Finance journals published almost no theoretical or mathematical work until the late 1950s

Evidence

The journal of Finance, which began publication in 1946, was the field’s leading periodical. “Most of the articles the journal published,” Bernstein writes, “had to do with Federal Reserve policy, the impact of money on prices and business activity, taxation, and issues related to corporate finance, insurance, and accounting. The few articles that appeared under the rubric `Investments’ dealt with topics like liquidity, dividend policy, and pension funding. In issues up to 1959, I was unable to find more than five articles that could be classified as theoretical rather than descriptive. The rest contain plenty of numbers but no mathematics.” — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 161

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds the pre-performativity baseline: a descriptive, institutional finance with no models — the very vacuum that quantitative economics would fill. — connects to: Financial economics emerged as a mathematical discipline only from the 1960s — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 33; Markowitz’s math-heavy paper was alien to 1950s academic finance culture — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 217; Mathematical economics displaced descriptive institutional study of finance in the US — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 304 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Markowitz’s math-heavy paper was alien to 1950s academic finance culture #exemplifies (0.92) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 217
• Mathematical economics displaced descriptive institutional study of finance in the US #expands (0.80) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 304