It is interesting to see that University of Chicago economics undergraduates in 1962 were still expected to learn something about mercantilism and classical international economic theory with a dash of Friedrich List as a chaser in Lloyd Metzler’s course on international monetary relations and policies. Oh yes, and Alfred Marshall gets into the act as well!
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Lloyd A. Metzler
ECONOMICS 271
Reading List
Winter, 1962
- Mercantilism and the Classical Theory of Comparative Advantage.
P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 2.
Eli Heckscher, “Mercantilism,” in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. X.
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapter 7.
John Stuart Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy, Essay 1.
- Mechanism of the Foreign Exchange Market.
Alan R. Holmes, The New York Foreign Exchange Market, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, March 1959.
P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 15.
Frank A. Southard, Jr., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy.
Peter B. Kenen, Giant among Nations, Harcourt Brace, 1958.
- National Income and the Balance of Payments.
J. E. Meade, The Theory of International Economic Policy, Vol. I, The Balance of Payments, Oxford University Press, Part I.
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Income and Output, 1958.
R. F. Bennett, “Significance of International Transactions in National Income,” in Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. VI, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Book III, chapters 1-4.
- Postwar Monetary Developments.
Randall Hinshaw, “Toward Currency Convertibility,” Princeton University, Essays in International Finance, No. 31, 1958.
Robert Triffin, Europe and the Money Muddle, Yale University Press, 1957.
Alice Bourneuf and E. A. Goldenweiser, “The Bretton Woods Agreements,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1944.
- Regional Monetary Arrangements.
Jacob Viner, The Customs Union Issue, Chapter 4.
Committee for Economic Development, The European Common Market and its Meaning to the United States, CED, May, 1959.
James E. Meade, Problems of Economic Union, University of Chicago Press, 1953.
- Undeveloped Areas and the Theory of Economic Growth.
Friedrich List, A National System of Political Economy.
Walter W. Rostow, The Process of Economic Growth, chapters 1-4.
Colin Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, chapters 2, 3, 4, 11.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, chapter 1.
A. J. Brown, Introduction to the World Economy, chapters 1-4, chapter 6.
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “271 Class Notes. Win. ‘62”.
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L. A. Metzler
ECONOMICS 271
COURSE EXAMINATION
Winter, 1962
(1) Outline the principal policies of mercantilist economics and show how these policies were justified as being in the national interest of the country concerned.
(2) How were the mercantilist doctrines refuted by the classical economists, particularly by Ricardo and Mill?
(3) Did the classical economists establish a case for universal free trade? Explain.
(4) What are the main features of an undeveloped or backward country and how can the obstacles to economic development be overcome?
(5) How do you account for the decline in public interest in Malthus’ doctrine of population during the middle of the nineteenth century? What explains the recent revival of interest?
(6) Suppose that England, France and the United States have flexible exchange and that, at a given moment of time, these rates are:
New York—London: $4 = £1.
New York—Paris: $0.25 = F. 1
London—Paris: F12 = £1
If an arbitrageur has bank balances in all these countries, show how he can operate in such a way as to leave all of his foreign balances unchanged and at the same time increase his domestic balances. What effect will these operations have on all three rates?
(7) Demonstrate the conditions under which devaluation will improve a country’s balance of trade. In doing this you should define the balance of trade in both domestic and foreign currencies.
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “Course Exams 270-271”.
Source Image: Posting by Margie Metzler on the Metzler Family Tree at the genealogical website, ancestry.com.