While organizing my material from George Stigler’s papers, I ran across this reading list for an undergraduate macro course taught in 1973 at the University of Chicago by the then thirty year-old future professor of the so-called MIT gang that included Ben Bernanke, Mario Draghi, Olivier Blanchard, Maurice Obstfeld, and Paul Krugman (yes, there were others… worth another post). Learn this stuff (and I mean really learn this stuff) and you too might become chief economist of the World Bank, or first managing director of the IMF, or vice chairman of Citigroup, or governor of the Bank of Israel, or Vice Chairman of the Fed. Excuse me, I mean “and/or”.

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Winter 1973

Stanley Fischer

ECONOMICS 202

Reading List

Texts:

Branson: Macroeconomic Theory and Policy , Harper and Row, 1972.

Friedman: An Economist’s Protest , Thomas Horton, 1972.

I. Introductory

Friedman, M. “A Theoretical Framework for Monetary Analysis,” JPE , March/April, 1970, 193-238.

Johnson, H. G. “The Keynesian Revolution and the Monetarist Counter-Revolution,” AER Papers and Proceedings , May, 1971, 1-14.

Leijonhufvud, A. “Keynes and the Classics: Two Lectures on Keynes’ Contribution to Economic Theory,” London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1969. Occasional Paper 30.

Tobin, J. Manuscript on Monetary Theory , Chapter 1. (This is on reserve in the library.)

II. Quantity Equation

Fisher, I. The Purchasing Power of Money , Macmillan, 1913, Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.

Keynes, J. M., Tract on Monetary Reform , Macmillan, 1924, Chaps. 2, 3.

Patinkin, D. “The Chicago Tradition, the Quantity Theory, and Friedman,” JMCB , Feb., 1969, 46-70.

Pigou, A. C. “The Value of Money,” originally in Quarterly Journal of Economics , 1917, reprinted in Lutz and Mints.

III. The Demand for Money

Baumol, W. J. “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” QJE , Nov., 1952, reprinted in Thorn.

Cagan, P. “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money , M. Friedman (ed.), University of Chicago Press, 1956.

Friedman, M. “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement,” in OQM (also in Thorn and in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money ).

Keynes, J. M. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money , Macmillan, 1935, Chaps. 13, 15, 17.

Laidler, D. E. W. “Some Evidence on the Demand for Money,” JPE , Feb., 1966, 55-68.

Latané, H. A. “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” RE and Sta. , Nov., 1954, 456-60.

Tobin, J. “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” RES , Feb., 1958, 65-86, reprinted in Thorn.

IV. The Supply of Money

Cagan, P. Determinants and Effects of Changes in the Money Stock, 1875-1960 , Columbia University Press, 1965.

V. Inflation

Friedman, M. “The Role of Monetary Policy, “ AER , March 1968, 1-17, reprinted in OQM .

Phillips, A. W. “The Relation between Unemployment and the Rate of Change of Money Wages in the U.K., 1862-1957,” Economica , Nov., 1958, 283-99.

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[References completed]

Lutz and Mints. Lutz, Friedrich A. and Mints, Lloyd W. Readings in Monetary Economics.Volume 5 of The series of republished articles on economics. R.D. Irwin, 1951.

Thorn. [probably] Money and banking: theory, analysis, and policy; a textbook of readings. Edited with introd. by S. Mittra. [Consulting editor: Richard S. Thorn]. New York, Random House [1970]

OQM . Friedman, Milton. Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1969.

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Source: Source: Stigler, George. Papers, Box 3, Folder “U of C Other, Miscellaneous, Corresp. w. Pres., etc”, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Image Source: MIT Museum.