A History Of The Idea Of Macroeconomics

Paul Krugman wrote a (very) long but worthy reflection on the history of the idea of macroeconomics. As you can see from my phrasing, I believe this piece rides the line between the history of ideas and the history of economics as an academic discipline. Your opinion of Krugman's analyses of the present will likely dictate your acceptance of his narrative of events. He writes on the period beginning in the 1920s and ending with the Great Recession of 2008-09. The central characters in Krugman's drama are Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes, as well as the intellectual descendants of each (today's freshwater and saltwater economists, respectively). Again, the piece is rather lengthy but the pay-off makes your effort worthwhile. - TL

First Drafting Recent Historical Events: The Case Of Ave Maria Law School

You might call this a first draft of the history of Ave Maria Law School, as well as Ave Maria University in general. Of course Ave Maria forwards their own version of events. That's the nature of history. The comments to the Washington Monthly article, however, provide a tidy object lesson in the hazards of drafting first accounts of any institution's history in the age of Culture Wars---especially skirmishes of the religious variety. - TL

The Job Market Exposed---At One Institution---In Another Field: Is It The Same In History?

The City College of the City University of New York listed an open assistant professor, tenure-track position in philosophy last fall. Lou Marinoff, chair of philosophy at CCNY and founding president of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, decided to chronicle the search for an Aug. 31 InsideHigherEd article. [Hat-tip to the ever-intriguing Historiann for bringing this to my attention. Try to ignore my extremely salty comments on her post.]

While I'm sure that philosophy searches differ from those in history, I believe it's probably more by degree than kind. For instance, Professor Marinoff relayed that 637 applications were received. As a result they committee resorted to "practical" sorting methods. Here's an excerpt that narrowed my pupils:

How did we prune our field from 637 to 27? An important selection criterion was holding a Ph.D. from a good university. Members of our department earned their Ph.D.s at Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, and University of London. Additionally, City College is known as the “Harvard of the Proletariat,” with distinguished alumni that include nine Nobel Laureates, more than any other public institution in America. Our faculty members are expected to live up to this legacy.

What did Marinoff mean by "good university"? Highly ranked universities? Solid departments? Schools with which he and his CCNY peers were familiar?

Second, third, and fourth criteria included evidence of research and publication, evidence of undergraduate teaching ability as well as versatility, and evidence of administrative service, respectively.

Notice what's missing: an intriguing, weighty dissertation topic; collegiality; affirmative action data; conference presentations; good grades, etc. Also note the ordering of criteria: institutional choice, publications/research (which I concede could include your diss. topic/approach), teaching, admin. service.

So what's the message to past and present students who either are on, or will be on, the market? Well, everything centers on your very first choice---the nearly immutable decision of where you go to school. I wonder how true this might be in history? Is that kind of career determinism empirically evident in history?

Next? Start working on publications the minute you get on campus. This means you need to know your diss. topic quickly and make your classes work with your research and writing goals. Otherwise you need to come to campus with some publications cemented or at least pending.

As for teaching, screw it. Slack off---do the minimum---on your TA-ship because it just doesn't matter. Now, say that in your best Tripper Harrison (aka Bill Murray in Meatballs) voice:

Slightly Off Topic: Adler Planetarium Lecture Announcement

If you live in Chicago, you might be interested in the following lecture to be given later this month:

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12th Annual Roderick S. Webster Memorial Lecture
"Greek Astronomers and the Ancient Public"~ ~
Speaker: Dr. Alexander Jones
Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York University

Wednesday, Sept 23, 2009
6:00 p.m.

Universe Theater
Adler Planetarium
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Between about 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., Greek astronomers learned how to explain and predict the appearances and motions of the heavenly bodies with remarkable precision. At the same time, they took great interest in explaining astronomy and its uses to the general public. In this lecture, Dr. Alexander Jones will talk about what these early astronomers thought the public should know about their science and why. Dr. Jones will illustrate the variety of approaches they used to convey their messages through words, pictures, numbers, and mechanical models.

Admission is free and open to the public. No registration is required. A reception will follow the lecture.

Sponsored by the Adler Planetarium and the Archaeological Institute of America: The Chicago Society
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Full disclosure: My wife works at the Adler Planetarium

Research Tidbit: Every intellectual historian, U.S. focused or otherwise, and every historian of science should know that the Adler holds collections on the history of astronomy.

Tim's Light Reading (9/1/09)

1. A New Scopes Trial? Apparently U.S. political conservatives, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, would like the EPA to hold a public hearing on whether climate change is man-made or a part of nature's cycles. So if we assume that Clarence Darrow is be played by Al Gore in this proposed historical melodrama, who will take on the part of William Jennings Bryan? This guy? What innocent school teacher will be the John Scopes of the twenty-first century?

2. President Obama's reading list for his just-finished vacation. The last paragraph sums up the situation---the obsession with what presidents read---fairly well:

"We can blame John Kennedy for this obsession with presidential reading. Asked at a press conference what he read for relaxation, he named Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Kennedy was the first glamour president of the television age. His celebrity status escalated the process of overinterpreting presidential behavior, but those books also seemed to say something about the man who read them. It was just too fitting that Kennedy was reading about a debonair Cold War rake who made his own rules. Presidential reading lists have been squeezed for meaning ever since. Which means that in the heat of this year's health care debate, the president doesn't dare read anything by anyone who once wrote a book called Dr. No."

In addition, I believe our obsession with the president's reading list, and reading lists in general, says something about our desire to learn how others think. We want to know what informs the thinking processes of others. Our curiosity about reading lists speaks to an innate desire for intellectual history and philosophy. Reading lists are just the People magazine/Cliff's Notes version of that desire.

3. I used this list of Top 10 Philosophy Blogs to help fill gaps on my Google Reader folder on the subject. After a few weeks of monitoring all ten, they seem a bit content dry in general. Then again, aren't all academic type blogs sporadic and content dry in August? Perhaps they'll pick up after Labor Day.

4. I'm paraphrasing Richard Yanikoski, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, but he essentially asserted this summer that Catholic colleges should acknowledge that they're like any another business. His precise quote: “We are a business, too. ...We’re a big business. We have a responsibility to ensure that the economic decisions we make also are cognizant of the moral consequences.” And Mr. Yanikoski builds on his attempt to twist this into a positive, relaying that "colleges must treat employees fairly, be responsible to the environment, and reserve financial aid for the needy and not just the smartest students." But I can't help being disappointed in his contradictory philosophical assumption. Namely, if you're a business, then you're concerned about profit---or the camouflage term "excess" in the world of some non-profits. What business model accounts for fairness, the environment, and help for the needy when the bottom-line is measuring stick? To be fair, I think Mr. Yanikoski means well. But his terminology confuses the issues. My thinking is that as a college you're an education institution that works within a philosophy and a budget; you're not a business that somehow works within a philosophy and deals with a product of immeasurable value (i.e. education).

5. Crooked Timber recently hosted a seminar on George Scialaba's new book of collected essays, What Are Intellectuals Good For? I'm working my way through this. I can say already, however, that I'm continually amazed at the ability of online publications to put forth high-quality content---way better than silly aggregation posts about one's light reading. :)

6. The Intellectual Life of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The social connections between activists, as well as their shared thought processes, intrigue me. As a Catholic, furthermore, I've grown more and more curious Dorothy Day and her influences. She has come up again and again as inspirational to late twentieth-century Catholics who are doggedly inspired to agitate for the cause of labor. In this case, however, we see a less prominent member of a high-profile political family motivated by Day's life and work. Between Eunice, John, Robert, Rose, and Ted, the Kennedys surely reflect the varieties of ways that U.S. Catholics apply their faith both socially and personally. The diversity of Catholic religious experiences continually amaze me.