History: Department of Economics: Institute Archives & Special Collections: MIT

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History of the Department of Economics

Heads of the program in economics

Davis R. Dewey	1893-1933
Ralph Evans Freeman	1933-1958
Robert Lyle Bishop	1958-1964
Edgar Cary Brown	1964-1982
Ann F. Friedlaender	1983-1984
Edgar Cary Brown	1984 (acting head)
Peter Arthur Diamond	1985-1987
Richard Samuel Eckaus	1987-1990
Peter Temin	1990-1993
Stanley Fischer	1993-1994
Paul Joskow	1994-1998
Olivier Blanchard	1998-2003
Bengt Holmstrom	2003-2006
James Poterba	2006-

Until 1903, classes in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were taught as part of Course IX, General Studies. In 1903 the Department of Economics, Statistics and Political Science was established; in 1907 it became the Department of Economics and Statistics, and Political Science became part of the Department of History and Political Science. In 1934 the Department of Economics and Statistics became the Department of Economics and Social Science, and in 1965 it became the Department of Economics.

Prepared by the Institute Archives, MIT Libraries
March 1998; updated 2006