An overview of the annual comings and goings of a department are typically chronicled in a report prepared by the department chair. Such low circulation documents are sometimes targeted to a specific readership, e.g. a visiting committee, a dean, the alumni, but the report transcribed in this post for the Harvard economics department in 1961-62 does not appear to have had a particular audience in mind.
___________________________
About Chairman John T. Dunlop
(Harvard Album, 1960)
Sallying forth from an office in the farther reaches of Littauer to Washington, D.C., JOHN THOMAS DUNLOP, Professor of Economics and faculty member in the Graduate School of Public Administration, is certainly one of the university’s most travelled professors. Dunlop, a labor expert, teaches an undergraduate course on unionism and public policy applying to labor relations and problems; in the grad school he conducts two seminars, in one of which he had worked closely with the late Professor Slichter. But in addition to his teaching, Professor Dunlop is one of the country’s leading strike arbitrators, and he figures that he travels in the vicinity of 150,000 miles a year on this outside work. The occasion for a weekly trip to the nation’s capital is his post as the impartial chairman of a joint committee in the construction industry, comprising representatives of the eighteen major unions and contracting firms. In this position Professor Dunlop must mediate disputes between the union and management. He is also a permanent umpire for the women’s garment industry and in the past has served in similar capacities for the brass companies of Connecticut and the bituminous coal producers. The dispute in 1955 involving the complexities of the ratio of required conductors to the length of a freight train called him back to the role of mediator, following a long term with the Atomic Energy Labor panel. At present he edits the Wertheim series on the histories of various big corporations and unions, and he also administers a Ford Foundation grant to study the functionings of labor and management in the underdeveloped countries of Asia.
Professor Dunlop was born in the Forty-Niner gold region and graduated from the University of California in 1935. He has been with Harvard since 1938, when he joined the faculty as an instructor. He gets back to California at least once a year, and the last time he returned he did so by travelling eastward via Indonesia. Professor Dunlop lives in Belmont, and, when not compiling mileage, he devotes his time to his wife and three children, and concentrates on his tennis game.
Professor Gerschenkron was Taussig Research Professor for the year, and Professor Albert J. Meyer, lecturer in the Department, was also on leave. Professor Galbraith and Kaysen continued on leave in government appointments. During the spring term Professor Harris was on sabbatical leave; Professor Bergson held a Ford Faculty Research Fellowship, and Professor Leontief was Visiting Professor at the College du France, Paris. Assistant Professors Gill and Vanek were also on leave throughout the year.
As a consequence of the number of senior members on leave, the Department included this year a relatively large number of visiting professors and lecturers. Professor Jesse Markham of Princeton University taught the courses in industrial organization; Dr. Frank Spooner was in charge of economic history; Professor William H. Nicholls of Vanderbilt instructed in agriculture and economic development. Professor Jacob Viner was Taussig Research Professor, and while he taught no courses, we were delighted to have him with us for the year. Professor Schmookler of Minnesota was associated with the science and public policy seminar of the Littauer School, and was a visiting lecturer in the Department. In addition, Professor Domar of M.I.T. taught a course in the Soviet economy in the spring term. Mr. Langley gave courses ordinarily taught by Professor A.J. Meyer, and Professor Caleb Smith of Brown University continued to teach the accounting course.
2. New Appointments
The Executive Committee unanimously recommended the appointment of Professor Richard Caves as a permanent addition to the Department. Following the established procedures, the governing boards on May 14, 1962 voted his appointment as Professor of Economics effective July 1, 1962. Professor Caves completed his Ph.D. degree in the Department in 1958 and has been on the staff at the University of California (Berkeley) since 1957. He has been vice-chairman of the Berkeley Department. The appointment of Professor Caves will materially strengthen the Harvard Department, particularly in the fields of international trade and industrial organization. Moreover, he is regarded as an excellent undergraduate teacher.
The Department unanimously recommended and the President and governing boards approved the appointment of four new assistant professors starting July 1, 1962: Clopper Almon, Jr., Elliot Berg, Phoebus Dhrymes, and Thomas Wilson. It is planned that these assistant professors in the Department will devote part time to research and be paid in part from research budgets. Such arrangements, combined with the higher salary scales starting July 1, 1962, should facilitate the recruitment of first rate assistant professors; it has often been difficult in the past to fill this rank in this Department.
In approving these four appointments on March 5, 1962, President Pusey stated:
“It is my understanding that these four new Assistant Professors will devote part of their five-year tenure to special research projects and that an appropriate fraction of their salaries during these periods will be charged against the project budgets. I approve in principle the idea of experimenting in this way with charging portions of the salaries of assistant professors to grants or contracts, provided these grants or contracts are of sufficient duration to avoid the danger of funds running out when there are still large salary commitments in excess of our normal academic salary budget. Thus I feel that we should move with caution in this direction, treating the above appointments as experimental, and waiting for the results to become apparent before venturing further along this road.”
3. Chair in Modern China Studies and Economics
The primary responsibility for filling this chair has now been placed in the Department of Economics. After a series of conferences with the East Asia Research Center of Harvard University, President Pusey approved the arrangements under which the Department will seek a permanent appointment competent in Economics and with a command of the Chinese language. In the meanwhile, the Department is to be responsible for providing some instruction on term appointments in the field and is to have the use of the income of the endowment for such instruction and to develop promising scholars in this field.
Professor Kuznets is to be Chairman of the Committee of the Department to seek appropriate appointments. It is expected that Mr. Dwight Perkins, a graduate student in the Department, will provide a half course of instruction on the Economy of China in the spring term, 1963.
4. Undergraduate Program
The enrollment in the undergraduate courses in the Department has grown in the last several years. The aggregate enrollment in undergraduate courses was 926 in the fall of 1959 and 1375 in the fall of 1961; the aggregate enrollment was 1080 in the spring term of 1960 and 1281 in the spring of 1962. These figures include the enrollment in Economics 1 which averaged 540 in 1959 and 628 in 1962. It is thought that these increases in part reflect the reorganization of the undergraduate program placed into effect in the fall of 1960 following several years of work on the part of the committee on undergraduate instruction. The division of full year courses into half year courses, the arrangement of courses into four groups according to prerequisites and level of difficulty, the lectures in Economics 1 and the addition to the curriculum of a few new courses is thought to have stimulated enrollment.
Despite the increases in enrollment in undergraduate courses, the Department faces a serious continuing problem to maintain and to increase the number of concentrators in the field. The percentage of all concentrators who elect the field of Economics has declined from 7.7 percent in 1956-57 to 6.0 percent in 1960-61. The low concentration in Economics at Radcliffe is of particular concern to the Department, and conferences seeking to increase interest among the students have been held with President Bunting and other members of the Radcliffe staff.
In order to improve the quality of our instruction, Economics 98 (junior tutorial) is to be reorganized. The adoption of the Gill plan by the Faculty materially increased the number of students in Economics 98 from 40 or 50 to more than 80. The instruction in economic theory by lectures has proven to be inappropriate with the larger group. Next year, 1962-63, it is planned to divide the group into three or four seminars, each of approximately 20 students; each seminar is to be under the direction of a senior member of the Department or an assistant professor. In addition, tutorial groups of four or five students will meet with individual tutors. Professor Caves has been given overall responsibility for this important part of the undergraduate program.
5. Graduate Instruction
There was a total of 48 first year graduate students in the Department this year including 5 women and 3 enrolled through Littauer. There were 88 continuing graduate students including 6 women, 6 from Littauer, and 2 in joint degrees, for a total of 136 graduate students; in addition, the Department had 10 special students and 10 special auditors. A total of 21 Ph.D. degrees were awarded to students in the Department of Economics.
The competition for places in the graduate schools for work in the Department of Economics has grown more severe in recent years. From the more than 260 applications for admission to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences received in the spring of 1962, there will only be about 45 new graduate students in the fall of 1962. Almost half of these students will be from outside the United States and Canada. For the fall of 1962 we have been able to obtain the admission of 8 out of the first 10 on our list, a considerably higher fraction than in recent years.
The Department faces strong conflicting pressures in making decisions on the number of new graduate students to be admitted. On the one hand, the Department is anxious to provide individual instruction particularly after the first year of graduate study for the highest quality students. A greater enrollment would also complicate materially the teaching of the required graduate courses in economic history, statistics and theory, and after a point would require further manpower so that two senior members of the Department might give parallel courses or sections. On the other hand, the Department is anxious to make its contribution to the increased demands for economists particularly for developing countries. Moreover the quality of a number of the students rejected for admission (perhaps as many as 15 to 20) appears to be very good. In the selection of students from abroad it is particularly difficult to know whether one has made the best selections. When students are admitted whose records turn out to be poor, there are often many complications for both the student and the University. The Department has spent considerable energy in reviewing the records of students admitted during the past decade; a careful statistical study was made under the direction of Professor Houthakker. The Department is continuing to seek to improve admission procedures.
Financial resources available to the Department for its own use for scholarships and fellowships is a serious problem since the money made available by the generous gift of Mr. Roger Kyes has now been exhausted.
6. Organization of the Department
The Department now performs much of its routine business through committees. The two major committees are on Undergraduate Instruction under Professor Eckstein and on Graduate Instruction under Professor Dorfman.
7. Research
A very large amount of research activity is carried out by members of the Department of Economics. In addition to individual research by senior members, an increasing number of research projects which employ a number of graduate students and junior staff are being conducted under the direction of senior members. These research projects often provide opportunities for training of graduate students in research methods and afford topics and financing for Ph.D. dissertations.
Among these research projects with financial support are the following:
Professor Leontief
Harvard Economic Research Project which has recently been refinanced for a period of years.
Professor Mason
The relations of government and business in economic development.
Professor Mason and Dr. Papanek
Overseas operations and training
(Center for International Affairs)
Professor Kuznets
Economic growth
Professor Eckstein
Economics of public expenditures
Professor Houthakker
Forecasting consumers’ expenditures
Professor Harris
Education and Public Policy
Professor Schelling
Defense studies and Experimental Study of Bargaining
Professor Dunlop
Labor-Management History and Economics of Medical Care
Professor Duesenberry
Capital Markets
Professor Meyer
Business Decisions
Professor Bergson
Soviet Economics
Professor Gerschenkron
Economic History Workshop
8. Public and Professional Activities
A number of members of the Department were engaged in a wide variety of professional activities and public service during the year. A few instances may be of interest; no attempt is made for a complete listing.
The president of the American Economic Association comes from this Department two years in a row. Professor Mason is president for 1962, and Professor Haberler is president-elect.
Professor Leontief was chairman of the International Conference on Input-Output Techniques held in Geneva, Switzerland in September 1961 and sponsored by the Harvard Economic Research Project in association with the U.S.[sic] Secretariat. He was also a member of the Commission of Experts for the United Nations which reported on the Social and Economic Consequences of Disarmament.
Professor Dorfman served as a member of the President’s Scientific Advisory Committee team on Waterlogging and Salinity in West Pakistan. He is also a member of the President’s Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics.
Professor Harris is serving as Economic Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and is a member of the Public Advisory Board of the Area Redevelopment Program.
Professor John R. Meyer served as a consultant in connection with the President’s message on Transportation Policy.
Professor Kuznets is Chairman of the Committee on the Economy of China of the Social Science Research Council.
Professor Bergson is a member of this same Committee and chairman of the Joint Committee of Slavic Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. His study, The Real National Income of Soviet Russia Since 1928, was published in 1961 by the Harvard University Press.
Professor Mason is Chairman, Advisory Committee, A.I.D.
Professors Duesenberry, Eckstein and Smithies have been consultants to the Council of Economic Advisors. Professor Duesenberry was on the staff of the Commission on Money and Credit and was chairman of the Joint Economic Committee’s Inventory Study Committee.
Professor Schelling has been a consultant to the Department of Defense and to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Air Force. His study Strategy of Arms Control (with Morton J. Halperin), was published by the Twentieth Century Fund in 1961.
Professor Houthakker has worked on revenue forecasting problems for the Department of the Treasury.
Professor Dunlop was a member of the Presidential Railroad Commission (1960-1962), and is a member of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission. He was Chairman of the International Conference on Labor Productivity under the auspices of the International Economic Association held August-September 1961.
9. Visiting Committee
A series of meetings this year with the Chairman of the Visiting Committee, and others of its members, have improved the relations between the Visiting Committee and the Department of Economics. I believe these new attitudes are reflected in the annual report of the Committee. There is a genuine desire on the part of both the Department and the Committee for a constructive relationship.
___________________
John T. Dunlop
Chairman
Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.
Machlup presenting, Domar, in profile, 3rd person to Machlup's right.
The undergraduate course Political Economy 3 (National Income and Employment) at Johns Hopkins was followed by Political Economy 4 (Economic Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy). Both terms of introductory macroeconomics were taught by Evsey Domar in 1955-56. Class outline, readings, and exams for Political Economy 4 were posted earlier.
__________________________
Course Announcement
1955-56
National Income and Employment. 3. Professor Domar. Three hours weekly, first term.
National income and its composition. The determination of income, employment, and the general price level. A brief treatment of the problem of economic stability and development.
Interest received by consumers from government (on the public debt)
3
Net foreign investment (our investment in foreign countries)
-1
Personal consumption expenditures
110
Personal contribution to social insurance (employee payroll taxes)
2
Personal income taxes
16
Rental income of persons
5
Undistributed corporate profits
5
[20%] Explain why government receipts and expenditures create special problems for national income (or gross product) estimators. How are these problems resolved?
[40%] For each of the following items explain the following:
Its nature;
Its treatment in the computation of GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT and of DISPOSABLE PERSONAL (CONSUMER) INCOME by the U. S. Department of Commerce;
Grounds for such treatment;
Your evaluation of the grounds and your own recommendations. Justify each position you take.
Capital gains and losses
Imputed rent
Interest on the Federal debt
Payments made to veterans for education
Food produced in the farm and consumed by the farmer and his family.
Undistributed profits
Intermediate products
Profits made by a monopolist
Profits made by an American corporation abroad but not remitted to the U. S.
Employer contribution to social insurance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
E. D. Domar December 7, 1955
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT (Political Economy 3)
[SECOND] HOUR EXAMINATION Fall Term, 1955-56
Answer all questions in any order you like. Indicate each step in your reasoning. No credit will be given for vague generalities.
[20%] Discuss the performance of the American economy during the period 1866-1918. Try to explain the causes of the most important developments.
[5%] The numbers below refer to the United States in 1954. Indicate in your blue book the one number which in each case comes closest to being true. If you fail to indicate a number you will receive zero; if you indicate an incorrect one you will receive a negative score.
(a)
Gross National Product (in current prices)
360
375
390
(billions)
(b)
Gross Private Domestic Investment
30
45
60
(billions)
(c)
Disposable personal income
250
275
300
(billions)
(d)
Personal savings as a fraction of disposable personal income
3
5
7
(per cent)
(e)
Compensation of employees as a fraction of National Income
50
70
90
(per cent)
[20%] “Gross National Product is an excellent index of the welfare of the people.” Comment.
[25%] State and explain the main factors affecting Personal Consumption Expenditures out of a given Gross National Product.
Explain which of them and in what manner can be affected by government policies.
[20%] Whether gross national product is approached from the production, income or expenditure point of view, the totals are supposed to be identical (subject to a small statistical error). Yet in current economic discussions one often hears expressions such as “shortage of purchasing power,” “excess of purchasing power,” “insufficient investment,” “excessive government expenditures,” and so on.
How do you reconcile this contradiction?
[10%] “What is good for an individual or a firm is good for the country.” Comment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
E. D. Domar January 27, 1956
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT
(Political Economy 3)
FINAL EXAMINATION — THREE HOURS
Fall Term
1955-56
Answer all questions in any order you like. Indicate carefully each step in your reasoning.
[24%] Explain CAREFULLY how each of the transactions listed below affects (if it does)
GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT,
and one or more of its subdivisions:
PERSONAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES,
GROSS PRIVATE DOMESTIC INVESTMENT,
NET FOREIGN INVESTMENT
GOVERNMENT PURCHASES OF GOODS AND SERVICES.
Interest on the Federal debt received by individuals from the government.
An allowance received by a college student from his parents.
A fee to a music teacher paid by the student mentioned in (b).
Purchases of groceries made by the wife of the music teacher mentioned in (c).
Land purchased by the City of Baltimore to build a music center.
Exports of used buses to South America.
Personal income tax paid by the individual to the Federal government.
Capital gains made by a college professor on the stock market.
Tourist expenditures made abroad by the professor mentioned in (h) out of his capital gains.
A loan which a Baltimore business man obtained from the local bank.
A Federal bond which a student cashed at the local bank.
A house which Mr. X. has just constructed for himself and his family.
In each case, follow the criteria used by the U. S. Department of Commerce, but feel perfectly free and welcome to state and justify other criteria that you would prefer to use.
DO NOT GO BEYOND THE EVENTS DESCRIBED IN EACH TRANSACTION. DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ANY SECONDARY EFFECTS.
[20%] Discuss the performance of the American economy during the period 1919-39. Present an analysis of the most important developments. Be specific.
[10%] (a) Explain thoroughly and (b) evaluate critically the concept of the MULTIPLIER by indicating how it is supposed to work, on what assumptions it is based, and its usefulness (if any) in the explanation of economic fluctuations and for the formulation of economic policy.
[15%] In 1946, soon after the end of World War II, Congress was considering a large loan to Britain. A question naturally arose as to why the loan should be given to Britain rather than to some other country. A front page article in the New York Times defended the loan to Britain on the ground that the British would undoubtedly spend the proceeds of the loan in the United States, while some other country might not be so accommodating.
Comment fully on the argument advanced by the New York Times.
[16%] Define briefly the following terms and explain critically their use in economic analysis. Illustrate your explanation with examples
Marginal efficiency of capital (or of investment).
Index numbers.
Acceleration principle.
Saving and Investment account.
Intermediate products.
Kondratieff Cycle.
Secular stagnation.
Imputed rent.
[15%] Some time ago John M. Keynes, the famous English economist, suggested that the Government should:
“Fill old bottles with (newly printed) banknotes, bury them at suitable depth in disused coal mines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise to dig the notes up again…”
Retaining your sense of humor and remembering that Keynes was endowed with one too, discuss thoroughly the following questions regarding this statement:
What economic conditions did Keynes try to remedy by this strange method?
Suppose his suggestion were accepted. Trace as completely as you can its effects on national income (or gross national product), the level of employment and the price level.
Compare the effects of Keynes’ suggestion with those resulting from a discovery and mining of gold deposits (a) in the U. S. (b) in a small country like Holland.
Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 16, Folder “Misc. Examinations”.
It was fifty years ago this September that I entered the graduate program in economics at M.I.T. This is why the brochure outlining the graduate program as of the academic year 1974-75 is something I am particularly delighted to add as the newest digitized artifact to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
In other news, I just realized that I am now older than everyone seen on the faculty portrait taken in 1976.
_______________________
Most of the faculty members of the MIT department of economics on the steps of the Sloan Building (E52) in 1976.
Graduate study in economics began at M.I.T. in 1941 and has since developed to its present size of some 110 full-time students and 33 faculty members. Its major emphasis is on the training of doctoral candidates in a broad program of advanced study and research for professional careers in universities or colleges, in governmental and private research organizations, or in business or financial concerns. At the present time the demands on a professional economist are such that the depth and breadth of the doctoral program have become indispensable training for a successful career. The Department, therefore, ordinarily admits to full-time graduate study only candidates for the Ph.D. In order to maintain a close and continuing contact between students and faculty, the entering class is normally held to 30.
The doctorate normally requires the full-time concentration of the student for three or four years. Formal requirements are limited in number. The candidate must (1) demonstrate a mastery in five fields of study in economics, one of which is economic theory, both micro and macro; (2) achieve a specified level of competence in economic history, econometrics, and statistics; (3) submit and defend a dissertation that represents a contribution to knowledge; and (4) be in residence for a minimum of two years.
These requirements are met not merely by passing some appropriate set of subjects, but through an over-all preparation of subject matter and techniques that goes beyond course work. Candidates may differ in their rate of progress toward the satisfaction of these requirements, depending on their background, preparation, and interests. Normally, however, the satisfaction of requirements, other than the dissertation, is completed by the end of the second year.
The dissertation is a test of the candidate’s ability to conduct independent research — to formulate a significant topic and to bring to bear on it the analytic and quantitative tools of economics. The dissertation is prepared under the direction of departmental committee. Upon submission of the completed thesis, the candidate is examined orally by the thesis committee.
The Department has no general foreign language requirements. When a foreign language is essential for full access to the literature in the field of the student’s major interest (for example, European Economic History, Communist Economies) or to his thesis research, a language requirement will be imposed by the Department upon the recommendation of the Thesis Supervisor or the Graduate Registration Officer. Such a requirement will be administered by the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics, and can be met by satisfactory course work at other schools, at M.I.T., or by examination.
Occasionally students may desire a program that overlaps more than one department, but which in content and depth meets doctoral standards. At the initiative of the student, and with the approval of faculty members of each department, arrangements can be made to have the Dean of the Graduate School appoint a committee to guide the entire Ph.D. program. For details see the Graduate Student Manual. One such program, for instance, has been worked out with the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
In very special and rare cases, students are admitted for study programs leading to the M.S. in Economics. This is awarded upon the satisfactory completion of a program, approved by the Graduate Registration Officer, of a year’s full-time study, including the presentation of a satisfactory thesis. The master’s program usually involves completion of the Department’s core requirements (see below), a semester of econometrics, and two semesters of a special field, in addition to the thesis.
To be admitted into the program, a student must hold a Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university. It is not essential that the undergraduate degree be in economics. Graduate students entering the Department have had a wide variety of major background preparation varying from literature to physics. Some preparation in undergraduate economics, especially in economic analysis, is almost a necessity. Candidates who, upon admission, are deficient in mathematics are strongly urged to take mathematics in the summer before entering the program or work on a recommended self-study program in calculus to prepare for 14.102 Mathematics for Economists.
Completed application forms for admission must be submitted to the Admissions Office at M.I.T. by January 15 of the calendar year in which the applicant wishes to enter. In addition to the Institute application forms, the Department expects each applicant to submit a statement (one or two pages) explaining his interest in economics. An informal questionnaire is provided for his general guidance. Entrance is normally in September. February entrance is granted only under exceptional circumstances, since many subjects given in the spring are continuations of work given in the fall.
All applicants are urged to take the Graduate Record Examinations no later than the January preceding the September in which they wish to enter. They should take the quantitative and verbal aptitude tests as well as the test in economics. (Information can be obtained by writing to Graduate Record Examinations, Educational Testing Service, Box 955, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. Students in western states or in eastern Asia or the Pacific should write to 1947 Center Street, Berkeley, California 94704.)
Decisions regarding admission are the responsibility of the Departmental Graduate Admissions Committee, which bases its judgment on the undergraduate academic record of the applicant, both in general and with respect to particular subjects, on the letters of recommendation, and on the Graduate Record Examinations. Further information may be secured by writing to the chairman of the committee. Notices of acceptance are sent out by April 1, and candidates have until April 15 to notify the Department of their choice.
Fellowships, Scholarships, and Financial Assistance [Table of Contents]
While in the past virtually all graduate students received financial aid through scholarships, fellowships, or assistantships, the financial situation has changed to such an extent that complete support can no longer be assured. Moreover, the outlook is so uncertain that no definite statement is possible, even about minimum aid. Every effort will be made within the limits of our financial resources to support students who perform effectively. In view of this uncertainty, the Department is making efforts to expand the number of research assistantships, but students should expect to earn or borrow a larger proportion of their support than has been true in the past.
The sources of financial support are varied. (1) Many students are assisted by fellowships for which there is a national competition, such as those given by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ford Foundation, the Danforth Foundation, the Canada Council, and by foreign governmental agencies. Applications for such fellowships must be made directly to the appropriate foundation or agency, and an application for admission must also be made to M.I.T. (2) Awards of scholarships or fellowships are also made from M.I.T. funds or endowments. These include the Hicks Fellowship in Industrial Relations, the Graduate Economics Alumni Fellowships, endowed Institute fellowships, and a limited number of departmental awards. (3) A third group of students is supported by part time teaching and research assistantships and instructorships. In the past, research and teaching assistantships have been limited to candidates who have passed their general examination and are engaged in thesis research. However, in the light of the present financial stringency, these rules may be relaxed somewhat with respect to limited research assistantships for second year students. (4) Finally, students in good standing can avail themselves of loans through the Office of Financial Aid. U.S. citizens who are planning to be teachers may avail themselves of an NDEA loan, a substantial portion of which is forgiven upon entry into and continuance in teaching. They are also eligible for government-insured loans that are partially subsidized. Foreign students. however, may borrow only through the Graduate Loan Fund at the prime interest rate.
Entering students should apply for financial aid not later than January 15 of the calendar year in which they plan to enter. First-year awards are made on April 1, and applicants are given until April 15 to accept. Departmental awards for second and subsequent years are made in June. It is entirely appropriate for students to apply both for national awards and to M.I.T., since the outcome of national competitions is known before our awards are announced. Fellowships normally will include some cash payment toward living expenses, up to $2,000 for a single or married person without dependents, made in two equal installments at the beginning of each term. In offering scholarships and fellowships, the Department takes into account need as well as professional promise.
Remuneration for research assistantships varies, but in 1974-75 is normally at the rate of $6,585 per academic year for half-time work, out of which tuition of $3,350 must be paid. A half-time teaching assistantship in 1974-75 covers the tuition and pays $3,510 for the academic year — a total of $6,860. A very few half-time instructorships, for students who have demonstrated conspicuously effective teaching as an assistant, cover tuition plus $4,345 for living expenses — a total of $7,695 for the academic year.
As a supplement to academic-year appointments, both interdepartmental and departmental research groups are possible sources of full-time summer employment.
The academic performance of the student body is periodically reviewed to determine whether or not normal academic progress is being made. Failure to maintain normal progress may result in reduction or withdrawal of financial support. Students are invited at all times to discuss academic problems with their graduate registration officer, and the Department makes every effort to accommodate the needs of individual students.
The Department has always welcomed foreign graduate students. They have typically constituted a significant portion of the student body. Some M.I.T. fellowships are available to entering foreign students, though the number is limited and the competition severe. Foreign students have an additional burden of transportation expense to cover and for this reason it is highly desirable to try to obtain at least partial support from other sources as well.
General information on scholarships, grants and travel can be obtained from the Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York, 10017, or from the Cultural Affairs Officer or the United States Information Service Office nearest the student’s place of residence.
Foreign applicants are required to submit evidence of their ability to carry on studies in English. Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Students whose schooling has been in English may request a waiver from the Advisor to Foreign Students at M.I.T. TOEFL is administered by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540; registration material and information about the test may be obtained by writing to the above address.
The Department is located in the Sloan Building, which, along with the adjoining Hermann Building, contains contiguous faculty offices, classrooms and seminar rooms, and student and faculty lounges. This complex also houses the Sloan School of Management, the Department of Political Science, and the Center for International Studies. The Dewey Library occupies two floors of the Hermann Building and contains the social science collection at M.I.T., reading rooms, and carrels to which thesis writers are assigned individually.
On-campus housing for graduate students is limited. Applications should be sent to the On Campus Housing Office, Room E18-307, M.I.T. Help in securing off-campus housing is given by the Community Housing Service, E18-306, M.I.T. Students should be alerted to the fact that Cambridge rental units are limited and in heavy demand. Transportation is convenient; the Sloan Building is located one block from the Kendall Square subway station.
The Graduate Economics Association, composed of all graduate students, is a lively organization that sponsors monthly seminars and social events, and is one of the channels through which mutual student-faculty problems are discussed. The seminars permit discussions of current research by distinguished economists and occasional dialogues between faculty members. They are often followed by small dinners to which graduate students and faculty are invited, permitting more discussion among visitors, students and faculty. The Association annually elects nine student representatives to participate as voting members in Department meetings and other Department committees. Student representatives are full participants in all matters except those involving specific, identifiable individuals, or undergraduate matters. This policy at present excludes the discussion of details, but not the general policy, of tenure decisions, review of non-tenure faculty, new appointments, review of student performance, admissions and financial support.
The Black Graduate Economics Association provides a forum for the development and utilization of economic tools for solving the problems faced by Black people, encourages policies and programs which help increase the supply of highly qualified Black economists, opens lines of communication with other Black graduate students, Black economists, and the Black community, stimulates academic excellence, and provides outlets for various social activities. The BGEA has helped develop audio-visual aids now in use in many Black colleges’ economics departments, engaged in Institute recruiting projects, and participated in conferences of Black economists and administrators of Black colleges and universities. An econometric model of income and expenditures in Black communities is in its initial stage of development as a research project.
Students who complete the Ph.D. program should have a thorough understanding of the existing principles of economic theory and of the economic structure; an ability to think systematically about, and apply quantitative methods to, economic problems. The program gives roughly equal emphasis to these two goals, with formal courses and examinations to meet the first, and seminars, workshops, papers and the dissertation to meet the second. The student spends most of his first two years attempting to understand the existing ideas of economics. A basic principle of the program is that these ideas are sufficiently worthwhile so that their study is a necessary prelude to their use or criticism.
Throughout the program, there are formal provisions for students to engage in original work. During the first two years, term papers are often required. During the second year each student prepares a research paper as part of the requirement in econometrics. Second-year students are also encouraged to take part in workshops in their fields of primary interest. After passing the general examination, at the end of the second year or earlier, students spend full time in their own independent, original work. Their only formal obligation is to participate actively in the weekly meetings of the workshops in their fields of research.
The core in economic theory consists of two subject-years equally divided between microeconomics (14.121-14.124) and macroeconomics (14.451-14.454). These subjects are described in Section III of this report. The material is divided into half-semester subjects. The microtheory sequence starts in the fall term and runs through the first year, while the macrotheory sequence starts in the spring term and continues through the fall term of the second year. A qualifying examination on these subjects is offered three times a year — in September, December-January, and May — that must be passed in order to satisfy this part of the core requirement. The examination will cover each of the eight portions of the theory core, and a syllabus is available for each.
When a student feels sufficiently well qualified in the subject matter of any of the theory core subjects, he may take the qualifying examination, either before or after a particular set of lectures is offered. Only a passing grade is recorded when the examination is taken in advance of the lectures. If he fails to pass, he can then enroll for that particular section of theory and take the examination again at the end of that term. Should he pass some portion of theory by the preliminary examination, he could substitute a subject in advanced economic theory in the half-term in which he would have taken the basic theory subject. In principle, it is possible to pass all eight units of the theory core in this way and to proceed directly to more advanced work.
The Schedule for the Qualifying Examination in Theory is as follows:
The minimal core requirement in mathematics is calculus and linear algebra. Calculus is required for Statistics (14.381). While not stated as a formal prerequisite for the core theory subjects, it is virtually a necessity for mastering them.
If a student’s preparation in calculus were inadequate to satisfy the prerequisite for 14.102 Mathematics for Economists, the completion of the statistics and economics core requirements would be postponed a year. Econometrics (14.382 and 14.383 and most advanced theory subjects (14.141-14.149) require linear algebra. Students who have had a year of calculus and who want more mathematical training normally would take Mathematics for Economists (14.102) in the first term.
The econometrics and statistics core requirement can be satisfied by (1) Statistics (14.381); (2) either Econometrics (14.382 and 14.383) or Applied Econometrics (14.388); and the completion of a piece of empirical research the equivalent of a term paper. This paper is due by the end of the fall term of the second year.
Entering students who lack calculus, and cannot take 14.102 in the first term, have two choices: either to postpone the three-term sequence: 14.381, 14.382, and 14.383 — to their third through fifth terms, or to take the two-term sequence, 14.381 and 14.388, in their third and fifth terms.
The core requirement in economic history is the satisfactory completion of one subject in American Economic History (14.731), European Economic History (14.733), or Russian Economic History (14.781).
In addition to the satisfactory completion of the core requirements, competence in four special fields must be demonstrated, two by passing a general examination and two by either satisfactory course work or a general examination. Preparation for a field examination normally consists of a year’s course work. Satisfaction of a field by course work alone requires the achievement of a grade of B or better in each of the two terms of subject matter. (The econometrics and history requirements can be satisfied with a grade of B-.) The areas in which the Department offers specialization are: advanced economic theory, international economics, labor economics, economic development, urban economics, monetary economics, fiscal economics, statistics and econometrics, economic history, industrial organization, comparative economic systems, Russian economics, human resources and income distribution, and, outside the Department, finance, production, transportation, and operations research. It is possible to use econometrics as a field without preparation beyond the core requirements. Economic history can be offered as a field by adding a second subject to the one satisfying the core requirement.
Students normally demonstrate competence in all four fields by the end of their second year. That is, they normally finish their required course work and general examinations by that time. In the event that scheduling or other difficulties interfere with this timing, one field other than theory or econometrics (including the paper — see II.B.3 above), or one subject in a field and in history, may be postponed until the third year. Before making such a deferment, students should consult with their Graduate Registration Officer.
Students planning to take the general examination before the end of the second year — the usual time — should consult in advance with their Graduate Registration Officer. In any case, such students would still be held to the above schedule.
*The minimal number of subjects to satisfy the special field and history requirements depends on whether history or econometrics is offered as a special field. If neither are offered, 9 subjects are required; if history, 8 subjects; if econometrics, 7 subjects; if both, 6 subjects.
Upon satisfaction of the core and field requirements, the Ph.D. candidate embarks on original research culminating in a completed dissertation that is defended orally. Thesis writers are required to participate in the workshop most germane to the subject of their thesis over the period of time they are working on it. Upon agreement on a topic with a primary thesis supervisor, a secondary thesis supervisor will be chosen by the student, subject to the approval of the Graduate Committee. A third faculty reader will be appointed by the Graduate Committee in consultation with the candidate when a final draft of the thesis will reasonably be expected to be completed within six months. The third faculty reader will have as his main function the unitary reading of the complete final draft of the thesis. These three faculty members will be the candidate’s thesis committee and are responsible for its acceptance and final defense.
In order to give adequate time for the final thesis review and revision, the completed draft must be submitted for final review a month before the Institute dates for submission of the dissertation. In 1975 the formal Institute dates are January 5, May 2, and August 11.
Introduction to the theory of resource allocation and the price system. Emphasis on the use of efficiency prices as a guide to decentralized decision making.
Economic ideas developed by different groups of economists in recent times.
R. L. Bishop,
P. A. Samuelson
14.141
General Equilibrium Theory
Prereq.:14.124
Units
Year: G(1) (2nd half of term)
2-0-4
General equilibrium. Existence and stability of competitive equilibrium. The core of an economy. (Not offered in 1974-75)
F. M. Fisher
14.142
Mathematical Programming and Economic Theory (A)
Prereq.:14.122
Units
Year: G(2) (1st half of term)
2-0-4
A rigorous treatment of linear and non-linear programming with applications to economic model building, including activity analysis and input-output.
M. L. Weitzman
14.143
Advanced Theory of the Market III (A)
Prereq.: 14.122
Units
Year: G(2) (2nd half of term)
2-0-4
Oligopoly and product differentiation, advertising, equilibria with seasonal or cyclical demand shifts.
R. L. Bishop
14.144
Applied Price Theory
Prereq.:14.122
Units
Year: G(1) (1st half of term)
2-0-4
Applications of price theory treated topically. Selected topics in price theory, with focus changing from year to year. Current emphasis is on the economics of exhaustible and renewable natural resources.
R. M. Solow
14.145
Economics of Uncertainty
Prereq.:14.124
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-9
Individual behavior under uncertainty. Equilibrium and welfare under uncertainty. Search and information.
J. A. Hausman,
P. A. Diamond
14.148
Advanced Topics in Microeconomic Theory (A)
Prereq.:14.124
Units
Year: G(2)
Arr.
14.149
Advanced Topics in Microeconomic Theory (A)
Prereq.:14.124
Year: G(2)
Arr.
Advanced topics in microeconomic theory of current interest.
Staff
14.151
Mathematical Approach to Economics (A)
Prereq.:14.122
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
The use of mathematical methods in all the fields of economics.
P. A. Samuelson
14.191
Economics Seminar (A)
Prereq.:14.121, 14.122
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
14.192
Economics Seminar (A)
Prereq.:14.121, 14.122
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Special economic problems. In 1974-75, 14.192 — Economics of Public Sector.
J. Rothenberg
14.193
Seminar: Topics in Economics (A)
Prereq.:14.121, 14.451
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
14.194
Seminar: Topics in Economics (A)
Prereq.:14.122, 14.452
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Topics in economics of current interest.
Staff
14.195
Reading Seminar in Economics (A)
Prereq.:14.122
Units
Year: G(1)
Arr.
14.196
Reading Seminar in Economics (A)
Prereq.:14.122
Year: G(2)
Arr.
Reading and discussion of special topics in economics. (Open to advanced graduate students by arrangement with individual numbers of the staff.)
Staff
14.197
First-Year Graduate Seminar (A)
Prereq.: 14.04
Units
Year: G(1)
2-0-6
Seminar limited to first-year graduate students. Discussion of projects of students, professional literature, methodology, economic policy, extending beyond regular curriculum.
Problems in Industrial Economics (A)
Prereq.: 14.04
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
Small and large enterprises in the American economy; market structures; degrees of monopoly and competition; requisites of public policy.
M. A. Adelman
14.272
Government Regulation of Industry (A)
Prereq.: 14.271
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Follows 14.271. Development of anti-trust policy, generally and in specific cases. “Public utility” price fixing, government ownership as alternative.
P. L. Joskow
14.291
Industrial Economics Seminar (A)
Prereq.:14.271
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
14.292
Industrial Economics Seminar (A)
Prereq.:14.271
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Readings, discussions, reports on such topics as industrial price policies, government regulation of industry, competitive practices, and similar problems in industrial economics.
A compact one-term course in elementary probability and statistical Inference. Axiomatic probability, random variables, distribution functions, mathematical expectation, generating functions, transformations of random variables, simple correlation and regression models, the normal distribution, sampling theory, point and interval estimation, maximum likelihood, least squares, testing statistical hypotheses. The exposition is somewhat more mathematical than
14.381.
H. A. Freeman
14.373
Time-Dependent Probability (A)
Prereq.: 14.371 or 18.303
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Markov chains and Markov processes, the relevant ergodic theorem, Kolmogorov equations, time series theory; spectral density functions, harmonic representation, autoregressive models.
H. A. Freeman
14.374
Design and Analysis of Scientific Experiments (A)
Prereq.: 14.381
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Application of statistical theory to the design and analysis of scientific experiments. Factorial and fractional factorial designs. Applications to experimentation in the physical, chemical, biological, medical, and social sciences.
H. A. Freeman
14.381
Statistical Method in Economics (A)
Prereq.: 14.101 or 18.02
Units
Year: G(1)
4-0-8
Self-contained introduction to probability and statistics which serves as a background for advanced econometrics. Elements of probability theory, sampling theory, asymptotic approximations, decision theory approach to statistical estimation focusing on regression, hypothesis testing and maximum likelihood methods. Illustrations from economics and application of these concepts to economic problems.
J. A. Hausman
14.382
Econometrics I (A)
Prereq.:14.102, 14.381
Units
Year: G(2)
4-0-8
14.383
Econometrics II (A)
Prereq.:14.382
Year: G(1)
4-0-8
Theory and economic application of the linear multiple regression model. Identification and structural estimation in simultaneous models. Analysis of economic policy and forecasting in macroeconomic models. A term paper involving substantive original empirical research is required in 14.383.
R. F. Engle, R. E. Hall, J. A. Hausman
14.386
Advanced Topics in Econometrics (A)
Prereq.: 14.383
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Selected topics including specification error, non-linear estimation, simulation, aggregation, and the derivation of economic policy models. (Not offered in 1974-5)
R. F. Engle, R. E. Hall, J. A. Hausman
14.388
Applied Econometrics (A)
Prereq.: 14.102, 14.381
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-9
Theory and practice of econometrics. The linear regression model, tests of hypotheses, generalized least squares, distributed lags, and simultaneous equations. Emphasis on applications. A term paper required.
R. F. Engle
14.391
Workshop in Economic Research (A)
Prereq.:14.124, 14.454
Units
Year: G(1)
2-0-10
14.392
Workshop in Economic Research (A)
Prereq.:14.124, 14.454
Year: G(2)
2-0-10
Designed to develop research ability of students through intensive discussion of dissertation research as it proceeds, carrying out of individual or group. research projects, and critical appraisal of current reported research. Workshops divided into various fields, depending on interest and size.
Macroeconomic analysis of general equilibrium. Financial markets and investment. Intertemporal equilibrium and growth models.
S. Fischer
14.452
Macroeconomic Theory II (A)
Prereq.: 14.451
Units
Year: G(2) (2nd half of term)
2-0-4
Determination of aggregate output, employment, and prices under static conditions. Keynes and alternate theories. The Phillips Curve. Inflation in the short and long run.
R. E. Hall
14.453
Macroeconomic Theory III (A)
Prereq.: 14.452
Units
Year: G(1) (1st half of term)
2-0-4
Quantitative macroeconomics. Consumption, investment, and other components of aggregate demand. Structure of complete econometric models of the U.S. economy
Advanced Topics in Macroeconomic Theory (A)
Prereq.: 14.454
Units
Year: G(1)
Arr.
14.459
Advanced Topics in Macroeconomic Theory (A)
Prereq.: 14.454
Year: G(2)
Arr.
Advanced topics in macroeconomic theory of current interest.
Staff
14.462
Monetary Economics I (A)
Prereq.: 14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Examination of sources and determinants of supply of money with special attention to roles of commercial banks, Federal Reserve System, and Treasury. Discussion of nature of demand for money. Role of monetary policy in determination of level of economic activity. (Not offered in 1974-5; substitute 15.432 Capital Markets and Financial Institutions)
F. Modigliani
14.463
Monetary Economics II (A)
Prereq.: 14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
General equilibrium theory of money, interest, prices, and output; portfolio problems, cost of capital, and the effects of monetary phenomena on investment and accumulation of wealth with special reference to problems arising from uncertainty.
S. Fischer
14.471
Fiscal Economics I (A)
Prereq.:14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
14.472
Fiscal Economics II (A)
Prereq.:14.122, 14.452
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Examination, both theoretic and quantitative, of governmental fiscal institutions and behavior: the budget process, taxation, expenditure, pricing, and debt activities.
P. A. Diamond, A. F. Friedlaender
14.482
Income Distribution Economics (A)
Prereq.: 14.124
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-9
Modern theories and empirical studies of the determinants of the distribution of income and wealth.
L. C. Thurow
International, Interregional, and Urban Economics [Table of Contents]
14.572J
Regional Economic Analysis (A)
Prereq.: 14.03 or 14.05
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Analysis of regional economies with emphasis on the sources, characteristics, and implications of spatial concentrations of economic activities. Urban development in its regional setting is examined and the special problems of lagging areas in both developing and developed countries. Methods of integrating national and regional planning.
J. R. Harris
14.573J
Urban Economic Analysis I (A)
Prereq.: 14.03 or 14.05
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
Patterns and processes of growth and structural change within metropolitan areas. The land use market and the spatial structure of the metropolitan community. The housing market: demand and supply, growth, aging, and renewal. The urban transportation system and its problems. Models of the metropolis. In each of these topics, emphasis on the resource allocation process, its efficiency and implications for income distribution.
W. C. Wheaton
14.574J
Urban Economic Analysis II (A)
Prereq.: 14.573J
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Continuation of 14.573J. The nature and problems of government decision-making in metropolitan areas. The economies of segregation, congestion, and pollution in the metropolitan area. Urban-suburban relations; market and government. Welfare economics and the normative theory of local public policy. Applied normative analysis: criteria for public expenditures; cost benefit analysis. Examination of public policy issues in current urban problems; poverty, race, the spatial form of the city, optimal land use patterns, growth and renewal, development and new communities.
J. Rothenberg
14.581
International Economics I (A)
Prereq.: 14.04, 14.06
Units
Year: G(1)
4-0-8
Theory of international trade and applications in commercial policy.
J. N. Bhagwati
14.582
International Economics II (A)
Prereq.: 14.581
Units
Year: G(2)
4-0-8
Adjustment in international economic relations with attention to foreign exchange markets, balance of payments, and the international monetary system.
Primary emphasis on the structure of labor markets and the determinants of wage levels, unemployment, the distribution of income and employment opportunity. Special attention will also be given to the impact of unions on both wage and non-wage elements of collective bargaining in the light of the characteristics and objectives of particular unions. Other special topics growing out of recent research in labor economics.
M. J. Piore,
C. A. Myers
14.672J
Public Policy on Labor Relations (A)
Prereq.: 14.64, 15.663
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
Major trends in legislation and other government activities affecting the work place. Topics include wage and price controls, equal opportunity employment, and government regulation of union organization, collective bargaining, industrial disputes, wages and hours of work, and work-place health and safety. The broad economic and social questions raised by these trends also explored.
M. J. Piore
D. Q. Mills
14.674J
Comparative Systems of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Development (A)
Prereq.: 14.64, 15.663
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
International and comparative analysis of industrial relations systems and systems of human resource development. Concentration on an examination of selected issues involving interest groups and the strategies of economic development, including discussion of the nature and functions of labor and management organization in different contexts; the role of the state in establishing procedures and in shaping the substance of industrial relations; the participation of interest groups in the formulation of economic and social policy: manpower and economic growth in the context of comparative systems of human resource development; worker participation in management, and other topics.
Research Seminar in Industrial Relations (A)
Prereq.:14.671J or 14.672J
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
14.692J
Research Seminar in Industrial Relations (A)
Prereq.:14.14.691J
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Discussion of important areas for research in industrial relations, frameworks for research, research techniques, and methodological problems. Centered mainly on staff research and the thesis research of advanced graduate students
C. A. Myers
14.672J
Public Policy on Labor Relations (A)
Prereq.: 14.64, 15.663
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
Major trends in legislation and other government activities affecting the work place. Topics include wage and price controls, equal opportunity employment, and government regulation of union organization, collective bargaining, industrial disputes, wages and hours of work, and work-place health and safety. The broad economic and social questions raised by these trends also explored.
Survey of the beginnings of American industrialization, emphasizing a quantitative approach and the nineteenth century. Topics include effects of government economic policies, such as land distribution and tariffs, the importance of railroads, profitability of slavery.
A comparative study of the major problems in Russian economic history prior to 1917 both for their own sake and as a background for understanding of the events of 1917 and of the Soviet policies since. The topics covered vary yearly depending on the interests of the participants, but the land and peasant problems and industrialization methods emphasized.
Development of the European economy since 1750 and, especially since 1850, with emphasis on growth and slowdown, the transition from local to national and European-wide institutions, and extra-European relations.
C. P. Kindleberger
14.734
Problems in Economic History (A)
Prereq.: 14.731, 14.732, or 14.733
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Analysis of problems of industrial society, concentrating on the century after 1860 and on the American experience. Topics vary yearly and include effects of wars on welfare and growth, the nature of the long deflation of the late nineteenth century, the contrast in international relations before and after 1914, the depression of the 1930’s.
Problems of Economic Development (A)
Prereq.: 14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
Analysis of problems of the rural sector in developing countries, urban-rural migration, unemployment, sectoral balance and efficiency of private resource allocation.
R. S. Eckaus
14.772
Theory of Economic Development (A)
Prereq.: 14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Analysis of problems of international trade and development; study of structure and use of planning models for development policy and use of cost benefit analysis.
J. N. Bhagwati
14.773
Optimal Growth Theory (A)
Prereq.: 14.124, 14.454
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-9
The optimal growth problem, duality theory, development and application of the maximum principle. The behavior of optimal trajectories for a variety of situations. (Alternate years. Offered 1974-75.)
M. L. Weitzman
14.774J
Transfer and Adaptation of Technology in Developing Countries (A)
Prereq.: Permission of Instructor
Units
Year: G(2)
3-0-6
Consideration of the problems of transferring and adapting technologies originating and used in the richer countries of the world to the developing nations. Specific topics include: political, institutional, economic, and engineering issues involved in the transfer of technology.
R. S. Eckaus, F. Moavenzadeh, N. Choucri
14.782
Capitalism, Socialism and Growth (A)
Prereq.: 14.122, 14.452
Units
Year: G(1)
3-0-6
A comparative study of capitalist and socialist economies mainly from the point of view of development and growth, and with major emphasis on the economy of the Soviet Union.
Multilevel planning. Decomposition principles and their application. Planning with prices and with quantities. Materials balancing and input-output. Applications of inventory theory. The problems posed by non-convexities. (Alternate years. Not offered 1974-75.)
The following annual report of the M.I.T. department of economics was most likely written for the care and feeding of administrators and the members of the department’s visiting committee. This report covers what was my second year of graduate school, so for folks from that time it reads like an annual Holiday newsletter to the family.
_______________________
Department of Economics 1975 – 76
Undergraduate Program
The long-run impact of the past year’s changes in the Institute Requirement in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is not yet clear. Unquestionably they have increased the Department’s enrollment, but the precise amount is uncertain because simultaneously a major revision was made in the two introductory economics subjects. In the past year enrollments were larger than previously, but smaller than in the transition of the previous year. Nearly 200 of the Class of 1976 concentrated in economics for their Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Requirement. Of all students presently enrolled, 327 (primarily juniors and seniors) have elected to concentrate in economics.
Undergraduate majors remain steady in numbers. As in 1974-75, 20 degrees were awarded. In the spring term the Undergraduate Economics Association was reactivated. Its weekly meetings with faculty led to several proposals for revision of the undergraduate program, and several student-faculty socials were organized.
Graduate Program
Enrollment has been remarkably steady in the graduate program. The number of applications for admission was virtually identical to the average of the previous six years. Next year’s entering class of 32 will be slightly larger than average, and will have fewer foreign students and more women, reflecting a shift in the percentage of applications from these groups. Four students from minority groups are expected to be in this class.
Financial support for the graduate student has changed very little over the last several years. We are still fortunate in having from one-third to one-half of the entering students on National Science Foundation Fellowships. For the whole student body, there has been an increase in the support by US foundations (other than NSF) and a decrease in support provided by M.I.T.
The number receiving the Doctor of Philosophy increased somewhat in the past year to 21. For the first time, two American blacks received degrees.* The class fared well in placement, their median salary offer totaling 24 percent above that of 1971. Like the past average, 86 percent went into teaching and 14 percent into non-teaching positions.
*Samuel Myers, Jr. Ph.D. thesis: “A Portfolio Model of Illegal Transfers”, supervised by Robert Solow. Glenn Loury. Ph.D. thesis: “Essays in the Theory of the Distribution of Income”, supervised by Robert Solow.
See: William Darity Jr. and Arden Kreeger, “The Desegregation of an Elite Economics Department’s PhD Program: Black Americans at MIT“, History of Political Economy 46 (annual suppl.)
The Graduate Economics Association awarded the outstanding teacher in the Department prize to Professor Stanley Fischer.
PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES
The faculty has always been involved in public service activities tying research to the public interest. In connection with M.I.T.’s participation in the Bicentennial Celebration, Professor Jagdish N. Bhagwati set up a recent conference on the New International Economic Order: Professor Ann F. Friedlaender is planning one for this fall on Air Pollution and Administrative Control. Through the German Marshall Fund, Professor Richard S. Eckaus is organizing a fall conference on economic problems of Portugal. Professor Franco Modigliani arranged a conference through the Bank of Finland on International Monetary Mechanisms.
Various Congressional committees and government agencies have been advised. Professor Peter A. Diamond served on the Consultant Panel on Social Security for the Congressional Research Service. Professors Rudiger Dornbusch and Fischer and Institute Professor Paul A. Samuelson prepared a report for the US Department of Commerce on international financial arrangements. Professor Robert E. Hall was a member of the Advisory Committee on Population Statistics, Bureau of the Census. Professor Jerry A. Hausman served on the Econometrics Advisory Committee to the Federal Energy Administration. Institute Professor Modigliani was a consultant and member of the Committee on Monetary Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Institute Professor Samuelson consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the US Treasury, and the Congressional Budget Office. Professor Charles A. Myers was a member of the National Manpower Policy Task Force. Institute Professor Robert M. Solow served as Deputy Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Several faculty members have been involved with the National Academy of Sciences and its related organizations. Professor Eckaus prepared a report, Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries, for the Board on Science and Technology for Developing Countries of the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Professor Franklin M. Fisher served on a National Academy panel on the Effects of Deterrence and Incapacitation; Professor Friedlaender was on the Executive Committee, Assembly of Behavioral and Social Sciences, National Research Council; Institute Professor Modigliani was on the Finance Committee; Institute Professor Samuelson served on the Editorial Board of the Proceedings; and Institute Professor Solow chaired the Steering Committee on Environmental Studies.
Professor Eckaus led an OECD Mission to Portugal that included Professors Lance Taylor and Dornbusch.* Professor Paul L. Joskow was a consultant to OECD in energy. Professor Evsey D. Domar was a member of a delegation of economists sent by the American Economic Association to the Soviet Union. Institute Professor Modigliani, who gave much time to the problems of stabilization in Italy, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Council for Social Sciences.
The Brookings Institution Panel for Economic Activity included Professors Dornbusch and Hall, with Institute Professors Modigliani, Samuelson, and Solow as senior advisors to it. Professor Friedlaender served on the examining committee, Graduate Records Examination, Educational Testing Service. Institute Professor Modigliani served on the Committee on Economic Stabilization, Social Science Research Council. Professor Fisher is a member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University. Institute Professor Solow continues as Trustee for the Institute of Advanced Study.
RESEARCH
International topics seem to dominate the research interests of the faculty. Professor Bhagwati, in addition to his work in developing countries and international trade theory, has given attention to a proposal for applying taxation to the brain drain. Professor Eckaus studied the role of financial markets and their regulation and the behavior of income distribution in economic development. Professor Taylor had three major areas of research: the development of nutrition planning models in Pakistan, international food aid and reserve policies, and growth and income distribution in Brazil.
Professor Morris A. Adelman’s continuing research on the world oil market, Professor Joskow’s analysis of the international nuclear energy industry, and Professor Martin L. Weitzman’s examination of OPEC and oil pricing involve applied microeconomics with international implications.
Research in various applied microeconomics areas was responsible for the second largest fraction of faculty effort. Institute Professor Solow continued to research the economics of exhaustible resources, and Professor Weitzman completed his analysis of the optimal development of resource pools. Professor Joskow has explored the future of the electric utility industry and its financing, the future of the US atomic energy industry, and the pattern of energy consumption in the US. He is developing a simulation model of the energy industry, and is reviewing the regulatory activities of government agencies in general and the health care sector in particular. Professor Hausman examined the Project Independence Report and is analyzing the choice of new technologies in energy research.
In the transporation field, Professor Friedlaender surveyed the issues in regulatory policy for railroads and alternative scenarios in federal transporation policy. Professor Jerome Rothenberg examined such problems in urban transportation as pricing policies, demand sensitivity to price, and modeling locational effects. Professor William C. Wheaton considered an optimal pricing and investment policy in highways under a gasoline tax.
Inextricably intertwined with urban transportation are questions of urban location and housing. Professor Rothenberg carried out research in such aspects of this problem as microeconomics of internal migration, supply-demand for housing in multizoned areas, the impact of energy costs on urban location, and the development of a model of housing markets and of metropolitan development and location that can be applied to general policy questions. Professor Wheaton developed an equilibrium model of housing and locational choice based on Boston experience.
Institute Professor Modigliani also conducted research on the housing market, but his interest comes primarily from the side of stabilization policies and similar macroeconomic problems. He also participated in a review after 20 years of his life cycle hypothesis of saving, made monetary policy prescriptions for both the US and Italy, reflected on the description of financial sectors in econometric models, and explored more deeply the application of optimal control to the design of optimal stabilization policies in economic models. Institute Professor Samuelson reviewed the art and science of macromodels over the 50 years of their development. Professor Friedlaender completed a quarterly macromodel of the Massachusetts economy. Professor Hall developed a model to deal with income tax changes and consumption.
Public economics has both macro and micro aspects, both of which are represented in the Department’s research. With Visiting Professor James A. Mirrlees, Professor Diamond theorized about public shadow prices with constant returns to scale, and about the assignment of liability. He also has generalized the Ramsey tax rule and continued his research into an optimal Social Security system. Professor Hausman is reexamining the cost of a negative income tax; Professor Rothenberg analyzed the distributional impact of public service provision; and Professor Wheaton explored intertemporal effects of land taxes, fiscal federalism in practice, and the financial plight of American cities.
Besides such theoretical research, there was significant research of an entirely pure nature. Professor Robert L. Bishop reexamined the measurement of consumer surplus. Professor Fisher extended his exploration of the stability of general equilibrium and of aggregate production functions. Professor Weitzman investigated the welfare significance of national product in a dynamic economy. Professor Hal R. Varian further explored the theory of fairness, non-Walrasian equilibria, and macromodels of unemployment and disequilibrium. Professor Hausman examined the econometric implications of truncated distributions and samples, of probit models, and of simultaneous equation models. In historical research, Professor Domar was concerned with serfdom, while Professor Charles Kindleberger investigated the role of the merchant in nineteenth-century technologic transfer.
Publications
Professor Bhagwati edited Taxing the Brain Drain: A Proposal and Brain Drain and Taxation: Theory and Empirical Analysis, and coauthored Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: India. Professors Dornbusch and Kindleberger published numerous papers on implications of the new international monetary exchange structure for exchange rates, price stability, international trade, and international capital movements. Professor Weitzman continued his study of the Russian economy with a paper on the new Soviet incentive model.
With Visiting Professor of Management Ezio Tarantelli*, Institute Professor Modigliani published Labor Market, Income Distribution and Private Consumption (in Italian) and various papers on stabilization policy in Italy. He also wrote papers on inflation and the housing market and edited New Mortgage Designs for Stable Housing in an Inflationary Environment. Professor Hall’s labor market research resulted in papers on persistence of unemployment, occupational mobility, and taxation of earnings under public assistance. Professor Michael Piore wrote on labor market stratification and the effect on industrial growth of immigration from Puerto Rico to Boston. Professor Fisher had several publications on indexation and adjustment of mortgages to inflationary episodes. In the realm of economic history, Professor Temin published Reckoning with Slavery and Did Monetary Force Cause the Great Depression?
*Ezio Tarantelli was the victim of a Red Brigades’ assassination in 1985.
Institute Professor Samuelson published theoretical papers on factor price equalization and trade pattern reversal. In the realm of pure research, he put out papers on nonlinear and stochastic population analysis, optimal population growth, and the optimal Social Security system implied in a lifecycle growth model. He also brought out the tenth edition of his famous text, Economics: An Introduction Analysis.
FACULTY
Visiting Professor John R. Moroney was here from Tulane University; Visiting Professor Mirrlees came in the spring term from Nuffield College, Oxford University. Regular faculty on leave were Professors Fisher and Joskow in the fall and Professor Weitzman in the spring.
It is a pleasure to report the promotion to Associate Professor of Jerry A. Hausman. A new appointee, Professor Jeffrey E. Harris, with the unusual background of an M.D. and a Ph.D. in economics, will provide long-sought coverage in health economics.
Professor Kindleberger will retire as Ford Professor and become a Senior Lecturer on a half-time basis. Since 1948, when he came as an Associate Professor, Professor Kindleberger has been an effective teacher, scholar, participant in faculty governance, and counselor to governments and the public. He has trained the leading international economists of the next generation; he has produced a dozen books and more than a hundred articles in international trade and finance and in economic history. He epitomizes the highest kind of academician.
Several honors were bestowed on members of the Department. Institute Professor Modigliani will complete his year as President of the American Economic Association. Professor Myers received a Distinguished Alumni award from Pennsylvania State University. Professor Fisher was F.W. Paish Lecturer to the Association of (English) University Teachers of Economics. Institute Professor Solow received a D. Litt. from Warwick University, and Institute Professor Samuelson, a D.Sc. from the University of Rochester.
EDGAR CARY BROWN
Source: MIT Libraries, Institute Archives and Special Collections. MIT Department of Economics Records, Box 1, Folder “Annual Report 1975-6”.
Image Source: Building E52, Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Building, later Morris and Sophie Chang Building
One of the first professors to lead me into the field of comparative economic systems was John Michael Montias (1928-2005). He provided me an early exposure to the economic theory behind the indexes of comparative productivity computed by Abram Bergson (see Chapter 6 by Bergson and also Chapter 7 by Evsey Domar published in Alexander Eckstein (ed.), Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. U. of California Press, 1971).
The portrait shows Mike Montias in his early thirties, a beaming assistant professor at Yale. I include the short biographical clip from The Yale Banner of 1960 that accompanied the portrait. I can confirm that he was very much “a genial person” and will add a “a very learned scholar.”
____________________
From: The Yale Banner of 1960
An authority on Soviet economics, JOHN M. MONTIAS, Assistant Professor of Economics, came to Yale in 1958 after extensive study at Columbia. As an undergraduate, Professor Montias studied both Russian and economics and decided to combine them in his later career. After serving three years as an economic analyst for the United Nations in Geneva, Beirut, and New York, Mr. Montias traveled extensively in central Europe, working as a consultant for the Ford Foundation on the Polish Fellowship Program and holding several fellowships and grants for research. In addition to co-authoring a book on the Polish economy, Professor Montias has written for numerous professional magazines. Mr. Montias likes to play chess, study languages and travel. A genial person, Mr. Montias is well liked in his undergraduate course on the Soviet economy and his graduate course on central planning.
This post started small as simply the archival documentation of the teaching fellow positions at Harvard held by my dear dissertation advisor, Evsey Domar, before he left to work at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1943. But a detail led me to dive into immigration and citizenship records accessible through the genealogy website ancestry.com and I surfaced with Evsey David Domar’s, then (Evsey [Joshua] Domashevitsky’s) declaration of intention (1936) and petition for naturalization (1942). These two artifacts have been included in the post.
Harlan Monell Smith (b. 1914, d. 2013!), together with Alvin Hansen, signed an affidavit regarding Evsey Domar’s moral and civic worthiness for U.S. citizenship. Smith himself was educated at Harvard, Brown and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1949). He went on to become an economics professor at the University of Minnesota. (His obituary can be found at the Minneapolis “Star Tribune”, April 20, 2013, p. B4).
_________________
Evsey Domar
Timeline
1914. Born in Lodz, Poland.
1916. Family moved to Harbin, Manchuria.
1930. Graduated from a Russian high school.
1930-1932 (ca.) Study of economics at the State Faculty of Law in Harbin.
1934. Moved to Dairen, Manchuria.
1936. Emigrated to the United States.
1939. B.A. in Economics UCLA
1940. Student at University of Chicago
1941. M.A. (Mathematical Statistics) University of Michigan.
1943. A.M. Harvard University.
1947. Ph.D. Harvard University.
1943-46. Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System.
1946-47. Assistant Professor, Carnegie Institute of Technology.
1947-48. Research associate. Cowles Commission, University of Chicago.
1948-55. Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University.
1955-58. Professor, Johns Hopkins University.
1958-1984. Professor, M.I.T.
1984-1997. Professor Emeritus, M.I.T. [taught some courses at Brandeis and Wellesley during this time]
1997. Died in Concord, Massachusetts.
_________________
From a note written for a relative
EVSEY D. DOMAR
I grew up in Harbin, Manchuria, where my family arrived in 1916. Harbin was the hub of the Chinese Eastern Railroad built by the Russians across Manchuria at the end of the last century. It was practically a Russian city, with Russian newspapers, theaters, and even Russian weights and measures. Originally, it had a Russian administration and Russian laws. I graduated from a Russian high school in 1930 and then studied for a year or so at the Economics Department of the State Faculty of Law. In 1934 I moved to Dairen, a Japanese colony at the very southern tip of Manchuria, a delightful city on the sea with an excellent climate but without the active cultural life of Harbin….
Source: Duke University, David Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscripts Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Evsey Domar Papers, Box 3, Folder “Correspondence D-General.”
_________________
U.S. Department of Labor
Immigration and Naturalization Service
No. 23 51762
CERTIFICATE OF ARRIVAL
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the immigration records show that the alien named below arrived at the port, on the date, and in the manner shown, and was lawfully admitted to the United States of America for permanent residence.
Name: Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky
Port of entry: San Pedro, California
Date: August 16, 1936.
Manner of arrival: SS Taiyo Maru
I FURTHER CERTIFY that this certificate of arrival is issued under authority of, and in conformity with, the provisions of the Act of June 29, 1906, as amended, solely for the use of the alien herein named and only for naturalization purposes.
In Witness Whereof, this Certificate of Arrival is issued.
[Stamped: “Oct 9—1936”]
[Signed]
D. W. MacCormack, Commissioner
_________________
No. 78493
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DECLARATION OF INTENTION
(Invalid for all purposes seven years after the date hereof)
United States of America
Southern District of California
County of Los Angeles
ss: In the District Court of the United States
at Los Angeles
I, Evsey (Joshua) Domaschevitsky now residing at1154 W. 37th Dr., Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif. Occupation Student, aged 22 years, do declare on oath that my personal description is: Sex Male, color white, complexion medium, color of eyesdk.brown, color of hair dk.brown, height 5 feet 4 ½inches; weight 143 pounds; visible distinctive marksmole on left ear and on right cheek, race Hebrew; nationality Russian. I was born in Lodz, Poland, on April 16, 1914. I am not married. The name of my wife or husband is [left blank], we were married on [left blank], at [left blank]; she or he was born at [left blank], on [left blank], entered the United States at [left blank], on [left blank], for permanent residence therein, and now resides at [left blank]. I have no children, and the name, date and place of birth, [left blank].
I have not heretofore made a declaration of intention:
Number[left blank], on [left blank], at [left blank], my last foreign residence was Dairen, Manchiria [sic]. I emigrated to the United States of America from Kobe, Japan, my lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was at San Pedro, Calif. under the name of Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky, on Aug. 16, 1936 on the vessel SS Taiyo Maru. I will, before being admitted to citizenship, renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly, by name, to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of which I may be at the time of admission a citizen or subject; I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to reside permanently therein. I certify that the photograph affixed to the duplicate and triplicate hereof is a likeness of me: SO HELP ME GOD.
[signed] Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky
Subscribed and sworn to me in the office of the Clerk of said Court, at Los Angeles, Cal. This 24 day of Oct.anno Domini 1936. Certification No. 23-51762 from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization showing the lawful entry of the declarant for permanent residence on the date state above, has been received by me. The photograph affixed to the duplicate and triplicate hereof is a likeness of the declarant.
[signed]
R. B. Zimmerman, Clerk U.S. District Court, Southern District of California.
Form 2202-L-A
U.S. Department of Labor
Immigration and Naturalization Service
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
5 UNIVERSITY HALL
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
June 14, 1941
Dear Mr. Conant:
At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that the following appointments be made for one year from September 1, 1941, at the salaries indicated:
[…]
Teaching Fellows in Economics
Joshua Domashevitsky (B.A., Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1939; M.A., Michigan, 1941, 640 Oxford Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan (After June: 51 West Second Street, Winona, Minnesota [Note: Domar’s recently immigrated (Dec. 13, 1940) mother Sarah Naumovna Domashevitsky was living in Winona, Minnesota in 1941]); at a salary of $1000. Mr. Domashevitsky is a Polish subject and has taken out first papers in the United States. (1st appointment).
[…]
Very truly yours,
[signed]
W. S Ferguson
President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall
Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 178, Folder “Economics, 1940-1941”.
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
5 UNIVERSITY HALL
WILLIAM SCOTT FERGUSON, DEAN
PAUL HERMAN BUCK, ASST. DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASST. DEAN
October 27, 1941
Dear Mr. Greene:
At the request of Professor Chamberlin, I recommend that the following increases in salary be made for 1941-42 for members of the Economics Department:
[…]
Joshua Domashevitsky, an increase of $333.33, making a total of $1333.33, all Department.
[…]
Very truly yours,
[signed]
W. S Ferguson
Mr. J. D. Greene
Massachusetts Hall
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
5 UNIVERSITY HALL
PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASST. DEAN
June 5, 1942
Dear Mr. Conant:
At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that the following appointments be made for one year from July 1, 1942, at the salaries indicated to cover a period of ten months beginning September 1, 1942:
[…]
Teaching Fellow in Economics
Josua Domashevitsky (B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1939; M.A., Michigan, 1941), 7 Story Street, Cambridge; at a salary of $1033.33. 2d appointment. Since Mr. Domashevitsky is a Polish citizen and has taken out first papers for citizenship in the United States, a statement concerning his loyalty is attached.
[…]
Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.
President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall
Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 204, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
E. H. CHAMBERLIN, CHAIRMAN
M-8 LITTAUER CENTER
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
June 6, 1942
Dear Dean Buck:
Mr. Joshua Domashevitsky, who is being recommended by the Department of Economics for reappointment as Teaching Fellow, has been in the United States for a number of years and has taken out his first papers for American citizenship. I am confident there should be no question whatever as to his loyalty to this country.
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
E. H. Chamberlin
Dean Paul H. Buck
[Stamped date: “June 8, 1942”]
Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 204, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
5 UNIVERSITY HALL
PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
HENRY CHAUNCEY, ASSISTANT TO THE DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASSISTANT DEAN
October 2, 1942
Dear Mr. Conant:
At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that […] the following changes in salary be made for the present academic year:
[…]
Joshua Domashevitsky, Teaching Fellow in Economics, an increase of $200, making a total of $1233.33.
[…]
Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.
President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall
Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 226, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943”.
_________________
No. 243932
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION
[Under General Provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 (Public, No. 853, 76th Cong.)]
To the Honorable the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts at Boston. This petition for naturalization, hereby made and filed, respectively shows:
(1) My full, true, and correct name is Evsey David Domaschevitsky a.k.a. Evsey David Domar. (2) My present place of residence is 14 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, Middlesex, Mass. (3) Occupation Student. (4) I am aged 28 years old. (5) I was born on April 16, 1914in Lodz Pietrokow Poland. (6) My personal description is: Sex male, color white, complexion medium, color of eyesdkbrown, color of hair brown, height 5 feet 4 ½inches, weight 134 pounds, visible distinctive marksnone, race white; present nationality Polish. (7) I am not married; the name of my wife or husband is [left blank], we were married on [left blank], at [left blank]; she or he was born at [left blank], on [left blank], and entered the United States at [left blank], on [left blank], for permanent residence therein, and now resides at [left blank]and was naturalized on [left blank] at [left blank] certificate No. [left blank]; or became a citizen by [left blank]. (8) I have no children, and the name, sex, date, and place of birth, and present place of residence of each of said children who is living, are as follows: [left blank]. (9) My last foreign residence was Dairen, Manchuria. (10) I emigrated to the United States of America from Kobe, Japan. (11) My lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was at San Pedro, Calif. under the name of Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky, on Aug. 16, 1936 on the SS Taiyo Maru as shown by the certificate of my arrival attached to this petition.
(12) Since my lawful entry for permanent residence I have not been absent from the United States, for a period or periods of 6 months or longer, as follows:
[Table without entries omitted here]
(13) I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on October 24, 1936 in the USDC Court of Southern District at Los Angeles California. (14) It is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly, by name, to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which at this time I am a citizen or subject, and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States. (15) I am not, and have not been for the period of at least 10 years immediately preceding the date of this petition, an anarchist; nor a believer in the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or sabotage; nor a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government; nor a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposition to organized government. (16) I am able to speak the English language (unless physically unable to do so). (17) I am, and have been during all of the periods required by law, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. (18) I have resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of 5 years at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since Aug. 16, 1936 and continuously in the State in which this petition is made for the term of 6 months at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since Feb. 1, 1942. (19) I have not heretofore made petition for naturalization: No. [left blank] on [left blank] at [left blank] in [left blank] Court, and such petition was dismissed or denied by that Court for the following reasons and causes, to wit: [left blank] and the cause of such dismissal or denial has since been cured or removed. (20) Attached hereto and made a part of this, my petition for naturalization, are my declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States (if such declaration of intention be required by the naturalization law), a certificate of arrival from the Immigration and Naturalization Service of my said lawful entry into the United States for permanent residence (If such certificate of arrival be required by the naturalization law), and the affidavits of at least two verifying witnesses required by law.
(21) Wherefore, I, your petitioner for naturalization, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United States of America, and that my name be changed to
Evsey David Domar.
(22) I, aforesaid petitioner, do swear (affirm) that I know the contents of this petition for naturalization subscribed by me, that the same are true to the best of my own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated to be alleged upon information and belief, and that as to those matters I believe them to be true, and that this petition is signed by me with my full, true name: SO HELP ME GOD.
[signed] Evsey David Domashevitsky Evsey David Domar
AFFIDAVIT OF WITNESSES
The following witnesses, each being severally, duly, and respectively sworn, depose and say:
My name is Alvin H. Hansen, my occupation is college professor. I reside at 56 Juniper Rd. Belmont, Mass.and
My name is Harlin [sic] M. Smith, my occupation is student. I reside at 15½ Shepard St. Cambridge, Mass.
I am a citizen of the United States of America Wit. Hansen I have personally known and have been acquainted in the United States with said Domashevitsky, the petitioner named in the petition for naturalization of which this affidavit is a part, since October 1, 1941 and Wit. Smith has known the petitioner since Feb. 1, 1942 to my personal knowledge, the petitioner has resided immediately preceding the date of filing this petition, in the United States continuously since the date last mentioned and at Cambridge, in the State of Mass. continuously since Feb. 1, 1942 and I have personal knowledge that the petitioner is and during all such periods has been a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States, and in my opinion the petitioner is in every way qualified to be admitted a citizen of the United States.
I do swear (affirm) that the statements of fact I have made in this affidavit of this petition for naturalization subscribed by me are true to the best of my knowledge and belief: SO HELP ME GOD.
[signed] Alvin H. Hansen
[signed] Harlan M. Smith
Subscribed and sworn to before me by the above-named petitioner and witnesses in the respective forms of oath shown in said petition and affidavit in the office of the Clerk of said Court at Boston, Mass. this 13th day of October Anno Domini 1942. I herby certify that Certificate of Arrival no 23 51762 from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, showing the lawful entry for permanent residence of the petitioner above named, together with Declaration of Intention no. 78493 of such petitioner, has been by me filed with, attached to, and made a part of this petition on this date.
Deps.
[signed] James S. Allen, Clerk
By [signature illegible], Deputy Clerk.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; SO HELP ME GOD. In acknowledgment whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.
[signed] Evsey David Domar…Evsey David Domashevitsky
Sworn to in open court, this 21 day of Dec, A.D. 1942
Petition granted: Line No. [left blank] of List No. 734 and Certificate No. 5703583 issued.
_________________
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
5 UNIVERSITY HALL
PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
HENRY CHAUNCEY, ASSISTANT TO THE DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASSISTANT DEAN
January 27, 1943
Dear Mr. Greene:
Professor Chamberlin has informed me that Mr. Evsey D. Domar (formerly Joshua Domashevitsky) is resigning as Teaching Fellow in Economics as of February 1, 1943. Will you kindly present this resignation to the corporation.
According to Professor Chamberlin Mr. Domar was voted a salary $1233.33 to be pro-rated equally over the ten-month period from September to June. He now says Mr. Domar was expected to carry a heavier load in second half-year. His salary for the first half-year should, therefore, he fixed at a total of $566.67.
Mr. Domar understands than this adjustment will be made in the check to be sent him on February 1. I have asked the Bursar not to make a payment to Mr. Domar until he has been notified by you as to the proper amount to be paid on that date.
Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.
Mr. J. D. Greene
Massachusetts Hall
Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 226, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943”.
Image Source: Joshua Domashevitsky (a.k.a. Evsey D. Nomar) in the UCLA yearbook, 1939 Southern Campus, p. 52. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
Evsey Domar turned 42 years old towards the end of the Spring term of 1955-56 when he taught his intermediate fiscal policy course to Johns Hopkins’ undergraduates. From his papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive we can bring together the tightly focussed reading list, two midterm exams, and the final exam for Political Economy 4.
One notes that the actual dates of the mid-term exams were lagged one week relative to the announced dates in the syllabus. Happens to the best of us. I wonder if students still (ever?) read the syllabus back in the middle of the 20th century.
________________________
Course Announcement
Political Economy Specialized intermediate work
Economic Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy 4. Professor Domar. Three hours weekly, second term.
The nature and causes of economic fluctuations. The economic role of government. Principal policy measures designed to achieve economic stability.
Prerequisite: Political Economy 3, or its equivalent.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS
AND FISCAL POLICY (Political Economy 4)
E. D. Domar
Spring Term 1955-56
Course Schedule
SOURCES:
On College Reserve:
Colm, Gerhard, Essays in Public Finance and Fiscal Policy, Oxford University Press, New York 1955.
Due, John F., Government Finance—an Economic Analysis, Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Homewood, Ill., 1954.
Gordon, Robert A., Business Fluctuations, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1952.
Lindholm, Richard W., J. J. Balles, J. M. Hunter, Principles of Money and Banking Related to National Income and Fiscal Policy,W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1954.
Public Finance and Full Employment, published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, 1945.
Ritter, Lawrence S., Money and Economic Activity, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1952.
To Be Acquired by the Students:
Maxwell, James A., Fiscal Policy, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1955.
Economic Report of the President, January 1956.
SCHEDULE:
Week of February 13th:
Maxwell, Ch. 1,
Ritter, pp. 20-36
Lindholm, pp. 17-31.
Week of February 20th:
Ritter, pp. 99-113,
Maxwell, Ch. 2.
Week of February 27th:
Ritter, pp. 120-130,
Lindholm, pp. 330-348
Week of March 5th:
Lindholm, pp. 370-408.
HOUR EXAMINATION: March 12th
Week of March 12th:
Maxwell, Ch. 3, 4 & 5.
Week of March 19th:
Maxwell, Ch. 6, 7, & 8,
Federal Reserve, pp. 1-21,
Colm, pp. 188-219.
Week of March 26th:
Maxwell, Ch. 9, 10, & 11,
Colm, pp. 258-286.
Week of April 2nd:
Maxwell, Ch. 12 & 13,
Federal Reserve, pp. 22-52,
Review – Due, pp. 29-61, 427-39.
Week of April 9th:
Maxwell, Ch. 14 & 15.
HOUR EXAMINATION: April 16th
Week of April 16th:
Federal Reserve, pp. 53-68, 101-130.
Week of April 23rd:
Review – Gordon, Ch. 13 & 14, and pp. 559-74.
Week of April 30th:
Gordon, Ch. 16, 17 & 18.
Week of May 7th:
Economic Report of the President
Week of May 14th:
Economic Report of the President
Week of 21st:
General Review of the Course
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Evsey Domar. Box 15, Folder “MacroEconomics, Old Reading Lists”.
________________________
First Hour Test
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Economic Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy (Political Economy 4) Spring Term 1955-56
March 19, 1956
E.D. Domar
Answer all questions in any order you wish. Indicate carefully every step in your reasoning.
(40%) Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “Central Bank Monetary Policy” with special reference to our Federal Reserve System. Your essay should include the following points:
The structure of the Federal Reserve System.
The relation between commercial and Federal Reserve Banks.
Objectives of Federal Reserve Policy.
Powers given to the Federal Reserve System and methods used by it to achieve the objectives indicated in (3) under different economic conditions.
General measures
Selective measures
Evaluate the performance of the Federal Reserve System since its inception.
How successful has it been in achieving the objectives stated in (3)?
Conclusion: the virtues and defects of Monetary Policy.
(25%) Indicate clearly how DEMAND DEPOSITS, REQUIRED RESERVES, EXISTING RESERVES and EXCESS RESERVES of the commercial member banks taken as a whole are affected by the following transactions.
Assume that all payments are made by check, that the member banks add all receipts to, and subtract all amounts paid out from, their reserves with the Federal Reserve Banks, and that the U.S. Treasury keeps all its funds with the Federal Reserve Banks:
25% Legal requirements are 15 per cent.
When a transaction consists of several parts, indicate each part separately and then show the total effect.
AFTER EACH TRANSACTION GIVE A BRIEF VERBAL ANALYSIS OF ITS ECONOMIC EFFECTS.
The U.S. Treasury collects $15 million of corporate income taxes from the U.S. Steel Corporation and uses the proceeds to redeem a bond held by Mr. Smith who deposits the check with his bank.
Same as (1), but the bond is held by the First National Bank.
Jones borrows $1000 from the First National Bank. After a while he uses the proceeds to meet his payroll. His employees invest their earnings in Federal bonds.
The U.S. Treasury sells bonds for $100 million to the public, and uses the proceeds to buy land for highway construction. The owners of the land deposit their checks at their banks. The Federal Reserve Banks buy $100 million worth of Federal bonds from (a) the public, and (b) commercial banks.
The Federal Reserve Board changes reserve requirements from 20 to 18 per cent. (Assume that the amount of deposits outstanding equals to $100 billion.) Thereupon banks extend loans to their customers of $1 billion.
(35%) Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “The Identity and Divergence between Private and Social Cost.” Illustrate your discussion with examples. Why is this question important to the subject matter of our course and to economic policy in general. (No credit will be given for vague generalities.)
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Evsey Domar, Box 16, Folder “Misc. Examinations”.
________________________
Second Hour Exam
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS
AND FISCAL POLICY (Political Economy 4) Spring Term 1955-56
Hour Examination April 23, 1956
E.D. Domar
Answer all questions in any order you wish. Indicate carefully every step in your reasoning. No credit will be given for vague generalities.
(15%) Define and describe the following terms or expressions and indicate their use in economic discussions:
The Multiplier;
Parity;
Balanced budget theorem;
Cash vs. conventional budget;
Carryovers and carrybacks;
Income elasticity of taxation;
Regressive taxation;
Payroll taxes;
Grants-in-aid;
Accelerated depreciation.
(20%) Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “Built-in Flexibility as an Instrument of Fiscal Policy.” Explain what is meant by this expression, how this instrument works, how effective it is likely to be, and what can be done to increase its effectiveness. Give a critical evaluation. Be as comprehensive and specific as you can.
(20%) Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “The Agricultural Problem in the United States since the Second World War.” Explain the origin and causes of the problem, government policies which have been adopted, and their effectiveness in dealing with the problem. Indicate and justify your own recommendations.
(30%) Analyze with great care all important economic effects of agricultural price support program on the assumption of (1) that the funds for this purpose are raised by borrowing, and (2) that they are raised by taxation, in both cases under conditions of (a) unemployment, and (b) full employment. Indicate in all cases what kind of borrowing and what kind of taxation you have in mind. Give examples. When would you recommend one or the other method?
(15%) “The main objective of the Federal policy should be not the balancing of the Federal budget, but of the national economic budget.” Comment.
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Evsey Domar, Box 16, Folder “Misc. Examinations”.
________________________
Final Exam
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS
AND FISCAL POLICY (Political Economy 4)
FINAL EXAMINATION – Three hours June 1, 1956
E. D. Domar
Answer all questions. Be specific.
(25%) Compare and contrast monetary and fiscal policies as methods of achieving economic stabilization (reasonably full employment without inflation) in a growing society. Include (but don’t limit yourself to) the following points:
The theoretical foundation of each;
Methods used by each;
Effects on distribution of income and wealth;
Social and political effects;
Their effectiveness and limitations.
Do they overlap? Can you work out a synthesis of both?
(10%) Describe how business fluctuations spread internationally and discuss critically the various measures for insuring international stability that have been suggested.
(15%) Suppose that sizable gold deposits were discovered in this country (a) in 1933 and (b) in 1955. Trace the economic effects of the mining of this gold as completely as you can, both on the American economy and on that of other countries.
(20%) Describe the origin, functions and performance of the Council of Economic Advisers from its beginning.
State and evaluate the basic economic philosophy and the major recommendations of the 1956 Economic Report of the President.
(15%) “One of the first objectives of this Administration should be at least a partial repayment of the Federal Debt. To do otherwise is to undermine the integrity on which this Administration is founded, and to adopt a course which inevitably loads to higher taxes, inflation, the destruction of our national wealth and economic insolvency.” Comment fully.
(15%) Discuss SAVING as an economic problem.
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Evsey Domar, Box 16, Folder “Misc. Examinations”.
Image source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Evsey Domar, Box 18, Folder “Photographs Domar”. Copy also available at the MIT Museum website. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
Evsey Domar’s 1970 article, “The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom” (The Journal of Economic History. Vol. XXX, March, 1970) made him a one-hit wonder in the field of economic history. But what a hit!
He shared some of his life-long passion for Russian economic history with M.I.T. graduate students back when M.I.T. could boast having three professors teaching economic history — Charles Kindleberger covered modern European history, Evsey Domar focussed on his Russian peasants, and Peter Temin was there for U.S. economic history of the new cliometric fashion. Just about ten years ago Peter Temin wrote a memoir on “the rise and fall of economic history at MIT“.
One salient memory I took from Domar’s Russian economic history class is associated with the very first meeting when Domar, not a very tall man, lugged into the classroom a huge rolled-up map of Russia to hang on the blackboard. He hardly referred to the map so I presumed he once ordered it in a fit of enthusiasm that far exceeded its pedagogical usefulness. Or maybe Domar was a kindred spirit of The Dude (see “Lebowski, Big”) and thought his Russia map really tied the classroom together.
________________________
PROBLEMS IN RUSSIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY 14.732
E.D. Domar
Spring Term 1974-75
The purpose of this list is to indicate to the student the sources in which the more important topics of the course are discussed from several points of view. He will be held responsible for the topics rather than for “who said what.”
Since it is difficult to understand the economic and social developments in a country without a good general background in the country’s history, it is suggested that students who have not had a course in Russian history familiarize themselves with some standard textbook, such as A History of Russia by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963), to which some references will be made here.
The book which will be used from cover to cover is Jerome Blum, Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961). It would be best to buy a copy. (Paperbacks are available).
Each student is expected to write a term paper of about 30 double-spaced pages on a subject agreed upon with the instructor.
There will be a 80 minute final examination on the last day of class in May.
PART I – KIEVAN RUSSIA PART II – APPANAGE RUSSIA
REQUIRED
Riasanovsky, Parts I, Il, and III.
Blum, Introduction, Chapters 1-7.
RECOMMENDED
Karl Bosl, Alexander Gieysztor, Frantisek Graus, M. M. Postan, and Ferdinand Seibt, Eastern and Western Europe in the Middle Ages (Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1971).
Francis Dvornik, The Slavs in European History and Civilization (Rutgers University Press).
James Gregory, Russian Land, Soviet People: A Geographical Approach to the U.S.S.R. (London, 1968).
V. O. Kliuchevsky, A History of Russia, translation by C. J. Hogarth.
Peter Liashchenko, History of the National Economy of Russia to the 1917 Revolution, translated by L. M. Herman (New York: 1949, 1970).
Frank Nowak, Medieval Slavdom and the Rise of Russia (Greenwood Press, Inc.)
W. H. Parker,An Historical Geography of Russia (London: 1968).
Henry Paszkiewicz, The Origin of Russia (New York: 1969).
M. N. Pokrovaky, History of Russia from the Earliest Times to the Rise of Commercial Capitalism(Bloomington, Indiana: 1966).
B. H. Slicher (van Bath), The Agrarian History of Western Europe, A.D. 500-1850.
Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History, Vol. III, pp. 391-454.
George Vernadsky, Kievan Russia (New Haven: 1948).
George Vernadsky, The Mongols and Russia (New Haven: 1953).
Warren B. Walsh, Readings in Russian History from Ancient Times to the Post-Stalin Era, Vol. I, (Syracuse University Press, 1963).
PART III — THE DEVELOPMENT OF SERFDOM BEFORE PETER I XVI and XVII CENTURIES
REQUIRED
Riasanovsky, Part IV (as a background)
Blum, Chapters 8-14.
Evsey D. Domar, “The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom,” The Journal of Economic History. Vol. XXX, March, 1970, pp. 18-32.
Richard Hellie, Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy (Chicago: 1970). Introduction, Parts I, II (omit the details and get the man ideas).
Joseph T. Fuhrmann, The Origins of Capitalism in Russia: Industry and Progress in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Chicago: 1972), Chapters 1, 2, 10-13 (omit the details).
RECOMMENDED
Paul Avrich, Russian Rebels, 1600-1800 (Schocken Booke, 1972).
Lloyd E. Berry and Robert O. Crummey, editors, Rude & Barbarous Kingdom (The University of Washington Press, 1968).
V. O. Kliuchevsky, A Course in Russian History: The 17th Century (Quadrangle Books, Inc.)
James Mavor, An Economic History of Russia (New York: 1965), two volumes.
R. E. F. Smith, The Enserfment of the Russian Peasantry (Cambridge: 1968).
George Vernadsky, The Tsardom of Moscow, 1547-1682, in two volumes, (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969).
Jerome Blum, “The Rise of Serfdom in Eastern Europe,” American Historical Review, Vol. LXII, 1957, pp. 807-836.
T. S. Wellan, The Early History of the Russia Company (New York: 1969).
See also Part I and II of the Reading List.
PART IV – FROM PETER I TO THE EMANCIPATION OF THE PEASANTS 1700 — 1861
REQUIRED
Blum, Chapters 15-27.
James Mavor, An Economic History of Russia (New York: 1925, 1965), pp. 100-141 (omit the details).
A. Kahan, “Continuity in Economic Activity and Policy During the Post-Petrine Period in Russia,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXV, March, 1965, pp. 61-85.
A. Kahan, “The Costs of ‘Westernization’ in Russia: The Gentry and the Economy in the Eighteenth Century,” The Slavic Review, Vol. XXV, March, 1966, pp. 40-66.
R. Portal, “The Industrialization of Russia,” The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. VI, Part II, (Cambridge: 1965), pp. 801-810.
W. Blackwell, The Beginnings of Russian Industrialization, 1800-1860 (Princeton: 1968), (Get the main ideas and omit all details).
RECOMMENDED
Clifford M. Foust, Muscovite and Mandarin: Russia’s Trade with China and its Setting, 1727-1805 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1969).
Baron August Von Haxthausen, Studies on the Interior of Russia (University of Chicago Press, 1972).
Baron August Von Haxthausen, The Russian Empire, Volume 1 and 2.
James Mavor, An Economic History of Russia (New York: Russell and Russell, Inc., 1925, 1965), pp. 142-374, Volume I.
Anatole G. Mazour, The First Russian Revolution, 1825: The Decembrist Movement — Its Origins, Development, and Significance (Stanford: 1937).
Walter McKenzie Pintner, Russian Economic Policy Under Nicholas I (Cornell University Press, 1967).
Charles H. Pearson, Russia by a Recent Traveller (Frank Cass and Co. Limited, 1970).
S. P. Turin, From Peter the Great to Lenin: A History of the Russian Labour Movement with Special Reference to Trade Unionism (W. Heffer and Sons)
PART V — FROM THE EMANCIPATION OF THE PEASANTS TO THE SOVIET REGIME 1861-1917
REQUIRED
A. Gerschenkron, “Agrarian Policies and Industrialization: Russia 1861-1917,” The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. VI, Part II, (Cambridge: 1965) , pp. 706-800 (Get the main ideas and skip the details).
G. T. Robinson, Rural Russia Under the Old Regime (New York: 1962).
A. Gerschenkeron, “Russia: Patterns and Problems of Economic Development, 1861-1958,” Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass.: 1962), pp. 119-151.
A. Gerschenkron, “The Rate of Industrial Growth in Russia Since 1885,” The Tasks of Economic History, Supplement VII, 1947, to The Journal of Economic History, pp. 144-174.
R. W. Goldsmith, “The Economic Growth of Tsarist Russia, 1860-1913,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. IX, April, 1961, pp. 441-475 (only pp. 441-443 are required).
Paul Gregory, “Economic Growth and Structural Change in Tsarist Russia: A Case of Modern Economic Growth?” Soviet Studies, Vol. XXIII, January, 1972, pp. 418-434.
T. H. Von Laue, Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia (New York: 1963), (not in detail), pp. 1-35, 262-308.
RECOMMENDED
Dorothy Atkinson, “The Statistics on the Russian Land Commune, 1905-1917,” Slavic Review, Vol. 32, Number 4, December, 1973, pp. 773-787.
Alexis N. Antsyferov, Russian Agriculture during the War: Rural Economy (New Haven: 1930).
Haim Barkai, “The Macro-Economics of Tsarist Russia in the Industrialization Era: Monetary Developments, the Balance of Payments and the Gold Standard, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXXIII, June, 1973, pp. 339-371.
A.V. Chayanov, The Theory of Peasant Economy (Homewood, Illinois: 1966).
T. Emmons, The Russian Gentry and the Peasant Emancipation to 1861 (Cambridge: 1968).
A. Gerschenkron, Continuity in History and Other Essays (Cambridge, Mass.: 1968).
A. Gerschenkron, Europe in the Russian Mirror: Four Lectures in Economic History (Cambridge University Press, 1970).
Geoffrey A. Hosking, The Russian Constitutional Experiment: Government and Duma, 1907-1914 (New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1973).
Isaac A. Hourwich, The Economics of the Russian Village (New York: Columbia University, 1892).
Stefan Kieniewicz, The Emancipation of the Polish Peasantry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969).
V. I. Lenin, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, (second Russian edition, Moscow: 1907; English translation, Moscow: 1956).
James Mavor, An Economic History of Russia (New York: Russell & Russell, 1925, 1965).
John P. Mckay, Pioneers for Profit: Foreign Entrepreneurship and Russian Industrialization, 1885-1913(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Margaret Miller, The Economic Development of Russia, 1905-1914, second edition, (New York: 1967).
W. H. Parker, A Historical Geography of Russia (London: 1968).
Alfred J. Rieber, editor, Politics of Autocracy: Letters of Alexander II to Prince Bariatinskii, 1857-1865 (New York: 1966).
Amende Roosa, “Russian Industrialists and ‘State Socialism’, 1906-1917,” Soviet Studies, Vol. XXIII, January, 1972, pp. 395-417.
Teodor Shanin, The Awkward Class: Political Sociology of Peasantry in a Developing Society: Russia 1910-1925 (Oxford: 1972).
Mikhail I. Tugan-Baranovsky, The Russian Factory in the 19th Century, Richard D. Irwin, 1970.
Wayne S. Vucinich, editor, The Peasant in Nineteenth-Century Russia (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968; London: 1970).
Reginald E. Zelnik, Labor and Society in Tsarist Russia: The Factory Workers of St. Petersburg, 1855-1870(Stanford: April, 1971).
Male, D. J., Russian Peasant Organisation Before Collectivisation. A Study of Commune and Gathering 1925-1930. (Cambridge University Press, 1971).
During my second year in graduate school at M.I.T. (1975-76), the economics department professors were engaged in a discussion about reforming the administration of their department. At the time I was completely unaware of this discussion that had been provoked by the following memorandum written by then Department Head, Professor E. Cary Brown, based on his experience with the growing overload of administrative chores and responsibilities in a department with the scale of that attained by M.I.T.’s economics department.
Brown’s memo to the faculty is followed by a transcription of a copy of the letter Brown wrote to Robert Solow, who as an administrative reorganization committee member, must have been asked for some further testimony. The entire committee’s (Peter A. Diamond, Stanley Fischer, Jerry Hausman, Paul Joskow, Robert M. Solow) report was completed two months after Brown’s memo. In the same departmental file from the M.I.T. archives, one finds a copy of the actual assignment of administrative responsibilities for the academic year 1977/78.
Many, if not most, of the administrative tasks had been allocated and faithfully executed before this “reorganization”. I know that Evsey Domar had long been covering the placement of new Ph.D.’s and also proudly serving as the departmental representative for library-related affairs. I sense reading these documents that the truly neglected child all along was the undergraduate program for which some arm-twisting was required to achieve equitable burden-sharing among the faculty. But perhaps there were other specific items that had been sore points too. Maybe Brown simply wanted an explicit organization chart to forestall “whataboutism” from the mouths of relatively uncooperative colleagues. But like I wrote above, this was a discussion that was invisible to me (appropriately so) at the time.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139
March 12, 1976
Economics Department Faculty
Dear [blank]
For some time I have become increasingly dismayed at the increase in the administrative burden in the Department, and now find the present job as Head to be a nearly impossible one. If the job is to be made tolerable, it must have substantial additional faculty support in some form to cut it down to a scope manageable either by me or a successor.
There are two basic ways that this can be achieved: (1) by spreading the administrative activities and responsibilities more widely among the faculty; or (2) placing these tasks on essentially an associate departmental head, whose precise title could take various forms Executive Officer, Academic Officer (e.g., Tony French in Physics), or Associate Head. I personally would favor the Associate Head route, but regard it as an open question subject to further discussion and consideration, and to Administration approval. This new structure should be treated as an experiment, to last no longer than until the next Head is chosen, and to be reconsidered at that time.
My own thinking about the administrative tasks of the Department separates them into four major areas: undergraduate programs, graduate programs, research programs, and personnel and budgeting. While these can be headed by an administrator or by faculty, it seems to me that the first two programs should have formal faculty control regardless of the form the administrative reorganization takes. The graduate program nearly has that form now and largely runs itself, with the exception of a few odds and ends that now lie outside the responsibility of the graduate registration officers. The undergraduate program is a long way from this structure and will require a good deal of imagination, initiative and effort to resuscitate the Undergraduate Economics Association and provide more guidance and support for majors. The research programs (student and faculty) focus more or less clearly under the Committee on Economic Research. Personnel and budgeting are an administrative responsibility. They have involved increasing amounts of time as budgets have tightened, space has tightened, and the search for new faculty has expanded.
The administrative structure is an important matter to the Department. Because it involves departmental administration and the role of the Department Head, it concerns the Administration through Dean Hanham. He has asked me to appoint the following committee to consider these questions of reorganization and to make recommendations: Bob Solow, Peter Diamond, Stan Fischer, Paul Joskow, and Jerry Hausman. Please give your views to members of the committee as soon as you can.
Sincerely,
[signed “Cary”]
E. Cary Brown, Head
ECB/sc
__________________________
Brown to Solow
March 16, 1976
Professor Robert Solow
E52-383
Dear Bob:
I shrink from making organization charts, but the following diagram is intended to give some idea of the orders of magnitude of faculty involvement in departmental chores.
Chairman, Committee on Undergraduate Studies
Faculty counselors (we have agreed with the UEA to keep members to 10 or less, and let faculty build up expertise by staying adviser for freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior year).
—10 faculty: 2 for each class. 4 for seniors
Faculty adviser for humanities concentration in economics (advises and signs up students); also considers the eligibility of economics subjects, what we consider concentration, etc.
Closely related to (2) is possible membership on the so-called Humanities Committee that approves and reviews the whole Humanities, Arts, and Social Science requirement and program. (We have no one on this year but as the largest concentration will surely need to have a presence.)
Approval of transfer of credits from other schools to M.I.T.
Advising with Undergraduate Economic Association in matters academic, professional, social.
Undergraduate placement, while an Institute responsibility, could be supervised and assisted by a faculty member who would keep up to date on summer placement, interning possibilities, salaries. The experience our students have applying to graduate schools, actual jobs offered and taken.
Design of curriculum, cooperative program, etc.
Various activities, such as providing information to undergraduates in their choice of major (Midway in fall, seminar in spring), Open House activities, Alumni activities, etc.
Relations with other Departments at undergraduate level, such as subject offerings, subject content, etc.
Supervision and staffing of undergraduate subjects with multiple sections — 14.001, 14.002, 14.03, 14.04, 14.06, 14.30, 14.31.
Catalog copy.
Chairman, Committee on Graduate Studies
Graduate Registration Officers, so far one each for first two years, and one for thesis writers. Has been suggested that we have an additional adviser for foreign students and minority and women?
Admissions Committee has, in the past, had three members.
Placement, both summer and permanent.
Supervision of core subjects.
Ph.D. and M.S. requirements, program, size.
Financial aid — coordinating various GRO; Admissions Committee, and Budget limitations.
Graduate School Policy Committee meetings.
Annual revision of brochure.
Graduate Economics Association, Black Graduate Economics Association.
Catalog copy.
Various activities — professional and social that are not contained within a particular class.
Chairman, Committee on Economic Research (I faculty)
Organized list of faculty projects requiring research assistants and the supply of them (both graduate and undergraduate). Assignment of R.A.’s.
Assistance in research proposals.
Inventory of internships and off-campus research.
Supervision of unscheduled subjects, such as UROP, Undergraduate Seminar, and thesis.
Supervision of M.I.T. Working Paper Series.
Allocation of computer funds, developing rules, developing alternative sources.
Personnel and Budgeting (Administrative Officer and a large chunk of my time)
Personnel
Nonfaculty is supervised by the Administrative Officer.
Faculty Personnel
(1) Employment — new Ph.D.’s and senior faculty
(2) Review and promotion
(3) Assignments, leaves, research
Postdoctoral personnel
Space allocations, revisions.
Budget Proposals
a. Proposals
b. Implementation
Telephone
Xerox & Ditto
Supplies
Equipment
There may be other matters that I am leaving out – routine meetings average probably a day a week, and things like that. Consultations with faculty, students, and other Departments, would probably add a couple more days.
If there are questions, I’ll oblige, of course.
Sincerely,
E. Cary Brown, Head
ECB/sc
__________________________
MEMORANDUM
May 10, 1976
TO: Department Faculty
FROM: Committee on Reorganization (PAD, SF, JH, PJ, RMS) [Peter A. Diamond, Stanley Fischer, Jerry Hausman, Paul Joskow, Robert M. Solow]
SUBJECT: Reorganization
ECB’s [E. Cary Brown] letter of March 12, which created this committee, starts from the premise that the administrative burden on the Department Head has become essentially impossible. This seems clearly to be the case. It has happened because the department has increased in size and complexity without any corresponding adaptation of its administrative arrangements. Every new function has fallen into the Head’s lap. (Top that, anyone.) Apart from the sheer burden of work thus created, another problem is the difficulty of communications, because that is also time-consuming.
After some palaver and negotiation, we have a reorganizational package to suggest. It rests on two conditions; since it is something of an interconnected web, it will probably unravel if the two conditions can not be met. (1) Since the only way to correct an excessively centralized structure is to decentralize it, we propose to diffuse administrative responsibility more widely through the department; there will be at least one serious administrative post for everyone, or perhaps two minor posts instead, but everyone will have to participate. (2) The administrative load attached to the undergraduate program has increased with the size of the enrollment and the improvement of the curriculum; no one wants to manage an inadequately staffed program. We propose, therefore, that the normal teaching load for everyone in the department be agreed to be half graduate and half undergraduate teaching. This definition should be extended to everyone on the departmental budget: joint appointees, visiting professors, etc. As soon as there are a couple of exceptions to this understanding, there will be more. Then the management of the undergraduate program will break down, and it will revert or default to the Department Head, and that is what we are trying to stave off.
The particular organization we have in mind is as follows.
The central functions (budgeting, space, leaves, relations with the MIT hierarchy, etc.) will be in the hands of the Department Head and an Associate Head namely PAD [Peter A. Diamond]). In addition, one of them (probably ECB [E. Cary Brown]) will be an ex officio member of the Committee on Undergraduate Studies to be proposed below, and the other will be an ex officio member of the Committee on Graduate Studies. The precise division of labor is obviously a matter of taste; for the moment, ECB [E. Cary Brown] will probably do most of the relations with the MIT structure and PAD [Peter A. Diamond] will concentrate on intra-departmental matters.
There will be a Director of Undergraduate Studies (PT [Peter Temin]), who will be chairman of a Committee on Undergraduate Studies (with 2 or 3 additional members, possibly RD [Rudiger Dornbusch], PJ [Paul Joskow] and one other). This committee will be responsible for revisions of the undergraduate curriculum adding and subtracting subjects, staffing them, degree requirements, etc. In recent discussions with the Undergraduate Economics Association, the proposal has merged that there should be a larger number of Undergraduate Advisors (i.e., registration officers) than there is now, with each taking care of at most 10 students. That suggests we would need about 8 such advisors. The members of the Committee might serve as advisors, plus others. Merely serving as registration officer for 10 undergraduates is by itself not an onerous job.
There seems to be no need for change in the organization of graduate studies in the department. We suggest that there be a Director of Graduate Studies (RSE [Richard S. Eckaus]) and a Committee on Graduate Studies which would, as now, consist of the other two Graduate Registration Officers. Things are going very well now with REH [Robert E. Hall] handling the first-year students. MJP [Michael J. Piore] the second-year students and RSE [Richard S. Eckaus] the thesis-writers. REH [Robert E. Hall] is prepared to take on the task or devising a scheme to keep track of post-generals students, and see that they find themselves a reasonable thesis topic in a reasonable amount of time. The scheme may need another person to look after it.
We suggest the creation of Committee on Staffing whose functions would include looking after the hiring of assistant professors, the dovetailing of visiting professors with faculty leaves, and the rationing of visiting scholars. The picture we have is that the members of committee would do the interviewing and preliminary screening of new Ph.D.’s at the annual meetings, and decide which of them to invite to come and give seminars. At that stage and thereafter, the whole department faculty would be in on the act, and final decisions would be made, as they are now, in a department meeting. The main time-consumer for this committee would be the correspondence in connection with hiring. Since that would fall on the Chairman, that post would be a major one. For the other members of the committee, the burden would be relatively light. We suggest REH [Robert E. Hall] as chairman, plus perhaps 3 others.
There seems to be no reason to change the way the Admissions Committee now functions.
We see no need for major change in the Placement process. Our only suggestion are (a) perhaps to provide EDD [Evsey D. Domar] with another person to share the load, and (b) to have a pre-season department meeting, analogous to the post-generals meeting, at which each graduate student entering the market could be discussed by the full facuIty, and information and ideas collected.
There are other details. RLB [Robert L. Bishop] is functioning as advisor to MIT undergraduates thinking about economics as part of their Humanities requirement, and we are happy to preserve that human capital. MAA [Morris A. Adelman] who has been our representative to CGSP is to begin a term on the CEP, which should count as a major administrative burden. We need his successor on CGSP.
One last point: we hope that each committee chairman will promptly send a written notice of each substantive decision to the Head and Associate Head for distribution to the department faculty, so that communications are well looked after. That plus rational expectations should do the trick.
Source: MIT Archives. MIT Department of Economics Records. Box 2, Folder “Department Organization”.
__________________________
DEPARTMENTAL ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES: ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT 1977-78
UNDERGRADUATE COMMITTEE
Chairman:
Peter Temin
Members:
Cary Brown
Senior Faculty Counsellor, Ex Officio
Jerry Rothenberg
Senior Faculty Counsellor
Peter Temin
Senior Faculty Counsellor
Rudiger Dornbusch
Junior Faculty Counsellor
Jeffrey Harris
Junior Faculty Counsellor
Jagdish Bhagwati
Sophomore Faculty Counsellor (Fall)
Henry Farber
Sophomore Faculty Counsellor (Spring)
Summer Jobs: Jeffrey Harris Humanities Adviser: Robert Bishop Transfer of Credits: Cary Brown
GRADUATE COMMITTEE
Chairman:
Richard Eckaus
Thesis, Graduate Registration Officer
Members:
Paul Joskow/Mike Piore
Second Year Graduate Registration Officer
Marty Weitzman
First Year Graduate Registration Officer
Jerome Rothenberg
CGSP Representative
Stan Fischer, Ex Officio
Admissions Committee:
Chairman: Robert Bishop
Members: Frank Fisher and Lance Taylor
Placement: Evsey Domar Harvard-MIT Theory Seminar: Eric Maskin Theory Workshop: Kevin Roberts
OTHER DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Staffing Committee: Chairman: Rudiger Dornbusch
(For New Ass’t Profs.) Members:
Paul Joskow
Jerry Hausman
Stan Fischer, Ex Officio
(Added for Temporary Visitors: Robert Solow)
Independent Activity Period: Jeffrey Harris/Marilyn Simon Unstructured Subjects Committee: Peter Temin, Undergraduate; Richard Eckaus, Graduate Computer Allocation: Richard Eckaus
ADDENDUM: INSTITUTE COMMITTEES
CEP: Morris Adelman
Associate Chairman of the Faculty: Michael Piore
Visual Arts: Jerry Rothenberg
Library System, Chairman: Evsey Domar
For anyone whose experience in academic hiring and promotions has only been acquired over the past several decades, it might come as a shock that outside letters to support a department’s vote to offer a full professorship back in the 1950s would hardly exceed the length of a very modest thread of tweets today. To be honest, a thumbs-up emoji would have been an adequate response to Yale’s request for Evsey Domar’s opinion on the work of Thomas C. Schelling.
Since the two letters transcribed for this post are so short, I figure that this is as good an opportunity as any to add a brief bio written for the 1962 Radcliffe Yearbook. The poor quality of the yearbook image is a pity, but at least we have a classic Harvard professorial pose complete with a bow-tie and a cigarette held à la Madmen.
_____________________________
From the 1962 Radcliffe Yearbook
THOMAS C. SCHELLING, Professor of Economics, graduated from high school just after the Great Depression. Upon entering the University of California in Berkeley, he decided to major in economics: “Somehow I felt that the social conflicts, the severe poverty, even the problems of war, were partly solvable by a knowledge of economics.” He graduated with an A.B. in 1944 and got his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1951.
Professor Schelling’s varied career background includes two years with the Marshall Plan (in Copenhagen and in Paris, 1948-50); Associate Economic Adviser to the Special Assistant to the President (1950-51); Officer-in-charge, European Program Affairs, Office of the Director for Mutual Security, Executive Office of the President (1951-53); Yale University (1953-58); the RAND Corporation (1958-59). He has been at Harvard since 1959, on the faculty and says, “Harvard students are more interesting to teach than those at Yale.”
Primarily interested in the relationship between economics and national security, Professor Shelling recently collaborated on Strategy and Arms Control, published in 1961. Other works include National Economic Behavior, International Economics, and numerous articles in various periodicals.
Although teaching and consultation in foreign policy (he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, U.S. Air Force) take up most of his time, Professor Shelling is now turning his research interests to the problems of bargaining and conflict management, particularly as these problems affect foreign affairs.) Professor Schelling feels that, although a nuclear test moratorium would be a good thing, test bans without some system of control or inspection are unworkable. Furthermore, he feels that cessation of tests alone is not a potent form of disarmament. As for the testing itself, we don’t really know whether testing is necessarily harmful.
Yale University
Department of Economics
New Haven, Connecticut
Lloyd G. Reynolds, Chairman
February 18, 1957
Professor Evsey Domar
Department of Political Economy
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore 15, Maryland
Dear Evsey:
The Department here has voted to promote Thomas C. Schelling to the rank of Professor of Economics. We are now about to begin putting the appointment through the regular committee procedures. It is customary at this stage to invite a number of leading scholars in other institutions to appraise the qualifications of the candidate. I should be grateful if you could take time to write me your impression of Schelling—the quality of his thinking and scholarship, his probably contribution to economics over the long run, his professional standing in comparison with other men of about his own age, and his general suitability for a professorship here.
We shall value your judgment and I am sure will find it helpful in putting the matter before our faculty for action.
Sincerely yours,
[signed] Lloyd
LGR/shd
_____________________________
Copy of Domar’s Response
25 February 1957
Professor Lloyd G. Reynolds
Chairman
Department of Economics
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Dear Lloyd:
This is in response to your letter of February 18 regarding the qualifications of Thomas C. Schelling.
I have known him approximately since 1944 or 1945 and have read most of his writings. He is an exceptionally capable young man, endowed with creative intelligence and with common sense. I have the highest opinion of him as an economist and great hopes regarding his contribution to economics.
In comparison with other men of his age he stands out very close to the top. I would support his promotion most wholeheartedly.
Sincerely yours,
Evsey D. Domar
Professor of Political Economy
The Johns Hopkins University
(on leave, spring term, 1956-57)
EDD:am
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 8, Folder “Yale University (1 of 2)”.
Image Source: Thomas Schelling portrait, 1964. Harvard University. Office of News and Public Affairs. Hollis Images olvwork369281.
