This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

« Back to Results

Economics and Engineering: Institutions, Practices and Cultures

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Hilton Atlanta, 405
Hosted By: History of Economics Society
  • Chair: Pedro Garcia Duarte, University of São Paulo

Engineering, Management Science, and American Economics, 1900 – 1940

Thomas Stapleford
,
University of Notre Dame

Abstract

“Engineering, Management Science, and American Economics, 1900 – 1940” explores the intersections of engineering, business management, and economics in the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century. It tells the story of how engineers became drawn into both management and economics, supporting the early forays of economists into modeling and statistics while using their skills in quantitative analysis to rationalize managerial decisions about production and organization.

Engineering and Economics at Stanford, 1950-1990

Beatrice Cherrier
,
University of Cergy-Pontoise and CNRS
Aurélien Saïdi
,
Paris Nanterre University and ESCP Europe

Abstract

“Engineering and Economics at Stanford, 1950-1990” will study the institutional, intellectual and metaphorical relationship between economics and engineers at Stanford in the postwar period, using prosopographic and qualitative analyses and focusing on key characters such as Kenneth Arrow or George Dantzig, as well as lesser-known, although equally influential ones, such as Bonnar Brown, Albert Bowker or Gerald Lieberman.

German Fears in Economic Engineering: An Affective Criticism

Till Duppe
,
University of Québec-Montréal

Abstract

“German Fears in Economic Engineering: An Affective Criticism” will study Wilhelm Krelle’s 1958 cooperation with engineer Paul Weber in the construction of a simulator of the economic circular flow. In contrast to the traditional opposition between economic engineering and the normative sphere, Duppe shows that the moral attitude and professional self-understanding that is typical of an engineering approach to economics matches surprisingly well with the Prussian values of militarism, nationalism, and Christian faith.
Discussant(s)
Alvin Roth
,
Stanford University and Harvard University
JEL Classifications
  • B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925
  • B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925