Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

problem. ..This has been emphasized during the past feu years
of. divergent counsels when economists as a group have almost
universally failed to speak with an authoritative voice
either in their analyses of...events or in their proposals for
their ameliorization or cure. Indeed, vhen professional coun-
sel is most urgently demnded, economists bve been found
widely divided even upon questions of basic import where pro-
fessional cmpetence could be presumed to be final.
The difficulty lay in the inapplicability of basic assumptions inherited
from the past to modern phenomena. He selected for particular study the
&erican phenomena of heavy industry and durable goods, and their impact
and significance on the accorcpanying financial aspects of the economy,
necessitating studies of savings and investment, of security and mortgage
markets, money markets, foreign exchanges and currencies.
As a start, he said such investigations could lead to discov-
eries essential to an understanding of modern economic conditions, while
lack of a defined objective could lead to more of the prevailing confusion.
The Institute could contribute by fomlating the special problem to be
tested; this would require the collection of data not already being as-
sembled or studied, which would be gathered by universities, research
institutions and govenunencal.egencies.
The Institute's faculty would be small and flexible, with a
small clerical and statistical staff. They would maintain close personal
contact with the institutions collecting and studying economic data to
forge the materials basic to the research. The program would be chiefly
confined to research; there would be no classes, and little opportunity
for students as such,
but ample opportunity for close contact betveen intellectual
workers on a c-n group of projects of high promise. Part
of this group will be brought to Princeton, part will be work-
ing in the universities, and an important part will be located
at centers of specialized research. The Institute should not