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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Money, Banking, and Cycles, Seymour Harris, 1933-34

The course at Harvard on Money, Banking and Commercial Crises was usually co-taught by Professor John Williams with junior people. In 1933-34 Assistant Professor Seymour Harris was solely responsible for teaching the course. Interesting to note is that Harris clearly preferred to speak of “cycles” to “crises”, at least judging by the slight change in the course title for that year alone.

The mid-year exam is posted here.

The final exam for the course in May or June of 1934 has been transcribed in a later post.

Here a link to the syllabus for the Williams/Harris 1937-38 syllabus and exam.

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[From the Course Catalogue]

Economics 3. Money, Banking, and Cycles

Th., Th., at 12, and a third hour to be arranged. Asst. Professor Harris.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1933-34 (Second Edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 30, No. 39, Sept. 20, 1933, p. 125.

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[Course Enrollment: Economics 3, 1933-34]

3. Asst. Prof. Harris.—Money, Banking, and Cycles.

2 Graduates, 40 Seniors, 73 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 3 Others:   Total 127

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1933-34, p. 84

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ECONOMICS 3
Outline, 1933-1934

Important Books

Burgess: Reserve Banks and the Money Market.
Clare: The ABC of Foreign Exchanges.
Dunbar: Chapters on the Theory and History of Banking.
Fisher: The Purchasing Power of Money.
Hardy: Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System.
Harris: Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy.
Hawtrey: Currency and Credit (Third edition).
Hawtrey: Trade Depression and the Way Out.
Keynes: Tract on Monetary Reform.
Keynes: Treatise on Money.
Lavington: The English Capital Market.
League of Nations: Final Report on Gold.
Pigou and Robertson: Economic Essays and Addresses.
Robertson: Money (Revised edition—Seventh). [1926 edition]
Withers: Meaning of Money.  [3rd ed. 1914]

 

A. BANKING

I. The Banks and Industry (September 26—October 14)

Lecture 1. The banks and industry.
Lecture 2. The banks and the price level.
Lecture 3. Forced savings.
Lecture 4. Banks and the capital market.
Lecture 5. The banks and speculation.
Lecture 6. The movement of bank deposits and the problem of bank failures.

Assignment:

Dunbar: Chapters 1-5.
Keynes, Treatise on Money: Vol. I, pp. 23-43; Vol. II, pp. 49-79.
Robertson: Chapter 5 (Money and Saving), pp. 85-108.

 

II.  Central Banking and Banking Policy (October 17—November 18)

Lecture 7. Peculiarities of central banking
Lecture 8. Rate policy
Lecture 9. Open market policy
Lecture 10. Moral suasion
Lecture 11. Eligibility
Lecture 12. Policy in boom times
Lecture 13. Policy in war times
Lecture 14. Policy in depressed times
Lecture 15. Coöperation between central banks
Lecture 16. The Federal Reserve Act

Assignment:

Burgess: Chapters 3-5, 9-14.
Hardy: Pp. 74-179.
Harris: Chapters 8, 9, 42, 44.

 

III. Banking Abroad (November 21—December 23)

Lecture 17. English banking before 1844
Lecture 18. The Bank Act of 1844
Lecture 19. English banking, 1844-1914
Lecture 20. English banking, 1914-1928
Lecture 21. English banking, 1928-1933
Lecture 22. German banking before the War
Lecture 23. German banking since the War
Lecture 24. French money market and the Bank of France
Lecture 25. Canadian Banking

Assignment:

Withers: Meaning of Money.
Keynes, Treatise: Vol. II, pp. 225-262.
Lavington: Pp. 125-182.

 

HOUR EXAMINATION: Thursday, November 2

Reading Period:

Read ONE of the following:

Sprague: Crises.
Andreades: History of the Bank of England: Pp. 1-72, 161-407.
Hawtrey: The Art of Central Banking: Pp. 116-303.

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B.  MONEY

IV. The Pure Theory of Money (February 6—March 3)

Lecture 1. What is money?
Lecture 2. How to measure the value of money.
Lecture 3. The Fisherian quantity theory.
Lecture 4. The old Cambridge quantity theory.
Lecture 5. Keynes’ theory of the value of money—the level of efficiency earnings.
Lecture 6. Keynes, continued—Savings and investments and the value of money.
Lecture 7. Keynes, continued—The price level of investment goods.

Assignment:

Robertson: Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-63.
Fisher: Pp. 8-73.
Keynes, Treatise: Vol. I, Pp. 53-79, 221-233.
Hawtrey, Currency and Credit: Chapters 3-4, pp. 30-60.

 

V. Monetary Policy (March 13—April 21)

Lecture 8. The gold standard before the War
Lecture 9. The gold standard since the War
Lecture 10. The silver standard
Lecture 11. The gold exchange standard in theory
Lecture 12. The gold exchange standard in practice
Lecture 13. Inconvertible paper money—value at home
Lecture 14. Inconvertible paper money—value abroad
Lecture 15. Inconvertible paper money—other problems
Lecture 16. Problems of stabilization
Lecture 17. Monetary and non-monetary factors in the British situation
Lecture 18. The British situation, continued, and some discussion of the French situation
Lecture 19. Monetary problems of the British Dominions
Lecture 20. Monetary and non-monetary factors in the American situation

Assignment:

Keynes: A Tract on Monetary Reform: Chapters 1, 3, 4.
Pigou and Robertson: Pp. 116-138.
Hawtrey, Trade Depression and the Way Out: Pp. 1-84.
League of Nations, Final Report on Gold: Pp. 1-57.

 

VI. The Theory of the Cycle (April 24—May 5)

Lecture 21. A monetary theory of the cycle–Hawtrey
Lecture 22. Non-monetary theories of the cycle—Schumpeter and Pigou
Lecture 23. Semi-monetary theory—Keynes.
Lecture 24. Robertson’s criticisms of the monetary theories

Assignment:

Clare: The ABC of the Foreign Exchanges (Discussed under V—Monetary Policy)

HOUR EXAMINATION: Thursday, March 15

Reading Period:

Read ONE of the following:

Hawtrey, Currency and Credit: Part 2.
Ackerman, Economic Progress and Economic Crises
Laughlin, History of Bimetallism.
https://archive.org/details/historybimetall00goog
White, Money and Banking: Pp. 60-193, 232-369.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1933-1934”.

Image Source: Seymour Harris from the Harvard Album 1935.