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William J. Baumol Papers, 1928-2013

Using These Materials

Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. [Original audiovisual materials and original electronic media are closed to use. Use of these materials may require production of listening or viewing copies. ...

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Summary

Creator:
Baumol, William J.
Abstract:
William J. Baumol (1922-2017) was an economist and worked as a professor of economics at Princeton University and New York University. This collection consists of his correspondence, research, writings, his collaborations and professional affiliations, and his work as a painter and sculptor.
Extent:
127 Linear Feet
5.74 Gigabytes
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.00092

Background

Scope and Content:

The William Baumol papers document his career as an economist and artist. The collection provides an overview of his professional activities, including his research on the cost disease, unbalanced growth, productivity growth, entrepreneurship, increasing returns and international trade, anti-trust policy, contestable markets, market structure, macroeconomic theory, and interest rate and monetary theory, among other topics. Baumol's research and writings on the economics of the arts, undertaken and co-authored with his wife Hilda, are included in the collection.

The collection also documents his collaboration and communication with prominent economists such as Maurice Allais, Gary Becker, Alan Blinder, George Dantzig, Robert Dorfman, Milton Friedman, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ralph Gomory, Frank Hahn, Roy Harrod, John Hicks, Ursula Hicks, Samuel Hollander, Nicholas Kaldor, Harold Kuhn, Abba Lerner, Jacob Marschak, Don Patinkin, Lionel Robbins, Joan Robinson, Paul Samuelson, Ralph Turvey, Jacob Viner, and Edward Wolff, among others. Of note is Baumol's longtime collaboration with, and extensive support received from, Sue Anne Batey Blackman.

Along with his scholarship and writings, the collection documents Baumol's leadership roles at the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics at New York University, as well as his extensive expert witness and consulting activities for the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Senate Judiciary Committee, among others. Baumol's consulting was often done through the companies Alderson and Sessions, Mathematica, and Consultants in Industry Economics. His notable expert witness testimonies revolved around regulation in telecommunications (particularly the ATT monopoly), airline ticket prices and sales practices, pricing of railroad freight shipping, and other topics.

Materials from Baumol's teaching at Princeton and New York University, departmental, and committee work are included in the collection. The collection also contains samples of Baumol's artwork, including sketches and paintings.

Biographical / Historical:
Biographical Note
Date Event
1922, February 26 Born in New York, N.Y.
1936-1938 Attended first formal art classes sponsored by the Works Progress Administration.
1942 BSS, College of the City of New York; organized extracurricular classes on microeconomics.
1942-1943 and 1946 Junior Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1943-1945 Served in U.S. Army, stationed in France.
1946-1949 London School of Economics; Graduate Student and Assistant Lecturer in American Economy and Economic Dynamics. (Lecture notes for the latter formed the basis for his first published book, Economic Dynamics, 1951, 1959, 1970).
1949 Completed University of London Ph. D. thesis, later published as Welfare Economics and the Theory of the State, 1952, 1965. Ph.D. examiners were Marcus Flemming and Lord Lionel Robbins.
1949-1953 Associate Professor of Economics, Princeton University.
1954-1992 Professor of Economics, Princeton University.
1959 Publication of Business Behavior, Value and Growth (second edition 1966).
1961 Publication of Economic Theory and Operations Analysis (later editions in 1965, 1972, 1976).
1962-1970 Chairman, Committee on the Economic Status of the Profession, American Association of University Professors.
1966 Publication with W.G. Bowen of Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma.
1967-1975 Past Chairman and member, Economic Policy Council, State of New Jersey.
1968-1970 Vice-President, American Association of University Professors.
1971-current Professor of Economics and Director, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
1975 Publication with W.E. Oates of The Theory of Environmental Policy, (second edition 1988).
1978 President, Eastern Economics Association.
1978-1979 President, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
1979 Publication with A.S. Blinder of the first edition of introductory textbook, Economics: Principles and Policies. Later editions in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1994, and 1998.
1981 President, American Economics Association.
1982 Publication with J.C. Panzar and R.D. Willig of Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure (second edition 1982).
1984 Editor with wife, Hilda Baumol, of Inflation and the Performing Arts.
1986 Publication of Superfairness: Applications and Theory.
1992-2017 Senior Research Economist and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Princeton University.
May 4, 2017 Died in New York, NY
Acquisition Information:
The papers of William J. Baumol, Princeton and New York University economist, were received as a gift to the Rubenstein Library between 1995 and 2016.
Processing information:

Processed by Shauna Saunders and Paula Jeannet, 2000

Additions processed by Ann G. Langford and Sue-Ellen Katz, 2001

Encoded by Paula Jeannet, Lisa Stark, and Ruth E. Bryan

Later accessions processed and described by Erich Fuchs and Meghan Lyon, 2016.

Additions incorporated and sorted by Jon Cogliano, 2018.

Arrangement:

PROCESSING NOTE: The materials received by Duke University arrived from Professor Baumol's offices at Princeton, New York University, and from his private residence. These were treated as one single accession and the materials from all three shipments have been consolidated. Hence, while the original organization has been mostly preserved at the folder level, at the box level this is not the case. Wherever possible the original folder labels were used in organizing the collection. Notable exceptions to this are the material in the Legal Testimony subseries and materials on the performing arts, government projects, and industry consulting as the bulk of this material was received loose. It was not possible to map every digital file recovered from floppy disks to particular projects, writings, or other files. In these cases generic classifiations were made in the arrangement.

Rules or Conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Using These Materials

RESTRICTIONS:

Collection is open for research.

[Original audiovisual materials and original electronic media are closed to use. Use of these materials may require production of listening or viewing copies. Please contact Research Services before coming to use this collection.]

USE & PERMISSIONS:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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PREFERRED CITATION:

[Identification of item], William J. Baumol Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University

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Collection

William J. Baumol Papers, 1928-2013
Request
Collection ID RL.00092
EAD ID baumol
Catalog record
Total components 1,647