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

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

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

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

___________________________________

Named in the Instructional Budget, 1944-45

Bloch, Henry S.

Buchanan, Daniel H.

Burns, Robert K.

Douglas, Paul H.

Harbison, Frederick H.

Johnson, Gale

Knight, Frank H.

Krueger, Maynard C.

Leland, Simeon E.

Lange, Oscar

Lewis, H. Gregg

Marschak, Jacob

McGuire, Christine H. (Mrs. Jules Masserman)

Meyer, Gerhard E. O.

Mints, Lloyd W.

Nef, John U.

Schultz, Theodore W.

Simons, Henry C.

Viner, Jacob

Wright, Chester W.

___________________________________

The University of Chicago
Budget and Appointment Recommendations
1944-45

Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics

February 21, 1944

Departmental Recommendations

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

  1. The College

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

  1. The Department

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

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

___________________________________

Items requiring no change
in rank or salary

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

___________________________________

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

___________________________________

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

___________________________________

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

___________________________________

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

___________________________________

  1. Advancements in Rank and Increases in Salaries Related Thereto

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

___________________________________

Associate Professor Lloyd W. Mints

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

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

___________________________________

Associate Professor Henry C. Simons

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

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

Item No. 10
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)

Simons, H.C., Prof.
(Assoc. Prof)

Tenure
Present Expira. Sept….
New appointment
From 10/1/44
Yrs. [Ind]
Service Basis
Number of quarters 3
If part-time, approx. % 67 (Econ.)
33 (Law School)
Salary Level
1943-44

$4,500 (Total)

$3,000 (Econ.)
$1,500 (Law School)

Proposed
Chairman $6,000
$4,000 (Econ.)
$2,000 (Law School)
Dean [Ac. Prof]
President’s Recommendation
Rank [Ac. Prof]
Salary Level [$5,000 (Total)]
[$3,333 (Econ.)]
[$1,667 (Law School])
Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Instructor H. Gregg Lewis

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

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

Item No. 14
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)

Lewis, H. G. Asst. Prof.

(Instructor)
(On leave, Govt. Serv. To 9-30-44 to be extended to 9/30/45)

Tenure
Present Expira. Sept. 44
New appointment
From 10/1/44
Yrs. 3
Service Basis
Number of quarters 3
If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
1943-44 ($3,500)
Proposed
Chairman ($4,000)
Dean
President’s Recommendation
Rank [Instructor]
Salary Level
Amount 1944-45 [$4,000]

___________________________________

Lecturer Robert K. Burns

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

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

___________________________________

  1. Changes in Salaries

Professor Frank H. Knight

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

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

___________________________________

Professor John U. Nef

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

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

___________________________________

Professor Oscar Lange

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

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

___________________________________

  1. Appointments

Professor Simeon E. Leland

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

Item No. 3
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Leland, S.E., Prof. and Chairman
(also Political Sci.
Tenure
Present Expira.

June….

[As Chairman Jun 44]

New appointment
From [7-1-44]
[As chairman 7-1-44]
Yrs. Ind [as Prof]
3 yrs [as chairman]
Service Basis
Number of quarters 3 [in Economics and Pol. Sci.]
If part-time, approx. % 50% [Economics]
50% [Political Sci.]
Salary Level
1943-44 $8,000 Total
From Econ. $4,000
From  Pol.Sci. $4,000
Proposed
Chairman $8,000 Total
From Econ. $4,000
From  Pol.Sci. $4,000
Dean $9,000 Total
From Econ. $4,500
From  Pol.Sci. $4,500
President’s Recommendation
Rank
Salary Level [$9,000 Total]
[From Econ. $4,500]
[From  Pol.Sci. $4,500 (4]
Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Professor Chester W. Wright

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

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

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

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

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

___________________________________

Instructor Henry S. Bloch

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

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

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

___________________________________

Visiting Professor D. H. Buchanan

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

Item No. 12
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
Buchanan, D. H., Vis. Prof.
(also CATS
Tenure
Present Expira. Aug. 44
New appointment 9/1/44 (CATS)
From 10/1/44
Yrs. 1
Service Basis
Number of quarters 4
If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
1943-44 $8,000 (CATS)
Proposed
Chairman $8,000 (CATS)
Dean

[Do not appoint]

[illegible word]

President’s Recommendation
Rank
Salary Level
Amount 1944-45

___________________________________

Research Associate Gale Johnson

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

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

___________________________________

Lecturer John K. Langum

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

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

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

___________________________________

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

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

___________________________________

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

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

___________________________________

Instructor/Dean of Students Christine McGuire Masserman

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

Item No. [15a]
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
[McGuire, Christine (Mrs. Jules H. Masserman), Inst.
(also College and Dean of Students]
Tenure
Present Expira. [Sept 44]
New appointment
From
Yrs. 1
Service Basis
Number of quarters 4
If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
1943-44 [$2,000
Proposed
Chairman
Dean [$2,000 Total
College (?) $1,500 )4
Economics (?) $500)4]
President’s Recommendation
Rank
Salary Level [$2,000 Total
College (?) $1,500 )4
Economics (?) $500)4]
Amount 1944-45
Instructor C. H. Masserman
Item No. 16a
Account No. 2621 Instruction
Name and Proposed Rank
(Old rank in parenthesis if change recommended)
[Masserman, H. H., Inst.]
Tenure
Present Expira. [Sept 44]
New appointment
From
Yrs.
Service Basis
Number of quarters
If part-time, approx. %
Salary Level
1943-44 [$2,000]
Proposed
Chairman
Dean
President’s Recommendation
Rank
Salary Level
Amount 1944-45


___________________________________

 

  1. The Future Development of the Department

 

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

1. Agriculture

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

2. Transportation

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

3. Trusts and Monopolies

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

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

4. Public Utilities and Control of Business

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

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

5. Advanced Statistical Theory

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

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

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

6. Joint Appointments with Other Departments

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

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

7. Visiting Professors

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

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

8. Departmental Lectures

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

9. A Special Fund for Student Assistance

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

  1. Recommendations as to Service and Equipment

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

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

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

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

Equipment and Expense

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

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

Respectfully submitted,
[signed] Simeon E. Leland

___________________________________

Three items crossed out of economics departmental budget by President

Visiting Professors

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

Lecturers

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

 

Agricultural Economic Research & Development

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

 ___________________________________

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

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

Categories
Chicago Economist Market Salaries

Chicago. Suggestions to make University of Chicago professorships more attractive. Leland, 1945

 

On April 10, 1945, the chairman of the University of Chicago’s economics department, Professor Simeon E. Leland, submitted a 77 page (!) memorandum to President Robert M. Hutchins entitled “Postwar Plans of the Department of Economics – A Wide Variety of Observations and Suggestions All Intended To Be Helpful in Improving the State of the University”.

In his cover letter Leland wrote “…in the preparation of the memorandum, I learned much that was new about the past history of the Department. Some of this, incorporated in the memorandum, looks like filler stuck in, but I thought it ought to be included for historical reasons and to furnish some background for a few of the suggestions.” 

In earlier posts I have provided (1) a list of visiting professors who taught economics at the University of Chicago up through 1944 (excluding those visitors who were to receive permanent appointments); (2) supporting tables with enrollment trends and faculty data (ages and educational backgrounds); (3) three lists of names for economists who in 1945 could be taken into consideration for either permanent economics, joint appointments with other department or visiting appointments at the University of Chicago.

The excerpt transcribed for this post deals with the employment conditions and prospects of University of Chicago faculty. The basic message was that Chicago had lost its position as highest-bidder in the academic market and that relative attractiveness was a function of salary to be sure, but also other conditions (teaching loads, research support, clerical support, burden of special (extra) examinations, housing, medical benefits, etc.) should be improved as well.

Leland’s laundry list of suggestions seems pretty familiar to early 21st century academics. Would love to have an analogous memo for the present to see which additional items are now included.

_________________________

POSTWAR PLANS
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

A Wide Variety of Observations and Suggestions
All Intended To Be Helpful
in Improving the State
of the
University

by Simeon E. Leland, Chairman
(on his own behalf and for the Department)

1945

[…]

Making University of Chicago Professorships More Attractive

The following suggestions are, in large part, the result of actual experiences in negotiating with “outsiders” over appointments to our faculty, or are reactions observed in dealing with present faculty members with respect to appointments or promotions within the Department. Some of them undoubtedly represent aspirations of the staff. They are offered, not as criticisms of present conditions, but as suggestions for improvements for realization in the future.

1. Distinguished Professorships

At the inception of the University, President Harper established a salary scale for full professors which was the highest in the country. He literally bought his faculty, outbidding all competitors for the services of distinguished men. The University of Chicago at once gained a reputation for the payment of attractive salaries. With the passage of time this situation has changed. Although the University of Chicago is still a “high-salary” institution, the emoluments it offers are by no means the most attractive in the United States.

The enhanced salaries paid (on an individual competitive bargaining arrangement) to present staff members on the 4E contracts render utterly inadequate the $10,000 salaries paid to the holders of University Distinguished Service Professorships. When these Professorships were established the salary differentials between the Distinguished Professorships and other professorships were quite large. They are far narrower today due to the liberal treatment by the University of the “ordinary” professors. Rising costs of living have also lowered the real wages paid to our Distinguished colleagues, and others as well.

If the Distinguished Professorships are to mean much to the holders over the years to come, the stipends should be increased; otherwise, the recognition bestowed will be rewarded only by a name or possibly by a degree of freedom not possessed by colleagues — both of which by that time may be empty honors. The times seem to call for $12,000 salaries as a minimum rather than $10,000 for these Professorships.

2. Divisional Professorships

If the Divisional Professorships, such as the Social Sciences Professorships, are to carry any real distinction they should be made to rank in terms of prestige and desirability next to the Distinguished Service Professorships. At present all they have to offer is some relief from fixed teaching (which is illusory for men with real scholarly interests who always talk about problems of their intellectual world with students) and the right to teach what they wish, irrespective of departmental lines. Both of these freedoms in greater or lesser degree are accorded every member of the staff, especially the freedom to teach.

In the Social Sciences Division, a Social Sciences Professorship is supposed to signify a recognition of competence or achievement. The breadth of knowledge, the spread of intellectual interest and the true humanity of the holder (or holders) indicate a degree of competence beyond that of the ordinary professor and that of many of the University’s most distinguished appointees, yet, in last analysis, all that a Social Sciences Professorship confers upon the holder is a title with, perhaps, a scintilla of freedom. Such a chair should be made into something tangible for the holder — into something to be sought after by other members of the staff — into something to attract men from abroad. The minimum salary should be $10,000 at least. The working conditions should be far above those for ordinary men.

3. A New Type of Professorship

It is believed that named professorships with research stipends attached would attract outstanding scholars to the University. Such an appointment would not only carry an adequate salary for the incumbent but also a fund to assure him of a definite research budget so long as he occupied the designated chair. The University is probably not rich enough to afford many such appointments, but certainly it should seek to establish one in at least every division and school — granted that willing donors could be found. In any case, if the University believes its own statements concerning the importance of research and has faith in its appointees, it might well combine the two, in a few instances, to provide University Research Professorships which carry with them definite research grants to be spent as the incumbent elects. The Thomas W. Lamont Professorship at Harvard is of this type. It is held at the moment by Mr. Sumner H. Slichter, a Ph.D. of the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago.

4. Research, Clerical and Library Assistance

The climate for research around the University is not as favorable as speeches and propaganda would indicate. The professorial staff — the highest-priced talent along with administrators in the University — is required and expected to do all manner of chores that should be done for them if research output is to be maximized. Adequate stenographic service is often lacking or, at most, is not always immediately available to members of the Department. The stenographic pool in the Dean’s office is inadequate, a reflection, of course, of the present labor situation. But it is operated on the basis of bookkeeping arrangements which seem to make it freely available to all staff members only on the basis of antecedent budgets. Stenographic service should be available freely to all members of the staff for University business, for correspondence arising in connection with their work (in order to save valuable time) and for all research needs, including the copying of materials. Courses also could be improved if professors could make more materials available to students, perhaps on a nominal fee basis operated through departmental offices.

Similarly, a reasonable amount of clerical and library service should be available to staff members. Now such service is extended only as given research projects are approved, as special deals are made with individual faculty members, or as special services are given as a favor or in recognition of something or other. So long as these services are not generally available or can be had only upon request, there is a tendency that they will go first to the most vocal groups. In any case, the Department has too few people available to do the odd jobs to lighten the work and increase the research output of the faculty. Arrangements might be made whereby a clerical or service pool could meet the needs of many staff members.

5. Reduction in Examinations

The emphasis on examinations other than course examinations makes such tests too arduous a task to be well performed by the University staff. Everywhere there is objection! The time given to special terminal, qualifying and other examinations is grudgingly provided. It is given at the expense of research, creative thinking, or writing. And when the work is turned over to hired examiners who know examination techniques, but who are untrained in the fields involved, the examinations themselves become an intellectual travesty. (Actual illustrations can be supplied on request.)

It is recognized that many examinations are required and that there is a place for trained examiners; but the emphasis on examinations at the University is out of proportion to their worth. At the graduate level these examinations have operated to lower scholastic standards. Part of this is due to the efforts to deprecate courses and to offer illusory means for speeding up the educational process, hardly appropriate in the graduate and professional schools. Students are told they can visit courses (registering for R’s) and as long as they can pass final examinations they can qualify for degrees. The result is that special examinations have to be prepared; that students are rated on too limited a sample of their work; that recommendations of the University count for less than they once did. Another result of the examination emphasis is that students bone up for examinations, try their luck on this or that test and if they pass (by good fortune or otherwise), they are advanced or awarded the appropriate degrees.

From every point of view, too much faculty time is spent on examinations of various kinds; too large a fraction of the student’s record is based upon them.

6. Teaching Loads

In the matter of teaching loads, the Department, on the basis of University of Chicago conditions, has little cause for complaint. The Department has been well treated. Nevertheless, for the greatest good of the University it would like to indicate that teaching loads, even in the Department, are too high for the attainment of the best standards of graduate instruction and research.

Differentiations in teaching loads are appropriate. The load in the College may well be higher than in the Division, but in graduate and professional schools the teaching load should be low if the scholarship and research of the faculty are to be maximized. It may also be appropriate to have different teaching loads, on the average, for the ranks of assistant professor, associate professor and professor. It is the load of the productive scholars which really counts. Harvard and Columbia both have a teaching load of four hours a week for professors of Economics. This is also a factor of importance in the competition with these universities for staff members. It is a factor also affecting the quality of graduate instruction.

The reduction of teaching loads should be made a matter of University policy.

7. Salary Schedules

Salaries of members of the Department are believed to compare favorably with other salaries paid in the University. The general level of salaries paid at the University of Chicago places it among the high-salaried institutions, but it no longer ranks at the top. Harvard has recently raised its minimum professorial salary to in excess of $9,000, with commensurate increases along the line. The level of payments at Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and California Institute of Technology, for example, exceeds the level prevailing at Chicago.

Nor is it certain that the new salary plan will help attract eminent scholars to the University of Chicago. The experience of the Department to date has not been favorable to the new plan. Regardless of sentiments for and against the 4E Contract, its operation should be watched with care lest it adversely affect the quality of new appointments. In order to correct one evil, a greater one — the refusal of offers of appointment — may have been created. Many features of the 4E Contract make such terms unattractive to men who have been well treated by other institutions of high repute. If an outstanding scholar will not accept the 4E Contract, another type of contract should be offered. It is more important to secure the right scholars than to preserve a unique salary plan.

Changes in living costs have greatly decreased the value of payments here. Among the items on the postwar agenda should be new salary scales.

8. Faculty Housing

The Department was much gratified to see that the question of adequate housing for the faculty is again being considered. During the past year, more than one person who was being approached as a potential faulty member declined to consider an offer from the University as long as housing facilities are what they are in Chicago, and especially in Hyde Park. These facilities will remain unattractive until the University improves them. Princeton and Stanford, for example, have made notable contributions to the development of faculty housing. Appropriate housing should also be a good investment. If the Trustees should be unwilling to invest endowment funds in a faculty housing venture, a private company, or even a public housing corporation, should be organized in the neighborhood to meet this vital need.

Attention should also be given to the improvement of the University neighborhood. Its deterioration is a matter of great concern, affecting far more than the value of adjacent properties.

9. Miscellaneous Suggestions

There has always been much talk about improving the lot of younger men. Greater equality could be provided if faculty perquisites were increased. Former tuition differentials to faculty children and wives could be restored, or even increased with the number of children in each family. Hospital rates could be reduced. Out-patient medical service could be provided for University families at small cost. The present shortage of practicing physicians would make such a service a real boon. The University in its own interest, too, could afford to provide free medical examinations for faculty members and employees with increased public health services available at nominal cost. It might thus decrease illness among staff members or even add to their span of life (a thing in which it may not be interested under the rigid enforcement of retirement at age 65). Even the retirement policy might be examined in connection with the state of health and mental ability of emeriti over the last decade. It may be that the University is losing the services of distinguished men a few years too soon. All of these things could be done on a group basis with returns far in excess of cash outlays. To the members of the staff they would constitute significant increases in real wages.

[…]

Source: University of Chicago Library. Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration Records. Box73, Folder “Economics Department, ‘Post-war Plans,’ Simeon E. Leland, 1945” pp. 30-36.

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

Categories
Chicago Economists Money and Banking

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

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

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

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

______________________________

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

Author

Article Details of parts photographed

Box No.

1.
Bach, George [Leland]

Price Level Stabilization: [Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations]

[blank]

[blank]

2.
Bloomfield, Arthur [Irving]

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

T-304

3.
Bronfenbrenner, Martin

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

T-10250

4.
Brooks, Benjamin [Franklin]

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

T-9885

5.
Caplan, Benjamin

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

T-7847

6.
Cox, Garfield V.

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

T-17-91

7.
Daugherty Marion [Roberts]

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

T-10282

8.
Harper, [William Canaday] Joel

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

T-145

9.
Leigh, Arthur Hertel

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

T-554

10.
Linville, Francis [Aron]

Central Bank Co-operation Title, Contents, Bibliography.

T-11508

11.
McEvoy, Raymond H.

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

T-7731

12.
McIvor R. Craig

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

T-10268

13.
McKean, Roland Neely

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

T-90

14.
Reeve, Joseph [Edwin]

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

T-11022

15.
Shaw, Ernest Ray

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

T-8322

16.
Snider, Delbert [Arthur]

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

T-1031

17.
Tongue, William [Walter]

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

T-670

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

______________________________

The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Department of Economics

August 21, 1968

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

Dear Professor Patinkin:

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

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

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

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Department of Economics

October 23, 1968

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

Dear Professor Patinkin:

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

George Bach’s committee members:

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

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

Martin Bronfenbrenner:

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

Joel Harper:

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

Benjamin Brooks:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
Chicago Economists Salaries

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

 

 

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

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

_______________________

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

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

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

_______________________

Hayek’s Half-Quarter, Spring 1946

 

May 10, 1946

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

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

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

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

 

Board—5/9/46:

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

Form sent to Comptroller—5/13/46

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Milton Friedman’s tenured associate professorship
Effective October, 1946

March 19, 1946

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

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

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

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

 

I & R. 28 March 1946:

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

 

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

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

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading

Chicago. Bibliography on double-taxation. Bloch, 1940

 

 

Biographical information for Henry (Henri) Simon Bloch (1915-1988) along with an earlier post of a selected list of French, German and Italian works on public finance  by S. E. Leland and H. S. Bloch for Economics 360 (Government Finance). Below we have another bibliography prepared by Henry S. Bloch on international fiscal relations, essentially on the issue of double-taxation.

The book-review reprint mentioned in Bloch’s postscript was for the book by André Piatier, L’évasion fiscale et l’assistance administrative entre états (Paris, 1938).The review was published in the Journal of Political Economy (October 1939), pp. 742-743.

____________________

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics

Jan 3, 1940

Dear Professor Haig:

I thought you might be interested in this bibliography. I lectured on the topic and distributed the bibliography to the students.

Faithfully yours,
[signed] Henri

P.S. I enclose also a book-review.

____________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON INTERNATIONAL FISCAL RELATIONS
(Compiled by Dr. Henri Bloch)

Allix, E., La condition des étrangers au point de vue fiscal (The Hague*, 1937).

De Bar, Les doubles impositions (Thesis, Paris, 1900).

Barcley, “Les doubles impositions dans les rapports internationaux notamment en matière de droits de mutation par décès,” Annuaire du Droit International, 14, p. 118, 1897.

Berland, Les evasions fiscales (Thesis, Paris).

Bloch, H. S., “L’Assistance mutuelle en matière fiscale,” Revue de Science et législation financière, Paris, June, 1937.

Boué, Double imposition et évasion fiscal (Thesis, Lille, Paris, 1919).

Buhler, O., Les accords internationaux concernant la double imposition et l’évasion fiscal (The Hague, 1936).

Carroll, M. B., “International Double Taxation,” Tax Magazine, Oct., 1938, pp. 588ff.

Carroll, Double Taxation Relief. Discussion of Convention drafted at international conference of experts, 1927. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce. Trade Information Bulletin no. 527, Washington, 1928.

Clavier, “Les doubles impositions et l’évasion fiscal,” Revue économique international, 1923, p. 479 (Brussels).

Compain, “Les successions dans le droit fiscal international,” Clunet, 1909, pp. 640, 661, and 982-1003; Clunet, 1910, pp. 416-444, and 1072-1077.

Crocker, The Injustice and Inexpediency of Double Taxation (Boston, 1892).

Dorn, “Internationales Finanzrecht und international Doppelbesteuerung,” Deutsche Juristen Zeitung, XXIX, p. 189; 1924, pp. 682-688.

Einaudi, Luigi, La cooperation international en matière fiscal (La Haye*, 1928).

Fasolis, Le Doppie imposizioni (Citta di Castello, 1914).

Garelli, “Il diritto internazionale tributario,” Parte Generale: La Scienza della Finanza internazionale tributaria, Torino, 1899.

Grassi, “Il fenómeno financiere de la doble imposición,” Rivista de la Universitad de Buenos-Ayres, 1925.

Griziotti, L’imposition fiscal des étrangers, Vol. XIII (The Hague*, 1926).

Guerin, Des ententes internationales pour la répression des fraudes fiscales (Thesis, Paris, 1910).

Guggenehim, L’imposition des successions en droit international et le problème de la double imposition (Geneva, 1928).

Guilmard, L’évasion fiscale (P. Rosier, 5th ed., Paris, 1908).

Herndon, John Goodwin, The Development of International Reciprocity for the Prevention of Double Income Taxation (Philadelphia, 1932).

Jahn, George, Die Doppelbesteuerung (1928).

Jèze, Gaston, “La fraude fiscale,” Revue de Science et législation financière (1933).

Kambe, “Double Taxation with Special Reference to its International Aspects,” Kyoto Economic Review(1927).

King, Eldon P., “Income Tax Reciprocity with Canada,” Tax Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 4, p. 205, April, 1939.

Kluhe, SteuerlicheHeranziehung der Ausländer und Auslandsdeutschen nach dem heutigen deutschen Steuerrecht (1932).

Lamouche, Essai sur la territorialité de l’impôt(Thesis, Alger, 1927).

Lampe, A., “Doppelbelastung und Doppelbesteuerung,” Wörterbuch der Volkswirtschaft, Vol. I, 1931, pp. 581-583.

Lavagne, La question des double imposition (Thesis, paris, 1929)

League of Nations (Economic and financial committee), Report on Double Taxation (Geneva, 1923).

League of Nations (Committee of Technical Experts on Double Taxation and Tax Evasion), Double Taxation and Tax Evasion, II. Economic and Financial Committee, II, 40 (Geneva, 1927).

Lippert, “Das internationale Finanzrecht,” Handbuch des internationalen Finanzrechts, (Vienna, 1928)

Molodowsky, Le domicile fiscal des étrangers en France (Thesis, 1924).

Neumeyer, “Internationales Finanzrecht,” Zeitschrift Niemeyr’s, Vol. XXXIV, 1914, pp. 186, 200.

Niboyet, J. P., La double imposition au point de vue juridique, The Hague*, 1930.

Oualid, William, “Les solutions internationales du problème des doubles impositions,” Revue de Science et de Législation Financières, Paris, 1927, pp. 5-31.

Paillot, Fernand, Les doubles impositions (Ed. Caduce, Brussels, 1935).

Peeters, J., “Les Pays-Bas et la question des doubles impositions,” Bulletin Institut de droit intermédiaire international, 1930, pp. 191, 208.

Piatier, André, L’évasion fiscale et l’assistance administrative entre états (Paris, 1938).

Picard, R., “Le problème des double impôts à la Chambre de commerce internationale,” Clunet, 1925, pp. 40-53.

Ploquin, L’étranger et l’impôt (Thesis, 1934).

Pugliese, M., L’imposizione delle imprese di carattere internazionali (Padua, 1930).

Rosendorff-Henggeler, Das internationale Steuerrecht des Erdballs, 1936. Europa, Verlag fürRecht und Gesellschaft, AG. 1936, 1937, Zürich, Leipzig.

Rosier, “Problèms du droit fiscal international,” Revue critique de droit international, 1935, pp. 332-356. (Paris)

Sack, “La double imposition et les travaux de la S. D. N.,” Revue générale de droit international public, pp. 97-143.

Salvioli, Le doppie imposte in diritto internazionale, Napoli, 1914.

Schanz, G. V., “Die Doppelbesteuerung und der Völkerbund,” Finanzarchiv, 1923.

Schanz, “Zur Frage der Steuerpflicht, 1892,”Finanz. Archiv, IX, p. 365.

Seligman, E. R. A., Essays in Taxation, 10thed., Ch. iv. (New York, 1925).

Seligman, E. R. A., Double Taxation and International Fiscal Cooperation (New York, 1928).

Sénéchal, Les conventions fiscales passées par la France contre la double imposition (Thesis, Paris, 1933).

Spitaler, Arnim, Das Doppelbesteuerungsproblem bei den Direkten Steuern. 678 pp. 1936.

Stamp, Sir Josiah, “Double Taxation and Freedom of International Investment,” Chap. IX in Current Problems in Finance and Government(1924).

Stamp, J. C., “Double Taxation (International)”, Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, pp. 224-225.

Tax Systems of the World, 6thedition. Tax Research Foundation, Chicago, 1935.

Tranter, Evasion in Taxation (G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., London, 1929).

Wackernagel, Zur Frage der Vermeidung internationalen Doppelbesteuerung (1933).

Wahl, A., “Les étrangers devant l’impôt général sur le revenue,” Journal de Droit International, 1916, pp. 1095 and 1512.

Wengler, Beiträge zum Problem der internationalen Doppelbesteuerung (1935).

Williams, Sir John Fisher, L’entr’aide financière international, The Hague*, 1924.

*Recueil des Cours of the Académie de Droit International.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Papers of Robert M. Haig, Box 16, Folder “Bibliography”.

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

Categories
Chicago Economists Uncategorized

Chicago. Paul H. Douglas for Alderman campaign, 1939

 

I find it interesting to note only two male colleagues in economics, Jacob Viner and Simeon Leland, and three female colleagues overlapping with the economics department, Grace Abbott (Social Work), Mary Gilson (College of UC), and Sophonisba Breckinridge (Social Work), were among the sponsors of his campaign. Incidentally, Paul Douglas won a narrow victory over the Democratic Party candidate James Cusack in a runoff election.

I regret not having the staple undone at the University of Chicago archives to get an image of Douglas’ campaign platform.

 

February 1, 1939

To Members of the Faculty and Administrative Officers of the University of Chicago

Dear Colleagues:

In response to the insistent demands of the citizens of the Fifth Ward and of civic-minded persons in other parts of Chicago, our colleague, Paul H. Douglas, has agreed to become an independent candidate for alderman at the coming primaries. Those of us who know him intimately feel that he is unusually well qualified for the office he seeks and that he is unusually well qualified for the office he seeks and that he will not only adequately represent the people of this ward but will be an important force in the improvement of government and of the conditions of life in the city at large. He has already announced a platform, which we believe will appeal to the vital interests of this community and of all Chicago, and which will especially commend itself to the members of the University community.

Since this undertaking involves considerable personal sacrifice on the part of Professor Douglas himself and is undertaken in the public interest, we feel an obligation to support him. We therefore invite the endorsement and support in the form of personal aid and financial contributions.

If you believe, as we do, that our colleague should be supported in this campaign to the limit of our ability, we urge you to sign the enclosed pledge card and return it with whatever contribution you wish to make to Harold F. Gosnell, Faculty Exchange, University of Chicago. Checks should be made out to Joseph J. Levin, Treasurer for the Douglas campaign.

 

Donald P. Bean Mary B. Gilson
George G. Bogert Harold F. Gosnell
Percy H. Boynton Earl S. Johnson
Sophonisba P. Breckinridge Jerome G. Kerwin
Anton J. Carlson Wayne McMillen
Alfred E. Emerson Charles E. Merriam
Henry G. Gale T. V. Smith
Charles W. Gilkey Louis Wirth

 

Source:    University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 72, Folder “Economics Department, 1937-1939”.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs

Chicago. Memo to President Hutchins from Economics Chair Millis, 1937

 

The following brief “State of the Department of Economics” memorandum written by the Harry A. Millis, the chairman of the University of Chicago’s economics department (1928-1938), was found in the files of the President Robert M. Hutchins for whose eyes the memo was clearly intended. I wonder who was the “understudy” of Henry Schultz that needed to be replaced (Theodore Otte Yntema? Argument for hiring Oskar Lange?).

______________

A MEMORANDUM ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

[Summer?, 1937]

Since I became chairman in 1928, the department has had a twenty-year program which it has held in mind all the while and which, with minor revisions, is, we believe, a sound one.

This program called, first of all, for a solution of the problem presented by classes in elementary economics. This work has been taken over by the College and is being done well. No problem is presented there at this time except that of appropriate rank and remuneration in the cases of a very few persons attached to the Department of Economics.

The program next called for (a) protecting ourselves where relatively strong, and (b) for filling in three important gaps – in course offerings and research – in public utilities, agricultural economics and money and banking.

The long depression has made it impossible to fill in any of these gaps. They should be filled in as soon as the finances of the University permit. From the point of view of training graduate students, work in public utilities should perhaps be provided first. One man is needed and it would be very desirable to have him trained in Law as well as in Economics and to have him divide his time between the Department and the Law School. This matter has been discussed with Dean Bigelow who appears to be favorable to the position herein stated. The need for a good man is agricultural economics is great. When it is possible to meet that specific need, a corresponding need in Sociology should be kept in mind. The need in money and banking is for an outstanding man who can play a role in Chicago, attract to the University promising students whose first interest is money and banking, and do important research work and publish the results. The need is not particularly for more or better courses. The formal courses in money and banking are fairly adequate and are unusually well taught.

For maintaining our position where we have been or are relatively strong, three things are needed. (a) Schultz must have his understudy replaced. This is imperative. (b) With the retirement of the Chairman, and excellent man must be found in Labor Economics to share the work with Douglas. The man should be a very promising young man with excellent training in and with full appreciation of Economics. (c) It is important at or before the beginning of next autumn quarter to disconnect Leland from the Tax Commission and get him back at the University on a full-time basis. This will require a salary readjustment.

With the changes noted in the immediately preceding paragraph, the Department can for several years maintain the position it has held, provided those who now constitute the staff remain at the University. However, the time is at hand when we should secure one, two, or three most promising young men, who, in a favorable environment, will ripen into the strong men needed to replace the best of the present members of the staff as they get old or sever connections with the University. These young men could share in the teaching of the “200” courses and gradually be inducted into graduate instruction. The fact is that the staff is so short that it is difficult to man the junior and senior classes on the Quadrangles. For some years, it has been impossible for the Department to assume much responsibility for offerings at University College.

Nothing has been said concerning the employment of a man who might become Chairman of the Department. I think I worry less than any one else about the chairmanship. I am confident the matter can be adequately taken care of by the present staff, at least for the time being. With replacements or additions, however, it would be appropriate to keep that matter in mind. As it is handled from year to year, it should always be understood that the appointments are annual and that an incumbent chairman has no vested interest.

Save for one case, I have said nothing concerning needed salary adjustments. The fact is that five adjustments are needed as soon as they can be made. These, however, are discussed more appropriately in connection with a budget.

H. A. Millis

 

Source:    University of Chicago Library, Department of Special Collections. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 72, Folder “Economics Department, 1937-1939”.

Image Source: Undated picture of Harry A. Millis.  University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00875, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Bibliography Chicago Columbia Yale

Chicago. French/German/Italian Public Finance Bibliography. Bloch, ca. 1944

 

The backstory to the following list of French, German, and Italian works on public finance that was given to students at the University of Chicago sometime in the early to mid-1940s is illustrative of the forensic effort to prepare such posts. 

Henry Simon Bloch (1915-1988)  was born in Kehl (Germany) and emigrated to the U.S. in 1937 after having received his doctorate from the University of Nancy for a dissertation on Carl Menger.  I ran across two bibliographies he had put together in the files of Robert M. Haig at Columbia University. Both cover letters were written by Bloch on University of Chicago economics department stationary. The bibliography transcribed for this post came without a date, but the course number and senior faculty member,  Simon Leland, were easy to confirm. Still, Bloch only appears once or twice in the departmental list of faculty (at the rank of instructor), but never actually listed as an instructor for Economics 360 “Government Finance”.    

Bloch left Chicago in 1945 about the same time that Oskar Lange did. Because Bloch wrote in the cover letter to the bibliography below that it hardly seemed as though four years had passed since he had visited New York and his other bibliography had been mailed in January 1940, it seems reasonable to assume that the today’s list was sent in 1944.

Last speculation: in the New York Times obituary linked above it mentions that Bloch was honorary associate fellow of Berkeley College of Yale University. Robert Triffin  was master of that residential college at Yale from 1969 until 1977. This likely connection is perhaps related to Bloch’s honorary doctorate from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles?

__________________

 Partial timeline
of Henry Simon Bloch

1915. Born April 6 in Kehl, Germany.
1937.  Dr. en Droit (Econ) at the University of Nancy with the dissertation La théorie des besoins de Carl Menger.
1937. Emigration to the United States.

University of Chicago

1938. Research assistant.
1941-42. Lecturer, Institute for Military Studies.
1943. Instructor economics, Institute for Military Studies.
1943-45. Research supervisor, Civil Affairs Training School (CATS) for Army and Navy Officers.

1945. Consultant, Foreign Economics Administration.
1945-46. Economist, Treasury Department.
1946. Member Treasury delegate for tax treaty negotiations, Treasury Department, France, United Kingdom, Benelux.
1947-49. Section chief, United Nations.

[gap to be filled]

1955. Visiting professor economics Yale University.
1955-62. Director fiscal and financial branch, United Nations.
1958-1959. Acting director, Bureau Economics Affairs.
1959-1962. Director, Bureau Technology Assistance.
1961-1962. Deputy commissioner for technical assistance, Bureau Technology Assistance.
1962-1966. President, Zinder International Ltd.
1967-1970. Vice-president, director, Engineer of Mines Warburg & Company, Inc.
1970-1975. Senior vice president, Engineer of Mines Warburg, Pincus & Company, Inc.
1976-1981. Executive vice president, Engineer of Mines Warburg, Pincus & Company, Inc.
1982-1988. Managing director, Engineer of Mines Warburg, Pincus & Company, Inc.
1988. Died in Manhattan, February 28.

Columbia University

Lecturer, 1955-1963.
Adjunct Professor law and international relations, 1963-1985.
Professor emeritus, 1985-1988.
Member international advisory board School International and Public Affairs, 1986-1988.

Source:   From the Henry Simon Bloch page at the Prabook website of biographies of professionals.

__________________

Budget and Appointment Recommendations 1944-45
February 21, 1944
Economics Department
Item 16

It is recommended that the appointment of Henry S. Bloch as instructor [10/1/1943-9/30/44, $3,600] be renewed [10/1/44 to 9/30/45, $3,600]. Bloch at present is devoting his time exclusively to the CATS program, where his salary is charged. Should that training program be liquidated, Bloch’s services can be transferred immediately to Departmental teaching, research, and assistance in advising students. During the past year such needs have arisen, but because of the demands of the miitary program Bloch has not been able to assist the Department in its civilian program. Attention is called to the fact that Bloch’s salary is on a four-quarter basis.

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Records of the Hutchins Administration, Office of the President, Box 284, Folder “Economics , 1943-47”.

___________________

Course Description 1944-45

[Economics] 360. Government Finance. A survey course covering the main topics dealt with in standard treatises, but emphasizing analysis of the economic effects of various fiscal practices. Prereq: Two years’ work in the Division of the Social Sciences, or equiv. But: MWF 8; Leland.

Source:  Annual Register of the University of Chicago. Announcements: The College and the Divisions, Sessions of 1944-45. Volume XLIV, No. 8 (May 15, 1944), p. 279.

___________________

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics
Oct 1

Dear Professor Haig,

I thought this might be of interest to you. It is just a list for our students.

It seems as if I had seen you only yesterday and when I was out at Riverdale it seemed as if there had not been more than 4 years interval. It was so nice.

I assume that you met Oscar Lange in the meanwhile.

Regards,

Henri.

___________________

Economics 360
SELECTED LIST OF FRENCH, GERMAN AND ITALIAN WORKS ON PUBLIC FINANCE

by
S. E. Leland and H. S. Bloch

Authors of the French language group

Allix, E. Traité élémentaire de science des finances et de législation financière française, 4th ed., 1921. Paris, 1931.

Allix, E., and Lecerclé, M. L’impôt sur le revenu. Paris, 1927.

Colson, Clément. Les finances publiques et le budget de la France. Cours d’économie politique, vol. v (2d rev. ed.). Paris, 1931.

De Greeff, Guillaume. L’économie publique et la science des finances. Bruxelles, 1907.

Denis, M. H. L’Impôt sur le revenu. Brussels, 1881.

Garnier, Joseph. Traité de Finance, 3d ed. Paris, 1872.

Jèze, Gaston. Cours élémentaire de science des finances et de législation financière française. Paris, 1912.

__________. Cours de science des finances (Théorie de l’impôt). 1936/37.

__________. Cours de finances publiques. Théories générales sur les phénomènes financiers, les dépenses publiques, le crédit public, les taxes, l’impôt. Paris, 1931.

__________. Théorie générale du budget. Paris, 1922.

__________. Cours élémentaire de science des finances et de législation financière française. Paris, 1932.

__________. Cours de science de finances et de législation financière française. Technique du Crédit Public. Paris, 1923.

__________. «Le rôle du ministre des finances dans une démocratie, » Revue de Science et de Législation Financières, Vol. XXVII (1929), pp. 7-24.

__________. Le remboursement des emprunts publics d’état. Paris, 1927.

Jèze-Boucard, M. Éléments de la science des finances et de la législation financière française, 2 vols. 1902.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. Traité de la science des finances. 2 vols. 1899.

Marion, Marcel. Histoire financière de la France, depuis 1715, 6 vols. Paris, 1914/1931.

Marquis de Mirabeau. Théorie de l’impôt. 1760.

Say, Jean Baptiste. Cours complet d’économie politique pratique. 1828-9.

Say, Léon. Les finances. Paris, 1892.

__________. Dictionnaire des finances, 2 vols. Paris : Nancy, 1891/1894.

__________. Les Solutions démocratiques de l’impôt. 1886.

Stourm, R. Cours des finances. 1906.

__________. Le budget. Tr. in English—The Budget. 1917.

Trotabas, L. Précis de science et législation financières. Paris, 1936.

Vauban. Dixme royale. 1707.

Walras, L. Théorie critique de l’impôt. Paris, 1861.

 

Authors of the German language group

Büsch, Johann Georg. Abhandlung vom dem Geldumlauf in anhaltender Rücksicht auf die Staatswirtschaft und Handlung. Hamburg, 1780. [2nd edition, 1800]

Cohn, Gustav. Finanzwissenschaft, 1889. The Science of Finance (tr. by T. B. Veblen). Chicago, 1895.

__________. System der Finanzwissenschaft. 1889.

Colm, G. Volkswirtschaftliche Theorie der Staatsausgaben. Tuebingen, 1927.

Eheberg, Karl. Finanzwissenschaft, 18th ed. Berlin, 1930.

Földes, B. Finanzwissenschaft. 1920.

Gerloff, W. Steuerwirtschaft und Sozialismus. Leipzig, 1922.

Gerloff, W., and Meisel, F. Handbuch der Finanzwissenschaft. Tübingen, 1926.

Goldscheid, Rudolf. Handbuch der Finanzwissenschaft. Tübingen, 1926.

Hock, Karl V. Öffentliche Abgaben und Schulden. 1862.

Jecht, Horst. Wesen und Formen der Finanzwissenschaft. Jena, 1928.

Jèze-Neumark, F. Allgemeine Theorie des Budgets. 1927.

Lindahl, E. R. Die Gerechtigkeit der Besteuerung. Lund, 1919.

Lotz, W. Finanzwissenschaft. 1917.

Mann, Fritz Karl. « Steuerpolitische ideale, » Finanzwissenschaftliche Forschungen. Jena, 1937.

__________. Deutsche Finanzwirtschaft. Jena, 1929.

Moll, Bruno. Lehrbuch der Finanzwissenschaft. Berlin, 1930.

Nebenius, Karl Friedrich. Der öffentliche Kredit. 1820.

Neumark, Fritz. Reichshaushaltplan. 1929.

Rau, Karl. Lehrbuch der politischen Oekonomie. 1826-37.

Ritschl, Hans. Theorie der Staatswirthschaft und Besteuerung. Bonn, 1925.

Sax, Emil. Grundlegung der theoretischen Staatswirtschaft. Vienna, 1887.

Schaeffle, Albert, E.F. Die Steuern. Leipzig, 1895.

Roscher, Wilhelm. System der Finanzwissenschaft. 1886.

Schanz, G. V. Der Einkommensbegriff und die Einkommensteuergesetze, Finanzarchiv. 1896.

Stein, L. V. Lehrbuch der Finanzwissenschaft, 4 vols. 5th ed. 1885/1886.

Sultan, H. Die Staatseinnahmen: Versuch einer soziologischen Finanztheorie als Teil einer Theorie der politischen Oekonomie. 1932.

Tehralle, Fritz. Finanzwissenschaft. Jena, 1930.

Teschemacher, Hans. Handbuch der Finanzwissenschaft. Tübingen, 1927.

Wagner, A. Finanzwissenschaft. 1889.

Wicksell, K. Finanztheoretische Untersuchungen. Jena, 1896.

 

Authors of Italian language group

Barone, Enrico. Principii di economia finanziaria. Rome, 1920.

Conigliani, Carlo. De diritto pubblico nei sistemi finanziari; Studi di teoria finanziaria; e’indrezzo teorico nella Scienza finanziaria. Turin, 1903.

__________. Le leggi scientiche della finanza. 1903.

Cossa, L. “Scienze delle finanze”—Translated excerpts, by H. White. Taxation: Its principles and methods. New York and London, 1893.

Del Vecchio, Gusatavo. Lezioni di scienze delle finanze, 2d ed. Padua, 1923.

De Viti de Marco. Il carattero teorico della economia finanziaria. 1890.

De Viti de Marco, Antonio. Principii di economia finanziaria. Turin, 1934. Translation: First Principles of Public Finance, by Edith Pavlo Marget. New York, 1936.

Einaudi, L. Corso di scienza della finanza, 3rd ed. Turin, 1914.

__________. Principii di scienza della finanza. Turin, 1932.

Fasolis, G. Scienza delle finanze e diritto finanziario. 1933.

Flora, F. Manuale della scienze delle finanze, 6th ed. 1921.

Graziani, A. Istituzioni di scienza delle finanze. Torino, 1897.

Griziotti, B. Considerazioni sui metodi; limiti e problemi della Scienze pure delle Finanze. 1912. Pp. 39.

__________. Principii di politica, diritto e scienza delle tinanze. 1929.

__________. Studi di diritto tributario. 1931.

Loria, Achille. The Economic Synthesis: A study of the laws of income. Tr. by Eden Paul. London, 1914.

Mazzola. Dati scientifica della finanza pubblica. 1890.

Murray, Roberto. Principi fondamentali di scienza pura delle finanze. 1914.

Nitti, F. S. Principi di scienze delle finanze, 5th ed. Rome, 1922.

Pantaleoni, Moffea. Teoria della pressione tributaria. 1887.

Pareto, Vilfredo. “I debiti pubblici dopo la guerra,” (Rivista di Scienze Bancaria—February-March, 1916), Fatti e Teorie, p. 57-62. Firenze, 1920.

Pugliese, Mario. L’imposizione delle imprese di carattere internazionale. 1930.

Ricca-Salerno, G. Scienza della finanze. 1888.

__________. Storia delle Dottrine Finanziane in Italia. Translated. Rome, 1881.

__________.History of Fiscal Doctrines in Italy. Translated. 1890.

Rignano, Eugenio. Social Significance of the Inheritance Tax. Translated by Wm. J. Shultz. New York, 1924.

Rignano, Eucenid. Una Riforma socialista del diritto successorio. Bologna. 1920.

Roncali, A. Corso elementari di scienza finanziaria. Parma, 1887.

Tangorra, V. Trattato di Scienza delle Finanza.

Vanoni, Ezio. Natura ed interpretazione delle leggi tributarie. 1932.

 

Source: Columbia University Archive. Robert M. Haig Papers. Box 16, Folder “Bibliography”.

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

Categories
Chicago Economists

Chicago. Simons urges the recruitment of Milton Friedman, 1945

 

 

The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was less than two weeks history and the declaration of the surrender of Imperial Japan only five days old. Nothing says “back to business as usual” at the university better than active lobbying on behalf of one’s preferred candidate for an upcoming vacancy, as we see in the following memo for the 33 year old Milton Friedman written by Henry C. Simons to the Chicago economics department chair, Simeon E. Leland. The copy of this memo comes from the President’s Office at the University of Chicago. Simons’ grand strategy was to seamlessly replace the triad Lange-Knight-Mints with his own dream team of Friedman-Stigler-Hart. He feared that outsiders to the department might be tempted to appoint some convex combination of New Dealer Rexford Tugwell and trust-bustin’ George W. Stocking Sr., economists of the institutional persuasion who were swimming on the edges of the mainstream of the time.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror also has transcribed excerpts from an earlier 77 page (!) memorandum (10 April, 1945) to President Robert M. Hutchins from Simeon E. Leland entitled “Postwar Plans of the Department of Economics–A Wide Variety of Observations and Suggestions All Intended To Be Helpful in Improving the State of the University”.

____________________________

 

Henry C. Simons Urges his Department Chair to Recruit Milton Friedman

August 20, 1945

To: Simeon E. Leland           Economics

From: Henry C. Simons        Economics

 

If Lange is leaving, we should go after Milton Friedman immediately.

It is a hard choice between Friedman and Stigler. We should tell the administration that we want them both (they would work together excellently, each improving what the other did), Friedman to replace Lange, Stigler to replace Knight and to be with us well ahead of Knight’s retirement. We might also say that we want Hart to replace Mints at Mints’s retirement, and also to be with us in advance, but are happy to have him financed by C.E.D. [Committee for Economic Development] for the present.

Yntema evidently is thinking of getting Friedman shortly. We should exploit this possibility. Milton has now a great yen for a University post and would probably turn down an offer from C.E.D., even at much financial sacrifice, if a good academic post were the alternative (as it might be, at Minnesota or elsewhere). He is rather footloose—not anxious to go back either to the Treasury or to the National Bureau. We should grab him now, offering temporary joint appointment with C.E.D. and full-time, permanent appointment when he is through with C.E.D.

Friedman is young, flexible, and available potentially for a wide variety of assignments. He is a first-rate economic theorist, economic statistician, and mathematical economist, and is intensely interested over the whole range of economic policy. He has been outstanding in every organization where he has worked—here with Henry Schultz, at the National Bureau, at the Treasury, and now recently in the Army project at Columbia. Moreover, he is one of those rare cases of able young men who have enjoyed large experience and responsibility in Washington without being at all disqualified thereby for academic work.

The obvious long-term arrangement is a joint appointment with the Cowles Commission. Marschak would, I’m sure, like to have him; and Milton would like to settle into a major project of empirical research, e.g., on enterprise size and productional efficiency. Bartky may be expected strongly to support the appointment, for its strengthening of the University in statistics. The School of Business could well use Milton, to give its few advanced courses in statistics, if Yntema continues to price himself out of the University. Moreover, Milton probably would be delighted to work partly in the Law School, and be extremely useful there. In the Department, he would be available for statistics, mathematical economics, pure economic theory, taxation, and almost any field where we might need additional courses.

If University officers want outside testimony, they could get it from Randolph Paul or Roy Blough (as regards the Treasury), from Arthur F. Burns (National Bureau), from Abraham Wald, Allen Wallis, and Barky (as regards war research), and from Bunn at Wisconsin (as regards possible usefulness to the Law School)—not to mention George Stigler, Harold Groves, Wesley Mitchell, Simon Kuznets, Erwin Griswold, et al.

Perhaps the best thing about Milton, apart from his technical abilities, is his capacity for working as part of a team. He is the gregarious kind of intellectual, anxious to try out all his ideas on his colleagues and to have them reciprocate. He would doubtless be worth his whole salary, if he neither taught nor published, simply for his contribution to other people’s work and to the Department group as a whole. But he is also intensely interested in teaching, and far too industrious not to publish extensively. Our problem would be not that of finding ways to use him but that of keeping him from trying too many tasks and, especially, of leaving him enough time for his own research.

It would, I think, be good policy and good tactics to submit a major program of appointments, including [Frank W.] Fetter, Friedman, Stigler, Hart, and an economic historian (Innis or Hamilton), in the hope of getting them all within a few years, some on joint appointments with, notably, the Cowles Commission, the Law School, the School of Business (?) and, temporarily, the C.E.D. Research Staff. Such a program would serve to protect us against administration pressure for less good appointments (e.g.,  Stocking [George Ward Stocking, Sr., Ph.D. Columbia, 1925]), and from Hutchins’s alleged complaint that, while he wanted to consider major appointments in economics, the Department simply would not make recommendations. We should, in any case, err on the side of asking for more appointments than we can immediately get. Otherwise, available funds may go largely elsewhere—e.g., into Tugwell-like, lame-duck appointments, and into Industrial Relations, Agricultural Economics, and other ancillary enterprises, at the expense of the central field of economics.

There is, I trust, substantial agreement within the Department, on the men mentioned above. This fact, if fact it is, should be made unmistakably clear to the administration.

Incidentally, if we are going to explore possibilities of an appointment in American economic history (and I’m probably alone in opposing), we should do so only in co-operation with the History Department and with (from the outset) joint plans for joint appointments.

 

HCS-w

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Office of the President. Hutchins Administration. Records. Box 73, Folder “Economics Dept., 1943-45”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07613, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Fields Regulations

Chicago. Doctoral Field Exams Schedule for the Friedmans, Stigler, Wallis. 1935

Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman née Director, George Stigler, and W. Allen Wallis all took some of their doctoral field examinations at the University of Chicago in the Spring Quarter of 1935. The names of the examiners and the other examinees can be seen from the mimeographed page I found in George Stigler’s papers at the University of Chicago Archives. I have included in this post the field examination requirements for doctoral students in economics from the annual Announcements published for the 1934-35 academic year.

______________________

 Three Field Examinations for Doctorate

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

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

 

Source: Announcements. The University of Chicago. The College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1934-35, pp. 283-4.

______________________

 

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

SCHEDULE FOR PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DOCTORATE

Spring Quarter, 1935

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

Dates Examinations Committees Students Enrolled
Saturday, May 11
8:30, S.S.R. 417
Economic Theory
(New Plan)
Viner, Chairman
Schultz
Yntema
Knight
Friedman, M.
Shohan, C.J.
Stigler, G.J. (Brookings)
Wallis, W.A.
1:30, S.S.R. 417 Monetary and Cycle Theory Mints
Cox
Saturday, May 18
8:30, S.S.R. 417
Financial System and Financial Administration Mints, Chairman
Cox
Meech
Gideonse
Curtis, C.H.
Shohan, C.J.
Saturday, May 18
8:30, S.S.R. 417
Government Finance Leland, Chairman
Simons
Stigler, G.J. (Brookings)
Saturday, May 18
8:30, S.S.R. 417
Statistics Schultz, Chairman
Cover
Yntema
Director, R.
Friedman, M.
Jacoby, N.H. (Springfield)
Saturday, May 25
8:30, S.S.R. 417
Economic History Wright, Chairman
Nef
Knight
Ostrander, F.T. (Williams)
Shohan, C.J.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives, George Stigler Papers Addenda, Box 33, Folder “1935 Univ. of Chicago, Class Notes (Gray binder)”.

Image Source: Rose and Milton Friedman. From The Prodos Blog.