FIRST EDITION OF HAAVELMO'S A STUDY IN THE THEORY OF INVESTMENT, THE COPY OF NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER THEODORE W. SCHULTZ, SIGNED BY HIM AND WITH HIS EXTENSIVE ANNOTATIONS

(SCHULTZ, Theodore W.) HAAVELMO, Trygve. A Study in the Theory of Investment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (1960). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Nobel laureate Haavelmo's powerful economics-based analysis of the investment process. The copy of Haavelmo's fellow University of Chicago economist and Nobel laureate Theodore Schultz, with his owner signature, selective underlining, and numerous short marginal annotations.

This work analyzes the investment process based on the fundamental economic laws of supply and demand. Often, the study of investment is often treated as popular science. Here, Haavelmo uses advanced concepts and the full breadth of his academic training to uncover the core truths behind investment and to offer insight to those who wish to understand it better. Haavelmo taught at the University of Chicago during the 1940s and, after returning to Norway in 1947, would return to Chicago as a visiting professor in the late 1950s. The majority of his career was spent at the University of Oslo. "His statistical techniques made possible the development of econometric models that predict how a change in one aspect of the economy will affect others; that is, he demonstrated that statistical probability theory could be integrated into economic formulations. His econometrics contributed to the techniques of national economic forecasting, allowing a more accurate formulation of government economic policies" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). "In his review of Haavelmo's doctoral thesis, the British Nobel laureate Richard Stone wrote that it was a brilliant contribution to econometrics which would have a revolutionary effect on the degree of success in estimating economic relations… Numerous theoretical and empirical studies of investment behavior have been inspired by his work… Haavelmo has had a decisive influence on economics" (Nobel Prize Committee). This copy belonged to Theodore Schultz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, and features his signature as well as numerous marginal annotations. Here, Schultz agrees with Haavelmo nearly a dozen times ("yes," "Yes indeed," "ok"). Schultz is not always in full agreement, though. When Schultz considers Haavelmo's objectives limited—perhaps with regard to failing to elaborate a complete theory—Schultz comments, "But why do only that?" He also challenges Haavelmo's statement about distinguishing clearly between the distributive "share" of capital and its technological role, underlining "its technological role" and writing, "What?" Likewise, a lengthy paragraph on the fundamental problem of measuring capital appears to earn an editorial critique: "Surely not to be left this way!" Indeed, many of the critiques seem to suggest that this copy may have been used for editorial purposes or for review. This accords with the fact that Schultz and Haavelmo met early in their careers, were contemporaries, and, rather importantly, were friends. It seems likely that Schultz would have offered his opinions on Haavelmo's later work. Schultz was chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago beginning in 1946, the same year that Haavelmo began his year and a half of research in Chicago. Ultimately, Schultz was co-awarded the Nobel Prize just a decade before Haavelmo, lauded for his "pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries."

Book fine, dust jacket near-fine with only light rubbing to extremities. A handsome copy with outstanding provenance.