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Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Exams for Money and Banking. Andrew, 1906-1907

A two course sequence covering money, banking and foreign exchange became an established specialty field at the beginning of the twentieth century. Assistant Professor A. Piatt Andrew covered that field at Harvard.

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Previous course materials for
Money and Banking 

1900-01 (Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1905-06 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)

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Course Enrollment 1906-07
Money, first semester

Economics 8a 1hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 50: 4 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. Why was the Latin Monetary Union instituted? Why does it continue to exist? What conclusions of general significance can be drawn from its history?
  2. When may the levying of a seignorage be expected to result in rising prices? Falling prices? Stationary prices?
  3. “It is possible to introduce either a system of bi-metallism which will make prices fall, or one which will make them rise.” Explain these two systems, and show why they would affect prices in such ways.
  4. How is the increasing gold supply likely to affect —
    1. the interests of the working classes?
    2. the prosperity of business?
    3. the income of persons living upon a salary?
    4. the price of real estate?
    5. the price of bonds?
      Explain the reasons in each case.
  5. Explain the character, merits, and defects of —
    (a) the mathematical mean, (b) the geometrical mean, (c) the median, (d) the mode, (e) weighted averages, as methods of measuring changes in the value of money.
  1. “If an ounce of gold, which would be coined into the equivalent of £3 17s 10½ d, is sold for £4 or £5 in paper, the value of the currency has sunk just that much below what the value of a metallic currency would be.” — Mill, II, p. 92. What is your opinion of this statement?
  2. What does Darwin mean by the labor standard? By the commodity standard? Explain the merits claimed for each, and show the exemplification of the two standards in the history of the precious metals between 1873 and 1896. Has either been exemplified in the history of gold or silver since 1896?
  3. Enumerate the different kinds of money now current in the United States, and explain the circumstances and conditions of their issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07. A copy is also found in Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 30-31.

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Course Enrollment, 1906-07
Banking, second semester

Economics 8b 2hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Banking and Foreign Exchange.

Total 82: 3 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 32 Juniors, 30 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1906-7

Omit one question
  1. Name and characterize briefly the various classes of banks existing in (a) the United States, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) France, and (e) Germany.
    Name when possible a few leading examples of each class.
  2. What is meant in England by the official Bank rate, the actual Bank rate, the deposit rate, the market rates?
    Suppose that the official rate is raised from 4% to 5%, to what extent will the other rates probably be affected? and why?
    Would the answer have been different thirty years ago?
  3. In what manner and to what extent does the government derive especial advantage in the way of revenue and of services from the banks in the United States? in England? in Germany?
  4. It has been said that “any amount of credit may be created … so long as the claims held by the bank are based upon actual and salable property.”
    Mention any person or persons to whom one might attribute this opinion. Would you accept it?
  5. Express and illustrate the various circumstances under which American quotations of exchange upon France may (1) exceed, and (2) fall short of the nominal gold points.
  6. In your opinion did Andrew Jackson’s policy work permanent benefit or permanent harm to the banking interests of the country? State reasons.
  7. Explain briefly the innovations made by Secretary Shaw in the relations of the Treasury with the banks, and state your opinion of the general policy involved therein.
  8. What contributions to the development of banking in England were made by the authors of (a) “The Bullion Report,” (b) “Lombard Street”?
    In what ways and how far are the principles there presented applicable to the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 31-32.

Image Source: A. Piatt Andrew’s The Red Roof Guestbook, 1914-1930. Available at the Historic New England Website. Henry Davis Sleeper (Andrew’s neighbor on the left) and A. Piatt Andrew Jr. (right).

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam for European economic history (19th century). Gay, 1906-1907

Before Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965) and Alexander Gerschenkron (1904-1978) and after William Ashley (1860-1927), Professor Edwin Francis Gay (1867-1946) taught European Economic history in the Harvard economics department. This post adds to the collection of his examination questions transcribed and posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Previously posted:
European economic history
taught at Harvard

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

Exams for 1905-06

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

Gay and Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 73: 17 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. Compare the conditions of land-ownership in England, France and Germany during the first half of the nineteenth century. Explain the differences.
  2. [European tariff policies]
    1. Date the liberal period in the tariff history of the chief European countries.
    2. Why was the English Corn Law repealed?
    3. Give a brief account of the tariff history of Germany since the formation of the Zollverein.
  3. What consequences, according to Chevalier, would follow from the increased production of gold?
  4. [Railroad policies]
    1. When and for what reasons did the states of Germany and Russia obtain ownership of the railroads? What value has their experience for other countries?
    2. State Hadley’s criticism of the English Railway Commission.
  5. Describe briefly the extent, causes and results of the agricultural depression in Europe.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

Image SourceWikimediaCommons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and Exam for U.S. Economic History. Gay, 1906-1907

Edwin Francis Gay solo-taught the course on U.S. economic and financial history in 1906-07. He modified and expanded the course reading list from that used in the previous year by him and Taussig, but the structure of the course nonetheless appears to have been essentially unchanged.

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Previously…

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan. The Taussig/Gay reading list and final exam for 1905-06.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor [Edwin Francis] Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 112: 20 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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Course Reading List
1906-07

[Library Stamp: “May 13, 1907”]

ECONOMICS: 6b

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp.36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86; 124-139.

1776-1860.
2. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

3. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257; printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, IV. Nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci, and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

4. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

5. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 75-117, 223-237, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

*Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37. 64-76.

Kinley. History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

6. POPULATION AND SLAVERY.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

1860-1900.
7. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254 (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

8. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

9. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, 193-213.

10. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 156-229.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-437.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-cxc (note especially the maps and comments on pp. clxx-clxxviii).

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-126.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

12. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

13. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-107.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

14. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept. 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept. 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 3-16, 502-547.

Levasseur. American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

15. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION
AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-Ivii.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 38-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

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ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

  1. Describe briefly (not more than five minutes each) :—
    1. Independent Treasury.
    2. Greenbacks
    3. Mills Bill.
    4. Minimum system.
    5. Homestead system.
    6. Chief Canal systems.
  2. Outline succinctly :—
    1. The history and results of the tariff on wool and woolens.
    2. The experience of the United States with reciprocity.
  3. Comment on the following (from Grant’s message of 1870):
    “Building ships and navigating them utilizes vast capital at home; it creates a home market for the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy of the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war.”
  4. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1870-80 with that of the decade 1890-1900.
  5. [International labor migration]
    1. Describe the administration of the alien contract labor law.
    2. What are the present tendencies in the distribution of immigrants?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 29-30.

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay, seated in office, 1908. From Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard Problem Sets Transportation

Harvard. Report assignment and final exam for transportation economics. Ripley, Daggett and McLaren, 1906-1907

With the railroad industry posing so many interesting questions in the organization and regulation of industry, corporate finance, and economic geography it comes as no wonder that William Zebina Ripley taught one of the more popular advanced courses offered by the Harvard economics department early in the 20th century.

Worth noting is that the instructions for course reports transcribed below was only very slightly changed from an earlier version (1903-04).

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett and Mr. W. W. [Walter Wallace] McLaren. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 205: 7 Graduates, 59 Seniors, 100 Juniors, 31 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact references by title, volume, and page must be given in footnotes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

GROUP A

            Students will report upon the organization and present condition of one railway company in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against each student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the railroad similarly numbered on this sheet. See Directions on last page.

            The information to be procured is as follows, and should be numbered in correspondence with this list. Note all changes during the year; and compare the results with those for the railway group in which the company lies, as given in U. S. Statistics of Railways. (1) Miles of line. (2) Passengers transported. (3) Tons of freight carried: gross and per mile of line. (4) Tons carried one mile, with revenue per ton mile. (5) Revenue per train mile. (6) Average train load and changes therein. (7) Classification of freight and changes therein. (8) Gross earnings from operation. (9) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line. (10) Net income from operation. (11) Stock and bonds. (12) Stock and bonds per mile of line. (13) Dividends paid. (14) Surplus. (15) Present prices and movements of prices of the various securities listed.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP B

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger mileage; and the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses. (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) market prices of securities; for two different railways. These are indicated by numbers posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be not only to discover differences, but, as far as possible, to explain them. Mere description of conditions is not desired; actual comparison is demanded. The use of parallel columns is suggested. See Directions on last page

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP C

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger miles; together with the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) prices of securities; for a given railway through a series of years, since 1890, if possible. Note carefully, however, all changes or additions to the line from year to year. The railway assigned is indicated by a number placed against the student’s name on the printed class lists. The analysis of annual reports in financial journals must be carefully followed year by year. Results may be plotted on cross section paper where possible. See Directions on last page.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

⇒The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “26 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the New York Central R.R.; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, etc.

RAILWAY COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
  1. Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fé.
  2. Baltimore and Ohio.
  3. Canada Southern.
  4. Central of New Jersey.
  5. Chesapeake and Ohio.
  6. Chicago and Alton.
  7. Chicago Great Western.
  8. Chicago, Indiana, and Louisville.
  9. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul.
  10. Chicago and Northwestern.
  11. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific.
  12. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis. (Big Four.)
  13. Delaware and Hudson.
  14. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
  15. Denver and Rio Grande.
  16. Erie.
  17. Great Northern.
  18. Hocking Valley.
  19. Illinois Central.
  20. Iowa Central.
  21. Lake Erie and Western.
  22. Louisville and Nashville.
  23. Mexican Central.
  24. Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.
  25. Missouri Pacific.
  26. New York Central.
  27. New York, Ontario, and Western.
  28. Norfolk and Western.
  29. Pennsylvania.
  30. Philadelphia and Reading.
  31. St. Louis and San Francisco.
  32. St. Louis Southwestern.
  33. Southern Pacific.
  34. Southern Railway.
  35. Texas and Pacific.
  36. Union Pacific.
  37. Wabash.
  38. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
  39. Wisconsin Central.
  40. Ann Arbor.
  41. Atlantic Coast Line.
  42. Boston and Maine.
  43. Boston and Albany. (See New York Central.)
  44. Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
  45. Central Vermont.
  46. Central Railroad of New Jersey.
  47. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton.
  48. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha. (See Chicago and Northwestern.)
  49. Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
  50. Pittsburgh, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
  51. Lehigh Valley.
  52. Long Island.
  53. New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
  54. New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.
  55. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. (See New York Central.)
  56. Maine Central.
  57. Pittsburgh, Bessemer, and Lake Erie.
  58. Western Maryland.
  59. Rio Grande Western.
  60. St. Paul and Duluth.
  61. Northern Pacific. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  62. Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern.
  63. St. Joseph and Grand Island.
  64. Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis.
  65. International and Great Northern.
  66. Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis.
  67. Mobile and Ohio.
  68. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. (See Illinois Central.)
  69. Plant System.
  70. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company.
  71. Central of Georgia.
  72. Pere Marquette.
  73. Columbus, Sandusky, and Hocking.
  74. Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling.
  75. Mexican Central.
  76. Grand Trunk.
  77. Canadian Pacific.
  78. Chicago, Burlington, and Quiney. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  79. Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf.
  80. Rutland.
  81. Seaboard Air Line.
  82. Northern Securities Co.
  83. The Rock Island Co.
DIRECTIONS

First — Read over the latest annual reports of the company. These are usually republished in Bradstreets; the N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle [Gore Hall]; or the N. Y. Journal of Commerce and Wall Street Journal. [Daily files of last two in 24 University Hall.] Statistical abstracts of these are also in Poor’s Manual of Railroads; the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully T. L. Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130 [better buy it, for use in Economics 9b]; Ripley, Transportation (in Vol. XIX, U. S. Industrial Commission Report, 1900), pp. 274-280 and 293-95; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111. (Copies in Harvard Hall.)

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in the Reports of the U.S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII.

The files of Poor’s Manual, the Railway Age, the Railway World, the Wall Street Journal, and other technical papers may of course also be consulted.

Fourth. — Analyze carefully by means of its indexes the returns in the official Statistics of Railways in the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Note the statistical division into groups shown on the map at the head of each volume. Note also that for each railway lying in two or more groups, a Summary for the road as a whole is given as a Supplement to each table.

The Annual Statistical Abstract of the United States contains convenient general tables for certain purposes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. State and explain three leading reasons for the issue of preferred stock by a railroad.
  2. What peculiarities of the anthracite coal industry have led to overproduction and irregularity of prices, in absence of monopolistic agreements?
  3. The following statistics are drawn from the 1906 reports of two leading railroads. Complete the tables approximately, and state the main conclusions deducible from the statement of facts :—
Road A. Road B
Mileage operated 2062. 4423.
Tons rev. freight 20,259,000 25,641,000
Passenger mileage 1,255,625,000 511,391,000
Ton mileage 1,888,605,000 6,230,593,000
Average haul one ton (miles) 93 243
Loaded car mileage, one direction 86,381,000 353,282,000
Loaded car mileage, other direction 59,362,000
Average tons freight per train 236 410
Gross revenue from freight $27,247,000 $34,637,000
Freight train mileage 7,778,000 17,209,000
Earnings from operation $52,984,000 $51,636,000
Operating expenses $35,222,000 $34,302,000
Freight traffic density (compute it.) (compute it.)
Revenue per ton mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Freight earnings per train mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Operating ratio (compute it.) (compute it.)
  1. What is the method of valuation of franchises in Wisconsin? Criticise it.
  2. What, in your judgment, are the three most important provisions of the Hepburn Act of 1906?
  3. What is the Doctrine of Judicial Review? Criticise it.
  4. Is railroad rate regulation in England more or less strict than in the United States? Describe the situation as regards the rate. making power.
  5. What are the various economic considerations involved in the making of a freight classification? Illustrate by taking a few typical commodities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 28-29.

Image Source: American Railroad Scene: Lightning Express Trains Leaving the Junction. Currier & Ives (1874). Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress …. Washington : Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 39.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Macroeconomics

John Hopkins. Final exam for graduate macroeconomic theory. Aschheim, Christ, Mills. 1962

 

The only remarkable thing to note about the following macroeconomics examination from Johns Hopkins is its somewhat confusing scheme for allowing students to select from the questions. No heroic leaps of imagination were demanded of the examinees, which is humane I guess. But an artifact is an artifact, so duly transcribed, posted, and added to the collection.

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MACROECONOMIC THEORY 18.604
Final Examination, May 21, 1962

Messrs. [Joseph] Aschheim,
[Carl] Christ, and [Edwin] Mills

Answer all questions except:

either       (a) three of the 12-point questions in Part II.
or             (b) one of the 36-point questions in Part I.

Time: 3 hours (i.e., 180 minutes); total credit 180 points.

PART I. 36 points each.
  1. Compare the roles assigned to technological progress in major writings of Schumpeter and Solow.
  2. Write a short critical essay comparing either
    1. The growth models of Harrod and Domar, or
    2. The models of growth and fluctuations presented by Tobin (JPE 1955) and Duesenberry (Business Cycles and Economic Growth)
  3. Analyze the essential differences between the modern conventional theory of public debt and the recent reformulation of this theory.
  4. The stability of equilibrium in the Wicksellian monetary system has been subjected to opposing interpretations by Myrdal and Patinkin. Review these opposing interpretations in light of Wicksell’s own formulation.
PART II. 12 points each.
  1. Saving equals investment.
  2. The demand for money (as a stock) depends on bondholdings as well as on income and interest rates.
  3. Disarmament would create a major depression in the United States.
  4. The effect of an increase in government expenditure does not depend on how the extra expenditure is financed, as long as it does not come from increased taxes.
  5. If national income is $500 billion and consumption is $400 billion, then for each increase of $1 in government expenditure the equilibrium level of national income will increase by $5.
  6. The multiplier analysis is useful for studying economic growth, abstracting from cyclical fluctuations.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives. Department of Political Economy, Box 3/1 Series 6 , Folder “Graduate Exams 1933-1965” (sic).

Source: Professor Carl Christ in the Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1964, p. 42.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exam questions for principles of sociology. J.A. Field, 1906-1907

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was on a European sabbatical with his wife and three children during the academic year 1906-07 so substitutes were needed to cover his courses on sociology, agriculture and income distribution. The graduate student James A. Field took over the principles of sociology course in Carver’s absence.

Note: Materials from some courses have already been transcribed and posted. Whenever that is the case, I’ll just add a link to the relevant post. Falling between Economics 1 and Economics 3 was Frank W. Taussig’s course, Economics 2 (“Principles of Economics–Second Course”). It was the “advanced” economic theory course in the curriculum.

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Previous Posts about James A. Field

Chicago. Decennial Harvard Class Report of associate professor of political economy James A. Field, ABD, 1913.

Harvard. Economics Graduate School Records of James Alfred Field, ABD. 1903-1911.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 3. Mr. J.A. Field. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 4 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

I.

  1. [Elective reading(s)]
    1. Name the author and the title of the book which you chose for elective reading (or of each of the books, if your reading involved more than one).
    2. Indicate and briefly describe that which seems to you the central thought or the most interesting thought in the book (or in each of the books) thus read.
    3. Criticise the book (or one of the books) with regard to both merits and defects, giving special attention to the part you have described in your answer to question (b) above.

II
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What do you consider to be the true conception of social progress?
    To what extent does social progress in this sense promote the welfare of individuals?
  2. What is an acquired character?
    Assuming that acquired characters are not inherited, in what ways is that fact advantageous for society?
    Does this assumed non-inheritance of acquired characters become more advantageous or less advantageous as civilization advances?
  3. Describe the three stages traced by Comte in the progress of human society.
    Is Comte’s scheme in harmony with Kidd’s belief regarding the conditions of progress?
  4. What is meant by social heredity?
    Show the relation between social heredity and the theories of Baldwin, Fiske, and Tarde which have been considered in this course.

III
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What is Buckle’s conclusion as to the relative importance or moral and the intellectual factors of progress, and on what reasons is his conclusion based?
    Do you accept his conclusion and his reasoning as correct?
  2. How may self-interest act as a socializing influence?
  3. In what sense can a social mind be said to exist?
    How is it related to the individual minds of the members of society?
  4. What is religion, according to Kidd?
    How much has it in common with “the struggle for the life others”? How much has it in common with Idealization?
    Would Kidd agree that the function of all religions is to reconcile us to the inevitable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 3

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

[Omit one question.]

  1. Briefly explain:
    1. Exogamy.
    2. Anthropomorphism.
    3. Refraction of Imitation.
    4. Vicarious Leisure.
    5. General Social Sanction.
  2. What are the functions which are organized in the institution of the family?
    Describe the Religious-Proprietary Family.
  3. Criticise Spencer’s antithesis of the militant and industrial types of society and compare it with Robinson’s theory of the relation between war and economics.
  4. What is the Standard of Living?
    For what reasons, and under what conditions, is a high standard of living desirable?
  5. Compare economic competition with the biological struggle for existence.
  6. What are the relations of cause and effect which connect competition, specialization and capitalism?
  7. Explain and criticise Veblen’s theory of the Instinct of Workmanship.
  8. Discuss the relation of women to the competitive process, to conservatism and reform, to religion and to the institution of the leisure class.
    How do you explain the psychic differences between men and women which this discussion suggests? To what extent do you regard these differences as merely the result of social conventions?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 27-28.

Image Source: Original black-and-white image from the Special Diplomatic Passport Application by James Alfred Field (January 1918). Cropped and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. (Note: left third of the image is slightly distorted because of a transparent plastic strip used to hold pages in the imaging process)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollments, staffing, exams for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock, Andrew. 1906-1907

It is now time to begin posting transcriptions of course material for the Harvard academic year 1906-07. Sometimes, even for the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, this becomes a tedious task. Still, the opportunity to assemble a long time series of economics exams into searchable text for one of the leading economics departments has the virtue of being steady work. 

In the beginning… there is the undergraduate principles of economics course and that is the subject of this post. Subsequent posts more or less follow the course numbering used at the time by Harvard.

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Taussig explains the course structure

In a letter Aug 8, 1906 to E.R.A. Seligman at Columbia describing how Economics 1 was taught we learn that Frank Taussig gave the first semester lectures and his younger colleagues, Charles J. Bullock and A. Piatt Andrew split the second semester’s lectures between themselves. The textbooks used in the course were “Mill, Walker, and Seager.” Taussig also gave himself credit for introducing the course structure of having a common set of lectures and small-section work for discussion and exercises.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs [Selden Osgood] Martin, [Frank Richardson] Mason, G. R. [George Randall] Lewis, [Charles Phillips] Huse, and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe. — Principles of Economics.

Total 392: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 252 Sophomores, 50 Freshmen, 31 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Explain briefly what is meant by, — free goods; public goods; utility; marginal utility; productive labor.
  2. Explain the relation between, — the rate of interest; the selling price of land; the capitalization of monopolies; vested rights.
  3. What is meant by urban site rent? Does such rent differ from the rent of agricultural land? If so, in what essentials? If not, why not?
  4. Are business profits a return different in kind from wages, according to Mill? Seager? the instructor in the course?
  5. Is a high birth-rate to be regarded with anxiety? a low birth-rate? a high death-rate? a low death-rate? State (in round numbers per 1000 of population) what you would regard as high and low rates.
  6. Would you expect the price of a commodity to fall if its cost of production were lowered? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
    Would you expect the cost of producing a commodity to be lowered if its price fell? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
  7. Wherein had immigration into the United States during the decade just passed differed from immigration in earlier times; and what effect has recent immigration had (a) on the general rate of wages, (b) on wages in particular occupations?
  8. Explain the connection between, — collective bargaining; the closed shop; the open union.
  9. Suppose socialism, in the form proposed by Fourier, were adopted: how would wages, rent, interest, business profits, be affected? What if socialism, as outlined by modern writers, were adopted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

I.
Answer three questions.

  1. Does the value of a commodity depend on its utility? Does the price of a commodity depend on its value?
  2. Explain briefly what is meant by (a) the sweating system, (b) producers’ coöperation, (c) collective bargaining.
  3. Suppose a great increase in the supply of (a) gold, (b) silver, (c) wheat: would the values of these three articles be affected in the same way and in the same degree?
  4. What is the nature of the income received by (a) an owner of lodging house who lets rooms to students; (b) an owner of shares a “trust”; (c) an author receiving royalty on a copy-righted book; (d) a mine owner receiving a royalty (so much per ton) on minerals extracted from his mine.

II.
Answer three questions.

  1. Describe the various forms of credit which serve as means of exchange. Does their existence afford any disproof of the “quantity theory”? Explain why or why not.
  2. If there were no legal restrictions, would anything tend to prevent an over-expansion (a) of deposits, (b) of notes?
    If the present legal restrictions on note issue were abolished, what substitutes would you suggest?
  3. The imports of the United States from Brazil permanently exceed our exports to that country. What movements of specie between these countries are involved? The total exports of merchandise from the United States permanently exceed its imports. What movements of specie to or from this country are involved?
  4. Given mint par with England 4.86 2/3, France 5.18, Germany 0.952. What conditions with regard to American trade are indicated by the following quotations of exchange in New York, 4.84, 5.20, 0.945? How ought these rates to stand if the American dollar were to fall to half its present gold value?

III.
Answer three questions.

  1. According: to the principles laid down by Adam Smith and Mill, what changes should be made in the system of taxation employed by our national government?
  2. Compare the history of the income tax in the United States with the history of the tax in two European countries.
  3. What are the principal arguments for and against the proposal to levy progressive income taxes in order to prevent “undue” concentration of wealth? What are the arguments for and against using progressive inheritance taxes for the same purpose?
  4. Should a national debt be extinguished? Should municipal debts be extinguished? (In each case state fully the reasons for your answer.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 24-25.

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for agricultural economics. Carver, 1905-1906

In 1911 Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver published a textbook Principles of Rural Economics  that undoubtedly encompassed the content of his course on agricutural economics first taught in 1903-04. Somewhat unusually the book is prefaced with an eight page bibliography. The eight question final exam for this semester course from 1905-06 is found below.

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From a previous year

ca. 1904 Problem set

1903-04 Final exam

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 23 2hf. Professor Carver. — Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American Conditions.

Total 42: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 23
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe the two principal stages in the development of commercial agriculture.
  2. Describe the methods by which a citizen could acquire a title to government land at the following dates: 1850, 1870, 1890.
  3. What are the chief advantages of large-scale farming and of small-scale farming? Which system has the United States government favored, and by what means?
  4. What are the advantages of diversified farming, and under what conditions is it practicable?
  5. What experiments are being carried on under the direction of the United States Department of Agriculture in the breeding of animals?
  6. Describe three types of farm management as practiced in the United States.
  7. Name, in the order of their value, the five leading crops of the United States, and if any of them are grown in special regions or belts, state approximately their limits.
  8. What are the principal factors tending, at the present time, to affect the character of the rural population of the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 46.

Image Source: “The American farmer – where he has to sell, and where he has to buy,” print by Louis Dalrymple in Puck, v. 35, no. 910 (August 15, 1894). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Print shows Uncle Sam as an American farmer trying to sell his products labeled “Pork, Wheat, Butter, Beef, Oats”, and corn overseas where there is stiff “Open Competition” at the “Market of the World” represented by John Bull labeled “England” and “Germany, Russia, South America, [and] Australia”. In a vignette, Uncle Sam is shown at “The McKinley Home Market and High Prices” looking at the merchandise for sale, where all the items that he needs have been “Marked Up” 35% to 45%; McKinley offers him a new coat that has been “Marked Up 35%”.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Law and Economics

Harvard. Commercial Law and Industrial Relations Law for Economists. Wyman, 1905-1906

Assistant professor in the Harvard Law School, Bruce Wyman (b. 15 June 1875; d. 21 June 1926) provided aspiring future businessmen an overview of commercial and labor law. Students hoping to go on to study law were explicitly not encouraged to take this course. His exam questions rank among the longest I have encountered thus far in my archival fishing expeditions. He apparently expected as much in return (he wrote in his suggestions for the mid-year examination “Thirty-six pages would be a desirable maximum as to length.”)

In the 1905-06 economics course outline folder there is an incomplete collection of the homework paper assignments, 10 of (13?). Perhaps they were due every second week or so over the semester. The format of the questions matches that found in the exams. Everything found for this year was transcribed for this post.

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From earlier years

1901-02. Autobiographical note, enrollment, course description, syllabus, exams.

1902-03. Obituary, enrollment, course description, exams.

1903-04. Enrollment and exams.

1904-05. Enrollment, course description, exams.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 21. Asst. Professor Wyman. — Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations and Commercial Law.

Total 150: 6 Graduates, 68 Seniors, 46 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 21
Paper Assignments
[incomplete]

Paper No. 1
  1. A is a workman employed in the works of B. B carries an indemnity policy covering accidents written by C. A gets his hand crushed in one of the machines, which is improperly guarded. C attempts to make a settlement with A at $500, which A refuses; thereupon C threatens to get A discharged by B, but A still refuses to compromise. Next, C goes to B and demands that A be discharged. B is at first unwilling, but when C threatens to take advantage of the clause in the policy permitting cancellation of the policy upon five days’ notice, B reluctantly undertakes to discharge A at the end of the week for which he is employed, protesting that A is a good workman and he had intended to give him regular employment. After A is thus discharged he brings suit against C for loss of employment. What decision? Give reasons with care.
  2. A is a manufacturer of soap who is dealing with a jobber named B, among others. C, another manufacturer of soap, goes to B and first offers him a rebate of 10% if B will not handle the soap of A any longer, but will deal with C exclusively, and then threatens B that unless he will do this he will not sell him any soap at all. B then accedes with much protestation. A, thus cut off by B, brings suit against C for loss of business. What decision? Give reasons with care.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Paper No. 2
  1. A & Co., proprietors of a department store, advertise “the B Co. piano, regular price $500, our price $444.” A & Co. have one such piano in stock, but if they should have more orders they would try to get more if they could. The B Co. are much injured in their business by this; as they only allow their agents 10%, retailers cease handling their piano in the district where A & Co. sell. After A & Co. sell the piano they have had in stock they continue to run the advertisement, although the B Co. of course refuse to sell them any more pianos. Can the B Co. succeed in bringing any suits against A & Co.? Cite any cases you think in point. Give your reasons carefully.
  2. X & Co. begin the manufacture of underwear, woven with an open mesh, which they advertise as “Cellular Underclothing.” A few months later Z & Co. begin the manufacture of a similar article which they advertise as “Cellular Underclothing, a better article than that of any other manufacturer.” Can X & Co. sue Z & Co. for anything? Cite any authorities that you think in point. Give your reasons carefully.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Paper No. 3
  1. (a) Give briefly the facts in Pontefact v. Isenberger. (b) Give shortly the rule of law in Reddaway v. Banham.
  2. (a) A manufacturer of tomato catsup puts his product on the market in a bottle with a tapering neck wrapped in a cylindrical cardboard carton covered with manila paper upon which is printed in large black letters “X & Co. — Tomato Catsup,” with a picture of the bottle represented as full of red catsup. Z & Co. who begin the manufacture of tomato catsup some years later put their product upon the market in almost exactly the same way, — the bottle tapering, the carton cylindrical, the wrapper manila paper, the printing black, “Z & Co. — Tomato Catsup,” with a picture of the bottle filled with red catsup. Can X & Co. require Z & Co. to make some changes? Cite cases in point. (b) When the patent ran out on the “Singer Sewing Machine” which had been made by S & Co., J & Co. began the manufacture of a machine exactly similar which they put upon the market marked “Singer Sewing Machine.” Can S & Co. prevent J & Co. from doing this in this way? Cite cases in point.

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Paper No. 4
  1. (a) Give briefly the facts in Dudley v. Briggs. (b) Tell shortly what was decided in Pitt v. Donovan.
  2. (a) A & Co., manufacturers of farm implements, circulated the following advertisement in the country newspapers: “We believe that we have the fundamental patents upon harvesters; and, noticing that B & Co. are putting on the market a harvester which seems plainly an infringement of our patents, we hereby give notice that we shall begin legal proceedings against buyers who use this machine, as well as against B & Co.” B & Co. bring a bill for an injunction against A & Co., stating the above facts. What decision? Cite cases in point. (b) X & Co., manufacturers of artificial fertilizer, circulate a statement that their product has 25% more nitrates than that of Z & Co. Z & Co. bring suit, offering to prove that these figures are fabricated by X & Co. What result? Cite cases in point.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Paper No. 6
  1. Is the following a correct statement of the law: “What our law forbids is total suppression of competition, partial restriction of competition is unobjectionable; thus if there are three grocers in a town and one pays each of the others money to quit business the agreements are not valid, but if the first pays the second money to quit business the law does not object, since competition remains between the first and third.” In your answer cite various cases in the prescribed reading for the week in support of your opinion.
  2. The following cases deal with the same problem: Jelliet v. Broade, Hayward v. Young, Harvey v. Cooke, and Nordenfelt v. Maxim-Nordenfelt Co. What is the principle of law involved in all of them? In your answer show familiarity with each case, both with the chief facts found and with the rule of law laid down.

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Paper No. 7
  1. State the facts in the following cases: (a) Wickens v. Evans, (b) Milwaukee Mason & Builder’s Association v. Niezerowski. Say whether you agree with the decisions in these cases. In your answers support your reasoning with citation of other cases in the prescribed reading.
  2. Here are the principal facts about two cases recently decided. (a) In one an agreement was proved between a manufacturer of skirt binding and the proprietor of a woman’s periodical by which the manufacturer agreed to take a page of advertising for a year at $1000, while the proprietor agreed to reject the advertisements of other manufacturers of skirt binding; the court held that the proprietor was liable for breaking this agreement by taking another advertisement of skirt binding. (b) In the second case three manufacturers of shoes agreed together not to send more than five travelling salesmen into any one state; this agreement the court held invalid. Do you think these cases to be rightly decided? In your answers as to each case cite the cases in the prescribed reading that you consider most in point.

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Paper No. 8
  1. Compare (a) Scottish Coöperative Society v. Glasgow Flesher’s Association with (b) Plant v. Woods. In your discussion cite other cases by way of illustration.
  2. If these two cases should be brought to Court how should they be decided: (a) A combination of oil refiners, A, B, C, D, and E, agree to lower prices 33 1/3% for a year in order to drive X, a dangerous competitor, out of business; their intention is to raise prices after X is disposed of. Can X sue B for the damages caused him by this campaign? (b) Employes of the A railroad refuse to handle freight cars forwarded from the B railroad where a strike is in progress; this policy is adopted because the employes of both railroads are affiliated with the same union, which has voted to instruct the employes of the B Co. to strike and those of the A Co. to support them as they are doing. What remedy has the A Co.? In your answer refer to some cases.

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Paper No. 11
  1. (a) State the factors usually enumerated in the definition of a corporation. (b) Say how many of these are essential to the conception of a corporation.
  2. (a) A acquires all of the capital stock in the X corporation. He then makes a mortgage of the property of the X corporation to the L bank to secure a loan of $5,000 to him. Later he gives B and C one share each in the corporation, and calls a stockholders’ meeting which votes to mortgage the property of the corporation to the M bank to secure a loan of $5,000 to the corporation; the vote authorizes A to execute the mortgage, which he does. The property proves worth about $8,000 when the X corporation fails. How shall it be divided between the L bank and the M bank, neither of which knew of the other’s mortgage? (b) Ships which have English owners only can be registered as English ships. A certain corporation organized in England is shown to have solely French stockholders; may ships owned by it be admitted to English registry?

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Paper No. 12
  1. (a) Give in one sentence the point of law decided in Ellis v. Marshall. (b) Also give in one sentence the point of law decided in Trustees of Free Schools v. Flint.
  2. (a) Give the facts in Broderip v. Salomon fully. (b). Give accurately the decision of the Divisional Court upon the case, written by Vaughan-Williams, J., together with his reasons. (c) Give accurately the decision of the Court of Appeal, written by Lindley, L. J., together with his reasons. (d) Give accurately the decision of the House of Lords, written by Lord Halsbury, together with his reasons.

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Paper No. 13
  1. (a) What does Coit v. Gold Amalgamating Co. decide about the validity of payment of stock subscriptions with property instead of cash? (b) What does Bundy v. Ophir Iron Co. decide about the effect of mortgages upon corporate property which are executed by all of the shareholders in their own names?
  2. (a) A partnership is composed of A, B, and C, but is known as “A & B.” Land is conveyed to “A & B,” paid for with partnership funds; goods are bought by C for the partnership which are delivered to it, but for which he advances the money himself. Later A, B, and C and “A & B” all become bankrupt A, B, and C each own a house and furniture. They individually each owe various people, and the firm owes various people. How shall these estates he wound up? (b) In a certain corporation A, B, and C each own one-third of the shares. It owns a grain elevator; this A wants the corporation to insure, but this B and C refuse to agree shall be done. Then A insures the elevator in his own name, paying the premiums himself. Later it burns; it was worth $21,000; how much will A recover?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 21
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

Please observe the following suggestions: Divide your time so as to reply to all questions. Make your answers definite; if you to treat the principal questions as units for discussing them, indicate plainly your decision upon each subdivision. Give your reasons for your answers in every case, but state them as briefly as possible, citing cases whenever you remember them. Thirty-six pages would be a desirable maximum as to length.

  1. Do the following go beyond fair competition:
    1. X & Co. advertise that “The Natural brand of preserves made by us contains no artificial preservatives, whereas the Perfect brand, manufactured by A & Co., contains (as is shown by the analysis of that eminent chemist, Professor L., which is upon file at our office) 1% of Benzoate Soda.” A & Co. offer to prove that no such analysis was ever made. Can A & Co. sue X & Co.?
    2. Suppose that in that same suit X & Co. offer to prove by three experts that A & Co’s preserves really do contain more than 1% of Benzoate Soda, should the evidence be admitted?
    3. This advertisement was also published by X & Co.: “The L hotel tried the Perfect brand of preserved fruits for one week — then the manager gave orders to the steward never to buy any more, and to stop serving those that they had bought.” The statement was true; but the reason for the change was because the employees of the hotel, who belonged to a union, refused to serve the Perfect brand as A & Co. had locked out the union men employed at their factory. Can A & Co. sue X & Co.?
    4. Another advertisement of X & Co. was: “Think what canned fruits were like before we entered the market — the Perfect (?) brand used to be considered the best! Today everyone realizes the superiority of the processes used in making our Natural brand over all the old fashioned methods used by others.” A & Co. sue X & Co., offering to prove that the reputation of their goods is better than that of X & Co. What result?
  2. Are the following unfair competition:
    1. X has worked for 10 years for A, the leading florist of Boston. He starts out in business for himself, three doors below, stating on the sign: “X, late with A,” with a card in the window stating: “Customers of A will receive prompt attention.” Can A get any injunction against X?
    2. A has extensively advertised and sold the L brand whiskey, which is put up in a peculiar, cubical shaped bottle, with a very long neck, and is recognized by the shape of the bottle. X offers for sale a whiskey in exactly the same kind of bottle, but with a different label.
    3. After the Singer patents, under which the Singer Mfg. Co. was manufacturing, had run out, the June Mfg. Co. began the manufacture of a machine according to the Singer designs, which they labelled in large letters; “Singer Machine.” Can the Singer Mfg. Co. get any injunction?
    4. A man named Baker begins the manufacture of chocolate in Massachusetts in 1880, which he calls Baker’s chocolate. A man in California, in 1885, named Baker, begins the manufacture of chocolate which he calls Baker’s chocolate. Both begin selling in Illinois for the first time in 1890. Which can stop the other?
  3. In a strike at a paper mill, called to get recognition of the union by getting the non-union men discharged, the union of the employees adopt the following tactics. How many of these will be stopped by an injunction asked for by the employers:
    1. Posting two pickets at the mill gates with instructions to them to use no violence.
    2. Refusing to patronize dealers who advertise in newspapers which buy their paper from this mill.
    3. Posting upon bill boards an appeal to workingmen urging “all honest laborers not to apply for employment at the mill while the strike is in progress.”
    4. Paying non-union men who have taken employment at this mill $25 each to quit work at the end of the week for which they are employed.
  4. An association of refiners of kerosene oil adopt the following policies. How many of these will give a rival refiner who is injured an action for damages:
    1. Refusing to sell any oil to retailers who deal at all with refiners outside the association.
    2. Reducing prices 25% in districts where rival refiners are selling.
    3. Giving 33 1/3% discount to those retailers who will agree to deal with members of the association exclusively.
    4. Fining any member of the association who sells to any retailer who deals with any outside refiner.
  5. Can A sue X in the following cases, or is the course of dealings described regarded as permissible:
    1. A makes a contract with a retail stove dealer in which it is agreed that all stoves which the retailer shall need during the year shall be bought of X at certain specified prices. X then comes to this retailer and says: “I will cut every price you have from A in that contract 33 1/3% if you will buy of me instead of from A.” The retailer thereupon repudiates his contract with A and enters into one with X.
    2. A manufacturer of saleratus enters into a contract one with jobbers, in he promises those jobbers a special discount who agree not to sell other cheaper grades. A, a manufacturer of a cheaper grade, finds himself almost forced out of the market of a cheaper grade finds himself almost forced out of the market by this.
    3. L, a baker, sells his shop to A, agreeing with him not to engage, within five miles, for five years, in any branch of the provision business, in any capacity. X, a rival baker, takes a lease of the shop next door, and opens branch there, inducing L to act as manager of the shop.
    4. X, a salesman of A, during his last trip, tells customers that he is going to set up for himself after Jan. 1, 1906, and that he will hope to have their patronage then.
  6. Are the following agreements enforceable:
    1. An agreement signed by various railroads not to give credit for freight to shippers who owe any of them for freight.
    2. An agreement between shoe manufacturers not to employ more than three drummers in any one state.
    3. An agreement between one automobile manufacturer and a magazine proprietor that $2,500 should be paid for one page of advertising in the April number, and that no other automobile advertisements should be taken for March, April, or May.
    4. An agreement between three manufacturers of iron pipe that each would give to each of the others 5% of all orders received by them.
  7. Can A sue the X corporation, which is organized to manufacture shoe machinery, in the following cases:
    1. A has conveyed to the X Co. a tract of land upon which it is building a model town for its employees, but for which it has not paid X.
    2. A has agreed to transfer to the X Co. a majority of the shares in the B Co., a rival shoe machinery company, for which block of shares the A Co. has agreed to pay $125 per share.
    3. Suppose A is a shareholder in the X Co., and a dividend of 20%, payable June 1, was declared May 1 by the directors, but at a later meeting, on May 15, they had reconsidered that vote and voted to pay no dividend at all, although the corporation books showed 50% profit for the last five years.
    4. Suppose that the board of directors of the X Co., who hold a majority of the shares of stock, buy of a syndicate of which they are the members a tract of land for an extension of the factory, the plot costing them $100,000, being sold to the X Co. for $250,000. What can A, a minority stockholder, do?
  8. X and Y form a partnership to manufacture cotton cloth. Can A sue X and Y in the following cases:
    1. A comes to X and Y offering them 5,000 bales of cotton at 12 cents per lb. X says to A: “We do not need that cotton,” but Y says to A: “Yes, we do; and we will take all of it from you at that price.” So Y and A enter into a written contract for the cotton, which Y signs in the firm name,” X all the time protesting.
    2. Suppose A had found Y alone at the firm’s office and Y had entered into a similar contract for the 5,000 bales of cotton on behalf of X and Y, which X had protested against when he returned.
    3. Suppose I had, without authority of X, signed a note in the name of the firm to pay his butcher’s bill, and the butcher had discounted the note with A, a banker.
    4. Suppose Y, with consent of X, had signed a contract agreeing to subscribe $1,000 to a cotton manufacturer’s exposition.
  9. In the insolvency of the A corporation, the following facts appearing, what will each claimant noted in the statement of facts get out of the winding up, taking every fact stated below into account: The B corporation, having no other assets than a plant worth then about $200,000, but subject to a bonded indebtedness of $100,000 upon its assets, the bonds being held by V, by a unanimous vote sells all its rights in the plant which are subject to the outstanding bond issue to the A Co. for $100,000, payment to the B Co. being made by $50,000 in cash and a $50,000 note of the A Co., which has not yet been paid. One W acquires later all the stock in the B Co. at 75 from the different shareholders who had originally paid 100 for their shares. It further was shown that X, who owned another plant worth about $105,000, sold it to the A Co. for $100,000, getting in return $5,000 cash and $100,000 of the bonds of the A Co., which bonds were part of an issue of $200,000 constituting a first lien upon all the assets of the A Co. of every sort, the other $100,000 of these bonds having been sold by the A Co. to Y at a discount of 15%. It also appeared that the capital stock of the A Co. was $200,000, the shares of which were issued to Z at 50% discount. When, in the insolvency proceedings the two plants are sold, the one bought from the B Co., having much depreciated, sells for $80,000, while the one bought from X, having appreciated, sells for $150,000. In addition to the claims noted above the A Co. is found to owe $50,000 to general creditors.
    Give clearly, in figures, the amount that each claimant will get. It is unnecessary in this question to discuss the rules of law involved; simply relate the processes by which you reach the results, stating the rules.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 21
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Give your answers plainly and definitely; and state your reasons carefully and briefly.

  1. The X Beef Corporation was organized in New Jersey with a capital stock of $200,000,000. With these shares or their proceeds it bought the packing plants at L, M, N, O, and P, getting the sellers to agree not to engage in the beef packing business for twenty years within the United States; A was one of these sellers. The corporation has acquired and is endeavoring to continue a monopoly in restraint of trade. One method used by it in this respect is to refuse to sell its products to dealers who handle the goods of its rivals at the same price as it will sell to those dealers who will agree to deal with it exclusively; B was a dealer who refused to accede to these terms. The corporation sold beef to C on credit and bought cattle from D on credit.
    Can the X corporation sue A or C for breaking their contracts; and can B or C sue the X corporation for damages?
  2. In 1894 an individual and a corporation enter into a partnership agreement, stipulated to continue for five years. In 1897 large net profits have been realized and are in the hands of the corporation. It is reasonably certain that further profits will accrue if the partnership is continued to the end of the stipulated term. But the corporation, in 1897, refuses to continue in partnership, or to recognize the individual partner’s right to share in the profits then on hand.
    What, if any, remedies has the individual against the corporation?
  3. The X, Y, and Z corporations, engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods and all in a flourishing condition, wished to combine their businesses. The directors and a majority of the stockholders of each corporation voted to transfer all the assets of their respective corporations to the D corporation, recently organized, and to take the stock of the D corporation in payment. A, B, and C, stockholders in these companies, obtained a temporary injunction against such transfer. Thereupon all the stockholders of the X corporation (except A, B, and C) transferred their stock to L, as trustee, with power for five years to vote the stock and to make such transfers as he should think wise for the purpose of qualifying directors. All the stockholders of the Y and Z corporations (except A, B, and C) transferred their stock to M and N respectively on like trusts. L, M, and N entered into an agreement always to elect the same persons directors of all the corporations during the continuance of the voting trusts, and they thereafter voted for certain persons for directors in pursuance of this agreement. A, B, and C voted for different persons for directors, no person being voted for as a director in more than one corporation.
    May the persons so voted for oust the directors voted for by L, M, and N? Should the injunction obtained by A, B, and C be made permanent?
  4. A railroad company is constructed through a coal region. At first it receives coal from all shippers into the cars which it leaves upon its own sidings. Later the larger operators at considerable expense construct spurs to their mines and erect conveyors to load the cars; to such operators the railroad makes a reduction in rates over those who load at stations. Later still the railroad gives notice that it will no longer accept coal in bulk from any shipper who does not maintain his own spurs and conveyors.
    Has the small operator who has no such equipment any complaint against the earlier discrimination or against the later refusal to serve?
  5. An electric light company in the city of X is constructed by the issue of $1,000,000 of stock issued to a contractor in part payment for the construction of its plant and by the floating of $1,000,000 20 year 5% bonds at 90. The contractor made 10% net on the whole job. At present the company is paying 8% dividends in addition to meeting promptly the interest on its bonds. It makes a practice of charging to operating expenses all repairs and replacements, while outright new construction or extensions it provides for out of a surplus fund collected some years ago. In addition to these charges it sets aside out of current earnings 8 1/3% relying upon an expert’s opinion that practically the whole plant must be renewed in in twelve years, and by vote of its stockholders it pays enough into a sinking fund each year to retire its bond issue at maturity. A to a corporation commission, acting under the authority of enabling legislation, orders the price for electricity reduced to consumers to a figure which the electric company shows by its books will leave them only 2% dividends if their present financial policy is continued.
    Should the courts set aside the orders of the commission on this showing?
  6. A railroad company buys coal of various operators along its route which it transports to market and sells there. An independent operator shows that at times of press of business the railroad uses part of its cars in its own coal shipments; to which the railroad company replies that it gives him his proportion of cars. This operator also shows that the railroad will buy coal at $3.00 per ton, transport it to market and sell it at $3.75, while he shipping from the same station has to pay the published rate of $1.25 per ton; to which the railroad company replies by saying that they make themselves a trainload rate of 75 cents per ton which they are willing to give him.
    Must he be content with these answers?
  7. A railroad running east from A to C through B advertises a cheap round trip from B to C and return which it states is “only from station B, passengers from stations west of B may not take advantage of this excursion.” X who lives in A buys a ticket to B, intending to do some business with a merchant, Y, in that town. As he is getting off the train at B he is met by the office boy of Y who tells him that Y went to C by an earlier train. X thereupon decides to follow Y to C and get him to return back; he accordingly goes to the ticket office at B and asks for a cheap round trip so that he can go on by the same train which is still waiting in the station. The ticket agent refuses to sell him a ticket. He gets on board the train and offers to pay the conductor regular fare, but the conductor tells him that he cannot ride upon this excursion train without a special ticket, and thereupon ejects him, using necessary force.
    What are X’s rights against the railroad?
  8. The rate from A to B on the X railroad, an interstate carrier, was 10 cents per ton; from A to C, 20 miles beyond B, the rate Over the same road was 8 cents per ton. From A to B there were several competing lines of railroad, but they had successfully formed a traffic agreement to keep up rates. From A to C the competing lines were cutting rates, and the 8-cent rate was necessary if the X railroad was to obtain business. At D, a station beyond C, where there was also competition, the X railroad carted goods free for all shippers who would agree to ship all their goods by it.
    Have shippers at B or at D any legal complaint?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 43-46.

Image Source: Harvard Law School ca. 1901 from the Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Exams for the advanced course in public finance. Bullock 1905-06

Say what you will, Bullock’s courses in public finance attempted to span centuries of fiscal history and had a strong international comparative scope. 

Charles Jesse Bullock also provides us a nice illustration of the ephemeral nature of academic rank and distinction. In the long-run…

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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

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From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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Course Enrollment
Economics 16
1905-06

Economics 16. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 7: 5 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 16
PUBLIC FINANCE
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. What were the chief causes of the increase of public expenditure during the nineteenth century?
  2. Can any prediction be made concerning the probable future of any classes of public expenditures?
  3. What has been the history of revenues from domains in European states since the close of the Middle Ages?
  4. What can you say concerning the revenue now derived from domains and industries in Prussia and in England?
  5. How do Seligman and Adams classify public revenues? What are Bastable’s criticisms against Seligman’s classification?
  6. What are the arguments commonly advanced for and against alienation of domains?
  7. With what different definitions of taxes are you familiar? What do you consider a correct definition?
  8. Discuss the comparative merits or demerits of proportional and progressive taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
[Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]

  1. What is your opinion of the causes and results of the increase of public expenditures in the nineteenth century?
  2. What is your opinion of the merits of the arguments for and against municipal ownership of lighting and traction enterprises in the United States?
  3. Compare the French system of national taxation with the British.
  4. Write an account of the present financial system of the Kingdom of Prussia, considering particularly the following topics: expenditures, domain and industries, taxation, and indebtedness.
  5. What is the present status of corporation taxes in the American commonwealths?
  6. What, in your opinion, would constitute a satisfactory tax system for the State of Massachusetts?
  7. Discuss the incidence of taxes falling upon: (a) wages, (b) rent, (c) interest.
  8. Compare the British budgetary system with that of the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906),  p. 41.

Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.