Progress through Regression

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.

• 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.

'The Cobb-Douglas production function is the workhorse of modern economic theory. Debates regarding models that are built upon it go on all the time, yet seldom focus on Cobb-Douglas itself. Yet there were early debates about it, some of which could have lead in interesting directions. But the diffusion of the Cobb-Douglass function, especially in practical applications where it allowed attention to focus on what both theorists and applied scholars considered important, helped it to slide by any difficulties. Biddle's protagonist is a worthy subject of study, opening our eyes to how modern economics actually works.' Ross B. Emmett, Arizona State University