Greenspan’s Secret PhD Dissertation
Greenspan returned to his consulting firm at the end of the Ford administration. He also returned to New York University, where he was awarded a PhD in 1977, the same year he left his position in the government. He submitted some papers in place of the usual PhD dissertation.[15] Normally, a PhD dissertation in a field such as economics must be in a form sophisticated enough to be usable in research, must make a contribution to the existing body of knowledge, and must be original, unpublished work. When approved, the PhD candidate is normally required to supply a bound copy of the dissertation, which remains in the university’s library and is available for future researchers to consult.
It was surprising to find Greenspan’s dissertation a secret. In his book about Greenspan, Justin Martin describes “a mild controversy” about the papers submitted: “The content totalled 176 pages and Greenspan gave it the prosaic title: ‘Papers on Economic Theory and Policy.’ Although the content was undoubtedly solid, this was not exactly groundbreaking academic level material, nor did the collection match the size and scope of the usual dissertation. For years after, Greenspan’s Ph.D. would remain steeped in a mild controversy. Critics questioned whether his work was sufficiently meritorious. And Greenspan didn’t help matters by requesting that NYU withhold from public view the collection of articles that comprised his Ph.D. work” (emphasis added).[16]
As of 2004, the New York University library would not allow Greenspan’s dissertation papers to be seen by the public.[17] On January 9, 2004, I made a telephone request to see them, and was informed on January 10 that the Greenspan dissertation papers are in a safe in the library and are not allowed to be made public. My further inquiries, to the president of New York University, John Sexton, elicited two replies from the provost, David McLaughlin, that were worthy of bureaucrats at the Fed. The last reply is shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1. Letter from New York University provost David W. McLaughlin to the author, August 12, 2005. A feeble defense of the absence of Greenspan’s dissertation from the NYU library.
He indicates that NYU officials could not find it in the specified library. Also, he says that in the 1970s it was the policy to not place dissertations in the library. Evidently, he wanted me to believe that NYU business PhDs just took their dissertations home and put them in a drawer in case anyone inquired.[18]
One possible argument for this secrecy is that Greenspan’s dissertation contains proprietary information that can never be made public. This argument resembles the one made by the Fed to block exposure, and even to deny the existence, of the transcripts of its meetings that it had hidden for seventeen years (see Chapter 6).
Notes:
15. Under special circumstances, previously written scholarly work is substituted for a PhD dissertation. For example, Harry Johnson (1923–1977), who later held joint appointments on the faculties of the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics, came to Harvard University with a number of terminal masters degrees, but a PhD was required for a faculty appointment. He submitted one of his brilliant earlier articles, and received a Harvard PhD in 1958. Normally, an unpublished dissertation must be defended before a faculty committee; at the University of Chicago Economics Department, one negative vote could kill it.
16. Justin Martin, Greenspan, 139.
17. A record in Dissertation Abstracts indicates a submission of the work, dated 1977, for the PhD at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.
18. I did not request it from Greenspan. The publication of a scholarly addition to existing knowledge is the obligation of the university and the PhD candidate.
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