American Academic Public Finance: The First Fifty Years

Abstract:     
This paper examines the institutionalization of public finance as a subfield of economics in American universities from the founding of professional academic economics departments in the 1880’s through the eve of the Great Depression. To do so, we examine the development of a community of scholars recognized as specialists in public finance and the professionalization of public finance as a distinct field within economics. This includes examination of the subject’s definition, its boundaries, and the types of analyses undertaken. Academic training, including courses and readings, at Columbia, Chicago, Harvard, and Wisconsin are compared.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: Public Finance, American Universities, E.R.A. Seligman, Richard T. Ely

JEL Classification: B15, B25

working papers series