Categories
Chicago Economists Wing Nuts

Wing-nuts. Rose Wilder Lane on Stigler and Friedman, 1946

 

Visitors to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror today have a special treat: the very first artifact in a gallery of this virtual museum dedicated to the many wing-nuts who have felt a calling to reveal the true error(s) in the ways of economists. 

At the Hoover Archives I found some fascinating letters written to the Foundation for Economic Education’s chief economist, Vervon Orval Watts  (1898-1993). Watts received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 with the doctoral thesis “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought”.  The letters transcribed below were written by the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of Little House on the Prairie), Rose Wilder Lane, who was asked if she would review the famous Friedman-Stigler pamphlet published by the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, “Roofs or Ceilings? The Current Housing Problem”.

From the Stigler-Friedman correspondence scholars have been long aware of the difficulties the FEE editors had with Friedman and Stigler’s use of the word “rationing” in the context of market allocation and their willingness to discuss income distribution policy at all.  George Stigler was absolutely outraged and puzzled at such an attempt at editorial control. I am sure he would have been at least as amused as shocked by the accusations that he and Milton Friedman had been found guilty of writing a “most damnable piece of communist propaganda”.

 

On Vervon Orvall Watts:

V. Orval Watts’ obituary in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 1993).

Watts’ 1952 Book Away from Freedom: The Revolt of the College Economists was republished by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, Alabama) in 2008. “This book had a powerful impact on a generation — a kind of primer on Keynesian fallacies that still pervade the profession if not by that name.“

On Rose Wilder Lane:

Judith Thurman, “A Libertarian House on the Prairie, The New Yorker, August 16, 2012.

Judith Thurman, “Wilder Women: The Mother and Daughter behind the Little House Stories”, The New Yorker, August 10 & 17, 2009.

Ayn Rand’s Reception

For Ayn Rand’s reception of Rents and Ceilings, see Jennifer Burns. Goddess of the Market. Ayn Rand and the American Right. (2009), pp. 116-8.

 

____________________

From Rose Wilder Lane letter to V. Orval Watts
October 11, [1946]

“…I have re-read RENTS AND CEILINGS with the intention of reviewing it. I am appalled, shocked beyond words. This is the most damnable piece of communist propaganda I have ever seen done. And I can prove that it is, sentence by sentence and page by page. What is the Foundation doing, good God, and WHY? Honest American writers in this country are hungry and desperate, blacklisted by the solid communist front holding the publishing field; why in decency (or lack of it) does the Foundation feed a couple of borers-from-within?…the Foundation writes checks for two of the most damnably clever communist propagandists that I’ve read for a long time. I’m physically sick about it.”

 

From Rose Wilder Lane’s letter to Orval Watts,
October 22, 1946

“…As to ROOFS OR CEILINGS, I think, from internal evidence, that the authors are consciously collectivists; I suspect, from the same evidence, that they intentionally did a piece of propaganda, a piece of “infiltration.” I did not see any of this at first; it seems clear to me now. If you will remember the pictures we used to see when we were children, a picture of trees and flowers that you suddenly saw was a picture of faces or of animals, that was the change in this piece of writing. I think those two men are dangerous. I have no other evidence, I know nothing whatever about them; I am convinced that they have had communist training. I say this confidentially at present, because I have only the internal evidence of this pamphlet.

I can of course explain in detail, and will if necessary. It is a laborious job, however, to analyze and explain the argument hidden under the surface argument and to put it so clearly that you will see it, when it is done to be concealed and in so skillfully done that it is concealed and works into a reader’s mind only by its implications. It is this skill which convinced me that it was not done accidentally, that it was done by trained men. The training is intended to defeat persons like me. It does; and I am not too hopeful that it won’t, in this instance. If you feel that you can ask Ayn Rand to do this job for you, I am sure she can do it much better than I.”

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box 13.

Image Source: Rose Wilder Lane, 1942. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Museum, in Boston Globe series “Little Libertarians”.

 

 

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. A. Piatt Andrew appointed Director of Mint, Loses Manuscript(s), 1909

 

 

The Harvard assistant professor of economics Abram Piatt Andrew played an enormous role in the preparation of the reports of the National Monetary Commission 1908-11, but today’s post is limited to a newspaper report announcing his appointment as Director of the Mint, a short biographical note from his memorial service from 1938, and a letter (August 14, 1909) from his former teacher and colleague Frank W. Taussig responding to the news of a lost book draft or materials for a manuscript.

It is interesting to read of the data back-up problem a century ago and Taussig’s personal solution (safe deposit boxes in banks!).

Syllabus and links to the readings from his money and banking course at Harvard offered in the Fall semester of 1901.

Note: The American Field Service has a page full of anecdotes from the life of A. Piatt Andrew.

______________________________

Biography

ABRAM PIATT ANDREW, Jr., was born in La Porte, La Porte County, Ind., February 12, 1873; attended the public schools and the Lawrenceville (N. J.) School; was graduated from Princeton College in 1893; member of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1893-98; pursued postgraduate studies in the Universities of Halle, Berlin, and Paris; moved to Gloucester, Mass,, and was instructor and assistant professor of economics in Harvard University 1900-1909; expert assistant and editor of publications of the National Monetary Commission 1908-11; Director of the Mint 1909 and 1910; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1910-12; served in France continuously for 4-1/2 years, during the World War, first with the French and later with the United States Army; commissioned major, United States National Army, in September 1917 and promoted to lieutenant colonel September 1918; awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor medal by the Republic of France in 1917 and the distinguished service medal by the United States Government in 1918; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Willfred W. Lufkin; reelected to the Sixty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses, and served from September 27, 1921, until his death; delegate to the Republican National Conventions at Cleveland in 1924 and at Kansas City in 1928; member of the board of trustees of Princeton University 1932-36; died in Gloucester, Mass., June 3, 1936; remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from an airplane flying over his estate at Eastern Point, Gloucester, Mass.

 

Source: Memorial Service Held in the House of Representatives of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Abram Piatt Andrew, Late a Representative from Massachusetts. Seventy-fifth Congress, First Session. Washington, D.C. GPO, 1938. Archived transcription at the American Field Service website.

______________________________

DIRECTOR OF MINT
Professor Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr., Appointed by President Taft—Will Resign from Harvard

Cambridge Tribune, August 7, 1909

On Thursday, President Taft sent to the senate the nomination of Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr., of Massachusetts, to be director of the mint.

Professor Andrew was born in La Porte, Ind., on February 12, 1873. His early education was received at the Lawrenceville School, a private institution at Lawrenceville, N. J. In 1894 he was graduated from Princeton University and then studied at Harvard one year, later spending two years more study at Berlin and Paris. In 1900 the degree of Ph.D. was conferred upon him by Harvard, and that same year he was called to that university as an instructor in the department of economics. Since 1903 he has been assistant professor of economics at Harvard, having for several years conducted the general course in economics for a class of more than five hundred students, and also courses on money, the theory and history of money, theory and history of banking and commercial crises.

In 1906 the Minister of Public Instruction in France conferred upon Professor Andrew the title of “Officer d’Academie,” a high honor given by the French people to men of scholarly attainments and notable achievements at home and abroad. It was conferred in this instance for the professor’s work at Harvard and his writings on economics, particularly financial matters.

For a year Professor Andrew has been expert adviser to the National Monetary Commission, the chairman of which is Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island, and in order to perform this work he had been given a two years leave of absence from his duties at the college. Professor Andrew went abroad last summer with some of the members of the commission, visiting London, Berlin, Paris and other important financial centres of Europe for the purpose of studying their methods of conducting business and to get information regarding the national and other laws governing banks and stock transactions. Since his return to this country Professor Andrew has been in Washington, where he has been in charge of the editing of the commission’s forthcoming report. This report, which will occupy about twenty volumes, will soon begin to issue from the printer’s hands, and it is believed that it will be the most comprehensive and valuable publication dealing with the world’s banking and financial interests ever published. Professor Andrew’s duties at Washington have included arranging for the contribution of special articles by men of the highest standing in their particular lines.

Numerous articles, many of which have since been republished as pamphlets, have been contributed by Professor Andrew to leading publications. Among those which have attracted wide attention was his “Study of Secretary Shaw’s Policies,” issued at the time of the retirement of the former secretary of the treasury. He has published several articles on currency questions as they concern Oriental countries, notably one on the adoption of the gold standard in India. He also wrote a history of the Mexican dollar. One interesting contribution to American financial literature was a pamphlet dealing with the crisis of 1907, in which the author described the different substitutes then used for money, mentioning more than two hundred varieties.

Professor Andrew arrived at his cottage at Eastern Point, Gloucester, where he has spent his summers for eight years on Wednesday, coming on from the capital especially to attend the pageant. He will remain there only a few days before returning to Washington, where he will spend a month or six weeks in completing some of his work with the Monetary Commission before assuming his new duties as director of the mint. He will continue as adviser to the commission. Although only one year of his leave from Harvard has expired, it is probable that Professor Andrew will soon resign as assistant professor of economics, in order that the college may fill his place permanently.

Source: Cambridge Tribune, Vol. XXXII, No. 23, 7 August, 1909, p. 1.

______________________________

Letter from Taussig to Andrew (14 Aug 1909)

Harvard University
Department of Economics
Cambridge, Massachusetts

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
E. F. Gay
A. P. Andrew
W. M. Cole
O. M. W. Sprague

August 14, 1909

Cotuit, Massachusetts

Dear Andrew:

I have your letter of August 13th, and am truly sorry to hear of the tragedy with your papers. It is nothing less than a tragedy, for however completely one may have the subject at command, the labor of arrangement, compilation, and actual writing must all be done over again. I have been uneasy about my own manuscript, and this summer put it in safe deposit vaults for fear lest possibly my house should burn up. Your mishap almost is like burning your bridges behind you; it is as if you were completely cut loose from your past career.

I note what you say about the memorandum on the work of the Monetary Commission and shall be glad to have it at an early date.

The probabilities are that I shall not spend the coming winter in Cambridge, for Mrs. Taussig’s condition is such that she is ordered away. She spent last winter—as you may remember—in the South and is not so much recovered that a winter in Cambridge can be risked. Although the Departmental situation is by no means such as to make it easy, I am arranging to take a year’s leave of absence. I hope during that time to finish my book and get some other literary chores out of the way. I send you a separate letter on the subject of the Tariff Commission, written in such form that you can show it to Secretary McVeagh and to others to whom you may care to show it.

Very sincerely yours,
[signed]
F. W. Taussig

Enclosure
A. P. Andrew, Esq.

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of A. Piatt Andrew. Box 15, Folder 15.13 “Correspondence. Taussig, F. W.”

Image Source: A. Piatt Andrew at Red Roof, his home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1910.  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of A. Piatt Andrew.(Box 47, folder 9).

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Aspects of War Course Organised by Harris, 1940

 

Nine of the Harvard economics faculty pulled together to offer students a course on the Economic Aspects of War in the second semester of the 1939-40 academic year. According to the annual enrollment statistics, 25 students were registered for the course (perhaps there were auditors?). The enrollment jumped to 116 in 1940-41 and then dropped back down to 66 (1941-42) and fell to 34 (1942-43) as the number of concentrators (as well as instructional staff) fell during the course of WWII.

Addition: The final examination for Economics 18b from 1940.

________________________

WAR’S ECONOMIC PHASES STUDIED IN NEW COURSE
Harvard Crimson
December 19, 1939

Will Analyze Changes in Economics Incurred by War, With Emphasis on Present Conflict

Plans for a course on “Economic Aspects of War” to be given in the second semester were revealed yesterday by Seymour E. Harris ’20, associate professor of Economics, following approval by the Faculty Committee on Instruction.

Harris said, “This course will analyze the rapid dislocation of economic variables that occur in war times, and during the transition to peace. War economics is a branch of economics like Industrial Organization or Money and Banking, giving the department a chance to use Economics in the treatment of problems that face the world today.”

Contents of the Course

The course will use the tools of economic analysis, applying them to the present problem. Economics of past wars; market organization, price control and rationing; money and banking in war times; the relation of money and public and private capital markets; and the relation of war to economic fluctuations will be dealt with in the lectures and reading.

Included in the discussion will be a study of the effects of war on international balance of payments, on the distribution of gold and on commercial policy; repercussions on agriculture; methods of finance in the war and post-war periods; effects of war upon the distribution of income and wealth; trade unionism, money and real wages and employment in war times; and, finally, transition to peace.

Harris will be in charge of the course. Professor Harold H. Burbank, Professor William L. Crum, Professor Alvin H. Hansen, Professor Edward S. Mason, Professor Joseph H. Schumpeter, Professor Sumner H. Slichter, Professor John H. Williams, and Paul M. Sweezy ’32, instructor in Economics, will share in the teaching.

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 18b 2hf. Associate Professor Harris.–Economic Aspects of War.

Total 25: 16 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments, 1939-40Harvard University. , p. 99.

________________________

Economics 18b
1939-40

In order to assure more continuity in the course it has seemed expedient to assign virtually all of the following books.

Bresciani-Turoni, The Economics of Inflation (G. Allen & Unwin).

Cannan, E., An Economist’s Protest.

(Not an assignment in any part but is suggested strongly.) The book deals with numerous problems chronologically and hence is not easily apportioned over the various sections of the course.

Clark, J. M., The Cost of the Great War to the American People.

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War.

Stamp, J., The Financial Aftermath of the War

 

E.J. = British Economic Journal.
J.R.S. = Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.

Q.J.E. = Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Proceedings = Proceedings of Academy of Political Science.

R.E.S. = Review of Economic Statistics.

 

Week 1 (Feb. 5-9)
INTRODUCTORY.
Professor Harris.

Plan, readings, bibliography; war economics in historical retrospect; peace versus war economics in broad outlines.

Assignment:

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War, pp. 1-71.

Important suggestions:

Slichter, S. H., “The Present Nature of the Recovery Problem,” Proceedings, 1940, pp. 2-15.

United States Government, Industrial Mobilization Plan (revision of 1939). Senate Document No. 134.

War Office, Statistics of Military Efforts of British Empire during the Great War 1914-20.

Wolf, F. B. “Economy in War Tim” in the volume War in the Twentieth Century, pp. 363-408.

Other suggestions:

Clapham, J. H., An Economic History of Modern Britain—An Epilogue, pp. 511-554.

Einzig, P., Economic Problems of the Next War (1939).

Higgins, B., “The Economic War since 1918” in the volume War in the Twentieth Century, pp. 135-90.

Manual of Emergency Legislation (G.B.) with four Supplements, 1914-17.

Noyes, A. D., The War Period of American Finance, Chs. I-III, pp. 1-162.

Possony, S. T., Tomorrow’s War, pp. 135-235.

Speier, H., and Kahler, A., War in Our Times, Chs. 4-7, pp. 78-171.

United States Council of National Defense, Reports 1917-8.

War Cabinet, Report of 1918, Cmd. 325 (1919).

Weeks 2-3 (Feb. 12-23)
INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION.
Professor Mason and Dr. Sweezy.

Industry in war time. Industrial planning for war. Priorities, rationing and price control. The War Industries Board. Techniques of price fixing with special reference to the iron and steel industries. Present prospects for raw materials, industrial capacity and prices.

Assignment:

Clark, J. M., Costs of the World War, Chs. 19-21, pp. 262-291.

Heckscher, E., Sweden in the World War, Part I, pp. 3-42.

Keynes, J. M., “Policy of Government Storage of Foodstuffs and Raw Materials,” E.J., 1938, pp. 449-460.

Mason, E. S., “the Impact of the War on American Commodity Prices,” R.E.S., November, 1939.

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War, pp. 112-160.

Taussig, F. W., “Price Fixing as Seen by a Price Fixer,” Q.J.E., Vol. 33, p. 205.

Important suggestions:

Baruch, B., American Industry in the War (1921).

Beveridge, W., British Food Control (1928).

Report of War Industries Board, American Industry in the War (1921).

Other suggestions:

Birkett, M. S., “Iron and Steel Trade during War,” R.S.J., 1920.

Clarkson, G.B., Industrial America in the World War.

Clynes, J. R., “Food Control in War and Peace,” E.J., 1920, pp. 147-155.

Cunningham, W. J., “Railroads under Governemnt Operation,” Q.J.E., Vol. 36, pp. 188 et seq. and Vol. 36, pp. 30 et seq.

Day, E. E., “The American Merchant Fleet,” Q.J.E., Vol. 34, pp. 567 et seq.

Emeny, B., The Strategy of Raw Materials.

Final Report of the Chairman of the United States War Industries Board. (Feb. 1919), pp. 1-111.

Fontaine, A., French Industry during the War.

Great Britain Select Committee on High Prices and Profits, Special Report and Evidence (1917).

Great Britain Departmental Committee on Prices, Interim Report on Committee Appointed to Investigate Prices, Cmd. 8358, Cmd. 8483 (1917-18).

Hines, W. D., War History of American Railroads.

Litman, S., Prices and Price Control in Great Britain during the Great War.

Lloyd, E. M. H., Experiments in State Control.

Mitchell, W. C., Prices and Reconstruction (1920).

Morse, L. K., “The Price Fixing of Copper,” Q.J.E., Vol. 33, pp. 71 et seq.

Nolde, Russia in the Economic War.

Noyes, A. D., The War Period of American Finance, Ch. V (Mobilisation of American Industry), pp. 215-78.

Staley, E., Raw Materials in Peace and War (Council on Foreign Relations 1937).

Surface, M., Grain Trade during War (1921).

Scott, W. R., and Cunnison, J., The Industries of the Clyde Valley during the War.

War Industries Board, History of Prices during the War, W. C. Mitchell.

War Industries Board, International Price Comparisons, W. C. Mitchell.

War Trade Board, Government Control over Prices, P. W. Garrett.

Zagorsky, State Control of Industry in Russia during the War.

Zimmern, D., “The Wool Trade in War Times,” E. J., 1918, pp. 7-29.

Weeks 4-5 (Feb. 26-Mar. 8)
MONEY AND BANKING IN WAR TIMES.
Professors Williams and Hansen.

Objectives of monetary policy; weapons (including rationing); inflationary tendencies; relations of money and private and public capital markets.

Assignment:

Bresciani-Turoni, Economics of Inflation, Chs. 2 and 4, pp. 41-120, 145-182; VI, pp. 224-252.

Important suggestions:

Final Report, Committee on Currency and Foreign Exchange, (Cunliffe), (1919).

Hawtrey, Monetary Reconstruction.

Heckscher, Sweden in the World War, Part III (Monetary History), pp. 129-266.

Other suggestions:

Cannan, E., The Paper Pound of 1797-1821.

Cassel, G., Money and Foreign Exchanges after 1914, pp. 1-62.

Dulles, E. L., The French Franc 1914-28.

Edie, L. D., “The Influence of War on Prices,” Proceedings, 1940, pp. 34-46.

Edgeworth, Currency and Finance in Times of War.

Foxwell, H. S., Papers on Current Finance (1919), pp. 34-68.

Graham, F., and Whittlesey, R., Golden Avalanche.

Indian Exchange and Currency Commission, Report, Evidence and Appendices, Cmd. 527-9 (1920).

Rogers, J. H., Process of Inflation in France 1914-27, Ch. 1-4, 6-8.

Week 6 (Mar. 11-15)
RELATION OF WAR TO ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS.
Professor Schumpeter

Effects on consumption and investment demand; innovations; costs; employment, etc.

Assignment:

Bresciani-Turoni, Economics of Inflation, Chs. V, pp. 183-223; VII, pp. 253-281.

Important suggestions:

Clay, H., The Post-War Unemployment Problem, Ch. 1, pp. 1-24.

Other suggestions:

Graham, F. D., Exchange Prices and Production in Hyper-Inflation Germany. Part IV (Effects on German Economy), pp. 241-328.

Mills, F., Economic Tendencies in the United States, Ch. V., pp. 186-241.

 

Week 7 (Mar. 18-22)
EFFECTS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE.
Professor Harris

Balance of payments and gold; exchange policy; commercial policy.

Assignment:

Bresciani-Turoni, Economics of Inflation, Chs. 1, pp. 23-41; 3, pp. 120-145.

Bullock, Williams, and Tucker, “Balance of Trade during the War,” in Taussig, Readings in International Trade, pp. 198-206.

Harris, S. E., “Gold and the National Economy,” R.E.S., February, 1940.

Hawtrey, R.G., Monetary Reconstruction, pp. 12-22.

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War, pp. 161-89.

Important suggestions:

Einzig, P., “The Unofficial Market in Sterling,” E.J., 1939, pp. 670-77.

Keynes, J. M., Tract on Monetary Reform, Chs. III, IV, pp. 81-192.

Other suggestions:

Bergendal, Sweden in the World War: Trade and Shipping Policy, pp. 43-128.

Cassel, G., Money and Foreign Exchanges, pp. 63-100, 137-186.

Dulles, E. L., The French Franc, 1914-28, Ch. 8, pp. 322-361.

Ellix, H., German Monetary Theory, Part III.

Graham, F., Exchanges, Prices, etc. in Germany, Parts II-III, pp. 97-241.

Holden, G., “Rationing and Exchange Control in British War Finance,” Q.J.E., February, 1940.

Loans to Foreign Governments, Senate Document No. 86 (1921).

Reparations and Inter-Allied Debt. Cmd. 1812 (1923).

 

EFFECTS ON AGRICULTURE.
Professor Harris.

Supply, demand, prices, etc.

Assignment:

Clark, J. M., The Costs of the War, Ch. 15, pp. 227-35.

Important suggestions:

Black, J. D., “The Effect of the War on Agriculture,” Proceedings, 1940, pp. 54-60.

Other suggestions:

Bernhardt, J., “Government Control of Sugar during the War,” Q.J.E., Vol. 33, pp. 672 et seq; “Transition of Control of Sugar to Competitive Conditions,” ibid., Vol. 34, pp. 720 et seq.

Eldred, W., “the Wheat and Flour Trade under Food Administration,” Q.J.E., Vol. 33, pp. 1 et seq.

Hibbard, B. H., Effects of the Great War upon Agriculture in the United States and Great Britain.

Reconstruction Committee, Agricultural Policy, Cmd. 9079, (1918).

Royal Commission on Wheat Supplies, First Report, Cmd. 1544 (1921).

 

Weeks 8-9 (Mar. 25-29)
PUBLIC FINANCE.
Professor Burbank.

Methods of Financing a war: Borrowing vs. taxes; tax policies, distribution of burden; management of public debt.

Assignment:

Bullock, C. J., “Financing the War,” Q.J.E., Vol. 31, pp. 357 et seq.

Clark, J. M., The Costs of the World War to the American People, Chs. 5-8, pp. 69-118.

Keynes, J. M., “The Income and Fiscal Potential of Great Britain,” E.J., 1939, pp. 626-35.

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War, pp. 71-112.

Important suggestions:

Clapham, J. H., “Loans and Subsidies in Times of War, 1793-1914,” E.J., 1917, pp. 493-501.

Edgeworth, Currency and Finance in Time of War.

Foxwell, H. S., Papers on Current Finance, pp. 1-33.

Great Britain Select Committee on National Expenditures, Reports 1917-22, Present and Pre-War Expenditures, Cmd. 802 (1920).

Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, Ch. II, pp. 46-81.

Keynes, J. M., Essays in Persuasion, Part I, pp. 3-76.

“Report of Committee on War Finance of the American Economic Association, A.E.R., Supplement, 1919, pp. 1-128.

Other suggestions:

Bogart, E. L., Direct and Indirect Costs of the Great World War (1919).

Fraser, Sir D., “The Maturing Debt,” R.S.J., 1921.

Jeze, G., and Truchy, H., The War Finance of France.

Mallet and George, British Budgets 1913-21.

May, G. O., “Economic Effects of Tax Policy in Peace and War,” Proceedings, 1940, pp. 61-68.

Moulton and Pasvolsky, World War Debt Settlements, pp. 1-425.

Noyes, A.D., The War Period of American Finance, Ch. IV, pp. 162-214.

Rogers, J. H., The Process of Inflation in France, Ch. V., pp. 48-88.

Silberling, N. J., “Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during Napoleonic Wars,” Q.J.E., Vol. 38, pp. 214 et seq., 397 et seq.

Speier, H., and Kahler, A., War in Our Times, Chs. 8-11, pp. 171-245.

Sprague, O. M. W., “Conscription of Income,” E.J., 1917, pp. 1-25.

Stamp, J., Taxation during the War.

Warren, R., “War Financing and Its Economic Effects,” Proceedings, 1940, pp. 69-76.

 

EFFECTS OF WAR ON DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME AND WEALTH
Professor Crum

Assignment: Read two of the following:

Allen, J. E., “Some Changes in Distribution of National Income during War,” R.S.J., 1920.

Clark, J. M., The Costs of the Great War to the American People, Chs. 10-12, pp. 150-80.

Ezekiel, M., “An Annual Estimate of Savings by Individuals,” R.E.S., 1937, pp. 178-191.

Keynes, J. M., Tract on Monetary Reform, Chs. 1 (Consequences to Society of Changes in Value of Money), pp. 3-45.

Samuel, H., “Taxation of Various Classes of People,” R.S.J., 1919.

Select Committee on Increase of Wealth, Proceedings, Evidence, Appendices, H.C. 102 (1920).

Important suggestions:

Mitchell, W., C., Income in the United States (1921).

Other suggestions:

Bowley, A. L., “Measurement of Changes in Cost of Living,” R.S.J., 1919.

Leven, M., Moulton, and Warburton, America’s Capacity to Consume (1934), Chs. I-IX.

Stamp, J., Wealth and Taxable Capacity, pp. 1-191.

 

Week 10 (April 15-18)
EFFECTS ON LABOR.
Professor Slichter.

Trade unionism; money and real wages and employment.

Assignment:

International Labour Review, November 1939: Articles on “Labour in War Times,” pp. 589-615, 654-687.

Monthly Labour Review, October, 1939: “American Labour in World War,” pp. 785-95.

Slichter, S. H., Economic Factors Affecting Industrial Relations Policy in War Period (Industrial Relations Counselors), 32 pp.

Robinson, E. A. G., “Wage Policy in War Time,” E.J., 1939, pp. 640-55.

Important suggestions:

Cannan, E., “Industrial Unreset,” E.J., 1917, pp. 453-70.

Makower, H., and Robinson, H. W., “Labour Potential in War-Time,” E. J., 1939, pp. 656-662.

Other suggestions:

Bowley, Arthur L., Prices and Wages in the United Kingdom (Oxford, 1921).

Cole, G. D. H., Trade Unionism and Munitions.

Cole, G. D. H., Self-Government in Industry (1918).

Douglas, P., Real Wages in the United States (selected parts).

Gompers, Samuel, American Labor and the War (1919).

Hammond, M. B., British Labor Conditions and Legislation during the War (1919).

Hanna, Hugh S., and Lauck, W. Jett, Wages and the War (1918).

Industrial Unrese, Cmd. 8696 (1917-18).

Kirkaldy, A. N., ed., British Association for Advancement of Science: Labour, Finance and War (1917).

Lescohier, Don D. The Labor Market (1919), Part II.

Lorwin, Lewis L., The American Federation of Labor, Part III.

National Industrial Conference Board, Changes in Wages, September, 1914 to March, 1920.

National Industrial Conference Board, Problems of Labor and Industry in Great Britain, France and Italy (1919).

Proceedings, 1918-1920, “War Labor Policies and Reconstruction,” pp. 139-358.

Speier, H., and Kahler, A., War in Our Times, Ch. 12, pp. 245-269.

United States Council of National Defense, An Analysis of the High Cost of Living Problem.

United States Council of National Defense, Shortage of Skilled Mechanics (1918).

United States Department of Labor, Bulletins No. 244 and 257. Labor Legislation of 1917 and 1918.

United States Department of Labor, History of the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board, 1917 to 1919.

United States Department of Labor, Reports 1918-1921.

United States Department of Labor, The New Position of Women in American Industry (1920).

United States Department of Labor, Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue in British Munition Factories.

United States Railroad Administration, Report of the Railroad Wage Commission.

Watkins, Gordon S., Labor Problems and Labor Administration in the United States during the World War (1919).

Webb, Sidney, The Restoration of Trade Union Conditions (B. W. Huebsch, 1917).

Wolman, L., Ebb and Flow of Trade Unionism, Chs. 2-3, pp. 15-32.

Wolman, L., Growth of American Trade Unions 1880-1923, Chs. 3-4, pp. 67-97.

 

Weeks 11-12 (April 22-)
TRANSITION TO PEACE (an attempt at integration).
Professor Harris.

Problems of costs, prices, money, international trade, public debt and taxation, wages, employment and output, agriculture and the distribution of the burden.

Assignment:

Bresciani-Turoni, The Economics of Inflation, Ch. X (Stabilization Crisis), pp. 359-98.

Clapham, J. H., “Europe after the Great Wars, 1816-1920”, E. J., 1920, pp. 423-36.

Pigou, A. C., Political Economy of War, pp. 161-182, 189-238.

Stamp, J., Financial Aftermath of War, Chs. I-III, V, pp. 9-88, 117-37.

Important suggestions:

Committee on National Debt and Taxation (Colwyn) Report.

Hawtrey, R. G., Monetary Reconstruction, pp. 55-91, 122-175.

Keynes, J. M., Economic Consequences of Peace.

Report of Committee on National Debt and Taxation, pp. 233-246 (Burden of Debt), 246-297 (Capital Levy), 297-351 (Taxes and Debt Redemption)

Scott, W. R., Economic Problems of Peace after War. Second Series.

Other suggestions:

Bonn, M. J., Stabilisation of Mark (1922).

League of Nations, Austria Financial Reconstruction, Summary Report 1926.

Macrosty, H. W., “Inflation and Deflation in the United States and United Kingdom 1919-23,” R. S. J., 1927.

Moulton and Pasovolvsky, World War Debt Settlements (Brookings).

Snowden, P., Labour and national Finance.

Stamp, J., Current Problems I Finance and Government, Ch. XI (The Capital Levy), pp. 227-71.

 

READING PERIOD.
Read one of the following:

Committee on National Debt and Taxation (Colwyn) Report.

Graham, F., Exchanges, Prices, etc. in Germany.

Hawtrey, Monetary Reconstruction.

Keynes, Economic Consequences of Peace.

Mitchell, W., Income in the United States (1921).

Moulton and Pasvolvsky. World War Debt Settlements.

Rogers, Process of Inflation in France, 1914-27.

Scott, W. R., Economic Problems of Peace after War, Second Series.

Speier, H., and Kahler, A., War in Our Times.

Stamp, J., Wealth and Taxable Capacity.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1 Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

Image Source: Seymour E. Harris from Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Columbia Curriculum

Columbia. School of Political Science. Faculty and Curriculum, 1890-91

 

 

I have included everything in this Circular that describes the graduate program offered by the School of Political Science at Columbia except for a list of the trustees and a time-slots by day-of-the-week schedule matrix of courses for the three year program. This shows how political economy was embedded within a broad public policy framework at Columbia. Because of the length of the circular, I have provided visitors with a linked table of contents.

Information for the School of Poltical Science for 1882-83 is available in a previous post.

___________________________

Columbia College
School of Political Science
Circular of Information 1890-91

Officers of Instruction and Government

General Statement

Purposes of the School
Admission
Matriculation and Tuition Fees

Course of Instruction General Scheme

Undergraduate Courses

Graduate First Year

First Session
Second Session

Graduate Second Year

First Session
Second Session

Graduate Third Year

First Session
Second Session

Course of Instruction in Detail

I. Constitutional History

II. Constitutional and Administrative Law

III. Political Economy and Social Science

IV. History of European Law and Comparative Jurisprudence

V. Diplomacy and International Law

VI. History of Political Theories

Prizes

Preparation for the Civil Service

Admission to Other Courses

Library

Examinations and Degrees

Examination Fees
Commencement

Academy of Political Science

Prize Lectureships

Calendar

 

OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION AND GOVERNMENT.

Seth Low, President of Columbia College.

John W. Burgess, Ph.D., LL.D.,

Professor of Constitutional and International History and Law.

Richmond Mayo Smith, A.M.,

Professor of Political Economy and Social Science.

Edmund Munroe Smith, A.M., J.U.D.,

Adjunct Professor of History and Lecturer on Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence.

Frank J. Goodnow, A.M., LL.B.,

Adjunct Professor of Administrative Law. Secretary of the Faculty.

Edwin R. A. Seligman, LL.B., Ph.D.,

Adjunct Professor of Political Economy.

Frederick W. Whitridge, A.M., LL.B.,

Lecturer on the Political History of the State of New York.

William A. Dunning, Ph.D.,

Lecturer on Political Theories.

A. C. Bernheim, LL.B., Ph.D.,

Prize Lecturer, 1888-91, on New York State and City Politics.

Frederic Bancroft, Ph.D.,

Prize Lecturer, 1889-92, on Diplomatic History of the United States.

_____________

Prize Lecturer, 1890-93.

William B. Nye,

Registrar.

 

 

GENERAL STATEMENT.

 

PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL.

The School of Political Science was opened on Monday the fourth day of October, 1880.

The purpose of the school is to give a complete general view of all the subjects, both of internal and external public polity, from the threefold standpoint of history, law, and philosophy. Its prime aim is therefore the development of all the branches of the political sciences. Its secondary and practical objects are:

a. To fit young men for all the political branches of the public service.

b. To give an adequate economic and legal training to those who intend to make journalism their profession.

c. To supplement, by courses in public law and comparative jurisprudence, the instruction in private municipal law offered by the School of Law.

d. To educate teachers of political science.

            To these ends the school offers a course of study of sufficient duration to enable the student not only to attend the lectures and recitations with the professors, but also to consult the most approved treatises upon the political sciences and to study the sources of the same.

 

ADMISSION.

Any person may attend any or all of the courses of the School of Political Science by entering his name with the registrar and paying the proper fee.

Students proposing to enter the school are desired to present themselves for matriculation on the Friday next before the first Monday in October.

The names of students intending to become members of the school may be entered at the room of the president on the Monday immediately preceding commencement day in June, or on the day appointed as above for matriculation.

Students desiring the degree of Ph.B. or A.B. must matriculate in the first year of the school, and follow faithfully the studies of that year, or part of the studies of that year, together with studies in the senior year of the School of Arts. For the courses in the senior year of the School of Arts, see infra, ” Admission to Undergraduate Courses.” Any combination desired by the student is allowed, provided that he takes not less than fifteen hours per week.

Students desiring the degree of A.M. must matriculate in the second year of the school, and follow faithfully all the studies of the second year. But students who are at the same time students in the School of Law, or students in the graduate department of philosophy, philology, and letters, taking courses which offer at least six hours per week, shall not be required to take more than nine hours per week in the School of Political Science. Any combination desired by the student is allowed.

Students desiring the degree of Ph.D. must matriculate in the third year of the school, and follow faithfully all the studies of the third year. But students who are at the same time students in the School of Law, or students in the graduate departments of philosophy, philology, and letters, taking courses which offer at least six hours per week, shall not be required to take more than nine hours per week in the School of Political Science. Any combination desired by the student is allowed, but he must pass a satisfactory examination on all the subjects he has chosen, and must present an acceptable thesis on some subject previously approved by the faculty.

Students not candidates for any degree may, after matriculating, attend any of the courses of the school.

 

MATRICULATION AND TUITION FEES.

Matriculation fee. — A fee of five dollars is required for matriculation at the beginning of each scholastic year.

Tuition fee. — The annual tuition fee of each student of the school taking the full course is one hundred and fifty dollars, payable in two equal instalments of seventy-five dollars each, the first at matriculation, and the second on the first Monday of February of each year. For single courses of lectures the fee regulates itself according to the number of lectures per week; during the first year the annual fee for a one-hour course being ten dollars; for a two-hour course, twenty dollars; for a three-hour course, thirty dollars; for a four-hour course, forty dollars; and during the second and third years, the annual fee for a two-hour course, thirty; for a three-hour course, forty-five; for a five-hour course, seventy-five; for a six-hour course, ninety dollars. In every case the fee covers the specified number of hours throughout the year — no student being received for a less period than one year. Such fees, when not more than one hundred dollars, are payable in advance; otherwise, in half-yearly instalments at the same time as regular fees.

 

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION GENERAL SCHEME.*

[*For details of each course and schemes of lectures — infra, “Course of Instruction in Detail.”]

 

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES.
(Hours per week per half year)

Outline of Mediaeval History (2 hours).
Outline of Modern History (2 hours).
Outline of European History since 1815 (2 hours).
Elements of Political Economy (2 hours).

 

[GRADUATE] FIRST YEAR

FIRST SESSION.

Physical and political geography; Ethnography; General political and constitutional history of Europe (4 hours).
Political and constitutional history of England to 1688 (2 hours)
Political economy: historical and practical (3 hours)
Seminarium in political economy (2 hours)
History of political theories (3 hours)
Historical and political geography (1 hour)
Political history of the State of New York (1 hour)
The relations of England and Ireland (1 hour)

 

SECOND SESSION.

Political and constitutional history of the United States (4 hours)
Political and constitutional history of England since 1688 (2 hours)
Political economy: taxation and finance (3 hours)
Seminarium in political economy (2 hours)
History of political theories (3 hours)
Historical and political geography (1 hour)
Political history of the State of New York (1 hour)

 

[GRADUATE] SECOND YEAR.

FIRST SESSION.

Comparative constitutional law of the principal European states and of the United States (3 hours)
History of European law (3 hours)
Comparative administrative law of the principal European states and of the United States (3 hours)
Social science: communistic and socialistic theories (2 hours)
History of political economy (2 hours)
Financial history of the United States (2 hours)
Seminarium in political economy (1 hour)

 

SECOND SESSION.

Comparative constitutional law of the several commonwealths of the American union (3 hours)
History of European law (3 hours)
Comparative administrative law of the principal European states and of the United States — Financial administration and administration of internal affairs (3 hours)
Social science: communistic and socialistic theories (2 hours)
History of political economy (2 hours)
Financial history of the United States (1 hour)
Tariff history of the United States (1 hour)
Seminarium in political economy (1 hour)

 

[GRADUATE] THIRD YEAR.

FIRST SESSION.

General history of diplomacy (2 hours)
International private law (1 hour)
Comparative jurisprudence (2 hours)
Local government (2 hours)
Social science: statistics, methods, and results (2 hours)
Seminarium in political economy (1 hour)
Ethnology and social institutions (1 hour)
New York city politics (1 hour)

 

SECOND SESSION.

Public international law (2 hours)
International private law (1 hour)
Comparative jurisprudence (2 hours)
Municipal government (2 hours)
Social science: statistics, methods, and results (2 hours)
Railroad problems (1889-90) (3 hours)
Seminarium in political economy (1 hour)
Ethnology and social institutions (1 hour)
Diplomatic history of the United States (1 hour)

 

 

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN DETAIL.

I.—CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.

The student is supposed to be familiar with the outlines of European history, ancient and modern. Students who are not thus prepared are recommended to take the undergraduate courses in mediaeval and modern history. The courses of lectures held in the school are as follows:

  1. General political and constitutional history, comprehending in detail: a view of the political civilization of imperial Rome; the history of the development of the government of the Christian church into the form of papal monarchy; the overthrow of the Roman imperial system and the establishment of German kingdoms throughout middle, western, and southern Europe; the character and constitution of these kingdoms; the conversion of the Germans to the Christian church, and the relations which the Christian church assumed towards the Germanic states; consolidation of the German kingdoms into the European empire of Charlemagne: character and constitution of the Carolingian state; its disruption through the development of the feudal system and the independent hierarchic church, and division into the kingdoms of Germany, France, and Italy; character and history of the feudal system as a state form; reestablishment of the imperial authority by the re-connection of Germany with Italy; conflict of the middle ages between church and state; the political disorganization and papal despotism resulting from the same: the development of the absolute monarchy and the reformation; the limitation of absolute kingly power and the development of constitutionalism — first in England, then in the United States, thirdly in France, and fourthly in Germany; lastly, the realization of the constitutional idea of the nineteenth century. [Professor Burgess]
  1. Political and constitutional history of England. — This course supplements the general course above outlined, giving a fuller view of the constitutional development of England from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. [Professor R. M. Smith]
  1. Political and constitutional history of the United States. — This course of lectures covers the history of the colonies and of the revolutionary war; the formation and dissolution of the confederate constitution; the formation of the constitution of 1787, and its application down to the civil war; the changes wrought in the constitution by the civil war, and the resulting transformation of the public law of the United States. [Professor Burgess]
  1. The political and constitutional history of Rome is contained in the general history of Roman law. The topics to which especial attention is paid are: the probable origin of the city and its relation to the Latin confederacy; the character and mutual relation of the gentes and the kingship; the Servian constitution and the aristocratic reaction; the establishment of the aristocratic republic; the struggle between the orders and the modification of the constitution; the conquest of Italy and the relations established between Rome and the conquered states; the increase of the powers of the Roman senate; the conquest of the Mediterranean basin and the organization and government of the provinces; the social and economic effects of the conquest upon the Roman people; the struggle between the senatorial clique and the party of reform; the social and civil wars and the establishment of the principate; the development, in the third century after Christ, of the absolute empire; the alliance of the empire with the Christian church; the conquest of Italy by the Germans. [Professor Munroe Smith]
  1. Political history of the State of New York. — The purpose of this course is to give a knowledge of the constitutional development and political history of the State of New York, beginning with the foundation of the colony by the Dutch and extending to the present time. It gives a brief account of the condition of the colony of New York, and the constitution of its government; then of the constitution made in 1777, and of each of the constitutions of 1821 and 1846, the amendments of 1875, together with the conventions in which each of these constitutions was made; also the history of political parties in the State of New York, showing their particular relation to these constitutions, and showing finally the methods of procedure of those parties and the influence exercised by them upon the legislation and procedure, or “practical politics,” of other states and of the great national political parties. [Mr. Whitridge]
  1. Historical and Political Geography. — The purpose of this course is to give a description of the physical geography of Europe; to point out the various sections into which it is divided; to trace the territorial growth of modern European states; to describe the various geographical changes that have been made in the history of Europe; and to point out the ethnic conditions of the present states of the continent. [Professor Goodnow]
  1. The relations of England and Ireland. — In a general way the Irish question has been the question of imposing upon the last and most persistent remnant of the old Celtic race the Teutonic ideas and institutions that have been developed in England. Three phases of the process are clearly distinguishable in history — the political, the religious, and the economical. It is designed in the lectures to follow out in some detail the modifications in the relations of the two islands affected by the varying prominence of these different phases. The long struggle for English political supremacy over all Ireland, from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, the religious wars, and the ruthless suppression of the Catholic population during the two succeeding centuries, and the origin and development of the land question out of the circumstances of both these periods, are described with special reference to their influence on the modern state of Irish affairs. Incidentally to these leading topics, the questions of governmental organization that have been prominent from time to time since the conquest are discussed, and the history of the Irish parliament is followed out in such a way as to illustrate the nature and importance of the agitation for home rule. [Dr. Dunning]
    1. New York City politics. — This course treats of the relations of the city to the state, showing the growth of municipal independence. The early charters conferred but few rights on the city, the selection of the most important city officials being made at Albany. Tammany Hall has been the most important and powerful party organization. A brief history of the Tammany organization, its rulers, and its method of nominating public officers will be given. The “Tweed Ring” and the efforts of purifying city politics since its downfall will be described, including the reform charter of 1873, the amendments of 1884, the report of the Tilden Committee in 1875, and of the Roosevelt and Gibbs investigating committees. [Dr. Bernheim]

 

II.— CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW.

  1. Comparative constitutional law of the principal European states and of the United States; comprehending a comparison of the provisions of the constitutions of England, United States, France, and Germany, the interpretation of the same by the legislative enactments and judicial decisions of these states, and the generalization from them of the fundamental principles of public law, common to them all. [Professor Burgess]
  1. Comparative constitutional law of the several commonwealths of the American Union. — In this course of lectures comparison is made in the same manner of the constitutions of the thirty-eight states of the Union.
  1. Comparative administrative law of the principal European states and of the United States. — The purpose of this course of lectures is to give a description of the methods of administration in the United States, France, Germany, and England. Special attention will be given to the laws both of Congress and of the different state legislatures, while the laws of foreign countries will be referred to for the purpose of instruction and comparison. The following list of topics will give a general idea of the subject, for which the name of administrative law has been chosen, because both in France and Germany, where this special part of the public law has been selected as the object of a thorough course of instruction, a similar name has been made use of.

General Part.

The separation of powers; the executive power; administrative councils; heads of departments; their tenure of office, their powers and duties; the general system of local government; officers, their appointment or election, their duties, their rights, removal from office; the administration in action; the control over the administration. This control is threefold in its character. I. — Administrative control. This is exercised by the superior over the inferior administrative officers by means of the power of removal and the power (given in many cases) to annul or amend administrative acts. II. — Judicial control. This is exercised by the courts, to which recourse is often granted against the action of the administration. Here the new courts will be examined, which have been established in France and Germany during this century, and to which the name of administrative courts has been given. III. — Legislative control. This is exercised by the legislature by means of its power to inform itself of the acts of the administration, and, if need be, to impeach administrative officers. [Professor Goodnow]

Special Part.

This part of the lectures will treat of the relations of the administrative authorities, both general and local, with the citizens. BOOK I. Financial administration. The management of public property, taxation, and public accounts, considered from the administrative rather than from the financial standpoint.— BOOK II. Internal administration. The legal provisions which aim at the prevention of evil, and which are sometimes designated as police measures — measures tending to prevent public disorder, public immorality, and disease. Further, provisions of a more positive character, whose purpose is to promote the public welfare; thus measures taken to provide means of public communication; to further the interests of trade, commerce, and industry; to ensure the control of the state over enterprises of a quasi-public character, such as railway companies and institutions of credit; to assist the poor, and educate the ignorant.

Each topic which will come under consideration will be treated historically, and with reference to the positive existing law: and for matters of special interest the comparison of systems of legislation will be extended to other countries than the four mentioned, when it is thought that this may be done with profit. In general, however, the comparison will be limited to the United States, France, Germany, and England.

  1. Local government. — This course will be devoted to the consideration of the various important systems of local government in the rural districts. The organization of the town and county and their corresponding divisions in other countries will be treated; and special attention will be directed to the historical development of existing systems, and to the question of administrative centralization. [Professor Goodnow]
  2. Municipal administration.— -The subjects to which special attention will be directed in these lectures are: the growth and importance of cities; the independence of cities from state control; the city as a public organ, and as a juristic person— a corporation; city organization and municipal elections; municipal civil service; city property and local taxation. In these lectures special attention is given to American cities and the City of New York; but the experience of foreign cities will be appealed to whenever it is thought that any thing may be learned therefrom. [Professor Goodnow]
  3. Seminarium in constitutional and administrative law.

 

III.— POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE.

It is presumed that students possess a knowledge of the general principles of political economy as laid down in the ordinary manuals by Walker or Mill, before entering the school. Students who are not thus prepared are recommended to take the undergraduate course on the elements of political economy.

The courses of lectures held in the school are as follows:

  1. Historical and practical political economy.— This course is intended to give the student a knowledge of the economic development of the world, in order that he may understand present economic institutions and solve present economic problems. The principal topics are: Introduction, concerning the study of political economy and its relation to political science; general sketch of the economic development of the world; the institutions of private property, bequest, and inheritance, and the principle of personal liberty as affecting the economic condition of the world; the problems of production, such as land tenure, population, capital, different forms of productive enterprise, statistics of production, particularly the natural resources of the United States; problems of exchange, such as free trade and protection, railroads money, bimetallism, paper-money, banking, commercial crises, etc.; problems of distribution, such as wages, trades-unions, co-operation, poor relief, factory laws, profit and interest, rent, progress and poverty; and finally a consideration of the function of the state in economic affairs. [Professor R. M. Smith]
  1. Science of finance.— This course is also historical as well as comparative and critical. It treats of the expenditure of the state, and the methods of meeting the same among different civilized nations. It describes the different kinds of state revenues, especially taxes, and discusses the principles of taxation. It considers also public debt, methods of borrowing money, redemption, refunding, repudiation, etc. Finally it describes the financial organization of the state, by which the revenue is collected and expended. Students are furnished with the current public documents of the United States treasury, and expected to understand all the facts in regard to public debt, banking, and coinage therein contained. [Professor Seligman]
  1. Financial history of the United States. — This course endeavors to present a complete survey of American legislation on currency, finance, and taxation, as well as its connection with the state of industry and commerce. Attention is called in especial to the financial history of the colonies, (colonial currency and taxation); to the financial methods of the revolution and the confederation; to the financial policy of the Federalists and the Republicans up to the war of 1812, including the refunding and payment of the debt, the internal revenue, and the banking and currency problems; to the financial history of the war with England; to the changes in the methods of taxation, and the crises of 1819, 1825, 1837; to the distribution of the surplus and the United States bank; to the currency problems up to the civil war; to the financial management of the war; to the methods of resumption, payment of the debt, national banks, currency questions, and problems of taxation; and finally to the recent development in national, state, and municipal finance and taxation. [Professor Seligman]
  1. Industrial and tariff history of the United States. — The arguments of extreme free-traders as of extreme protectionists are often so one-sided that an impartial judgment can be formed only through a knowledge of the actual effects of the tariffs. It is the object of this course to give a detailed history of each customs tariff of the United States from the very beginning, to describe the arguments of its advocates and of its opponents in each case; to trace as far as possible the position of each of the leading industries before and after the passage of the chief tariff acts, and thus to determine how far the legislation of the United States has developed or hampered the progress of industry and the prosperity of the whole country. Attention is called in especial to the industrial history of the colonies; to the genesis of the protective idea and to Hamilton’s report; to the tariffs from 1789 to 1808; to the restriction and the war with England; to the tariffs of 1816, 1824, and the “tariff of abominations” of 1828; to the infant-industry argument; to the compromise and its effect on manufactures; to the era of moderate free trade; to the tariff of 1857, to the war tariffs; to their continuance, and to the pauper-labor argument; to the changes up to the present time. [Probably Professor Seligman]
  1. History and criticism of economic theories. — This course comprises two parts. In the first the various systems are discussed, attention being directed to the connection between the theories and the organization of industrial society. In the second, the separate doctrines — e. g, of capital, rent, wages, etc. — are treated in their historical development. [Professor Seligman]

The first part is subdivided as follows:

I. Antiquity: Orient, Greece, and Rome.
II. Middle ages: Aquinas, Glossators, writers on money, etc.
III. Mercantilists: Stafford, Mun, Petty, North, Locke; Bodin, Vauban, Forbonnais; Serra, Galiani, Justi, etc.
IV. Physiocrats: Quesnay, Gournay, Turgot, etc.
V. Adam Smith and precursors: Tucker, Hume, Cantillon, Stewart.
VI. English school: Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, McCulloch, Chalmers, Jones, Mill, etc.
VII. The continent: Say, Sismondi, Hermann, List, Bastiat, etc.
VIII. German school: Roscher, Knies, Hildebrand.
IX. Recent development: Rogers, Jevons, Cairnes, Bagehot, Leslie, Toynbee; Wagner, Schmoller, Held, Brentano; Cherbuliez, Leroy-Beaulieu, De Laveleye; Cossa, Nazzani, Loria; Carey, George, Walker.

  1. Communistic and socialistic theories: — The present organization of society is attacked by socialistic writers, who demand many changes, especially in the institution of private property and the system of free competition. It is the object of this course to describe what these attacks are, what changes are proposed, and how far these changes seem desirable or possible. At the same time an account is given of actual socialistic movements, such as the international, social democracy, etc. Advantage is taken of these discussions to make the course really one on social science, by describing modern social institutions, such as private property, in their historical origin and development, and their present justification. [Prof. R. M. Smith]
  1. Statistical science; methods and results.— This course is intended to furnish a basis for a social science by supplementing the historical, legal, and economic knowledge already gained by such a knowledge of social phenomena as can be gained only by statistical observation. Under the head of statistics of population are considered: race and ethnological distinctions, nationality, density, city, and country, sex, age, occupation, religion, education, births, deaths, marriages, mortality tables, emigration, etc. Under economic statistics: land, production of food, raw material, labor, wages, capital, means of transportation, shipping, prices, etc. Under the head of moral statistics are considered: statistics of suicide, vice, crime of all kinds, causes of crime, condition of criminals, repression of crime, penalties and effect of penalties, etc. Finally is considered the method of statistical observations, the value of the results obtained, the doctrine of free will, and the possibility of discovering social laws. [Prof. R. M. Smith]Railroad problems; economical, social, and legal. — These lectures treat of railroads in the fourfold aspect of their relation to the investors, the employees, the public, and the state respectively. A history of railways and railway policy in America and Europe forms the preliminary part of the course. All the problems of railway management, in so^ far as they are of economic importance, come up for discussion. Among the subjects treated are: financial methods, railway construction, speculation, profits, failures, accounts and reports, expenses, tariffs, principles of rates, classification and discrimination, competition and pooling, accidents, employers’ liability, etc. Especial attention is paid to the methods of regulation and legislation in the United States as compared with European methods, and the course closes with a general discussion of state versus private management. [Professor Seligman]
  1. Ethnology and social institutions of the people of the United States — This course is an analysis of the ethnic elements in the population of this country, of the influences affecting the character of the people, and deals with pertain social institutions that are neither purely economic, nor political, nor legal. It treats particularly of the effects of immigration in the past and at the present time. [Prof. R. M. Smith]

An outline of the course is as follows:

I. The original ethnic elements in the population; the process of colonization; influence of climate and geographical position; influence of slavery; present distribution of population, by areas, by altitude, rain-fall, temperature, etc.
II. The elements added by immigration; history of immigration; political economic and social effects of immigration; legislation restricting immigration, etc.
III. Social institutions and customs; marriage and divorce; poor relief and pauperism; charitable institutions, public and private; penology, prisons, convict labor; religious associations; social classes.

  1. Seminarium in political economy. — Outside of the regular instruction in political economy and social science, it is the intention to furnish the students of the school an opportunity for special investigation of economic and social questions under the direction of the professor. This is done by means of original papers prepared by such students as choose to engage in this work. The papers are read before the professor and the students, and are then criticised and discussed. The number of meetings and the topics to be discussed are determined each year. During the coming year it is proposed to investigate various aspects of the labor problem.

 

IV— HISTORY OF EUROPEAN LAW AND COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE.

  1. History of European law.

BOOK I. Primitive law. The following topics are discussed from the comparative standpoint: evolution of the primitive state; the sanction of law, the redress of wrongs in primitive society, and the evolution of criminal and civil jurisdiction and procedure; early family and property law. — BOOK II. Roman law: the national system. (Royal and republican period.) The struggle between the orders and the development of a common law (XII Tables). The leading principles and juristic technique of the national system (jus civile). — BOOK III. Roman law: the universal system. Chapter I. Later republican period. The conquest of the entire civilized world, and the social, economic, and legal changes produced by the conquest. Reform of criminal law and procedure. The development of a universal commercial law by means of the praetorian edicts. The praetorian formulae of action. Chapter II. Early imperial period. The empire under republican forms. Development of criminal and civil procedure extra ordinem. The classical jurisprudence. Chapter III. Later imperial period. Social, economic, and legal decadence. Codification of the law by Justinian.— BOOK IV. Mediaeval law. Chapter I. German law. Character of early German law; the reforms of Charles the Great; maintenance of Carolingian institutions in Normandy, and further development of these institutions in Norman England; general disappearance of the Carolingian institutions on the continent, and arrest of the legal development. Chapter II. Roman law. Survival of the Roman law (i) in the Byzantine empire; (2) in the new German kingdoms, as personal law of the conquered Romans; (3) in the Christian church. Establishment and extent of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction; the development and the codification of the Canon Law; influence exercised by this law upon the subsequent development of Europe. Revival of the study of the Justinian or Civil Law in Italy; influx of foreign students. The theory of imperium continuum. Reception of the Justinian law in the German empire; partial reception in France and Spain; failure of the Roman law to gain footing in England. Influence of the Roman law in other countries: the ”scientific” as distinguished from the “practical” reception.— BOOK V. Modern law. The reaction against the Roman law (1) among the people; (2) among the jurists; (3) in modern legislation. The great national codes of the 18th and 19th centuries. Relation of these codes to the Roman and German law. [Professor Munroe Smith]

  1. Comparative jurisprudence. — This course of lectures presents succinctly the leading principles of modern private law. The order of treatment is as follows: BOOK I. Law in general: conception, establishment, and extinction, interpretation and application. BOOK II. Private legal relations in general: nature of private rights; holders of rights (physical and juristic persons); establishment, modification, and extinction of rights (legal acts, illegal acts or torts, operation of time); enforcement of rights. BOOK III. Legal relations concerning things. BOOK IV. Legal relations arising from executory contracts. BOOK V. Family relations and guardianship. BOOK VI. Relations mortis causâ (inheritance). [Professor Munroe Smith]
  1. International private law. — In this course the theories of the foreign authorities are noticed, and the practice of the foreign courts in the so-called conflicts of private law is compared with the solution given to these questions by our own courts. [Professor Munroe Smith]
  1. Seminarium for studies in comparative legislation. — The courses above described lay the basis for the comprehension of foreign legislations. The object of the seminarium is to train the student in the practical use of these legislations. Participation in the seminarium is optional. The work is to be done by the students themselves, under the direction and with the assistance of the professor in this department. It is intended that they shall devote themselves to the study of questions of practical interest de lege ferenda, and that they shall collate and compare the solutions given to these questions in our own and in foreign countries.

 

V.— DIPLOMACY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW.

  1. The history of diplomacy from the peace of Westphalia to the treaty of Berlin. — The object of this course is to present, in their historical connection, the international treaties and conventions framed between these two periods, and to trace through them the development of the principles of international law. [Professor Burgess]
  1. International law. — In this course the principles attained through usage, treaty, and convention are arranged in systematic form. [Professor Burgess]
  1. Diplomatic history of the United States. — The purpose of this course is to treat primarily of the diplomatic history of Lincoln’s and Johnson’s administration. An outline and characterization of the policies of Marcy, Cass, and Black will also be given. [Professor Burgess]

 

VI.— HISTORY OF POLITICAL THEORIES.

Every people known to history has possessed some form, however vague and primitive, of political government. Every people which has attained a degree of enlightenment above the very lowest has been permeated by some ideas, more or less systematic, as to the origin, nature and limitations of governmental authority. It is the purpose of this course to trace historically the development of these ideas, from the primitive notions of primitive people to the complex and elaborate philosophical theories that have characterized the ages of highest intellectual refinement. [Dr. Dunning]

BOOK I., after a short survey of the theocratical system of the Brahmans and the rationalistic doctrine of Confucius, treats mainly of the political philosophy of Greece and Rome, with especially attention to the profound speculations of Plato and Aristotle.

BOOK II. discusses the political doctrines of early Christianity and the Christian church, with the controversy of Papacy and Empire, and the elaborate systems of St. Thomas Aquinas and his adversaries.

BOOK III. treats of that age of renaissance and reformation in which Machiavelli and Bodin, Suarez and Bellarmino, Luther and Calvin worked out their various solutions of the great problem, how to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of theology, ethics, and politics.

BOOK IV. covers the period of modern times, as full of great names in political philosophy, as of great events in political history. Here are examined the doctrine of natural law, as developed by Grotius and Puffendorf, the doctrine of divine right of kings with its corollary of passive obedience, as in Filmer and Bossuet, the theory of the constitutionalists, Locke and Montesquieu, the idea of social contract, made most famous by Rousseau, and the various additions to and modifications of these doctrines down to the present day.

 

PRIZES.

PRIZE FELLOWSHIPS.

In 1886 Mr. Jesse Seligman founded four fellowships of the annual value of two hundred and fifty dollars each. These fellowships are awarded at the discretion of the faculty to students of the third year in the School of Political Science, under the sole condition that the recipient of the fellowship be a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy.

PRIZE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.

An annual prize of one hundred and fifty dollars for the best essay on some subject in political economy has been established by Mr. Edwin R. A. Seligman, of the class of 1879. Competition for the prize is open to all members of the School of Political Science. The topic selected must be approved by the faculty, and the essay itself must not be less than twenty thousand words in length.

 

PREPARATION FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE.

Young men who wish to obtain positions in the United States Civil Service—especially in those positions in the Department of State for which special examinations are held — will find it advantageous to follow many of the courses in the School of Political Science. Some of the subjects upon which applicants for these positions are examined are treated very fully in the curriculum of the school. Thus, extended courses of lectures are given on political geography and history, diplomatic history and international law, government and administration.

Full opportunity is given in the School of Arts for the study of the principal modern languages, and all the courses in that school are open to the students of the School of Political Science.

 

ADMISSION TO OTHER COURSES.

ADMISSION TO UNDERGRADUATE COURSES.

Any student of the School of Political Science may attend any or all of the courses of the School of Arts, with the permission of the instructors concerned, without the payment of any further tuition fee than that due to the School of Political Science.

ADMISSION TO GRADUATE COURSES.

The trustees have provided that courses of instruction shall be given in the college to graduates of this and other colleges in a large variety of subjects. Students of the School of Political Science, who may be bachelors of arts, of letters, or of science at entrance, or who, after having completed their first year in the School of Political Science, shall have received their first degree, may be admitted without additional tuition fee to the graduate classes, in such subjects as they may desire to pursue.

Among the cognate courses which may be taken without conflict of hours are:

History of Philosophy, two hours a week. Ethics, two hours a week. Readings in Gaius and Ulpian, one hour a week. Courses in the various modern languages, and others.

Students who are candidates for the degrees of Ph.B., A.B., A.M., and Ph.D., and who take senior and graduate studies in the School of Arts to the amount of six hours per week, are not required to take more than nine hours a week in the School of Political Science.

Information in regard to the undergraduate courses and a list of the subjects embraced in the scheme of graduate instruction for the ensuing year will be furnished on application to the registrar of Columbia College, Madison avenue and 49th street, New York City.

ADMISSION TO THE COURSES OF THE SCHOOL OF LAW.

Those students who intend to make law their profession may combine the ordinary course of study required for admission to the bar with the course in political science. The hours of lectures in the two schools are so arranged as to make this combination feasible; and experience has shown that the satisfactory completion of both courses within three years is not beyond the powers of an industrious student of fair ability.

The instruction offered in the School of Political Science upon constitutional, administrative, and international law, and upon Roman law and comparative jurisprudence, furnishes the natural and necessary complement to the studies of the School of Law. Law is, with us, the chief avenue into politics; and for this, if for no other reason, a complete legal education should include the science of politics. But the importance to the lawyer or the subjects above mentioned does not depend simply on the prospect of a political career. To become a thorough practitioner, the student must acquire a thorough knowledge of public law; and if he wishes to be any thing more than an expert practitioner, if he wishes to know law as a science, some knowledge of other systems than our own becomes imperative. From this point of view the Roman law is of paramount importance, not merely by reason of its scientific structure, but because it is the basis of all modern systems except the English. Elsewhere than in our own country these facts are uniformly recognized, not in the schemes of legal instruction only, but in the state examinations for admission to the bar.

In order to encourage, by the combination of the two courses, the acquisition of a well-rounded juristic training, the trustees have provided that any student of the School of Political Science may attend any or all of the courses of the School of Law, without the payment of any further tuition fee than that due to the School of Political Science; and, conversely, that any student of the School of Law may attend any or all of the lectures in the School of Political Science, without payment of any further tuition fee than that due to the School of Law; and that the student registered in both schools may be a candidate for degrees in both schools at the same time.

Students in the School of Law are required to take only nine hours per week in the School of Political Science. For further information see law school circular.

 

LIBRARY.

The special library of political science was begun in 1877, and it was intended to include the most recent and most valuable European and American works in this department. Particular attention was, and is, given to providing the material needed for original investigation.

The total number of volumes in the department of history and political science is at present (1890) more than 18,000. In the department of law the total number of volumes is about 10,000. The original material requisite for the study of foreign law has been largely increased during the last two years.

The students of the School of Political Science are entitled to the use, subject to the rules established by the library committee, of the entire university library. The library is open from 8½ A.M. to 10 P.M. Information concerning the sources and literature of the political sciences is given in the various courses of lectures held in the schools. The students can obtain supplementary information and general guidance and assistance in their investigations, from the librarian in special charge of law, history, and political science.

 

EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREES.

No student of the school can be a candidate for any degree unless he have successfully pursued a course of undergraduate study in this college, or in some other maintaining an equivalent curriculum, to the close of the junior year.

Students thus qualified, who shall satisfactorily complete the studies of the first year or their equivalent in the senior year in the School of Arts, shall be entitled, on examination and recommendation of the faculty, to receive the degree of bachelor of philosophy or the degree of bachelor of arts. The latter degree requires the concurrence of the Faculty of Arts, and is not conferred unless the student has taken courses, in the first year of the School of Political Science, or courses in that year and in the senior year of the School of Arts, amounting to fifteen hours a week.

Students of the school who have obtained the degree of bachelor of arts at this or at any other college maintaining an equivalent curriculum, and who are at the same time students in the School of Law, or who have pursued studies in the graduate department of philosophy, philology, and letters, to the amount of six hours per week, will, after passing satisfactorily through courses in the school, amounting to nine hours per week, be recommended by the faculty of the school for the degree of master of arts. The purpose of this provision is to allow students to pursue a course either mainly in law or mainly in economics. These courses may be continued through the third year, so that students who have obtained the degree of bachelor of arts are offered a two years’ course in either law or economics. (See supra, “Course of Instruction in General and in Detail.”) Students in the School of Political Science alone are required to pursue all of the studies of the second year, and to pass a satisfactory examination in them, in order to obtain the degree of master of arts.

Students in the School of Political Science who are at the same time students in the School of Law, or who are taking at least six hours a week in the graduate departments of philosophy, philology, and letters, who elect and satisfactorily complete courses in the third year of the School of Political Science embracing nine lectures per week, shall be entitled, on recommendation of the faculty of the school, to receive the degree of doctor of philosophy. Students who are in the School of Political Science only must take the entire work of the third year of the school.

To obtain recommendation for the last degree, the candidate will be required:

1. To prepare an original dissertation, not less than 20,000 words in length, upon a subject approved by the faculty.
2. To defend such dissertation before the faculty.
3. To pass collateral examinations (reading at sight) upon Latin and either French or German.
4.Candidates who have obtained the degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of philosophy in this school, or bachelor of arts in this or any other college maintaining an equivalent curriculum, will be required to pass, further, an oral examination on their work in the last two years of the school; candida tes who have obtained the degree of master of arts from this school will be required to pass an oral examination on their work in the last year of the school. Candidates who have none of these degrees will be required to pass an oral examination on the entire work of the school.

The candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy may present himself for examination at any time when the college is in session, excepting the month of June. The subject chosen by the candidate for his dissertation, which may be presented to the faculty before or after the examination on the work in the school, should be made known to the faculty at least four months before the proposed time of examination thereupon. A printed (or type-written) copy of the dissertation must be submitted to each member of the faculty at least one month before the day of such examination. The title-page must contain the name of the candidate and the words “Submitted as one of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the School of Political Science, Columbia College.”

The successful candidate must present a copy of his dissertation to the college library.

All degrees awarded will be publicly conferred at commencement.

 

EXAMINATION FEES.

Examination fees are as follows: For the degree of bachelor of arts, fifteen dollars; for the degree of bachelor of philosophy, twenty-five dollars; for the degree of master of arts, twenty-five dollars; for the degree of doctor of philosophy, thirty-five dollars. The examination fee must in each case be paid before the candidate presents himself for examination for the degree.

 

COMMENCEMENT.

The commencement exercises of the college take place annually on the second Wednesday of June.

 

ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.

This institution is devoted to the cultivation and advancement of the political sciences. It is composed mainly of graduates of the Schools of Law and Political Science of Columbia College, but any person whose previous studies have fitted him to participate in the work of the academy is eligible to membership.

Meetings of the academy are held on the first and third Mondays of each month. At these meetings papers are read by members presenting the results of original investigation by the writers in some department of political science.

 

PRIZE LECTURESHIPS.

The trustees have established in the School of Political Science three prize lectureships of the annual value of five hundred dollars each, tenable for three years. The power of appointment is vested in the faculty. One of these three lectureships becomes vacant at the close of each academic year. The previous holder may be reappointed. The conditions of competition are as follows:

1. The candidate must be a graduate of the School of Political Science or of the Law School of Columbia College. In the latter case he must have pursued the curriculum of the School of Political Science for at least two years.
2. He must be an active member of the Academy of Political Science.
3. He must have read at least one paper before the Academy of Political Science during the year next preceding the appointment.

The duty of the lecturer is to deliver annually, before the students of the School of Political Science, a series of at least twenty lectures, the result of original investigation.

 

[3 pages of hour by weekday tables of course schedules for six semesters over three years]

 

CALENDAR.

1890 —

. — Examinations for admission begin, Monday.
Oct. . — Matriculation, Saturday.
Oct. 6. — Lectures begin, Monday.
Nov. 4. — Election day, holiday.
Nov. . — Thanksgiving day, holiday.
Dec. 22. — Christmas recess begins, Monday.

1891 —

Jan. 3. — Christmas recess ends, Saturday.
Feb. 4. — First session ends, Wednesday.
Feb. 5. — Second session begins, Thursday.
Feb. 11. — Ash-Wednesday, holiday.
Feb. 22. — Washington’s birthday, holiday.
Mar. 27. — Good-Friday, holiday.
May 18. — Examinations begin, Monday.
June 10. — Commencement, Wednesday.

 

Source: Columbia College. School of Political Science. Circular of Information 1890-91.

Image Source: Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Columbia College, Madison Ave., New York, N.Y.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 27, 2017. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-cc61-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

 

 

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Haberler Argues Against Galbraith And On Behalf of Samuelson, 1948

 

Gottfried Haberler was apparently unable to attend an Executive Committee meeting of the Department of Economics at which it must have been decided to recommend John Kenneth Galbraith as the successor to Harvard’s agricultural economist J. D. Black. Haberler was so unhappy with this decision that he went behind the backs of his colleagues in a letter to the Dean. Apparently one of his former graduate students and his later Harvard colleague, Abram Bergson, must have heard about the letter some three decades later and asked Haberler about it. It certainly looks like Haberler had to ask the Dean’s Office in 1981 to have a copy of that 1948 letter sent to him. At least as important as learning about Haberler’s opinion of Galbraith, we are also treated to a full-throated praise of Paul Samuelson’s virtues. We also get a glimpse of a coalition of School of Public Administration economists wanting to hire a policy-oriented economist with  some one or other(s) of the stock of senior economic theorists protecting their turf from Samuelson at his Wunderkind-best.

___________________________________

1981 Letter from Haberler’s AEI Secretary to Abram Bergson

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
1150 Seventeenth Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20036

(202) 862-5800

August 17, 1981

Professor Abram Bergson
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Dear Professor Bergson:

When Professor Haberler called his office from abroad today, he asked that the attached copy of a letter he wrote to Professor Buck in 1948 be sent to you. He also asked that you be told that although he “was ashamed his memory failed him and he did not remember writing it, he was not ashamed of the letter.”

I am certain that on his return to the office around September 8th Professor Haberler will be in touch with you.

Sincerely yours,

Secretary to
Professor Haberler

Encl.

___________________________________

1981 Cover Note from Dean Rosovsky to Gottfried Haberler

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Office of the Dean

5 University Hall
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

 

For Professor Haberler from Dean Rosovsky

[handwritten note: 8/11/81, cc to Sils, Envelopes#2]

___________________________________

1948 Letter from Gottfried Haberler to Provost Paul H. Buck

Harvard University
Graduate School of Public Administration

International Economic Relations Seminar

Littauer Center
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

November 27, 1948

Provost Paul H. Buck
University Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge 38, Mass.

 

Dear Mr. Buck:

I had to go to Paris, London, Oxford and Cambridge for a brief visit in connection with the creation of an International Association of Economists and was therefore prevented from attending the meetings of the Executive Committee of the Department of Economics on November 17 and 24.

Let me inform you by letter that in my opinion the recommendation to appoint J. K. Galbraith to the remaining vacant professorship is a great mistake and calculated to reduce the level and reputation of our Department. I am rather hesitant to put it so bluntly, because I am on the best of terms with Galbraith. (For that reason I would be obliged if you would treat this letter as confidential.) But I think it is my duty to state my views clearly in such an important matter.

In my opinion, Galbraith is not a first-rate man. As you have said to me on one or two occasions, he has shot his bolt and there is no new evidence, it seems to me, which would warrant a change of that judgment. Galbraith is good average, not more. Moreover, he is not an agricultural economist. For years, not only during the time he served in Washington, he has written on subjects like monopoly and competition, international economic relations, full employment policies and the like. This shows a wide range of interests, but in none of these fields is he regarded as an outstanding expert. Yet he is now to be appointed as successor to John D. Black.

I am afraid the Department is on its way to fill all vacancies with respectable mediocrities. This is the more astonishing and inexcusable, because we could have a man who is almost universally regarded as one, if not the, most outstanding economist, namely P. A. Samuelson. As you know, Samuelson was awarded the Walker medal [sic, “Clark medal” is correct] by the American Economic Association which is to be given to the most outstanding economist under forty. He has had offers from first-rate universities, Chicago among others. He has without doubt the most brilliant record of all living economists under forty. He is an excellent teacher and would fit ideally into the Department from the point of view of our age distribution, a factor which has been, in my opinion very rightly, stressed by the Administration of the University. (Galbraith, on the other hand, falls more or less within the age group which is most strongly represented.)

It is, I think, a scandal (which is recognized and commented on everywhere) that the appointment of Samuelson has been prevented again and again. I have been repeatedly asked, more or less discretely, by leading economists at home and abroad, why a man like Samuelson is not at Harvard. Several of my colleagues admit that they have had the same experience. Samuelson has a tremendous reputation abroad. In London, Cambridge and Oxford where I visited last week, everyone was impressed by him and by the lectures he gave there recently.

I know, of course, the arguments which are used against his appointment. Mason, for example, while admitting that he is the most brilliant scholar in the field, says that Galbraith is more useful for the School for Public Administration. But Smithies has just been appointed to the School. If we look at the University as an institution which is primarily interested in extending the limits of scientific knowledge, rather than as a training school for Government officials, the choice between the two men should not be difficult.

Some members of the Department are afraid that Samuelson would enter the crowded field of theory. It is, of course, unavoidable that a brilliant young man would step on the toes of some older men in the Department. That is the nature of progress. But I would say that our Department is large enough and the students numerous enough to absorb a new man without undue hardship on vested interests. With Schumpeter near retiring age, it is time to look for a successor in the field of theory. Moreover, Samuelson could, and I think would, give instruction in the important field of advanced statistics, where we have an embarrassing void at the present time.

I am under no illusion that it will be possible to change the minds of the majority of the Department, although I know that several members who voted for the recommendation of Galbraith feel about it as I do. But the fact that you have prevented the Department on several occasions from making a fool of itself, gives me hope that it may not be too late. Moreover, I wanted to relieve my own conscience.

Very sincerely yours,

[signed]

G. Haberler

H:B

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Gottfried Haberler Paper, Box 12, Folder “J. Kenneth Galbraith”.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1950.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Memorial Minute for Professor Silas Marcus Macvane, 1914.

 

From this minute from the record of a meeting of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (February 17, 1914), the historian Silas Marcus Macvane (incidentally, a classmate of the first head of the Chicago Department of Political Economy, J. Laurence Laughlin), we see that his first academic appointment was as an Instructor in Political Economy in Harvard College, two years after receiving his B.A. in 1875.  Five years later he was appointed Instructor in History and rose through the ranks in that field. He published nine articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics up through its ninth volume in 1895.

Note: The copy of the Harvard Album of the Class of 1873 (its “yearbook”) in the Harvard Archives was the personal copy of J. Laurence Laughlin.

________________________

Minute on the Life and Services of Professor Silas Marcus Macvane

The following minute on the life and services of Professor Macvane was placed upon the records of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the meeting of February 17, 1914 : —

Silas Marcus Macvane, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History, Emeritus, died at Rome, Italy, January 19, 1914, in the seventy-second year of his age.

He was born at Bothwell, Prince Edward’s Island, June 4, 1842, of Scotch farming ancestry, and spent his boyhood in the rough but wholesome discipline of farm life. His natural taste for study led him to Acadia College, Nova Scotia, where he was graduated at the age of twenty-three. The six years following were spent in school teaching and in travel and study abroad.

In 1871 he entered the Junior Class in Harvard College, and was graduated here with the Class of 1873. While in College he came under the influence of Professor Henry Adams, to whom the later development of historical study at Harvard upon a scientific basis was largely due.

Immediately after graduation here Macvane married and began teaching in the Roxbury Latin School. There, as grateful pupils still bear witness, he developed that shrewd and sympathetic insight into young human nature which was to mark all his later dealing with more advanced pupils. Two years of teaching boys, however, sufficed to show that Macvane was, as his chief, Principal Collar, used to say, too large a man for that work, and in 1875 he was appointed Instructor in Political Economy in Harvard College. In 1878 he became Instructor in History, in 1883 Assistant Professor, and in 1886 Professor. In 1887 he was assigned to the McLean Professorship, and retained that title until his retirement in 1911, after thirty-six years of continuous service.

During that long period he was called upon by the demands of a rapid departmental expansion to teach at one time or another in every branch of Political Science, in History, Economics, International and Constitutional Law, Modern Government and Political Theory. In all these he showed himself adequately and evenly prepared, and his instruction in each was broadened and enriched by this many-sided preparation. For many years, however, he was especially identified with the instruction in Modern European History, a subject which he inherited directly from his favorite teacher, Henry Warren Torrey of happy memory. His method of teaching was deliberate, with cautious but incisive criticism, appealing to the better elements of his large classes and always commanding the respect of the rest by its obvious sincerity.

As a scholar he represented the older, wholesome tradition which dreaded a narrow specialization, abhorred the parade of curious learning, and shrank from hasty or ill-considered publication.

In the field of Economic Theory he was a recognized authority, and most of his published work was in that subject. He was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Journal of Economics during the editorship of Professor Dunbar. In historical publication his most important work was a translation and revision of Seignobos’ Political History of Europe since 1814.

As a working member of this Faculty during the critical years in which the system of academic freedom was being worked out into practicable shape, he was a factor always to be reckoned with. His sympathy was with what in those days was rightly described as progressive, but he saw also the perils of too rapid progress. Never a quick debater, he followed carefully the course of discussion and invariably came in at the close with some shrewd comment which brought out the essential point and not infrequently turned the tide of opinion. His command of practical details led to his appointment on the Committee on the Tabular View, and for many years he was its responsible head, performing a thankless task with infinite patience and consideration for the wishes of his colleagues.

He was a sturdy fighter for the best things, a courteous opponent, a loyal friend and a devoted servant of the truth through loyalty to the College which he loved. Patient under prolonged trial, thinking no evil, he gave his life without complaint to the service of others, finding his sufficient reward in the sense of duty well done.

Source: Harvard University Gazette, Vol. IX, No. 22, February 21, 1914, p. 149-50  .

 

Economic Publications of Silas Marcus Macvane

Crocker, Uriel H., and S. M. Macvane. “General Overproduction.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1, no. 3 (1887): 362-66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1882763.

Macvane, S. M. “The Theory of Business Profits.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2, no. 1 (1887): 1-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879348.

__________. “Analysis of Cost of Production.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1, no. 4 (1887): 481-87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879343.

__________. “Business Profits and Wages: A Rejoinder.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2, no. 4 (1888): 453-68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1879389.

__________. The Working Principles of Political Economy in a New and Practical form: a Book for Beginners. New York: Effingham Maynard & Co., 1890. https://archive.org/details/workingprincipl02macvgoog

__________. “Boehm-Bawerk on Value and Wages.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 5, no. 1 (1890): 24-43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1880831.

__________. “Capital and Interest.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 6, no. 2 (1892): 129-50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1882544.

__________. “Marginal Utility and Value.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics7, no. 3 (1893): 255-85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1884004.

__________. “The Austrian Theory of Value.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 4 (1893): 12-41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1009036.

__________. “The Economists and the Public.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 9, no. 2 (1895): 132-50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1885596.

__________. Review of The Letters of John Stuart Mill by Hugh S. R. Eliot, Mary Taylor. The American Economic Review 1, no. 4 (1911): 800-02. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1806884.

 

Categories
Bibliography Fields Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Suggested Readings for Tutorial, ca 1951

 

 

While undated, the following set of recommended books by field appears to have been put together for Harvard economics tutors in 1951. This set was found in a separate folder in Professor Alvin Hansen’s papers in the Harvard University Archives (a dozen typed pages, stapled).

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SUGGESTED READING FOR TUTORIAL

These readings are intended as a guide only. If tutors would note any additional material that they find helpful, the list can be revised and kept current. The list includes books only and no periodicals as it is difficult to select the best of these; this does not mean, however, that it is considered inadvisable to assign periodical literature.

 

Economic AnalysisGeneral

J. E. Meade and C. J. Hitch Introduction to Economic Analysis and Public Policy
K. Boulding Economic Analysis
G. J. Stigler Production and Distribution Theories
R. G. D. Allen Mathematical Analysis for Economists
D. Ricardo Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
A. Smith The Wealth of Nations
A. Cournot Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth
J. S. Mill Principles of Political Economy
K. Marx Value, Price and Profit
Wage-Labour and Capital
A. Marshall Principles of Economics
A. C. Pigou Economics of Welfare
K. Wicksell Lectures on Political Economy, v I
J. Robinson Economics of Imperfect Competition
G. H. Chamberlin Theory of Monopolistic Competition
F. H. Knight Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit
A. P. Lerner Economics of Control
O. Lange Economic Theory of Socialism
J. M. Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
J. R. Hicks Value and Capital
J. A. Schumpeter Theory of Economic Development
P. A. Samuelson Foundations of Economic Analysis
Irving Fisher The Theory of Interest
L. Robbins The Nature and Significance of Economic Science
Blakiston (pub) Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution
H. S. Ellis (Ed) A Survey of Contemporary Economics

 

History of Economic Thought

A. Gray The Development of Economic Doctrine
E. Roll History of Economic Thought
J. M. Keynes Essays in Biography

 

Socio-Economic Analysis

M. Weber The Theory of Social and Economic Organization
J. A. Schumpeter Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
K. Marx The Communist Manifesto
J A. Hobson Imperialism
T. Veblen The Engineers and the Price System
F. H. Knight The Ethics of Competition
P. M. Sweezy The Theory of Capitalist Development
D. M. Wright Democracy and Progress
M. Levy The Family Revolution in China

 

Economic Policy

S. E. Harris (ed) Saving American Capitalism
W. H. Beveridge Full Employment in a Free Society
F. H. Knight Freedom and Reform
H. Simons Economic Policy in A Free Society
F. A. Hayek The Road to Serfdom
J. M. Clark Alternative to Serfdom
C. W. Mills The New Men of Power
United Nations Economic and Social Council
[Authors: J. M. Clark, A. Smithies, N. Kaldor, Pierre Uri, E. R. Walker (chairman)]
National and International Measures for Maintaining Full Employment [1949]
Reports of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers

 

Aggregative Analysis, Business Cycles

S. Kuznets National Income, A Summary of Findings
K. Wicksell Interest and Prices
G. Haberler Prosperity and Depression
J. M. Clark Strategic Factors in Business Cycles
A. H. Hansen Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles
L. R. Klein The Keynesian Revolution
J. Tinbergen Business Cycles in the United States, 1920-1939
J. A. Schumpeter Business Cycles (2 vol)
J. R. Hicks A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle
C. Clark The Conditions of Economic Progress
R. F. Harrod Toward a Dynamic Economics
Blakiston (pub) Readings in Business Cycle Theory
L. R. Klein Economic Fluctuations in the United States 1921-1941
D. H. Robertson Banking Policy and the Price Level

 

Money and Banking

R. G. Hawtrey The Art of Central Banking
R. S. Sayers Modern Banking
Federal Reserve Board Banking Studies
J. M. Keynes A Tract on Monetary Reform[;] Treatise on Money
D. M. Robertson Money
W. Fellner Monetary Policy and Full Employment
A. H. Hansen Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy
R. Nurkse International Currency Experience
C. Bresciani-Turoni The Economics of Inflation
A. Marshall Money, Credit, and Commerce
R. J. Saulnier and N. H. Jacoby Business Finance and Banking
A. G. Hart Money, Debt and Economic Activity
L. Mints Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society
E. S. Shaw Money, Income, and Monetary Policy

 

International Trade

G. Haberler International Trade
B. Ohlin International and Interregional Trade
J. Viner Studies in the Theory of International Trade
R. Nurkse Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium
E. Heckscher Mercantilism 2 Vols.
N. S. Buchanan International Investment and Domestic Welfare
F. W. Taussig Tariff History of the United States
J. Viner (League of Nations) Trade Relations between Free Markets and Controlled Economies
S. E. Harris (ed) Foreign Economic Policy for the United States
Blakiston (pub) Readings in the Theory of International Trade
Economic Commission for Europe Reports on the European Economy 1949, 1950
O.E.E.C. Reports 1948, 1949

 

Agriculture

J. D. Black, et al. Farm Management
J. D. Black and M. Kiefer Future Food and Agriculture Policy
T. W. Schultz Agriculture in an Unstable Economy
G. Shepherd Agricultural Price Analysis
T. W. Schultz Production and Welfare in Agriculture
D. G. Johnson Trade and Agriculture
J. S. Davis On Agricultural Policy

 

Economic History

M. Weber General Economic History
W. Sombart The Quintessence of Capitalism
R. H. Tawney Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
K. Marx Capital (vol I)
M. Dobb Studies in the Development of Capitalism
A. P. Usher History of Mechanical Inventions
P. Mantoux The Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century
H. Pirenne The Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe
J. H. Clapham The Economic Development of France and Germany
J. H. Clapham The Bank of England
T. Ashton The Industrial Revolution
A. P. Usher Industrial History of England
W. W. Rostow British Economy in the 19th Century
T. Veblen Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution
L. C. Gray History of Agriculture in Southern United States to 1860
F. J. Turner The Frontier in American History
M. L. Hansen The Immigrant in American History
W. Z. Ripley Main Street and Wall Street
T. Cochrane and W. Miller The Age of Enterprise
R. S. and H. M. Lynd Middletown
A. M. Carr Saunders Population Problems

 

Economic Measurement: Applied Economics

R. G. D. Allen and A. L. Bowley Family Expenditures
W. L. Crum Corporate Size and Earning Power
L. Rostas Comparative Productivity in British and American Industry
J. M. Gould Output and Productivity in Electric and Gas Utilities
W. H. Nicholls Labor Productivity Functions in Meat Packing
P. Neff and A. Weifenbach Business Cycles in Selected Industrial Areas
G. Haberler Consumer Installment Credit and Economic Fluctuations
J. S. Dusenberry Income, Saving, and the Theory o Consumer Behavior
A. F. Burns and W. C. Mitchell Measuring Business Cycles
T. Wilson Fluctuations in Income and Employment
E. Frickey Industrial Production in United States

 

Labor

J. R. Hicks The Theory of Wages
P. H. Douglas The Theory of Wages
J. T. Dunlop Wage Determination under Trade Unions
S. H. Slichter Union Policies and Industrial Management
A. M. Ross Trade Union Wage Policy
C. E. Lindblom Unions and Capitalism
S. Perlman A Theory of the Trade Union Movement
S. and B. Webb History of Trade Unionism
W. Galenson Labor in Norway
F. J. Roethlisberger and W. Dickson Management and the Worker
E. Mayo Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization
E. W. Bakke and C. Kerr (ed) Unions, Management, and the Public
Shister, J. and Lester, R. Insight into Labor Issues
Twentieth Century Fund How Collective Bargaining Works

 

Public Finance

U. K. Hicks Public Finance
H. Simons Personal Income Taxation
H. M. Somers Public Finance and Fiscal Policy
J. A. Maxwell The Fiscal Impact of Federalism in the United States
A. C. Pigou A Study in Public Finance
J. K. Butters and J. Lintner Effects of Federal Taxes on Growing Enterprises
W. S. Vickrey Agenda for Progressive Taxation
Hoover Commission Reports to the Congress and the Appendices of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government
H. M. Groves Postwar Taxation and Economic Progress
J. R. Hicks The Taxation of War Wealth
W. L. Crum, Fennelly and Seltzer Fiscal Planning for Total War

 

Applied Price Theory and Industrial Organization

B. H. Robertson The Control of Industry
A. E. G. Robinson The Structure of Competitive Industry; Monopoly
J. M. Clark The Economics of Overhead Costs
W. A. Lewis Overhead Costs
A. K. Berle and G. C. Means The Modern Corporation and Private Property
R. A. Gordon Business Leadership in the Large Corporation
H. Simon Administrative Behavior
D H. Wallace Market Control in the Aluminum Industry
A. A. Bright The Electric Lamp Industry
J. S. Bain The Economics of the Pacific Coast Petroleum Industry
J. M. Clark The Social Control of Business
C. D. Edwards Maintaining Competition
Blakiston (pub) Readings in the Social Control of Business

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alvin Harvey Hansen. Lecture Notes and Other Course Material, Box 2, Folder “Tutorial Readings”.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Six Economics Ph.D. examinees, 1906-07

 

 

This posting lists six graduate students in economics who took their subject examinations for the Ph.D. at Harvard from April 4 through May 23, 1907, apparently the entire 1906-07 Ph.D. examination cohort. The examination committee members, academic history, general and specific subjects are provided along with the doctoral thesis subject, when declared. Lists for 1903-04, 1904-051915-16, and 1926-27 were posted previously. In the same archival box one finds lists for the academic years 1902-03 through 1904-05, 1906-07 through 1913-14, 1915-16, 1917-18 through 1918-19, and finally 1926-27. I only include graduate students of economics (i.e. not included are the Ph.D. candidates in history and government).

Titles and dates of Harvard economic dissertations for the period 1875-1926 can be found here.

 

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DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.

1906-07

 

Arthur Norman Holcombe.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, April 4, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Lowell, Bullock, Gay, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1902-06; Harvard Graduate School, 1906-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. [2. Economic History to 1750.] 3. Economic History since 1750. [4. Sociology and Social Reform.] 5. Public Finance. [6. Modern Government and Comparative Constitutional Law.] Excused from further examination in subjects 2, 4, and 6 on account of having taken Highest Final Honors.
Special Subject:
Thesis Subject: “The Telephone Situation.” (With Professor Taussig.)

 

Walter Wallace McLaren.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, April 10, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Hart, Bullock, Munro, and Andrew.
Academic History: Queen’s University (Canada), 1894-99; Queen’s University Theological College, 1899-1902; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.M. (Queen’s Univ.) 1899; B.D. (ibid.) 1902.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Sociology and Social Reform. 3. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 4. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 5. The History of Canada. 6. Municipal and Local Government.
Special Subject: Canadian Economic History.
Thesis Subject: “History of the Canadian Tariff.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Frank Richardson Mason.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 8, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Channing, Bullock, Gay, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1901-05; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1905; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Economic History since 1750. 4. Money, Banking and Commercial Crises. 5. Social Reform and Industrial Organization. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: United States Economic History (or Crises?).
Thesis Subject: “The Silk Industry in Europe and America.” (With Professor Taussig.)

 

Charles Phillips Huse.

Special Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 15, 1907.
General Examination passed May 11, 1906.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Stimson, Taussig, Bullock, and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1900-03; Harvard Graduate School, 1904-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1904; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
Special Subject: Public Finance and Financial History.
Thesis Subject: “Financial History of Boston, 1822-1859, with a Preliminary Chapter.” (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Taussig, Ripley.

 

William Jackman.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 22, 1907.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Macvane, Taussig, Bullock, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: University of Toronto, 1892-96; University of Pennsylvania, 1899-1900; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.B. (Univ. of Toronto) 1896; A.M. (ibid.) 1900.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Sociology and Social Reform. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. English History since 1500.
Special Subject: Modern Economic History of England.
Thesis Subject: “The Development of Transportation in Modern England before the Steam Railway Era.” (With Professor Gay.)

 

Edmund Ezra Day.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 23, 1907.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Channing, Taussig, Bullock, Andrew, and Wyman.
Academic History: Dartmouth College, 1901-06; Harvard Graduate School, 1906-07; S.B. (Dartmouth) 1905; A.M. (ibid.) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistics. 3. Money, Banking and Crises. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Industrial Organization and Corporation Finance. 6. American Institutions and Constitutional Law.
Special Subject: Taxation.
Thesis Subject: “Taxation of Corporations in Connecticut and Maine.”(?) (With Professor Bullock.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1906-1907”.

Image Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 .

Categories
Chicago Courses Problem Sets Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Intermediate Economic Theory for Non-Majors, ca. 1933

 

 

Today’s post is provides an undated reading list, a partial course outline and the preliminary motivating statement for an intermediate level undergraduate course in economic theory targeted to non-majors in the University of Chicago’s Division of Social Sciences. This material was found in a folder in George Stigler’s papers. He was a student at the University of Chicago from 1933-1936, but it is unlikely that he took this course. One presumes he acquired a copy on his own account then. As far as the authorship, I have not had time to compare this material with that of Henry C. Simons cited in the following bibliographic tip. However the style does appear to have Simons’ handwriting all over it. Kyrk and Mints also regularly taught this course during these years.

Bibliographic Tip:  Notes to Henry Calvert Simons’ Course Economics 201 (1933-34) taken by F. Taylor Ostrander and Helen Hiett were published in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. Volume 23, Part 2. Documents from F. Taylor Ostrander, Warren J. Samuels (ed.). Emerald, 2005.

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Course Description

201. The Divisional Course in Economics.—A survey of price and distribution, monetary, and cycle theory, developed chiefly through the use of a series of problems. The course is designed primarily to meet the needs of students who are majoring in departments other than Economics and who expect to take the Divsional Comprehensive Examination in Social Science. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements, Arts, Literature and Science (for the sessions 1933-34), vol. XXXIII, March 25, 1933, No. 8, p. 265.

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ECONOMICS 201
MATERIALS AND PROBLEMS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION

ASSIGNMENTS

Indispensable Reading, first five weeks:

Henderson, H. D., Supply and Demand (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1922. $1.25).

This short treatise should provide a good review of previous work (it is among the materials for Social Science I). It should be read promptly, to renew acquaintance with the terminology and central propositions of economic theory; and the relevant chapters should be re-read later on, in connection with the class discussion of special topics.

Knight, F. H., in Syllabus and Selected Readings for Social Science II, pages 125-250.

This is also a review assignment; but no other material is likely to prove more valuable in connection with the first part of this course.

The first section (pages 125-137), on “Social Economic Organization and Its Five Primary Functions,” should be read promptly, in connection with the class discussion of the first week.

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics, 5th ed. (New York, 1930), Chapters IX, X, XI, XX, and Appendix A. (The corresponding chapters in the 4th edition will serve equally well for this course.)

The first three of these chapters should be read as one assignment. The first part of Chapter XI deals with what are, from the point of view of this course, highly controversial questions. Chapter XX merits very careful study.

Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine (New York, 1931), Chapters III, V, and VI.

The chapters should acquaint students with the main ideas of the mercantilists, and of Hume, Adam Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo. Appendix A of the Ely book should be read in connection with this assignment.

Indispensable Reading, last five weeks:

Roberson, D. H., Money, new edition revised (new York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929. $1.25).

This is an excellent, concise treatise by a leading English (Cambridge) economist. It should be studied with care, preferably in advance of class discussion of money and banking.

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics, 5th ed., Chapters XIII to XVIII inclusive.

These chapters also merit careful, deliberate study.

Gregory, T. E., The Gold Standard and its Future, 2nd (or 1st) ed., London (and New York), 1932.

An unusually fine treatise, excellent for its fundamental analysis, and closely relevant to currently interesting and urgent problems.

Optional Reading:

Ely, R. T. et al., Outlines of Economics.

Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine.

Cassel, Gustav, Fundamental Thoughts on Economics.

Cassel, Gustav, The Theory of Social Economy (Barron translation), Book I and Book II.

Marshall, Alfred, Principles of Economics, 8th edition, especially Book V.

Hardy, Charles O., Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System.

 

Preliminary

Economics 201: Its Place in the Curriculum:

This course is intended primarily for students preparing for the Divisional Examinations, and not for students majoring in the Department of Economics. It is designed for students who have had Social Science I and Social Science II in the College, and for those students transferring to the Social Science Division from other colleges who have had some previous work in economics. In general, the course will presuppose some familiarity with the terminology of economics and some ability to follow careful analysis.

General Description of Content of the Course:

The course falls, as to subject matter, into two main parts. The first six weeks will be devoted to study of “price theory”—to study of the forces governing, in an exchange economy, the determination of relative prices and the allocation of resources among different, alternative uses (assuming a money economy but disregarding, or abstracting from, monetary disturbances and cyclical fluctuations). This part of the course is designed to give students a critical understanding, first and above all, of how a competitive system works and, second, of how the introduction of monopoly in particular areas will affect relative prices and relative production. The latter part of the course will be devoted to study of money, banking, and business cycles—to study of factors governing the general level of prices and, more especially, to analysis of forces underlying the cumulative, self-aggravating maladjustments of booms and depressions.

The total quantity of required reading is intended to be moderate; and it is to be hoped that students will do this relatively small amount of reading with considerable care — with serious effort to comprehend thoroughly and to understand, rather than with the intention of accumulating information or memorizing propositions. If a student must choose between doing all the reading but doing it hastily, and doing a smaller amount with care, the latter procedure will prove decidedly more profitable. The assignments are designed, however, to eliminate the necessity of such a choice.

Most of the class hours will be devoted to discussion of specific problem-exercises designed to bring out, and to give precision to, the central concepts and propositions of price theory and monetary theory. Little effort will be made to relate the class discussions from day to day to particular parts of the assignments; but familiarity with the required readings will always be helpful, and sometimes indispensable, to understanding of problems dealt with in class.

A considerable part of the student’s outside work should be devoted to assimilating and organizing in his own mind the content of discussions in class. Students should make a special effort to acquire facility with the language of more rigorous economics — with the main terms and concepts —, to understand clearly the assumptions under which particular analytical arguments proceed, to digest the analysis of particular problems as it proceeds in class, and to prepare themselves to carry on the discussion from day to day. Above all, they should try to discover at what points the content of class discussions has been unclear; and they should feel not only free, but actually obligated, to raise questions in class to clear up any confusion. If any individual feels hesitant about asking questions, let him remember that one can hardly raise a question about systematic economic argument which is so simple that most other students will not profit from its discussion.

Students are certain to find this course a more profitable and stimulating intellectual experience if they do their work, at least occasionally, with other students. This is especially true with reference to study of the various problem-exercises. Students can gain a great deal, by way of understanding, if they try to explain things to each other, if they criticize other people’s explanations, and if they attempt to argue out of differences of opinion. It is hard to develop real facility with definitions, concepts, and propositions merely by reading — or by talking to one’s self.

 

Headings from Course Outline
(63 pages)

INTRODUCTION

Definition of Economics and of Its Point of View

Basic Functions or Tasks in an Economic System or Organization

GENERAL PRICE THEORY

[Introduction]

General View of the Pricing Process

The Phenomenon of Industrial Fluctuations and Unemployment, digression

Circularity of the Pricing Process

The Pricing Process: EQUILIBRIUM

The Pricing Process for a Short Period

Conditions of Equilibrium

The Pricing Process over Long Periods

Some Conditions of Long-run Equilibrium

Some Interpretations of the Equilibrium Arrangements

Complexity and Intricacy of the Inter-relations

Some Supplementary Remarks

DEMAND, DEMAND FUNCTIONS, AND ELASTICITY OF DEMAND

Confusion as to Usage of the Word “Demand”

Utility, Utility Functions, and Demand Functions

Elasticity of Demand

COST OF PRODUTION AND PRICE UNDER COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS

Problem Exercise I

Preliminary Exercises
Conditions of Equilibrium in the Industry
Conditions of Demand

[missing pages 40-53]

MONOPOLY AND MONOPOLY PRICE

Contrasts between Complete Monopoly and Perfect Competition

Production and Prices under a special case of Partial Monopoly, “The Economics of Cartels”

An Arithmetic Exercise

 

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers,  Addenda, Box 24, Folder “Economics 201”.

Image Source:  Architectural element of the Social Science Research Building (1929). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07449, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Exam Questions Fields Harvard Statistics Suggested Reading

Harvard. General Exam Preparation for Statistics, 1947

 

 

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April 1, 1947

SUGGESTIONS FOR PREPARATION IN THE GENERAL FIELD OF STATISTICS

Work in the two courses, Economics 121a and 121b, is in almost all cases an essential core of the preparation of the field of Statistics for General Examinations (requirements for the Special Field differ substantially), but such work does not constitute sufficient preparation. A considerable volume of additional reading is recommended, and Sections II and III below give certain pertinent suggestions; but candidates who wish to make other selections should submit their choices for the approval of one of the undersigned.

I. Foundation Theory

For statistical theory as such, a thorough knowledge of the work—in the classroom and in reading assignments—of Economics 121a is ordinarily adequate preparation. The main reading assignments in that course are:

C. U. Yule and M. G. Kendall—An Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, 1937 edition, entire book beginning with Chapter 6;

D. C. Jones—A First Course in Statistics, specified chapters on curve fitting and sampling;

W. P. Elderton-Frequency Curves and Correlation, specified portions on curve fitting and correlation;

but candidates should be prepared as well in the other assigned readings.

II. and III. Statistics Applied to Economics

Suggestions under heads II and III aim at giving the candidate an intensive acquaintance with (a) the applied statistical work of three specific authors, and (b) the applied statistical work in some particular economic area. Candidates who, in undertaking to meet these two requirements, select books or memoirs customarily treated in Economics 121b should understand that a more complete and intensive knowledge of such items is expected in the General Field than in 121b. In respect to each of these readings the candidate will be expected to know the contributions to statistical methodology in that item of reading, to have a critical appraisal of the statistical procedure used, and to know the importance and validity of the results for economic analysis.

The items listed below are merely suggestions; candidates may offer substitute readings for the approval of one of the undersigned.

II. Authors in Applied Statistics

In this section, no elementary statistics textbook is acceptable, nor will the classic Bulletin No. 284, U.S.B.L.S., by W. C. Mitchell, be accepted. Knowledge of these is taken for granted. For any author selected below, some book or extensive memoir presenting an application of statistics to economic problems is intended; but in no case should any item here be identical with one chosen under III below. Each candidate should select three authors.

Suggested Examples:

Sir Wm. Beveridge, Wheat Prices and Rainfall in Western Europe

A. L. Bowley, Wages and income in the United Kingdom since 1860

A.F. Burns, Production Trends

A. F. Burns and Wesley C. Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles – (certain portions may be omitted; see the note at the end of this memorandum.)

W. L. Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

*E. E. Day, The Physical Volume of Production

Paul Douglas, Real Wages in the United States

Ralph Epstein, Industrial Profits

Mordecai Ezekiel, Methods of Correlation Analysis

Solomon Fabricant, Output of Manufacturing Industries

Solomon Fabricant, Employment in Manufacturing, 1899 -1939

*Irving Fisher, Making of Index Numbers

Edwin Frickey, Economic Fluctuations in the United States

Ralph G. Hurlin and W. A. Berridge, Employment Statistics for the United States

Simon Kuznets, Commodity Flow and Capital Formation

Simon Kuznets, National Income and its Composition (Vol. 1)

Simon Kuznets, Secular Movements

Wassily Leontief, Quantitative Input and Output Relations

F. C. Mills, Behavior of Prices

*W. C. Mitchell, Business Cycles—1927 ed. (statistical portions)

*W. M. Persons, Construction of Index Numbers (pp. 1-44)

*W. M. Persons, Indices of General Business Condition

Henry Schultz, The Theory and Measurement of Demand (statistical portions)

*Henry Schultz, Statistical Laws of Demand and Supply (the first part, on demand)

J. A. Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Vol. 1 (with emphasis on statistical portions)

Carl Snyder, Business Cycles and Business Measurements

Woodlief Thomas, et al., The Federal Reserve Index of Industrial Production, Federal Reserve Bulletin for August 1940, pp. 753-771; September 1940, pp. 912-924; July 1942, pp. 642-644; October 1943, pp. 940-984.

III. Statistical Studies in a Single Economic Field

The object of this section is to guide the candidate in studying statistical investigations of more than one author in some one economic subject. The candidate should choose one such subject, and have and intensive knowledge of the statistical work in that subject, or two or more leading authors. Comparisons among such authors will constitute a part of the requirement.

Suggested Examples

Index Numbers: *Fisher, Making of Index Numbers; * Persons, Construction of Index Numbers; (also, look briefly at Frickey, The Theory of Index-Number Bias, Review of Economic Statistics, November 1937.)

Secular Growth of Output: Burns, Production Trends; Fabricant, Output of Manufacturing Industries

Cycles, I: *Mitchell, Business Cycles (1927); Burns and Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles (certain portion of this book may be omitted; see the note at end of this memorandum).

Cycles, II: *Persons, Indices of Business Conditions; Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Vol. 1

Multiple Correlation: Ezekiel, Methods of Correlation Analysis; Black et al., The Short-Cut Graphic Method of Multiple Correlations, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1937, pp. 66-112, and February 1940, pp. 318-364.

Employment: Fabricant, Employment in Manufacturing, 1899 – 1939; Hurlin and Berridge, Employment Statistics for the United States

Profits: Epstein, Industrial Profits; Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

Wages: Brissenden, Earnings of Factory Workers; Douglas, Real Wages in the United States

Prices: Mills, Behavior of Prices; Warren and Pearson, Prices (or Gold and Prices).

Distribution of Income: Brookings Report, America’s Capacity to Consume; Lough, High-Level Consumption

N.B. OF THE FIVE BOOKS CHOSEN UNDER II AND III, NOT MORE THAN FOUR MAY BE BOOKS WHICH ARE MARKED WITH A STAR (*) IN THE LISTS ABOVE.

Each candidate should submit his program, well in advance, for the approval of one of the undersigned:

L. W. Crum
Edwin Frickey

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-47”.

Image Source: Crum and Frickey in Harvard Class Album, 1942 and 1950.