Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bkrcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-21T22:39:55.246Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Contributions of Frederick C. Mills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Gregory R. Woirol
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Economics in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s was notable for the richness of its methodological and theoretical approaches. Encompassing the peak period of American institutionalism, these years also witnessed a recurrent debate over the proper scope and method of economics which was bracketed by a minor methodenstreit in the 1920s and the measurement-withouttheory dispute of the late 1940s. In retrospect it is apparent which lines of thought would dominate economic discourse in later decades. At the time, however, this future was not as clear. A late 1920s evaluation by Paul Homan of the state of contemporary economics concluded that economists “seem in our own day to be separated by more impassable barriers of thought than at any time in the past” (Homan 1928, p. 10). In looking beyond “the present impasse,” as he called it, Homan concluded that “whether economics in the future shall consist of a body of doctrines, or a body of facts scientifically ascertained, or a technique, or more or less of one and the other, is on the laps of the gods” (ibid., pp. 466-67).

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1999 , pp. 163 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Adams, Arthur B. 1936. The Trend of Business 1922–32. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Adams, Arthur B. 1936. Analysis of Business Cycles. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.Google Scholar
Berle, Adolf A. and Means, Gardiner C.. 1932. The Modern Corporation and Private Property. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Blair, John and Ruth, Aull. 1941. “Technology and Economic Balance.” In United States Senate, Temporary National Economic Committee, Technology in Our Economy. Washington D.C., 85–220: GPO.Google Scholar
Brookings Institution. 1936. The Recovery Problem in the United States. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Burns, Arthur F., ed. 1952. Wesley Clair Mitchell: The Economic Scientist. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Carlton, Dennis and Jeffrey, Perloff. 1994. Modern Industrial Organization, 2nd edition. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Clague, Ewan. 1927. “Productivity and Wages.” American Federationist 34 (March): 285–96.Google Scholar
Committee on Recent Economic Changes. 1929. Recent Economic Changes. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Debelle, Guy and Owen, Lamont. 1997. “Relative Price Variability and Inflation: Evidence from U.S. Cities.” Journal of Political Economy 105 (February): 132–52.Google Scholar
de Marchi, Neil and Christopher, Gilbert, eds. 1989. History and Methodology of Econometrics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Douglas, Paul. 1931. “Technological Unemployment.” American Federationist 37 (August): 923–50.Google Scholar
Durand, E. Dana. 1927. “Progress in National Efficiency.” In United States Department of Commerce, The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce. Washington, D.C.: GPO, xxvii–xxxiii.Google Scholar
Economic Essays in Honor of Wesley Clair Mitchell. 1935. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Essays in Social Economics in Honor of Jessica Blanche Peixotto. 1935. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ezekiel, Mordecai. 1936. “Productivity, Wage Rates and Employment.” American Economic Review 30 (September): 507–23.Google Scholar
Fabricant, Solomon. 1941. The Relation Between Factory Employment and Output Since 1899. Occasional Paper No. 4. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Fabricant, Solomon. 1942. Employment in Manufacturing, 1899–1939: An Analysis of Its Relation to the Volume of Production. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Fabricant, Solomon. 1961. “Basic Facts on Productivity Change: An Introduction by Solomon Fabricant.” In John Kendrick, Productivity Trends in the United States. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, xxxv–lii.Google Scholar
Fabricant, Solomon. 1984. Toward a Firmer Basis of Economic Policy: The Founding of the National Bureau of Economic Research. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Hansen, Alvin. 1931. “Institutional Frictions and Technological Unemployment.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 45 (August): 684–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, Abraham. 1976. “The A Posteriori Method and the Creation of New Theory: W. C. Mitchell as a Case Study.” History of Political Economy 8 (Summer): 195–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homan, Paul T. 1928. Contemporary Economic Thought. New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Institute of Industrial Relations. 1963. Institutional Economics: Veblen, Commons, and Mitchell Reconsidered. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Jerome, Harry. 1934. Mechanization in Industry. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Kahlor, Alfred. 1935. “The Problem of Verifying the Theory of Technological Unemployment.” Social Research 2 (November): 439–60.Google Scholar
Kaldor, Nicholas. 1932. “A Case Against Technical Progress?” Economica 12 (May): 180–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendrick, John. 1961. Productivity Trends in the United States. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Keynes, John Maynard. 1928. “Review of The Behavior of Prices.” Economic Journal 38 (December): 606–08.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank H. 1930. “Discussion of ‘The Theory of Economic Dynamics.’ American Economic Review 20 (March): 35–37.Google Scholar
Kuznets, Simon. 1963. “The Contribution of Wesley C. Mitchell.” In Institute of Industrial Relations, ed., Institutional Economics: Veblen, Commons, and Mitchell Reconsidered. Berkeley: University of California Press, 95–122.Google Scholar
Lee, Frederic S. and Samuels, Warren J.. 1992. “Introduction: Gardiner C. Means, 1896–1988,” in Lee, Frederic S. and Samuels, Warren J., eds., The Heterodox Economics of Gardiner C. Means: A Collection. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, xv–xxxiii.Google Scholar
Lee, Frederic S. eds. 1992. The Heterodox Economics of Gardiner C. Means: A Collection. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Lonigan, Edna. 1939. “The Effects of Modern Technological Conditions on the Employment of Labor.” American Economic Review 29 (June): 246–59.Google Scholar
Means, Gardiner C. 1935. Industrial Prices and Their Relative Inflexibility. Senate Document 13, 74th Congress, 1st Session.Google Scholar
“Mills, Frederick C(ecil).” 1948. Current Biography 1948. New York: H. W. Wilson Co.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1924. “On Measurement in Economics.” In Tugwell, Rexford G., ed., The Trend of Economics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 35–70.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1926. “An Hypothesis Concerning the Duration of Business Cycles.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 21 (December): 447–57.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1927. The Behavior of Prices. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1928a. “The Present Status and Future Prospects of Quantitative Economics.” American Economic Review 18 (March): 28–45.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1928b. “Post-War Prices and Pre-War Trends.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 23 (March): 45–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1929. “Price Movements and Related Changes.” In Committee on Recent Economic Changes, ed., Recent Economic Changes. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 603–55.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1930a. “The Theory of Economic Dynamics as Related to Industrial Stability.” American Economic Review 20 (March): 30–35.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1930b. Some Aspects of the Price Recession of 1929–30. Bulletin 40. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1932. Economic Tendencies in the United States. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1933. Changes in Physical Production, Productivity and Manufacturing Costs. Bulletin 45. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1934a. Letter to Harry Laidler, 5 March. Typescript. Mills papers, in possession of William H. Mills.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1934b. “Price Aspects of Monetary Problems.” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science 16 (April): 3–10.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1934c. “Introduction.” In Harry, Jerome, Mechanization in Industry. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, xxi–xxxi.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1935a. Aspects of Manufacturing Operations During Recovery. Bulletin 56. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1935b. “Industrial Change and Unemployment.” In Essays in Social Economics in Honor of Jessica Blanche Peixotto. Berkeley: University of California Press, 227–45.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1935c. “On the Changing Structure of Economic Life.” In Economic Essays in Honor of Wesley Clair Mitchell. New York: Columbia University Press, 357–91.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1936. Prices in Recession and Recovery: A Survey of Recent Changes. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1937. “Industrial Productivity and Prices.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 32 (June): 247–62.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1938a. Letter to Social Science Research Council, 22 April. Typescript. Mills papers, in possession of William H. Mills.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1938b. Employment Opportunities in Manufacturing Industries. Bulletin 70. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1940. “Comments by Frederick C. Mills on Bye's Critique and the Review.” In Social Science Research Council, ed., Critiques of Research in the Social Sciences: II, An Appraisal of Frederick C. Mills' The Behavior of Prices, by Raymond T. Bye. New York: Social Science Research Council, 91–164.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1946. “Elasticity of Physical Quantities and Flexibility of Unit Prices in the Dimension of Time.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 40 (December): 439–67.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1947. “Technological Gains and Their Uses.” Science 105 (February): 220–23.Google Scholar
Mills, Frederick C. 1952. Letter to Gerhard Tintner, 14 January. Typescript. Mills papers, in possession of William H. Mills.Google Scholar
Mirowski, Philip. 1989a. “The Probabilistic Counter-Revolution, or How Stochastic Concepts Came to Neoclassical Economic Theory.” In Neil de, Marchi and Christopher, Gilbert, eds., History and Methodology of Econometrics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 217–35.Google Scholar
Mirowski, Philip. 1989b. “The Measurement Without Theory Controversy.” Economies et Societies 23 (June): 109–31.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Lucy Sprague. 1952. “A Personal Sketch.” In Burns, Arthur F., ed., Wesley Clair Mitchell: The Economic Scientist. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 55–106.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Wesley C. and Gay, Edwin F.. 1927. “Foreword.” In Mills, Frederick C., The Behavior of Prices. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 7–8.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Wesley C. 1927. Business Cycles: The Problem and Its Setting. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Wesley C. 1929. “Machines Make Jobs.” Nation's Business 17 (September): 43–45, 110–12.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Wesley C. 1937. “Quantitative Analysis in Economic Theory,” In Mitchell, Wesley C., ed., The Backward Art of Spending Money and Other Essays. New York: McGraw-Hill, 20–41.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Wesley C. 1937. The Backward Art of Spending Money and Other Essays. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 1997. “American Institutionalism and the History of Economics.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 19 (Fall): 178–95.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph. 1930. “Mitchell's Business Cycles.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 45 (November): 150–72.Google Scholar
Slichter, Sumner. 1928. “The Price of Industrial Progress.” New Republic 53 (February): 316–17.Google Scholar
Social Science Research Council. 1940. Critiques of Research in the Social Sciences: II, An Appraisal of Frederick C. Mills' The Behavior of Prices, by Raymond T. Bye. New York: Social Science Research Council.Google Scholar
Social Science Research Council. 1945. The Use of Personal Documents in History, Anthropology and Sociology. New York: Social Science Research Council.Google Scholar
Staehle, Hans. 1940. “Employment in Relation to Technical Progress.” Review of Economic Statistics 22 (May): 94–100.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, Jan and de Wolff, Paul. 1939. “A Simplified Model of the Causation of Technological Unemployment.” Econometrica 7 (July): 193–207.Google Scholar
Tugwell, Rexford G. 1924. “Introduction.” In Tugwell, Rexford G., ed., The Trend of Economics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, vii–xi.Google Scholar
Tugwell, Rexford G., ed. 1924. The Trend of Economics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
United States. Department of Commerce. 1927. The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce. Washington D.C.: GPO.Google Scholar
United States. Senate. Temporary National Economic Committee. 1941. Technology in Our Economy. Washington D.C.: GPO.Google Scholar
ViningDaniel R., Jr. Daniel R., Jr., and Elwertowski, Thomas C.. 1976. “The Relationship Between Relative Prices and the General Price Level.” American Economic Review 66 (September): 699–708.Google Scholar
Vinogradoff, D.I. 1933. “Effects of a Technological Improvement on Employment.” Econometrica 1 (October): 410–17.Google Scholar
Weintraub, David and Harold, Posner. 1937. Unemployment and Increasing Productivity. Washington D.C.: National Research Project.Google Scholar
Woytinski, Wladimir. 1935. Three Sources of Unemployment. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Wright, James L. 1927. “Is the Machine Replacing Man?” Nation's Business 15 (September): 78–80.Google Scholar
Wubnig, Arthur. 1939. “The Measurement of the Technological Factor in Labor Productivity.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 34 (June): 19–25.Google Scholar
Yntema, Theodore O. 1928. “Review of The Behavior of Prices.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 23 (September): 453–55.Google Scholar