Categories
Bibliography Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Fiscal Policy Readings. Domar, 1949-50

 

 

 

Evsey Domar was hired at Johns Hopkins in 1948. This posting provides a convenient list of the greatest (English language) hits in the macroeconomics of fiscal policy at mid-twentieth century.

___________________________________

 

Course Announcement

Fiscal Policy 627-628. Associate Professor Domar. Two hours weekly through the year.

Fiscal policy as an instrument of economic stabilization and development. An analysis of its theory and actual applications in recent years.

Prerequisites: Monetary Theory 309-10 and Business Cycles 617-18, or their equivalents.

 

Source: Announcements of Courses, 1949-50. The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1949, Number 4 (April 1949), p. 92.

___________________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY
Political Economy 627-28
1949-50

It is assumed that the students are already familiar or will familiarize themselves shortly with the following books or their equivalent:

 

Author

Title

Year

American Econ Assn. Readings in Business Cycle Theory

1944

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System. Its Purpose and Functions

1947

Council of Economic Advisers The Midyear Economic Report of the President to the Congress, July 11, 1949, together with a report, The Economic Situation at Midyear 1949

1949

Haberler, Gottfried Prosperity and Depression

1946

Hansen, Alvin H. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles

1941

Hansen, Alvin H. Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy

1949

Keynes, John Maynard The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money

1936

Lange, Oscar Price Flexibility and Employment

1944

Lerner, Abba P.

The Economics of Control. Principles of Welfare Economics

1944

National Planning Assn. National Budgets for Full Employment

1945

Ruggles, Richard An Introduction to National Income and Income Analysis

1949

Somers, Harold M. Public Finance and National Income

1949

Whittlesey, Chas. R. Principles of Money & Banking

1948

The following books are recommended:
Arndt, H. W. The Economic Lessons of the Nineteen-Thirties

1944

Beveridge, Wm. H. Full Employment in a Free Society

1945

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Banking Studies

1941

Bopp, Karl R. et al Federal Reserve Policy

1947

Ellis, Howard S. (ed.) A Survey of Contemporary Economics

1948

Fellner, Wm. Monetary Policies and Full Employment

1946

Hansen, Alvin H. Economic Policy and Full Employment

1947

Hansen, Alvin H. & Perloff, Harvey S. State and Local Finance in the National Economy

1944

Harris, Seymour Edwin (ed.) Economic Reconstruction

1945

Harris, Seymour Edwin (ed.) The New Economics. Keynes’ Influence on Theory and Public Policy

1947

Hart, Albert Gailord Money, Debt and Economic Activity

1948

Hawtrey, Ralph George The Art of Central Banking

1932

Homan, Paul T. & Machlup, Fritz (ed.) Financing American Prosperity. A Symposium of Economists

1945

Keynes, John Maynard A Treatise on Money

1930

King, Willford Isbell The Keys to Prosperity. A Symposium of Economists

1945

Lerner, Abba P. & Graham, Frank D. (ed.) Planning and Paying for Full Employment

1946

Metzler, Lloyd A. et al Income, Employment and Public Policy. Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen

1948

Mises, Ludwig von The Theory of Money and Credit

1935

Musgrave, Richard A. et al. Public Finance and Full Employment

1945

Balogh, T. et al The Economics of Full Employment

1944

Rist, Charles History of Monetary and Credit Theory from John Law to the Present Day

1940

Robertson, Dennis Holme Essays in Monetary Theory

1940

Additions to this list will be made from time to time.

 

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Evsey D. Domar papers, Box 15, Folder “Macroeconomics: Old Reading Lists.”

Image Source: Joshua Domashevitsky (Evsey D. Domar), University of California at Los Angeles, Bruin Life Yearbook/Southern Campus Yearbook, 1939, p. 52. Caption to graduation picture: “Joshua Domashevitsky, A. B./Economics/ Transferred from State College of Law, Manchuria: Foreign Trade Club; Artus, Chancellor of the Exchequer 4.”

Categories
Fields Harvard

Harvard. Ph.D. candidates examined 1910-11

 

 

This posting provides information for four Harvard economics Ph.D. candidates: their respective academic backgrounds, the six subjects of their general examinations along with the names of the examiners, the subject of their special subject, thesis subject and advisor(s) (where available).

________________________________________

 

DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.
1910-11

Notice of hour and place will be sent out three days in advance of each examination.
The hour will ordinarily be 4 p.m.

Alfred Burpee Balcom.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, May 1, 1911.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Carver, Sprague, Young, and Perry.
Academic History: Acadia College, 1904-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1908-11. S.B., Acadia, 1907; A. M., Harvard, 1909. Austin Teaching Fellow, 1910-11.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. Philosophy.
Special Subject: Economic Theory.
Thesis Subject: “Nassau William Senior as an Economist.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Lucius Moody Bristol.

General Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Thursday, May 4, 1911.
Committee: Professors Peabody (chairman), Taussig, Carver, Sprague, Young, and Dr. Brackett.
Academic History: University of North Carolina, 1894-95; Boston University School of Theology, 1896-99; Harvard Divinity School, 1909-10; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-11. A.B., North Carolina, 1895; S.T.B., Boston University, 1899.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory. 3. Labor Problems. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Statistics.
Special Subject: Social Reform.
Thesis Subject: “Conservation of Vital Forces in Boston.” (With Professor Peabody.)

Johann Gottfried Ohsol.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, May 5, 1911.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Bullock, Carver, Sprague, Dr. Foerster, and Dr. Holcombe.
Academic History: Polytechnic Institute of Riga, 1899-1903; Harvard Graduate School, 1909-11. Candidate in Commerce, Riga, 1903.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Public Finance and Financial History. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: (undecided).

Ralph Emerson Heilman.

General Examination in Economics (Social Ethics), Thursday, May 11, 1911.
Committee: Professors Peabody (chairman), Taussig, Bullock, Carver, Dr. Brackett and Dr. McConnell.
Academic History: Morningside College, 1903-06; Northwestern University, 1906-07; Harvard Graduate School, 1909-11. Ph.B., Morningside, 1906; A.M., Northwestern, 1907.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory and its History. 3. Poor Relief. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Labor Problems.
Special Subject: (undecided).
Thesis Subject: “Chicago Traction.” (With Professor Ripley.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1910-11”.

Image Source: Widener Library, 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Digital ID:  cph 3c14486

Categories
Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Hayek’s Seminar “Equality and Justice”, 1950-51

 

When Friedrich Hayek came to the University of Chicago in 1950, he organized a faculty seminar to run for two consecutive quarters on the subject “Equality and Justice”. A draft of his letter announcing the seminar as well as its schedule and suggested bibliography are transcribed below. I have added in brackets any handwritten additions found in this material that otherwise was typed.

_____________________

Hayek’s Seminar Announcement to Colleagues

To

Walter J. Blum ✓

Ronald S. Crane ✓

Aaron Director ✓

Milton Friedman ✓

Robert M. Hutchins ✓

Harry Kalven Jr. ✓

Wilber C. Katz ✓

Frank H. Knight ✓

Edward H. Levi ✓

Hans J. Morgenthau ✓

Charner M. Perry ✓

Max Rheinstein ✓

Leo Strauss ✓

W. Allen Wallis ✓

[handwritten additions]

Peter H. von Blanckenhagen [sp?] ✓

Daniel J. Boorstin ✓

John U. Nef ✓

Robert Redfield ✓

Edw. Shils

Yves R. Simon ✓

James R. Smith ✓

Abram L. Harris

 

October 23, 1950

            The first meeting of the seminar on “Equality and Justice”, which I shall be conducting for the Committee on Social Thought, will be held on Wednesday, October 25, at S.S.302. For the following few weeks the seminar will be held on alternate Wednesdays at the same time and place (alternating with Mr. T.S. Elliot’s seminar) and from November 22 on each Wednesday during the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.

A provisional program for the discussions of the seminar is enclosed.

It is my hope that the seminar can be conducted with the participation of members of all the various departments concerned, particularly a number of lawyers, economists, and philosophers, and that the discussion will be to some extent a iscussion among faculty members in front of the students, though of course without excluding the students from active participation. My belated arrival in Chicago has unfortunately made it impossible for me to discuss this plan with all those I had hoped personally to invite, and I can thus only at this very late moment inform you of the plan and say that I very much hope that you will be sufficiently interested to take part and that I shall be greatly honored by your presence.

(F.A.Hayek)

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
Seminar
on
Equality and Justice

Provisional Outline of Program (Oct. 18, 1950)

1) Oct. 25

Introduction: The problems and outline of program [Hayek]

A. Historical

2) Nov. 8

The Classical and Scholastic Tradition: Commutative and Distributive Justice [Simons]

3) Nov. 22

[3a) Nov. 29]

The Egalitarianism of the American and French Revolutions [Boorstin & Simon]
[Rousseau, Kant & the Utilitarians (Bentham & J. S. Mill)]

B. Systemic

(a) Ethical (The Morals of Equality)

4)

The Meanings of Equality [Hayek]

5)

Value Judgments and the Analysis of Conflicts of Value Tests of Moral Rules [What is the Test of a desirable Society? Shils]

6)

Does Justice Presuppose Abstract Principles? The “feeling of right” and the Logic of the Law

(b) Legal (The practice of equality)

7)

Equality before the law, the Rule of Law (Government of Laws not of Men), Certainty of the Law

8)

Safeguards: Rights of Men, Division of Powers, Due Process

9)

The Continental Tradition of the “Rechtsstaat” [, “Verwaltungsrecht”, Common Law, Case Law, (illegible phrase)     Rheinstein]

10)

Natural Justice and Positive Law [Strauss]

(c) Economic (The Effects of Equality)

11)

Equality of Opportunity,” “Equal Starting Point” [Equality & Education]

12)

[12a]

Equality and Incentives, “Equal Pay for Equal Work”
[Equal Bargaining Power]
“Equalising Wages”
[(I.L.O.) F.E.P.C., “Parity”, Whole Produce of Labour, Equality and Progress, Technological Change, Capital Formation]

13)

Just Price” [Knight]

14)

Equality and the Family, Inheritance, Effects of Property on Inequality, “Unearned Income”

15)

Progressive Taxation

16)

Equality and Trade Unionism (Corporativism) [Director]

17)

The Contribution of Welfare Economics [Friedman]

18)

International Aspects of Equality, esp. Migration.

[Property and Inheritance]

[1) Reward & Merit]

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
SEMINAR ON “EQUALITY AND JUSTICE”
(1950-51)

Bibliography

Lord Acton, The History of Liberty, 1904.
C. Bouglé, Les idées égalitaires, 1899.
E. F. Carrit, “Liberty and Equality,” Law Quarterly Review, 56, 1940.
F. S. Cohen, Ethical Systems and Legal Ideals, 1933.
A. V. Dicey, Relation between Law and Public Opinion, 1904.
F. D. Graham, Social Goals and Economic Institutions, 1945.
J. B. S. Haldane, The Inequality of Man.
F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, 1944 (esp. Chapt. VI).
“          Individualism and Economic Order, 1948 (First Essay)
“          “Scientism and the Study of Society,” Economica, 1942-44.
A. Huxley, Proper Studies, (Essay on Equality).
F. H. Knight, The Ethics of Competition, 1936.
“          Freedom and Reform, 1948.
J. S. Mill, Liberty, 1859.
“          Utilitarianism. 1863. (Chapt. on Justice).
Roscoe Pound, Spirit of the Common Law, 1921.
H. Sidgwick, Elements of Politics.
H. C. Simons, Economic Policy for a Free Society, 1948.
T. V. Smith, The American Philosophy of Equality, 1927.
J. F. Stephen, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, 1874.
J. Stone, The Province and Function of Law, 1950.
R. H. Tawney, Equality, 1931.
A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835.
“          Ancient Regime and the Revolution, 1856.
A. T. Williams, The Concept of Equality in the Writings of Rousseau, Bentham and Kant, 1907.
D. M. Wright, Democracy and Progress, 1948.

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
Seminar on “Equality and Justice”
(Wednesday 8-10 p.m., SS 302)

PART II: Winter Quarter 1951

Provisional Date

Jan. 3

1. THE MEANINGS OF EQUALITY

D. Thompson, Equality, Cambridge University Press, 1949
R. H. Tawney, Equality, 3rd ed. London (Allen & Unwin) 1938
H. Rashdall, The Theory of Good and Evil, Oxford 1907, vol. I, ch. VIII
E. Brunner, Justice and the Social Order, New York (Harper) 1945
C. Bouglé, Les idées égalitaires, Paris 1899
G. Roffenstein, “Das soziologische Problem der Gleichheit”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, XLV, 1921

Jan. 17

2. VALUE JUDGMENTS AND SCIENCE. ANALYSIS OF CONFLICTS OF VALUE. TESTS OF DESIRABILITY OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS.

Max Weber, On the Methodology of the Social Sciences, ed. E. Shils, 1949.
Jan. 24

3. PRINCIPLES AND MORAL JUDGMENT. MORAL SENSE AND THE “FEELING OF JUSTICE”

J. H. Muirhead, Rule and End in Morals, Oxford 1932
J. Bonar, Moral Sense, London (Allen & Unwin) 1930
E. Riezler, Das Rechtsgefühl, Berlin (Walter de Gruyter) 1921
G. Ryle, “Knowing how and knowing that”, Proceed. Aristot. Soc., N.S. 46, 1945
Jan. 31 4. THE ETHICS OF SOCIALISM AND OF LIBERALISM
J. A. Hobson, Economics and Ethics (D. C. Heath) 1929
W. B. Gallie, “Liberal Morality and Socialist Morality”, Philosophy, XXIV, 1949
F. Tönnies, “Ethik und Sozialismus”, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft, 1905
K. Pearson, The Moral Basis of Socialism. London 1885
Feb. 7 5. NATURAL JUSTICE AND POSITIVE LAW. CONCEPTS OF LAW AND JUSTICE
M. R. Cohen, Law and Social Order, 1933
J. Maritain, The Rights of Man and Natural Law, New York 1943
F. R. Bienenfeld, Rediscovery of Justice 1947
L. Duguit, Manuel de Droit Constitutionel, 1923
G. del Vecchio, La Guistizia, 1924 (trsl. Die Gerechtigkeit, Basel 1940)
F. S. Cohen, Ethical Systems and Legal Ideas, 1933
Feb. 21 6. THE “RULE OF LAW” (“RECHTSSTAAT”, “ETAT DU DROIT”, “STATO DI DIRITTO”) EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW. GENERALITY OF THE LAW (“RELEVANT DISTINCTIONS”). CERTAINTY OF THE LAW
J. Stone, The Province and Function of Law, Harvard Univ. Press 1950
W. I. Jennings, The Law and the Constitution, 3rd ed. 1943
W. Friedman, Legal Theory, 2nd ed. London 1949
F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, 1944
A. V. Dicey, Law of the Constitution, 7th ed. 1908
R. Gneist, Der Rechsstaat, Berlin 1872
F. Darmstaedter, Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Rechtsstaates, 1930
F. Battaglia, “Stato Etico e Stato di Diritto”, Rivista Internationale di Filosofia di Diritto, XVII
G. Leibholz, Die Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz, Berlin 1925
C. A. Emge, “Sicherheit und Gerechtigkeit”, Abh. d. preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1940, No. 9
H. W. R. Wadem, “The Concept of Legal Certainty”, Modern Law Review, IV, 1941
Feb. 28 LAW AND THE COURTS: DIVISION OF POWERS, APPLICATION AND CREATION OF THE LAW. DUE PROCESS
Literature as under 5 and 6
Mar. 7 8. ADMINISTRATION AND DISCRETION
J. Dickinson, Administrative Justice and the Supremacy of the Law, Harvard University Press, 1927
W. Robson, Justice and Administrative Law
J. Roland Pennock, Administration and the Rule of Law, New York, Farrar & Rinehart 1941

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Friedrich A. von Hayek. Box 112, Folder 16.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-02719, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Columbia Regulations

Columbia. Allowing math to substitute for second foreign language, 1950

 

 

In a previous posting Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provided a except from the Faculty Minutes of Columbia University’s Faculty of Political Science agreeing to the modification of the second foreign language requirement in its Ph.D. program to allow mathematics to count for that second foreign language. Below we have the full proposal submitted by the department of economics which notes that Harvard and Chicago had already modified their own language requirements this way.

_________________________

FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

April 10, 1950

PROPOSAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS TO MODIFY THE LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE IN ORDER TO PERMIT AN OPTION IN MATHEMATICS.

The regulations of the Faculty and of the Department of Economics now require that any candidate for the Ph.D. degree in Economics shall satisfy the Department that he can read two modern languages, in addition to English. This requirement dates back to a period when very substantial parts of the important current literature in Economics were written in a foreign language, usually French or German. In recent years, however, the necessity for using more than one foreign language has become less urgent for the average economist. Much the larger part of the central core of modern economic thought is now available either in English, or in languages such as Swedish or Dutch which are not ordinarily offered toward the language requirement. On the other hand, mathematical tools are playing an increasingly large part in the study and development of Economics, and there is an important and growing body of economic literature which can be read only with some understanding of Mathematics.

The Department of Economics therefore requests approval of a modification of the present language requirement to give the candidate for the Ph.D. in Economics, in cases where it is of particular value to the candidate’s scholarly interests, the option of offering Mathematics in place of one of the two foreign languages now required toward the Ph.D. Harvard and Chicago already have such an option. The required level of proficiency in Mathematics would have to be specified rather explicitly by the Department, but this specification is not a problem of any great difficulty. The Department of Mathematical Statistics has very kindly offered its assistance in the matter.

If this proposal is approved in general principle, certain changes in the present text of the 1949-50 Faculty announcement will be required. The suggested phrasing of the changes is as follows:

With respect to the Faculty requirements:

Revise p. 24, paragraph entitled “Languages”, by adding the following sentence at the end of the paragraph:

…Prospective candidates in the Department of Economics may under certain circumstances, and with the permission of the Executive Officer of that Department, offer Mathematics and one foreign language instead of two foreign languages (see the specific requirements of the Department of Economics, below).

            With respect to the Department of Economics requirements:

Substitute the following for the first five lines of the paragraph headed “Languages”, on p. 41 (option 1 is the present requirement):

Languages; Option in Mathematics. The prospective candidate must meet one of the two following requirements.
(1) The prospective candidate may satisfy the Department of Economics that he can read two modern languages in addition to Engish. The combination of French and German is preferred. Russian, Italian, Spanish or another language may be selected, with the written permission of the Executive Officer of the Department, in cases where such other language is of particular value to the prospective candidate’s scholarly interests, but ordinarily a combination of two Romance languages may not be selected.
(2) Where it is of particular value to his scholarly interests and with the written permission of the Executive Officer, the prospective candidate may offer Mathematics in the place of one of the two foreign languages. A student selecting this option will be required to demonstrate his knowledge of algebra, analytical geometry and the differential and integral calculus.

Minor changes in the text of the rest of the paragraph will also be necessary, if the second option is approved.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries. Columbiana, Department of Economics Collection. General departmental notices, memoranda, etc. Curriculum material. Box 1, Folder “Committee on Instruction.”

Image Source: Alma Mater on the steps of Columbia University.

Categories
Courses Economic History Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings for Modern Economic History. Ashley, 1899-1900

 

The following course outline with reading assignments comes from one of the two year-long courses William J. Ashley taught at Harvard for nearly a decade around the turn of the 20th century. No copy of his reading list for Medieval Economic History of Europe is found in the Harvard Archive’s collections of course reading lists that include fewer and fewer courses as we move back to the earliest years of the 20th century and before. However there is the printed copy of the readings for the Economic History of Europe and the United States since 1500 that has been transcribed for this posting.

A biographical piece published in 1899 has already been posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

____________________________

From Taussig’s history of the department of economics:

“…The Department from the first gave attention to economic theory; and the slant which was thus given its work under Dunbar’s leadership persisted. It was always known in the country as giving much attention to the matters of principle which are indicated by the term ‘economic theory,’ and also to the history of the development of economic thought.

Another aspect, the historical, was emphasized by the appointment in 1892 of William J. Ashley* as Professor of Economic History. As in the case of Dunbar, this was an unprecedented move. Ashley’s appointment was evidence of a desire to promote the new current of thought for increased attention to history in its widest range: letters, law, morals, as well as economics. He remained in service for nearly 10 years, resigning to accept a chair in England. His place was soon taken by a scholar of no less distinction, Edwin F. Gay…”

________________

* Sir William Ashley, as he became in 1917, took a First in Modern History at Balliol in 1881, and in 1888 published his pioneer work, An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory.

 

Source: Chapter 9, “Economics” by Frank William Taussig in Samuel Eliot Morison (ed.), The Development of Harvard University since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930.

___________________________

Course Announcement (from 1897-98)

[Economics] 11. The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

This course, — which will usually alternate with Course 10 [The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe] in successive years, — while intended to form a sequel to Course 10, will nevertheless be independent, and may usefully be taken by those who have not followed the history of the earlier period. The main thread of connection will be found in the history of trade; but the outlines of the history of agriculture and industry will also be set forth, and the forms of social organization dependent upon them. England, as the first home of the “great industry,” will demand a large share of attention; but the parallel or divergent economic history of the United States, and of the great countries of western Europe, will be considered side by side with it.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. [Announcement of the] Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1897-98, pp. 31-32.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 11. Professor ASHLEY.—The Modern Economic History of Europe. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 76: 15 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1899-1900, p. 69.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 11.
PRESCRIBED READING FOR THE FIRST HALF-YEAR

[Stamp: Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass. Jan 15, 1900]

(A supplement to, and not an alternative for, the lectures.)

* * * * *

  1. Warner, English Industrial History, to p. 208.
  2. Fiske, Discovery of America, I, pp. 256-334, 354-365,453-460; II, App. A and B.
  3. Hunter, History of British India, I, ch. 1-5.
  4. Marco Polo, Travels, ed. Yule; or pub. Cassell.
  5. Hakluyt, Discovery of Muscovy, pub. Cassell.
  6. Fox Bourne, English Merchants, 1886, pp. 13-149.
  7. Easterlings, Hanse of London, Hanse Towns, and Hanseatic League in Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy; or Hanse in Say et Chailley, Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Économie Politique; or Hanse in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften; or Hanseatic League in Encyclopœdia Britannica.
  8. Pigeonneau, Histoire du Commerce de la France, I, pp. 211-218.
  9. Jacobs, Story of Geographical Discovery.

* * * *

  1. Seebohm, English Village Community, pp. 1-32; or Ashley, Economic History, I, §1; the former recommended.
  2. Jones, Peasant Rents, ch. 2, 3, §§4-6, App., pp. 172-190.
  3. Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 4,5.
  4. Belfort Bax, German Society at the close of the Middle Ages, Intro., and ch. 1, 5-8.
  5. The Twelve Articles of the German Peasants in 1525; German text in Zimmermann, Geschichte des Bauernkrieges, Zweiter Theil, 1862, pp. 98 seq.; imperfect English translation in Belfort Bax, Peasants’ War, pp. 63 seq.
  6. More’s Utopia (Arber’s reprint recommended), bk. I; or Harrisons’s Description of England (in Elizabethan England, Camelot series), ch. 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10.
  7. Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 1-3.
  8. Articles of the Spurriers and White-tawyers in Riley’s Memorials of London, pp. 226-228, 232-234, and of the Exeter Tailors in English Gilds, pp. 312-316; or all three in Penn. and Reprints, vol. II, no. I.
  9. Statute 5 Eliz. c. 4, in Statutes of the Realm, or in Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents.
  10. Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrières, II, pp. 119-126; or Martin Saint-Léon, Histoire des corporations de métiers, pp. 247-253.
  11. Report of the Commission of the German Diet in 1522; text in Belfort Bax, German Society at the close of the Middle Ages, pp. 245-259; imperfect translation, ibid., pp. 231-245; together with the account of the Fuggers, , App. C.
  12. Defoe, Tour through the Eastern Counties, pub. Cassell.
  13. Defoe, From London to Land’s End, pub. Cassell.
  14. Schmoller, Mercantile System.

* * * * *

ADDITIONAL READING RECOMMENDED.

  1. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce. I. Early and Middle Ages, Bk. III, ch. 4; Bk. IV, ch. 2-5; Bk. V, ch. 5. II. Modern Times, Bk. VI, ch. 4.
  2. Cunningham, Alien Immigrants to England, ch. 3 & 4.
  3. Pigeonneau, Histoire du Commerce de la France, Tome II, livre 1.
  4. Lindner, Die deutsche Hanse.
  5. Dixon, The Florentine Wool Trades, in R. Hist. Soc., 1898.
  6. Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, ch. 1, §§1-16.
  7. Hallam, Account of the Government of Florence, in Middle Ages, I, ch. 3, pt. 2.
  8. The Common Weal of this Realm of England, ed. Lamond.
  9. Cheyney, Social Changes in England in the 16th Century.
  10. Leadam, The Domesday of Inclosures, R. Hist. Soc.

 

 

ECONOMICS 11.
PRESCRIBED READING FOR THE SECOND HALF-YEAR

[Handwritten pencil note: “1899-1900”]

(A supplement to, and not an alternative for, the lectures.)

* * * * *

  1. Warner, English Industrial History, p. 209 to end.

* * *

  1. Text of the Navigation Acts, Amer. History Leaflets, No. 19.
  2. Text of the Poor Law of Elizabeth, 43-44 Eliz., cap. 2, in Statutes of the Realm, or Prothero Constitutional Documents.

* * *

  1. Hunter, History of British India, ch. 6-10.
  2. Noel, Histoire du Commerce du Monde, II, pp. 150-164, 270-274.
  3. Macaulay, Lord Clive, in Critical and Historical Essay.
  4. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. V, ch. 1, pt. 3, art. 1.
  5. Day, The Culture System, Yale Review, Feb. 1900.
  6. Seeley, Expansion of England, Course I, Lectures 1, 2, 6; Course 2, Lecture 3.
  7. Mahan, Influence of Sea Power, 1660-1783, ch. 1.
  8. Ashley, The Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, 1660-1760, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1899.

* * *

  1. Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 29-103.
  2. Seeley, The Emancipating Edict of Stein, in his Life of Stein, Pt. 3, ch. 4; reprinted in Rand, Economic History.

* * *

  1. Fox Bourne, English Merchants, p. 150 to end.
  2. Sargent, The Economic Policy of Colbert.
  3. Hewins, English Trade and Finance, pp. 74-164.
  4. Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution, pp. 27-136.
  5. Fowle, The Poor Law, ch. 3, 4.
  6. Defoe, Essay on Projects, pub. Cassell; especially pp. 1-42, 77-80.
  7. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce. Account of the South Sea Company and the Mississippi Scheme, s. aa. 1711, 1713-1715, 1717-1720.
  8. Macaulay, Account of the
    East India Company (ch. 18 and elsewhere),
    Bank of England (ch. 20),
    Recoinage (ch. 21),
    Darien Company (ch. 24),
    in History of England.

* * * * *

SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READING.

  1. Ashley, Tory Origin of Free Trade Policy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, July 1897.
  2. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, pp. 79-244.
  3. James Mill, History of British India, Bk. 1, ch. 1-4.
  4. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, for reference throughout.

* * * * *

The attention of members of the course who received a mid-year mark of C or below is recalled to Warner, ch. 2-11, Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 1-3, and Hunter, British India, ch. 4.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “Economics 1899-1900”.

Image Source:University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899) , p. 595.

Categories
Courses Curator's Favorites ERVM Syllabus

ERVM. Curator’s Favorites, Second in the series.

 

 

The collection of artifacts here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has grown sufficiently large that part of my self-imposed curation duties now include adding postings to link back to some earlier postings that perhaps newer visitors and subscribers have yet to discover.

Today I add the list of reading assignments extracted from Frank W. Fetter’s student notes from 1923-24 when he took Frank W. Taussig’s course “Economics 11”, Economic Theory. This list too has links to the individual items on the reading list. It was first posted June 12, 2015 when ERVM was barely a month-old blog, since that time it has attracted 41 page visits. It is too good to miss, IMHO.

 Another such underused resource and the first of the series of Curator’s Favorites is the  list of items “Recommended Teacher’s Library of Economics” put together by J. Laurence Laughlin and published in 1887

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Examinations for Taussig’s Course “Economic Theory. Both terms, 1922-23

 

Frank W. Taussig taught a two term economic theory course offered for both graduates and undergraduates at Harvard for nearly the entire first third of the twentieth century. Some years he taught one term and a colleague would teach the other term, but usually it was his core course in the curriculum. Today’s posting is dedicated to the 1922-23 course examinations and constitutes a first for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror by having links to the pages or sections of economic works that correspond to the questions.  

_____________________

Course Description

1921-22

[Economics] 11. Economic Theory. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professors TAUSSIG and YOUNG.

Course 11 is intended to acquaint the student with the development of economic thought since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and at the same time to train him in the critical consideration of economic principles. The exercises are conducted mainly by the discussion of selected passages from the leading writers; and in this discussion the students are expected to take an active part. Attention will be given to the writings of Ricardo and J. S. Mill, and to representative modern economists.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1921-22. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XVIII, No. 20 (April 21, 1921), p. 68.

1924-25

[Economics] 11. Economic Theory. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2. Professor Taussig

Course 11 is intended to acquaint the student with the development of economic thought since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and at the same time to train him in the critical consideration of economic principles. The exercises are conducted mainly by the discussion of selected passages from the leading writers; and in this discussion the students are expected to take an active part. A careful examination is made of the writings of Ricardo and J. S. Mill, and of representative modern economists, such as Marshall, Böhm-Bawerk, Clark.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1924-25. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXI, No. 22 (April 30, 1924), p. 71.

_____________________

Midyear Final Exam

1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11

Arrange your answers in the order of the questions

1.  (a) “Given machinery, raw materials, and a year’s subsistence for 1000 laborers, does it make no difference with the annual product whether those laborers are Englishmen or East-Indians?”

[Frank W. Taussig, Wages and Capital: An Examination of the Wages Fund Doctrine (New York, 1896), p. 292,
where Taussig discusses a passage in Francis Amasa Walker’s, The Wages Question: A Treatise on Wages and the Wages Class, (New York, 1876), p. 145.]

(b) “In some exceptional industries it happens that the employer realizes on his product in a shorter time than this (a week), so that the laborer is not only paid out of the product of his industry, but actually advances to the employer a portion of the capital on which he operates.”

[Francis Amasa Walker, The Wages Question: A Treatise on Wages and the Wages Class, (New York, 1876), pp. 134-5.]

(c) “On American whaling ships the custom is not to pay fixed wages, but a “lay,” or a portion of the catch, which varies from a sixteenth to a twelfth to the captain down to a three-hundredth to the cabin-boy. Thus, when a whaleship comes into New Bedford or San Francisco after a successful cruise, she carries in her hold the wages of her crew, as well as the profits of her owners, and an equivalent which will reimburse them for all the stores used up during the voyage. Can anything be clearer than that these wages — this oil and bone which the crew of the whaler have taken — have not been drawn from capital, but are really a part of the produce of their labor”?

[Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 25th Anniversary edition, (Garden City,1926), pp. 52-53.]

Are these three situations essentially similar? And what is the bearing of each of them on the question under debate?

  1. “The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talents for business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind (analogous to rent). If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to their customers, through the diminished value of the article; he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher. All advantages, in fact, which one competitor has over another, whether natural or acquired, whether personal or the result of social arrangements, bring the commodity, so far, into the Third Class, and assimilate the possessor of the advantage to a receiver or of rent.” Did Walker add anything of essential significance to this statement of Mill’s?
    Mill, Principles of Pol. Econ., pp. 476-77.

[John Stuart Mill. Principles of Political Economy. Vol. I, Fifth London Edition (New York, 1864) pp. 586-87.]

  1. (a) “It is not to be understood that the natural price of labour, estimated even in food and necessaries, is absolutely fixed and constant. It varies at different times in the same country, and very materially differs in different countries. It essentially depends on the habits and customs of the people.”

[David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy & Taxation. Everyman’s Library Edition (London, 1912), p. 54.]

(b) “A tax on raw produce, and on the necessaries of the labourer, would have another effect — it would raise wages. From the effect of the principle of population on the increase of mankind, wages of the lowest kind never continue much above that rate which nature and habit demand for the support of the labourers. This class is never able to bear any considerable proportion of taxation; and, consequently, if they had to pay 8s. per quarter in addition for wheat, and in some smaller proportion for other necessaries, they would not be able to subsist on the same wages as before, and to keep up the race of labourers. Wages would inevitably and necessarily rise.”

[David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy & Taxation. Everyman’s Library Edition (London, 1912), p. 100.]

(c) “If I have to hire a labourer for a week, and instead of ten shillings I pay him eight, no variation having taken place in the value of money, the labourer can probably obtain more food and necessaries with his eight shillings than he before obtained for ten.”

[David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy & Taxation. Everyman’s Library Edition (London, 1912), p. 11.]

Are these several statements of Ricardo’s consistent?

  1. In which of the following passages is the tendency to diminishing returns treated as referring to the amount of the produce, in which as referring to the value of the produce? Which method of treatment seems to you the proper one?

(a) “Whatever rise may take place in the price of corn, in consequence of the necessity of employing more labor and capital to obtain a given additional quantity of produce, such rise will always be equalled by the additional rent or additional labor employed. . . . Whether the produce belonging to the farmer be 180, 170, 160, or 150 quarters, he always obtains the same sum of £720 for it; the price increasing in an inverse proportion to the quantity.” — Ricardo.

[David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy & Taxation. Everyman’s Library Edition (London, 1912), p. 67.]

(b) The Channel Islands obtain agricultural produce to the value of £50 to each acre of the aggregate surface of the island. Fifty pounds’ worth of agricultural produce from each acre of the land is sufficiently good. But the more we study the modern achievements of agriculture the more we see that the limits of productivity of the soil are not attained. . . . I can confirm Mr. Bear’s estimate to the effect that under proper management even a cool greenhouse, which covers 4050 square feet, can give a gross return of £180.” — Kropotkin.

[Petr Alekssevich Kropotkin. Fields, factories, and workshops, (New York, 1907), pp. 91,118.]

(c) “Ricardo, and the economists of his time generally were too hasty in deducing this inference [tendency to increased pressure] from the law of diminishing return; and they did not allow enough for the increase of strength that comes from organization. But in fact every farmer is aided by the presence of neighbours, whether agriculturists or townspeople. . . . If the neighbouring market town expands into a large industrial centre, all his produce is worth more; some things which he used to throw away fetch a good price. He finds new openings in dairy farming and market gardening, and with a larger range of produce he makes use of rotations that keep his land always active without denuding it of any one of the elements that are necessary for its fertility.” — Marshall.

[Alfred Marshall. Principles of Economics, 8th ed., Book IV, Ch. III, §6 (London, 1920).]

  1. “Ricardo expresses himself as if the quantity of labour which it costs to produce a commodity and bring it to the market, were the only thing on which its value depended. But since the cost of production to the capitalist is not labour but wages, and since wages may be either greater or less, the quantity of labour being the same; it would seem that the value of the product cannot be determined solely by the quantity of labour, but by the quantity together with the remuneration; and that values must partly depend on wages.” — J. S. Mill.

[John Stuart Mill. Principles of Political Economy. Vol. I, Fifth London Edition (New York, 1864) p. 564.]

What would Ricardo say to this? and in what way, according to Mill, do wages affect value?

  1. Explain briefly external economies; internal economies.
    It has been said that internal economies cause an increase of demand, external economies result from an increase of demand. Do you agree?
    Suppose internal economies to become greater indefinitely, as output enlarges; what consequences would ensue? Suppose the same for external economies, what consequences?
  2. “There is one general law of demand: the greater the amount to be sold, the smaller must be the price at which it is offered in order that it may find purchasers. . . . The one universal rule to which the demand curve conforms is that it is inclined negatively throughout the whole of its length.”

[Alfred Marshall. Principles of Economics. 8th edition, Book III, Ch. III, §5, and footnote no. 2 (London, 1920), p. 99.]

“The demand curve over short periods — which may be a matter of weeks or months — is not necessarily inclined throughout in the same direction. It may be inclined positively. And similarly the supply curve does not necessarily have that constant positive inclination which is usually assumed. In the course of the higgling of the market this in its turn may have a negative inclination.”

[Frank W. Taussig, “Is the Market Price Determinate?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, p. 402.]

Whom do you believe to be the writers of these passages? Can they be harmonized? If so, how? If not, why not?

  1. The series of hypotheses made by Marshall concerning “meteoric showers of stones harder than diamonds”; the nature of the incomes derived by those finding them in the several cases; and the general principle which is thus illustrated.

[Alfred Marshall. Principles of Economics. Book V, Ch. IX, §2 (London, 1920), p. 415ff.]

Mid-Year. 1923.

_____________________

 

Academic Year-End Final Exam

 

1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11

Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. “Labour of different kinds differently rewarded. This no cause of variation in the relative value of commodities.” On what grounds did Ricardo reach the conclusion summarized by him in these sentences? Is it consistent with the general trend of his theory of value?

[David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy & Taxation. Everyman’s Library Edition (London, 1912), p. 11.]

  1. “This doctrine [about non-competing groups] was given its name by J. E. Cairnes. . . . He supposed it to be a rare and remarkable exception to what he believed was the general rule, that the cost-of-production regulated the price of goods — essentially a “labor-theory of value.” We regard it merely as a helpful way of presenting a particular case of the general rule that the value of agents is derived from their products when the market is viewed as a whole.”

[Frank A. Fetter, Economic Principles (New York, 1915), p. 221.]

What would Cairnes say to this? What is your own view on the “general rule” stated in the concluding sentence?

[John E. Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy, Newly Expounded, Chapter III, §7 “Nature of Reciprocal Demand as between nations and non-competing industrial groups”. (New York,1874), pp. 87ff.]

  1. “Suppose that society is divided into a number of horizontal grades, each of which is recruited from the children of its own members; and each of which has its own standard of comfort, and increases in numbers rapidly when the earnings to be got in it rise above, and shrinks rapidly when they fall below that standard. Suppose, then, that parents can bring up their children to any trade in their own grade, but cannot easily raise them above it and will not consent to sink them below it. . . .

[Quote is from Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (Second Edition, London, 1891). Vol. I, Book VI, Chapter 1, §3, pp. 557-8.
Frank W. Taussig, International Trade, pp. 53ff.]

On these suppositions, would Cairnes say that value was determined by cost? What would Marshall say?

[John E. Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy, Newly Expounded, Chapter III, §7 “Nature of Reciprocal Demand as between nations and non-competing industrial groups”. (New York,1874), pp. 87ff.]

  1. (a) “We have next to study the conditions of Business Management; and in so doing we must have in view a problem that will occupy our attention as we go on. It arises from the fact that, though in manufacturing at least nearly every individual business, so long as it is well managed, tends to become stronger the larger it has grown; and though prima facie we might therefore expect to see large firms driving their smaller rivals completely out of many branches of industry, yet they do not in fact do so.”

[Quote is from Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (Second Edition, London, 1891). Vol. I, Book IV, Chapter XII, §1, p. 349.]

(b) “Since then business ability in command of capital moves with great ease horizontally from a trade which is overcrowded to one which offers good openings for it; and since it moves with great ease vertically, the abler men rising to the higher posts in their own trade, we see, even at this early state of our inquiry, some good reasons for believing that in modern England the supply of business ability in command of capital accommodates itself, as a general rule, to the demand for it; and thus has a fairly defined supply price.”

[Quote is from Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (Eighth Edition, London, 1920). Book IV, Chapter XII, §12, p. 313.]

What is Marshall’s solution of the problem stated in the first of these passages? What sort of supply schedule do you suppose him to have in mind in the second? What would Walker say on both passages?

  1. “If the production of any, even the smallest, portion of the supply, requires as a necessary condition a certain price, that price will be obtained for all the rest. . . . The value, therefore, of an article (meaning its natural, which is the same with its average value) is determined by the cost of that portion of the supply which is produced and brought to market at the greatest expense. This is the Law of Value of the third of the three classes into which all commodities are divided. . . . Rent, therefore, forms no part of the cost of production which determines the value of agricultural produce.”

[John Stuart Mill. Principles of Political Economy. Vol. I, Book III, Chapter V §2, Fifth London Edition (New York, 1864) pp. 579-81.]

By whom do you suppose this passage to have been written? What would Marshall say to it?

  1. “‘Rent is not an element in price’ — such is the classical statement on the subject. . . . But, if one defines rent as product imputable to a concrete agent, the impossibility of maintaining such a claim becomes apparent. Even if one were to restrict the term rent to the product created by land, the claim that it is not an element in adjusting market values would be absurd; for it would amount to saying that a certain part of the output of every kind of goods has no effect on their market value. The ‘price’ referred to in the formula is, of course, the market value expressed in units of currency.” What do you say?

[John Bates Clark, The Distribution of Wealth Chapter XXIII, (1899, reprint New York, 1908), p. 358.]

  1. “When the artisan or professional man has once obtained the skill required for his work, a part of his earnings are for the future really a quasi-rent of the capital and labour invested in fitting him for his work, in obtaining his start in life, his business connections, and generally his opportunity for turning his faculties to good account; and only the remainder of his income is true earnings of effort. But this remainder is generally a large part of the whole. And here lies the contrast. For when a similar analysis is made of the profits of the business man, the proportions are found to be different: in his case the greater part is quasi-rent.” Why? or why not?

[Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (Eight Edition, London, 1920). Book VI, Chapter VIII, §8, p. 622.]

  1. (a) “Capital-goods imply waiting for the fruits of labor. Capital, on the contrary, implies the direct opposite of this: it is the means of avoiding all waiting. It is the remover of time intervals, — the absolute synchronizer of labor and its fruits. It is the means of putting civilized man in a position which, so far as time is concerned, is akin to that in which the rude forester stood, when when he broke off limbs of dead trees and laid them on his fire. The very appliances which, in their extent and complexity, seem in one view to mean endless waiting, in another view mean no waiting at all but the instantaneous appearance of the final fruits of every bit of labor that is put forth.”

[John Bates Clark, The Distribution of Wealth, Chapter XX, (1899, reprint New York, 1908), p. 311.]

(b) “Tools are productive, but time is the condition of getting tools — this is the simple and literal fact. The roundabout or time-consuming mode of using labor insures efficient capital-goods. . . . When the hatchet has worn itself completely out, and the fruits of using it are before the man in the large dwelling, he may look backward to the beginning of the process, when he faced nature empty-handed, and say: ‘Labor has done it all. Work and waiting have given me my goods.’ The working and the waiting have, indeed, insured the hatchet, as an incidental result of this way of working. Production that plans to put its fruits into the future will create capital-goods as an immediate effect, but labor and time are enough to make the ultimate effect certain. Let the man work intelligently through an interval of time, and the production of consumers’ wealth is sure.”

[John Bates Clark, The Distribution of Wealth, Chapter XX, (1899, reprint New York, 1908), p. 309.]

(c) “The effort of postponement, or the preference of uncertain future for certain present consumables, necessary for supplying capital, if it is an effort, is a continuous one lasting all the time the capital is in use. The critic who asks, why a single ‘act of abstinence’ which is past and done with should be rewarded by a perpetual payment of annual interest, fails to realise that, so far as saving involves a serviceable action of the saver, it goes on all the time that the saver lies out of the full present enjoyment of his property, i. e. as long as his savings continue to function as productive instruments.”

[J. A. Hobson, Work and Wealth: A Human Valuation (New York, 1914), p. 92.]

What would Clark say to the three propositions here stated? What are your own views?
By whom do you suppose the passages to have been written?

Final. 1923.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers in Economics, 1882-1935. Prof. F. W. Taussig. (HUC 7882).

Image Source:  Frank W. Taussig in Harvard Class Album 1925.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Exams 2nd semester of graduate money and banking course, John Henry Williams. 1939-41

 

 

John Henry Williams was professor of economics at Harvard (1921-57) and served from 1936-48 as the first dean of its Graduate School of Public Administration. Together with Alvin H. Hansen he taught a graduate course with the nominal title “Principles of Money and Banking” that from judging from detailed notes taken in 1938-39 by R. W. Bean (Harvard Class of 1939) and in 1939-40 by James Tobin (likewise Harvard Class of 1939), also included generous doses of Keynesian macroeconomics and fiscal policy as well as of international monetary economics. From these notes we learn that Hansen and Williams taught the first and second semesters, respectively. To date I have only been able to find the semester final examination questions for the second semesters. A future posting will provide the reading list for the course.

This posting gives the course announcements, enrollments and the final examination questions for the 1938-39 through 1940-41 years.

Research Tip:  a typed copy of the Bean notes [missing pp. 98-99] can be found in the Wolfgang Stolper papers at Rubenstein Archive at Duke University (Box 29 ). A neatly handwritten bound copy of Tobin’s notes can be found in Box 6 of his papers at the Yale Archives.

________________________________

 

1938-39 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN, and Associate Professor HARRIS.

Source: Harvard University. Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1938-39, 2nd edition. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXV, No. 42 (September 23, 1938), p. 151.

 

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN, and Associate Professor HARRIS—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 40: 18 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 6 School of Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Others

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1938-39, p. 99.

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1938-39

1938-39
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Answer THREE questions

  1. Discuss the elements of instability in our monetary and banking mechanism, and the suggestions in recent years for making it more stable.
  2. Discuss the “pump-priming” theory versus the “compensatory” theory of deficit spending.
  3. Discuss the relation of fiscal policy to long-run economic progress.
  4. Discuss the merits and defects of monetary policy as an instrument of business cycle control.

Final. 1939

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 4 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1939).

 

________________________________

 

1939-40 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

Source: Harvard University. Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1939-40, 2nd edition. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVI, No. 42 (September 22, 1939), p. 158.

 

 

Course Enrollment 

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 65: 38 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 2 School of Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1939-40, p. 100.

 

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1939-40

1939-40
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss question ONE and TWO others.

  1. Keynes’ “General Theory” as a basis for long-run economic stability.
  2. The views of Foster and Catchings and Hayek on the “dilemma of thrift.”
  3. Hawtrey’s analysis of the business cycle and its control.
  4. The American gold problem.

 

Final. 1940

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 5 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1940).

 

________________________________

 

1940-41 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

The subject as a whole will be systematically reviewed. Selections from important writings dealing with monetary principles will be read and critically discussed. Particular attention will be given to the theory of the value of money and to the policy and operations of central banks.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 61.

 

Course Enrollment 

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 45: 28 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 7 School of Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-41, p. 60.

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1940-41

 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss THREE topics.

  1. The uses and limitations of the multiplier concept.
  2. Compare the “over-saving” and “under-investment” theories as guides to fiscal policy.
  3. Monetary and fiscal policies under conditions of war or defense.
  4. “Full employment” as a criterion of fiscal policy.
  5. Discuss: “Deficit spending is the logical sequel to central bank policy, and it was entirely logical that its first phase should be pump-priming.”

Final. 1941

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 5 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1941).

 

Image Source:  John Henry Williams from the Harvard Class Album 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Henry Simons’ last course. Fiscal Policy, 1946

 

 

Henry Simons’ course “Economics of Fiscal Policy” was introduced into the Chicago public finance offerings in the Winter Quarter of 1934-35 and was taught by him in all but two years before his suicide that happened immediately after the Spring Quarter of 1946 had concluded.

From Norman M. Kaplan’s student notes for Simon’s last course I have transcribed the list of course readings and the rough outline of the course discussed in the first two sessions.

________________________

Course Announcement

[Economics] 361. Economics of Fiscal Policy.—A study of fiscal practices with reference to (1) booms and depressions (budget-balancing), (2) distribution of income (inequality), and (3) composition of the national income (incidence). The latter weeks will be devoted to study of particular kinds of taxes, especial attention being given to problems of income taxation. Prerequisite: Economics 209 and 230 or equivalent. Spring: MWF 11; (joint meetings with Law 510e for a part of the Quarter, additional hours to be arranged); Simons.

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements: The College and the Divisions, Sessions of 1945-1946. Vol. XLV, No. 7 (June 15, 1945), p. 219.

________________________

 

Readings and Course Outline According to Kaplan Notes

March 27 [1946]

  1. Readings:

Hansen & Perloff, State and Local Finance in the National Economy (preferred). Chs. 9, 10, 11, 12 first, then parts I & II.

or Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles

McGill, The Impact of Federal Tax (Latter part of course)

Simons, Personal Income Taxation (Latter part of course)

“Rules vs. Authority in Monetary Policy”, Simons

“On Debt Policy”, Simons

“The Beveridge Program, an Unsympathetic Interpretation” [optional], Simons

Public Finance and Full Employment, Fed. Res. Board publication on series of post-war studies. (Important for 1st part of course, especially 1st 2 papers, then Robinson and final paper.)

Part II of Groves, Financing Government, for those using this as a survey course.

Read portions of Beveridge book which have to do with fiscal policy, part I, part IV, appendices B & C. esp. sec. 4 of B and Append. C.

 

March 29 [1946]

  1. Topical Sequence of course

A. First part: monetary fiscal budgetary policy (Last part of Hansen, Fed. Res. Bd., Rules vs. Authority, Beveridge stuff[?])

B. Then justice, incidence, etc. of taxation

1. Justice of taxation Ch. 1 of Simons Personal Income Taxation 

2. Incidence of taxation Brown, Econ. of Taxation

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Norman M. Kaplan Papers, Box 1, Folder 6.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07613, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Harvard Regulations

Harvard. Regulations regarding graduate degrees in economics, 1951

 

 

This 1951 draft of the regulations governing the award of A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Harvard was submitted by Arthur Smithies to his colleagues. There were few changes when compared to the 1947 regulations, the reduction of field examinations from six to five appears indeed to have been the most significant change.

With this posting Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has reached 500 transcribed artifacts!  

_____________________________

[3/5/51]

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
MEMORANDUM

TO:      Members of the Department
FROM: Arthur Smithies

I am distributing an edited copy of the present requirements for the Ph.D. It incorporates our decision to reduce the number of fields to five and makes what I think are editorial improvements.

I invite your attention specifically to Paragraph 4 under the Ph.D. requirements. I feel very strongly that something on these lines should be said here but feel there is a great deal of room for improvement in my own statement.

The Graduate School is anxious to get out a new printed edition of this announcement, so I hope we can dispose of it at the next Department meeting.

_____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
DEGREES IN ECONOMICS

MASTER OF ARTS

  1. Residence—Two full terms of advanced work with acceptable grades at Harvard.
  2. Languages—A reading knowledge of advanced economic texts in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Scandinavian languages, or Russian, which is to be tested by a rigorous two-hour examination in which foreign language texts are to be translated into English. The examinations are given by the Department in the first week of November and March. This requirement must be met before taking the general examination.
  3. Plan of Study—Plans of Study must be approved by the Chairman of the Department at the end of the first term in residence.
  4. General Oral Examination—The candidate will be examined on four fields, as presented in the Plan of Study, selected from the groups below:
    1. Two from Group A, including Economic Theory
    2. Two from Groups A, B, and C (not more than one from Group C)

GROUP A

  1. Economic Theory and its History, with special reference to the Development of Economic Thought since 1776.
  2. Economic History since 1750, or some other approved field in Economic History
  3. Statistical Method and its Application

GROUP B

  1. Money and Banking
  2. Economic Fluctuations and Forecasting
  3. Transportation
  4. Business Organization and Control
  5. Public Finance
  6. International Trade and Tariff Policies
  7. Economics of Agriculture
  8. Labor Problems
  9. Land Economics
  10. Socialism and Social Reform
  11. Economic History before 1750
  12. Consumption Distribution and Prices
  13. Economics of Public Utilities
  14. Social Security

Group C

  1. Forestry Economics
  2. Any of the historical fields defined under the requirements for the Ph.D. in History
  3. Certain fields in Political Science listed under the requirements for the Ph.D. in Political Science.
  4. Jurisprudence (selected topics)
  5. Philosophy (selected topics)
  6. Anthropology
  7. History of Political Theory
  8. International Law
  9. Sociology. Certain fields defined under the requirements for the Ph.D. in Sociology.
  1. Preparation for General Oral Examination—(a) The fields of study are covered in part by formal course instruction, but supplementary reading must be undertaken to meet the requirements. (b) Preparation for the field Economic Theory and its History will normally require two full courses in the field at the graduate level, or equivalent private reading. (c) In Statistics, Economics 121, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite to graduate instruction. Professor Frickey should be consulted. (d) Usually four terms of graduate study at Harvard are necessary as preparation for the general examination, but a candidate who has been credited with graduate work of high order at another institution may be able to prepare himself in a shorter period.
  2. Arranging the Examination—The oral, or general, examinations are not set at any specified date. The arrangements for the examination must be made at least six weeks in advance of the date proposed by the candidate. Consult the Secretary of the Department, M-8 Littauer Center.
  3. Quality of Work—Candidates for this degree must give evidence, in their course records, of the capacity for distinguished work. Ordinarily, candidates whose records at Harvard do not average at least B will not be allowed to present themselves for the general examination.
  4. Excuses from Final Course Examinations—Candidates for the Master’s degree who are not candidates for the Ph.D. degree must take the final examinations in courses.
  5. Application for Degree—An application for the Master’s degree must be filed by December 1 for a degree at midyear and by March 1 for the degree at Commencement. Two terms in residence at the full tuition rate at Harvard University are required for each degree conferred.

SPECIAL MASTER OF ARTS FOR VETERANS

The only changes from the stated conditions given above are:

  1. On petition a candidate may present himself for an oral examination in which quantitatively the requirement in Economic Theory is one that can be met in one year of graduate study.
  2. The requirements regarding the offering of Economic History or Statistics are eliminated.
  3. General Oral Examination—The candidate will be examined on four fields as presented in the Plan of Study. (See list of fields of study above.)
    1. Economic Theory
    2. Three from Groups A, B, and C (not more than one from Group C.)

It must be understood that the oral examination for this degree will not be accepted as part of the formal requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

This special Master of Arts for veterans is open only to those veterans who entered the armed services before 1945.

 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The requirements for this degree are:

  1. Residence—Not less than four terms devoted to advanced studies approved as affording suitable preparation for the degree. At least three of these terms must be spent in residence at Harvard University. Graduate work completed in another institution may be offered in full or partial fulfillment of the fourth term. Consult the
  2. Languages— A reading knowledge of advanced economic texts in two foreign languages which is tested by a rigorous two-hour examination in each language in which foreign language texts are to be translated into English. One of the languages in which examination is taken is to be either French or German. The second language can be chosen from the following: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Scandinavian languages, and Russian, which is to be tested by a rigorous two-hour examination in which foreign language texts are to be translated into English.

Students have the option of substituting Mathematics for the second language. In this case, the student must take an examination to show his capacity to read and understand the more elementary mathematical presentations used in economics. This includes such knowledge of analytic geometry as is frequently given in the first year of college and such knowledge of differential calculus and integral calculus as is frequently given in a single-year course in college. In terms of present courses at Harvard College, this means through Mathematics 2. By exception, a pass grade in Math 2a and 2b at Harvard or Radcliffe or adequate grades in mathematics courses taken elsewhere will be accepted in place of the special mathematics examination.

Students whose native language is not English may petition the Department to be excused from examination in the second language. The student would then be examined in either French or German. In considering such petitions, account is taken of the amount of original economic literature written in the student’s native language, as well as of his general academic standing.

Language requirements should be met at least six months before the Special examination.

  1. Plan of Study—Every candidate is required to submit to the Department for its approval a plan showing his fields of study and his preparation in these fields. This plan of study must be submitted at the end of the first term of graduate work. Candidates may present for consideration of the Department reasonable substitutes for any of the fields named in the several groups.

The plan of study must include five fields, approved by the Department, selected as follows from the list of fields stated under the requirements for the Master’s degree:

  1. The three subjects in Group A are required, and
  2. Two from Groups B and  Group C (not more than one from Group C)
  1. General Oral Examination—The general oral examination for the Ph.D. is the same as the examination for the Master’s degree.

However, while preparation for the M.A. degree will normally consist of formal course work, Ph.D. candidates are encouraged to be more flexible; and to avoid the tendency of the course system to compartmentalize knowledge. In preparation for the general examination the student’s main purposes should be to provide himself with tools of analysis, to be aware of the contributions that theory, history and statistics can make to the solution of economic problems and to appreciate the relation of economics to other disciplines.

During their first year of graduate study, students will normally take formal courses in Theory, History, and Statistics; but during their second year they are encouraged to take informal reading courses as part of their programs of study.

  1. Excuses from Final Course Examinations— Ordinarily candidates are excused from the final examinations in courses included in the fields presented for the general examination provided the general examination is passed after December 1 in the fall term and April 15 in the spring term and before the course examinations are held. Students must receive at least a grade of “good” in the general examination to be excused. Students taking the general examination at the end of the second term are expected to take the course examinations.
  2. Fifth Field (write-off field)—The requirement regarding the fifth field of study in the Ph.D. program is usually fulfilled by the passing of the equivalent of a full year graduate course offered at Harvard and completed with the grade of B Plus or higher. Seminars offered by the Graduate School of Public Administration are not acceptable for “write-off” purposes. One-half course must have been completed in the write-off field with a grade of B Plus or higher before the general examination.
  3. Thesis—The thesis should be written in one of the fields taken in the general oral examination. It must show an original treatment of its subject and give evidence of independent research.

Every candidate should report to the Department, as soon as possible after his general examination, the subject of his thesis and the member of the Department under whom he intends to work. Two bound copies of the thesis (the original and first copy) must be in the hands of the Chairman of the Department by December 1 and April 1 for degrees at midyear or Commencement. The thesis must be accepted by the Department before the candidate can be admitted to the final examination. It must be accompanied by two copies of a brief summary, not exceeding 1200 words in length, which shall indicate as clearly as possible the methods, material, and results of the investigation. Wherever possible students are urged to begin work on their thesis as soon as possible after the general examination.

  1. Special Oral Examination—The special examination is intended to give the student an opportunity to defend his thesis.

At present it is expected that one year of residence will elapse between the general and the special examinations. The preparation for the doctorate is regarded by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and by the Department as a continuous process. Ordinarily, the candidate must stand for the final examination within five years after passing the general examination.

To arrange for the date of the special examination, consult the Secretary of the Department, M-8 Littauer Center, six weeks in advance of the proposed date. Application for the Ph.D. degree must be filed by December 1 for the degree at midyear, and March 1 for the degree at Commencement. The special examination must be taken within five years of the general examination. (Note: two terms of residence at full tuition rate in Harvard University are required for each degree conferred.)

 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

  1. The program of study for the degree will be made up of six fields chosen from the groups given below. Four (or under certain conditions, three) of these fields, including Economic Theory, which is required, will be presented for the general examination. Only two fields, including Economic Theory, may ordinarily be chosen from Group A. Fields other than those here stated may be offered. Emphasis is placed upon an integrated program. In all cases the program of study must be approved by the Chairman of the Department of Economics. For advice, see the Chairman of the Department of Economics. For advice, see the Chairman of the Department of Economics on courses relating to economics and the Secretary of the Doctoral Board at the Graduate School of Business Administration for business subjects.

GROUP A

  1. Economic Theory and its History, with special reference to the Development of the History of Economic Thought since 1776.
  2. Economic History since 1750.
  3. Public Finance and Taxation.
  4. Economics of Agriculture.

GROUP B

  1. Accounting
  2. Marketing
  3. Foreign Trade
  4. Production
  5. Money and Banking
  6. Business Organization and Control
  7. Transportation
  8. Insurance
  9. Statistical Method and its Application
  10. Economics of Public Utilities
  11. Labor
  1. Special Examination and Thesis—The procedure in general follows that outlined for the Ph.D. in Economics. The field for the special examination should ordinarily be chosen from Group B.

Further information regarding courses and programs of study may be obtained by writing directly to the Department of Economics, Littauer M-8, Cambridge 38, Mass.

March 8, 1951

 

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Personal Papers of John Kenneth Galbraith, Series 5 Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 517, Folder “General Correspondence 12/7/49-12/31/53”.