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Recounts the history of a widely used statistical technique in economics, offering insight into how innovative research tools gain acceptance.
List of contents
Part I. Paul Douglas and his Regression, 1927-1948: 1. The Origins of Douglas's Production Function Research Program and his Initial Time Series Studies; 2. The Douglas-Mendershausen Debate and the Cross Section Studies; 3. Theoretical and Econometric Challenges of the Early 1940s, and Douglas's Final Word; Part II. The Diffusion of the Cobb-Douglas Regression: 4. Three Important Developments in the Life of the Cobb-Douglas Regression, 1952-1961; 5. The Cobb-Douglas Regression in Agricultural Economics, 1944-1965; 6. The Cobb-Douglas Regression as a Tool for Measuring and Explaining Economic Growth; Part III. Conclusion; 7. On the Success of the Cobb-Douglas Regression; References; Index.
About the author
Jeff E. Biddle is a Professor of Economics at Michigan State University. He is a past president of the History of Economics Society, and his current research focuses on the history of empirical methods in economic research.
Summary
Using the empirical Cobb-Douglas production function as case study, the general phenomenon of the diffusion of new research tools in economics is addressed, and the intersection of this history with that of several important empirical research programs will appeal to historians of twentieth century economics and other social sciences.
Additional text
'The history of applied economics and applied econometrics has not received as much attention as it deserves. This new book, which focuses on the history of an extremely widely used function, is a welcome addition to the literature, introducing us to episodes that deserve to be better known. The notion that economists welcomed the function, despite its flaws, because they wanted to believe it is fascinating.' Roger Backhouse, Birmingham Business School
