Retrospectives: Margaret Reid, Chicago, and Permanent Income

Abstract

Margaret Gilpin Reid (1896-1990) began her career as a home economist and, with Dorothy Brady, Milton and Rose Friedman, played a central role in the development of the permanent income hypothesis at Chicago. Reid was the first woman to be elected Fellow of the American Economic Association, and was a key figure in the empirical tradition at the University of Chicago. This article examines the opportunities and constraints that shaped her career.