Today’s posting is a transcription of the “special examination” questions in economic history since 1750 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.
- One of the Six Correlation Examinations given to Honors Candidates. (May 12, 1939; 3 hours)
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
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Economic History since 1750
(Three hours)
PART I
(About one hour)
- Write an essay on one of the following topics:
- the effects of technological change upon economic and political change in the period 1750-1850 or 1850-1940,
- Ricardo’s influence on the policies and economic development of England,
- labor and politics during the last fifty years in France, or Great Britain,
- Bismarck’s policies and their effects on Germany’s economic development,
- causes and effects of the growth of restrictions on international trade in the last half-century,
- the corporation in America prior to 1850,
- prosperity-depression cycles in agriculture and in industry—comparative chronology and characteristics in any fifty-year period,
- the development of banking during the nineteenth century in the United States, France, or Germany,
- the influence of the railroads on the American economy, 1840-1900.
PART II
(About one hour)
Answer two questions.
- How do you explain the world-wide fall of the price level in the latter part of the nineteenth century?
- To what extent have the causes of “economic imperialism” in modern history been economic causes?
- Sketch the principal favorable and unfavorable effects of the rise and spread of the factory system on the welfare of “the toiling masses.”
- Explain the principal economic consequences for Germany of the last world war and the Versailles Treaty.
- Outline the systems of land tenure in England and France in the nineteenth century and their effects on the development of agriculture in those countries.
- Has the Industrial Revolution ended? If so, when did it end?
- Explain the monetary events and theories of England’s “restriction period,” and their effects on later English legislation and monetary policy.
- Discuss the development of one of the following industries in Europe between 1870 and 1914 and its effects on European economic history: electricity, oil, chemicals.
- Discuss the economic causes and effects of the high rate of population growth that characterized the nineteenth century.
- “In the farm problem of the twentieth century the United States government is reaping both what it sowed and what it did not sow in its land policy of the preceding century.”
- What were the principal economic activities in the different sections of this country at that time and the changes in it during the next half-century.
- What part did economic factors play in causing the Civil War in the United States?
- Is there any good evidence that monopoly elements in the American economy increased between 1850 and 1910?
PART III
(About one hour)
Discuss two of the following questions.
- “The failure of the royal government of France to balance its budget brought on the French Revolution. In the light of that experience, it is folly to think that American democracy in our time can save itself by deficit financing to provide employment.”
- “The great errors of economic policy in the nineteenth century were excessive political interference with relative prices and disastrous neglect of the positive responsibilities of government under a free enterprise system.”
- “Economic history demonstrates that tariff policy exercised no significant effect on the economic development of leading European countries in the nineteenth century.”
- “Liberty of contract has provided both a great stimulus to economic progress and a great deterrent to social progress.”
- “A casual acquaintance with the history of the nineteenth century is sufficient to dismiss the claims of those who would substitute a ‘managed’ currency for sound money.”
- “Those who seek to ensure a market uncontrolled either by the state or by powerful interests in the state must be theoreticians rather than historians.”
- “The most potent influence on industrial organization in the United States has been American inventive genius.”
May 10, 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.