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Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization Problem Sets

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Report assignments and final exam. Ripley, 1906-1907

This version of William Ripley’s course on corporations was the fourth time of what would become a standard offering. He was an institutionalist-style economist who wallowed in the utter variety of economic organisations, be they on the side of labor or corporate capital. These did not fit neatly into the perfectly competitive theory of markets. He was interested in larger molecules and not so much in the atoms of economic life.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

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Course Readings

Cases for the course are most certainly found in Trusts, Pools and Corporations (1905), edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley. From the series of Volumes Selections and Documents in Economics, edited by William Z. Ripley published by Ginn and Company, Boston.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Corporations.

Total 236: 11 Graduates, 70 Seniors, 103 Juniors, 40 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 11 Others.

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

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

1907
ECONOMICS 92

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS.

Exact references by title, volume, and page must be given in foot-notes 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 character of one industrial combination in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against the student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the industrial combination similarly numbered on this sheet. See directions on last page.

GROUP B

Students will compare the character and extent of industrial control in two different industries in the United States. These are indicated by numbers given below, which are posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be to point out and explain any discoverable differences in the nature or extent of the industrial monopoly attained in the two industries concerned. Mere description of conditions in either case will not suffice; actual comparison is demanded. The parallel column method is suggested. See directions on last page.

GROUP C

Students will compare industrial combinations in different countries of Europe with one another, or with corresponding ones in the United States. The assignment of industries will be made by numbers, referring to the list below, these numbers being posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. Mere description will not be accepted; the student will be judged by the degree of critical comparison offered. Parallel columns may be used to advantage. See directions on last page.

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

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: “31 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the American Cotton Oil Co.; “2 & 64 B,” that a comparison of the American Bridge Co. and the United States Leather Co. in the United States is expected; while “59 & 158 C” calls for an international comparison of industrial organizations in thread manufacture as described under Group C.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

A star indicates that data will be found in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. I or XIII.

  1. American Axe and Tool Co., 1889.
  2. American Bridge Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  3. American Iron and Steel Mfg. Co., 1899.
  4. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  5. *American Radiator Co., 1899.
  6. *American Sheet Steel Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  7. *American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey, 1899, (See No. 123.)
  8. American Steel Casting Co., 1894.
  9. *American Steel Hoop Co., 1899. (See No. 128.)
  10. *American Tin Plate Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  11. *Federal Steel Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  12. International Steam Pump Co., 1899.
  13. *National Shear Co., 1898.
  14. *National Steel Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  15. National Tube Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  16. *Otis Elevator Co., 1898.
  17. Republic Iron and Steel Co., 1899.
  18. United Shoe Machinery Co., 1899.
  19. United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Co., 1899.
  20. American Beet Sugar Co., 1899.
  21. *American Chicle Co., 1899.
  22. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  23. *American Sugar Refining Co., 1891.
  24. *Glucose Sugar Refining Co., 1897.
  25. *National Biscuit Co., 1898.
  26. National Sugar Refining Co., 1900.
  27. *Royal Baking Powder Co., 1899.
  28. United States Flour Milling Co., 1899.
  29. *American Fisheries Co., 1899.
  30. American Agricultural Chemical Co., 1899.
  31. *American Cotton Oil Co., 1889.
  32. American Linseed Co., 1898.
  33. *Fisheries Co., The, 1900.
  34. *General Chemical Co., 1899.
  35. *National Salt Co., 1899.
  36. *National Starch Manufacturing Co., 1890.
  37. *Standard Oil Co., 1882.
  38. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., 1895.
  39. American Shot and Lead Co., 1890.
  40. American Smelting and Refining Co., 1899.
  41. American Type Founders Co., 1892.
  42. *International Silver Co., 1898.
  43. National Lead Co., 1891.
  44. American Malting Co., 1897.
  45. American Spirits Manufacturing Co., 1895.
  46. Kentucky Distilleries and Warehouse Co., 1899.
  47. Pittsburgh Brewing Co., 1899.
  48. St. Louis Brewing Association, 1889.
  49. Standard Distilling and Distributing Co., 1898.
  50. *American Bicycle Co., 1899. (Now Pope Bicyele Co.)
  51. American Car and Foundry Co., 1899.
  52. *Pressed Steel Car Co., 1899.
  53. Pullman Co., The, 1899.
  54. American Snuff Co., 1900.
  55. *American Tobacco Co., 1890.
  56. *Continental Tobacco Co., 1898.
  57. *National Cordage Co., 1887. (See No. 62.)
  58. American Felt Co., 1899.
  59. *American Thread Co., 1898.
  60. American Woolen Co., 1899.
  61. New England Cotton Yarn Co., 1899.
  62. *Standard Rope and Twine Co., 1895. (See No. 57.)
  63. American Hide and Leather Co., 1899.
  64. *United States Leather Co., 1893-1905.
  65. American Straw Board Co., 1889.
  66. American Writing Paper Co., 1899.
  67. International Paper Co., 1898.
  68. *National Wall Paper Co., 1892-1905.
  69. Union Bag and Paper Co., 1899.
  70. United States Envelope Co., 1898.
  71. American Clay Manufacturing Co., 1900.
  72. American Window Glass Co., 1899.
  73. International Pulp Co., 1893.
  74. National Fire Proofing Co., 1899.
  75. *National Glass Co., 1899,
  76. *Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 1895.
  77. United States Glass Co., 1891.
  78. American School Furniture Co., 1899.
  79. Diamond Match Co., 1889,
  80. National Casket Co., 1890
  81. United States Bobbin and Shuttle Co., 1899,
  82. American Glue Co., 1894.
  83. American Ice Co., 1899.
  84. American Shipbuilding Co., 1899.
  85. American Soda Fountain Co., 1891,
  86. *General Aristo Co. (Photography), 1899.
  87. Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., 1899.
  88. United States Rubber Co., 1892.
  89. Allis-Chalmers Co., 1901.
  90. American Cigar Co., 1901.
  91. American Grass Twine Co., 1899.
  92. American Light and Traction Co., 1901.
  93. American Locomotive Co., 1901.
  94. American Machine and Ordnance Co., 1902.
  95. American Packing Co., 1902.
  96. American Plow Co., 1901.
  97. American Sewer Pipe Co., 1900.
  98. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  99. Associated Merchants Co., 1901.
  100. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 1902.
  101. Consolidated Railway Lighting and Refrig. Co., 1901.
  102. Consolidated Tobacco Co., 1901.
  103. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  104. Crucible Steel Co., of America, 1900.
  105. Eastman Kodak Co., 1901.
  106. International Harvester Co., 1902.
  107. International Salt Co., 1901. (Also National Salt Co.)
  108. *Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 1902.
  109. *National Asphalt Co., 1900.
  110. New England Consolidated Ice Co., 1902.
  111. New York Dock Co., 1901.
  112. Pacific Hardware and Steel Co., 1902.
  113. Pennsylvania Steel Co., 1901,
  114. Railway Steel Spring Co., 1902.
  115. International Mercantile Marine Co., 1902.
  116. Northern Securities Co., 1901. (See Library Catalogue.)
  117. United Box, Board and Paper Co., 1902.
  118. United Copper Co., 1902.
  119. United States Cotton Duck Corporation, 1901.
  120. United States Realty and Construction Co., 1902.
  121. United States Reduction and Refining Co., 1901.
  122. United States Shipbuilding Co., 1902.
  123. American Tobacco Co., 1903.
  124. Central Leather Co.
  125. American Ice Securities Co.
  126. Amalgamated Copper Co.
  127. General Electric Co.
  128. United Shoe Machinery Co.
  129. American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
  130. United Gas Improvement Co.
  131. Interborough-Metropolitan Co.
  132. Mass. Electric Companies.
  133. Mass. Gas Companies.
  134. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.
  135. Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.
  136. N. Y. Consolidated Gas Co.
  137. American Express Co.
  138. Adams Express Co.
  139. United States Steel Corporation; Promotion.
  140. United States Steel Corporation; Financial Development.
  141. United States Steel Corporation; Bond Conversion.
  142. United States Steel Corporation; Relations to Employees.
  143. United States Steel Corporation; Earnings, Quotations and Business.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN EUROPE.

[Consult: Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII; U.S. Special Consular Reports, Vol. XXI, Part III; and London Economist on England since 1895; Griffin’s Library of Congress List of Books on Trusts, 1902, p. 35; and for the respective countries, Stock Exchange Official Intelligence (Lib 5230.7), Salling’s Börsenpapiere (Lib. 5234.5.2), and Annuaire Général des Sociétés françaises par Action (5232.5), On Germany consult also Kontradictorische Verhandlungen über deutsche Kartelle (Lib., Econ. 3871.1).]

  1. Canadian Iron Founders’ Association. (See Canadian Commission on Trusts, 1888.)
  2. *Bleachers’ Association, England.
  3. *Iron Combination, France.
  4. *Iron Combination, Germany. (Stahlwerkverband.)
  5. *Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate.
  6. *Spirits Combination, Germany.
  7. *United Pencil Factories’ Company, Germany.
  8. *Portland Cement Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  9. *Bradford Dyers’ Association, England.
  10. *Brass Bedstead Association, England.
  11. *British Cotton and Wool Dyers’ Association.
  12. *British Oil and Cake Mills.
  13. *Calico Printers’ Association, England.
  14. *Wall Paper Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  15. *English Sewing Cotton Co.
  16. *Petroleum Combination, Germany.
  17. *Petroleum Combination, France.
  18. *Sugar Combination, Germany.
  19. *Sugar Combination, Austria.
  20. German Salt Combination.
  21. German Potash Combination.
  22. International Sulphur Trust.

DIRECTIONS.

All books here referred to are reserved in Gore Hall.

First.—Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. Unless they are “listed” on the stock exchanges, no reports will be furnished. P. O. addresses for American corporations will be found in the latest Moody’s Manual of Corporation Securities; in 12th U. S. Census, 1900, Manufactures, Part I, p. lxxxvi; in the latest Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or in the Manual of Statistics.

Second.—In all cases where possible (starred on list) consult Vols. I, XIII, or XVIII, U. S. Industrial Commission Reports. Read appropriate testimony in full, consulting lists of witnesses, Vol. I, p. 1263, and Vol. XIII, p. 979; and also using the index and digests freely. Always follow up all cross references in foot-notes in the digests. Duplicate sets of these Reports are in Gore and Harvard Halls.

Third.—For companies organized prior to 1900 look through the bibliography and index in Halle or Jenks for references; and also in Griffin’s Library of Congress List.

Fourth.—Work back carefully through the files of Moody’s Manual of Corporations and 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 Bulletin U. S. Dept. of Labor, No. 29.

Fifth.—The files of trade publications should also be consulted. Among these are Bulletin of the National Wool Manufacturers’ Association, The Iron Age, Dry Goods Economist, etc. (Boston Public Library.)

Sixth.—Read carefully in the U.S. Census the special reports on industries; and compile all data possible as to the growth and development of the industry in general, by means of statistics of production, exports and imports, number of employees and capital invested.

The course of prices of securities in detail for many companies is given in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. XIII, p. 918, et seq.

As for the form of the reports all pertinent matter may be introduced, proper references to authorities being given. Particular attention is directed to the extent of control, nature and value of physical plant, mode of selling products and fixing prices, amount and character of capitalization, with the purpose for which it was issued, relative market prices of different securities as well as of dividends paid through a series of years, degree of publicity in reports, etc. Mere history is of minor importance, unless it be used to explain some features of the existing situation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1906-1907”.

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ECONOMICS 9b
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

  1. Why was the Sherman Act passed when it was? Describe the general situation.
  2. Show how the competition of a large producer — an industrial combination, for example — located at a distance may operate to restrict the market of a smaller independent concern. Can you suggest any remedy; or is it inevitable?
  3. Invent two cases, typical of the most frequent form of controversies at common law, raising the issue of restraint of trade. Develope (sic) the reasoning involved.
  4. What was “an immunity bath”? How was the matter dealt with by Congress?
  5. Meade gives five reasons for the inferior investment value of industrial, as compared with railway bonds. What are they, succinctly stated?
  6. “The principal point is this: in England the promoters’ and middlemens’ profit is added to the nominal capital of a company, whilst in Germany it is added to the price of the shares.” Show the possible effects of this difference upon each party concerned.
  7. What remedies proposed by Attorney General Knox in 1903 (Trusts, Pools, and Corporations, pp. 262-288) have since been enacted into law? Have new solutions been proposed?
  8. Upon which of the three possible theories for the issuance of corporate capital are the laws of the following states based; viz.: (a) Massachusetts; (b) New Jersey; (c) England.
  9. Outline the experience of the American Window Glass Co. in dealing with labor organizations.

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: Share of the Standard Oil Company, issued 1. May 1878. FromWikimedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Enrollment and Final Exam, Labor Problems. Ripley, 1906-1907

This post provides material from William Zebina Ripley’s fifth iteration of his labor economics course at Harvard. A quick search using the usual internet sources that have proven handy for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror picked up a few facts about the teaching assistant for the course who would have been a law student at the time.

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Meet the course teaching assistant

Edwin DeTurck Bechtel.

b. 19 Aug 1880 in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania
d. 4. Jul 1957 in Bedford Four Corners, New York

Home: Calcium, Pennsylvania. High School in Reading, Pennsylvania. Recipient of the Price Greenleaf Scholarship.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1901-02, p. 116.

A.B. (Harvard) 1903, A.M. (Harvard) 1904. ― Resident Graduate Student, 1903-04. ― Student of Social Science at Harvard. Continuing his studies in social science in Europe, as Robert Treat Paine Fellow (1903-04).
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1903-04, p. 157.

Student, Harvard Law School
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1904-05, p. 161.

Worked for theWall Street law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn at least as early as December 1916. Represented American Express in London and Paris for some urgent matter in early 1917. (Passport Application from December 21, 1916: includes a signed statement by his sister that the family settled in Pennsylvania prior to 1750). According to his World War II draft registration form (25 Apr 1942), he was still working at the same Wall Street law firm. He died in Bedford Four Corners, New York on July 4, 1957. He became a noted expert on roses.
Source: Items at the genealogical website ancestry.com.

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Other Labor Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Problems of Labor, 1903-1904.

Problems of Labor, 1904-05.

Problems of Labor, 1905-06.

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

Trade Unionism and Allied Problems, 1914-1915.

Problems of Labor, 1931.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. E. DeT. Bechtel. — Problems of Labor.

Total 100: 8 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 33 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 6 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 9a
Mid-Year Examination, 1906-07

  1. What is the difference between an “Allied Trades Council” and a “Federal Union”? Where are they to be found respectively, and what are their functions?
  2. Is there any difference in principle between the British Workmen’s Compensation Act and the German Compulsory Insurance Acts? If so, what is it?
  3. What are some of the legislative remedies proposed for the abuse of the injunction as applied to labor disputes? Criticise them.
  4. In what respects are American Industrial conditions different from those of the Australian colonies? Do these explain the differences in labor legislation in part? If so, how?
  5. What are the two most tangible results of the Australian labor legislation? Explain how they have come about.
  6. In the Higgling of the Market to determine rates of income, what are some of the advantages, or “bulwarks” as Webb styles them, which are enjoyed by the employer? What offsets has the workman?
  7. In what different ways may the non-union man be dealt with in Collective Bargains? Instance concrete examples.
  8. State briefly, but without discussion, three points in favor of, and three arguments against the German Compulsory Insurance Acts.
  9. What is the attitude of Trade Unionists in general toward incorporation? What substitute for incorporation, which will accomplish the same purpose, can you suggest?

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

Categories
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).

Categories
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 Source: WikimediaCommons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Categories
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.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Problem Sets Transportation

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

American Railroad Scene

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

Carl Christ

 

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, 1906-07;  Papers 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%”.