Commission Seminars, 1943-1955

1943  
Jul. 6 Leonid Hurwicz, “The Study of Price Determination”
Jul. 22 Gerhard Tintner, Iowa State College, “Verification of a Simplified Theory of Business Cycles”
Sep. 29 George Katona, “The Study of Price Control and Rationing”
Nov. 3 Research assistants of the Committee on Price Control and Rationing discussed various aspects of the study then in progress. Speakers were: Rolf A. Weil, Marvin L. Braude, and Jack Letiche
Nov. 26 The discussion of price control and rationing was continued. The speakers were: Sylvia M. Kafka, George Katona, and Jack Letiche. Lt. (j.g.) Martin Hilby, U.S.N. (formerly of OPA) and Professor Theodore W. Schultz also participated
Dec. 13 Tjalling C. Koopmans, Statistician of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board, “Dynamic Economic Systems”
1944  
Jan. 31 Clark Warburton, Principal Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, “Theories of Monetary Control and the Need for a Responsible Monetary Authority”
Feb. 1 Abraham Wald, Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University, “Statistical Inference” (joint session with Department of Mathematics)
Dec. 8 “Econometrics of Investment,” discussion with Professor Jacob Viner
1945  
May 25-26 John von Neumann, Professor of Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study, “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior”
Oct. 15 Lawrence R. Klein, “Index Numbers and the Theory of Rational Behavior”
Oct. 22 Trygve Haavelmo, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget”
Oct. 29 Jacob Viner, Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, “Discussion of Trygve Haavelmo’s Monograph, “The Probability Approach in Econometrics’ ” (supplement to Econometrica (1944), Vol. 12)
Nov. 19 Donald M. Fort, The University of Chicago, “A Modified Keynesian Theory”
Nov. 26 Richard Stone, Director, Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge, “National Income and Social Accounting”
Dec. 10 W. Edwards Deming, Bureau of the Budget, Washington, D.C., “On Some Criteria of Sampling, with an Illustration in Population Sampling”
Dec. 17 George Katona, Division of Program Surveys, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Wartime Savings and Their Effects”
1946  
Jan. 8 Leonid Hurwicz, “Analysis of the Economic Stagnation Thesis”
Jan. 22 Theodore W. Anderson, Jr., “Statistical Tests of Rank and Estimation of the Linear Relations between Expected Values”
Feb. 5 Roy B. Leipnik, “Distribution of the Serial Correlation Coefficient”
Feb. 19 H. Gregg Lewis, “Some Problems in the Analysis of Demand for Steel”
Mar. 19 Trygve Haavelmo, “Analysis of Demand for Agricultural Products”
Apr. 2 Leonid Hurwicz, “Theory of the Firm and of Investment”
Apr. 17 Lawrence R. Klein, “National Product Forecasts for the Reconversion Period”
May 1 Walter Bartky, Dean of the Division of Physical Sciences, “Recent Applications of Statistics in Physical Science”
May 22 Everett R. Hagen, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, “Forecasting National Product and Employment”
June 3 Jan Tinbergen, Professor of Statistics, Rotterdam School of Economics, “Discontinuous Functions in Economics”
June 4 Jan Tinbergen, Professor of Statistics, Rotterdam School of Economics, “Theory of Speculative Demand for Raw Materials”
Oct. 9 E. J. Working, Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois, “What Would Prices Have Been Without Controls? Can Statistical Analyses of Demand Tell Us?”
Oct. 26 J. R. Hicks, Professor of Economics, University of Oxford, “The Aggregation of Consumers’ Surplus”
Nov. 6 Dorothy S. Brady, Chief, Cost of Living Division, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, “Interpretation of Consumption Data in the Derivation of Standard Budgets”
Nov. 21 Trygve Haavelmo, “Econometric Methods and Agricultural Policy”
Dec. 5 Kenneth May, “Tentative Methods of Dealing with Technological Change”
1947  
Jan. 16 Sam H. Schurr, “Economic Aspects of Atomic Energy as a Source of Power”
Feb. 14 Ragnar Frisch, Professor of Economics, University of Norway, Oslo, “Some Basic Formulae in Demand Analysis”
Feb. 20 Sewall Wright, Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago, “The Method of Path Coefficients”
Mar. 6 Abba P. Lerner, Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research, New York, “Wages, Inflation and Deflation”
Apr. 1 Harald Cramer, Professor of Mathematics, University of Stockholm, Sweden, “Stationary Stochastic Processes”
Apr. 10 Abba P. Lerner, Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research, New York, “Economic Planning in a Free Market”
May 8 Martin Bronfenbrenner, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Department of Economics, Roosevelt College, “Comparison of Full-Employment Forecasts”
May 22 Rensis Likert, Director, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, “Sample Survey as a Tool for Economic Research”
Aug. 7 Harold Hotelling, Professor, University of North Carolina, “Statistical Problems of Welfare Economics”
Oct. 9 Colin Clark, Director, Bureau of Industry, and Financial Adviser to the State Treasury of Queensland, Australia, “Social Implications of Economic Growth”
Oct. 23 Milton Friedman, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, “Utility Analysis of Gambling and Insurance”
Nov. 6 Herbert A. Simon, Professor of Political Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, “Some Economic Effects of Technological Progress”
Nov. 20 Dr. George Rasch, State Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, “Statistical Analysis of Growth Curves”
1948  
Jan. 29 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Welfare Economics of Transportation and Location” (in collaboration with the Program of Education and Research in Planning)
Feb. 12 Anatol Rapoport, Research Associate in Mathematical Biology, and Alphonso Shimbel, Research Associate in Mathematical Biology, “Suggestions for Measuring the Satisfaction Functions of Animals”
Feb. 24 Ewan Clague, U.S. Commissioner of Labor Statistics, “Productivity, Wages, and the American Standard of Living” (jointly with the Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association)
Feb. 26 Frederick Mosteller, Associate Professor of Social Relations, Harvard University, “Graphical Analysis of Data Obtained by Counting”
Mar. 18 Gerhard Tintner, Professor of Economics, Iowa State College, “Foundations of Probability and Statistical Inference” (jointly with the Statistical Techniques Group, Chicago Chapter, American Statistical Association)
Apr. 15 Melvin G. De Chazeau, Professor of Business Economics and Marketing, University of Chicago, “Interviewing of Businessmen”
Apr. 29 Karl Menger, Professor of Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology, “A Geometric Theory of Index Numbers”
May 13 H. Gregg Lewis, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, “Observations on Duopoly”
May 27 L. H. C. Tippett, Statistician to the British Cotton Industry Research Association and Visiting Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Investigations of Industrial Efficiency”
Jun. 10 Jacob Marschak, “Money Illusion, Price Level, and Employment”
Oct. 21 Lloyd A. Metzler, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, “Tariffs, the Terms of Trade and the Distribution of National Income”
Nov. 4 William E. Henry, Assistant Professor in the Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago, “Personality and the Performance of Executives”
Nov. 18 Fetter J. Bjerve, Chief of Economic Planning Division, Norwegian Ministry of Trade, “Government Economic Planning in Norway” (jointly with the Program of Education and Research in Planning)
Dec. 9 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “The Econometric Approach to Business Fluctuations”
1949  
Jan. 9 L. J. Savage, Research Associate in Mathematics, University of Chicago, “The Theory of Games: Zero-Sum Games”
Jan. 20 Kenneth J. Arrow, “The Theory of Games: Multi-Person Games”
Feb. 17 Kenneth J. Arrow, “The Theory of Games: Applications to Economics”
Mar. 3 Jacob Marschak, “The Theory of Games: Measurable Utility”
Mar. 10 M. A. Girshick, Professor of Statistics, Stanford University, “The Theory of Games: Continuous Games”
Mar. 31 L. J. Savage, “The Theory of Games: Application to Statistical Inference”
Apr. 14 Herbert A. Simon, “The Theory of Games: Application to Politics and Administration”
May 12 Herman Rubin, “Statistical Treatment of Nonlinear Econometric Models”
May 26 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Utility Analysis of Decisions Involving Future Periods”
Oct. 6 Tibor Scitovsky, Department of Economics, Stanford University, “The Meaning of National Product Estimates”
Oct. 20 Anatol Rapoport, Committee on Mathematical Biology, University of Chicago, “Outline of a Mathematical Approach to Animal Sociology”
Nov. 3 Nicolas Rashevsky, Committee on Mathematical Biology, University of Chicago, “Suggestions for a Mathematical Biology of Imitative Behavior”`
Nov. 17 Carl Christ, “Econometric Models and Predictions for the United States”
Dec. 8 Leonid Hurwicz, “Estimation Bias Due to Incorrect Choice of Model” (jointly with the Statistics Club, University of Chicago)
Dec. 15 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Efficient Allocation of Resources”
1950  
Jan. 5 Charles J. Hitch, The RAND Corporation, “Planning Defense Production”
Jan. 12 A. W. Tucker, Department of Mathematics, Princeton University, “Feasibility, Existence, and Duality Theorems of Linear Programming”
Feb. 2 Chauncy D. Harris, Department of Geography, University of Chicago, “Theory of Location and Soviet Planning”
Feb. 9 Erich Schneider, Department of Economics, University of Kiel, Germany, “The Problem of Replacement of Industrial Equipment”
Mar. 2 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Identification of Structure in Factor Analysis and in Econometrics” (jointly with the Statistics Club, University of Chicago)
Mar. 16 Robert H. Strotz, Department of Economics, Northwestern University, and N. Frank Morehouse, Aerial Measurements Laboratory, Northwestern University, “The Application of the Electro-Analog Computer to Problems in Economic Dynamics”
Mar. 30 Julius Margolis, Program of Education and Research in Planning, University of Chicago, “National Economic Accounting and Economic Policy”
Apr. 13 Gerhard Tintner, Department of Economics, Iowa State College, “External Economies in Consumption”
Apr. 27 Earl J. Hamilton, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, “Four Centuries of Spanish Prices”
May 11 Franco Modigliani, “Empirical Studies of Expectations and Investment Decisions”
May 18 Lawrence R. Klein, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, and National Bureau of Economic Research, “Sample Surveys and Household Behavior”
May 25 A. J. Brown, Department of Economics, University of Leeds, England, “Some Recent Examples of the Price-Wage Spiral”
Jun. 15 Eric Lundberg, Institute of Conjuncture, Stockholm, Sweden, “Wage Policy and Full Employment — With Special Reference to Swedish Experience”
Oct. 12 John F. Nash, Princeton University, “The Extended Bargaining Problem”
Oct. 26 Rudolph Carnap, Department of Philosophy, University of Chicago, “A New Theory of Probability: Degree of Confirmation and Inductive Inference”
Nov. 9 Leonard J. Savage, Committee on Statistics, University of Chicago, “De Finetti’s Theory of Subjective Probability with Reference to the Statistical Decision Problem”
Nov. 16 Lloyd A. Metzler, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, “The Pigou Effect and the Rate of Interest”
Nov. 30 Jacob Marschak, “Recent Discussions on Utility and Probability, and the Late Frank Ramsey”
Dec. 21 Kenneth J. Arrow, “Alternative Approaches to the Theory of Choice in Risk-Taking Situations”
1951  
Jan. 11 Harold T. Davis, “Some Implications of the Curve of Income Distribution”
Jan. 25 Herman Chernoff, Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois, “Rational Selection of Decision Functions”
Feb. 1 D. Van Dantzig, Department of Mathematics, University of Amsterdam, “On the Linking up of Probability Theory to Empirical Sciences”
Feb. 15 Louis L. Thurstone, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, “Consumer Preferences and the Prediction of Choices”
Mar. 1 Leonid Hurwicz, “The Mathematics of Welfare Economics: An Introduction”
Mar. 15 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Generalizations of Leontief’s Input-Output Model”
Mar. 29 Leonid Hurwicz, “Optimization Rules in a Decentralized Economy”
Apr. 12 Morton L. Slater, “Optimization under Constraints: A Central Economic Problem and the Mathematical Tools for Its Solution”
Apr. 26 Louis Guttman, Israel Institute of Applied Social Research, “Qualitative Data and the Theory of Scaling” (jointly with Committee on Statistics, University of Chicago)
May 3 Gerard Debreu, “The Efficiency of an Economic System”
May 10 Clifford Hildreth, “Derivation of Social Welfare Functions from Individual Utility Functions”
May 24 John Chipman, University of Chicago, “Oscillations in a Multi-Sector Economy”
Jun. 12 M. G. Kendall, London School of Economics, “Testing Significance in Cases Where There Is Autocorrelation in Residuals of a Time Series”
Oct. 18 Melville J. Herskovits, Northwestern University, “Rational Behavior and Cultural Relativism”
Nov. 1 Howard Raiffa, University of Michigan, “Arbitration Schemes for Generalized Two-Person Games,” presented at the Cowles Commission Conference on the Problem of Decision-Making
Nov. 15 Herbert A. Simon, “Some Mathematical Models in Social Sciences”
Nov. 19 Karl Menger, Illinois Institute of Technology, “Probabilistic Theory of Relations”
Dec. 13 Robert H. Strotz, “Problems in the Pure Theory of Income Redistribution”
1952  
Jan. 10 Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, “Price, Income, and Monetary Changes in Three Wartime Periods”
Jan. 14 Karl Faxen, University of Stockholm, “Games with Nonmeasurable Utilities”
Feb. 7 Lawrence R. Klein, “Evaluation of Consumers’ Expenditures Survey Data”
Feb. 11 Herbert D. Landahl, University of Chicago, “A Neurobiophysical Interpretation of Certain Aspects of the Problem of Risks”
Mar. 6 H. S. Houthakker, ‘The Free Demand for Rationed Foodstuffs in Britain”
Mar. 17 Clyde H. Coombs, University of Michigan, “Measurement of Individual and Social Utility”
Apr. 10 Herbert A. Simon, “The Logic of Causality,” presented at the Conference on Business Decision-Making sponsored jointly with Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois
Apr. 14 Robert M. Thrall, University of Michigan, “A General Theory of Measurement and the Michigan Interdisciplinary Training Program”
May 8 James G. Miller, University of Chicago, “The Executive of the Personality and Decision-Making”
May 11 Franco Modigliani, “Some Empirical Results of an Analysis of Expectations and Plans of Firms”
Oct. 9 Abba P. Lerner, Roosevelt College, “Social Welfare Functions”
Oct. 23 Leo Tornqvist, “Some Remarks about the Decision Concept”
Nov. 6 Colin Clark, University of Oxford, “A New Theory of Industrial Location”
Nov. 20 Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, “The Effect of Individual Choice on the Income Distribution”
Dec. 4 Jacob Marschak, “Some Building Stones for a Theory of Organizations”
Dec. 18 Tjalling C. Koopmans, “Activity Analysis and Its Applications”
1953  
Jan. 15 H. S. Houthakker, “Theory of Futures Markets”
Jan. 29 O. H. Brownlee, University of Minnesota, “The Effects of Taxation on the Price Level in The Short Run”
Feb. 12 Martin Beckmann, “Some Implications of Activity Analysis for Price Theory”
Feb. 26 T. A. Hieronymus, University of Illinois, “An Empirical Study of Price Expectations and Marketing Decisions”
Mar. 12 Lawrence R. Klein, “Some Preliminary Estimates of a New Econometric Model for the United States”
Apr. 9 Clifford Hildreth, “Relations Affecting Livestock Production and Price”
Apr. 23 Anatol Rapoport, University of Chicago, “Theory of Communication Nets”
May 7 Robert l. Gustafson, University of Chicago, “Optimum Storage Rules for Grains”
May 21 J. R. N. Stone, University of Cambridge, “A Cambridge View on Economic Research”
Oct. 8 Arnold C. Harberger, “Estimating Economic Parameters”
Oct. 22 D. Gale Johnson, University of Chicago, “Regional and Occupational Differences in Income in the United States”
Nov. 5 Robert H. Strotz, Northwestern University, “The Optimal Rate of Plant Expansion”
Nov. 19 Roy Radner, “The Firm as a Team”
Dec. 3 Andrew Vazsonyi, Hughes Aircraft Company, “The Use of Mathematics in Production and Inventory Control”
1954  
Jan. 28 Sigbert J. Prais, “Equivalent Adults, Economies of Scale, and Standard of Living”
Feb. 11 Lloyd A. Metzler, University of Chicago, “A Second Look at the Transfer Problem”
Feb. 25 George Katona, University of Michigan, “On the Prediction Value of Economic Attitudes”
Mar. 11 G. W. Platzman, University of Chicago, “The Use of High-Speed Computers in Meteorology”
Apr. 8 Arnold Tustin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Problems of System Analysis in Engineering and Economics”
Apr. 22 Thomas E. Caywood, Caywood–Schiller Associates, “A Problem in Applied Game Theory”
May 11 Robert R. Bush, Harvard University, “The Analysis of Latency Data”
May 13 Franco Modigliani, Carnegie Institute of Technology, “The Consumption Function”
May 27 Alfred Kraessel, University of Chicago, “Some Economic Aspects of Latin America”
Jun. 10 Richard L. Meier, University of Chicago, “On Creativity”
Oct. 7 Sidney Alexander, Columbia Broadcasting System, “The Ethics of Competition a Generation Later”
Oct. 19 Gerhard Titner, Iowa State College, “Linear Programming under Uncertainty”
Oct. 21 Gerard Debreu, Cowles Commission, “An Economic Theory of Uncertainty”
Nov. 4 Robert Solow, MIT, “The Economics of Economic Growth”
Nov. 18 Stefan Valavanis-Vail, University of Michigan, “An Econometric Model of Growth in the United States”
Dec. 7 Margaret G. Reid, University of Chicago, “Income Elasticity of Consumption: An Analysis of Family Data”
1955  
Jan. 13 Gary S. Becker, University of Chicago, “The Economics of Racial Discrimination”
Jan. 19 Martin Bronfenbrenner, University of Wisconsin, “Confiscation and Economic Development”
Feb. 3 J. K. Galbraith, Harvard University, “Countervailing Power”
Feb. 10 Earl R. Swanson, University of Illinois, “Application of Linear Programming in Agricultural Production Research”
Feb. 17 Jacob Marschak, Cowles Commission, “A Several-Persons Firm”
Mar. 3 John A. Nordin, Iowa State College, “Resource Allocation Affecting Demand Analysis”
Apr. 7 Arthur F. Burns, Council of Economic Advisers, “Economic Targets under the Employment Act”