Joel DeanEconomistBorn:1906 Died:1979Dean was born in Vershire, Vermont Educated at Pomona College (A.B. 192!, "ar#ard Business $chool (%BA, 192&! and at the 'ni#ersit( o) Chicago (Ph.D, 19*+!.His doctoral dissertation discussed "A Statistical Examination of the Behavior of Average and Marginal Cost".He was one of the founders of business economics with his Managerial Economics (!"# and Ca$ital Budgeting (!"#.His research covered costs% $ricing% demand anal&sis% $ro'ts and $ro't management% and also com$etition and government regulations.(t was with addition to the $ublication of his "Ca$ital Budgeting" in !" that )*+ became widel& used in cor$orate 'nance.,iscounted Cash -low a$$roach and (nternal .ate of .eturn rule became $o$ular b& the ardent $romotion of /oel ,ean Associates.ContributionHe taught at (ndiana 0niversit&% the 0niversit& of Chicago% and Columbia 0niversit&.,uring world war (( he was with the 12ce of *rice Administration% and was also a research associate of the Cowles Commission.(n !34 he founded /oel ,ean Associates% a management consulting 'rm.He was on the editorial boards of the /ournal of (ndustrial Economics and the /ournal of Mar5eting for man& &ears.wor,,ean discovered thatcost functions of 'rms are often straight line as o$$osed to S6sha$ed functions a fact which disagreed with the classical assum$tion in microeconomics,ean7s observation was ignored b& the mainstream economists% for it re8uired a revolutionar& change of the theor& of microeconomics9 if the cost function of a 'rm is linear% then the total variable cost is $ro$ortional to the $roduction volume and the marginal cost is constant% in which case the usual formula "$rice : marginal cost" fails% and the common ex$lanation as to wh& the su$$l& curve is an increasing function of the mar5et $rice also fails.Disco#eries/oel ,ean7s best 5nown wor5 is Ca$ital Budgeting1ther $ublications include9",oes Advertising Belong in the Ca$ital Budget;" /ournal of Mar5eting% +ol. =.Boo,s b( -oel Dean"An A$$roach to (nternal *ro't Measurement." )ational Accounting Association Bulletin% March !"?."Better Management of Ca$ital Ex$enditures through .esearch." /ournal of -inance% Ma& !"