Mathematical Economics`s Forays into Departments of Economics: The case of the University of California, Berkeley

The article traces the growth of mathematical economics within the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Economists at Berkeley demonstrated little interest in the subject during the first decades of the department, despite the emergence of a research group on the subject around Griffith Evans in the Department of Mathematics in the late 1930s. In the immediate postwar period, the few mathematical economists who joined Berkeley, such as Robert Dorfman, soon left, deeming the department unfriendly to their methods. The article shows that the engagement of academic administration was central for the integration of mathematical economics at Berkeley. The appointment of Andreas Papandreou as the department`s Chairman in 1956 was crucial to introduce a new generation of scholars in the department and mediate conflicts with established traditions. As Berkeley became a prestigious center of general equilibrium theory in the 1960s, the influence of mathematical economists gradually rose. Through this narrative, the article emphasizes how the social dynamics of scientific spaces shaped the transformations of economics in the postwar period, challenging accounts of a swift hegemonic rise of mathematical economics during that period by highlighting the gradual dynamics of change within academic departments.