Frank W. Taussig only offered this intermediate level economic theory course twice. It was sandwiched in between his principles of economics course and the graduate economic theory course.
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Course Description, 1917-18
[Note: the course was not offered, 1917-18]
7a 1hf. Economic Theory [No instructor listed]. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30, and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11.
Course 7a undertakes a survey of economic thought from Adam Smith to the present time. Considerable parts of the Wealth of Nations and of J. S. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy will be read, as well as selected passages from the writings of contemporary economists. No theses or other set written work will be required. The course will be conducted chiefly by discussion. It forms an advantageous introduction to Economics 7b [“The Single Tax, Socialism, Anarchism” taught by Professor Thomas N. Carver].
Students who have attained in economics A a grade sufficient for distinction (A or B) are admitted without further inquiry. Others must secure the consent of the instructor.
Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1917-18. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. 14, No. 25 (May 18, 1917) p. 62.
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Course Announcement, 1915-16
[Economics] 7a 1hf. Economic Theory
Adam Smith, J. S. Mill, modern writers. Half-course (first half-year) Tu., Th., at 2.30, and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig.
Source:Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1915-16 (2ndedition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 12, No. 1, Part 13 (September 20, 1915), p. 101.
Course Enrollment, 1915-16
7a 1hf.Professor Taussig.—Economic Theory.
Total 27: 12 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1915-1916, p. 60.
Final Examination 1915-16
ECONOMICS 7a1
Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
- “The wages of the inferior classes of workmen, I have endeavored to show in the first book, are everywhere necessarily regulated by two different circumstances: the demand for labor, and the ordinary or average price for provisions. The demand for labor, according as it happens to be either increasing, stationary, or declining, or to require an increasing, stationary or declining population, regulates the subsistence of the laborer and determines in what degree it shall be either liberal, moderate, or scanty.”
Explain (1) in what way Adam Smith analyzed the “demand for labor”; (2) the nature of the reasoning which led to his conclusions regarding the influence on wages of increasing or declining national wealth. - Explain in what way J. S. Mill analyzed the demand for labor, and wherein his analysis resembled Adam Smith’s, wherein it differed; and consider whether Mill’s conclusions regarding the influence of increasing national wealth on wages were similar to Adam Smith’s.
- Explain:
- The Physiocratic notion concerning productive labor;
- Adam Smith’s distinction between productive and unproductive labor;
- Adam Smith’s doctrine as to the way in which equal capitals employed in agriculture, in manufactures, in wholesale or retail trade, put in motion different quantities of productive labor.
What reasoning led Adam Smith to arrange industries in the order of productiveness indicated in (c) and what have you to say in comment on it?
- Why, according to Adam Smith, is there rent from land used for growing grain? from land used for pasture? from mines?
What would a writer like Mill say of these doctrines of Adam Smith’s? - How does Mill (following Chalmers) explain the rapid recovery of countries devastated by war? Do you think the explanation sound?
- Wherein is Mill’s analysis of the causes of differences in wages similar to Adam Smith’s, wherein different?
- What, according to Mill, is the foundation of private property? What corollaries does he draw as regards inheritance and bequest? What is your instructor’s view on the justification of inheritance and bequest?
- Explain wherein there are or are not ” human costs ” in the savings of the rich, of the middle classes, and of the poor; and wherein there are or are not” economic costs ” in these several savings.
- Hobson says: (a) that” the traditional habits of ostentatious waste and conspicuous leisure . . . induce futile extravagance in expenditure”; (b) that” the very type of this expenditure is a display of fireworks; futility is of its essence”; (c) that “the glory of the successful sportsman is due to the fact that his deeds are futile. And this conspicuous futility is at the root of the matter. The fact that he can give time, energy, and money to sport testifies to his possession of independent means.” Consider what is meant by” futility ” in these passages; and give your own opinion on the significance of “sport.” [J.A. Hobson, Work and Wealth: A Human Valuation, 1914.]
- Explain the grounds on which Hobson finds little promise for the future in (a) consumers’ cooperation; (b) producers’ cooperation; (c) syndicalism.
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Course Enrollment, 1916-17
7a 1hf.Professor Taussig.—Economic Theory.
Total 31: 2 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 12 Juniors, , 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1916-1917, p. 56.
Final Examination 1916-17
ECONOMICS 7a1
Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
- Summarize the order in which Adam Smith arranges the several topics taken up by him in Book I; and explain the circumstances in his life and in the composition of the Wealth of Nations which explain this order.
- Wherein is Adam Smith’s discussion of differences of profit similar to Mill’s, wherein dissimilar?
- Precisely in what ways was Adam Smith’s doctrine on the rent of mines similar to that of Mill, in what ways dissimilar?
- How, according to Adam Smith, does the issue of paper money drive specie out of circulation?
- Can J. S. Mill’s doctrines on wages be reconciled with those of his chapter on the future of the laboring classes?
- Explain briefly what Wells means by “administrative” socialism; by “constructive” socialism.
- “The principle which prompts to save is the desire of bettering our condition, a desire which, though generally calm and dispassionate, comes with us from the womb, and never leaves us till we go into the grave….An augmentation of fortune is the means by which the greater part of men propose and wish to better their condition.” What application does Adam Smith make of this principle as regards the effects of public and of private prodigality and misconduct?
- What is said of Adam Smith’s principle (as stated in the preceding question) by Wells? by your instructor?
- “The fact must be insisted upon that most of the work of the world and all the good work is done to-day for some other motive than gain; that profit-seeking not only is not the moving power of the world, but that it cannot be, that it runs counter to the doing of effectual work in every department of life.” [H. G. Wells, New Worlds for Old (1913), p. 94]
“The prosperous merchant of to-day would find himself somewhere high in the hierarchy of the distributing service….And you would get a pretty good salary; modern Socialism does not propose to maintain any dead level to the detriment of able men. Modern socialism has cleared itself of that jealous hatred of prosperity that was once a part of class-war socialism.” [H. G. Wells, New Worlds for Old (1913), p. 304]
Is there any inconsistency between these two passages? - “Another delusion is that public property is more serviceable than private property, to the public. It is difficult for some people to see that all productive property is serving the public, and the more efficiently it is managed, and the more it is made to produce for the manager, the better it is for the public…The only question is, is it likely to be used as productively in the hands of the individual who has shown the efficiency to accumulate it, as it would be if it were taken out of his hands by the public?”
- What parts of this quotation would Wells accept or reject?
- What is your own opinion of the quotation, and of Wells’ view on the subject?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1917 (HUC 7000.28, vol. 59). Papers Set for Final Examinations on History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June, 1917, pp. 57-58.
Image Source: Frank W. Taussig from Harvard Class Album 1915.