, who is the current Chairman. Professor John Lintner of the Harvard School of Business Administration was appointed to this new joint professorship and joins the Department with the new academic year. On the average he will devote half of his time to the Department and half to the Business School. Professor Lintner is a specialist in the fields of business decision making and the economic outlook. He will be particularly responsible for an undergraduate course in the Economics of Managerial Decisions.

The Littauer School of Public Administration established during the year a new professorship in the field of economic development and international economic relations. Professor Albert O. Hirschman of Columbia University was appointed to this new professorship and will begin his work in Cambridge in the fall of 1965. Professor Hirschman is to be a member of the Department of Economics and its executive committee.

Two senior members of the Department were retired during the year. Professor Seymour Harris was a Harvard undergraduate, class of 1920, and took his Ph.D. degree here in 1926. Professor Harris had been on the teaching staff of the Department for 40 years, serving as Chairman of the Department in the period 1955 to 1959. Professor Harris joined the staff of the University of California, La Jolla campus, in February 1964.

Professor Overton H. Taylor joined the teaching staff of the Department in 1924, and on his retirement at the end of this academic year has accepted an appointment at Vanderbilt University.

STAFF: VISITING PROFESSORS AND LEAVES

During the academic year the Department’s instructional staff was supplemented from other insitutions by the following: Professor Herbert S. Levine of the the University of Pennsylvania in the field of the Soviet Economy; Professor Edwin Mansfield, who came to us from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, in the field of Quantitative Methods and Econometrics; Professor Zenon S. Zannetos from M.I.T. continued to teach a one-term undergraduate course, the Economics of Managerial Decisions, for a second year; Dr. John Arena from the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston assisted Professor Duesenberry in a course; and Mr. John J. Mauriel from the Harvard School of Business Administration was in charge of the undergraduate course in accounting in the Spring term.

The following members of the Department were on leave during the year: Professor Bergson was on sabbatical leave at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford; Professor E. H. Chamberlin was on leave in Cambridge with the Frank W. Taussig Research Professorship; Professor Hendrik S. Houthakker was on leave in Western Europe on a Ford Faculty Fellowship as nominated by the Department; Professor Gottfried Haberler was on sabbatical leave in Western Europe during the Spring term. A larger number of permanent members of the Department were in residence than in recent years.

Among the Assistant Professors, Thomas Wilson was on leave throughout the year working with the Royal Commission on Taxation in Ottawa; Elliot Berg was on leave in Cambridge in the Spring term.

During the year 1964-65 Professor George Break of the University of California will be visiting professor teaching in the tax and fiscal policy area; Professor Barry Supple from the University of Sussex in England will teach Economic History in the fall term; and Professor Pieter de Wolff from the Hague and the University of Amsterdam will be Frank W. Taussig Research Professor. Dr. John Arena of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston will give an undergraduate course on financial institutions from the resources made available by the Political Economy Lectures Fund (1889). Dr. Maureen Brunt from Australia is to be a Visting Lecturer for a two year period working particularly in the field of Comparative Industrial Organization.

PROFESSIONAL AND PUBLIC ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT STAFF

Professor Abram Bergson spent the year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and has written a monograph now in the press, entitled The Economics of Soviet Planning. He continues as Director-at-large of the Social Science Research Council, and as a member of its Committee on Economy of Communist China.

Professor Richard Caves published during the year American Industry: Structure, Conduct, Performance, in Foundations of the Modern Economic Series, Prentice Hall. He completed research and writing of Northern California’s Water Industry: Public Enterprise and Scarce Natural Resources (jointly with J. S. Bain, J. Margolis, V. Ostrom) under a grant from Resources for the Future and scheduled for publication in 1965. He served on the Review Committee for Balance of Payments Statistics of the U. S. Bureau of the Budget, and consulted with the Council of Economic Advisers and the Council for Economic Development.

Professor Edward Chamberlin was elected to the Real Academia de Ciencias Economicas y Financieras, Barcelona, and a Communication on “Excess Capacity” was read before the Academy in March 1964 and printed in Italian translation in the Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciale, Milan, Spring 1964. He was also re-elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. During the year the eighth edition of his book Theory of Monopolistic Competition was issued by the Harvard University Press, and the second edition of Economic Analysis of Labor Union Power also appeared.

Professor Robert Dorfman was elected President of the Institute of Management Science; he also participated in a Study Week on Econometrics at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican in October 1963.

Professor James Duesenberry’s article on monetary economics, “The Portfolio Approach to the Demand for Money and Other Assets,” appeared in the February 1963 National Bureau of Economic Research Supplement to the Review of Economics and Statistics. He was consultant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; he continued as consultant to the Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers; he also continued as Acting Co-Chairman of the Econometrical Model Project of the Social Science Research Council and Co-Director of the Merrill Capital Markets Project at the Harvard Business School.

Professor John T. Dunlop’s article “Job Creation: Private and Public Manpower Policies” appeared in Proceedings of A Symposium on Employment, sponsored by the American Bankers Association. A revised edition of Industrialism and Industrial Man (with three other authors) was published by Oxford University Press, Galaxy Book Edition. Five volumes were published in the year in the Wertheim Series from research projects under Professor Dunlop’s direction: three in the history of labor-management organization and two treating international labor questions. He continued as a member of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission and was appointed to the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity.

Professor Otto Eckstein published Economic Policy in Our Time, with eight European scholars (3 vols.), North Holland Publishing Company; and Public Finance, in Foundations of Modern Economic Series, Prentice-Hall. Professor Eckstein is editor of the Series. He also edited and has written an introduction to Studies in the Economics of Transfer Payments to be published by the Brookings Institution. Professor Eckstein becomes a member of the Council of Economic Advisers on September 1, 1964.

Professor J. Kenneth Galbraith published during the year Economic Development, Harvard University Press and Houghton Mifflin Company. He gave the American Association for the Advancement of Science Distinguished Lecture in December 1963, and gave the Charter Day Address, University of California at Davis, May 1964. He received LL. D. degrees from four universities: University of Massachusetts, Brandeis University, University of California and Loyola College (Baltimore).

Professor Alexander Gerschenkron published during the year a number of articles and chapters in books, including the following: “Agrarian Policies and Industrialization: Russia 1861-1914” in The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. VI; “Reflections on Economic Aspects of Revolutions,” in Internal War, Harry Eckstein, ed., Glencoe, 1964; “City Economies, Then and Now,” in The Historian and the City, Harvard University Press, 1963. He gave a lecture entitled The Stability of Dictatorships under the auspieces of the Harvard Foundation at Yale, 1963.

Professor Gottfried Haberler completed his term as President of the American Economic Association in December, 1963. He has been on sabbatical leave in the Spring term. He spent a month teaching in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, and has been lecturing at various universities in Western Europe.

Professor Hendrik Houthakker was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal by the American Economic Association at its annual meetings in December 1963. This medal is awarded every other year “to that economist under the age of 40 who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” Professor Houthakker was on leave throughout the year and spent most of the time in Switzerland working on the Theory of Consumer Choice, which is to be published by Holden, Day late in 1964. With Dr. Lester Taylor of the Department he presented a paper “Projecting Personal Consumption Expenditures in 1970” at the Cleveland Meetings of the Econometric Society, and a second paper “Recent Empirical Experience with Dynamic Demand Function” at the Boston meetings of the Econometric Society. These papers will be published in a volume entitled United States Consumption 1929-1970.

Professor Carl Kaysen returned this academic year from two years’ leave for government service in Washington, but has continued to serve as a Special Consultant to the President. His publications this year include two book reviews: Alfred Sloane, My Years with General Motors, New Republic, February 29, 1964; and Gunnar Myrdal, Challenge to Affluence, Harvard Law Review, June, 1964. In addition, he presented a paper entitled “The New Competition and the Old Regulation” to a Conference in Modern Competitive Theory held by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May. The proceedings of that conference will be published shortly.

Professor Simon Kuznets published a number of articles and chapters in various books during the year including: “Notes on Take-Off,” in The Economics of Take-Off Into Sustained Growth, edited by W. W. Rostow, proceedings of a conference held by the International Economic Association, St. Martin’s Press, 1963; “Economic Growth and the Contribution of Agriculture: Note on Measurement,” in The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of Agricultural Economists, London, Oxford University Press, 1963; “Applicacion des las Estimaciones de Renta Nacional en el Analisis y Politica del Crecimiento Economico,” in El Ingreso y La Riqueza, Seccion de Obras de Economia, Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico-Buenos Aires, 1963.

Professor Kuznets was elected to the Royal Academy of Sciences, Sweden; he was Chairman of the Committee on Economic Growth, Social Science Research Council and its Committee on the Economy of China. He was also Chairman of the Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, Maurice Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel; he gave the Haynes Foundation Lectures at the University of California at Riverside, which are to be published by the Harvard University Press.

Professor Wassily Leontief’s publications included “The Structure of Development” in Scientific American, September, 1963; and “Alternatives to Armament Expenditures,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June, 1964. He participated in a Study Week on Econometrics at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican in October, 1963, was Guest Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna in January, 1964, and lectured in Japan in May as guest of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Professor Edward S. Mason published Foreign Aid and Foreign Policy, which represents the reworking of his Elihu Root Lectures given at the Council on Foreign Relations in May 1963. He was a member of a two-man Steering Committee on a large study called the Coal Transport Study undertaken by the International Bank for the Government of India. Professor Mason was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree by Yale University in June 1964.

Professor John Meyer published the following: Investment Decisions, Economic Forecasting and Public Policy (with Robert Glauber), Division of Research, Harvard Graduate School of Business, 1964; “Investment, Liquidity and Monetary Policy,” (with Edwin Kuh), Impacts of Monetary Policy, Prentice-Hall, 1964; “Competition, Market Structure and Regulatory Institutions in Transportation,” Virginia Law Review, 1964. Professor Meyer is Director of a new formal program of studies in transportation, location and land use problems which has been inaugurated within the Graduate School of Public Administration. This program has put particular emphasis upon the transportation planning problems of the newly industrializing countries. A substantial part of the research program has been financed by a grant from The Brookings Institution with A.I.D. funds.

Professor Thomas Schelling continued to divide his time between the Department of Economics and the Center for International Affairs, his main research interest being conflict theory and military policy. He “unofficially estimates that he may have set a record for war college visits, having lectured at six within the year, to wit: The National War College, Army War College, Air War College, Navy War College, NATO, and the Israeli Defense College.” He also lectured at the Air Command Staff College.

Professor Arthur Smithies published “Inflation in Latin America” in Public Policy. He recently completed a research paper on Program Budgeting for the Rand Corporation, which will be published. He continued as consultant to the Treasury and as Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Abstracts. Professor Smithies was Visiting Lecturer in Brazil under the auspices of A.ID., and was also Advisor in Argentina under the sponsorship of the Harvard Development Advisory Service.

Ph.D. Degrees in Economics Awarded in 1963-64
Aaron, Henry Jacob “Social Security in an Expanding Economy”
Ahmad, Ziauddin “Deficit-Financing, Supply Response and Inflation in Underdeveloped Countries”
Ahtiala, Kaarlo Pekka “The Short-Term Adjustment Mechanism on the Bond Market”
Almon, Shirley Montag “The Distributed Lag Between Capital Appropriations and Expenditures”
Bateman, Cleveland Worthington “Investment Behavior and the Acceleration Principle”
Bolton, Roger Edwin “Defense Purchases and Regional Growth in the United States”
Bonnen, James Thomas “United States Agricultural Capacity: A General Equilibrium Model for 1965”
Brunt, Maureen Doris “Concentration in the Australian Economy”
Cohen, Benjamin Ira “A Study of the Export Policies of the Indian Government, 1951-52 to 1965-66”
Comanor, William Stephen “The Economics of Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry”
Davie, Bruce Fenwick “State & Local Government Bond Issues Before 1913 – A Study of Increasing Market Perfection”
Dorsey, John Wesley “The Mack Case: A Study in Unemployment”
Eckstein, Salomon “Collective Farming in Mexico”
Edwards, Franklin Richard “Concentration and Competition in Commercial Banking: A Statistical Study”
Eisenmenger, Robert Waltz “The Dynamics of Economic Growth in New England 1870-1960”
Enzer, Hermann “Learning on-the-job: A Process Analysis”
Gandhi, Ved Parkash “Tax Burden on Indian Agriculture”
Glimp, Fred Lee “The Entrepreneureal Concept and the Notion of Creative Leadership”
Hagelin, Edith Hilma “The Swedish Full Employment Policy and Economic Development, 1945-52”
Hartman, Robert William “Demand for the Stock of Non-Farm Housing”
Jack, Andrew Barrie “The Marketing Function of the Innovating Entrepreneur: the Sewing Machine and Garment Industry in the United States”
Johnson, William Arthur “India’s Iron & Steel Industry: A Study of Planned Industrial Growth”
Lithwick, Norman Harvey “Economic Growth in Canada – a Quantitative Analysis”
McGuire, Martin Cyril “Information and Arms Races”
Madjid, Abdul Hadi “A Dynamic Input-Output Model Incorporating Technical Change”
Mallon, Richard Dicks “Economic Development and Foreign Trade of Pakistan”
Perkins, Dwight Heald “Price Formation in Communist China”
Pincus, John Alexis “Economic Aid and International Cost Sharing”
Prescott, James Russell “The Economics of Public Housing: A Normative Analysis”
Ryan, William Francis “Economic Development and the Church in French Canada 1896-1914”
Sakr, Mohamed Ahmed H. “Economic Integration and the Growth of Less-Developed Countries”
Sandberg, Lars Gunnarsson “Swedish Economic Policy in Theory and Practice, 1950-1961”
Shaw, Lawrence Hugh “A Measure of the Effects of Weather on Agricultural Output”
Warden, Charles Browne “Unemployment Insurance: A Statistical Study of Massachusetts Experience”

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1964”.

Image Source: Portrait of John T. Dunlop in Harvard Classbook 1952.

Categories
Economics Programs Economists Harvard

Harvard. Economics PhD Alumnus Howard Sylvester Ellis, 1929

A graduate student’s application for candidacy for an economics Ph.D. provided information to the Dean of Harvard’s Division of History, Government, and Economics to establish the eligibility for taking the General Examination and it also then provided a check-list for the satisfaction of degree requirements — French and German language competency, acceptance of the Ph.D. thesis, and success in both the General and Special Examinations.

In addition to the application itself, this post includes the file correspondence and the Harvard course transcript for the future president of the American Economic Association (1949) and economics professor at Berkeley, Howard Sylvester Ellis (1898-1992). His most important contribution was perhaps the volume he edited and first published in 1948, A Survey of Contemporary Economics (11th printing in March 1966. The chronology of Ellis’ career has been included as well, following his Harvard graduate school record.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

Howard Sylvester Ellis. Denver, Colo. July 2, 1898.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

State University of Iowa, 1916-20.
Chicago, Summer 1920.
University of Michigan, 1920-1922. Half-time graduate work & Instructor of Economics.
Harvard University, 1922-3 [Thayer Fellow], Assistant in Economics 1923–.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

B.A. State University of Iowa, 1920 (June).
M.A. University of Michigan 1922 (March).

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your under-graduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc. In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

History: Medieval, 1 yr; Greek & Roman, 1 yr; United States, 1 yr; Modern European, 1 yr.; Social Reform, 1 semester.
Economics: Principles, 1 yr.; Accounting, Banking, Business Administration, Hist. of Theory –summer session. See also under “Remarks”.
Sociology: Principles, 1 yr.; Anthropology, 1 yr.
Latin: 4 yrs. prep., 1 coll.; German: 4 yrs coll.; French: 2 yrs coll; Italian: 1 summer coll.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics.

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory and Its History. Course 11, Prof. Taussig; Seminary in Theory & History, Prof. Taylor at Michigan & his “Course 7”; courses with Prof. Knight at Iowa; Course 14, Prof. Bullock; teaching principles at Michigan & Harvard.
  2. Industrial History: Courses 2a & b, Professor Usher & supplementary reading. Undergraduate concentration in history’.
  3. Railroads. Course at Michigan, Prof. Sharfman. & Readings contemplated.
  4. Public finance. Course 31, Prof. Bullock.
  5. Political Theory. Course Gov’t 6, Prof. McIlwain.
  6. Economic Theory & Its History.
    (Historical subject now contemplated as subject for thesis and special examination)

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Historical subject in economic theory. Money and Banking with special reference to recent theory (note by H.H.B. 2/12/29).

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

Recent German Monetary Theory.

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

Spring 1924. General Examination

X. Remarks

Preparation in fields indicated beside undergraduate courses.

Economics: Seminary in History of Theory & Theory, 2 yrs;
Advanced Theory, 1 set (F.M. Taylor); 1 yr (F.W. Taussig)
Railroads, 1 semester; Corporations, 1 semester;
Public finance, 1 yr (Bullock); Statistics, 1 yr;
Economic or Industrial History, 1 yr.;
Other courses currently.

Philosophy: History of Philosophy, 1 yr.; Metaphysics, 1 semester; Kant, seminary, 1 semester.

Special [Examination] Professors Taussig, Williams, Mason

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] T. N. Carver

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Howard Sylvester Ellis

Approved: January 11, 1924

Ability to use French certified by C. J. Bullock, Apr. 11, 1923.

Ability to use German certified by C. J. Bullock, Apr. 11, 1923.

Date of general examination May 26, 1924. Passed. [F.W.T.]

Thesis received April 1, 1929

Read by Professors Hawtrey, Taussig, Williams

Approved May, 1929

Date of special examination June 10, 1929 [F.W.T.]

Recommended for the Doctorate [left blank]

Degree conferred  [left blank]

Remarks.  [left blank]

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

Certification of reading knowledge
of French and German for Ph.D.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 11, 1923

Dear Dean Haskins:

This is to certify that I have examined Mr. H. S. Ellis and find that he has such a knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the Ph.D. degree.

Very sincerely yours
[signed]
C. J. Bullock

Dean C. H. Haskins

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

General Examination, date and
change of an examiner
[carbon copy]

22 May, 1924

My dear Professor Taussig:

This is to remind you that are chairman of the committee for the general examination of H. S. Ellis for the Ph.D. in Economics, to be held on Monday, 26 May, at 4 p.m., in Widener U. I enclose Mr. Ellis’s papers herewith. Professor Dewing is going to substitute for Professor Cunningham on the committee.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

Professor F. W. Taussig

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

General Examination, date and
change of an examiner
[carbon copy]

22 May, 1924

My dear Mr. Ellis:

This is to remind you that your general examination for the Ph.D. in Economics is to be held on Monday, 26 May, at 4 p.m., in Widener U. Professor Dewing is going to substitute for Professor Cunningham on the committee.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

Mr. H. S. Ellis

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

Passed General Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 28, 1924

My dear Haskins:

As chairman of the committee appointed to conduct the general examination of H. S. Ellis for the Ph.D. degree in Economics, I have to report that Mr. Ellis passed the examination to the satisfaction of the committee. While his showing at the examination was not without defects, his record on the whole made the case clear.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig

Dean C. H. Haskins

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

Scheduling Special Examination,
Changing special field
to Money & Banking

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

H. H. Burbank

34 Holyoke Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 12, 1929

Dear Miss Campbell:

I am confirming our telephone conversation of a few moments ago. The special field of Howard Ellis will be Money and Banking with special reference to recent theory.

Ellis wishes as late a date as possible and you have suggested as near June 10 as can be arranged. I will write Ellis and ask him to correspond with you.

Very sincerely,
[signed]
H. H. Burbank

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

Thesis summary

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ANN ARBOR
Department of Economics

1327 Wilmot St.
April 18, 1929

Miss Glady E. Campbell,
Secretary of the Division of History, Government and Economics,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Miss Campbell:

Kindly find enclose a summary of my dissertation, and accept my thanks for calling the matter to my attention.

Very sincerely yours,
[signed]
Howard S. Ellis

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

Passed Special Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
June 11, 1929

My dear Carver,

As chairman of the committee appointed to conduct the special examination Mr. Howard S. Ellis in economics I have to report that Mr. Ellis passed the examination.

Very sincerely yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig

Professor T. N. Carver
774 Widener Library
Cambridge, Massachusetts

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
(INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE SHEET)

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Record of H. S. Ellis
in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

 Grades
1922-23 Course

Half-Course

Economics 2a1

A

Economics 2b2

A

Economics 11

A

Economics 31

A minus

Economics 41

B plus

1923-24 (midyear grades) Course

Half-Course

Economics 14

A minus

Government 6

A

[Note: a supplementary transcript of the record of H.S. Ellis dated May 18, 1929 reports a grade of “excused” for Economics 14 and Government 6 for the 1923-24 year]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics, Ph.D. Degrees Conferred 1929-30. (UA V 453.270), Box 09.

__________________________

Course Names and Instructors

1922-23

Economics 2a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Assistant Professor Usher.

Economics 2b 2hf. Economic History of the United States. Assistant Professor Usher.

Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.

Economics 31. Public Finance. Professor Bullock.

Economics 41. Statistical Theory and Analysis. Professors Young and Day.

1923-24

Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Professor Bullock.

Government 6. History of Political Theory. Professor McIlwain.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1922-23, 1923-24.

__________________________

Howard Sylvester Ellis
Timeline of his life and career

1898. Born July 2 in Denver Colorado.

1916-20. State University of Iowa.

1920. A.B. State University of Iowa.

1920. Summer term, University of Chicago.

1920-1922. Half-time graduate work half-time instructor of Economics, University of Michigan.

1922. A.M. University of Michigan.

1922-23. Thayer Fellow, Harvard.

1923. Ricardo Prize awarded for the best essay written in a special examination held in economics. (Harvard Crimson, 9 June 1923)

1924. February. A.M. in economics, Harvard.

1923-24. Teaching section leader in Economics A (Principles of Economics), Harvard.

1924-25. Non-resident, Frederick Sheldon Travelling Fellowship, Harvard. Studied at the University of Heidelberg.

1925-38. Taught at the University of Michigan.

1929. Ph.D. in economics, Harvard. (Report of the President of Harvard College, 1928-29, p. 103)

1930. Awarded the David A. Wells prize in Economics for best Ph.D. thesis in three years. (Harvard Crimson, 2 June 1930)

1938-65. Flood Professor of Economics. University of California, Berkeley.

1943-45. Assistant director of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.

1944-45. Visiting professor at Columbia.

1948. Edited A Survey of Contemporary Economics for the American Economic Association. (12 printings)

1949. President of the American Economic Association.

1951. Visiting professor at the University of Tokyo sponsored by a Rockefeller Foundation grant.

1953-55. President of the International Economic Association.

1955. (with Norman Buchanan). Approaches to Economic Development published.

1958-59. Visiting professor at Bombay.

1969. Visiting professor at Claremont, California

1972. Visiting professor at Wisconsin-Milwaukee

1992. Died April 14 in Capitola, California. (University of California. In Memorium); also the biography at the History of Economic Thought website)

Image Source: Portrait of Howard S. Ellis (ca. 1925) in Marjorie C. Brazer “The Economics Department of the University of Michigan: A Centennial Retrospective” in Economics and the World around It, edited by Saul H. Hymans (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1980). Colorized at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Curriculum Economics Programs International Economics LSE Money and Banking Suggested Reading Syllabus

LSE. Courses in Banking and Currency. Descriptions and Readings. Gregory and Tappan, 1924-25

From time to time during my wanderings through internet archives I stumble upon material that is ideal content for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror and that is worth the effort of digitization. Some old published Calendars of the London School of  Economics and Political Science can be accessed online and they provide much in the way of thick course descriptions and suggested readings.

This post is limited to the course offerings under the heading “Banking and Currency” that covers both domestic and international aspects of banking and money markets. In the academic year 1924-25 this field was covered by then Reader in Commerce, T. E. Gregory, and Assistant in Economics, Marjorie Tappan.

Almost all the readings listed for the courses have been successfully linked to on-line copies.

Other fields will be added in the near future, so do check back with Economics in the Rear-view Mirror!

___________________________

London School of Economics
and Political Science
Calendar for Thirtieth Session 1924-25

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Who, what, and when

The Banking and Currency Instructors:

T. E. Gregory, D.Sc. (Econ.) London; Sir Ernest Cassel Reader in Commerce in the University of London.

Marjorie Tappan, B.A. Assistant in Economics.

The Degrees:

Bachelor of Science in Economics (B.Sc.Econ.)
Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.)
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Higher Degrees, such as M.A., Ph.D., M.Sc. (Econ.), LL. M., LL.D., D.Sc. (Econ.), or D. Lit.

The Terms:

Michaelmas term (October 6 to December 12, 1924), Lent term (January 12 to March 20, 1925) and Summer term (April 27 to June 26, 1925) Terms
M.T., L.T. and S.T., respectively

___________________________

BANKING AND CURRENCY.

       The letter Y indicates that the course is a preparation for an Intermediate Examination, Z for a Final Pass Examination, and A for a Final Honours Examination. 

       The sign ¶ indicates a course beginning at 5.30 p.m. or later.

10. — Y. —Elements of Currency, Banking and International Exchange, a course of fourteen lectures by Miss Tappan, on Tuesdays, at 11 a.m., in the Lent and Summer Terms, beginning L.T. 17th February, S.T. 28th April.

[For B.Sc. (Econ.) Intermediate, B.Com. Intermediate (S.T. only) and B.A. Final Honours in Geography.]

Fee: —£1 15s.

¶ For evening students the same course of lectures will be given on Mondays, at 6 p.m., beginning 16th February.

Fee: — £1 3s. 4d.

Syllabus.

       PART I. — The principles governing the existence and distribution of international trade. Statistical problems in the measurement of international trade. The organization and operation of international markets. The balancing of international indebtedness. The Foreign Exchanges.

       PART II. — The functions of currency and the service of (a) money and (b) credit in their performance. The standard in a currency system and its relation to commodity prices. The elements of (1) The British Monetary System; (2) The British Banking System (a) pre-war; (b) at the present time. The influence of the Bank of England in the money and investment markets.

       BOOKS RECOMMENDED — PART I. — Marshall, Money, Credit and Commerce, Book III.; F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. I., Book IV.; Bastable, Theory of International Trade; Pigou, Protective and Preferential Import Duties; Higginson, Tariffs at Work; Hobson, C. K., The Export of Capital; Gregory, Foreign Exchange — before, during and after the War; Clare, A.B.C. of the Foreign Exchanges. The Official Statistics of British Trade.

                  PART II. — F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. I., Book III., Book IV., Ch. 32, 33; Hawtrey, Currency and Credit and Monetary Reconstruction, Chaps. I.-IV. and VI.; Kirkaldy, British Finance, 1914-1921; Cannan, Money and Economica, Jan., 1921, and Economic Journal, Dec., 1921; Robertson, Money; Layton, Introduction to the Study of Prices; Bagehot, Lombard Street, 1920 edition; Clare, A Money Market Primer; Duguid, The Stock Exchange.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

11. — Z and A. — Principles of Currency and Banking, a course of twenty lectures by Miss Tappan, on Wednesdays, at 12 noon, in Michaelmas and Lent Terms, beginning M.T. 8th October, L.T. 14th January.

[For B.Sc. (Econ.) Final and B.Com. Final Part I.]

Fee:— For the Course, £2 10s.; Terminal, £1 10s.

For evening students the same course will be given on Tuesdays, at 7 p.m., beginning 7th October.

Fee:— For the Course, £1 13s. 4d.; Terminal, £1.

Syllabus.

       M.T. Metallic Currency. — The nature of money: recent discussions of the nature and adequate definition of money. The classification of monetary systems. The value of money: recent discussions of the problem. The return to sound money: deflation and devaluation. The social effects of rising and falling prices. Periodicity and anticipation in relation to monetary value.

       L.T. Banking and the Money Market. — The functions and economic significance of banking. The general structure and methods of banking. The cheque system and the nature of deposits. Banking in relation to the price level. The functions of Central Banks. The regulation of Note-issues, and the Bank Acts. Comparison with foreign systems. Recent developments in banking.

       BOOKS RECOMMENDED: — Cannan, Money in Relation to Rising and Falling Prices; Cannan, Bank Deposits (Economica No. 1.) and The Application of the Apparatus of Supply and Demand to Units of Currency (Ec. Journal, Dec. 1921); Hawtrey, Currency and Credit and Monetary Reconstruction; J. Bonar, Knapp’s Theory of Money (Ec. Journal, March, 1922); Cassel, Money and Foreign Exchange since 1914; Irving Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money; L. von Mises, Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel; Laughlin, The Principles of Money; Layton, Introduction to the Study of Prices; Foxwell, Papers on Current Finance; Lavington, The English Capital Market; Döring, Die Geld Theorien seit Knapp; Keynes, Monetary Reform.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

12. — Z and — The Stock Exchange Speculative Markets, and Dealing, a course of six lectures by Dr. Gregory, on Tuesdays, at 11 a.m., in Summer Term, beginning 28th April.

[For B.Com., Group A, and B.Sc. (Econ.), Final — special subject.]

Fee:— 12s.

¶ For evening students the same course will be given on Tuesdays, at 7 p.m., beginning 28th April.

Fee:— 8.

Syllabus.

Markets, Valuation, and the Function of the Dealer. The Machinery of the Speculative Market. How far it requires organisation and regulation. The Stock Exchange as an example of the speculative market, and an indispensable adjunct of the banking system. Constitution of the London Stock Exchange. Methods of Dealing. The Settlement. Comparison with Foreign Markets. Promotion and Issue. The general causes affecting the value of securities.

       BOOKS RECOMMENDED. — Emery, Speculation on the Stock and Produce Exchanges of the U.S.A.; Emery, Ten Years’ Regulation of the Stock Exchange in Germany (Yale Review, May, 1908); Van Antwerp, New York Stock Exchange from Within; Lavington, The English Capital Market; Schwabe, Effect of War on Stock Exchange Transactions, 1915; Sayous, Les Bourses Allemandes de Valeurs et de Commerce; J. G. Smith, Organised Produce Markets; Reports on Cotton Exchange Methods, U.S. Commr. of Corporations 1908-14; various articles by Messrs. Emery, Stevens, Flux, Hooker, Chapman, Lexis, &c.; Burn, Stock Exchange Investments; Mead, Corporation Finance; Young, Plain Guide to Investment and Finance — 3rd Edition, 1919; Greenwood, Foreign Stock Exchange Practice and Company Laws; Reports of the U.S. [National] Monetary Commission.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

13. — A. — The History of Currency and Banking, with special reference to England, a course sixteen lectures, by Dr. Gregory, on Thursdays, at 5 p.m., in Lent and Summer Terms, beginning L.T. 15th January, S.T. 30th April.

[For B.Sc. (Econ.), Final—special subject.]

Fee for the course: £2; L.T., £1 10s.; S.T., 15s.

Syllabus.

The monetary system in the Middle Ages. History of the English silver pound. The silver famine and the effects of the supplies from the American mines. The controversy on the export of bullion and the Act of 1663. The early goldsmith bankers and the rise of banking in England. The foundation and early history of the Banks of England, Scotland and Ireland. The recoinage of 1696. The guinea and its ratings. Sir Isaac Newton’s reports on the currency. The recoinage of 1774. The restrictions on the tender of silver, Lord Liverpool’s Report of 1805, and the adoption of the gold standard.     The different developments of banking in England, Scotland and Ireland during the eighteenth century. The commercial expansion after 1763. The restriction of cash payments. The Bullion Committee. Lord Stanhope’s Act. The resumption of cash payments, and the various currency proposals made in connection with it by Ricardo, Baring and Huskisson.

       The modifications of the privileges of the Bank of England, and the rise of the English joint stock banks. The Bank Acts of 1844 and 1845. Recent developments in Banking.

       Throughout the course the attention of students will be specially directed to the study of important documents and to the sources of historical information generally.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED. — Ruding, Annals of the Coinage (for reference); Dana Horton, The Silver Pound; Chalmers, Colonial Currencies (for reference); Lord Liverpool, Treatise on the Coins of the Realm; Andréadès, History of the Bank of England; Powell, The Evolution of the Money Market, 1385-1915; Bisschop, The London Money Market, 1640-1826; Ricardo, Currency Tracts in McCulloch’s edn. of the Works, also partly reprinted as Ricardo’s Economic Essays (Bell & Sons, 1923); Graham, The One-pound Note in the History of Banking in Great Britain; Cannan, The Paper Pound: 1797-1821; Tooke and Newmarch, History of Prices (for reference); Bankers’ Magazine (for reference); Various Parliamentary and other Reports: especially the Reports of 1810 and 1819; Royal Mint: Statutes, etc., relating to the Coinage of the British Empire; Reports of the U.S.[National] Monetary Commission (for reference).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

14. — Z and A. — The Foreign Exchanges and International Banking, a course of five lectures by Dr. Gregory, on Thursdays, at 12 noon, in Summer Term, beginning 30th April.

[For B.Com., Group A, and B.Sc. (Econ.), Final—special subject.]

Fee:— 10s.

¶ For evening students the same course will be given on Thursdays, at 7 p.m., beginning 30th April.

Fee:— 6s. 8d.

Syllabus.

The concept of Foreign Exchange. Types of Bills of Exchange. Quotations and Markets. Bankers’ credits in relation to the Exchanges. The Discount Market and its relation to Finance Bills. Arbitrage. Forward purchases and sales of Bills. The regulation of Exchange rates by discount rate variations. The fundamental causes of Exchange movements, the purchasing power parity. The development of the theory of the Exchanges. The organisation of International Banking. Exchange in relation to trade. “Exchange dumping.”

BOOKS RECOMMENDED. — Whitaker, Foreign Exchange; O. Haupt, Arbitrages et Parités; Spalding, Foreign Exchange and Foreign Bills; Escher, Foreign Exchange Explained, Kemmerer, Modern Currency Reforms; Manual of Emergency Legislation (Financial Edition); Gregory, Foreign Exchange Before, During and After the War; Cassel, The World’s Monetary Problems (Constable & Co.); Cassel, Money and Exchange since 1914; J. M. Keynes, in the Manchester Guardian Reconstruction Numbers.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

15. — Z and A. — Banking and Finance in the Principal Countries, a course of forty lectures by Miss Tappan (T.) and Dr. Gregory (L.T.), on Tuesdays, at 12 noon, and Wednesdays, at 11 a.m., beginning M.T. 7th October, L.T. 13th January.

[For B.Com., Group A, and B.Sc. (Econ.), Final — special subject.]

Fee: — Sessional, £5; Terminal, £3.

¶ For evening students the same course of lectures will be given on Tuesdays, at 8 p.m., and Wednesdays, at 7 p.m., beginning 7th October.

Fee: — Sessional, £3 6s. 8d.; Terminal, £2.

(a) The U.S.A., South America and the Near East, twenty lectures by Miss Tappan, in the Michaelmas Term.

(b) Europe, twenty lectures by Dr. Gregory, in the Lent Term.

Syllabus.

This course will describe the main features in the evolution of the Currency and Banking Organisation of the countries concerned; the present position and the main problems of current interest.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

16.¶ — Z and A. — Banking in the British Dominions, a course of nine lectures by Dr. Gregory, on Thursdays, at 7 p.m., in the Lent Term, beginning 15th January.

[For B.Com., Group A, and B.Sc. (Econ.), Final—special subject.]

Fee: — 18s.

Syllabus.

The legal position and present economic organisation of Banking and Currency in Canada, South Africa, Australasia and India.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

17. — A. — Recent Monetary History and Monetary Controversies: an Introduction to the Monetary History of the Modern World, a course of six lectures by Dr. Gregory, on Wednesdays, at 5 p.m., in the Summer Term, beginning 29th April.

[For B.Com., Group A, and B.Sc. (Econ.), Final.]

Fee: —12s.

Syllabus.

The triumph of the gold standard in the last third of the 19th century. The re-opening of controversy; bimetallism, the gold exchange standard. The theoretical implications of the gold exchange standard. The revival of monetary mysticism. Knapp and his followers. The rise of prices and the suggested stabilisation of the value of money. Fisher’s Compensated Dollar. The spread of banking and the evolution of banking theory: was there a philosophy of Central Banking at all? The War and the ruin of the gold standard. Cassel’s theory of the Foreign Exchanges. The Monetary theories of the Brussels and Genoa Conferences Stabilisation and the Discount Rate.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

18.¶ — Banking Class, for students taking B.Com., Group A. or taking Banking as their special subject for the Final B.Sc, (Econ.), by Miss Tappan, in the Michaelmas Term on Tuesdays. at 3 p.m., beginning 14th October (day students); and Mondays, at 8 p.m., beginning 13th October (evening students). This class will be held by Dr. Gregory in the Lent and Summer Terms; on Tuesdays at 3 p.m., beginning 20th January (day students), and Thursdays at 6 p.m. beginning 22nd January (evening students).

N.B. — Reference should also be made to the following courses:—

No. 1. Accounts I.
No. 2. Accounts II.
No. 132. Mercantile Law (I.).
No. 135. Law of Banking.

Source: London School of Economics and Political Science, Calendar for Thirtieth Session 1924-25, pp. 72-75.

Image Source: Wikimedia commons. Portraits (from the 1930s?) of Theodore Emmanuel Gregory and Marjorie Tappan Hollond. Both images smoothed and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Economics Programs M.I.T.

M.I.T. State of the Economics Department and Other Social Sciences. 1960-1961

Paul A. Samuelson, end of 1960 or early 1961, seen here reading between the lines.

 

As the following documents show, by 1961 the M.I.T. administration fully appreciated the development of its department of economics from a humble source of curricular enrichment for engineers and natural scientists to a powerhouse of modern economic analysis that was a respected player in the academic major league. Indeed the hope was for political science, psychology, and linguistics to follow suit. 

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Other relevant M.I.T. artifacts
from this time

Minutes of the Economics Department Visiting committee, 1958

The Graduate Program in Economics, 1961 brochure

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REPORT OF THE VISITING COMMITTEE 1960-61
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

                  In a well-attended, one-day meeting on April 27, 1961, the Visiting Committee of the Department of Economics and Social Science met with a representative group of the senior faculty of the department to discuss the progress of its teaching and research programs. Since the department embraces a number of distinct fields, key faculty members in those fields reported separately on their activities, plans, and problems. A summary of those reports is attached [Perhaps to be found elsewhere in the archives.], with an appended list of persons attending the meeting.

                  The Committee was favorably impressed by the past progress and the future prospects of the Social Sciences at M.I.T. The following highlights may be singled out for the consideration of the Corporation and the administrative officers:

  1. The older Ph.D. program in Economics and the newer one in Political Science are both thriving. Fellowships are a continuing need at the graduate level, especially in fields such as these in which there are limited opportunities for teaching or research assistantships in the first two years. Economics has attracted many students with outside fellowships for their first year, and Political Science has a Carnegie Foundation grant which provides support for graduate students in the area of political development. This leaves an unfilled need for Economics fellowships in the second year and for Political Science fellowships in areas not covered by the Carnegie grant.
  2. Now that the area of political development is as strong as it is, the Political Science Section’s next target is a comparable strength in the areas of government, science, and defense policy. This is an especially appropriate field for the Institute to cultivate, and it deserves support.
  3. The undergraduate “double majors” in a combination of Economics or Political Science with a field of Science or Engineering are holding their own, but the department feels considerable difficulty in dramatizing the attractions of these courses to entering undergraduates — in contrast to its outstanding success in attracting graduate students.
  4. An excellent start has been made toward the introduction of a new Ph.D. program in Psychology. The Institute already has considerable strength not only in that field but also in certain adjacent and supporting fields such as Biology, Mathematics, Linguistics, Communications, and Industrial Management. The next few years will be critical ones for this new graduate program.
  5. When the Ph.D. program in Psychology is solidly established, consideration should be given toward adding the option of Psychology as an undergraduate major within the framework of Course XIV.
  6. The Industrial Relations Section has been an active and constructive part of the department’s overall effort. We note with approval that preliminary steps have been taken to protect the Industrial Relations Fund against excessive drain in support of other departmental activities.
  7. We learn with interest that the department has been experimenting with lectures in the introductory Economics course, as a means of exposing more beginning students to senior faculty. We recommend that other teaching aids also be considered, such as video-recorded lectures and demonstrations.
  8. Since library facilities are so very important in the Social Sciences, continuing and enhanced support is recommended in this area.

                  The foregoing recommendations should be interpreted as tentative rather than definitive; for, in the nature of the case, your Committee’s visit consisted of a friendly hearing of the department’s point of view rather than a searching audit of its performance. At the same time, we should like to express our appreciation for the cooperation shown us by Dean Burchard, Professor Bishop, and the other department members who met with us.

Respectfully submitted,

James M. Barker
David F. Cavers
Jasper E. Crane
Davis R. Dewey
George P. Edmonds
Robert L. Moore
Willard L. Thorp
Teddy F. Walkowicz
Theodore V. Houser, Chairman

Source: M.I.T. Libraries. MIT. Corporation Visiting Committee Records, AC426. Folder: “Visiting Committees Economics 1960-1969”. Item description

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From the Annual Report of the President of M.I.T. for 1960-61

The Social Sciences

                  In the light of the concerns of the Centennial for the larger influences of science upon society, I think it appropriate to review this year the state of the social sciences at the Institute. That we should have become occupied with these areas was inevitable, and the Institute has a clear obligation to cultivate especially those that relate most directly to modern developments in engineering, science, and mathematics. M.I.T. has recognized this responsibility and has responded with strong and growing support to work in the social sciences in the School of Humanities and Social Science and elsewhere. These activities are giving to the Institute an entirely new dimension that few not associated intimately with M.I.T. yet appreciate.

                  It is a simple truth that the interests of the great physical and social sciences were never more interwoven than today. The overriding practical problems of our time — defense; disarmament; the economics of change; the politics of peace; the relationships among industry, science, and government — require joint technical and social analysis. The very progress of science is influenced by the broader social context, and the advances of engineering affect all our human institutions.

                  In our decision to encourage the growth of certain key social sciences at M.I.T., we determined not only to build on strength, but also to exploit particularly those that have special relevance to our central concerns with science and engineering. We hope to create more points of contact between the social and physical sciences and to foster more fruitful collaboration between them. In this way, in spite of enormous pressures for growth, we can delimit the domain of our interests and the way in which we allocate our resources to them.

                  We have given special attention to those fields in which mathematics and statistical techniques are playing an increasingly important role. This is, of course, completely compatible with our M.I.T. style, with our desire to be quantitative, the analytical, the mathematical. But by no means are we seeking to build our social sciences in the image of the physical. We recognize full well the many differences in set and attitude that distinguish them. An exaggerated insistence on emphases that are too narrow or criteria that are too rigid will only defeat our long-range objective of making the social sciences an integral part of the modern scientific university. Each field must be free to develop in its own way, to follow with complete freedom its own professional instincts.

                  From this point of view, the flowering of the social sciences at M.I.T. represents a new experience for us. Accustomed as we are to the demonstrable factual data of the physical sciences, we must accept the larger subjective element of judgment that enters into the social sciences in their present state. Since developments in many of these areas are open to a variety of interpretations, we must foster, within the limits of our aims and resources, a range of views and interests. The ultimate safeguard, however, lies not in seeking an impossible balance among modes of thought, but in recruiting a faculty of the highest intellectual power and integrity. This we have done.

                  In my report of a year ago I touched on a faculty survey of the social sciences which gave highest priority for development to fields of economics and economic history, political science, and psychology. I want now to comment briefly on the current status of these fields at the Institute and to examine in passing our commitments and our hopes in these areas.

ECONOMICS

                  The oldest social science at M.I.T., economics is still by a sizable margin the largest. The teaching of economics goes back to 1881 and Francis Amasa Walker. General Walker, the Institute’s third president and one of its great builders, was an authority on political economy — as economics was then called — and his understanding of the processes in American industrial development notably influenced his views on the education of engineers. He gave an outstanding lecture course on political economy and was the author of a distinguished text in the field. He also brought other economists to the Institute.

                  Yet, until well into the modern era of M.I.T., economics remained largely a service department for the School of Engineering. Only since World War II has the department matured and assumed a truly professional character. Today it is universally conceded to be among the most distinguished. Indeed, by any of the usual measures — the stature of its teachers, the quality of its research, the achievements of its graduates — it ranks in the small handful of leaders. This year the president of the American Economic Association and the presidents-elect of the Econometric Society and of the Industrial Relations Research Association are members of this department. This year, too, M.I.T. was selected as first choice by more Woodrow Wilson Fellows in economics — eighteen out of eighty — than any other school in the country. The strengths which have won this kind of recognition within the profession are substantial indeed. They were achieved, essentially, by encouraging Economics at M.I.T. to chart its own professional course; by the development of a distinguished graduate curriculum and of a major research program; and by insistence on the same standards of excellence we demand of our scientific and engineering departments. As a consequence, we have accomplished in economics the same kind of comprehensive renovation of purpose that Karl Compton undertook at an earlier date for the School of Science.

                  Economics at M.I.T. is also an important resource for other areas of teaching and research, and for the School of Industrial Management in particular. Management education at M.I.T. grew out of our teaching in economics, and today the teaching and research of the Department and the School reinforce one another more strongly than ever. Much of the research of the Department bears directly on the interests of the School — research on the economics of particular technologies; on the problems of measurement of productivity and output; on the contribution of technical progress to economic growth; on the origin and growth of new enterprises. Through this close relationship between the Department and the School, we also enjoy a fruitful interchange of theoretical and practical points of view.

                  The history and current role of economics at M.I.T. is the model for our development of other social sciences. We have now established sections of political science and of psychology within the Department of Economics and Social Science. Both are fields in which student and faculty interest is keen and in which we have unusual opportunities to make important contributions.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

                  Because of the interweaving of technology with all the affairs of the modern world, and especially with those of government, we have set high priority on the development of political science. It is an area in which we have been moving rapidly ahead. This June we awarded our first Ph.D. degrees in this field, and there are now about thirty doctoral candidates within the Section. In addition, some five hundred undergraduates take elective courses in political science each year.

                  The Section now offers courses in six fields of political science, all of which are related to other interests of the Institute: international relations and foreign policy, political communication, defense policy, government and science, political and economic development, and political theory and comparative politics. Besides providing opportunities for combining work in political science with a scientific or engineering field, the faculty of the Section maintain close ties with their colleagues in economics, psychology, industrial management, and city and regional planning.

                  In the past two years, we have developed superlative strength in the field of comparative politics of developing areas, and through the association of the Section with the Center for International Studies we probably have as strong a faculty as is to be found anywhere in the politics of development. In support of this work, the Institute received two notable gifts this year. One, the donation of $500,000 from Dr. Arthur W. Sloan and Dr. Ruth C. Sloan of Washington, D.C., establishes a professorship in political science with emphasis on African studies. Not only does this gift provide an important new endowed professorship, but it also recognizes in a most dramatic way the growing stature of political science at the Institute.

                  The second grant is one of $475,000 from the Carnegie Corporation for research in training on the politics of transitional societies. The grant will make possible expansion of our research on the problems of nation-building in transition countries such as the newly emerged African and Asian nations. It, too, gives substantial recognition to the quality of our program. The Carnegie grant, among other benefits, establishes graduate fellowships both for course work at M.I.T. and for field work towards the doctoral thesis. We are enthusiastic about the values to be derived from this aspect of the grant which will permit us to send our students overseas for on-the-spot research in developing areas.

                  We have enjoyed magnificent opportunities for field studies in other areas of our political science activities through the generous support of the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Ford Foundation has also underwritten much of our work on government and science, and the Rockefeller Foundation this year supported a new seminar on arms control. This seminar brought together some thirty individuals in the Cambridge academic community with strong interests in both the technological and political aspects of this subject. We very much hope that this may prove to be the beginning of a substantial new research program on defense policy.

                  This brief sampling of our progress in political science is intended only to suggest the vitality of this field at the Institute. It has grown quickly, but without overstretching itself. It has set high standards in research, and it has developed both its undergraduate and graduate courses in a most creative and constructive spirit. This new venture for M.I.T., in sum, has met with outstanding success.

PSYCHOLOGY

                  The example of political science has encouraged us to press forward even more vigorously with our plans to establish a psychology section within the Department of Economics and Social Science. The Institute already has great strength in psychology, both within the Department and elsewhere; and we have made marked progress this year in planning for a graduate program. This effort is being led by Professor Hans-Lukas Teuber, whose appointment I reported last year and who has now moved his research projects in physiological psychology from New York to Cambridge. Professor Teuber has brought with him a number of research associates and four postdoctoral fellows. In addition, we hope to make two additional faculty appointments in psychology soon.

                  To provide space for the new Section, the Institute has acquired the Central Scientific Company building at the corner of Amherst and Ames Streets. All three floors of this structure, which is located adjacent to our main academic group, will be devoted to an expansion of our teaching and research in psychology. When the necessary renovations are completed during the coming year, the building will be equipped with undergraduate and graduate laboratories, seminar rooms, animal quarters, and testing, observation, and office facilities.

                  The work of the Psychology Section will encompass three general areas: social and developmental; experimental; and physiological and comparative psychology. Our teaching in all three areas will put special emphasis on the experimental and the mathematical. And in our research we hope to create new opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation. This hope reflects the fact that psychology, especially in its quantitative aspects, is already intimately associated with many areas of Institute activity.

                  The relations of our experimental group with other M.I.T. activities, for example, have already had an important influence on the development of experimental psychology in this country. Our collaborative efforts include studies in such fields as communication and coding theory, automatic pattern recognition, signal detection theory, computer simulation of intelligent behavior, and others. There are many psychologists at the Institute concentrating on problems of this kind, and there are more at Lincoln Laboratory who are also concerned with problems of perception and observation and man-machine interactions.

                  The new Section’s work in physiological and comparative psychology will have similar opportunities for collaboration with research in progress in the Department of Biology and in the Center for the Communication Sciences, where investigations in communication biophysics are focused on the principles of organization of the central nervous system and on biophysical information handling. There are also a number of psychologists in the School of Industrial Management, and it is to be hoped that the work of the Section in social and developmental psychology will develop complementary ties with this management group. The latter is working on problems of morale and motivation, of executive leadership, and of creativity in the industrial setting; while the former is primarily concerned with the process of socialization.

                  Even a cursory review of the sites of interest in psychology at M.I.T. is impressive. The discipline has prospered on this campus, even though we have taken few systematic steps in the past to promote its growth. It has insisted upon recognition, really, and we are now committed to a sound program of development. No one here doubts the wisdom of this decision. The chief problem, indeed, will be to achieve a sense of professional unity among our psychologists without weakening those productive interdisciplinary ties that have given M.I.T. psychology a stamp and style that is all but unique.

LINGUISTICS

                  The decision was also made this year to offer a program leading to the Ph.D. in linguistics beginning in the fall of 1961, and we are in the process of establishing appropriate new sequences of work in linguistics for both undergraduate and graduate students. This work will be directed by the Department of Modern Languages, which has been carrying out important basic research in linguistics for a number of years. It is significant that among the first students we have accepted for this graduate program are majors in mathematics and physics as well as in linguistics.

                  Our concern with linguistics actually derives from the efforts of Professors Norbert Wiener and Claude Shannon in their pioneering work on the mathematical theory of communication. The study of the logical relationships within languages employs mathematical techniques comparable to those used in the general area of information theory. Moreover, recent developments in computer design, switching theory, and other similar areas are of first importance in the field of applied linguistics and in linguistic analysis.

                  It is not surprising, therefore, that much of our research in linguistics has taken place in the Center for the Communication Sciences, where linguists work in close association with mathematicians, electrical engineers, and physicists as well as with biologists and psychologists. This cooperative research has been carried forward in both theoretical and applied linguistics. We have a central concern with the structure and logic of language. We have also undertaken a number of promising applied projects, including work on mechanical translation and on machine perception and synthesis of human speech. These examples are typical of the kind of research through which M.I.T. has gained an international reputation in linguistics. Now, with our new doctoral program, the prospects for the rapid further development of this field at the Institute are exceedingly bright.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the President. President’s Report for the academic year ending July 1, 1961, pp.11-21.

Image Source: MIT Museum Website.

Categories
Economics Programs Faculty Regulations Graduate Student Support Regulations Yale

Yale. Graduate economics graduate degree requirements and curriculum brochure. 1950

For the most part today’s artefact speaks for itself. It is another historical economics program brochure added to the growing Economics in the Rear-view Mirror collection.

I entered Yale College as a freshman in the academic year 1969-70 so the Yale brochure digitized below was printed just about two decades before I became an apprentice economist. Now in my senior years two decades does not seem to be all that long but it would appear that the development of the Yale economics department from 1950 to 1970 was about as dramatic as my own from infant to college student over the same time period.

Preparing this post, I was struck by the genuinely small scale of the graduate economics program at Yale in 1950, that “microeconomics”/“macroeconomics”/“econometrics” were not yet words to be found in the course descriptions, further that the history of economic theories was a visible part of the curriculum, and finally that institutional nuts-and-bolts (as well as economic history) did receive relatively greater emphasis in 1950. I was delighted at the “sight” of four of my professors (Healy, Tobin, Lindblom, and Dahl) found in the list of the graduate economics faculty of 1950, an indication that two decades is really not all that long after all within the context of a healthy human life span.

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A Few Other Programs,
Other Times

Harvard 1967
M.I.T. 1961
M.I.T. 1974
Chicago 1956
Wisconsin 1904
Chicago 1892
Chicago 1904

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GRADUATE CURRICULUM AND DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
IN ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
1950

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Graduate Faculty

CHAIRMAN: Professor Kent T. Healy.

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES: Professor Lloyd G. Reynolds.

PROFESSORS: E. Wight Bakke, Edgar S. Furniss, John P. Miller, Eugene V. Rostow (Law), Ray B. Westerfield.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS: Neil W. Chamberlain, Klaus E. Knorr (International Relations), Charles E. Lindblom, Richard Ruggles, James A. Tobin.

ASSISTANT PROFESSORS: Robert A. Dahl (Political Science), Challis A. Hall, Jr.

INSTRUCTOR: Robert G. Link.

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ECONOMICS

The objective of the graduate program is to equip students with the theoretical and statistical tools of economic analysis, to broaden their historical and institutional knowledge, and to develop judgment in applying economic analysis to issues of public policy. The wide variety of research institutes and activities at the University, in addition to strengthening the teaching program, enables interested students to gain research experience at an early stage of their careers. Students are also encouraged to acquaint themselves with the techniques of other social sciences through course work in the relevant departments.

The number of graduate students admitted each year is limited, which makes possible an unusual degree of individual instruction and guidance. The fact that the number of students is small relative to the research and teaching activities of the University also enables a large proportion of the student body to be self-supporting after the first year of graduate study.

Preference in admission is given to students who plan to proceed toward the Ph.D. degree. The M.A. degree is awarded on successful completion of one year of course work (no thesis requirement), and most Ph.D. candidates take this degree as a matter of course at the end of their first year.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

BEGINNING GRADUATE STUDENTS. There are available each year several graduate fellowships, varying in amount from $450. to $1,000. It is possible also for a considerable number of students to earn between $200. and $300. per year by grading examinations in undergraduate courses.

ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENTS. Students who do work of high quality during their first year have numerous additional opportunities during their second and subsequent years of study.

(1) The Sterling Fellowships of $1,500. each, competition for which is open to graduate students in all departments of the University.

(2) Appointment to a teaching position in Economics 10 (Principles of Economics). Advanced graduate students may be permitted to teach a maximum of six hours per week while continuing work toward their degree. Appointments are also sometimes given to students who transfer to Yale after completing one year or more of graduate study at another University and who have had satisfactory teaching experience.

(3) Appointment as a research assistant. There are several research institutes in the University, including the Conservation Center, the Committee on National Policy, the Committee on Transportation, the Institute of Human Relations, the Institute of International Studies, and the Labor and Management Center. In addition, members of the Department have individual research programs in progress on a variety of subjects, including decision-making in the business firm, market structure and price determination in the non-ferrous metal industries, wage differentials under collective bargaining, population growth in the United States, the cyclical behavior of cost-price relations in manufacturing, economic planning in selected countries of Western Europe and the determinants of personal savings and consumption decisions. A considerable number of graduate students are employed each year as part-time research assistants while continuing their graduate study. Compensation for this work is in line with that for members of the teaching staff.

(4) There are occasional opportunities for part-time teaching in other colleges in and near New Haven, and for research assistantships in other departments of the University.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In addition to the general requirements of the Graduate School, students in Economics are expected to meet the following requirements.

PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATIONS: An undergraduate major in economics is normally required. A student whose major was in another field will be admitted in exceptional cases, but may be required to take more than the usual two years of course work. Students preparing for graduate work in economics are strongly advised to take undergraduate courses in economic theory, mathematics (at the level of differential calculus), statistics, French and German. Courses in psychology, history, and the other social sciences will also be of material benefit to the student in his graduate work.

BASIC TRAINING: Before admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree the student must have completed at least sixteen semester courses of a graduate character, of which eight must have been taken at Yale. Some of these courses may be taken in other departments or schools of the University.

GENERAL EXAMINATIONS: A certification of competence is required in the use of quantitative methods, including the statement of hypotheses and theorems in quantitative form, the use of symbolic methods in economic reasoning, and the principal statistical tools used in modern economic research. This requirement will normally be met by the satisfactory completion of the courses, Economics 103a and b, during the first year of graduate study, and must be met by the end of the second year.

At least one year before the student expects to take his degree, his general competence in economics will be tested by a written and by an oral examination. The written examination will test (a) knowledge of all aspects of economic theory, its current status and historical development, (b) knowledge of European and American history with special emphasis on the development of economic institutions in modern times, (c) ability to use theoretical tools, together with historical materials and current factual information, in analyzing issues of economic policy. Preparation for the examination will be provided not only by course work but by study of readings suggested by the department.

The oral examination, to be held within a few days of the written examination, will test for intensive grasp of two specialized fields of economics, one of which will normally be the dissertation field. The fields will be determined in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.

Before May 1 or October 1 (as the student elects) in the calendar year prior to that in which he expects to get his degree, the student shall provide the Director of Graduate Studies with six copies of a prospectus, setting forth the subject of his proposed dissertation, the questions it proposes to answer, its potential contribution to economic science, and the research techniques and sources to be used.

COURSE OFFERINGS

Each student is expected to plan his work in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies in Economics, Mr. Reynolds.

Economics 100, General Economic Theory. Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Ruggles.

Economics 101, Development of Economic Thought. Mr. Miller.

Economics 102, Modern Economic History.

Economics 103a, Economic Statistics. Mr. Tobin.

Economics 103b, Introduction to Mathematical Economics. Mr. Tobin.

Economics 110, Aggregate Economics and Cycle Theory. Mr. Tobin.

Economics 112b, Distribution of Wealth and Income. Mr. Reynolds.

Economics 113a, Price Systems and Resource Allocation. Mr. Ruggles.

Economics 114a, National Income Theory and Measurement. Mr. Ruggles.

Economics 114b, Types of Quantitative Research in Economics. Mr. Ruggles. Economics 120, Money, Credit, and Banking. Mr. Westerfield.

Economics 122, Public Finance. Mr. Hall.

Economics 123b, Public Control of Industrial Organization. Mr. Rostow.

Economics 124, Business Firm and Market Behavior. Mr. Miller.

Economics 125, The Labor Movement and Collective Bargaining. Mr. Chamberlain.

Economics 126, Critique of Industrial Relations Theory. Mr. Bakke.

Economics 127a, Regulatory Labor Legislation. Mr. Lindblom.

Economics 127b, Protective Labor Legislation. Mr. Lindblom.

Economics 128, Critique of Economic Planning. Mr. Lindblom, Mr. Dahl.

Economics 129, International Trade and Finance. Mr. Link.

Economics 135, The Structure of the American Economy. Mr. Ruggles.

Economics 200, Individual Research and Consultation. Department Faculty. International Relations 140, International Economic Problems. Mr. Knorr.

Transportation 102, Transportation Economics. Mr. Healy.

Related Courses:

American Studies 151, American Thought & Civilization, 1620 to the present. Mr. Gabriel.

Anthropology 109a, Culture and Personality. Mr. Linton.

Anthropology 114b, Primitive Economics. Mr. Linton.

Conservation 101b, Seminar in Conservation. Mr. Sears.

Forestry 180b, Forest Economics and Policy. Mr. Zumwalt.

Forestry 128a, Economics of the Forest Products Industries. Mr. Garrett.

Geology 150, Economic Geology. Mr. Bateman.

Geology 153, Seminar in Economic Geology. Mr. Bateman.

Government 134, Constitutional Law and Public Policy. Mr. Cahill.

Government 135, National Government and the Problems of Federalism. Mr. Key.

Government 136, American Political Parties – An Introduction to the Study of Political Behavior. Mr. Key.

History 125, Mediaeval Commerce and Capitalism. Mr. Lopez.

History 154, Liberal & National Movements in Modern Europe. Mr. Kent.

History 191, American Intellectual History in the Early Twentieth Century, Mr. Gabriel.

Mathematics 42, Statistics. Mr. Ore.

Source for text and image:  This 1950 graduate economics curriculum brochure was found at the hathitrust.org archive.

Categories
Economics Programs M.I.T.

M.I.T. Economics Department’s Chair exposition of his department’s philosophy and methods. Freeman, 1952

Paul Samuelson’s Economics triggered a conservative cancel-culture backlash unlike any economics textbook before or after. In the previous post we saw how William F. Buckley, Jr.’s attack on the use by Yale professors of Samuelson’s Keynesian textbook forced the chairman of the Yale economics department to defend the honor of his department before the Old Blues (alumni).

M.I.T., home of the heretic Paul Samuelson, proved to be ground zero of this anti-Keynes reaction. This story is well-known now thanks to Yann Girard. The artifact transcribed for this post is a short essay published by Ralph Freeman who was head of the M.I.T. economics department from 1933 to 1958. In it Freeman defended the honor of his department much as Lloyd Reynolds’ essay did for Yale economics. 

Cf. “Negotiating the ‘Middle-of-the-Road’ Position: Paul Samuelson, MIT, and the Politics of Textbook Writing, 1945-55,” by Yann Girard in MIT and the Transformation of American Economics (Annual Supplement to Volume 46, History of Political Economy, ed. by E. Roy Weintraub). Durham: Duke University Press, 2014.

______________________________

President to Department Chair
“Incoming!” 

November 6, 1951

Professor Ralph E. Freeman
Economics Department

Dear Ralph:

Thank you for the Atlantic Monthly with McGeorge Bundy’s article which I have. I wish that his defense could have a wider circulation than it received in the Atlantic.

The Buckley book concerns me mainly because of its attack on Samuelson’s text and because of the wide distribution the Buckley book is receiving it is going to stir up a lot more people.

I venture to send you some of the things that come to my desk simply by way of keeping, you informed of the steady bombardment on Paul Samuelson’s text. This bombardment has been increasing in intensity. Yesterday a member of the Corporation came to see me about it. He had not previously had contact with the book, but he had been approached by various business people who were bitterly critical of the book and who brought to him a publication issued down south which raked over the old Namm comments [Benjamin Namm, “Would You Enter a Door Marked ‘Socialism’?” in Collier’s Weekly (April 29, 1950), pp. 34-49] upon the book.

I have just received a copy of the Brooking Institution study, “A Survey of Economic Education” by McKee and Moulton. I am afraid that the comments made in this study on page 17 in regard to economics textbooks will still further stir people up despite the qualifications which the authors carefully include in their statement.

I hasten to reassure you that despite the mounting criticism I stand no less steadfastly behind Samuelson’s right to take the point of view that seems right and proper to him. I think our best defense against criticism is the one that I repeatedly make, and which I assume to be wholly true, and that is that in our own teaching of economics at the Institute we do not follow any line, that we seek to present a balanced point of view and to give the student the tools so that he can reach his own conclusions. I was interested in Bundy’s statement in his Atlantic article that in attacking Mr. Buckley’s book, he did not wish to maintain that Yale was perfect and that “it is possible that Yale…..would benefit from the appointment of a strongly right-wing economist.

I am sure that so long as we can show that our own teaching of economics is not distorted in any direction and that we are not subtly indoctrinating students with any biased point of view, that we have an unimpregnable and sound position.

Yours cordially,
J. R. Killian, Jr.

JRK: mh

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Department Chair to President
“We’re cool kids, really”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of
Economics and Social Sciences

Cambridge, Mass.
November 19, 1951

President James R. Killian
Room 3-208

Dear Jim:

         As I indicated to you in a recent conversation, a group of the Department staff is preparing a new book of readings to supplement the textbook which we use in Economic Principles (14.01 and 14.02). I have been delaying writing you about this until final decision has been made as to the contents of this new book. However, a tentative table of contents is now available and I enclose it herewith.

         As you will observe, the projected book of readings aims to present a variety of points of view ranging from radical to conservative, from Marx and Engels to Pope Leo XIII. There are also readings from classical economists such as Adam Smith, Ricardo and Bastiat. Articles criticizing recent government policies are included as well as various opinions on the economics of the defense program. The use of this book will enable us to do on a large scale what we are already doing with a limited number of collateral readings.

         I should like to emphasize once more that the members of the Department as a group range around the center in their economic thinking. There are no extreme radicals or extreme conservatives among us. We try to take a view toward economic problems which is balanced and objective, and in class we try to present both sides of the controversial problems that come up for discussion.

         From some of the attacks aimed at Samuelson’s book, I get the impression that economists are to be condemned if they do not unequivocally approve of everything now being done in the name of private enterprise. This attitude, of course, is absurd. If the economic system is to be kept in working order it must be subjected to a critical analysis. In fact it is the job of the economist to do just this.

         Some of the more extreme conservatives who are today attacking the teaching of economics are inclined to adopt an ostrich-like attitude. After all we do live in a mixed economy — one that is partly private enterprise and partly government control. This is a fact. Should this fact be hidden from students? The answer is clear. But some of our critics talk as though any discussion of what they regard as undesirable trends should be eliminated or reduced to a minimum.

         I can assure you that no member of this Department is trying to undermine the system of freedom. In fact, it is quite the reverse. We are all trying to understand it with a view to making it work better and last longer. Though there is disagreement amongst us on particular issues, we are in agreement on that basic issue.

         I am not sure there is much more that I can say. We would be glad to meet any of our critics face to face in a friendly discussion of any points on which they think we are in error. We do not claim to have all the answers. Our analysis might well be improved as the result of more exchange of ideas with intelligent business men.

Yours sincerely,
[signed] Ralph
Ralph E. Freeman

REF:rw

[in pencil]

Copies of this letter sent to:

Mr Gray [Daniel M. Gray?] of Stoner Mudge [Stoner-Mudge Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh]
Bradley Dewey [Life Member of MIT Corporation, 1932-74]
Dr. Warner, Pres. Carnegie Tech [John Christian Warner (1897-1989), President 1950-65]
Donald Carpenter [Life Member of MIT Corporation, 1943-95]
John Hancock [Member of MIT Corporation, 1949-55]
Walter Beadle [Life Member of MIT Corporation, 1943-88]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

President to Department Chair
“Be like Yale.”

November 28, 1951

Professor Ralph E. Freeman
Economics Department

Dear Ralph:

         Professor Shultz sent me a copy of an article by Lloyd G. Reynolds entitled “The State of Economics at Yale.” This article seemed to me to be a first-rate exposition of the philosophy and methods of the department at Yale. The material is set forth not in a defensive manner at all, and to me was fairly convincing.

         This is the kind of statement that I have been hoping that someone might prepare on our own department program here. I think it would be of great help to the Visiting Committee and to the department and the administration in supporting the interests of the department.

         I have returned the Reynolds article to Professor Shultz. If you haven’t seen it, you may be interested in borrowing it from him.

Yours cordially,

J. R. Killian, Jr.

JRK: mh

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Department Chairman to President
“You asked for it.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of
Economics and Social Sciences

January 17, 1952

Dr. James R. Killian
Room 3-208
M.I.T.

Dear Jim:

I have had sent to you a little article entitled

“Economies at M.I.T.” You may recall that you suggested I try my hand at an article of this sort.

I hope it will be of some help in dealing with correspondence regarding the operations of the Department. Several others of the staff have read and expressed general approval of the contents. It has been suggested that it might be submitted to The Technology Review which might be willing to supply us with some reprints.

I welcome any criticisms or suggestions for additions or omissions.

Yours sincerely,
[signed:] Ralph
Ralph E. Freeman

REF: TW
cc: Dean Burchard

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the President, Records, 1930-1959, Box 93, Folder “8. Freeman, R.E., 1945-54”

__________________________

Note: the following is a transcription of the printed article found in the archive with Freeman’s letter. The typed draft sent to M.I.T. President Killian is identical, only minor editorial changes were made for publication.

Economics at M.I.T.
[1952]

The Economics Staff, with Diverse Backgrounds and Views, Aims to Impart a Technique of Logic for Solving Economic Problems in a Complex Society

By Ralph E. Freeman

                  One of the most difficult problems confronting the professional teacher of economics is the competition he meets from other and more effective teaching agencies. The writer refers to the educational impact of the home, the press, and the radio, as well as the propaganda coming from special-interest groups of one kind or another. These agencies have a competitive advantage. The teacher may be in contact with his class for only two or three hours a week for a part of a year, while his nonacademic competitors have been working on these students since their early childhood.

                  This disadvantage may seem to raise the question as to whether the economist can really teach the subject at all. Doubts on this score are further increased by the unsettled condition of the world during the last decade — a state of affairs that has created many uncertainties for the individual. A student worried about his future can hardly be blamed for indifference toward a subject which often seems dull and remote from his immediate interests. Another disadvantage is the youth and inexperience of the average college student. Favorable experience with the veterans who came to the Institute after World War II indicates that maturity is a great advantage in the study of economics. All these difficulties in the way of the teacher tend to make him humble when appraising the impression he leaves on the minds of the younger generation.

                  These obstacles, however, are also a challenge to the economist to improve his teaching techniques. The Economics staff at the Institute has been continually experimenting with new materials and methods and, though it is not fully satisfied with the results, progress has been achieved. We have tried to keep up with the increasing mass of quantitative data becoming available and to keep abreast of improvements in analytical techniques and of shifts in emphasis resulting from changing economic conditions.

                  An interesting example of such a shift is to be found in the treatment of unemployment and price levels. Prior to the 1930’s, these problems were of secondary interest to most economists. A great deal of what they wrote and taught was based on the assumption of full employment and relatively stable prices. The attention of economists was directed mainly to the way in which productive agencies were allocated among various industries and enterprises. The leading problem was to discover that distribution of human and material resources which would best promote the material well being of the people.

                  In recent years the economist’s inquiry has focused on economic fluctuations. Unemployment of resources has thus become a major problem for investigation along with a study of changes in the level of prices. Because ups and downs in employment and periods of inflation and deflation are associated with changes in income available to purchase goods and services, the spotlight has been turned on income analysis. The study of national income has been stimulated by the publication of improved statistics emanating chiefly from the Federal Government and by the development of new and better techniques of analysis.

                  These statements are not meant to imply that the traditional subjects have been abandoned. The economist is still trying to explain what the economic system is and how it operates. He is still concerned with the role of prices and profits in organizing economic activity and with the functions of money and markets in assigning labor and capital to their more productive uses. What has happened is a reorientation of these traditional inquiries around the problems of income, employment, and price levels. This new approach seems to have brought the study of economics nearer to the daily lives of people and closer to the problems with which businessmen are most vitally concerned.

                  The fact that the beginner in economics is normally young and inexperienced makes it necessary for the teacher to spend a good deal of time describing the facts of economic life. National income, for example, only becomes meaningful as it is broken down into components and expressed in quantitative terms. It is usually desirable, therefore, to start with a discussion of the income of individuals, corporations, and governments. How is the total income of the nation divided among families and groups? How are corporations organized? How do they compute their earnings? What is the role of government and what changes are taking place in the relation of the government to the individual and to business? These are among the questions with which the student of economics is confronted in the early stages of his study. In addition, in most of the subjects offered, time is devoted to describing various institutions such as banks, labor unions, and farmers’ organizations which help determine the nature and direction of economic activity.

                  The main objective of economic education, however, is not to fill the minds of students with facts and statistics, but to impart to them a technique of thinking by means of which they can analyze and solve economic problems for themselves. General principles must be developed that are applicable to a broad range of situations. Among these principles are those that can be applied in understanding changes in the price of goods, changes in wages, interest, and profits, in the general price level and in the national income.

                  The economist is concerned, for example, not so much with what the price of wheat is or has been, as he is with the forces that interact to determine the price of wheat or any other commodity. Though he may study past changes in national income, he is primarily interested in the reason why the national income shifts from one level to another. In other words, he tries to develop an integrated theoretical framework which can be used in the analysis of economic problems.

                  At M.I.T., the economist is regarded as a teacher, not a preacher. His function is not to radiate his own political views nor to propagandize for his own particular social philosophy. His job is to encourage students to form their own opinions. He is not too concerned with what these opinions are. His main job is to ensure that the opinions, whatever they may be, are reached through a logical process of thought, rather than as a result of prejudice or hearsay.

                  The Economics staff of about 30 full-time members has been recruited with this objective in view. When a new man is taken on, we ask two main questions. Is he equipped by training, experience, and intelligence to carry on creative, scholarly work in his chosen field? Is his personality such as to hold out the promise that he will be a competent teacher and a congenial and co-operative colleague? As the result of this method of selection, the group we now have includes no freaks or extremists. Though there is a broad diversity of view on many of the controversial issues of our times, all of the members of the Department share a desire to preserve and improve the free institutions of America. These men rank high in the profession and compare very favorably with economists in other leading institutions.

                  Some people may find it hard to accept the idea that divergence of opinion should be regarded as a healthy condition. Why, it may be asked, should I tolerate a colleague who disagrees with me on government controls, the merits of labor unions, taxation, monetary policy and other questions? My answer would be that differences of opinion give rise to a lively interchange of ideas which is an important element in the educational process. Progress in economics, or in any other scientific discipline, would be stifled if an effort were made to enforce conformance to a single pattern of thought.

                  No matter how firmly we may believe that a given policy is the correct one, there is always a good chance that the man with a different opinion may have something meritorious to propose on his side. A story is told of Al [Alfred E.] Smith who was traveling in upper New York State with two companions, a Protestant and a Catholic. It was early on a bitterly cold Sunday morning when the two Catholics arose to attend mass. Looking at the Protestant sleeping peacefully in his warm bed, Al Smith said to his friend: “Wouldn’t it be awful if he were right and we were wrong!”

                  The chance that the other fellow may be right, or partly right, makes it inadvisable to strive for unanimity of thought and opinion. Tolerance of diversity is necessary for the preservation of the spirit of free inquiry which is the breath of life of an institution devoted to education and research. Such tolerance is one of the main features distinguishing a democratic from a totalitarian society.

                  As indicated above, this concept is applied in the Institute’s educational practices. In all courses, whether they are offered to undergraduates or graduates, the Department of Economics and Social Science tries to present contrasting views and opinions. In the beginning course in Economic Principles, which has been required of all students at the Institute, this procedure is subjected to severe time limitation. But even here this practice is followed. For several years we have been using supplementary readings presenting divers points of view and a new collection of such readings to accompany the textbook has just been prepared — a compilation that includes extracts from economic writings of all sorts, ranging from Karl Marx to the National Association of Manufacturers.

                  Besides this course in Economic Principles, there are many others, both on the undergraduate and the graduate level. These include several in the fields of labor relations, statistics, finance, theory, and international economics. There are courses in business cycles, technological innovation, and in the economics of particular industries. The Department also offers courses in psychology and international relations. As the name implies, the Department of Economics and Social Science is one that covers a wide field. It is a part of the School of Humanities and Social Studies and has close ties with the activities of historians and others who come under the same administrative direction. The bringing together of a number of different social studies exerts a broadening influence on both staff and students. It tends to make us look at human beings as members of an ever-changing, complex society subject to many influences in addition to those of an economic nature.

                  Virtually every student at the Institute takes economics at some point in his program. In addition to those subjects included in the Humanities Program, designed for the Institute as a whole, other subjects are tailored to fit the needs of professional courses such as those offered by the Department of Business and Engineering Administration. The Department also offers a four-year curriculum for undergraduates — Course XIV — leading to a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Engineering. Through emphasis on relationships among engineering, economics, and human relations problems, this Course aims to provide students with an understanding of both technical and non-technical aspects of our industrial society.

                  There is also a graduate division. There are about 50 students in this group, most of whom are candidates for the Ph.D. degree. Many of these men have come to M.I.T. from liberal arts colleges. They go into government, business, labor unions, and teaching as professional economists.

                  Because the training of the professional economist, normally requiring about seven years, is spent mainly in the classroom and the library, his knowledge of actual business practices is more limited than if he were actively employed in industry. This limitation of experience is a handicap of which the men on the Department’s staff are acutely conscious. We do not have as much direct contact, as might be desired, with what goes on in the factories, banks, railroads, public utilities, and other business enterprises whose activities we study.

                  Efforts are being made to bridge the gap between economic theory and business practice. Graduate students are encouraged to find summer employment in industry. Some of the staff members have had temporary jobs in business or government. Others have had an opportunity to get into close touch with industry through research projects. In recent years they have undertaken investigations in textiles, shoes, coal, housing, electronics equipment, and a variety of other industries. Several of our instructors act as consultants to business firms and have had ample opportunity to rub shoulders with businessmen and get a better idea of their operations and problems.

                  The Department also brings in businessmen to meet with classes and join in round-table discussions. The system of Visiting Committees is also helpful in getting the staff into touch with leaders in industry, finance, and the professions. But more of these contacts are needed. If we are to keep our feet on the ground, we must have the counsel and criticism of men of practical affairs.

                  The development of the new School of Industrial Management should be of material assistance in strengthening our contacts with leaders in the business world. Though the Department of Economics and Social Science will not be administratively a part of this School, it will be housed in the same building and will co-operate in carrying out its educational and research program. E. P. Brooks, ’17, Dean of the School, who is now in charge, is consulting with business leaders and hopes to enlist their aid not only in planning the project but also in executing the plans. The Department of Economics and Social Science should benefit, at least indirectly, from these extensive outside relationships.

                  We are grateful to the Alumni and other friends of the Institute who have taken an interest in our work. The Department is indebted to the companies which have supported our Industrial Relations Section, and have helped finance graduate fellowships and research activities; it hopes for a continuation of this interest and support. Such support will be needed if the Department is to maintain its position and to improve and expand its operations.

                  The number of students being graduated from Course XIV is now relatively small. and the demand for their services is high; but in the future we hope to increase the enrollment, and employment conditions are not likely to continue as favorable as they are today. This Course is new and therefore not yet widely known. Because it combines basic education in engineering and science, as well as in economics, and other social studies, its graduates have a broad background that should make them useful in a wide variety of jobs.

                  This spring the Department of Economics and Social Science expects to move into the recently acquired Sloan Building along with the School of Industrial Management. Readers of this article are invited to come and visit us in our new quarters. We will show you our Industrial Relations Library and our Psychological Laboratory. We will tell you about the Scanlon Plan that is making a valuable contribution to the betterment of employer-employee relations. We will describe research projects under way and point with pride to a growing list of publications by members of the Department. We would like to discuss with you the plans we have for future development in psychology and political science. The reader may be interested in meeting some of the staff or in talking to groups of students and if he can bear it, we will also tell him about some of our trials and tribulations. And perhaps he may have something on his mind he would like to tell us. If so, we will gladly listen. Our new address will be 50 Memorial Drive.

Source: The Technology Review (April 1952), pp. 304-6, 320.

Image Source: This portrait of Ralph Freeman can be found in the 1950 yearbook. The copy used here comes from the MIT Museum website where it no date has been provided. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.