In this article we analyze Edwin Walter Kemmerer’s contribution to the creation of the Federal Reserve System. Firstly, we contrast Kemmerer’s role in the transition from the Aldrich banking reform plan to the Glass–Owen plan with those of A. Piatt Andrew (who was Aldrich’s main advisor), H. Parker Willis (i.e., Carter Glass’s advisor), and J.L. Laughlin (who was Willis’ mentor). Secondly, we deal with theoretical questions posed by Kemmerer, who, as we assert, developed his own banking reform plan. Even if his proposals were not immediately taken into account in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, he contributes to the institutional structure of the Federal Reserve System.

This paper intends to provide a comprehensive and critical survey of the valuable but neglected contributions of Fritz Machlup to the debate on the Transfer Problem. Machlup took three different and conflicting lines of approach to the problem in the course of his lifelong study of it. The third, which is of a basically monetary character, provides original results, especially in relation to the demand-oriented and quantitative approach that dominates in the standard literature.

Oral history has always held a rather ambiguous position within the study of economics. While widely read and enjoyed, such interviews are secretly scorned, dismissed as merely a lightweight diversion. Yet, to conduct revealing and insightful work of this type is difficult, requiring a firm grasp of economics, especially individual contributions to the discipline. This article examines my own attempts to come to grips with the methodology and ideology of the Chicago School through a series of conversations with some nineteen of George Stigler’s contemporaries. Oral history, if skillfully conducted, can prove to be one of the more useful tools in recapturing and understanding the past history of economics as a fiercely fought over discipline.

It is well known that classical mechanics played a significant role in the thought of several major economists in the neoclassical tradition from the 1860s to the 1910s. Less well studied are the particular parts or features of mechanics that exercised this influence, or the depth and extent of the impact. After outlining the main traditions of mechanics and the calculus, and describing types of analogy between theories in general, I review some main pertinent features of the work of eight neoclassical economists from the 1830s to the 1910s. I argue that the influence took various forms but that in practice it was modest. Then I briefly describe a fresh set of possible influences with the development of dynamical systems in the period 1920–1950, where again the role of mechanics was limited. I end by raising a large question: does economics need some mathematics designed for its own purposes rather than that traditionally obtained by analogizing from mechanics and physics?

During August and September 1938, Harrod discussed a first draft of his “Essay in Dynamic Theory” with Keynes and Marschak. The aim of this paper is to discuss Harrod’s correspondence with Marschak in the light of the subsequent interpretations of the “Essay.” Firstly, we show how Marschak focused on some of the features of Harrod’s theory that would later give rise to widely different interpretations and some misunderstandings. Three issues in particular have been broadly debated in the literature: the concept of warranted rate of growth; instability; and non-linearity. Secondly, we show that a possible reason why Harrod neglected Marschak’s remarks lies in their respective methodological approaches. While Marschak tried to frame Harrod’s theory by means of a closed model, Harrod thought that the analysis of equilibrium and of the succession of states belonged to separate stages; this made building a complete model difficult at this stage, when he was presenting a “new tool of analysis.” In spite of their respective conflicting approaches, Marschak’s comments remain of great importance, and if Harrod had followed some of his advice, his theory would probably have improved in several respects, and certainly it would have been clearer and less ambiguous.