Economists' Papers Archive | David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Collections in the Economists' Papers Archive

The following economists' papers are currently held in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library and in the University Archives. Most of the names in the list are linked to either a detailed finding aid or an entry in the Duke University Libraries online catalog. Many of these collections are held in the library's off-site storage facility; in addition, some may require further processing or preservation attention, and/or may be restricted: please contact us in advance if you are planning a research visit. See also the Research Guide for this collection.

Updated October 2015.

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American Economic Association: The AEA was organized in 1885 and publishes the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Collection contains records for the American Economic Review, including correspondence and referee files, accepted articles and papers and proceedings. There are also records documenting the organization's founding and subsequent history (1886-1984), and files on the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (1972-1993). In addition, there are 48 rolls of microfilm from various journals (including AER), and 63 microfiche ofJournal of Economic Literature correspondence (circa 1968-1980).
299,503 items, 350 linear feet, dated 1886-2004 and undated.
Kenneth J. Arrow (1921-2017): The papers document primarily the latter part of Arrow's career as an economist, professor and 1972 Nobel Laureate. With an eleven-year interruption at Harvard University from 1968 to 1979, Arrow has spent the largest portion of his career at Stanford University. Arrow's career is especially distinguished by his contributions to the theory of social choice, including his book Social Choice and Individual Values, published in 1951, and his contributions to general equilibrium theory. Some of the larger and more salient files in the collection include research notes on general equilibrium theory in economics; consulting on global climate change and contingent valuation; correspondence with Frank Hahn, Leonid Hurwicz, Alain Lewis, and Lionel McKenzie; and notes from graduate courses with Harold Hotelling. Although the collection contains primarily professional papers, there are also a few personal files, as well as some concerning politics and activism.
37,800 items, 60.4 linear feet, dated 1939-2000 (bulk 1980s-2000).
William J. Baumol (1922-2017): Baumol's professional papers are representative of his career as an academic economist and consultant to industry and government. The substance of the collection begins with his appointment to Princeton's Department of Economics in 1949 until his retirement in 1992, and covers nearly all of his research interests, including dynamic systems and their mathematical expression; welfare economics and externalities; the behavior of firms and industry structure; fairness theory; environmental economics; and the development of his "cost disease model" and "unbalanced growth model," which attempt to explain the fiscal problems of the performing arts and educational systems.
60,556 items, 79.2 linear feet, dated 1940-1995.
Barbara Bergmann (1927-2015): Bergmann was a leading feminist economist and author of eleven books. Known for her provocative and interdisciplinary scholarship, she researched the causes of economic hardship through direct empirical observation and extensive data-gathering. She was a professor of economics at University of Maryland and American University and served as president of the International Association for Feminist Economics, the American Association of University Professors, and the Eastern Economic Association. Bergmann was also an early adopter of computer simulations to predict economic interactions, and a co-founder of the International Association for Feminist Economics.
13.5 linear feet, dated 1942-2015.
Arthur I. Bloomfield (1914-1988): Collection documents Bloomfield's career as economist and professor of economics, with special emphasis on his work as economic consultant for the United States federal government, particularly for the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and for the governments of post-World War II South Korea and Indo-China. His chief areas of research activity focused on international banking; evaluating foreign aid programs; the pre-1914 gold standard; economic development in the U.K. and British Commonwealth countries (including the British West Indies); and economy and banking in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, the Congo, and Zaire. However, the bulk of the collection consists of research files from his job as economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1941-1958, correspondence received or written from 1931 to 1995, research notes on various topics in international finance and research files on the pre-1914 gold standard.
10,800 items, over 12 linear feet, dated 1927-1995.
Martin Bronfenbrenner (1914-1997): Economist and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University. Collection contains a variety of items including correspondence, memoranda, writings (published and unpublished), teaching materials, drafts, talks, notes, research materials, reprints, clippings, and other papers relating chiefly to Bronfenbrenner's research and associations in the field of economics. Topics include distribution theory, macroeconomics, Joseph Schumpeter, the Japanese economy, Chinese economic development, and U.S.-Japan trade relations.
14,779 items, dated 1932-1990s.
Edwin Burmeister (1939- ): Professor of Economics at Duke University. Collection contains teaching materials, research files, writings, correspondence with other economists, papers and presentations and personal files chiefly related to Burmeister's work as a professor of economics at Duke University, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania. Many collection materials document Burmeister's research on Capital Theory, Economic Growth Theory and Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT).
10,800 items, 14.4 linear feet, dated 1960-2008.
Arthur Burns (1904-1987): Economist and member of the faculty at Columbia University and Rutgers University who had a distinguished career in public service serving as, among other positions, Director of Research, National Bureau of Economic Research; Chairman, President’s Council of Economic Advisers; Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. Burns' papers consist of speeches, remarks and writings by Burns, primarily during his service as U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, 1981-1985; books, magazines and published speeches authored by or about Burns; as well as photographs, clippings, printed materials, a small amount of correspondence and diplomas and awards.
2,260 items, 5.3 linear feet, dated 1950-2003.
Jesse Chickering (1797-1855): The majority of the materials - journals, correspondence, financial papers, writings and speeches, and printed materials - concerns Chickering's career as an author and political economist. The Writings and Speeches Series contains the manuscript drafts of Chickering's writings, including his "Statistical View of the Population of Massachusetts from 1765 to 1840" (1846); "Emigration into the United States" (1848); "Reports on the Census of Boston" (1851); and "Letter addressed to the President of the United States on Slavery, considered in Relation to the Principles of Constitutional Government in Great Britain and in the United States" (1855). Other subjects in this series include constellations, bank reports from several Boston banks, Harvard alumni and publication of Chickering's work.
1,065 items, 7.9 linear feet, dated 1797-1885.
Robert Clower (1926-2011): Professor of Economics at UCLA and the University of South Carolina. This collection contains writings by Clower from 1952 to 2000 and contains primarily professional correspondence covering his entire professional career from 1949 to 1999. Other folders contain copies of his 1952 thesis, copies of published articles and unpublished writings (especially from the 1950s), and lectures and materials related to courses taught by Clower, as well as several files of writings and speeches by Clower's father, the economist F. W. (Fay Walter) Clower. Topics covered by the materials in the collection include monetary theory, price theory, price determination, disequilibrium, stock-flow analysis, Keynesian economics, macroeconomics, Say's Law, banking, mathematical economics and the teaching of economics.
7,255 items, 12.2 linear feet, 1916-2000 and undated.
W. M. Corden (1927- ): German-born research economist working in the fields of Australian and international economics. The collection includes six published short essays and occasional papers by Corden, including "The Nieo Proposals: A Cool Look, Monetary Integration"; "The Revival Of Protectionism"; "Recent Developments In The Theory Of International Trade"; "Pragmatic Orthodoxy: Macroeconomic Policies In Seven East Asian Economies"; and "Protection And Liberalization: A Review Of Analytical Issues." There are also two bibliographies (2002) of his main and minor publications.
8 items, .10 linear feet, dated 1965-2002.
Lauchlin Bernard Currie (1902-1993): Influential economist, advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939-1945, and to the government of Colombia, 1949-1993. He was involved with the Lend-Lease Program with China during WWII, and became acting director of the Foreign Economic Administration in 1943-1944. This work resulted in his being a target during the McCarthy era and he lost his U.S. citizenship in 1954. He settled in Colombia after 1954 and continued to serve as an advisor to the leaders of that country until his death in 1993. The collection contains correspondence, writings, speeches, published materials, subject files and clippings documenting Currie's career and thought. The bulk of the materials focuses on his analysis of macroeconomic policy during the New Deal; and growth, housing and export policies for developing countries, especially Colombia. There is also material on China, and on Currie's mentor at Harvard, Allyn Young. Certain additional items relate to the investigation of Currie by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
31,805 items, 60.5 linear feet, dated 1931-1994 and undated (bulk 1950-1990).

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Paul Davidson (1930- ): Holly Chair of Excellence in Political Economy at the University of Tennessee, editor of the Journal Of Post Keynesian Economics and member of the editorial board of Ekonomia. Davidson received his MBA from City College of New York and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he was a professor at Rutgers University. The collection documents Davidson's professional life and his focus in post-Keynesian economics, primarily through professional correspondence with colleagues but also through some writings by Davidson and others from the middle 1960s to 2000. Correspondents include Philip Arestis, Peter Bernstein, Robert Clower, Alfred Eichner, Robert Eisner, John Kenneth Galbraith, Geoffrey Harcourt, Sir John Hicks, Jan Kregel, Macmillan Publishers, Allan H. Meltzer, Basil J. Moore, Edward Nell, Don Patinkin, Joan Robinson, James Tobin and Sidney Weintraub. Researchers may be particularly interested in the extensive correspondence between Davidson and other leading post-Keynesian economists.
10,100 items, 13.5 linear feet, dated 1965-2000.
Peter A. Diamond (1940-): Peter A. Diamond is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he has taught since 1966. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. The Peter Diamond papers date from 1963 to 2013 and document Diamond's career as a renowned economist whose work has focused on U.S. Social Security policy and other forms of social insurance. The collection's materials cover Diamond's writings, grants, and participation in lectures, seminars, and other events, as well as Diamond's association with groups such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).
3,750 items, 5 linear feet, 1963-2013.
Evsey D. Domar (1914-1997): Professor of economics at the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Born 1914, Lodz, Russia (now Poland). Collection consists chiefly of professional correspondence between Domar and his colleagues, with smaller groups of writings, research materials, printed materials, speeches, lectures and course materials relating to Domar's teaching career. Papers chiefly address his work on serfdom and slavery, particularly in Russia; the economics of socialist systems of government; the economics of agriculture; and theories of productivity and efficiency.
20,625 items, 27.5 linear feet, 1939-1995 and undated (bulk 1957-1989).
Frank Whitson Fetter (1899-1991): American economist, educator, and consultant whose specialty was international monetary issues, Fetter taught economics at Princeton, Haverford College, Northwestern University, and upon his retirement, at Dartmouth College. The collection highlights the academic and consulting experiences of a twentieth-century American economist and documents his intellectual development as an historian of economic thought. There is some material on his professional service for the Kemmerer Commission, following his father, Frank A. Fetter, who was a key participant in the Commission. The largest series in the collection are the Publications Series and the General Research Series; there are also some materials pertaining to his teaching. His publications and research focused on the study of the history of economics, in particular inflation and international economic thought.
68,400 items, 114 linear feet, dated 1902-1992 (bulk 1920-1980).
Franklin M. Fisher (1934-2019): Economist and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The collection comprises Fisher's professional papers spanning a fifty-year career, and contains correspondence, drafts of articles and other writings, research notes and reprints of his published writings. Also included are files related to professional associations; lectures, conferences and meetings he attended; courses taught by Fisher; legal cases for which Fisher served as a consultant; and Fisher's collaboration with Karl Shell regarding price indexes. There is also a series of subject files.
14,920 items, 24.5 linear feet, dated 1970-1995.
Bruno Foa (1906-1999): Economist, lawyer, consultant and professor. Born in Italy, Foa came to the U.S. in 1940. Collection contains Foa’s published and unpublished writings; files and correspondence from positions he held, including his term as a fellow at Princeton University (1940-1942), as Director of the Bureau of Latin American Research (1941-1943), on the Federal Reserve Board, and as a consultant for other economics projects. Collection also includes a memoir by Foa; and personal correspondence among his family members during trips to Italy, Spain and Somalia.
2500 items, 3.6 linear feet, dated 1936-1996.
Duncan Foley (1942- ): Economist and professor at the New School for Social Research. Collection contains writings and research, correspondence, name files, teaching and academic materials and some personal and creative work by Foley. Common subjects include Marxism and monetary theory, statistical methodology and political economy.
12,375 items, 16.5 linear feet, dated 1965-2001.
Jim Friedman (1936-): Economist and Kenan Professor of Economics emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Collection consists of research and experiment binders relating to 1960s economics experiments in games and game theory. Also includes Friedman's dissertation, The Theory of Oligopoly.
9 items, 1.5 linear feet, dated 1962-1965.
William H. Glasson (1874-1946): Professor of Political Economy and Social Science at Trinity College and Duke University from 1902-1940, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 1926-1938, Glasson was instrumental in the growth of the Department of Economics and the Graduate School. Collection includes personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts, research notes, scrapbooks, diaries, account books, postcards, and photographs pertaining to Glasson's family, career, and interests. A significant correspondent is H. Clay Evans, the U.S. Commissioner of Pensions.
3000 items, 4.7 linear feet, dated 1891-1946.
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (1906-1994): Romanian-born Georgescu-Roegen was a noted economist and professor at Vanderbilt University. Typed transcripts and other documents reveal details concerning political conditions in Romania during the period of the provisional government and the Armistice trials following World War II (1944-45). During this period, Georgescu-Roegen served the new government in various capacities before he fled the country with his wife in 1948. The collection includes correspondence, research and writings, subject files, teaching materials and autobiographical writings documenting his life. Correspondents include the economists Joseph Schumpeter (under whom he studied at Harvard) and Friedrich von Hayek. Topics include analytical economics, value theory and consumer behavior, bio-economics, time and economic change, entropy and its application to economics, agricultural economics and the teaching of economics. Some materials are in Russian or Romanian.
33,002 items, 44 linear feet, dated 1944-1994.
W. M. Gorman (1923-2003): Irish-born economist and professor of economics at Nuffield College, Oxford University and London School of Economics, Gorman's principal fields of interest were general economic theory, econometrics and international trade theory. The collection includes the professional correspondence, writings, unpublished notes, research reports and other papers that document his academic career and research. Writings folders often contain typescripts and handwritten manuscripts of published research. The correspondence segment chiefly holds letters of reference and correspondence received from colleagues.
25,000 items, dated 1940s-1980s.

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Earl J. Hamilton (1899-1989): Pioneer in the field of quantitative economic history. Together with his wife, Gladys Dallas Hamilton, also an economist by training, Hamilton conducted important research during the 1930s and 1940s on the history of the South American and Spanish economies; the history of American, Spanish, and French banking; the history of John Law and the "Mississippi Bubble" and its effect on European economies; and prices and wages in medieval Spain. The collection includes not only extensive background notes for Hamilton's major books and articles, but also over 200 original legajos and other documents pertaining to Spanish trade and economic development, dating primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries. Other primary source materials from the 14th to the 18th centuries are also abundant (chiefly in the form of photostats and transcripts), including hundreds of copies of documents held by the Archivo del Banco de España, the Archivo Histórico Nacional and other archives in Europe. The collection also contains drafts and reprints of research papers, and numerous folders of academic and personal correspondence. Some documents in the collection are in French or Spanish.
32,625 items, 43.5 linear feet, dated 1350-1995 and undated (bulk 1650-1940). (Earliest dates reflect content of photostats and transcripts, not the date of creation).
Friedrich August Hayek (1899-1992): Austrian-born economist, philosopher, and recipient of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Economics. The collection consists of a microfilm copy of the Hayek Papers (pdf, 304.87 Kb) held at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, on deposit in the Rubenstein Library. A guide to the microfilm set is available. Link above is to the Register of the Friedrich A. von Hayek Papers maintained by the Online Archive of California.
92 reels.
Clifford Hildreth (1917-1995): Economist and educator, Hildreth served as professor of economics and professor of agricultural economics at the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and N.C. State University. In addition he was a Fulbright Lecturer in Japan and co-author of "A Statistical Study of Livestock Production and Marketing" and "The Cowles Commission in Chicago, 1939-55." The Hildreth papers contain correspondence, writings, printed material, reprints, reviews and other papers primarily dealing with his work as an economist. Also included are a list of publications by Hildreth and some papers dealing with the Cowles Commission.
342 items, dated 1943-1991
Randall Hinshaw (1915-1997): Professor in economics at the Claremont Graduate School, where he specialized in monetary theory. He founded the Claremont-Bologna Monetary Conference Series. Collection includes correspondence, both personal and economics-related; monetary conferences files from the 1960s-1990s; audio and video cassettes and reels of conference talks and proceedings; economics articles and reprints; and some of Hinshaw's early schoolwork and papers from the 1930s-1940s.
10125 items, 13.5 linear feet, dated 1930s-1995.
History of Political Economy: Scholarly journal on the history of economic thought, founded in 1967 and published by Duke University Press. The collection consists chiefly of manuscripts accepted for publication and associated correspondence.
15,630 items, 119.2 linear feet, dated 1967-2004.
Calvin Bryce Hoover (1897-1974): Member of the Duke faculty from 1925 until his retirement in 1966, Hoover served as chairman of the Department of Economics from 1937-1957 and Dean of the Graduate School from 1938-1948. Hoover is widely accepted as the founder of the field of comparative economics. He traveled many times to the Soviet Union to study economic conditions, and wrote on Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Materials include correspondence, departmental files, reports, photographs, sound recordings, books, articles, clippings, scrapbooks, date books and other printed materials. Major topics represented in the collection are the economic conditions in the Soviet Union, Germany and the United States in the 20th century; the administration of an academic department during wartime; Soviet economic policy; Soviet politics and government; the formation of New Deal agricultural policies in the South; and the Office of Strategic Services.
45,500 items, 45.5 linear feet; dated 1929-1988 (bulk 1929-1968).
Leonid Hurwicz (1917-2008): Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Minnesota and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his work in mechanism design. A pioneer in the application of game theory to other economic areas, Hurwicz's interests include mathematical economics and modeling and the theory of the firm. In the 1950s, he worked with Kenneth Arrow on non-linear programming. Collection primarily consists of professional correspondence, research notes and drafts of writings. Included are drafts and notes for articles written with Stanley Reiter and Donald Saari and work on the Nash Equilibrium and Coase Theorem.
30,000 items, 40.5 linear feet; dated 1953-2007.
Homer Jones (1906-1986): Research director and senior vice president at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank and a key figure in the Bank's leadership in monetary research and statistics. Jones worked at Rutgers University, the University of Chicago, The Brookings Institute and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before beginning his appointment at the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis. The collection chiefly consists of professional papers, but also includes some materials of his wife Alice Hanson Jones, and University of Iowa professor Frank Hyneman Knight, relating to their careers as economists. In addition, the collection contains correspondence, printed material and writings and speeches that relate to Jones's advocacy of monetarist economic theory, the Korean economy and work for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Shadow Open Market Committee.
600 items, 1.5 linear feet, 1928-1986 bulk (1929-1934, 1962-1983).
Lawrence Klein (1920- ): Nobel-prize winning economist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Collection includes Klein's correspondence, writings and drafts, economic research and subject files, organizational papers and dissertations from Klein's many students. Contains significant amount of material from Project LINK, particularly from the late 1960s. Also includes files from Klein's presidency of the National Academy of Science, his professorship at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and printouts from early economic computer programs and experiments.
ca. 40,000 items, 52.5 linear feet, dated 1950s-2000.
Juanita Morris Kreps (1921-2010): Kreps was appointed James B. Duke Professor of Economics in 1972, and was Dean of Women's College and Vice President of Duke University. She served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Carter; and was trustee of The Duke Endowment; and Director of the New York Stock Exchange (1972-1977). The collection consists of primarily incoming and outgoing correspondence (1968-1979), speech drafts (1967-1997), scrapbooks and many photographs. Speech topics focus on opportunities for women, the value of women's work, age and gender in economics and economic markets and leisure and economic growth.
15,410 items, 37.10 linear feet, dated 1945-2001 and undated (bulk 1968-1997).
Axel Leijonhufvud (1933- ): Swedish-born economist and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1960. The collection contains class notes, correspondence, early drafts and manuscripts, including papers written by Leijonhufvud while a graduate student, and notes and drafts for his dissertation at Northwestern University, entitled "On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes: A Study in Monetary Theory." Correspondents include Joan Robinson, a fellow economist. Papers relate to his fields of interest, including general economic theory, monetary theory, Keynesian economics and the history of economic thought. A few materials are in Swedish.
3,600 items, dated 1958-1973.
H. (Harold) Gregg Lewis (1914-1992): Professor of economics at Duke University. The collection chiefly comprises research and background materials for his book Union Relative Wage Effects: A Survey (University of Chicago Press, 1986), and of a collection of various academic articles, mostly working papers on various topics in labor economics. Materials represented in this particular collection include book manuscripts, drafts of papers, including unpublished articles, correspondence, lecture notes and syllabi for several classes taught at Chicago and for others at Duke, refereed reports, administrative paperwork associated with the University of Chicago, and papers written by other economists. Primary topics include labor economics, trade unions and relative wage effects and the economics departments at the University of Chicago and Duke.
17,100 items, 28.5 linear feet, dated 1939-1990.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974): Lippmann was a journalist, public policy analyst and political philosopher who has been called a "public economist." Through his syndicated column, Today and Tomorrow, he helped shape the public's understanding of economic phenomena such as unemployment, inflation, and monetary and fiscal government policy. This microfilm collection was filmed from the original papers held at Yale University Library, and includes correspondence, early papers, public opinion mail, and diaries. Lippmann corresponded with many of the leading economic thinkers of his day, including John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August von Hayek. Microfilm guide available.
169 reels, dated 1904-1974.
Robert E. Lucas, Jr. (1937- ): Lucas, John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1995 for developing and applying the theory of rational expectations, an econometric hypothesis which suggests that individuals may affect the expected results of national fiscal policy by making private economic decisions based on past experiences and anticipated results. His work, which gained prominence in the mid-1970s, questioned the influence of John Maynard Keynes in macroeconomics and the efficacy of government intervention in domestic affairs. The collection comprises correspondence files (1963-1990s), research notes, drafts and typescripts of articles and other writings, with notes and correspondence, materials from courses taught, files relating to the American Economic Association, the National Academy of Sciences and other professional associations; letters of reference; and referee reports. His primary fields of interest include human resources, industrial economics and international trade.
13,875 items, 22.2 linear feet, dated 1963-2003.

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Thomas Mayer (1927-2015): Mayer was a professor at University of California, Davis, specializing in monetary policy and economic methodologies. Papers in the collection consist of writings (both draft and finalized versions) by Mayer, including collaborations with other economists, as well as some correspondence and commentary by Mayer on other economic projects. Topics include monetary policy, banking regulation, economics and ethics, economic methodology, and other subjects. Correspondents include Milton Friedman, Roger Backhouse, and others. The bulk of this collection consists as born-digital and electronic records, which are closed pending processing.
2 linear feet, dated 1953-2014.
Lionel W. McKenzie (1919-2010): Professor in Economics at Duke University from 1948 to 1957; became chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Rochester in 1957, where he taught until his retirement in 1989. Through correspondence, research notes, article drafts, teaching material, lectures, and published materials, the collection provides a broad overview of his professional career, including McKenzie's work in conjunction with Arrow and Debreu on general equilibrium, and his writings on capital theory and turnpike theory. Significant correspondents in the collection include economists Samuelson, Koopmans, and Solow. Other aspects of his career are also documented, such as his involvement in a number of economic organizations, especially the Econometric Society and the Mathematical Social Sciences Board and his role as organizer of a number of academic conferences.
16,500 items, 22 linear feet, dated 1942-2004.
Gerald M. Meier (1923-2011): Professor emeritus in International Economics and Policy Analysis at Stanford University, Stanford, California, since 1963. These materials document the growth of Meier's career from a student of economics to an academic economist on the faculties at Wesleyan, Yale and Stanford. Includes personal and professional correspondence; lectures; course notes taken as a student or developed for his lectures on international economic relations; syllabi, reading lists, exams, and other course materials; materials relating to conferences attended; published writings; and audiotapes of interviews concerning the evolution of development economics. The correspondence is largely of a professional nature and is chiefly concerned with international and development economics. Prominent among Meier's correspondents were Peter Bauer, Gottfried Haberler, W.A. Lewis, Hla Myint, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, W.W. Rostow, Dudley Seers, H.W. Singer and Paul Streeten. Many of Meier's major publications are represented in the collection. These include Economic Development, Emerging from Poverty, The International Economics of Development, International Trade and Development, Leading Issues in Development Economics, Pioneers in Development, and the Problems series of books.
4500 items 6.25 linear feet, dated 1941-1998.
Carl Menger (1840-1921): Economic theorist and professor, Menger founded the Austrian school of economic thought and contributed significantly to the theory of marginal unity. Although this collection includes material from Menger's early professional life as well as some items from his brothers, Anton and Max, and his son, Karl, it is primarily composed of manuscripts and correspondence, 1867-1920, relating to his mature academic career. The contents are extremely dense and complex. They are also essential to an understanding of the mind of Carl Menger and serve to document his own methods of work. The collection contains extensive materials on the subjects of money, the gold standard and capital theory.
7,650 items, 10.4 linear feet, dated 1855-1985 (bulk 1867-1921).
Karl Menger (1902-1985): Menger was a mathematician and professor at Notre Dame University. The papers include material on the life of the mathematical community in Central Europe in the inter-war years, and the attempts to link Austrian economics and mathematics in the Mengerkreis (and related Vienna Circle) of the pre-Anschluss period. Many letters are from notable scientists; those written to Menger during World War II often comment on the hardships of colleagues still in Europe. Also included are biographical materials relating to Karl Menger and to his father, the Austrian economist Carl Menger, as well as materials related to the history of the Vienna Circle (1920s-1930s), a group of scholars concerned with philosophy and science. Primary mathematical subjects include curves theory, algebra, geometry and the philosophy of mathematics.
28,500 items, 38 linear feet, dated 1890-1985.
Lloyd Metzler (1913-1980): Economist and consultant to a number of U.S. government agencies. Collection consists chiefly of correspondence, notes, printed material, course-related materials and typed copies of works by Metzler and others. Most items relate to his career as an economic consultant for several U.S. government agencies including the Federal Reserve Board (1940s), a special U.S. House committee (1940s) and the U.S. Information Service. Other papers relate to his work as a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Topics include post WWII policy and planning, German monetary reform, monetary aspects of international trade, exchange rates, income transfer and the application of mathematics to economic theory.
10,300 items, approximately 13.7 linear feet, dated 1945-1974.
Franco Modigliani (1918-2003): Nobel Prize-winning professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through correspondence, extensive research notes, unpublished writings, lectures and presentations, teaching materials, published materials, photographs, audiovisual materials, scrapbooks and clippings, the papers document his career from his earliest student work in Italy through his 40-year tenure of teaching and research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The collection contains ample documentation on Modigliani's work on the life-cycle hypothesis of saving, leading to the Nobel Prize in 1985. Other materials represent his work on topics such as monetary policies, both domestic and foreign; pension trusts; public debt; econometric modeling; international finance and the international payment system; and the effects of and cures for inflation. Extensive documentation can also be found on Modigliani's key participation in the design of a large-scale model of the U.S. economy, called the MPS. Finally, clippings and other writings by Modigliani reveal his views on broader political and societal concerns.
62,100 items, 88 linear feet, 1936-2005 and undated (bulk 1970s-2003).
Oskar Morgenstern (1902-1977): Economist, educator and author in Austria and the U.S. The papers document his association with the Austrian School of Economics and consist of correspondence, diaries, subject files, printed material, audiovisual materials, manuscript and printed writings and their supporting papers and biographical and bibliographical information about his career and publications. The collection principally concerns Morgenstern's work as an economic theorist, university professor, author and lecturer, and consultant to business and government. The papers contain diaries he kept nearly continuously from his student days until his death, and record the process of collaboration with John von Neumann as well as his own political shifts in his Vienna days. They also provide a fascinating glimpse on his remarkable friendships with Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel in Princeton.
27,691 items, 41.8 linear feet, dated 1866-1992 (bulk 1917-1977).
Sir Anthony Musgrave (1828-1888): British colonial governor, of East Grinstead, Sussex, England, and minor economist. The papers include professional and personal materials of Musgrave and several family members. Sir Anthony Musgrave's papers, correspondence, dispatches, and writings pertain principally to the administration of various colonial governments, particularly Jamaica, 1877-1883, but also St. Vincent, 1861-1864; Newfoundland, 1864-1869, British Columbia, 1869-1872, Natal, 1872, South Australia, 1873, and Queensland, 1883-1888. Also included is correspondence with William Stanley Jevons and other prominent 19th century figures.
183 items, dated 1739-1938 and undated.
Douglass C. North (1920-2015): Faculty member of Washington University in Saint Louis, Mo., North won the Nobel Prize for Economics for 1993. The collection consist chiefly of professional correspondence written and received by North, writings by North and other colleagues, and files on conferences attended by North; there are also some materials relating to courses he taught. The collection documents North's career as an economist and professor at Berkeley, University of Washington, Rice University and Washington University (Missouri), and reflects his interests in the economic history of the western world, industrialization, transaction costs, economic development and technology. More specifically, the papers document his long-standing interest in explaining institutional change and political economies without relying exclusively on neo-classical economic theories.
16,200 items, 18 linear feet, dated 1953-1999 and undated (bulk 1980-1997).
Don Patinkin (1922-1995): Noted economist and professor at Hebrew University in Israel. The Patinkin Papers, the largest of the economists' collections at Duke, is richest in correspondence. Forty-four of the eighty boxes contain correspondence representing the entire span of Patinkin's professional career, and involve almost every colleague, including Kenneth Arrow, Milton Friedman, Roy Harrod, Harry Johnson, Simon Kuznets, Franco Modigliani, and Paul Samuelson, among literally hundreds of others. Scanned images of some correspondence between Patinkin and John Hicks are available on this web site. Among the professional papers, the main subjects of interest are related chiefly to Keynesian economics, but also to the neoclassical theory of value, equilibrium economics, theories of unemployment and general monetary economics.
90,000 items, 120.0 linear feet, dated 1870-1995 and undated (bulk 1947-1992).
Mark Perlman (1923-2006): Economics professor at University of Pittsburgh and founder and editor from 1969 to 1981 of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL). The collection documents Perlman's career as an economist and author at Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Pittsburgh and reflects his interest in work arbitration, trade unions and the economics of public health. The papers chiefly contain correspondence pertaining to administration of the JEL, and personal and professional correspondence, with frequent references to Perlman's writings and lectures and to other economists and their views. Also included are correspondence indexes, 1991-2001 (chronological and by name of correspondent). All indexes contain summaries of each letter's contents. There is also a small series of papers related to courses taught by Perlman, a seminar series at Pittsburgh, and papers for a conference in 1980.
38,450 items, 62.7 linear feet, dated 1952-2001 (bulk 1967-2001).
Charlotte D. Phelps (1933-): Economist and Professor of Economics Emerita, Temple University. Phelps has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist, a member of the Board of the Society of the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, and Associate Editor of The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. The collection is primarily comprised of material relating to Phelps' academic work, including correspondence (1957-2010), teaching material, writings, and professional service. Published and unpublished works reflect her scholarly interests in the relationship between psychology and economic decision-making. A-V materials contain conference material, research data, and a television pilot Phelps co-created called "Women and Work" (the series was never produced). Personal files deal mainly with her marriage to Edmund Phelps, and include photographs and a series of letters following their divorce, as well as a number of photographs of academic colleagues.
9 boxes, 4.0 linear feet, 1955-2010.

A - C | D - G | H - L | M - Q | R - Z

Benjamin Ratchford (1902-1977): Professor of economics at Duke University from 1928-1960, Ratchford left Duke in 1960 to become vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Va. Retired from that position in 1967, and returned to Durham, N.C. An expert in public finance, Ratchford was involved in a number of economic policy projects, including the reconstruction of Germany after World War II. The papers consist of correspondence, subject files, teaching materials, documents, clippings, writings, notes, reports, a journal and a scrapbook. Major subjects include Duke Univ. administration and Economics Dept., the Federal Reserve Bank, the Office of Price Administration, the economy of Germany after World War II, the U.S. War Department and monetary regulation.
3000 items, 4.5 linear feet, dated 1924-1980.
Albert E. (Everett) Rees (1921-1992): Economics professor and administrator at Princeton University, Rees headed Gerald Ford's Council on Wage and Price Stability. This collection contains correspondence, lectures, writings and course notes. One group of folders contain testimony involving a union dispute. Some correspondence is arranged by name of correspondent.
6,300 items, 10.5 linear feet, dated 1948-1992 and undated.
Charles F. Roos (1901-1958): Founder and president of the Econometric Society, and founded the Econometric Institute Inc. in 1938. Collection consists largely of reports and studies by the Econometrics Institute for various clients, including railroads, paper companies, copper, beer, newspaper and electric power. Also includes working papers and charts, offprints and reprints, Economic Measures publications, some correspondence and other miscellaneous materials related to Roos' work, especially post-World War II.
1950 items, 2.6 linear feet, bulk dated 1930s-1950s.
Alvin Roth (1951- ): George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard University. His research interests include game theory, experimental economics and market design. The collection offers a wealth of information from Roth's early career at the University of Pittsburgh, including his research and correspondence from that period, as well as drafts of some of his well-cited articles and writings. Notable correspondants include Robert Aumann, Ido Erev, Uriel Rothblum and many more. Also included are various subject files, including Winner's Curse, Matching and Learning.
9450 items, 12.6 linear feet, 1960s-2000.
Paul A. Samuelson (1915-2009): Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Materials include Samuelson's unpublished writings, drafts, fragments and notes; audiovisual materials; Newsweek and other magazine columns; materials from his various awards, including the Nobel Prize; files relating to his various grants, committees and projects; course materials from his years of teaching at MIT; speech files; publication files; and professional correspondence files.
75,825 items, 101.5 linear feet, dated 1930s-2010.
Anna Schwartz (1915-2012): Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research and collaborator with Milton Friedman on numerous works, including A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. Schwartz also served as the executive director of the United States Gold Commission from 1981 to 1982. Collection consists largely of Schwartz's professional materials, including economics research and subject files on monetary policy, gold, the Federal Reserve, currency and the 2008 Financial Crisis; collaborations with other economists; correspondence, largely professional but including some personal letters; Gold Commission materials from the 1980s; Shadow Open Market Committee materials; and writings, including lectures and articles by Schwartz. Another significant part of the collection is the Milton Friedman series, which includes correspondence, writings and other materials relating to Friedman and his work.
17,500 items, 23 linear feet, dated 1929-2012.
Tibor Scitovsky (1910-2002): Hungarian-born economist and professor at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley; author of The Joyless Economy: An Inquiry Into Human Satisfaction And Consumer Dissatisfaction (1976, 1992). Small collection of papers consists largely of materials related to Scitovsky's unpublished writings, including a personal memoir, and papers written in the 1990s on "Boredom" and "What Went Wrong in our Country." Materials related to the memoir include family photographs and documents dating back to 1910. The collection also contains reprints of his published articles, 1940-1996; and professional correspondence, primarily 2000-2002.
800 items, 1.2 linear feet, dated 1910-2002, with some undated materials.
Martin Shubik (1926-2018): Noted economist, consultant, and professor at Yale University. The papers contain drafts of his Game Theory in the Social Sciences, a project originally begun with Lloyd Shapley, incoming and outgoing correspondence and memoranda and writings, especially on game theory. Also includes grant folders, materials from courses taught by Shubik, from conferences he attended and book reviews of his work. Some of the correspondence and conference material focuses on Shubik's interest in Latin America.
27,650 items, 50.55 linear feet, dated 1947-2003 and undated (bulk 1960-1993).
Leonard Silk (1918-1995): Economist, educator, journalist and author best known for his New York Times column on economic and financial affairs. Materials include correspondence files; printed material such as periodicals and reports; research or subject files; newspaper clippings files; drafts of writings, including Silk's books, New York Times news columns, editorials, speeches, lectures, book reviews, and essays; papers and reprints by Silk's colleagues; organizations files; publicity and informal photographs of Silk; financial documents; economic data; some teaching materials such as reading lists; and theses and dissertations. There are also groups of cards, notes, memos, calendars and agendas and some minutes of meetings relating to organizations with which Silk was involved. A more detailed original paper inventory is available onsite; in it significant portions of the correspondence are listed at the item level, including correspondents' names.
Approx. 326,700 items; 544.5 linear feet, dated 1929-1985 and undated, bulk 1950-1985.
Vernon L. Smith (1927- ): Pioneering economist and faculty member at the University of Arizona, Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his studies in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms. The collection includes correspondence, research files and other papers related to Smith's career and research interests, some of which include experimental economics, the methodology of economics, game theory and investment and production theories. Some materials also concern Smith's work for the National Science Foundation and the Energy Information Administration, a federal office. Also included are research notes, experiment data, documentation and drafts of writings by Smith on topics such as auctions and bidding behavior, electric and gas price markets and power networks, power utility deregulation, gas transmission, fairness in markets and the stock market.
47,971 items, 44.7 linear feet, dated 1950-2003.
Robert M. Solow (1924- ): Professor emeritus in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1949, Solow received the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics for his development of the Solow Growth Model in the 1950s. The majority of the collection consists of correspondence with students, colleagues, and other economists (1960-1999), which includes his reviews of papers by other scholars, recommendations, and professional correspondence. The collection also contains lecture notes for courses Solow taught at MIT; published papers by Solow on macroeconomics, growth theory, linear programming and other topics; and files from economic, academic and governmental organizations in which he served throughout his career.
39,000 items, 52 linear feet, dated 1950-2006 (bulk 1971-1999).
Joseph John Spengler (1902-1991): Professor of economics at Duke University, 1934-1979. Spengler's papers chiefly contain correspondence, printed material, critiques of publications, bibliographies, class notes and other papers relating to his career, publications, and affiliation with different economics associations. There are some photocopies of Spengler's correspondence with William Richard Allen. Collection also includes manuscripts of some of his works, information concerning Duke University's administrative policies and staff, reprints of published articles relating to his career and a charcoal portrait. Much of the abundant correspondence is personal, and there are other materials on the genealogy and history of the Kress and Spengler families, including six photograph albums and tintypes.
60,471 items, 112.4 linear feet, dated 1896-1987 (bulk 1930-1984).
Wolfgang F. Stolper (1912-2002): Professor emeritus of economics, University of Michigan. Stolper's name is perhaps most recognizable for the theoretical piece written with Paul A. Samuelson on what has come to be known as the Stolper-Samuelson Theorem. Most of the collection is comprised of Stolper's files and notes from his work on development economics in Africa. Files include writings, reports, diaries and other documents about the economies of Nigeria, Tunisia, Liberia, Togo and the Ivory Coast; correspondence with colleagues, including Paul Samuelson, Gottfried Haberler and other prominent economists; lectures from classes in the 1930s; as well as writings about J. A. Schumpeter, economic development and other topics.
18,525 items, 29 linear feet, dated 1892-2001 (bulk 1930s-1990s).
William Volker Fund (1932-1965): The William Volker Fund, a charitable foundation which operated between 1932 and 1965, researched and promoted free-market economics. These materials were collected and donated by Kenneth Templeton. Collection includes reports and surveys commissioned by the Fund regarding education and health; sourcebooks on education resources and conferences; National Book Foundation files; and other miscellaneous materials, including a William Volker Fund manual and board meeting reports.
25 items, 1.8 linear feet, dated 1953-1961.
Sidney Weintraub (1914-1983): American economist, U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank economist; professor at St. John's University and the University of Pennsylvania. Collection consists of Weintraub's personal and professional files and is arranged into the following series: correspondence, subject files, writings, miscellany, clippings, photographs and volumes. Much of Weintraub's career is documented here, including his teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Waterloo; lectures for the U.S. Information Service; and editing for journals he co-founded. His correspondents included Martin Bronfenbrenner, John K. Galbraith, E. Roy Weintraub (son) and Alice Vandermeulen. Sidney Weintraub attempted to influence government policy by promoting Tax-based Income Policy (TIP). His correspondence includes some with members of Congress and the executive branch.
16,367 items, dated 1939-1984 (bulk 1958-1983).