Tag: Mason

Harvard. Letter supporting Mason written by Taussig, 1925

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-11-03

The following memo to the Dean for the files tells us probably as much about its subject, a rising star in the Harvard economics department Edward Sagendorph Mason, as it does about what academic talent-spotters in the 1920s thought important. Of course, demonstrated academic brilliance has generally been of primary importance, but in an environment notably rich in brilliance, other qualities become distinguishing. “…he is a handsome, upstanding chap. His very appearance makes an impression on the young fellows.”

__________________________

February 12, 1925

Dear Clifford:

Carver tells me that you would welcome a line from me about E. S. Mason.

He is a very unusual fellow. His special examination for the doctorate, which he took about a week ago, by agreement of the examiners was not less than brilliant. As you know, he was three years at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and learned a lot there not merely in philosophy and letters, but in ways of handling the boys. He is one of the very best of our tutors, and one of the very best of our instructors in Economics A. And he is a handsome, upstanding chap. His very appearance makes an impression on the young fellows. It being our policy to keep men of that sort in our own service instead of putting them in a position where they cannot well help but accept a tempting offer from elsewhere, he ought to be given the very best treatment we can afford.

Cordially yours,
F. W. Taussig

Professor Clifford H. Moore

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers 1930-1961, Box 2 (American-Appointments, 1925), Folder “Appointments for 1913-26”.

Image Source: Portrait of Edward S. Mason included in the Harvard Class Album 1932.

Tags Mason, Taussig

Economists Harvard International Economics

Harvard. Economics professors who signed petition supporting Congressman Jerry O’Connell’s resolution, 1938

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-09-22

In a random search for interesting newspaper reports about the Austrian economist Gottfried Haberler during his early years on the Harvard faculty, I came upon a report of a Spanish Civil War rally held at Harvard featuring the Montana one-term Congressional democrat, Jerry O’Connell, that had taken place on March 27, 1938 in Emerson Hall. The U.S. Communist Party newspaper The Daily Worker reported that a number of Harvard faculty members signed a petition to support an anti-fascist amendment to U.S. neutrality legislation of the time. They included the economists:

Gottfried Haberler
Alvin Hansen
Wassily Leontief
Edward Mason.

The amendment would have prohibited commerce with aggressor nations [Germany and Italy] and have opened American markets to the victims of aggression [the Loyalist Republicans].

This naturally leads to questions as to why these economists took a side and why other senior colleagues did not? I presume lower ranks of the faculty (instructor-tutors) also signed the petition, but all my casual research has uncovered is found in the article transcribed below.

_______________________________

Backstory of the O’Connor Peace Bill

In March 1938 Representative Jerry O’Connell introduced a House resolution to amend the existing neutrality legislation, including the Spanish embargo. Sam McReynolds, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, initially agreed to hearings before finally refusing. James Roosevelt claimed that the hearings were stopped by the State Department to avoid public discussion of the Spanish embargo. On 24 March Breckinridge Long, employed as a lobbyist by pro-Loyalists, visited Roosevelt to argue in favor of repealing the embargo. FDR, sympathetic but noncommittal, suggested that Long talk to Hull. A week later Hull told Long that the embargo might be lifted if fascist intervention could be proved: ‘‘Hull said he would reconsider if he received sufficient factual information about Italo-German invasion in Spain—so sufficient to justify a change of policy so the president could revoke the Proclamation of Neutrality and embargo of war implements. The Spanish Ambassador today furnished him with substantial proof of alleged ‘invasion’ of Spain. Whether that is sufficient remains to be seen.’’

Long did secure a promise that the embargo issue would be placed before the president. But on 10 April Long thought that no change of policy was likely, primarily because the Loyalists looked close to military collapse. Late March was also the height of the fight in Congress over reorganizing executive agencies, and FDR was particularly reluctant at this time to engage in a violent political quarrel to lift the embargo. On 5 April Byron Scott introduced a House resolution to repeal the Spanish embargo, but this effort also failed. Hull, who favored wider neutrality reform but not the repeal of the Spanish embargo, telegraphed the U.S. embassy in Spain in early April to state that repeal was ‘‘not in prospect.’’ But a few weeks later Roosevelt was told that Senator Key Pittman, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, might act on the Spanish question. On 2 May Senator Gerald Nye introduced a resolution to allow arms sales to Loyalist Spain.

… there is little evidence that Roosevelt sought to lift the Spanish embargo in the spring or summer of 1938.

Source: Dominic Tierney. FDR and the Spanish Civil War Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle that Divided America, Chapter 7: Covert Aid. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007, pp. 92-94.

_______________________________

46 Harvard Faculty Members
Back O’Connell Peace Bill
16 Professors Among Signers of Petition

Montana Representative Main Speaker at Peace Rally in Cambridge
— Points to Danger From Reactionaries in U.S.

(Special to the Daily Worker)

BOSTON, Mass., March 27. —A group of 16 prominent Harvard professors in addition to 30 other members of the university faculty presented a petition supporting the O’Connell Peace Bill, yesterday afternoon to Representative Jerry O’Connell of Montana on the occasion of his address at a peace rally of undergraduates in Emerson Hall.

The professors who signed the petition for the Act, which would empower the President to name the aggressor nation in case of war, and apply economic sanctions against that aggressor, were:

Professors:

Arthur Holcombe—Government
Ralph Burton Perry—Philosophy
David Prall—Philosophy
Walter B. Cannon—Harvard Medical School
Hassler Whitney—Mathematics
Gordon Allport—Psychology
Gottfried Haberler—Economics
Alvin Hansen—Economics
Wassily Leontieff—Economics
Edward Mason—Economics
Kenneth Murdock—English
H. L. Blumgart—Harvard Medical School
T. Morrison—English
C. L. Kuhn—Fine Arts
Ernest Simmons—English
W. C. Greene—Classics

Speaks on Fascist Danger

In his address, Rep. O’Connell stressed the recent unparalleled spread of fascism through Europe. He pointed out the danger to American democracy from certain reactionary business interests in this country. O’Connell traced the recent development of collective security sentiment in the country and in Congress. After drawing a vivid picture of Loyalist Spain under the bombs of fascism, O’Connell urged his audience to write letters to the House Foreign Affairs Committee urging immediate consideration and passage of his Peace Act. “To keep America out of war,” he said, “keep war out of the world.”

The meeting was sponsored jointly by the Harvard Student Union (local A.S.U, chapter), the American League for Peace and Democracy, and the Cambridge Teachers’ Union.

The petition read: “We wholeheartedly support the proposed O’Connell amendment to the Neutrality Act. This amendment would prohibit commerce with aggressor nations and open American markets to the victims of aggression.”

Source: Daily Worker (New York), March 28, 1938, p. 4.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1942.

Tags Haberler, Hansen, Leontief, Mason

Economists Harvard

Harvard. Annual report on the department of economics. Dunlop, 1961-1962

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-05-26

An overview of the annual comings and goings of a department are typically chronicled in a report prepared by the department chair. Such low circulation documents are sometimes targeted to a specific readership, e.g. a visiting committee, a dean, the alumni, but the report transcribed in this post for the Harvard economics department in 1961-62 does not appear to have had a particular audience in mind.

___________________________

About Chairman John T. Dunlop
(Harvard Album, 1960)

Sallying forth from an office in the farther reaches of Littauer to Washington, D.C., JOHN THOMAS DUNLOP, Professor of Economics and faculty member in the Graduate School of Public Administration, is certainly one of the university’s most travelled professors. Dunlop, a labor expert, teaches an undergraduate course on unionism and public policy applying to labor relations and problems; in the grad school he conducts two seminars, in one of which he had worked closely with the late Professor Slichter. But in addition to his teaching, Professor Dunlop is one of the country’s leading strike arbitrators, and he figures that he travels in the vicinity of 150,000 miles a year on this outside work. The occasion for a weekly trip to the nation’s capital is his post as the impartial chairman of a joint committee in the construction industry, comprising representatives of the eighteen major unions and contracting firms. In this position Professor Dunlop must mediate disputes between the union and management. He is also a permanent umpire for the women’s garment industry and in the past has served in similar capacities for the brass companies of Connecticut and the bituminous coal producers. The dispute in 1955 involving the complexities of the ratio of required conductors to the length of a freight train called him back to the role of mediator, following a long term with the Atomic Energy Labor panel. At present he edits the Wertheim series on the histories of various big corporations and unions, and he also administers a Ford Foundation grant to study the functionings of labor and management in the underdeveloped countries of Asia.

Professor Dunlop was born in the Forty-Niner gold region and graduated from the University of California in 1935. He has been with Harvard since 1938, when he joined the faculty as an instructor. He gets back to California at least once a year, and the last time he returned he did so by travelling eastward via Indonesia. Professor Dunlop lives in Belmont, and, when not compiling mileage, he devotes his time to his wife and three children, and concentrates on his tennis game.

Source: The Harvard Album, 1960, p. 29.

___________________________

Previously posted departmental reports

Department Reports to the Dean (1932-41)
Department Reports to the Dean (1942-1946)
Department Reports to the Dean (1947-1950)
Department Report to the Dean (1955-56)
Department Newsletter (June 1960)

___________________________

June 26, 1962

Report
Department of Economics, 1961-1962

1. Staff

Professor Gerschenkron was Taussig Research Professor for the year, and Professor Albert J. Meyer, lecturer in the Department, was also on leave. Professor Galbraith and Kaysen continued on leave in government appointments. During the spring term Professor Harris was on sabbatical leave; Professor Bergson held a Ford Faculty Research Fellowship, and Professor Leontief was Visiting Professor at the College du France, Paris. Assistant Professors Gill and Vanek were also on leave throughout the year.

As a consequence of the number of senior members on leave, the Department included this year a relatively large number of visiting professors and lecturers. Professor Jesse Markham of Princeton University taught the courses in industrial organization; Dr. Frank Spooner was in charge of economic history; Professor William H. Nicholls of Vanderbilt instructed in agriculture and economic development. Professor Jacob Viner was Taussig Research Professor, and while he taught no courses, we were delighted to have him with us for the year. Professor Schmookler of Minnesota was associated with the science and public policy seminar of the Littauer School, and was a visiting lecturer in the Department. In addition, Professor Domar of M.I.T. taught a course in the Soviet economy in the spring term. Mr. Langley gave courses ordinarily taught by Professor A.J. Meyer, and Professor Caleb Smith of Brown University continued to teach the accounting course.

2. New Appointments

The Executive Committee unanimously recommended the appointment of Professor Richard Caves as a permanent addition to the Department. Following the established procedures, the governing boards on May 14, 1962 voted his appointment as Professor of Economics effective July 1, 1962. Professor Caves completed his Ph.D. degree in the Department in 1958 and has been on the staff at the University of California (Berkeley) since 1957. He has been vice-chairman of the Berkeley Department. The appointment of Professor Caves will materially strengthen the Harvard Department, particularly in the fields of international trade and industrial organization. Moreover, he is regarded as an excellent undergraduate teacher.

The Department unanimously recommended and the President and governing boards approved the appointment of four new assistant professors starting July 1, 1962: Clopper Almon, Jr., Elliot Berg, Phoebus Dhrymes, and Thomas Wilson. It is planned that these assistant professors in the Department will devote part time to research and be paid in part from research budgets. Such arrangements, combined with the higher salary scales starting July 1, 1962, should facilitate the recruitment of first rate assistant professors; it has often been difficult in the past to fill this rank in this Department.

In approving these four appointments on March 5, 1962, President Pusey stated:

“It is my understanding that these four new Assistant Professors will devote part of their five-year tenure to special research projects and that an appropriate fraction of their salaries during these periods will be charged against the project budgets. I approve in principle the idea of experimenting in this way with charging portions of the salaries of assistant professors to grants or contracts, provided these grants or contracts are of sufficient duration to avoid the danger of funds running out when there are still large salary commitments in excess of our normal academic salary budget. Thus I feel that we should move with caution in this direction, treating the above appointments as experimental, and waiting for the results to become apparent before venturing further along this road.”

3. Chair in Modern China Studies and Economics

The primary responsibility for filling this chair has now been placed in the Department of Economics. After a series of conferences with the East Asia Research Center of Harvard University, President Pusey approved the arrangements under which the Department will seek a permanent appointment competent in Economics and with a command of the Chinese language. In the meanwhile, the Department is to be responsible for providing some instruction on term appointments in the field and is to have the use of the income of the endowment for such instruction and to develop promising scholars in this field.

Professor Kuznets is to be Chairman of the Committee of the Department to seek appropriate appointments. It is expected that Mr. Dwight Perkins, a graduate student in the Department, will provide a half course of instruction on the Economy of China in the spring term, 1963.

4. Undergraduate Program

The enrollment in the undergraduate courses in the Department has grown in the last several years. The aggregate enrollment in undergraduate courses was 926 in the fall of 1959 and 1375 in the fall of 1961; the aggregate enrollment was 1080 in the spring term of 1960 and 1281 in the spring of 1962. These figures include the enrollment in Economics 1 which averaged 540 in 1959 and 628 in 1962. It is thought that these increases in part reflect the reorganization of the undergraduate program placed into effect in the fall of 1960 following several years of work on the part of the committee on undergraduate instruction. The division of full year courses into half year courses, the arrangement of courses into four groups according to prerequisites and level of difficulty, the lectures in Economics 1 and the addition to the curriculum of a few new courses is thought to have stimulated enrollment.

Despite the increases in enrollment in undergraduate courses, the Department faces a serious continuing problem to maintain and to increase the number of concentrators in the field. The percentage of all concentrators who elect the field of Economics has declined from 7.7 percent in 1956-57 to 6.0 percent in 1960-61. The low concentration in Economics at Radcliffe is of particular concern to the Department, and conferences seeking to increase interest among the students have been held with President Bunting and other members of the Radcliffe staff.

In order to improve the quality of our instruction, Economics 98 (junior tutorial) is to be reorganized. The adoption of the Gill plan by the Faculty materially increased the number of students in Economics 98 from 40 or 50 to more than 80. The instruction in economic theory by lectures has proven to be inappropriate with the larger group. Next year, 1962-63, it is planned to divide the group into three or four seminars, each of approximately 20 students; each seminar is to be under the direction of a senior member of the Department or an assistant professor. In addition, tutorial groups of four or five students will meet with individual tutors. Professor Caves has been given overall responsibility for this important part of the undergraduate program.

5. Graduate Instruction

There was a total of 48 first year graduate students in the Department this year including 5 women and 3 enrolled through Littauer. There were 88 continuing graduate students including 6 women, 6 from Littauer, and 2 in joint degrees, for a total of 136 graduate students; in addition, the Department had 10 special students and 10 special auditors. A total of 21 Ph.D. degrees were awarded to students in the Department of Economics.

The competition for places in the graduate schools for work in the Department of Economics has grown more severe in recent years. From the more than 260 applications for admission to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences received in the spring of 1962, there will only be about 45 new graduate students in the fall of 1962. Almost half of these students will be from outside the United States and Canada. For the fall of 1962 we have been able to obtain the admission of 8 out of the first 10 on our list, a considerably higher fraction than in recent years.

The Department faces strong conflicting pressures in making decisions on the number of new graduate students to be admitted. On the one hand, the Department is anxious to provide individual instruction particularly after the first year of graduate study for the highest quality students. A greater enrollment would also complicate materially the teaching of the required graduate courses in economic history, statistics and theory, and after a point would require further manpower so that two senior members of the Department might give parallel courses or sections. On the other hand, the Department is anxious to make its contribution to the increased demands for economists particularly for developing countries. Moreover the quality of a number of the students rejected for admission (perhaps as many as 15 to 20) appears to be very good. In the selection of students from abroad it is particularly difficult to know whether one has made the best selections. When students are admitted whose records turn out to be poor, there are often many complications for both the student and the University. The Department has spent considerable energy in reviewing the records of students admitted during the past decade; a careful statistical study was made under the direction of Professor Houthakker. The Department is continuing to seek to improve admission procedures.

Financial resources available to the Department for its own use for scholarships and fellowships is a serious problem since the money made available by the generous gift of Mr. Roger Kyes has now been exhausted.

6. Organization of the Department

The Department now performs much of its routine business through committees. The two major committees are on Undergraduate Instruction under Professor Eckstein and on Graduate Instruction under Professor Dorfman.

7. Research

A very large amount of research activity is carried out by members of the Department of Economics. In addition to individual research by senior members, an increasing number of research projects which employ a number of graduate students and junior staff are being conducted under the direction of senior members. These research projects often provide opportunities for training of graduate students in research methods and afford topics and financing for Ph.D. dissertations.

Among these research projects with financial support are the following:

Professor Leontief	Harvard Economic Research Project which has recently been refinanced for a period of years.
Professor Mason	The relations of government and business in economic development.
Professor Mason and Dr. Papanek	Overseas operations and training (Center for International Affairs)
Professor Kuznets	Economic growth
Professor Eckstein	Economics of public expenditures
Professor Houthakker	Forecasting consumers’ expenditures
Professor Harris	Education and Public Policy
Professor Schelling	Defense studies and Experimental Study of Bargaining
Professor Dunlop	Labor-Management History and Economics of Medical Care
Professor Duesenberry	Capital Markets
Professor Meyer	Business Decisions
Professor Bergson	Soviet Economics
Professor Gerschenkron	Economic History Workshop

8. Public and Professional Activities

A number of members of the Department were engaged in a wide variety of professional activities and public service during the year. A few instances may be of interest; no attempt is made for a complete listing.

The president of the American Economic Association comes from this Department two years in a row. Professor Mason is president for 1962, and Professor Haberler is president-elect.

Professor Leontief was chairman of the International Conference on Input-Output Techniques held in Geneva, Switzerland in September 1961 and sponsored by the Harvard Economic Research Project in association with the U.S.[sic] Secretariat. He was also a member of the Commission of Experts for the United Nations which reported on the Social and Economic Consequences of Disarmament.

Professor Dorfman served as a member of the President’s Scientific Advisory Committee team on Waterlogging and Salinity in West Pakistan. He is also a member of the President’s Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics.

Professor Harris is serving as Economic Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and is a member of the Public Advisory Board of the Area Redevelopment Program.

Professor John R. Meyer served as a consultant in connection with the President’s message on Transportation Policy.

Professor Kuznets is Chairman of the Committee on the Economy of China of the Social Science Research Council.

Professor Bergson is a member of this same Committee and chairman of the Joint Committee of Slavic Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. His study, The Real National Income of Soviet Russia Since 1928, was published in 1961 by the Harvard University Press.

Professor Mason is Chairman, Advisory Committee, A.I.D.

Professors Duesenberry, Eckstein and Smithies have been consultants to the Council of Economic Advisors. Professor Duesenberry was on the staff of the Commission on Money and Credit and was chairman of the Joint Economic Committee’s Inventory Study Committee.

Professor Schelling has been a consultant to the Department of Defense and to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Air Force. His study Strategy of Arms Control (with Morton J. Halperin), was published by the Twentieth Century Fund in 1961.

Professor Houthakker has worked on revenue forecasting problems for the Department of the Treasury.

Professor Dunlop was a member of the Presidential Railroad Commission (1960-1962), and is a member of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission. He was Chairman of the International Conference on Labor Productivity under the auspices of the International Economic Association held August-September 1961.

9. Visiting Committee

A series of meetings this year with the Chairman of the Visiting Committee, and others of its members, have improved the relations between the Visiting Committee and the Department of Economics. I believe these new attitudes are reflected in the annual report of the Committee. There is a genuine desire on the part of both the Department and the Committee for a constructive relationship.

___________________
John T. Dunlop
Chairman

Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.

Image Source: The Harvard Class Album 1960, p. 29.

Tags AlmonC, BergE, Bergson, Caves, Dhrymes, Domar, DorfmanR, Duesenberry, Dunlop, Eckstein, Galbraith, Gerschenkron, Gill, Haberler, Harris, Houthakker, Kaysen, Kuznets, Langley, Leontief, Markham, Mason, MeyerAJ, MeyerJ, Nicholls, Papanek, Perkins, Schelling, Schmookler, SmithCaleb, Smithies, SpoonerF, Vanek, Viner, WilsonT

Economists Harvard Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Annual Economics Newsletter. 1 June 1960

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-05-09

This three page departmental newsletter for Harvard economics from the end of the academic year 1959-60 is found in Edward H. Chamberlin papers curated at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Among other things we learn from this newsletter is that a year’s course “Mathematics for Economists” was able to satisfy the foreign language requirement, or expressed differently, the punishment for receiving a grade less than B in the first semester of the math course was being required to pass a rigorous foreign language examination.

Of course, finding this I wonder where I can find the first four issues of the Harvard Economics Newsletter.

___________________________

ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER
Fifth Annual Issue, June 1, 1960

UNDERGRADUATE INSTRUCTION:

The Department has been engaged in a study of its undergraduate curriculum over the past year and has now adopted a substantial series of changes in concentration requirements and, more particularly, in the undergraduate course offerings. The basic principles underlying the revisions were set out in a report of the Committee on Undergraduate Instruction under the chairmanship of Professor John Dunlop. These principles, briefly, were that the undergraduate program is “part of a liberal education” and, except in very special cases, is “not designed as professional training in Economics”; that the undergraduate program should be “clearly differentiated” from the graduate program; that the undergraduate should have as much flexibility as possible in choosing courses of interest to him; that close attention should be given to the teaching of Economics courses and to the balance of analytic and institutional material in each.

These principles clearly indicate a concern on the part of the Department that the undergraduate program may tend to become subordinate to the graduate program unless specific attention is paid to the particular interests and objectives of the younger student. The revisions, therefore, are in the direction of making a greater number of courses (particularly half-courses) open to undergraduates; breaking the traditional parallelism between graduate and undergraduate courses; and emphasizing historical, institutional and policy questions which will be of interest not only to the Economics concentrator but to able concentrators in other fields. To make certain that this greater freedom of choice does not lead to a lack of coherence, a certain “progression” has been introduced in the course offering and Honors candidates are required to take at least one “advanced” course in the area of their choice.

The sum total of these changes gives us a field of concentration which we believe will better serve the purposes of a liberal arts college. So far as undergraduate reaction is concerned, it will not be until the changes have gone into effect next year that we will be able to judge the response effectively. It is of interest, however, that the Crimson, not an altogether silent critic in the past, has called the new program a “model” which other departments might wisely study.

MATHEMATICS- LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT:

Realizing that mathematical competence is growing more important in most branches of economic work than linguistic ability, the Department has revised the language requirement in the following manner:

A full course entitled “Mathematics for Economists” has been established. All graduate students are now required to take and pass the first half of this course or pass an equivalent mathematics examination. Those who pass with at least a B may take the second half of the course, and no language will be required.

Those students who desire fluency in a foreign language or who receive a grade less than B in the first half of the mathematics course must complete the mathematics-language requirement by passing a rigorous language examination.

THE ECONOMICS OF HIGHER EDUCATION:

Professor Seymour E. Harris has been on leave this year on a Ford Fellowship, to complete the study of the Economics of Higher Education. He has visited more than 100 colleges and universities, and has submitted the following report for inclusion in this year’s Newsletter:

There were three resultant manuscripts:

More Resources for Education (John Dewey Lecture), Harpers, 1960
Economics and Educational Value. Edited volume based on seminar in 1958-59 for College Administrators. (Assisted by Richard Cooper and Reginald Green). Harvard University Press, 1960.
Economics of Higher Education, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1961.

A questionnaire sent to about 200 economists revealed attitudes towards higher education. A considerable sentiment for:

1. Higher tuition if accompanied by improved financing methods. But fear expressed of resultant excessive gains of enrollment for public institutions, increased recourse to colleges near home, a tendency to favor high income groups and endanger the position of many vulnerable private institutions.
2. General agreement that much greater recourse to loans is practical. But some economists expressed dissatisfaction with the idea that young men and women should be encouraged to borrow. Furthermore, they are unaccustomed to seeking large credits.
3. Economists generally envisaged the possibility of substantial economies — better use of plant, reduced number of courses, etc. But it was hoped that small discussion groups would not be eliminated.

PERSONNEL:

Professor Simon KUZNETS, now at Johns Hopkins, and Professor Hendrik HOUTHAKKER, now at Stanford, will join our staff next year.

Professor Otto ECKSTEIN has recently been promoted to Associate Professor of Economics. This fall he was in Washington, where he was Technical Director for the Douglas Committee investigating prices, wages, productivity, etc. Now he is in Europe working for the O.E.E.C. Professor GALBRAITH has been on leave in Switzerland for the spring term, working on a new book on corporation organization. Professor KAYSEN been working for Doxiadis Associates in Athens this year, making a study of Greek economy.

Professor James McKIE from Vanderbilt and Professor Henri THEIL from the Econometric Institute in the Netherlands have been visiting members of our staff this year.

Professor DUNLOP is President of the Industrial Relations Research Association for 1960. He has also been appointed to the President’s Committee investigating non-operating unions on the railroads.

Professor MASON has edited a book, Corporation and Modern Society. Professor DUESENBERRY has been working on his Capital Markets Project, supported by a grant from the Merrill Foundation to the Business School. Professor GERSCHENKRON’s Economic History Workshop, under a grant from the Ford Foundation, began operation in the fall of 1959.

Professor LEONTIEF gave three public lectures as Hitchcock Professor at the University of California in November 1959. Now he is in Argentina at the invitation of the University of Buenos Aires, where he is giving some lectures. He has been sent by ICA and will be there about two weeks. On the way back he will be stopping in Rio de Janeiro to give a lecture at the invitation of the Getulio Vergas Foundation.

Professor DORFMAN will be on leave next year, when he will be at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California.

The Department was saddened by the deaths of Professor SLICHTER in September 1959 and of Mrs. John H. WILLIAMS and Professor BLACK in April 1960.

Source: Economists’ Papers Archive, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.

Image Source: “Overhead of empty Harvard Sq.” (1961) Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection. Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collections Online.

Tags BlackJD, CooperRichard, DorfmanR, Duesenberry, Dunlop, Eckstein, Galbraith, Gerschenkron, Harris, Houthakker, Kaysen, Kuznets, Leontief, Mason, McKie, Slichter, Theil, WilliamsJH

Fields Harvard

Harvard. Report on Long-range Plans for the Department of Economics. 1948

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2025-05-04

The following transcribed report of a special committee regarding the future of the Harvard economics department looking forward from 1948 is fascinating. Eight senior professors would be retiring over the coming decade and there was a serious discussion of the economists needed to replace them. For my money the most interesting comparison is the one made between Arthur Smithies and Paul Samuelson. I’ll let you or your AI of choice fish that out of the report. But there is much more to be found.

_____________________________

The Provost is not amused
[No letterhead, unsigned.
Apparently a copy.]

December 22, 1947

Dear Mr. Burbank:

I am not at all happy with the recommendation sent me by the Department of Economics and the School of Public Administration for the appointment at professorial rank of a man to serve jointly in the Department and in the School. As you realize, the five votes taken by the group reveal a confused picture in which no clear preference is indicated. Nor have I been successful in clarifying the situation by requesting from each member of the group a letter addressed to me in which he explained fully his vote. Hence I believe it necessary to suggest a different procedure from that which has been followed.

One source of the difficulty, it occurs to me, is that the recommendation for the joint appointment has not been studied sufficiently in relation to the other vacancies which are to be filled within the next year or two. As you know, the Department has, in addition to the joint professorship, a vacancy in the rank of full professorship created by the resignation of Professor Crum, and one in the rank of associate professorship. It also has due it in 1950-51 a second vacancy as associate professor. Hence it appears that within a short span, the Department has four major appointments to make. It goes without saying that those appointments will influence in great measure the future of economics at Harvard for many years to come. The importance of making wise selections cannot be lost sight of.

It seems to me that we must consider all these appointments as a related problem. Consequently I shall take no action on the recommendation for the joint appointment until the Department has thought through its entire slate. No evidence has been given me yet which suggests that the Department has worked out a consistent plan or program into which all these appointments can be fitted and which meets, within the resources available, the demands which the Faculty as a whole may properly make upon the Department of Economics.

I have no desire to lecture the Department as to its obligations, but I do have certain responsibilities to discharge as Dean of the Faculty. Hence I venture to suggest that there are certain questions which may reasonably and properly be directed to the Department for an answer. Among those questions are the following:

What is your concept of teaching and research within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences?
What fields will you cover, within the resources at your command, in carrying out the answer to the first question?
Are you properly discharging your obligations to your sister departments of the Faculty and to the programs which the Faculty has legislated as common ventures?
Do your specific recommendations harmonize with a general plan and program?

I understand fully that these are no easy questions to answer and that the difficulty of finding an answer is a prime factor in creating the present state of confusion. But I suspect that more preliminary efforts to answer the questions might have reduced the degree of confusion. Certainly so long as the basic issues are not clarified, the discussion of individuals to be appointed breaks down into fragmentary views.

I am also distressed by the fact that many of the professors in the Department have informed me that they do not consider themselves either willing or competent to serve as Chairman of the Department when your term expires in June. One conclusion which might be drawn from this situation is that the Department as now constituted needs some recruitment from men competent and willing to think of economics in general, and of the relation of economics to the faculty at large and to the world outside the university.

I must also report a sense of uneasiness among members of the Faculty in other Departments, that the Department of Economics is showing a tendency not to give due weight in the filling of its vacancies to common programs. If there is cause for this apprehension, I should be quite dismayed. At a time when the Faculty as a whole gives indication of the need in teaching and research for ever greater cooperation between disciplines of learning, it would be regrettable if the Department of Economics adhered to narrow and vertical procedures. To make the point quite specific, I might inquire what the Department of Economics plans to do in regard to Economic History and to the Area Program in Russian.

I also wonder whether in your immediate desire to fill the vacancies with men now available, you have given proper consideration to the range of younger men coming to maturity in your field. I have, for example, observed two young economists now in the Society of Fellows who seem to me to have ultimate promise of achievement greater than that of at least some of the men now available. There must be many other such men in the University and elsewhere. It would seen wise in any general approach to the problem to give assurance that proper consideration had been made in our appointment schedule for the generation of economists now coming to maturity.

These are some of the matters I have in mind, both general and particular, which incline me to the decision that we should follow an approach in handling these appointments different from the one followed to date. I fear that the approach followed so far is leading into an impasse from which the only escape will be the making of something less than the wisest appointments. Hence I suggest a change of procedure and ask first that the Department present me, in advance of any specific recommendation, with a statement which deals with the questions raised earlier in this letter. Recommendations may accompany this document, but they will not be accepted without it and unless they are shown to have meaning in relation to it.

Finally, the time has come, I believe, when I must personally associate myself with the development of this program. I am therefore arranging a dinner and evening meeting in the rooms of the Society of Fellows on January 21 at 6:30 p.m. to which I shall invite each member of the Executive Committee (all Professors and Associate Professors) of the Department. I shall preside at this meeting, and we shall begin then discussion of the issues outlined in this letter. Needless to say that because of the urgency of the matter, I shall expect a full attendance of the Executive Committee at the dinner.

I am sending a copy of this letter to each Professor and Associate Professor of the Department.

Sincerely yours,
[Unsigned by Paul H. Buck]
Provost

Professor H. H. Burbank
Littauer Center

_____________________________

C O N F I D E N T I A L

REPORT ON LONG-RANGE PLANS
FOR THE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
(REVISED EDITION)

February 25, 1948

The Task of the Committee

In his letter of December 22, 1947, to the Chairman of the Department of Economics [Professor Harold H. Burbank], the Provost [Professor Paul H. Buck] raised a series of questions concerning the long-run plans for the growth and development of the Department. Any future appointments clearly ought to be related to a comprehensive study of the needs and objectives of the Department.

The questions posed by the Provost were as follows:

1. What is your concept of teaching and research within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences?
2. What fields will you cover, within the resources at your command, in carrying out the answer to the first question?
3. Are you properly discharging your obligations to sister departments of the Faculty and to the programs which the Faculty has legislated as common ventures?
4. Do your specific recommendations harmonize with a general plan and program?

Following an evening meeting on January 21, 1948, with the Executive Committee of the Department, the Provost appointed a committee of five to consider the above questions and to prepare a report on long-run plans for the Department. The Committee was also directed to recommend appointments for existing vacancies in the light of such a comprehensive survey of long-range problems. Four appointments are under consideration at this time: (1) a full professor replacement for Professor Crum, (2) a full professor to be appointed jointly in the Department and in the Littauer School of Public Administration, (3) an associate professor available July 1, 1948, and (4) an associate professor normally not available until July 1, 1951, but who might be appointed at an earlier date.

The Prospective Situation in the Department

The growth of the Department in recent years is indicated in the following tabulation of the number of permanent positions and the number of undergraduate and graduate students for selected years since 1925.

Year	Permanent Positions	Undergraduate Concentrators	Graduate Students*
1925-26	10	324	75
1930-31	14	397	82
1935-36	13	376	47
1940-41	16	321	102
1947-48	17	726	264

* Prior to 1940, graduate students with Corporation appointments were not required to register in the Graduate School. The graduate figures for 1940-41 and 1947-48 include Joint Degree and Littauer School candidates who take most of their work in Economics.
Radcliffe students are included in the figures only for 1947-48.

The Department of Economics may reasonably anticipate the retirement of one-half of its present permanent members by June 30, 1958. On the normal assumption that retirement takes place at age sixty-six, eight of the sixteen present permanent members may be expected to become emeritus during the next ten years. The members of the Department who are, and are not, expected to retire before 1958 are indicated in the following lists. (The dates of birth are given after each name.)

Expected Retirement by 1958		Active Status Expected, Fall 1958
A.P. Usher	January 13, 1883	E. Frickey	August 20, 1893
J.A. Schumpeter	February 8, 1883	S.E. Harris	September 8, 1897
J.D. Black	June 6, 1883	O.H. Taylor	December 11, 1897
A.E. Monroe	August 2, 1885	E.S. Mason	February 22, 1899
J.H. Williams	June 21, 1887	E.H. Chamberlin	May 18, 1899
H.H. Burbank	July 3, 1887	G. Haberler	July 20, 1900
A.H. Hansen	August 23, 1887	W.W. Leontief	August 5, 1905
S.H. Slichter	January 8, 1892	J.T. Dunlop	July 5, 1914

The Department can look forward, under the existing rules of the University, to a total of six new permanent appointments, including the four now under consideration during this ten-year period. The Department can also expect the appointment of an economist to the Lamont University Professorship upon the retirement of Professor Slichter. Accordingly, the Department can expect to retain a total of fifteen permanent appointments in the academic year 1958-59 in comparison with the seventeen permanent members during the current academic year (the above list plus Professor Crum). (The number of permanent members of the staff may at any given time be larger than retirement dates would indicate by reason of extension of normal term of service.)

These expected changes in the personnel of the Department over the next ten-year period indicate clearly the decisive nature of the appointments now under deliberation. Four of the six expected appointments are under study. The distinction and reputation of the Department for many years to come is at stake. It is imperative that every effort be made to appraise the needs and opportunities of the Department during the next decade and to canvass with insight all possible candidates.

The Place of the Department in the Faculty

The first question posed by the Provost in his letter of December 22, 1947, was: “What is your concept of teaching and research within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences?” The Committee makes the following points in a re-examination of the role of the Department.

(a) The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has embarked on programs of General Education and Area Studies [e.g., Russian Studies]. The Department of Economics has a substantial and distinctive contribution to make to each of these experiments: the development of a common core of a liberal education and the integration of different disciplines around the problems of a significant geographical area.

(b) The past twenty years have witnessed an unprecedented expansion in the need for economists in a variety of positions outside the academic world — government service, business concerns, research organizations, labor and farm groups, consulting practice and economic reporting. The Department of Economics needs to develop a more flexible graduate program to meet this more diversified demand in cooperation with other Departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and with various Graduate Schools in the University. The recognition of these broader objectives will supplement rather than detract from the training of economists for academic posts.

(c) The balance between graduate and undergraduate instruction in Economics is always a delicate adjustment. Indeed, the Provost has recently indicated that the strength and prestige of Harvard College lies in the fact that we are truly a “University College.” The Committee has analyzed the relative proportion of the time of its permanent members devoted to graduate and undergraduate course instruction for selected years since 1925. The permanent staff of the Department gave more courses for undergraduates in 1947-48 than in 1925-26. The proportion of all course time devoted to undergraduate instruction, however, has been reduced in this same period from a half to little more than a third. In other words, the increased permanent manpower of the Department over this period (permanent positions increased from ten to seventeen) has been devoted largely to graduate instruction.

The following table compares the number of courses “taught” or “supervised” by permanent members of the Department for undergraduates with the offering of courses for graduate students for selected dates. Comparative figures are also presented for the History and Government Departments.

Courses of Instruction by Permanent Staff
	Economics		History		Government
Dates	Undergrad.	Grad.	Undergrad.	Grad.	Undergrad.	Grad.
1925-26	8 ½	8 ½	14	12	6 ½	8
1930-31	9	11 ¾	14	22 ¾	5	9 ½
1935-36	8 ¾	12	15 ¼	31	5 ¼	10 ¼
1940-41	9 ¾	19 ½	14	13 ½	7 ¼	19 ¾
1947-48	12 ½	22	15	10 ½	9	9

These figures would appear to indicate that graduate course instruction has expanded in Economics relatively to undergraduate course instruction and also relative to the experience of graduate instruction in other departments. It should be noted, however, that the large increase in graduate courses after 1935/36 was associated with the establishment of the Graduate School of Public Administration which affected both the Department of Economics and the Department of Government.

These data on course offering need to be interpreted in terms of graduate enrollment and undergraduate concentration. The following table presents this information. The figures indicate the incidence of the postwar expansion in University enrolment upon the burden of instruction in Economics and allied departments.

Undergraduate Concentrators and Graduate Students
	Economics		History		Government
Dates	Undergrad.	Grad.	Undergrad.	Grad.	Undergrad.	Grad.
1925-26	324	75	190	—	113	45
1930-31	397	82	254	138	130	56
1935-36	376	47	283	104	292	38
1940-41	321	102	272	146	314	76
1947-48	726	264	321	207	763	129

The Committee believes that undergraduate instruction in Economics in the past two years has suffered materially by the suspension of the tutorial system. The assistant professor rank in which there is normally considerable contact with undergraduates has not been fully manned in recent years. The Committee believes that undergraduate instruction needs to receive more attention in the Department, not so much by more courses given by permanent members but by rebuilding a strong group of younger teachers in the assistant professor and annual instructor rank.

Assuming the number of the permanent staff at present contemplated to be fixed, the size of the graduate student body in Economics must be reduced from its present size of more than 260 if members of the Department are to fulfill their total obligations to the University and if a more diversified graduate student body is to receive adequate instruction and supervision. The Committee suggests a figure of 200 graduate students — twice the pre-war level — as a normal standard for the period under review. The rate of admission planned for the Fall term, 1948, will eventually yield a student body close to this figure. It is impossible at this time to foresee whether the numbers of qualified graduate students seeking economic instruction at Harvard will substantially exceed 200 after the special circumstances accounting for the present large numbers have been eliminated. If, as may well happen, the demand on the part of first-rate men and women for graduate instruction in economics exceeds the capacity of the staff as at present planned, it may indicate a need for revision of plans of instruction in economics.

(d) There is imperative need for more systematic development of research plans in Economics and for financial arrangements whereby permanent members may be relieved of all duties for periods of a term to pursue research on a full-time basis. Research grants should be used in part to secure substitute instruction. Several research projects which provide a practicable model for the expansion of research have recently been undertaken by members of the Department. Individual members of the Department should be encouraged to organize specific research projects and solicit support, in cooperation with the University administration. These projects should make provision for full-time leave for a term whenever possible. Such projects, moreover, may well become a training center for the most advanced students.

(e) The Department of Economics should expect a continuation of the distinguished tradition of participation by many of its members in wider forms of service to the community — government service, consultation to business and industry, private arbitration, private research organizations, etc. A danger exists, however, that these activities may consume too large a proportion of the time and energy of members of the staff. A devotion to productive scholarship should be an indispensable requirement of every appointee.

In making appointments the Department must be concerned to choose men with the energy and capacity for developing these outside interests and contacts. The Department has not only an obligation to the world of scholarship but also a unique responsibility for leadership at the many points where Economics has a contribution to make to the world of affairs.

The Urgent Needs of the Department

The second question posed by the Provost in his letter of December 22, 1947, asked: “What fields will you cover, within the resources at your command, in carrying out the answer to the first question?” When the objectives for the Department outlined in the preceding section are considered in conjunction with the present personnel and the retirement pattern outlined in Section 2 above, the following needs of the Department appear to be the most urgent. (The listing of these requirements at this point does not imply any particular hierarchy of urgency.)

(a) Economic History. This field has been a required part of the graduate program in Economics for many years. Moreover, for over half a century instruction in this area has been located in the Economics Department. The retirement of Professor Usher requires that provision be made for this field in any comprehensive plan for the Department.

(b) Agriculture and Marketing. Professor Black has developed work in two fields: (1) The Economics of Agriculture and Land Use Planning, and (2) Marketing and Distribution. Ideally two men would be required to carry on this work.

(1) Agriculture. The Committee is of the opinion that work in the Economics of Agriculture and Land Use Planning is indispensable. Research and training in this field have constituted a major contribution of the Department. Moreover, the agricultural field is of particular concern in the School of Public Administration.

(2) Marketing. The Committee reluctantly concludes that, under present prospects and despite the importance of work in marketing and distribution, it is unlikely that one of the few appointments available can be allocated in this field. It may be that the field of Business Organization can be reorganized to permit the inclusion of some portion of the work in the present field of Marketing and Distribution.

(c) General Education and the Area Program. It is imperative that the Department take an active part in the formulation and development of these new programs. The availability of half-time appointments from the General Education and Area budgets would permit the Department of Economics to make two appointments (of half-time each) for one budget vacancy. That is, the appointment of two men, a half time of one in an Area and of the other in General Education, might fill one of the vacancies in the Economics Department.

(d) Business Organization. The resignation of Professor Crum and the administrative responsibilities of Professor Mason make an appointment in this area urgent. Moreover, the field constitutes one of the largest areas of undergraduate and graduate concentration.

(e) Public Policy. The systematic development of the field of the Economic Aspects of Public Policy is essential to the growth of the Graduate School of Public Administration. One of the appointments available at this time has been explicitly earmarked for this purpose.

(f) Public Finance. The retirement of Professor Burbank in the period indicates the necessity for providing for work in this area. The field is indispensable both to the Economics Department and the Graduate School of Public Administration.

(g) Statistics. The burden of instruction in the field of Statistics is heavier than one man should be asked to assume. In addition to undergraduate and graduate courses, this required field involves participation in virtually all general examinations. Ideally instruction should be provided in the field of national income and mathematical statistics. If an additional appointment is not devoted exclusively to this field, consideration should be given to the recruitment of men able to develop such statistical instruction as a part of their program.

(h) Department Chairman. The Department is required to give serious weight in making appointments to qualities which make for a successful Chairman. The Department is so large as to place very heavy administrative responsibilities on its Chairman. The Department should have in its ranks a number of persons qualified to perform the duties of Chairman so that the burden on one individual over the years is not unreasonable.

The Committee believes that the Department should examine its internal operations to determine whether an administrative reorganization might not facilitate the effectiveness of the work of the Department. A systematic survey could be made of such duties as: counselling graduate students, placement, recruitment of superior students, and the supervision of Economics A and the junior teaching staff. Careful study should be given to the possibility of delegating more responsibility to standing committees of the Department.

While the Committee has emphasized, and it believes properly, certain specific needs of the Department, the overriding need, which should take precedence in all appointments, is for able men. If a first-rate man cannot be found in a specific field, it is better either to neglect the field or to divert the attention of existing personnel to this field than to fill the vacancy with second-rate material.

The Committee believes that the answer to the Provost’s third question, “Are you properly discharging your obligations to sister departments of the Faculty and to the programs which the Faculty has legislated as common ventures?”, must, at present, be “no.” It considers, however, that the addition of the personnel suggested below will, together with some reallocation of the time of present officers, enable the Department to meet these obligations.

A consideration of the Provost’s fourth question, “Do your specific recommendations harmonize with a general plan and program?” leads directly to a discussion of the proposed appointments.

Recommendations

(a) The Committee recommends that one appointment at the associate professorship level be utilized in the following manner: that Alexander Gerschenkron be invited on the understanding that the Department assume the responsibility for half his salary, the Russian area assuming responsibility for the other half; that John Sawyer, now a Junior Fellow, be appointed to an assistant professorship at the end of 1948-49, on the understanding that the responsibility for half his salary be assumed either by General Education or the Department of History.

Gerschenkron is one of the two best economists in the country now working on Russian problems, the other being Abram Bergson of Columbia University. Gerschenkron has the advantage of being an economic historian. Consequently, his appointment would enable the Department to take care not only of instruction and research in Russian economics but also to replace Professor Usher’s work in European economic history on his retirement.

Sawyer is an historian of an intellectual ability fully equal to that of our own Junior Fellows, Tobin and Kaysen. He has evinced an interest in cultivating the field of American economic history and also of working in General Education. Since Sawyer’s prospects in the History Department are extremely good, it would be necessary to assure him, on appointment as an assistant professor, that a clear road to advancement exists in the Department, if he shows the competence the Department expects of him.

These two appointments, which would fill one vacancy, would go far towards meeting the Department’s obligations toward the Russian area and toward General Education as well as taking care of economic history.

(b) The Committee feels that the vacancy left by the resignation of Professor Crum must be filled and that the best candidate available is Sidney Alexander, now an assistant professor. Although Alexander’s publication to date does not justify promotion, he has an impressive series of contributions due for publication during the next year which will make him an eminently qualified candidate for promotion by the end of the academic year 1948-49. The Committee therefore believes that one of the vacancies at the associate professorship level should be reserved for the advancement of Professor Alexander.

(c) In many ways the most serious and difficult problem confronting the Committee concerns the replacement of the work now carried on by Professor Black. The research and training program in agricultural economics and land use is an asset of great worth both to the Department of Economics and to the Graduate School of Public Administration.

The Committee understands that before the date set for Professor Black’s retirement the Administration will request him to continue his services to the University for a number of years. It therefore believes that some four to five years are available in which to select a man fully capable of carrying on Professor Black’s work. The Committee believes that there are a number of able young men in the field of agricultural economics who might be secured at the assistant professorship level. The Committee therefore recommends that one or more of these candidates be brought to Harvard and that the next two or three years be utilized to survey the field, including such men as are brought here at lower than permanent rank, to assure the selection of the best possible man.

(d) If one position is filled by Gerschenkron and Sawyer, and another is reserved for Alexander, there remain two positions at the professorial level. These positions might be treated in any one of the following ways:

(1) Both positions could be filled at once;

(2) One position could be filled now and the other held vacant for Professor Black’s successor;

(3) One position could be filled, the other held vacant pending the appearance of a suitable candidate not necessarily in the field of agricultural economics. In this case it must be assumed that the vacancy caused by Professor Black’s retirement would be filled from the appointment accruing to the Department in 1954, which appointment might be advanced in time. It should also be recognized that this appointment might have to be at the professorial level which would involve a departure from present University policy.

In considering the possibility of filling both vacancies now, the Committee was heavily influenced by the desirability of maintaining balance in the Department not only as among various fields of interest but as among types of mind and of methodological approaches to economic problems. In this connection the Committee considered carefully the qualifications of both Smithies and Samuelson. While of the opinion that each of these men might individually be considered intellectually superior to the rest of the field, the Committee feels strongly that the addition of both would give a particular stamp to the Department that should, if possible, be avoided. Both of these men are, in a sense, system builders, concerned with the logical and mathematical interrelations of the elements of their systems. Neither has done much empirical work. Smithies has shown recently a concern for, and an interest in, institutional developments and public policy. Moreover, he has had extensive experience in government service. The Committee believes that while each of these men is pre-eminent in his type of work the two together do not make a satisfactory combination.

The problem then narrows down to the question of Samuelson or Smithies and someone else. The Committee considers that the interests and type of mind represented either by Richard Bissel or Colin Clark would effectively supplement the Smithies-Samuelson characteristics. No effective way of communicating with Clark suggested itself to the Committee, and there is certain evidence to support the view that he would not be available. It appears that Bissel may not be available at this time. If his views change in the near future, the Committee considers him its first choice.

Of other possibilities the Committee discussed at length the qualifications of Galbraith, Yntema, David Wright, Albert Hart, Donald Wallace, and others. For various reasons, too lengthy here to enumerate, none of these candidates seemed first-rate possibilities.

The Committee therefore recommends that one of the professorial positions be held vacant for the time being pending the appearance of a satisfactory candidate. As to the relative merits of Smithies and Samuelson, the Committee, after deliberating at length, favors Smithies. While recognizing that Samuelson has in his field of activity a better record than anyone near his age in any field, the Committee was heavily influenced by the probability that Smithies’ contribution to the needs of the Department would be substantially greater. He appears to be an ideal man to develop the work in the School of Public Administration on Economic Analysis and Public Policy; he appears to be an eminently satisfactory man to take over the work in Public Finance on Professor Burbank’s retirement; he is clearly a man who would make an able Departmental Chairman. In addition he is competent to develop work in advanced statistics should the Department consider this desirable. For these reasons, and others, the Committee recommends the appointment of Smithies.

Paul H. Buck, Chairman
John T. Dunlop
Wassily Leontief
Edward S. Mason
John H. Williams

Source: Duke University, Economists’ Papers Archive, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers. Box 17, Folder “Economics Department Faculty, 1944-47.”

Image Source: Harvard Seal detail from the cover of the Harvard Law School Yearbook 1949.

Tags Alexander, Bergson, Bissel, BlackJD, Burbank, Chamberlin, ClarkC, Crum, Dunlop, Frickey, Galbraith, Gerschenkron, Haberler, Harris, HartAB, Kaysen, Leontief, Mason, Monroe, Samuelson, SawyerJ, Schumpeter, Smithies, TaylorOH, Tobin, Usher, WallaceDH, WilliamsJH, WrightD, Yntema

Economic History Economists Gender Harvard

Radcliffe/Harvard. Ph.D. economic history alumna Esther Clark Wright, 1931

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-10-22

Today we meet the Canadian Radcliffe/Harvard Ph.D. in economic history (1931), Esther Clark Wright. A link to her list of publications will be found below. The main artifact for this post consists of transcriptions of documents in her graduate record in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

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

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

Esther Clark Wright, May 4, 1895, Fredericton, N.B., Canada.

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

1912-1916. Acadia University.
1918. Toronto University.
1920-21. Oxford University.
1926–. Radcliffe College.

Fredericton High School. 1920,1922-23. English and History.
Moulton Ladies College, 1923. History and Latin.
Harvard. Assistant in Business History, 1927.

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

B.A. Acadia, 1916. Honors in Economics.

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

History, 1 yr.
Economics and Sociology 3 yrs.
Greek and Latin, 4 yrs. each.
French and German, 1½ yrs each.
Philosophy, 1 yr.
Logic and Ethics, 1 yr.
Psychology, 1 yr..

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

Economics.

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

Economic Theory. S7a. Ec. 11. Courses at Toronto and Stanford (not registered).
Labor Problems. Ec 34. Seminary at Toronto. Private reading..
Socialism and Social Reconstruction. Ec. 7b. Private reading.
Canadian History. Course at Toronto. Private reading. (Special Topic: The Settlement of New Brunswick). Teaching.
[Sociology] Ec. 12. Course at Toronto. (Course credit).
(Economic History since 1750) Ec 2. Ec 20. Course at Oxford. Assistant in Business History at Business School.

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Economic History since 1750.

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

The Genesis of the Civil Engineer. A Study in the Economic History of Great Britain, 1760-1830. Professor Gay..

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

April 28 or 30, 1930. General.
Special, Tues May 19/31

X. Remarks

Professors Gay, Ripley, Mason, [Dr.] Furber, Chamberlin

Special Committee: Professors Gay, Usher, and Dr. Monroe

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

[signed] H. H. Burbank

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

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Esther Clark Wright

Approved: December 10, 1929

Ability to use French certified by Professor A. E. Monroe, March 8, 1930.

Ability to use German certified by Professor A. E. Monroe, November 6, 1930.

Date of general examination April 30, 1930. Passed (Edwin F. Gay, Chairman)

Thesis received April 1, 1931

Read by Professors Gay and Usher

Approved June 1, 1931.

Date of special examination Monday, June 8, 1931. Passed. (Edwin F. Gay, Chairman)

Recommended for the Doctorate June 4, 1931

Degree conferred June 17, 1931

Remarks. [left blank]

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

General Examination,
date and examiners requested
[carbon copy]

April 21, 1930.

Dear Sir:

Will it be possible for you to serve as a member of the committee for the general examination in Economics of Mrs. Esther Wright on Wednesday, April 30, at four o’clock? Mrs. Wright’s fields for this examination are:

Economic Theory and its History.
Labor Problems.
Socialism and Social Reconstruction.
Canadian History.

Mrs. Wright’s special field is Economic History since 1750 and she is offering course credit in Sociology.

The committee consists of Professors Gay (chairman), Chamberlin, Mason, Ripley, and Dr. Furber.

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

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

Change of thesis title
[carbon copy]

June 6, 1931

My dear Mrs. Wright:

Professor Gay has asked me to tell you that he would like you to change the title of your thesis to

The Genesis of the Civil Engineer in Great Britain

As it is desirable to have this done before the examination, could you attend to it on Monday? The thesis is in my office.

Very sincerely yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary

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

Radcliffe College

College Record of Mrs. Esther Clark Wright.

SUBJECT	GRADE
1926-27	Course	Half-Course
Economics 2	A minus

SUBJECT	GRADE
1927-28 2hf.	Course	Half-Course
Economics 20″ Prof. Gay	A minus

SUBJECT	GRADE
1928-29	Course	Half-Course
Economics 20 Prof. Gay	A minus
Economics 34″		A
Economics 7b”		A

SUBJECT	GRADE
1929-30	Course	Half-Course
Economics 11
Economics 12

A.B. Acadia University 1916

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics, Ph.D. Degrees Conferred 1930-31. (UA V 453.270), Box 11.

__________________________

Course Names and Instructors

1926-27

Economics 2. Economic History since the Industrial Revolution. Professor Gay.

1927-28

Economics 20. Economic Research. Professor Gay.

1928-29

Economics 20. Economic Research. Professor Gay.

Economics 34. Problems of Labor. Professor Ripley.

Economics 7b. Programs of Social Reconstruction. Asst. Professor E. S. Mason.

1929-30

Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.

Economics 12. Some Fundamental Problems in Economic and Social Theory. Professor Carver.

Source: Radcliffe College Catalogue [for] 1926-27, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30.

_______________________

Some of her personal backstory

…After her undergraduate study at Acadia, she studied at the University of Toronto and then at Oxford. Her studies at Oxford were cut short after just one year by her younger brother’s illness, which ended his life in October 1921. It was on the journey back to Fredericton from Oxford that she met her future husband, Conrad Payling Wright.

The courtship between the two comprised largely of correspondence over the next two years and culminated in their marriage, in 1924, on the family farm outside of Fredericton. This was unusual at the time because her family held positions of esteem in the local congregation and thus they were expected to marry in a church. After marriage, Esther Clark Wright moved to California where her husband was studying at Stanford University. She soon discovered that she was unable to have children which, though devastating, enabled her to pursue her academic studies and research at liberty. She joined her husband at Stanford, and then following that she studied at Radcliffe (Harvard University), where she graduated with a PhD in economics in 1931.

Back in Fredericton, her father had risen through the political ranks, beginning as mayor of Fredericton and eventually becoming the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. He had also opened several car dealerships in anticipation of the coming demand for automobiles. Her family’s prosperity ensured that Wright never had to depend on any other income to maintain her material comfort and this enabled her to spend time pursuing her research. This also provided her with much more independence in marriage than her female contemporaries enjoyed. Her relationship with her husband was tumultuous with the two of them often maintaining separate residences throughout their sixty-five-year marriage….

Source: New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia website article “Esther Isabelle (Clark) Wright”.

__________________________

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright’s publications, 1914-1988.

__________________________

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright
Timeline of her life and career

1895. Born May 4 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

1916. B.A. Acadia University (Wolville, Nova Scotia). Honors in Economics.

1924. July 31. Married Conrad Payling Wright.

1931. Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. Dissertation: “The Genesis of the Civil Engineer in Great Britain, 1760-1830.”

1943-47. Lectured in sociology at Acadia University.

1975. Honorary D. Litt. awarded by Acadia University

1981. Honorary Ll.D. awarded by Dalhousie University.

1984. Honorary D. Litt. awarded by the University of New Brunswick.

1990. Died June 17

1990. Posthumously awarded Order of Canada. “A prolific author and respected scholar, her excellent research has been used by many students, historians and genealogists studying Maritime history, particularly the Loyalist migration, or tracing family roots.”

Image Source: Esther Isabelle Clark from the Acadia University Class of 1916 photo.

Tags Chamberlin, Gay, Mason, Monroe, Ripley, Usher, WrightEC

Development Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Development, Theory and Problems. Hainsworth, Bell and Papanek, 1960-1961

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-05-31

The announced cast of instructors for “Theories and Problems of Economic Development” offered at Harvard in 1960-61 was headlined by Professors Edward S. Mason and John Kenneth Galbraith. With the election of John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Presidency, all sorts of staff adjustments became necessary in the economics department and the graduate school of public administration, e.g. Galbraith took leave beginning the second semester to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to India. I don’t know why Mason changed his teaching plans, but I figure his Dean duties might have played a role.

The actual staffing for this course in 1960-61 is recorded in the staffing and enrollment information published in the annual report of the President of Harvard College also transcribed here. The course was the economics department offering that ran parallel to the Graduate School of Public Administrations seminar on the same subject.

This post begins with biographical information for the three course instructors: Geoffrey Brian Hainsworth, David E. Bell and Gustav Papanek.

The course outline and reading list is probably what had been originally planned/approved by Mason and Galbraith, though that is merely a presumption to be sure. Only the final exam for the first semester was found in the collection of economics exams in the Harvard Archive.

In preparing this post I learned that Gustav Papanek had been one of many academics purged from government service during the McCarthy years. The 2019 BBC story “How we endured the McCarthy purges in US” mentions his case and is the source of the photo of young Gus Papanek.

__________________________

Who’s Who
1960-61

HAINSWORTH, Geoffrey Brian, academic; b. Bramley, Yorkshire, Eng., 1934; B.S. in Econ., London Sch. of Econ., 1955; Ph.D., U. Calif. at Berkeley, 1960.
DOC. DIS. “Classical Theories of Overseas Development,” 1960. PUB. Japan’s Decision to Develop, 1969; Economic Development in South-East Asia, 1969; “The Lorenz Curve as a General Tool of Economic Analysis,” Econ. Record, Sept. 1964:
RES. Manufacturing Development and Economic Growth in Southeast Asia; Text on Economic Development with special reference to Asia.
Instr. econ., Harvard, 1958-61, tutor Lowell House, 1958- 61; asso. with Pakistan and Iran Advisory Project, 1958-61; research fellow, Australian Nat’l U., 1961-65; asst. prof., Williams Coll., 1965-68, U. British Columbia since 1968.

Source: American Economic Association, List of Members, 1969 p. 173.

In Memoriam:
Professor emeritus Geoffrey Hainsworth
1934 – 2011

Geoffrey was born in Bramley, Yorkshire. In 1952 he received a state scholarship to attend the University of London, graduating from the London School of Economics in 1954 and receiving the Allyn Young Honours Prize. A Fulbright Scholars grant enabled him to obtain his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, his thesis being classical theories of overseas development, a subject he pursued throughout his working life. He taught at Harvard from 1958 to 1960 while supervising the study program for foreign service fellows under the Harvard Development Advisory Service, along with participation in Pakistan’s Second Five‑Year Plan. He spent 1960 to 1965 as a research fellow and instructor at the Australian National University in Canberra, with research work in Papua New Guinea. His three children were born in Canberra. Returning to the US, he taught at Williams College in Massachusetts while supervising specially selected mature foreign student fellows at the Centre for Economic Development. Geoffrey started his career at UBC in 1968, where he founded the Centre for Southeast Asia Studies, retiring as its director in 2001. He was one of a select Canadian Educators Group invited in 1976 to visit institutions in China. He organized the first international conference for Southeast Asian Studies in 1979 and was twice elected president of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies. He was greatly respected and valued by colleagues in Canada and abroad, having lived in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam working with their governmental agencies and their universities. Dedicated to equality, justice and compassion, he touched the lives of many. Learning, understanding and laughter was his way.

Source: The University of British Columbia Magazine.

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

PAPANEK, Gustav F., academic; b. Vienna, Austria, 1926; B.S., Cornell U., 1947; M.A., Harvard, 1949, Ph.D., 1951.
DOC. DIS. Food Rationing in Britain, 1939-1945, 1950.
PUB. Pakistan’s Development – Social Goals and Private Incentives, 1967; Development Policy – Theory and Practice (ed.), 1968.
RES. Development Policy II – The Pakistan Experience. Dep. chief, Program Planning for S. & S.E. Asia, Dept. of State, Tech. Cooperation Adm., 1951-54; actg. project dir. & advr., Harvard Advisory Group to Planning Commn., Pakistan, 1954-58; dep. dir., Dev. Advry. Service, 1958-65, dir. since 1965.

Source: American Economic Association, List of Members, 1969 p. 332.

Gustav Fritz Papanek
d. September 20, 2022

Professor Gustav Fritz Papanek, died peacefully at his home in Lexington, MA on September 20, 2022. Gus, the husband of the late Hanna Kaiser Papanek was born in Vienna, Austria on July 12, 1926, the son of the late Dr. Ernst Papanek and Dr. Helene Papanek. His father was a committed social democrat and educator who was forced into exile in 1935 as the impending storm approached in Germany and Austria. His mother, a physician, looked after Gus and his late brother, George as Ernst evaded persecution. As Socialists and Jews, the family fled initially to France where Ernst ran homes for refugee children. Gus met his future wife Hanna when they were 13 years old in one of the children’s homes. With the impending fall of France, the family knew that Europe was no longer safe for them and in 1940 with the support of the International Rescue Committee they made it to New York. Gus frequently reminisced about teaching English during the journey and sailing into New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty.

Gus graduated from high school at age 16 and went to Cornell University – initially studying agriculture and working his way through school with farm jobs. His college years were interrupted by WWII – he enlisted in the army and was trained in the infantry and artillery until the army realized that a native German speaker was more valuable in military intelligence. Gus trained at the well-known Fort Ritchie in Maryland and was then deployed to Germany where he assisted in finding Nazi war criminals. He was always proud of his military service.

When he returned home, he graduated from Cornell. Gus and Hanna married soon after their college graduation. Gus went on to study economics at Harvard University under John Kenneth Galbraith, receiving his Ph.D. In 1952. Hanna received her Ph.D. in Sociology at Harvard, and their careers and work were entwined for the duration of their nearly 70-year marriage. Gus went on to take a job in the US State Department in Washington, DC working with the Agency for International Development – however it was the height of the McCarthy era and Gus was fired for his socialist beliefs. He rebounded and returned to Harvard where he began his life’s work of studying income distribution, employment, and poverty in developing countries. He and Hanna moved to Karachi, Pakistan with daughter Joanne and son Tom, returning to Harvard in 1958. Gus worked in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – advising governments on developing effective economic policies Gus ultimately specialized in Asian economies where he was recognized as a pre-eminent expert on Pakistan and Indonesia. He developed strong ties in both countries as a friend and trusted advisor. During the struggle for the independence of East Pakistan, Gus was an active advocate testifying before the US Congress and recognized by the government of Bangladesh as a Friend or the Liberation War Honor.

In 1974, Gus moved to Boston University as Chair of Economics, building a renowned department with strong interests in development economics. During his career, Gus trained two generations of economists who would go on to take important leadership positions in their home countries. After achieving emeritus status at BU, Gus continued his consulting work through his company the Boston Institute for Development Economics – working on books, papers and giving invited university lectures until several months ago. This year, he sent his last two books to the publisher – one a blueprint for the Indonesian economy and the last a memoir drawn from a series of talks that he gave to family and friends this past spring.

Gus was devoted to his family – teaching his son and daughter to ski, white-water kayak and hike in New Hampshire and Maine, and snorkel the reefs of the Caribbean. For over 40 years, Gus and Hanna’s vacation home in Brownfield, ME was a focal point of family life for their children and grandchildren. As Gus traversed the globe, he always ensured that his itinerary included Chicago to spend time with Tom, Doris, and their children. He and Hanna traveled widely – often visiting family and drawn overseas by interests in other cultures and landmarks. They instilled their love of travel in their grandchildren, who accompanied them on many journeys over the years. Meals were the focal point of family gatherings – with long, spirited and often political conversations – always concluding with chocolate in some form.

Gus is survived by his son Tom Papanek (Doris Wells Papanek) of Barrington, IL, daughter Joanne Papanek Orlando (Rocco Orlando, III) of South Glastonbury, CT, grandchildren Jessica Papanek, Julia Papanek, Rocco Orlando, IV (Katie Moran), Alexander Orlando, great granddaughters Brooke and Willow Orlando as well as his nephew Michael Papanek, niece Deborah Ferreira (Chris). His niece Susan Papanek McHugh (Steve) pre-deceased him recently.

Source: Gustav Fritz Papanek of Lexington, Massachusetts, 2022 Obituary. Anderson-Bryant Funeral Home (September 30, 2022).

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

David E. Bell, the Clarence James Gamble Professor of Population Sciences and International Health Emeritus, died Sept. 6, 2000, after a brief illness. He was 81.
An economist who served as special assistant under President Truman and as director of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget and of the Agency for International Development (USAID) under President Kennedy, Bell headed the Harvard Advisory Group to Pakistan from 1954 to 1957, an effort that later evolved into the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and more recently the Center for International Development (CID). From 1957 to 1960, he taught economics at Harvard.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Bell led the international work of the Ford Foundation. He returned to Harvard in 1981, becoming director of the Center for Population and Development Studies at the School of Public Health (HSPH). He became emeritus in 1988, but continued to work at the Center on a daily basis, making himself available to students, fellows, and faculty who were able to benefit from his experience and wisdom.
University Provost Harvey Fineberg said of Bell: “David Bell lived a life dedicated to public service and to education. His leadership was the bedrock for programs in population and international health at the School of Public Health and the Center for Population and Development Studies. He was an invaluable guide to a generation of students and to colleagues at every stage of their careers. Anyone privileged to work with him became better by the experience.”
Lincoln Chen, formerly the Taro Takemi Professor of International Health at HSPH and currently executive vice president for program strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, had this to say of his former colleague:
“David Bell was a supreme global public servant, bringing his talents, skills, and commitments to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems — health, population, economic development. Due to his modesty and despite his extraordinary history of work, David Bell’s contributions are imbedded in the people and institutions he helped create, nurture, and grow. He did little to aggrandize his own name or reputation; indeed, his stature and wisdom were such that it was not necessary.”
Derek Bok, the Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor and Harvard President Emeritus, called David Bell “one of the finest human beings I have been privileged to know during my 40 years at Harvard. His combination of experience, judgment, compassion, and impeccable ethical standards are simply irreplaceable.”
Born in Jamestown, N.D. in 1919, Bell earned his bachelor’s degree in 1939 from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and his master’s degree from Harvard in 1941. His pursuit of a doctoral degree was interrupted when he agreed to direct the Harvard Advisory Group to Pakistan.
A fellowship was established in his honor at the Center in 1991, helping to host fellows with the objective of preparing scholars, managers, and policy makers for leadership roles in developing countries. The David E. Bell Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1999.
He leaves his wife of 56 years, Mary Barry Bell; his daughter, Susan Bell of Putney, VT; his son, Peter Bell of Watertown, MA; his sister, Barbara Bell Dwiggins of San Luis Obispo, CA.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Source: Ken Gewertz, “Economist David Bell dies at 81,” The Harvard Gazette, September 21, 2000.

__________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 169 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, I
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor [Edward S.] Mason, Dr. [Gustav] Papanek and Mr. [David] Bell.

A systematic survey of the subject, including consideration of theories of growth for both advanced and underdeveloped economies, the different historical paths to development, and the problems of technological change, capital accumulation, and economic planning. Intended for advanced undergraduates and graduates.
Prerequisite: Economics 98a.
[Junior year tutorial for credit dealing with macroeconomic theories and policies. The course serves as preparation for more specialized training in the subject matter in Group IV graduate and undergraduate courses. The course consists of both lectures and tutorial, normally with one lecture and one tutorial session per week. It was taught by Professor Smithies in 1960-61.]

Economics 170 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, II
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor [John Kenneth] Galbraith, Dr. Hainsworth and Mr. [David] Bell.

A continuation of Economics 169. Prerequisite: Economics 98a or 169.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, 1960-1961. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 57, No. 21 (August 29, 1960), pp.97-98.

__________________________

Course Enrollments and Staffing

[Economics] 169 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, I. Dr. Hainsworth and Mr. Bell. Half course. (Fall)

Total 58: 12 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Radcliffe, 27 Others.

[Economics] 170 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, II. Dr. Papanek. Half course. (Spring)

Total 58: 10 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Radcliffe, 26 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President, 1960-61, p. 77.

__________________________

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Economics 169
Theories and Problems of Economic Development (I)
Fall 1960

Introduction:

Scope and method of course, definition and measurement of economic development, characteristics of underdeveloped countries.
(September 26-30)

Assigned reading:

W. A. Lewis, Theory of Economic Growth, Ch. 1 and appendix

S. Kuznets, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, Lectures I and III

Suggested Reading:

E. Domar, Essays in the Theory of Econmic Growth, Ch. 1

K. Boulding, “In Defense of Statics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1955.

J. M. Letiche, “The Relevance of Classical and Contemporary Theories of Growth to Economic Development,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, May 1954.

Historical Patterns of Economic Development
(October 31 – November 25)

Assigned Reading:

Meier and Baldwin, op. cit., Chs. 7,8,9.

H. F. Williamson (ed.) The Growth of the American Economy, Chs. 1, 5, 17, 34, 48.

B. Higgins, Economic Development, Chs. 9 and 10.

A. Bergson (ed.), Soviet Economic Growth, Chs. 1 and 2.

W. W. Lockwood, Economic Development of Japan, Chs. 1 and 10.

Suggested Reading:

W. Rostow, Stages of Economic Growth.

T. S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830.

W. Ashworth, A Short History of the International Economy 1850-1950, esp. Chs. 1, 2, 3.

E. A. J. Johnson and H. E. Knoos, The Origins and Development of the American Economy.

Committee for Economic Development, Economic Growth in the United States, Feb. 1958

Theories of Underdevelopment and How Development Can be Started
(November 28 – December 21)

Assigned Reading:

B. Higgins, Economic Development, Part IV.

Suggested Reading:

P. Baran, “The Political Economy of Backwardness,” The Manchester School, Jan. 1950

E. Hagen, “How Economic Growth Begins,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall, 1958.

A. Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development.

H. Leibenstein, Economic Backwardness and Economic Growth.

H. Myint, “An Interpretation of Economic Backwardness,” Oxford Economic Papers, June 1954.

H. Oshima, “Economic Growth and the ‘Critical Minimum Effort’”, Economic Development and Cultural Change, July 1959

W. Rostow, “The Take-off into Sustained Growth,” Economic Journal, March 1956.

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

Economics 170
Theories and Problems of Economic Development II
Spring 1961

Political, Social, Cultural Factors – Organizations and Institutions
(February 6-10)

Assigned Reading:

W. A. Lewis, Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 57-162, 408-418

P. Baran, “The Political Economy of Backwardness,” The Manchester School, January 1950. (Reprinted in Agarwala and Singh, op. cit.)

G. A. Almond and J. S. Coleman (Eds.), The Politics of the Developing Areas, pp. 536-544

Suggested Reading:

S. Frankel, Economic Impact on Underdeveloped Societies, Chapter 8

M. Levy, “Some Social Obstacles to Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Areas,” in Capital Formation and Economic Growth, (Princeton 1955)

T. Parsons, [title left blank] in The Challenge of Development (Tel Aviv 1957)

Productivity, Technology and Technical Change
(February 13-24)

Assigned Reading:

Lewis, Chapter 4

C. P. Kindleberger, Economic Development, Chapters 6 & 10

Suggested Reading:

C. Kerr, “Productivity and Labor Relations,” in Productivity and Progress, (Proceedings of the Summer School, Australian Institute of Political Science, 1957)

R. Eckaus, “Factor Proportions in Underdeveloped Areas,” American Economic Review, September 1955, (Reprinted in Agarwala and Singh, op. cit.)

G. Ranis, “Factor Proportions in Japanese Development,” American Economic Review, September 1957

W. Moore, Industrialization and Labor

T. Scitovsky, “Two Concepts of External Economics,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1954

J. A. Stockfisch, “External Economics, Investment, and Foresight,” Journal of Political Economy, October 1955

A. Hirschman, “Investment Policies and ‘Dualism’ in Underdeveloped Countries,” American Economic Review, September 1957

Capital Accumulation
(February 27 – March 22)

Assigned Reading:

Lewis, pp. 201-244

R. Nurkse, Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries, Chapters 1-3

N. Kaldor, Indian Tax Reform: Report of a Survey (New Delhi, 1956)

Bernstein and Patel, “Inflation in Relation to Economic Development,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 1952

T. Schelling, “American Aid and Economic Development: Some Critical Issues,” in International Stability and Progress (The American Assembly, 1957)

Suggested Reading:

R. Mikesell, Promoting U. S. Private Investment Abroad, (National Planning Association Pamphlet, 1957)

M. Bronfenbrenner, “The Appeal of Confiscation in Economic Development,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, April 1955

S. Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review, March 1955

Planning and Resource Allocation
(March 24 – April 19)

Assigned Reading:

G. Haberler, International Trade and Economic Development, (National Bank of Egypt Lectures, 1959)

E. Mason, Economic Planning: Government and Business in Economic Development(Fordham University Lectures 1958)

J. Tinbergen, The Design of Development, (Johns Hopkins, 1958), pp. 1-58

G. Papanek, Framing a Development Program, (International Conciliation, March 1960), p. 307-337

Suggested Reading:

R. Nurkse, “Reflections on India’s Development Plan,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1957

W. Nicholls, “Investment in Agriculture in Underdeveloped Countries,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1955

W. A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan,” Economic Bulletin, (Ghana), May – June 1959
(Mimeographed copies are on reserve in Lamont and Littauer Libraries)

D. Bell, “Allocating Development Resources: Some Observations Based on Pakistan Experience,” Public Policy IX, (Yearbook of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University, 1959)

Case Studies
(April 21 – May 1)

Note:
This is a preliminary list only. Other countries may be added and the assignments for the countries now listed will be changed to some extent.

Assigned Reading:
The assigned reading for this section of the course is the material listed below for one country only. (Students coming from underdeveloped countries are requested to read the material for a country other than their own. Please note that there will be one question on the final examination calling for an answer in terms of the country selected.
There will be no additional assignment during the reading period.

Indonesia

Background:

L. Fischer, The Story of Indonesia

Development Problems:

B. Higgins, Indonesia’s Economic Stabilization and Development

B. Higgins, Economic Development, pp. 50-58, 730-741

India

Background:

M. Zinkin, Development for Free Asia

Development Problems:

Government of India, Second five Year Plan, Chapters 1-7

Government of India, Second Five Year Plan Progress Report, 1958-59 (April 1960), pp. 1-28

M. Brower, “Foreign Exchange Shortage and Inflation Under India’s Second Plan,” Public Policy IX, 1959

W. Malenbaum, “India and China, Contrasts in Development,” American Economic Review, June 1959

R. Nurkse, “Reflections on India’s Development Plan,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1957

Pakistan

Background:

M. Zinkin, Development for Free Asia

Development Problems:

Government of Pakistan, Second Five Year Plan (June 1960), pp. 1-118, 397-414

Government of Pakistan, Planning Commission, Report of the Panel of Economists on the Second Five Year Plan (August 1959)

F. Shorter, “Foodgrains Policy in East Pakistan,” Public Policy IX, 1959

Ghana

Background:

D. Apter, The Gold Coast In Transition

Development Problems:

Government of Ghana, Second Development Plan (March 1959)

Government of Ghana, Economic Survey 1958

W. A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan,” Economic Bulletin, June-July 1959 (Mimeographed copies on reserve in Lamont and Littauer Libraries).

Western Nigeria

Background:

IBRD Mission, The Economic Development of Nigeria, 1955

Government of Western Nigeria, Development of the Western Region of Nigeria 1955-60

Government of Western Nigeria, Progress Report on the Development of the Western Region of Nigeria, 1959

Government of Nigeria, Economic Survey of Nigeria 1959

Summary and Conclusions
(May 3)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (2 of 2)”.

__________________

ECONOMICS 169
Final Examination
January 25, 1961

Answer five questions, one from each part of the examination. Observe the time allocation of each part: weight in grading will be apportioned in correspondence with this allocation.

Part I (30 minutes)

Answer ONE of the following questions:

Compare and contrast the analysis of “the limits to the production of wealth” in the writings of two of the following authors: A. Smith, D. Ricardo, J. S. Mill.
“The classical theory of economic policy was not simply a doctrinaire adherence to the prescription: ‘Laissez-faire’. It is better regarded as a series of individual and practical suggestions on how an underdeveloped country might best achieve economic growth.”
Discuss the above quotation with reference to the recommendations for economic policy of either a leading classical economist, or the classical economists in general.

Part II (45 minutes)

Answer ONE of the following questions:

Give a brief account of the views of two of the following authors on the subject of capital and its investment (and, where possible, on innovation), and compare their relevance to the conditions of present-day underdeveloped countries: Karl Marx, J. A. Schumpeter, J. M. Keynes, W. Fellner, E. Domar (or R. F. Harrod).
“Both neoclassical and modern theories of the determination of national output are greatly dependent upon the institutional structure of the countries whose economic operations they were devised to explain. Both sets of theory, therefore, are very limited in their application to other institutional frameworks — particularly those of 20th century underdeveloped countries.”
To what extent do you believe the above to be a valid criticism of attempts to apply either neoclassical or modern economic theory to underdeveloped countries? Is any attempt made to qualify such theory when it is so applied?
(You may illustrate your answer by reference to the structure of a presently underdeveloped country.)
Can you suggest any major respects in which neoclassical or modern theory might be amended when applied to such a context? Or is the criticism valid to the extent of making such attempts at amendment futile?

Part III (30 minutes)

Give an account of the influence of one of the following components in the economic development of either the United Kingdom in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, or the United States in the 19^th and early 20^thcenturies:
1. land use and ownership
2. location of industry
3. capital formation
4. transport and communications
5. staple industries
6. foreign commerce.

Note: In dealing with either the U.K. or the U.S. experience, it is permissible to draw upon the experience of the other country for purposes of comparison or contrast.

Part IV (30 minutes)

You are economic advisor to the Prime Minister of Pogoland, a recently independent country with 60 million inhabitants. It has little industry in the modern sense; an agriculture that produces enough rice for home consumption; a per capita income of $50; small exports of pepper use to finance its very limited import needs (luxury goods for the small wealthy class, and some capital goods largely for the transport system). The country has some raw materials for industry, but not much. It can increase agricultural production, and there is a good international market for some of its agricultural products.
The Prime Minister, who is a highly intelligent and able man with a degree in Elizabethan poetry from Oxford, has been impressed by the rapid and successful development of Japan and Russia. He would like you to outline very briefly (he is both busy and intelligent) what major aspects of either the Japanese or the Russian experience he can apply in his country, and what aspects he cannot apply, and why or why not. He is notinterested in receiving direct recommendations for Pogoland as such, only in the major aspects of Japanese or Russian experience which could, or could not, be useful to him.

Part V (45 minutes)
Reading Period Assignment

As announced in lecture before Reading Period, you are expected to give a critical appraisal of a recent contribution to the discussion of one of these issues in development theory:
1. Population.
2. Dual economies, or the problem of backwardness.
3. Motivation, or’ other social/cultural factors.
4. Balanced vs. unbalanced growth.
5. The “big push” or “critical minimum effort.”
6. Stages of economic growth, the concept of take-off.

Note: Pleaase indicate clearly at the beginning of your discussion the contribution (article, articles, etc) you have selected for appraisal.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,.., Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. January 1961. In the bound volume: Social Sciences, Final Examinations, January 1961.

Image Source: (Young) Gustav Papanek during a trip to Asia. From BBC “How we endured the McCarthy purges in US” (12 May 2019).

Tags BellD, Galbraith, Hainsworth, Mason, Papenek

Economists Harvard

Harvard. Application for PhD candidacy. Edward S. Mason, 1923

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-05-30

Below you will find a transcription of the paper trail of Edward Sagendorph Mason that documents the satisfaction of the requirements for his Ph.D. in economics (Harvard, 1925).

Understatement is almost an art form in the hands of the chairman (Professor Frank W. Taussig) of Mason’s final doctoral examination that followed acceptance of his dissertation: “His showing was highly creditable, even brilliant”.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

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

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

Edward Sagendorph Mason, Clinton, Iowa. Feb. 22, 1899.

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

University of Kansas 1916-’19
Harvard (graduate school) one year 1919-’20
Oxford University (Lincoln College) 1920-’23

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

A.B. Kansas 1919
M.A. Harvard 1920
B. Litt. Oxford 1923

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc.)

30-40 hours in Economics (Theory – Econ. Hist. – Banking – Hist. of Theory)
Political theory – American government.
English History – Modern French History.
French – 3 years.
English literature – 20-30 hours.

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

Economics

Economic Theory. – Econ 11 at Harvard. Elementary and advanced courses at Kansas. – Reading and lectures in England and Germany.
History of Theory (from Plato & Aristotle). Elementary course at Kansas – Reading and lectures at Oxford
Statistics. – Graduate course at Harvard. Additional Reading.
Public Finance. – Graduate course at Harvard.
Economic History of England and the United States. – Elementary course in U.S. Econ. History at Kansas. Lectures and reading at Oxford.
American Government and Constitutional Law. – Elementary course in Am. Gov. at Kansas. Graduate course in Const. Law at Harvard. Additional reading.
International Trade.

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

International Trade

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

Dumping – A Study of Certain International Trade Practices. ~~England, Germany and the United States (B. Litt. Dissertation at Oxford in this subject. May submit same at Harvard.)~~
Professor Taussig.

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

General Examination. June 10th or after.
Special Examination. Next year.

X. Remarks

Attendance at Oxford makes it impossible for me to present myself before June 10th at the earliest.

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

[signed] F. W. Taussig

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

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Edward S. Mason

Approved: May 28, 1923

Ability to use French certified by C. J. Bullock. Oct 3, 1923.

Ability to use German certified by C. J. Bullock. Oct. 3, 1923.

Date of general examination November 27, 1923. Passed. F.W. Taussig, ch[airman]

Thesis received 22 December 1924.

Read by Professors Taussig, Young, Williams.

Approved 14 January 1925.

Date of special examination 22 January 1925. Passed F.W.T.

Recommended for the Doctorate [left blank]

Degree conferred 24 February 1925

Remarks. [left blank]

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

Record of E. S. Mason in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

1919-20

Economics 11 [Economic Theory. Prof. Taussig]	A
Economics 31 [Public Finance, Prof. Bullock]	A minus
Economics 41 [Statistics: Theory and Analysis, Asst. Prof. Day]	B plus
Government 19 [American Constitutional Law, Mr. MacLeish]	A
A.M. 1920

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

Dean not amused by late application

28 April 1923

My dear Mr. Mason:

Your application requesting for arrangements for a general examination this year has just been received. I am rather surprised that you should hand it in at such a late date and expect us to meke such arrangements. The list of examinations has been scheduled and printed for some weeks, and we cannot guarantee examinations for anyone after the first of June as it is exceedingly difficult to secure the presence of all the members of the examining comittee in Cambridge on the same day after the close of the lecture period. If you will indicate definitely the date of your return, which you mention vaguely in your letter, we shall try, however to arrange a committee for you at that time. Nothing can be promised, but we shall try to do what we can. I appreciate the convenience to you of taking the general examination this year, but I beg to remind you that due notice should be given of your plan of study and of your application for a general examination.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned carbon copy]

Edward S. Mason

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

Mason responds to the Dean regarding an early date for his general examination

Lincoln College,
Oxford.

May 9, 1923.

Dean C. H. Haskins,
Harvard University.

My dear Sir –

If it is convenient for you and for the examiners I should like to take the Ph.D. general examination (Economics) on June 12th. I am writing to Professor Bullock, my examiner in French and German, asking to be allowed to present myself June 11th for the language examinations.

May I emphasize again that if it causes the slightest inconvenience to yourself or the examiners, I should very much like to have the examination postponed till October or November, since I intend to be at Harvard next year in any case.

Thanking you for the trouble you have taken.

I am,

Very Truly Yours,
[signed] Edward S. Mason

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

Division Memo Regarding Planned General Examination (undated)

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
(INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE SHEET)

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Edward S. Mason

June 10, or after.

[Taussig] Economic Theory
[Bullock] History of Theory (from Plato to Aristotle)
[Crum] Statistics
[Burbank] Public Finance
[Usher] Economic History of England and the United States
[Holcombe] American Government and Constitutional Law.

Special field: International Trade

Thesis being done with Professor Taussig.
Professor Taussig has signed the application.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Cambridge, Massachusetts
January 27, 1925.

Dear Haskins:

I have to report that Edward S. Mason passed his special examination for the Ph.D. degree on Thursday, January 22, by unanimous vote of the Committee. His showing was highly creditable, even brilliant.

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

Dean C. H. Haskins

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

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics. PhD. Examinations, Box 6: 1924-26.

Image Source: Portrait of Edward S. Mason included in the Harvard Class Album 1932.

Tags Mason, Persons, Taussig, WilliamsJH, Young

Bibliography Development Harvard

Harvard. Seminar Bibliography on Economic Development. Mason and Galbraith, 1960-61

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2024-05-18

Edward S. Mason (left), John K. Galbraith (right)

When John Kenneth Galbraith received a phone call on December 7, 1960 from President-elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy asking him to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to India, he was approaching the end of the first semester of a two semester seminar on problems of economic and political development that he led together with with his colleague, the Dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Edward S. Mason. The seminar was a joint production of the Department of Economics and the Graduate School of Public Administration and originally brought on line by Galbraith.

As can be seen in the official staffing/enrollment information given in the Harvard President’s Report for 1960-61, the spring semester was not offered, almost certainly as the result of Galbraith taking a leave of absence beginning in the spring semester. The handwritten date on the seminar bibliography in the Harvard archives is “October 10, 1960”. At that time both Mason and Galbraith would have presumed the seminar would run for both the fall and spring semesters. For this reason, I believe it is reasonable to assume both professors were responsible in some part for the the bibliography as transcribed below. One may also assume that Gustav Papanek, who later headed Harvard’s Development Advisory Service from 1962-1970, probably also had a hand in drafting the bibliography.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 287. Seminar: Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration)

Full course. Tu., 2-4. Professors Mason and Galbraith; Drs. Papanek and Hainsworth; Mr. Bell.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LVII, No. 21 (August 29, 1960), Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Courses of Instruction, 1960-1961. p. 102.

________________________

Staffing and Enrollments
in Economics 287

1952-53

No enrollment figures given for that year.
Not listed in the course announcements

However in Galbraith’s papers one finds a reading list dated 1952-53 along with typed notes for the first meeting of the seminar.

1953-54

[Economics] 287. Seminar on Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professor Galbraith.
Full course.

Fall.

Total 12: 6 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 2 Other Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Spring.

Total 14: 6 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 5 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1953-54, p. 103.

1954-55

[Economics] 287. Seminar on Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professor Galbraith.
Half course. Fall.

Total 18: 7 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 8 Other Graduates, 3 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1954-55, p. 94.

1955-56

Not offered

1956-57

[Economics] 287. Seminar on Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professor Galbraith.
Half course. Fall.

Total 14: 5 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 7 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1956-57, p. 73.

1957-58

Economics] 287. Seminar on Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professor Galbraith and others.
Full course.

Fall.

Total 21: 7 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 14 Other Graduates.

Spring.

Total 22: 8 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 14 Other Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1957-58, p. 85.

1958-59

Economics] 287. Seminar on Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professors Galbraith and Kuznets (Johns Hopkins University); Drs. Hainsworth, A. J. Meyer and Papanek; Mr. Bell.
Full course.

Fall.

Total 33: 5 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 24 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 3 Radcliffe.

Spring.

Total 36: 6 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 25 Other Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1958-59, p. 74.

1959-60

Economics] 287. Seminar: Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professors Mason and Galbraith, Drs. A. J. Meyer, Papanek and Mr. Bell.
Full course.

Fall.

Total 23: 6 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 13 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Radcliffe, 2 Others.

Spring.

Total 23: 6 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 12 Other Graduates, 1 Seniors, 2 Radcliffe, 2 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1959-60, p. 86.

1960-61

[Economics] 287. Problems of Economic and Political Development (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Professor Mason; Drs. Papanek and Hainsworth.
Half course. Fall.

Total 28: 12 [Arts and Sciences] Graduates, 14 Other Graduates, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-1961, p. 80.

________________________

ECONOMICS 287
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
[21 October 1960]

The following bibliography is a selected list of books and articles intended to cover most of the major theoretical and empirical studies concerned with economic growth in underdeveloped areas, that have been published in recent years. No attempt has been made to include (a) major work in the historical evolution of economic thought (Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Schumpeter, etc.); (b) modern theoretical work on economic growth in advanced countries (Harrod, Domar, Fellner, Duesenberry, etc.); or (c) empirical work dealing with the growth of the advanced countries — all of which may be very useful in the attempt to understand the problems of underdeveloped countries and what can be done to assist their economic progress.

The purpose was to produce a short list. Necessarily, many interesting and useful items have been omitted. No major contributions have been omitted intentionally, however, and the users of the bibliography are requested to bring such omissions to the notice of those in charge of the seminar.

The principle of selection has been indicated above. The limits of coverage were set largely in accord with the practice of the Seminar on Economic Development. That is, the focus is primarily on economic issues, with the word “economic” interpreted fairly broadly. In addition, some attention is given to political, social, and cultural matters insofar as they are directly related to economic development. This gives a coverage which overlaps to some extent the fields of government, sociology, and anthropology, and perhaps other disciplines. It might be well to make clear that this bibliography is not intended to cover the works in those other disciplines which are concerned with social, political, and cultural change as such, but only the relationships of such types of change to economic development.

All suggestions for improvement will be welcome.

________________________

Selected Bibliography on Economic Development
1. General
  1. Primarily Theoretical
  2. Primarily Historical and Descriptive
2. Planning
  1. Primarily Theoretical
  2. Primarily Descriptive
3. Mobilization of Resources
  1. Domestic Resources
  2. Foreign Private Investment
  3. Foreign Public Grants and Loans
4. International Trade
5. Land and Agriculture
6. Labor
7. Entrepreneurship
8. Population
9. Measurement of National Income
10. Political, Social, and Cultural Factors in Economic Development
Other Bibliographies
Some Major Compilations of Statistical Information

________________________

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1. GENERAL
  1. Primarily Theoretical

Baran, Paul, “On the Political Economy of Backwardness,” The Manchester School, January 1950.

Bauer, P. T., Economic Analysis and Policy in Underdeveloped Countries, (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1957).

Borts, G. H., “Returns Equalization and Regional Growth,” American Economic Review, June 1960.

Burtle, J., “Parametric Maps of Different Types of Economic Development,” Review of Economics and Statistics, February 1960.

Dupriez, L. H. (ed.), Economic Progress, (Papers by Kuznets, Cairncross, and others), (Louvain: 1955).

Hagen, E. E., “How Economic Growth Begins: A General Theory Applied to Japan,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall 1958.

Higgins, Benjamin, Economic Development, (New York: Norton, 1959).

Hirschman, Albert O. The Strategy of Economic Development, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958).

Leibenstein, Harvey, Economic Backwardness and Economic Growth, (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1957).

Lewis, W. Arthur, The Theory of Economic Growth, (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1955).

Mason, E. S., Economic Planning in Underdeveloped Areas: Government and Business, (New York: Fordham University Press, 1958).

Myint, H., “An Interpretation of Economic Backwardness,” Oxford Economic Papers, June 1954.

Myrdal, Gunnar, An International Economy, (New York: Harpers, 1957).

North, Douglass G., “A Note on Professor Rostow’s ‘Take-off’ into Self-Sustained Economic Growth,” The Manchester School, January 1958.

Nurkse, Ragnar, Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953).

Oshima, H. T., “Underemployment in Backward Economies: An Empirical Comment,” Journal of Political Economy, June 1958.

Oshima, H. T., “Economic Growth and the ‘Critical Minimum Effort’,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, July 1959.

Rao, V.K.R.V., “Investment, Income and the Multiplier in an Underdeveloped Economy,” Indian Economic Review, February 1952.

Rosenstein-Rodan, P., “Problems of Industrialization of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe,” Economic Journal, June-September 1943.

Rostow, W. W., “The Take-Off into Self-Sustained Growth,” Economic Journal, March 1956.

Scitovsky, T., “Two Concepts of External Economies,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1954.

Sheahan, John, “International Specialization and the Concept of Balanced Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1958.

Singer, H. W., “The Mechanics of Economic Development, A Quantitative Model Approach,” Indian Economic Review, August 1952.

Solow, R., “A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1956.

Stockfisch, J. A., “External Economies, Investment and Foresight,” Journal of Political Economy, October 1955.

Swan, T. W., “Economic Growth and Capital Accumulation,” Economic Record, November 1956.

Tinbergen, J., International Economic Integration, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1954).

U. N. — Processes and Problems of Industrialization in Under-Developed Countries, (New York: 1955).

Villard, H. H., Economic Development. (New York: Rinehart, 1959).

Young, Allyn, “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress,” Economic Journal, December 1928.

1. 1. Primarily Historical and Descriptive

Abramovitz, Moses, Resource and Output Trends in the United States Since 1870, (National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.: Occasional Paper 52, 1956).

Bergson, A., Soviet Economic Growth: Conditions and Perspectives, (Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson, 1953).

Boeke, Julius H., Economics and Economic Policy of Dual Societies as Exemplified by Indonesia, (New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1953).

Felix, David, “Profit Inflation and Industrial Growth. The Historic Record and Contemporary Analogue,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1956.

Gerschenkron, Alexander, “Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective,” Hoselitz, Bert (ed.), The Progress of Underdeveloped Areas, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952).

Griliches, Z., “Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn and Related Innovations,” Journal of Political Economy, October 1958.

Hagen, Everett B., The Economic Development of Burma, (Washington: National Planning Association, 1956).

Higgins, B., Indonesia’s Economic Stabilization and Development, (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1957).

Hoeffding, Oleg, “Soviet State Planning and Forced Industrialization as a Model for Asia,” (RAND Corporation, August 1958).

Houthakker, H. S., “An International Comparison of Household Expenditure Patterns,” Econometrica, October 1957.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Economic Development of Mexico, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1953).

Kuznets, Simon, “Underdeveloped Countries and the Pre-Industrial Phase in the Advanced Countries: An Attempt at Comparison,” Proceedings of the World Population Conference, 1954, (Papers, Volume V, United Nations, New York).

Kuznets, Simon, “Toward a Theory of Economic Growth,” in Lekachman (ed.), National Policy for Economic Welfare at Home and Abroad, (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1955).

Kuznets, Simon, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review, March 1955.

Kuznets, Simon, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1959).

Kuznets, Simon, “Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations,” Economic Development and Cultural Change: “I. Levels and Variability of Rates of Growth,” October 1956; “II. Industrial Distribution of National Product and Labor Force,” July 1957; “III. Industrial Distribution of Income and Labor Force by States, United States, 1919-21 to 1955,” July 1958; “IV. Distribution of National Income by Factor Shares,” April 1959; “V. Capital Formation Proportions: International Comparisons for Recent Years,” July 1960.

Li, Choh Ming, Economic Development of Communist China, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959).

Lockwood, W. W., The Economic Development of Japan: Growth, and Structural Change, 1868-1938, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954).

Malenbaum, Wilfred, “India and China: Contrasts in Development,” American Economic Review, June 1959.

Ranis, Gustav, “Factor Proportions in Japanese Economic Development,” American Economic Review, September 1957.

Reubens, E. P., “Opportunities, Governments, and Economic Development in Manchuria, 1860-1940,” in H.G.J. Aitken (ed.), The State and Economic Growth, (New York: Social Science Research Council, 1959).

Rostow, W. W., The Stages of Economic Growth, (Cambridge University Press, 1960).

“The Satellites in Eastern Europe,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, May 1958.

Schultz, T. W. “Capital Formation by Education,” to be published in the Journal of Political Economy, December 1960.

Solomon, Morton, “The Structure of the Market in Underdeveloped Economies,” in Shannon, Lyle W. (ed.), Underdeveloped Areas: a Book of Readings and Research, (New York: Harper, 1957).

Solow, R., “Technical Change and The Aggregate Production Function,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1957.

Thompson, C. H. and Woodraff, H. W., Economic Development in Rhodesia and Nyasaland, (London: Dennis Dobson, 1955).

U.N. — Economic Survey of Africa since 1950, (New York: 1959).

U.N. — Structure and Growth of Selected African Economies, (New York: 1957).

Zinkin, M., Development for Free Asia, (Fairlawn, New Jersey: Essential Books, Inc., 1956).

1. PLANNING
  1. Primarily Theoretical

Bator, F. F., “On Capital Productivity, Input Allocation, and Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1957.

Chenery, H. B., “The Application of Investment Criteria,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1953.

Chenery, H. B., “Development Policies and Programmes,” Economic Bulletin for Latin America, March 1958.

Chenery, H. B., “The Interdependence of Investment Decisions,” in The Allocation of Economic Resources, Essays in Honor of B. F. Haley, (Stanford University Press, 1959).

Dobb, M., Economic Growth and Planning. (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1960).

Eckaus, R. S., “The Factor Proportions Problem in Underdeveloped Areas,” American Economic Review, September 1955.

Eckstein, O., “Investment Criteria for Economic Development and the Theory of Intertemporal Welfare Economics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1957.

Galenson, W. and Leibenstein, H., “Investment Criteria, Productivity and Economic Development,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1955.

Lewis, W. A., The Principles of Economic Planning, (London: Dennis Dobson, 1952).

Lewis, W. A., “On Assessing a Development Plan,” The Economic Bulletin, (Ghana) June-July 1959.

Muranjam, S. K., “The Tools of Planning,” Indian Economic Journal, January 1957.

Sen, A. K., “Some Notes on the Choice of Capital-Intensity in Development Planning,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1957.

Sen, A. K., “Choice of Capital Intensity Further Considered,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1959.

Tinbergen, J., “The Optimum Rate of Saving,” Economic Journal, December 1956.

Tinbergen, J., The Design of Development, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1958).

Tinbergen, J., Optimum Savings and Utility Maximization Over Time,” Econometrica, April 1960.

U. S. Department of State, Office of Intelligence Research, “Use of the Capital-Output Ratio in Programming and Analyzing Economic Development,” February 1956.

1. 1. Primarily Descriptive

Aubrey, Henry, “Small Industry in Economic Development,” Social Research, September 1951.

Baer, Werner, “Puerto Rico: An Evaluation of a Successful Development Program,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1959.

Bicanic, Rudolph, “Economic Growth Under Centralized and Decentralized Planning — A Case Study,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, October 1957.

Gadgil, D. R., “Prospects for the Second Five-Year Plan Period,” India Quarterly, Vol. XIII, (January-March 1957), p. 5.

Government of Ceylon, National Planning Council, Papers by Visiting Economists, (Colombo: 1959).

Hsia, R., Economic Planning in Communist China, (New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1955).

Government of India, Planning Commission, “Memorandum of the Panel of Economists and Note of Dissent by Prof. B. R. Shenoy,” and “The Plan Frame,” Papers Relating to the Formulation of the Second Five Year Plan, (Delhi: 1955).

Government of India, Planning Commission, “Development of the Economy,” and “Approach to the Second Five Year Plan,” Second Five Year Plan, (Delhi: 1956).

Komiya, R., “A Note on Professor Mahalanobis’ Model of Indian Economic Planning, Review of Economics and Statistics, February 1959.

Government of Pakistan, National Planning Board, “Planning the Development Programme,” and “Putting the Development Programme into Operation,” First Five Year Plan, 1955-60, (Karachi: Government of Pakistan, 1957).

1. MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES
  1. Domestic Resources

Bernstein, E. M. and Patel, I. G., Inflation in Relation to Economic Development (International Monetary Fund, 1952).

Bloomfield, Arthur I., “Monetary Policy in Underdeveloped Countries,” Public Policy, Vol. VII, (Cambridge, Mass.: Graduate School Public Administration, 1956).

Bronfenbrenner, M., “The Appeal of Confiscation in Economic Development,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, April 1955.

Diamond, W., Development Banks, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1957).

Froomkin, Joseph, “A Program for Taxation and Economic Development — The Indian Case,” (Review article of Report of Indian Taxation Enquiry Commission, 1953-54), Economic Development and Cultural Change, January 1958.

Government of India, Planning Commission, “Finance and Foreign Exchange,” Second Five Year Plan, (Delhi: 1956).

Kaldor, Nicholas, Indian Tax Reform: Report of a Survey, (New Delhi: Indian Ministry of Finance, 1956).

Lewis, W. A., “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour,” The Manchester School, May 1954.

Martin, A. M. and Lewis, W. A., “Patterns of Public Revenue and Expenditure,” The Manchester School, September 1956.

Oshima, H. T., “Share of Government in Gross National Product for Various Countries,” American Economic Review, June 1957.

Government of Pakistan, National Planning Board, “Internal Financial Resources,” and “Public Savings,” First Five Year Plan, 1955-60, (Karachi: 1957).

Sturmthal, Adolph, “Economic Development, Income Distribution, and Capital Formation in Mexico,” Journal of Political Economy, June 1955.

Wald, H. P., Taxation of Agricultural Land in Underdeveloped Economies, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959).

1. 1. Foreign Private Investment

Finnie, David H., Desert Enterprise: The Middle East Oil Industry in its Local Environment, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1958).

Mikesell, Raymond F., Promoting U. S. Private Investment Abroad, (Washington: National Planning Association, 1957).

Wolf, Charles and Sufrin, Sidney, Capital Formation and Foreign Investment in Underdeveloped Areas, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1955).

1. 1. Foreign Public Grants and Loans

The American Assembly, International Stability and Progress: United States Interests and Instruments, (New York: Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 1957).

Cairncross, Alec, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, (Princeton University Essays in International Finance, No. 33, March 1959).

Friedman, Milton, “Foreign Economic Aid,” Yale Review. Summer 1958.

Millikan, Max F. and Rostow, W. W., A Proposal, Key to an Effective Foreign Policy, (New York: Harper Bros., 1957).

Report of The President’s Committee to Study the United States Military Assistance Program, (Washington: August 17, 1959).

Sapir, M., The New Role of the Soviets in the World Economy, (New York: Committee for Economic Development, 1958).

Wolf, C., Foreign Aid: Theory and Practice in Southern Asia, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960).

1. INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Bauer, Peter T., West African Trade, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954).

Haberler, G., Campos, R., Meade, J., and Tinbergen, J., Trends in International Trade, (Geneva: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1958).

Haberler, G., International Trade and Economic Development, (Cairo: National, Bank of Egypt, 1959).

Mikesell, R. F., Foreign Exchange in the Postwar World, (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1954).

Myint, H., “The Classical Theory of International Trade and the Underdeveloped Countries,” Economic Journal, June 1958.

Nurkse, R., et. al, “The Quest for a Stabilization Policy in Primary Producing Countries: A Symposium,” Kyklos, 1958

Nurkse, R., Patterns of Trade and Development, (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1959).

U. N. — Instability in Export Markets of Underdeveloped Countries, (New York: 1952).

1. LAND AND AGRICULTURE

Baldwin, K. D. S., The Niger Agricultural Project, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957).

Black, John D. and Stewart, H. L., Economics of Agriculture for India, (Delhi: Government of India, 1954).

Darling, Malcolm L., The Punjab Peasant in Prosperity and Debt (New York: Oxford University Press, 1925).

Gaitskell, Arthur, Gezira. A Story of Development in the Sudan, (London: Faber and Faber, 1959).

Johnston, Bruce, The Staple Food Economies of Western Tropical Africa, (Stanford University Press, 1958).

Mellor, John W. and Stevens, Robert D., “The Average and Marginal Product of Farm Labor in Underdeveloped Economies,” Journal of Farm Economics, August 1956.

Neale, Walter C., “The Limitations of Indian Village Survey Data,” Journal of Asian Studies, May 1958.

U. N. — “Productivity of Labour and Land in Latin American Agriculture,” Economic Survey of Latin America, 1956.

U. N. — Food and Agriculture Organization, Uses of Agricultural Surpluses to Finance Economic Development, (Rome: 1955).

Warriner, Doreen, Land Reform and Economic Development in the Middle East, (London: 1957).

Wickizer, V. D. and Bennett, M. K., The Rice Economy of Monsoon Asia, (Stanford University Press, 1941).

1. LABOR

de Buey, P., “The Productivity of African Labour,” International Labour Review, August-September 1955.

Galenson, W. (ed.), Labor and Economic Development, (New York: Wiley, 1959).

Husain, A. F. A., Human and Social Impact of Technological Change in Pakistan, Vol. 1, (Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1956).

Kerr, C., Dunlop, J. T., Harbison, F. C., Myers, C. A., Industrialism and Industrial Man, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960).

Moore, Wilbert Ellis, Industrialization and Labor, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952).

Sayigh, Yusif A., “Management-Labour Relations in Selected Arab Countries: Major Aspects and Determinants,” International Labour Review, June 1958.

Myers, Charles, Problems of Labor in the Industrialization of India, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958).

1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Aubrey, Henry G., “Industrial Investment Decisions: A Comparative Analysis,” Journal of Economic History, December 1955.

Eckstein, Alexander, “Individualism and the Role of the State in Economic Growth,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, January 1958.

Harbison, Frederick, “Entrepreneurial Organization as a Factor in Economic Development,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1956.

Prakesh, O., “Industrial Development Corporations in India and Pakistan,” Economic Journal, March 1957.

UNESCO, “Economic Motivations and Stimulations in Underdeveloped Countries,” International Social Science Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 3, 1954.

1. POPULATION

Coale, A. and Hoover, E. M., Population Growth and Economic Development in Low-income Countries, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958).

Hagen, E. E., “Population and Economic Growth,” American Economic Review, June 1959.

Taeuber, Irene, The Population of Japan, (Princeton: 1958).

U. N. — Department of Social Affairs, The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends, (New York: 1953).

U. N. — Technical Assistance Administration, Asia and the Far East: Seminar on Population, (New York: 1957).

1. MEASUREMENT OF NATIONAL INCOME

Abramovitz, M., “The Welfare Interpretation of Secular Trends in National Income and Product,” in The Allocation of Economic Resources, Essays in Honor of B. F. Haley, (Stanford University Press, 1959).

Deane, Phyllis, Colonial Social Accounting, (Cambridge University Press, 1953).

Goldsmith, Raymond and Saunders, Christopher, (ed.), “The Measurement of National Wealth,” Income and Wealth Series VIII, (London: Bowes and Bowes, 1959).

Income and Wealth: Series III, (International Association for Research in Income and Wealth), (Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes, 1953), especially contributions by Frankel, Benham, Rao, and Creamer.

Kravis, I. B., “The Scope of Economic Activity in International Income Comparisons,” in Problems in the International Comparison of Economic Accounts, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 20, (Princeton University Press, 1957).

Kuznets, Simon, Economic Change, (New York: Norton, 1953).

1. POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL FACTORS IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Almond, Gabriel A. and Coleman, James S., The Politics of the Developing Areas, (Princeton University Press, 1960).

Banfield, E. C., The Moral Basis of a Backward Society, (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1958).

Baster, Janes, “Development and the Free Economy — Some Typical Dilemmas,” Kyklos, Vol. VII, 1954.

Brzezinski, Zbigniew, “The Politics of Underdevelopment,” World Politics, October 1956.

Dike, K. O., Trade and Polities in the Niger Delta, (Oxford: 1956).

Dube, S. C., India’s Changing Villages, (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1958).

Farmanfarmaian, Khodadad, “Social Change and Economic Behavior in Iran,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, February 1957.

Hoselitz, Bert F. (ed.), The Progress of Underdeveloped Areas, (University of Chicago Press, 1952).

McClelland, David C., “Some Social Consequences of Achievement Motivation,” in Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, (University of Nebraska Press, 1955).

McKitterick, T. E. M., “Politics and Economics in the Middle East,” The Political Quarterly, January-March 1955.

Oliver, Henry M., Economic Opinion and Policy in Ceylon, (Durham: Duke University Press, 1957).

Shea, T. W., “Barriers to Economic Development in Traditional Societies: Malabar, A Case Study,” Journal of Economic History, December 1959.

Singer, Milton, “Cultural Values in India’s Economic Development,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, May 1956.

U. N. — “Three Sociological Aspects of Economic Development,” Economic Review of Latin America, 1955.

Weiner, M., “Changing Patterns of Political Leadership in West Bengal,” Pacific Affairs, September 1959.

OTHER BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Hald, Marjorie, A Selected Bibliography on Economic Development and Foreign Aid, (Santa Monica, California: RAND Corporation, 1957).

Hazelwood, Arthur, The Economies of ‘Under-Developed’ Areas, (London: Oxford University Press, second edition, 1959).

Trager, Frank N. “A Selected and Annotated Bibliography on Economic Development, 1953-57,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, July 1958.

SOME MAJOR COMPILATIONS OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION

U. K. Government, Board of Trade, Overseas Economic Surveys.

International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics.

International Labour Office, International Labour Review — Statistical Supplement.

United Nations, Statistical Office, Statistical Papers (various series).

United Nations, Statistical Office, Statistical Yearbook.

United Nations, Statistical Office, Demographic Yearbook.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Public Finance Information Papers.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Economic Surveys (for various regions).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 8, Folder “Economics 1960-61 (2 of 2)”.

Images: Portrait of Edward S. Mason (ca. 1960) from the Harry S. Truman Library. Portrait of John Kenneth Galbraith from the Harvard Class Album 1959.

Tags Galbraith, Hainsworth, Mason, Papanek

Columbia Economist Market Economists Harvard

Harvard and Columbia. President of Harvard headhunting conversation regarding economists. Mitchell and Mills, 1936

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2023-11-28

The following typed notes were based on a conversation that took place on February 21, 1936 regarding possible future hires for the Harvard economics department. President James B. Conant (or someone on his behalf) met with Columbia university professors Wesley C. Mitchell and his NBER sidekick, Frederick C. Mills. This artifact comes from President Conant’s administrative records in the Harvard Archives.

In the memo we find a few frank impressions of members of the Harvard economics departments together with head-hunting tips for established and up-and-coming economists of the day.

An observation that jumps from the paper is the identification pinned to the name Arthur F. Burns, namely, “(Jew)”. Interestingly enough this was not added to Arthur William Marget (see the earlier post Harvard Alumnus. A.W. Marget. Too Jewish for Chicago? 1927.) nor to Seymour Harris.

________________________

[stamp] FEB 25, 1936

ECONOMICS

Confidential Memorandum of a Conversation on Friday, February 21, with Wesley [Clair] Mitchell and his colleague, Professor [Frederick Cecil] Mills (?) of Columbia

General impression is that the Department of Economics at Harvard is in a better state today than these gentlemen would have thought possible a few years ago. The group from 35-50 which now faces the future is about as good as any in the country. [Edward Hastings] Chamberlin, [John Henry] Williams,[Gottfried] Haberler and Schlichter [sic, [Sumner Slichter] are certainly quite outstanding. Very little known about [Edward Sagendorph] Mason; he seems to have made a favorable impression but no writings. [Seymour Edwin] Harris slightly known, favorable but not exciting.

[John Ulric] Neff admitted to be the best man in economic history if we could get him. Names of other people in this country mentioned included:

[Robert Alexander] Brady — University of California, now working on Carnegie grant on bureaucracy; under 40.

Arthur [F.] Burns at Rutgers (Jew) now working with the Bureau of Economic Research and not available for 3 or 4 years. Said by them to be excellent.

Henry Schultz of Chicago, about in Chamberlin’s class and age, or perhaps a little better.

[Arthur William] Marget of Minnesota, Harvard Ph.D., I believe; well known, perhaps better than Chamberlin. Flashy and perhaps unsound. (Mitchell and Mills disagree to some extent on their estimate of his permanent value but agree on his present high visibility).

Winfield Riffler [sic, Winfield William Riefler], recently called to the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, probably one of the most if not the most outstanding of the younger men.

Morris [Albert] Copeland of Washington; good man but not so good as Chamberlin.

Giddons [sic, Harry David Gideonse?] of Chicago, very highly thought of by Chicago people but has not written a great deal; supposed to be an excellent organizer.

C. E. [Clarence Edwin] Ayres, University of Texas, about 40; in N.R.A. at Washington. Mitchell thinks very highly of him.

England

[Theodore Emmanuel Gugenheim] Gregory, at London School of Economics, about 50, same field as Williams but not so good. Mills more favorable than Mitchell.

Other outstanding young Englishmen:

[Richard F.] Kahn, Kings College, Cambridge

F. Colin [sic, Colin Grant] Clark, of Cambridge

Lionel Robins [sic, Lionel Charles Robbins] of London, age 35, rated very highly by both Mills and Mitchell

F. A. Hayek, another Viennese now in London; spoken of very highly by both Mills and Mitchell.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 54, Folder Economics, “1935-1936”.

Image Sources: Wesley Clair Mitchell (left) from the “Original Founders” page at the website of the Foundation for the Study of Business Cycles; Frederick C. Mills (right) from the Columbia Daily Spectator, Vol. CVIII, No. 68, 11 February 1964.

Tags Ayres, Brady, BurnsAF, Chamberlin, Colin Clark, CopelandMA, Gideonse, GregoryTE, Haberler, Harris, Hayek, KahnRF, Marget, Mason, MillsFC, Mitchell, Neff, Riefler, Robbins, SchultzH, Slichter, WilliamsJH

Backstory of the O’Connor Peace Bill

46 Harvard Faculty Members Back O’Connell Peace Bill 16 Professors Among Signers of Petition

Montana Representative Main Speaker at Peace Rally in Cambridge — Points to Danger From Reactionaries in U.S.

About Chairman John T. Dunlop (Harvard Album, 1960)

Previously posted departmental reports

Report Department of Economics, 1961-1962

ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER Fifth Annual Issue, June 1, 1960

UNDERGRADUATE INSTRUCTION:

MATHEMATICS- LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT:

THE ECONOMICS OF HIGHER EDUCATION:

PERSONNEL:

The Provost is not amused [No letterhead, unsigned. Apparently a copy.]

C O N F I D E N T I A L

REPORT ON LONG-RANGE PLANS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS (REVISED EDITION)

February 25, 1948

HARVARD UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

General Examination, date and examiners requested [carbon copy]

Change of thesis title [carbon copy]

Radcliffe College

College Record of Mrs. Esther Clark Wright.

Course Names and Instructors

1926-27

1927-28

1928-29

1929-30

Some of her personal backstory

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright Timeline of her life and career

Who’s Who 1960-61

In Memoriam: Professor emeritus Geoffrey Hainsworth 1934 – 2011

Gustav Fritz Papanek d. September 20, 2022

Course Announcement

Course Enrollments and Staffing

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Economics 169 Theories and Problems of Economic Development (I) Fall 1960

Economics 170 Theories and Problems of Economic Development II Spring 1961

ECONOMICS 169 Final Examination January 25, 1961

Part I (30 minutes)

Part II (45 minutes)

Part III (30 minutes)

Part IV (30 minutes)

Part V (45 minutes) Reading Period Assignment

HARVARD UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

Record of E. S. Mason in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

1919-20

Dean not amused by late application

Mason responds to the Dean regarding an early date for his general examination

Division Memo Regarding Planned General Examination (undated)

Certification of reading knowledge of French and German

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

General exam postponed

New Date for General Examination

General examination passed

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

Thesis accepted, but…

Papers in order, so special examination can take place

Date and committee for special examination

Special examination passed

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics

Course Announcement

Staffing and Enrollments in Economics 287

1952-53

1953-54

1954-55

1955-56

1956-57

1957-58

1958-59

1959-60

1960-61

ECONOMICS 287 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT [21 October 1960]

CONTENTS

46 Harvard Faculty Members
Back O’Connell Peace Bill
16 Professors Among Signers of Petition

Montana Representative Main Speaker at Peace Rally in Cambridge
— Points to Danger From Reactionaries in U.S.

About Chairman John T. Dunlop
(Harvard Album, 1960)

Report
Department of Economics, 1961-1962

ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER
Fifth Annual Issue, June 1, 1960

The Provost is not amused
[No letterhead, unsigned.
Apparently a copy.]

REPORT ON LONG-RANGE PLANS
FOR THE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
(REVISED EDITION)

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

General Examination,
date and examiners requested
[carbon copy]

Change of thesis title
[carbon copy]

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright
Timeline of her life and career

Who’s Who
1960-61

In Memoriam:
Professor emeritus Geoffrey Hainsworth
1934 – 2011

Gustav Fritz Papanek
d. September 20, 2022

Economics 169
Theories and Problems of Economic Development (I)
Fall 1960

Economics 170
Theories and Problems of Economic Development II
Spring 1961

ECONOMICS 169
Final Examination
January 25, 1961

Part V (45 minutes)
Reading Period Assignment

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Record of E. S. Mason in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Certification of reading knowledge
of French and German

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Papers in order, so special examination
can take place

Date and committee
for special examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Staffing and Enrollments
in Economics 287

ECONOMICS 287
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
[21 October 1960]