Today’s posting is a transcription of the “correlation examination” questions for American economic history given at Harvard in May 1939.
Concentrators in Economics will have to pass in the spring their Junior year a general examination on the department of Economics, and in the spring of their Senior year an examination correlating Economics with either History or Government (this correlating exam may be abolished by 1942), and a third one on the student’s special field, which is chosen from a list of eleven, including economic theory, economic history, money and banking, industry, public utilities, public finance, labor problems, international economics, policies and agriculture.
Courses in allied fields, including Philosophy, Mathematics, History, Government, and Sociology, are suggested by the department for each of the special fields. In addition, Geography 1 is recommended in connection with international policies or agriculture.
[Source: Harvard Crimson, May 31, 1938]
A printed copy of questions for twelve A.B. examinations in economics at Harvard for the academic year 1938-39 can be found in the Lloyd A. Metzler papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Project.
- One Departmental Examination from the Department of Economics.
- Five Division Special Examinations.
Economic Theory,
Economic History Since 1750,
Money and Finance,
Market Organization and Control,
Labor Economics and Social Reform.
- Six Correlation Examinations given to Honors Candidates.
Economic History of Western Europe since 1750,
American Economic History,
History of Political and Economic Thought,
Public Administration and Finance,
Government Regulation of Industry,
Mathematical Economic Theory.
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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….
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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
CORRELATION EXAMINATION
AMERICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY
(Three hours)
Answer either FOUR or FIVE questions, including TWO from each group. If you answer FOUR questions, write about an hour on ONE of them and mark your answer “Essay.” This question will be given double weight.
A
Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.
- Did the colonies profit economically from their position in the British colonial system?
- Describe and contrast the land policies of Massachusetts and Virginia in the colonial period.
- How much of the weakness of the government under the Articles of Confederation would you attribute to the economic condition of the country?
- Why die New York rather than Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk or Charleston become the pre-eminent port of the United States?
- Was slavery profitable?
- Can the Republican party on its record 1865 to 1900 be spoken of as the “sound money party”?
- Describe the efforts of state governments to regulate the railroads in the period before 1887.
- How do you account for the triumph of the American Federation of Labor over the Knights of Labor?
- Is there a continuity between the Progressive movement of the early part of this century and the economic policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
B
Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.
- “The real forces behind the trust movement were very plain and simple. A lot of excellent bankers in Wall Street found that they could buy two and two, put them together and sell to the public for six or seven or eight.”
- “The farmers have always tried to put the blame for their ‘troubles’ on some external factor—money, railroads, trusts—but the real cause was always the same: overproduction.”
- Sketch the more important consequences of immigration into the United States in the period 1870-1914.
- “The momentary flowering of canal transport in this country a hundred years ago had little basis outside the alluring fantasies of that generation of state planners.”
- What important consequences of the public land policy in the nineteenth century remain today?
- Discuss the effects of the Napoleonic Wars on American economic life.
- “In industrial production America went directly from the handicraft stage to the factory system.”
- Explain briefly the attitudes in different regions of the country on questions of monetary and banking policy during the period 1820-1850.
- What methods were used by the United States Government to mobilize its economic resources during the World War?
May 12, 1939.
Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Lloyd A. Metzler Papers, Box 7; [Harvard University], Division of History, Government and Economics, Division Examinations for the Degree of A.B., 1938-39.