Abstract
This chapter examines the intellectual trajectory of Margaret Gilpin Reid from her earliest years studying home economics as an undergraduate, through her doctoral work with Hazel Kyrk at the University of Chicago, her collaborations with Elizabeth Hoyt and others, to her seminal empirical work at the University of Chicago in collaboration with Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman, Dorothy Brady and Franco Modigliani. It highlights her contributions to the valuation of household production, and her application of the distinction between permanent and transitory income to the examination of poverty, housing markets, and population health. It argues that while Reid’s empirical and theoretical work grew more sophisticated as she matured as a scholar in an increasingly analytical discipline, she never lost her characteristic belief that the purpose of economics was to better understand the decisions made by ordinary people in their everyday lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Archival Sources
Margaret G. Reid Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Main Works by Margaret Gilpin Reid
Dunsing, M. and M.G. Reid (1958). ‘Effect of Varying Degrees of Transitory Income on Income Elasticity of Expenditures’. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 53(282): 348–359.
Kyrk, H. and M.G. Reid (1929). ‘An Estimate of the Number of Women Engaged in Homemaking’. Journal of Home Economics, 21(6): 424–426.
Mills, F.C., E.W. Bakke, R. Cox, M.G. Reid, T.W. Schultz and S.S. Stratton (1943). ‘An Appraisal of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Cost of Living Index’. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 38(224): 387–405.
Reid, M.G. (1934). Economics of Household Production. New York: John Wiley.
Reid, M.G. (1937). ‘The United States Housing Act of 1937’. Journal of Home Economics, 29(10): 687–690.
Reid, M.G. (1938). Consumers and the Market. New York: F.S. Crofts and Co.
Reid, M.G. (1940a). ‘Marketing Rewritten from the Consumer’s Point of View: Discussion’. Journal of Marketing, 4(4): 134–137.
Reid, M.G. (1940). ‘Economics of Marketing and the Family’. Chapter 7 in M. Jung (ed.) Modern Marriage. New York: F.S. Crofts and Co.: 99–139.
Reid, M.G. (1941). ‘Review of Farmers in a Changing World: The 1940 Yearbook of Agriculture. I’. Journal of Farm Economics, 23(2): 446–450.
Reid, M.G. (1942). ‘Consumer-Business Relations’. Journal of Home Economics, 34(9): 655–658.
Reid, M.G. (1943c). Food for People. New York: John Wiley.
Reid, M.G. (1943a). ‘Trends in Work of Married Women’. Marriage and Family Living, 5(4): 80–83, 95.
Reid, M.G. (1943b). ‘Review of The Standard of Living in 1860, by E.W. Martin’. American Economic Review, 33(2): 376–378.
Reid, M.G. (1944). ‘Grade Labeling of Canned Food’. Journal of Home Economics, 36(1): 9–12.
Reid, M.G. (1945). ‘Obstacles to Better Nutrition Despite the Large Supply of Food in Prospect’. In T.W. Schultz (ed.) Food for the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 187–196.
Reid, M.G. (1947). ‘The Economic Contribution of Homemakers’. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 251(May): 61–69.
Reid, M.G. (1948). ‘Expanding Research in Family Consumption’. Journal of Home Economics, 40(1): 27–28.
Reid, M.G. (1950). ‘The 1950 Census: What It Will Tell About Families’. Journal of Home Economics, 42(5): 341–342.
Reid, M.G. (1951). ‘Discussion’. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 41(2): 41–44.
Reid, M.G. (1952). ‘Effect of Income Concept upon Expenditure Curves of Farm Families’. Part VI in Studies in Income and Wealth. Volume 15. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research: 131–174.
Reid, M.G. (1953). ‘Savings by Family Units in Consecutive Years’. In W.W. Heller, F.M. Boddy and C.L. Nelson (eds) Savings in the Modern Economy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: 218–220.
Reid, M.G. (1954a). ‘Discussion’. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 44(2): 273–275.
Reid, M.G. (1954b). ‘Distribution of Income and Consumption’. Part II in E.E. Hoyt, M.G. Reid, J.L. McConnell and J.M. Hooks, American Income and Its Use. New York: Harper and Bros: 81–214.
Reid, M.G. (1955). ‘Food, Liquor and Tobacco’. Chapter 5 in F.J. Dewhurst and associates, America’s Needs and Resources: A New Survey. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund: 123–168.
Reid, M.G. (1956). ‘Survey of Ceylon’s Consumer Finances’. American Economic Review, 46(5): 956–964.
Reid, M.G. (1957). ‘Agriculture and the Health of the Nation—Economic Aspects’. Agricultural Institute Review, Sep.-Oct.: 18–26.
Reid, M.G. (1958). ‘What We Do and Do Not Know About Food Consumption of American Families’. Journal of Farm Economics, 40(5): 1,301–1,311.
Reid, M.G. (1959a). ‘Capital Formation in Residential Real Estate: Reply’. Journal of Political Economy, 67(6): 619–626.
Reid, M.G. (1959b). ‘Families in a Changing Economy’. Journal of Home Economics, 51(7): 569–572.
Reid, M.G. (1959c). ‘Increase in Rent of Dwelling Units from 1940 to 1950’. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 54(286): 358–376.
Reid, M.G. (1962a). Housing and Income. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Reid, M.G. (1962). ‘Consumption, Savings and Windfall Gains’. American Economic Review, 52(4): 728–737.
Reid, M.G. (1963a). ‘Review of Income and Welfare in the United States, by J.N. Morgan et al.’. Journal of the American Statistical Association, September, 58(303): 824–829.
Reid, M.G. (1963b). ‘Consumer Response to the Relative Price of Store Versus Delivered Milk’. Journal of Political Economy, 71(2): 180–186.
Reid, M.G. (1964). ‘Statement: Misrepresentation of Poverty’. Hearings on the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: Hearings. 88th Congress, 2nd session. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office: 291–294.
Reid, M.G. (1973). ‘Comment: Education and Derived Demand for Children’. Journal of Political Economy, 81(2, Part 2): S165–S167.
Reid, M.G. (1974). ‘Labor Force Participation, Income and Health’. Unpublished paper.
Reid, M.G. (1977). ‘How New is the “New Home Economics”?’. Journal of Consumer Research, 4(3): 181–183.
Reid, M.G. (1980). ‘Comments: The Household as Producer’. In D. Hefferan (ed.) The Household as Producer: A Look Beyond the Market. Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, D.C.: American Home Economics Association: 47–50.
Reid, M.G. (1985). ‘Health, Age and Income of Populations: An Introduction and Preview’. Unpublished paper.
Reid, M.G. (n.d.). ‘Relation of the Within-Group Transitory Component of Income to the Income Elasticity of Family Expenditures’. Unpublished paper.
Reid, M.G. and M. Dunsing (1956). ‘Effect of Variability of Incomes on Level of Income-Expenditure Curves of Farm Families’. Review of Economics and Statistics, 38(1): 90–95.
Reid, M.G. and E. Schickele (1936). ‘Variations in Retail Prices of Certain Branded Foods’. Journal of Home Economics, 28(10): 691–695.
Other Works Referred To
American Economic Review (1980). ‘Margaret Reid: Distinguished Fellow, 1980’. 70(4): xiv.
Becker, G.S. (1965). ‘A Theory of the Allocation of Time’. Economic Journal, 75(299): 493–517.
Friedman, M. (1957). A Theory of the Consumption Function. Princeton: University of Princeton Press.
Le Tollec, A. (2019). ‘Home Economics as an Art of Improving Family Welfare: Creating a Rational Consumer, 1924–1945’. STOREPapers, Italian Association for the History of Political Economy, WP 1, 2019. Available at: http://www.storep.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WP-1-2019.pdf.
Le Tollec, A. (2020). ‘Finding a New Home (Economics): Towards a Science of the Rational Family, 1924–1981’. Thèse de Doctorat de l’Université Paris-Saclay Préparée à l’École Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay. Available at: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02881966/document.
Modigliani, F. (1986). ‘Life Cycle, Individual Thrift, and the Wealth of Nations’. American Economic Review, 76(3): 297–313.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Forget, E.L. (2022). Margaret Gilpin Reid (1896–1991). In: Cord, R.A. (eds) The Palgrave Companion to Chicago Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01775-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01775-9_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-01491-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-01775-9
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)