Background
CARTER, Anne Pitts was born in 1925 in New York City, New York, United States of America.
CARTER, Anne Pitts was born in 1925 in New York City, New York, United States of America.
Bachelor of Arts Queen’s College, New York City, 1945. Doctor of Philosophy Harvard-Radcliffe, 1949. Honorary Doctor of Science Lowell University, Master of Arts, 1975.
Instructor, Brooklyn College, New York City, 1947-1949. Assistant Professor, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1951-1953. Assistant Professor, Director Research, Harvard Economics Research Project, Harvard University, 1966-1968, 1968-1972.
Visiting Professor, Professor of Economics, Brandéis University,
1971-1972, 1972-1976. Dean Faculty, Fred C. Hecht Professor of Economics, Brandéis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, United States of America, since 1976. Editorial Boards, Quarterly Journal of Economics,
1970-, Review of Economics and Statistics, since 1970, Eastern Economics J., 1978-1981, Journal of Economic Literature, 1977-1980.
My early work consisted of quantitative studies of the diffusion of new techniques in specific narrowly defined sectors such
as cotton textiles, metal containers, nuts, bolts and screws. These studies aimed to show how investment paced changes in the industry average production function, given the parameters of a ‘best practice’ technique, as derived from the technical literature of the sector. Later I broadened this enquiry to the description and explanation of changes in input-output coefficients over time.
To do this it was necessary to prepare comparable sets of coefficients for successive periods and to assemble auxiliary data on prices, investment and labour productivity. This work, performed at the Harvard Economic Research Project, helped lay the basis for the time series of comparable tables and related data now published as a regular part of the United States National Accounts.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s I extended this work to the areas of environmental pollution and economywide energy analysis and explored the effects of changing input-output structures on income distribution using partially closed models. During the mid- 1970s I worked with Petri and Leontief to construct the United Nations World Model: an attempt to analyse the global economy in terms of 15 regional disaggregated models linked by trade and other global equations.
TTiis model was used to simulate a number of broad policy options and to study particular problems of energy, trade and economic development. For the past several years I have been absorbed in administrative responsibilities rather than research. My current interest lies in exploring how society controls the pace and direction of technical change.