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Richard A. Musgrave Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Richard Abel Musgrave (1910-2007) was a leading 20th-century economist whose work transformed the field of public finance. He was considered a candidate for the Nobel Prize. Musgrave's seminal work, The Theory of Public Finance(1959), theorized the economic role of government in partnership with the private sector in democratic societies. Musgrave conceptualized the public sector budget as having three branches concerned with the allocation of resources, the distribution of income, and stabilization of the economy. Musgrave also introduced the new concept of "merit wants." His work further revolutionized public finance by applying microeconomic analysis, Keynesian macroeconomics and consideration of equity to theories of taxation. Renowned for its accessible style, the book is still considered a major theoretical work in the field of public finance. The Musgraves' co-authored 1973 work Public Finance in Theory and Practicealso remains an important textbook. Musgrave served as an advisor on tax reform to a number of governments, including postwar Germany, Colombia, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Taiwan. In addition, he served as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and was founder and President of the International Seminar in Public Economics. He was a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Science, and was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association and the National Tax Association as well as Honorary President of the International Institute of Public Finance. He was awarded the Frank E. Seidman Award in Political Economy in 1981.
MusgraveConsists of the professional files of Richard A. Musgrave. The material documents Musgrave's career as an economist and professor, and includes publications and presentations, drafts, discussion papers, conference materials, reports, editorial and teaching materials, email correspondence and written correspondence, and awards received.
Gift of Peggy B. Musgrave in October 2008 [ML.2008.026]. Additional accessions came in 2009 and 2012 [ML.2009.018 and ML.2012.006]
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Regine Heberlein on July 29, 2010. Materials were re-housed in archival boxes and a series-level description was created at this time. Materials from the March 2012 accession were added to the collection and the finding aid was updated by Maureen Callahan on April 16,2013. Materials from the March 2012 accession were moved into archival folders at this time.
No information about appraisal is available is available for this collection.
People
- Diamond, Peter A.
- Friedman, Ben
- Hüfner, Willi
- Kaplow, Louis.
- Musgrave, Peggy B.
- Musgrave, Richard A. (Richard Abel) (1910-2007)
- Riew, John
- Schumpeter, Joseph A. (1883-1950)
- Ver Eecke, Wilfried
Subject
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to The Trustees of Princeton University and researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of donor-created materials within the collection. For materials in the collection not created by the donor, or where the material is not an original, the copyright is likely not held by the University. In these instances, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Materials document Musgrave's career as an economist and professor, and include writings, speeches, syllabi for Harvard courses, discussion papers, conference materials, email correspondence and written correspondence
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description7 boxes
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(Includes cover of 1984 Allied Social Science Associations Program designed by M.)
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(Includes photographs.)
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(Includes letters written by and addressed to Peggy M.)
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(Includes an autobiographical article written for his stepdaughter, Pam.)
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(Includes correspondence regarding the Richard Musgrave Prize of the National Tax Journal.)
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(Includes drafts and page proofs.)
Physical Description1 box
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(Includes: Musgrave, Richard A. and Malcolm Gillis (ed.). Fiscal Reform for Columbia. Final Report and Staff Papers of the Colombian Commission on Tax Reform. Cambridge: The Law School of Harvard University, 1971. Musgrave, Richard A. Reprints. Private Binding. )
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(Includes obituary of Karl Abel (paternal grandfather) and photostat of the 1910 December 14 (Musgrave's birthday) issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung )
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(Includes correspondence relating to M.'s visit to Argentina.)
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(Includes handwritten genealogy of the Abel-Prüfer family)
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(For Economics 2080 Economy and Society)
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(Includes biographical material.)
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(Includes material regarding presentations given at various universities in Germany and Switzeland, 1993-1995)
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(Contains news clippings.)
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(Includes material regarding a visit in Spain)
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The material in this accession includes email and other correspondence as well as select articles. Also includes an autographed photograph of Adlai Stevenson.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
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The material in this accession includes memoranda and conference papers (all unpublished) by Richard Musgrave.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description1 box
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