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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Locational Economics. Readings and Exams. Isard, 1952-53

Image Source:  Walter Isard, ca. 1960. From David Boyce presentation: Leon Moses and Walter Isard: Collaborators, Rivals or Antagonists.

___________________

Harvard Ph.D. (1943)

WALTER ISARD, A.B. (Temple Univ.) 1939, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1941.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economic Fluctuations and Forecasting.
Thesis, “The Economic Dynamics of Transport Technology.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, p. 105.

___________________

Tentative Schedule of Topics

Economics 235—Problems of Location of Economic Activities
Fall Term—M.W.F. at 9 A.M.

  1. Realistic Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. Transport Orientation
    3. Labor Orientation
    4. Other Orientation
    5. Agglomeration
    6. Competing Market and Supply Areas, Theory of Space Pricing (Basing Point included)
    7. Agricultural Location Theory (with reference to an aggregate)
    8. The General Equilibrium Framework (The Total Picture of a Space-Economy—The Interaction of the Industrial and Agricultural Sectors)
  2. Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Regional Development
    1. Case Studies
      1. Iron and Steel Industry
      2. Glass Industry
      3. Aluminum Industry
    2. Trends—Past and Near Future
      1. General Historical Background
      2. Changes in Resource Utilization and in the Pull of Materials, Markets, and Labor Locations
      3. Industrial Concentration and Dispersion
      4. Urban-Metropolitan Development Processes
      5. Regional Industrialization Processes
  3. The Far Future: Technique in Predictive Analysis
    1. Implications of Atomic Energy
    2. Implications of Aircraft and other Innovations

Summary

[Note:  A.1 through A.5 above—“With reference to the individual firm and the industry as well as to groups of industries]

*  * *  *  * *  *  * *  *  *

Economics 235a—Economics of Location and Regional Development: Principles

Fall Term—M.W.F. at 9 A.M.

Readings

  1. Introduction
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries (ed. by C. J. Friedrich), Introduction and Chap. I
    2. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 1

Supplementary reading

    1. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. I, II, V
    2. H. Schumacher, “Location of Industry,” Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, Vol. V, pp. 585-92
    3. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chaps. I, II
    4. F. M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chap. I

 

  1. Transport Orientation
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chaps. II, III
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chaps. I, II, and pp. 34-42
    3. William H. Dean, Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities (Selections), Chap. II
    4. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 4

Supplementary reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 6, 9, 10
    2. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. VI-IX, XII
    3. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chaps. 2, 3, 4 (for an elementary presentation)
    4. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Part I (for general theoretical reading)
    5. E. Niederhauser, Die Standortstheorie Alfred Webers (for general theoretical reading)
    6. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, secs. I and II
    7. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chap. III

 

  1. Labor and Other Orientation
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chap. IV
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chaps. IV, V
    3. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 10

Supplementary reading

    1. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chaps. V and VII (elementary presentation)
    2. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 7, 8, 11, 12, 13
    3. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. III
    4. H. Ritschl, “Reine und historische Dynamik des Standortes der Erzeugungszweige,” Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 51, 1927, secs. I-III
    5. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chaps. IV, V
  1. Agglomeration
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chaps. V, VI
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chap VI
    3. William H. Dean, Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities (Selections), Chap. V

Supplementary reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 14, 15, 16, 17
    2. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. IV.
    3. E.A.G. Robinson, The Structure of Competitive Industry

 

  1. Market and Supply Areas
    Required reading

    1. A. Lösch, “The Nature of Economic Regions,” Southern Economic Journal, Vol. V, 1938, pp. 71-78
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, pp. 42-59
    3. C.D. and W.P. Hyson, “the Economic Law of Market Areas,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1950

Supplementary reading

    1. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Part II
    2. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chap. XIV
    3. H. Hotelling, “Stability in Competition,” Economic Journal, Vol. 39, March 1929, pp. 41-57
    4. E. Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, 3rded., especially Appendix C, “Pure Spatial Competition”
    5. A.P. Lerner and H.W. Singer, “Some Notes on Duopoly and Spatial Competition,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, 1937, pp. 145-86
    6. A. Robinson, “A Problem in the Theory of Industrial Location,” Economic Journal, Vol. 51, June-Sept. 1941, pp. 270-75
    7. E.M. Hoover, “Spatial Price Discrimination,” The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 182-91
    8. A. Smithies, “Monopolistic Price Policy in a Spatial Market,” Econometrica, Vol. 9, 1941, pp. 63-73
    9. _____, “Optimum Location in Spatial Competition,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 44, June 1941, pp. 423-39
    10. H. Moller, “Grundlagen einer Theorie der regionalen Preisdifferenzierung,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. 58, 1943, pp. 335-90
    11. G. Ackley, “Spatial Competition in a Discontinuous Market,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 56, Feb. 1942, pp. 212-30
    12. S. Enke, “Space and Value,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LVI, Aug. 1942, pp. 627-37
    13. T.N.E.C. Monograph No. 42
    14. F. Machlup, The Basing Point System, Chaps. 4, 5, 6, 7
    15. S. Enke, Equilibrium among Spatially Separated Markets: Solution by Electric Analogue,” Econometrica, January 1951

 

  1. Agricultural Location Theory
    Required reading

    1. Theodor Brinckmann’s Economics of the Farm Business, pp. 1-27, 61-63, 66, 73, 78-111, 142-63

Supplementary reading

    1. J.D. Black et al., Farm Management, Chap. XVI
    2. Theodor Brinckmann’s Economics of the Farm Business, pp. 27-61, 111-163
    3. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. III, IV
    4. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Chap. 5
    5. F. Aereboe, Allgemeine landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre, Parts III, V
    6. J.H. von Thünen, Der isolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und Nationalökonomie

 

  1. The General Equilibrium Framework
    Required reading

    1. A. Predöhl, “The Theory of Location in Relation to General Economics,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 36, June 1928
    2. B. Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade, Preface
    3. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chap. VII
    4. Isard, “The General Theory of Location and Space Economy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1949
    5. _____, “Distance Inputs and the Space-Economy: Part I, The Conceptual Framework; Part II, The Locational Equilibrium of the Firm,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May and August, 1951

Supplementary reading

    1. H. Weigmann, “Ideen zu einer Theorie der Raumwirtschaft,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol. 34, 1931, pp. 1-40
    2. ______, “Standortstheorie und Raumwirtschaft,” in Johann Heinrich von Thünen zum 150. Geburtstag (ed. By W. Seedorf and H. G. Seraphim)
    3. A. Predöhl, “Das Standortsproblem in der Wirtschaftstheorie,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. XXI, 1925
    4. B. Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade, Chaps. VIII-XII
    5. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. X and XI
    6. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. V-VIII
    7. L. Miksch, “Zur Theorie des räumlichen Gleichgewichts,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. 66, 1951
    8. A. Predöhl, Aussenwirtschaft, 1949

 

  1. Regional and Interregional Input-Output Analysis
    Required reading

    1. W.W. Leontief, “Interregional Theory,” Littauer reading room
    2. Isard, “Some Empirical Results and Problems of Regional Input-Output Analysis,” Littauer reading room
    3. ________, “Interregional and Regional Input-Output Analysis: A Model of a Space-Economy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1951

Suggested reading

    1. W. Leontief, Structure of American Economy 1919-1929
    2. W. Leontief, “Output, Employment, Consumption and Investment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LVIII, February 1944
    3. W. Leontief, “Exports, Imports, Domestic Output, and Employment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LX, February 1946
    4. W. Leontief, “Wages, Profit and Prices,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LXI, November 1946
    5. Cornfield, Evans, and Hoffenberg, “Full Employment Patterns 1950,” Monthly Labor Review, February 1947
    6. Cornfield, Evans, and Hoffenberg, “Structure of the American Economy Under Full Employment Conditions,” Monthly Labor Review, March 1947
    7. M. Hoffenberg, “Employment Resulting from U.S. Exports,” Monthly Labor Review, December 1947
    8. W. Leontief et al., “Input-Output Analysis and its Use in Peace and War Economies,” Papers and Proceedings of the American Economic Association, May 1949

 

  1. Empirical Regularities and Distance
    Required reading

    1. John Q. Stewart, “Empirical Mathematical Rules Concerning the Distribution and Equilibrium of Population,” Geographical Review, July 1947
    2. John Q. Stewart, “Demographic Gravitation: Evidence and Applications,” Sociometry, February—May 1948
    3. G.K. Zipf, Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort, Chap. 9

Supplementary reading

    1. G.K. Zipf, National Unity and Disunity
    2. J.Q. Stewart, “Potential of Population and its Relationship to Marketing,” in Theory in Marketing, ed. by R. Cox and W. Alderson
    3. H.W. Singer, “The ‘Courbe des Populations’. A Parallel to Pareto’s Law,” Economic Journal, June 1936
    4. S.A. Stouffer, “Intervening Opportunities: A Theory Relating Mobility and Distance,” American Sociological Review, December 1940
    5. M.L. Bright and D.S. Thomas, “Interstate Migration and Intervening Opportunities,” American Sociological Review, December, 1941
    6. E.C. Isbell, “Internal Migration in Sweden and Intervening Opportunities,” American Sociological Review, December 1944

 

  1. Reading Period Assignment
    1. G.E. McLaughlin and S. Robock, Why Industry Moves South, pp. 1-102

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1952-1953 (2 of 2).

___________________

Final Examination January, 1953

1952-53
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 235a

Answer questions 1 and 2, and any two others.

  1. Define and briefly discuss the following concepts:

(a) locational weight
(b) rent surface
(c) demographic gravitation
(d) market orientation

  1. Design a regional input-output model. Discuss in full the limitations of such a model for projection purposes.
  2. Present Hoover’s analysis for determining the location of marketing and other intermediary establishments.
  3. Outline and evaluate Brinkmann’s theory of agricultural location.
  4. Discuss some ways in which linear programming (activity analysis) techniques may be useful in regional analysis.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences—January 1953 (HUC 7000.28), Vol. 96. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Sciences, Naval Science. January, 1953.

___________________

Harvard University
Department of Economics
Spring Term 1952-53

Economics 235b—Economics of Location and Regional Development: Problems

  1. Case Studies of Industries
    Required Reading

    1. Isard, “Some Locational Factors in the Iron and Steel Industry Since the Early Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 56, June 1948
    2. Isard and Cumberland, “New England as a Possible Location for an Integrated Iron and Steel Works,” Economic Geography, vol. 26, October 1950
    3. F. Machlup, The Basing-Point System, pp. 3-17, 25-30
    4. T.R. Smith, The Cotton Textile Industry of Fall River, Mass., Chs. II, III, IV.
    5. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chs. VII, VIII, IX and XVI

Supplementary Reading

    1. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chs. X-XIV
    2. Isard and Capron, “The Future Locational Pattern of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 57, March 1949
    3. U.S. Department of Commerce, Transportation Factors in the Location of the Cast Iron Pipe Industry, Economic Series, No. 63 (by J.C. Nelson and R.C. Smith)
    4. L. Dechesne, La Localisation des Diverses Productions
    5. E.W. Zimmerman, World Resources and Industries, Parts II, III
    6. C.S. Goodman, The Location of Fashion Industries, Michigan Business Studies, Vol. X, No. 2
    7. F. Machlup, The Basing-Point System, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7
    8. T.N.E.C. Monograph No. 42
    9. A.Smithies, “Aspects of the Basing-Point System,” American Economic Review, December 1942
    10. United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, World Iron Ore Resources and Their Utilization
    11. W.G. Cunningham, The Aircraft Industry: A Study in Industrial Location, Los Angeles, 1951
    12. J.V. Krutilla, The Structure of Costs and Regional Advantage in Primary Aluminum Production, Doctoral Dissertation, 1952, Harvard University Archives.
    13. J.H. Cumberland, The Locational Structure of the East Coast Steel Industry, Doctoral Dissertation, 1951, Harvard University Archives.

 

  1. Trends—Past and Near Future
    a. General Historical Background
    Required Reading

    1. W.H. Dean, The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities(Selections), Introduction and Ch. III
    2. Isard, “Transport Development and Building Cycles,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 52, November 1942

Supplementary Reading

    1. G. McLaughlin, Growth of American Manufacturing Areas, Part I
    2. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, Ch. II to end
    3. A. Weber, “Industrielle Standortstheorie,” Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Abt. VI, pp. 55-82.
    4. H. Ritschl, “Reine und historische Dynamik des Standortes der Erzeugungszweige,” Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 51, 1927, secs. IV and V
    5. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chs. 9 and 10
    6. R.G. Hawtrey, The Economic Problem, Chs. IX and X
    7. C. Goodrich, Migration and Economic Opportunity, Chs. VI, VIII
    8. A.P. Usher, “The Steam and Steel Complex and International Relations,” in Technology and International Relations (ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    9. P.E.P., Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chs. II and IV
    10. W.H. Dean, The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities, Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University 1938, Chs. IV-VIII
    11. M.P. Fogarty, Prospects of the Industrial Areas of Great Britain, Ch. II
    12. R. Lester, “Trends in southern Wage Differentials Since 1890,” Southern Economic Journal, April 1945
    13. G. Ellis, “Why New Manufacturing Establishments Located in New England,” Monthly Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Volume 31, April 1949

 

  1. Industrial Concentration and Dispersion
    Required Reading

    1. S.P. Florence, Investment, Location and Size of Plant, Chs. III, IV, VI
    2. Shenfield and Florence, “The Economies and Diseconomies of Industrial Concentration: The Wartime Experience of Coventry,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XII, No. 32, 1944-45
    3. C. Goodrich, Migration and Economic Opportunity, pp. 314-92

Supplementary Reading

    1. S.P. Florence, Investment, Location and Size of Plant, Chs. I, II, V
    2. National Industrial Conference Board, Decentralization in Industry, Studies in Business Policy, No. 30
    3. J. Steindl, Small and Big Business, Oxford Institute of Statistics, Monograph No. 1
    4. D. Creamer, Is Industry Decentralizing
    5. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 4 and 5
    6. A.J. Wright, “Recent Changes in Concentration of Manufacturing,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 35, December 1945
    7. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Location of Manufactures, 1889-1929: A Study of the Tendencies Toward Concentration and Toward Dispersion.
    8. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Business Information Service, Concentration of Industry Report, December 1949
    9. Survey of Current Business, December 1949, “State Estimates of the Business Population.”

 

  1. Urban-Metropolitan Development Processes
    Required Reading

    1. A.E. Hawley, Human Ecology, pp. 80-91, 234-87, 348-432
    2. D.E. Bogue, The Structure of the Metropolitan Community, Part I
    3. R.E. Dickinson, City Region and Regionalism (Page through and observe figures carefully. Read text only when necessary to understand the implications of these figures).

Supplementary Reading

    1. W. Christaller, Die zentralen Orte in Süddeutschland
    2. E. Ullman “A Theory of Location for Cities” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 46, May 1941, pp. 853-64
    3. U.S. Federal Housing Administration, The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhoods in American Cities
    4. Isard and Whitney, “Metropolitan Site Selection,”Social Forces, Vol. 27, March 1949
    5. P.E.P., Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chap. VI
    6. R.D. McKenzie, The Metropolitan Community, Parts II, III,, IV
    7. N.S.B. Gras, “The Rise of the Metropolitan Community” in the Urban Community (ed. by E.W. Burgess)
    8. R. Park et al., The City, Chaps. I, II, III
    9. E. de S. Brunner and J.H. Kolb, Rural Social Trends, Chaps. IV, V, VI
    10. R.E. Dickinson, “The Scope and Status of Urban Geography: An Assessment,” Land Economics, Vol. XXIV, August 1948, pp. 221-38
    11. Griffith Taylor, Urban Geography
    12. D.E. Bogue, The Structure of the Metropolitan Community, Parts II and III
    13. P.K. Hatt and A.J. Reiss, Reader in Urban Sociology, Parts 1-4

 

  1. Regional Industrialization Processes
    Required Reading

    1. Pei-kang Chang, Agriculture and Industrialization, pp. 23-36, 46-55, 66-112
    2. A.W. Lewis, “The Industrialization of the British West Indies,” Caribbean Economic Review, Vol. II, No. 1, May 1950
    3. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, Sections 7, 8, and 9

Supplementary Reading

    1. Pei-kang Chang, Agriculture and Industrialization, Chaps. IV, V, VI
    2. K. Mandelbaum, The Industrialization of Backward Areas
    3. Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, Chaps. V-XV
    4. Colin Clark, The Economics of 1960
    5. League of Nations, Industrialization and Foreign Trade, Chaps. III and IV
    6. A.J. Brown, Industrialization and Trade
    7. S.R. Dennison, The Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Part II
    8. G. McLaughlin, Growth of American Manufacturing Areas, Part II
    9. D.M. Phelps, Migration of Industry to South America
    10. P.E.P, Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chaps. I, V, VIII, IX, X
    11. B. Barfod, Local Economic Effects of a Large-Scale Industrial Undertaking
    12. Harold H. Hutcheson, “Problems of the Underdeveloped Countries,” (Parts I and II), Foreign Policy Reports, September 15 and October 1, 1948, Vol. XXIV, Nos. 9 and 10
    13. L.H. Bean, “International Industrialization and Per Capita Income,” Studies in Income and Wealth (National Bureau of Economic Research 1946), Vol. 8, pp. 119-44
    14. Ernst Pelzer, “Industrialization of Young Countries and the Change in the International Division of Labor,” Social Research, September 1940, pp. 299-325
    15. N.S. Buchanan, “Deliberate Industrialization for Higher Incomes,” Economic Journal Volume 56, December 1946
    16. E. Staley, World Economic Development (I.L.O.)
    17. Great Britain Ministry of Works and Planning, Report of the Committee on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas (Scott Report), Parts I, II
    18. Great Britain, Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, Report (Barlow Report)
    19. T.R. Sharma, Location of Industries in India (2nd Edition), Chaps. XI-XV
    20. H. Perloff, Puerto Rico’s Economic Future
    21. W.A. Lewis, “Industrial Development in Puerto Rico,” Caribbean Economic Review, Vol. I, No. 1, December 1949
    22. S.S. Balzak et al., Economic Geography of the U.S.S.R.
    23. E.M. Hoover & J.L. Fisher, “Research in Regional Economic Growth,” in Problems in the Study of Economic Growth, National Bureau of Economic Research
    24. P. Neff et al., Production Cost Trends in Selected Industrial Areas
    25. R. Vining, articles on regional cyclical behavior, Econometrica, July 1945, January 1946, and July 1946; and Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Review, May 1949
    26. Interstate Commerce Commission, Dockets Nos. 29885 and 29886, pp. 55-165, Testimony of R. Vining
    27. Survey Research Center, Industrial Mobility in Michigan
    28. Hildebrand and Mace, “The Employment Multiplier in an Expanding Industrial Market: Los Angeles County, 1940-47,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1950
    29. C. Clark, “The Distribution of Labour Between Industries and Between Locations,” Land Economics, May 1950

 

  1. Regional Implications of Aircraft and Atomic Power
    Required Reading and Reading Period Assignment

    1. Isard and Whitney, Atomic Power: An Economic and Social Analysis, entire book
    2. C. and W. Isard, “Some Economic Implications of Aircraft,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 59, February 1945

Supplementary Reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Technological Trends and National Policy, Parts I, II
    2. W. F. Ogburn, “The Process of Adjustment to New Inventions,” in Technology and International Relations (ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    3. H. Hart, “Technology and Growth of Political Areas,” in Technology and International Relations(ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    4. A. J. Brown, Applied Economics, Chapter VII
    5. Isard and Lansing, “Comparisons of Power Cost for Atomic and Conventional Steam Stations,” Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. XXXI, August 1949
    6. Isard, “Some Economic Implications of Atomic Energy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LXII, February 1948
    7. W.F. Ogburn, Social Effects of Aviation, Parts I, II, III
    8. National Resources Planning Board, Transportation and National Policy, Part II, Section I, “Air Transport.”
    9. S. Schurr and J. Marschak, Economic Aspects of Atomic Power
    10. Isard and Whitney, “Atomic Power and Regional Development,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. VIII, April 1952

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1952-1953 (2 of 2).

___________________

Final Examination May, 1953

1952-53
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 235b

Answer question 1 and three others.

  1. Define and discuss briefly the following concepts:

(a) location quotient
(b) freight absorption
(c) income potential

  1. Evaluate the economic feasibility of a plan based on the concepts of “small man, small plant, and small town with diversified industry.”
  2. Discuss the thesis that the concept of a nodal or metropolitan region is increasing in significance for regional analysis.
  3. What are the various forces determining the location pattern of the iron and steel industry? How do they interact under several different sets of circumstances? Illustrate with diagrams.
  4. “If private enterprise is to engage in the production of both fissionable material and power for commercial use, the location in New England of a nuclear energy installation operated by private enterprise would tend to minimize the subsidy required of the federal government.” Evaluate this statement.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences—June 1953 (HUC 7000.28), Vol. 99. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Air Sciences, Naval Science. June, 1953.

Image Source:  Walter Isard, ca. 1960. From David Boyce presentation: Leon Moses and Walter Isard: Collaborators, Rivals or Antagonists.

Categories
Berkeley Suggested Reading Syllabus

Berkeley. Money Course, Topics and References. W.C. Mitchell, 1906

 

 

When the following syllabus for  Economics 8B was published at the University of California in 1906, Wesley Clair Mitchell was a thirty-two year old assistant professor of economics. He was listed in the Report of the President of the university as the instructor of the course though he is not identified as such in the syllabus itself. The 22-page syllabus that I found at archive.com is unfortunately missing its second page but is still worth posting in its present incomplete state.

_______________

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND COMMERCE

TOPICS AND REFERENCES FOR
ECONOMICS 8B
MONEY

PLAN OF THE COURSE.

Part I — Monetary Systems.
Part II — Development of Monetary Systems.
Part III — Money and Prices.

PART I— MONETARY SYSTEMS.

1—The United States.

(a) Money supplied by the government,

1a— Coin: —

Gold, silver dollars, subsidiary silver, minor coins.

The mint. Standard money; legal tender.

For statistics, see current reports of the Director of the Mint. (Bound in Finance Reports.)

For laws, see C. F. Dunbar, Laws of the U. S. relating to Currency, Finance and Banking from 1789 to 1891. Boston, 1891.

J. L. Laughlin, Report of the Monetary Commission of the Indianapolis Convention, Chicago, 1898, pp. 491-543.

Coinage, Currency and Banking Laws of the U. S., 1791-1900. Sound Currency, June, 1901. Vol. 8, No. 2.

2a— Paper money: —

Gold Certificates, silver certificates.

United States notes, currency certificates, treasury notes of 1890.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

For statistics, see current Reports of the Treasurer of the U. S. (Bound in Finance Reports.)

For laws, see references above.

[Note: page 2 is missing in this copy. Appears to be missing, say, 1(b) “Money supplied by Banks”? and 2(a), 2(b)?… for “2—Foreign Countries”]

[2—Foreign Countries, from page 3]

Money and Prices in Foreign Countries. (Special Consular Reports; Vol. 13, Parts 1 and 2.) Washington, 1896, 1897.

M. L. Muhleman, Monetary Systems of the World. New York, The Spectator Company. (Numerous editions.)

J. H. Norman, Complete Guide to the World’s Twenty-nine Metal Monetary Systems. New York, 1892.

R. Chalmers, History of Currency in the British Colonien. London, 1893.

R. P. Rothwell, ”The World’s Currencies.” 2d edition.

Sound Currency, 1896. A compendium, pp. 81-98.

3 — Silver-standard monetary systems.

See references under 2.

4 — Bimetallic systems.

Historical sketches in above references, and Part II, section 6, i, below.

5 — Paper-standard systems.

See references under 2 above, and Part II, section 6, k, below.

6 — Gold-exchange standards.

Stability of International Exchange. Report on the Introduction of the Gold-exchange Standard into China and other silver-using countries. (H.R. Doc, No. 144. 58th Congress, 2d Session.) Washington, 1903.

Report on the Introduction of the Gold-exchange Standard into China, the Philippine Islands, Panama, and other Silver-using countries. Washington, 1904.

A.P. Andrew, ”The End of the Mexican Dollar.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1904.

E.W. Kemmerer, “A Gold Standard for the Straits Settlements.” Political Science Quarterly, December, 1904.

“The Establishment of the Gold-exchange Standard in the Philippines.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1905.

A. P. Andrew, “Indian Currency Problems of the Last Decade.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1901.

M. Bothe, Die indische Wahrungsreform seit 1893. (Münchener volkswirtschaftliche Studien.) Stuttgart, 1904.

 

PART II — DEVELOPMENT OF MONETARY SYSTEMS.

1—Bibliographies.

W.S. Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance. London, 1884. Pp. 364-414 (Chronologically arranged. 1568-1882).

A. Soetbeer, Litteraturnachweis über Geld-und-Münzwesen. Berlin, 1892. (Chronologically arranged. 1871-1891.)

K. Helfferich, Das Geld. Leipzig, 1903. Pp. 532-590 (Continuation of Soetbeer’s bibliography, 1892-1902).

2—Origin of Money.

C. Bücher, Industrial Evolution. Tr. by S.M. Wickett, New York, 1901. Pp. 59-71.

W.W. Carlile, The Evolution of Modem Money. London and New York, 1901. Part II, chapters I-III.

Economic Methods and Economic Fallacies, London, 1904. Ch. X.

W. Ridgeway, Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards. Cambridge, 1902. Chapter II.

K. Helfferich, op. cit. Book I, ch. I.

C. Menger, ”The Origin of Money.” Economic Journal, June, 1892.

E. Babelon, Les Origines de la Monnaie. Paris, 1897.

3—Money in Antiquity.

This subject is discussed in courses History 53 and 54.

4—From the end of the Roman Empire to the Discovery of America. The barter economy. Reappearance of Money. Local coinages. Growth of the royal prerogative. Monetary policies.

W.J. Ashley, Introduction to English Economic History and Theory. Part I, 3d ed. 1894. Ch. I, sec. 6; ch. Ill, sec. 18.

W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages. 3d ed., Cambridge, 1896. Passim.

A. Del Mar, History of Monetary Systems. London, 1895. Ch. X-XV.

G. Schmoller, Grundriss der allgemeinen Volkswirtschaftslehre. 2d part. Leipzig, 1904. Sec. 164.

W.C. Hazlitt, The Coinage of the European Continent. London and New York, 1893.

A. Luschin von Ebengreuth, Allgemeine Münzkunde und Geldgeschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit. Munich and Berlin, 1904.

H. Engel and B. Lerrure, Traité de numismatique du moyenâge. Paris, 1905.

5—From the Discovery of America to the Close of the Eighteenth Century.

(a) General references.

Hazlitt, Luschin von Ebengreuth, and Engel and Lerrure, as above.

W.A. Shaw, History of the Currency, 1252-1894. London, 1895.

G. Schmoller, op. cit. See. 165.

(b) Increase in the supply of the precious metals and the consequences.

A. Soetbeer, Materialien zur Erläuterung und Beurtheilung der wirthschaftlichen Edelmetallverhältnisse und der Währungsfrage. Berlin, 1885. 2d ed. 1886. (Translation by F. W. Taussig in Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 34; 1st Session 50th Congress.)

R.H. Patterson, The New Golden Age and the Influences of the Precious Metals upon the World. 2 vols. Edinburgh and London, 1882. Chaps. VIII-XI.

W. Sombart, Der moderne Kapitalismus. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1902. Vol. I, ch. xiii, pp. 358-372, and following chs., passim.

G. Wiebe, Zur Geschichte der Preisrevolution im 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert. (Staats- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Beiträge. Herausgegeben von A. von Miaskowski. Band ii. Heft 2.) Leipzig, 1895.

(c) The Rise of Banking.

See Exercises and References for Economics 8, pp. 11, 12.

(d) Monetary difficulties and reforms in England.

W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times. 2 parts. Cambridge, 1903. Passim.

Earl of Liverpool, Treatise on the Coins of the Realm. London, 1800. (Reprinted 1880.) Passim.

S.D. Horton, The Silver Pound, London, 1887. Chaps, v-viii.

(e) England’s transition to the gold standard.

See references under d, and,

W.W. Carlile, Evolution of Modern Money, Part I.

P. Kalkmann, England’s Uebergang zur Goldwahrung im 18ten Jahrhundert (Abhandlungen des staatswirtschaft- lichen Seminars zu Strassburg). Strassburg, 1895.

(f) Monetary experiences of the English colonies in North America.

This subject is discussed in History 77. For a brief sketch see,

C.J. Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the U. S. N. Y., 1900. Part I, chs. i-v.

(g) Establishment of a Monetary System under the constitution.

A. Hamilton, Report on the Establishment of a Mint. 1790. ”Works,” ed. J. C. Hamilton, Vol. 3, p. 149. N. Y., 1850.

J. L. Laughlin, History of Bimetallism in the U. S. 4th ed. N.Y., 1901. Ch. ii.

A. B. Hepburn, History of Coinage and Currency in the U.S. N. Y., 1903. Chs. i, ii.

D.K. Watson, History of American Coinage, 2d ed. N. Y., 1899. Chs. iii, iv.

6—Since 1800.

(a) Production of gold and silver, 1800-1848.

Soetbeer, Materialien, and Reports of the Director of the Mint, for statistical estimates.

R. H. Patterson, op. cit. Chs. xii-xv.

J. L. Laughlin, Bimetallism, ch. iii.

W.S. Jevons, ”The Variation of Prices and the Value of the Currency since 1782.” Investigations in Currency and Finance, iii.

(b) French monetary legislation of 1803.

H.P. Willis, History of the Latin Monetary Union. Chi- cago, 1901. Ch. i.

International Monetary Conference held in Paris, August, 1878. (Senate Executive Doc. No. 58. 45th Congress, 3d Sess.) Pp. 153-157. (Monetary Laws.)

F.A. Walker, International Bimetallism. N. T., 1897. Ch. iv.

(c) American legislation of 1834.

Laughlin, Bimetallism. Ch. iv.

Walker, op. cit., ch. iv.

Hepburn, op. cit., ch. iii.

Watson, op. cit., chs. v and vi.

(d) The gold discoveries in California and Australia.

R.H. Patterson, op. cit., chs. i-vi.

H.H. Bancroft, History of California, Vol. vi. San Francisco, 1888. (”Works,” Vol. xxiii.)

T.H. Hittell, History of California, Vol. ii. San Francisco, 1885. Chs. vii, ff.

T.O. Larkin and R. B. Mason, Correspondence with the Secretary of State with reference to the gold discoveries in California. House Exec. Doc. No. 1, 2d Session, 30th Congress. Pp. 51-69.

W. Westgarth, Victoria and the Australian Gold mines in 1857. London, 1857.

Soetbeer, Materialien; Beports of the Director of the Mint, for statistical estimates.

(e) Diffusion of the new gold and the economic consequences.

J.E. Cairnes, Essays in Political Economy. London, 1873.

Introductory and Essays i-iv.

W.S. Jevons, Investigations, ii-iv.

R.H. Patterson, op. cit., chs. xvii-xxi.

(f) Effect of the new gold on bimetallic monetary systems.

J. L. Laughlin, Bimetallism, chs. v-viii.

H. P. Willis, Latin Union, chs. iv-xi.

F. A. Walker, International Bimetallism, chs. iv and v.

Also see references under i below.

(g) Limitations on free coinage of silver.

Laughlin, Bimetallism, chs. vii-xi.

Willis, Latin Union, chs. xii-xiv.

Walker, International Bimetallism, ch. vi.

Watson, op. cit., chs. viii and ix.

Hepburn, op. cit., ch. xii.

Also see references under i below.

(h) Attempts to check the fall of silver.

Laughlin, Bimetallism, chs. xiv-xvii.

Willis, Latin Union, chs. xv-xx.

H.B. Russell, International Monetary Conferences. N. Y., 1898.

A.D. Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance. 2d impression. N. Y., 1900. Chs. iv-viii.

Hepburn, op. cit., chs. xii, xiii, xvii.

Watson, op. cit., chs. xi-xiii.

F.W. Taussig, The Silver Situation in the U. S. 2d ed. revised. N. Y., 1896.

Also see references under i below.

(i) The bimetallic controversy.

1i—Brief summaries of the discussion.

W.S. Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange. London, 1875. Ch. xii.

F. A. Walker, Money. N. Y., 1877. Ch. xiii.

Laughlin, Bimetallism, ch. i.

W. A. Scott, Money and Banking. 2d ed. N. Y., 1903. Chs. xiv, xv.

D. Kinley, Money. N. Y., 1904. Ch. xiv.

2i—Best systematic discussion.

L. Darwin, Bimetallism. A Summary and Examination of the Arguments for and against a Bimetallic System of Currency. London, 1897.

3i—Books presenting different points of view. For further references see bibliographies cited on p. 4 above.

E.B. Andrews, An Honest Dollar. (Pub. Am. Econ. Assc’n., Vol. iv.) 1889. Republished Hartford, 1894.

O. Arendt, Die vertragsmässige Doppelwährung. 2 vols. Berlin, 1880.

Die Ursache der Silberentwerthung. Berlin, 1899.

F. W. Bain, The Corner in Gold: Its History and Theory. London, 1893.

L. Bamberger, Reichsgold. Studien über Wahrung und Wechsel. Leipzig, 1876.

Ausgewahlte Reden und Aufsätze über Geld und Bankwesen. (Schriften des Vereins zum Schutz der deutschen Goldwährung, Vol. i.) Berlin, 1900.

D. Barbour, The Theory of Bimetallism. London, 1885.

W. Barker, Bimetallism; or, the Evils of Gold Monometallism. Philadelphia, 1896.

A. I. Fonda, Honest Money. N. Y., 1895.

H.H. Gibbs and H. B. Grenfell, The Bimetallic Controversy. London, 1886.

Sir Robert Giffin, The Case against Bimetallism. 5th ed. London, 1898.

E. Helm, The Joint Standard. London, 1894.

T. Hertzka, Das internationale Währungsproblem und dessen Lösung. Leipzig, 1892.

O. Heyn, Kritik des Bimetallismus. Berlin, 1897.

S.D. Horton, Silver in Europe. 2d ed. N. Y., 1892.

E. de Laveleye, La Monnaie et le bimetallisme international. Paris, 1891.

H. D. MacLeod, Bimetallism. London, 1894.

E. Nasse, “Das Geld und Münzwesen.” (Schönberg’s Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie. 3d ed. Tubingen, 1890. Vol. i.)

J.S. Nicholson, Treatise on Money and Essays on Monetary Problems. 4th ed. London, 1897.

Reports of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Recent Changes in the Relative Values of the Precious Metals. London, 1st Report, 1887 ; 2d Report, Final Report, Appendix, 1888.

A.E. Schaeffle, Für internationale Doppelwährung. Tübingen, 1881.

A.P. Stokes, Joint Metallism. N. Y., 1894.

E. Suess, Die Zukunft des Silbers, Vienna, 1892.

W.L. Trenholm, The People’s Money. N. Y., 1893.

Verhandlungen der Kommission behufs Erörterung von Massregeln zur Hebung und Befestigung des Silberwerthes. 2 vols. Berlin, 1894.

F.A. Walker, International Bimetallism. N. Y., 1897.

M.L. Wolowski, L’or et l’argent. Paris, 1870.

(j) General adoption of the Gold Standard.

K. Helfferich, Das Geld. Leipzig, 1903. Book i, ch. vi. (General.)

Die Reform des deutschen Geldwesens nach der Gründung des Reichs. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1898.

Hepburn, op. cit., ch. xviii.

F.W. Taussig, ”The Currency Act of 1900.” Quart. Jour. of Econ. May, 1900.

J.L. Laughlin, ”Recent Monetary Legislation.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., June, 1900.

Matsukata Masayoshi, Report on the Adoption of the Gold Standard in Japan. Tokio, 1899.

Also references under Part I, secs. 2 and 6, above.

(k) Paper money episodes of the Nineteenth Century.

W. Lexis, “Das Papiergeld im 19ten Jahrhundert.” Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften. Vol. vi; Jena, 1901. Pp. 28-38.

 

Cunningham, op, cit. Vol. iii. (See “Bank restriction” in index.)

Report, together with minutes of evidence and accounts, from the Select Committee on the High Price of Gold Bullion (ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, June 8, 1810). Reprinted in W. Sumner’s History of American Currency. N. Y., 1878.

D. Ricardo, Works, ed. McCulloch. Pp. 261-301.

T. Tooke, Thoughts and Details on the High and Low Prices of the Thirty Years from 1793 to 1822. 2d ed. London, 1824.

W.S. Jevons, Investigations, iii.

 

W.C. Mitchell, A History of the Greenbacks, 1862-1865. Chicago, 1903.

H. White, Money and Banking. N. Y., 1895. Part II, Bk. I, chs. iv, vi, vii.

Hepburn, op. cit., chs. viii-xi.

Noyes, op. cit., chs. i-iii.

W.A. Berkey, The Money Question. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, 1878.

 

J.C. Schwab, The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865. New York, 1901.

 

A. Courtois, Historic des banques en France. 2d ed. Paris, 1881. Pp. 256-269.

Bulletin de statistique et de legislation comparée, Vol. vii, pp. 247-254 and 310-337.

 

A. Wagner, Die russische Papierwährung. Riga, 1868.

H.P. Willis, “Monetary Reform in Russia.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., June, 1897.

R. Ledos de Beaufort, L’achevement et l’application de la reforme monetaire en Russie. Paris, 1899.

 

C. Ferraris, Moneta e corso forzoso. Milan, 1879.

M. Grundwald, “Geschichte des italienischen Zwangkurses und der Wiederherstellung der Valuta.” Finanz Archiv, Vol. xi, No. 1, 1894.

 

K. Kramár, Das Papiergeld in Oesterreich seit 1848. Leipzig, 1886.

G. Crivellari, “I precedenti della riforma monetaria in Austria-Ungheria” and ”La riforma monetaria in Austria-Ungheria”; Giornale degli Economisti, September, 1900, and February, 1901.

A. de Foville, “Spanish Currency.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., December, 1898.

J.P. Wileman, Brazilian Exchange: The study of an Inconvertible Currency. London, 1897.

O. Schmitz. Die Finanzen Argentiniens. Leipzig, 1895.

A. Raffalovich, ”La cours forcé et la reprise des paiements au Chili.” Journal des Economistes, November, 1897.

 

PART III— MONEY AND PRICES.

1—The Rôle of Prices in Modern Economic Life.

(a) The price system.

(b) The price system and production.

(c) The price system and distribution.

(d) Influence of the price system on the kind of goods produced.

(e) The price system and the selection of captains of industry.

(f) The price of business enterprises.

(g) Money-making as an economic motive.

(h) Influence of the price system on wants.

(i) The price system and the pecuniary point of view.

(j) Technical exigencies of the price system.

(k) Development of the price system.

(l) Summary.

(m) Neglect of the influence of the price system in economic theory.

2—The Problem of Changes in the Price Level.

(a) Statement of the problem.

(b) Meaning of ”price level.”

(c) How changes in the price level are measured.

Index numbers. Methods of averaging. Weights.

D. Kinley, Money. N. Y., 1904. Ch. xii.

J. L. Laughlin, Principles of Money. N. Y., 1903. Ch. vi.

R. Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Economics. N. Y., 1899. Ch. vi.

A.L. Bowley, Elements of Statistics. 2d ed. London, Ch. ix.

L. L. Price, Money and its Relations to Prices. London, Pp. 9-36.

J. S. Nicholson, Treatise on Money and Essays on Monetary Problems. 4th ed. London, 1897. Essay vii.

T. S. Adams, ” Index Numbers and the Standard of Value.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., December, 1901, and March, 1902.

C.M. Walsh, The Measurement of General Exchange-value. N. Y., 1901.

For further references see bibliographies in Walsh, pp. 553-574, and Laughlin, pp. 221-224.

(d) Specimen index numbers.

1d—Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, March, 1902.

Course of prices at wholesale, 1890 to date. Continued in March issues of following years.

2d—Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, July, 1904, pp. 703-712.

Prices of food at retail, 1890 to date. Continued in July issue of 1905.

Fuller publication in 18th Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor.

3d—Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, July, 1904, pp. 713-932.

Relative rates of wages, 1890 to date. Continued in July issue, 1905.

Fuller publication in 19th Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor.

4d—R. P. Falkner, “Wholesale Prices: 1890 to 1899.” Bulletin of the Department of Labor, March, 1900.

5d—Dun’s index number of the cost of living, 1860 to date. Dun’s Review, passim; also Dun’s Review: International Edition, passim. Partial republication in recent issues of the Statistical Abstract of the U. S. and in Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance.

6d— John R. Common’s index number, 1878 to 1901. Quarterly Bulletin of the Bureau of Economic Research, 1900 and 1901. Partial republication in Final Report of the Industrial Commission, pp. 29-30 and 1101-1113. For methods see Bulletin of the Department of Labor, March, 1902, pp. 210, 211.

7d—R. P. Falkner’s index number of wholesale prices, 1860 to 1891. “Aldrich Report” (Senate Report No. 1394, 52d Congress, 2d Session), Part I, pp. 27-110.

8d—Falkner’s index number of wages, 1860-1891. Ibid., pp. 110-180.

9d—A. Sauerbeck’s index number for England, 1846 to date.

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 1886 and following years. See, also, “Aldrich Report,” Part I, pp. 229-256; and Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, June, 1904.

10d—Economist index number for England.

London Economist, passim. See, also, ”Aldrich Report,” Part I, pp. 220-228.

11d—Soetbeer’s Hamburg prices, 1851-1884, Materialien, etc., pp. 98-104.

Soetbeer’s prices with Heinze’s continuation, 1847-1891. ”Aldrich Report,” Part I, pp. 257-296.

12d—O. Schmitz, Die Bewegung der Warenpreise in Deutschland von 1851 bis 1902. Berlin, 1903.

(e) Characteristics of price variations shown by these tables.

Divergencies between price variations of individual goods; of raw materials and manufactured goods; of the same goods at wholesale and retail; of labor and commodities.

Similarity in movements of the price level in different countries.

Long period and short period fluctuations.

Effect of weighing on results.

(f) Reliability of tables of index numbers as measures of change in the price level.

N. G. Pierson, “Index Numbers and the Appreciation of Gold.” Economic Journal, September, 1895. “Further Considerations on Index Numbers.” Ibid., March, 1896.

F. Y. Edgeworth, “A Defense of Index Numbers.” Ibid., March, 1896.

3—Methods of Investigating Causes of Changes in the Price Level.

(a) Study of conditions of supply and demand of single articles.

Tooke and Newmarch, History of Prices, 6 vols. London, 1838-1857. Passim.

(b) Study of tables of index numbers.

(c) Application of the general theory of value to the problem of the price level. The quantity theory.

J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy. Book iii, chs. viii and ix.

J. S. Nicholson, Treatise on Money. 4th ed. London, 1897. Part I, ch. v; part II, ch. v.

F. A. Walker, Money. N. Y., 1877. Ch. iii.

S. M. Hardy, “Quantity of Money and Prices, 1861-92.” Jour. of Pol Econ., March, 1895.

H. P. Willis, ”History and Present Application of the Quantity Theory.” Ibid., September, 1896.

W. A. Scott, ”The Quantity Theory.” Annals of the American Academy, March, 1897.

R. Mayo-Smith, “Money and Prices.” Pol, Sci, Quart., June, 1900.

J. L. Laughlin, Principles of Money. N. Y., 1903. Ch. viii.

W. A. Scott, Money and Banking. N. Y., 1903. Ch iv.

F. A. Walker, “The Value of Money.” Quart. Jour. of Econ., October, 1893.

“The Quantity-theory of Money.” Ibid., July, 1895.

W.W. Carlisle, ”The Quantitative Theory of Money.” Economic Review, January, 1898.

J. F. Johnson, ”The New Theory of Prices.” Pol. Sci. Quart., October, 1903.

J. L. Laughlin, “The Quantity Theory and its Critics, — a Rejoinder.” Jour. Pol. Econ., September, 1903.

H. P. Willis, “The Controversy over Price Theories.” Sound Currency, March, 1904.

C. A. Conant, “What Determines the Value of Money?” Quart. Jour. of Econ., August, 1904.

W. C. Mitchell, “The Real Issues in the Quantity-theory Controversy.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., June, 1904.

(d) Analysis of the process of price making.

S. and B. Webb. Industrial Democracy. 2d ed. London, 1902. Part III, ch. ii.

4—The Process of Price Making in Modern Business.

(a) Consumers.

Their disadvantages in bargaining. Their freedom to buy, what, when and where they like. Variations in the volume of their purchases.

(b) Retail dealers.

Their business position. Efforts to attract custom. Policy in fixing prices. Cost of retailing.

(c) Wholesale dealers.

Pressure upon them for low prices from retailers. Danger of direct dealings between manufacturers and retailers. Effect of variations in consumers’ demands. Credit relations.

(d) Manufacturers.

Technical problems. Business risks. Pressure for low prices and methods of meeting it. Effect of variations of demand in short and long periods.

(e) Dealers in raw materials.

Commission merchants. Firms buying and selling on their own account. Dealings upon the produce exchanges—speculation.

(f) Farmers.

Business and technical aspects of farming. Competition and the possibility of avoiding it. Variations in supply of agricultural products in short and long periods. Steadiness of demand. Farmers as consumers.

(g) Other producers of raw materials.

Important classes. Business organization of extractive industries. Peculiar conditions affecting supply. Variability of demand. Relation between prices of finished products and raw materials.

(h). Production goods other than raw materials.

Character. Sources of demand. Variability of demand. Organization of trade.

(i) Transportation companies.

Technical improvements. Business organization. Competition. Effect of reduction in rates on the price level. Effect of discrimination in railway freight rates. Variability of rates.

(j) Wage earners.

Pressure for low wages. Methods of withstanding. Why wage rates vary little as compared with prices of raw materials. Effect of efficiency of labor on price of products. Wage earners as consumers.

(k) Investors.

Variations in investor’s demand. Influence on business over short and long periods. Investors as consumers.

(l) Promoters.

Their work. Influence on the price of securities and on the price of commodities produced by their companies. Underwriting.

(m) Corporation securities.

“Outside” speculators. Management of corporations for stock-market profits. Financial influences. Connections between stock-market quotations and the general price level.

(n) Banks.

Why business men borrow of banks,—to pay debts, to extend operations, to start new enterprises.

Effect of bank loans for these purposes on the price level. Dependence on consumer’s and business demands.

The banker’s point of view, — security; adequacy of reserves; problems of business crises. Effect of banks on the circulating medium.

(o) Insurance.

Varieties. Influence on banking and investment market. Connection with the price level.

(p) Domestic and professional services.

Changes in rates of remuneration. Changes in incomes. Slight direct effect on the price level. Indirect effect as consumers.

(q) Government.

Stability in price of services rendered by government. Direct influence of taxation on the price level. Monetary policy and the price level. General indirect influence on the price level.

(r) Foreign influences on the price level.

Correspondence between changes in the prices of commodities at wholesale in different countries. Retail prices. Rates of wages; of interest.

Commercial relations. Financial relations. International movements of gold.

(s) Summary.

1s—The endless chain of price relations.

From consumers’ demand round the circle to consumers’ incomes.

2s—Why the price level changes.

Non-monetary causes of variations.

3s—Interrelations of price variations.

4s—Short-period cycles of business prosperity, crisis, and depression.

Their connection with the price system.

5s—The next problem.

Where monetary factors come into the process of price making in modern business.

5—Money and changes in the Price Level.

(a) Plan of the discussion.

(b) The Production of Gold.

Two types of gold mining,—placer and quartz mines.

Factors affecting supply. Relative production from placers and quartz mines at different periods. Statistics of gold production.

Soetbeer, Materialien. (See p. 5 above.)

E. Biedermann, Die Statistik der Edelmetalle. 2d ed. Berlin, 1904.

Annual Reports of the Director of the Mint upon the Production of the Precious Metals.

I. A. Hourwich, ”Production and Consumption of the Precious Metals.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., September, 1902. Pp. 577-682.

(c) Miners and the disposition of their gold.

What placer miners and mining companies do with the metal. Initial influence of changes in production on prices. Gold in the hands of refiners.

(d) The stock of gold and the supply.

Distinction between stock and supply. Elements of the current supply. Their relative importance. (For statistics, see citations under b above.)

(e) The demand for gold.

Industrial and monetary demands. Peculiarity of the latter. Circumstances under which gold is purchased for monetary uses.

(f) How the supply is divided between the two demands.

Statistics of relative importance. Distribution of money in-comes between the purchase of gold goods, and other uses. Distribution of monetary demand between gold and other forms of currency.

Conclusion.

(g) Influence of changes in the volume of gold money on the price level.

How additions to the volume of gold money are made. From the mints to the banks. Diffusion of new supplies from the banks of first deposit. Possible increase in general circulation.

How this process affects the price level. Increase in miners’ demands. Increase of gold in ”the pockets of the people.” Increase of gold in bank reserves. Effect in short-period cycles of business prosperity. Cumulative effect in the long run.

(h) International movements of gold.

International business relations. How payments are made. Reciprocal relations of price changes, interest rates and gold movement. Peculiarities of gold movements between the Occident and the Orient.

(This subject is more fully treated in Economics 8c.)

(i) Summary of the inter-relations between gold and prices.

Short periods; influence of monetary factors in the price-making process; the extension of loan-credit; business crises; the importance of bank reserves; foreign influences.

Long periods; the price level and the supply of gold; gold discoveries and improvements in methods of mining; the industrial demand; the general adoption of the gold standard; paper money episodes; development of banking methods and the increased use of banking facilities; advance of industrial technique; widening territorial area of markets; changes in the business organization of industry; international business relations; the supply of gold and the price level.

Relations between long period and short period price fluctuations.

(j) Money and prices under the silver standard.

Production of silver. Market ratio between silver and gold.

For statistics see, —

References under (b) above.

I. A. Hourwich, “Production and Consumption of the Precious Metals ii. Silver.” Jour. of Pol. Econ., September, 1903.

Industrial and monetary demand for silver. The oriental demand.

Domestic prices and wages in silver-standard countries. International business relations.

(k) Money and prices under the bimetallic standard.

Effect of increased production of either metal on the monetary circulation and on the price level. Reaction on relative prices of the metals. Reason of the breakdown of bimetallic monetary systems. Speculations regarding the influence of international bimetallism.

(l) Money and prices in countries with undeveloped banking systems.

The business world at the time of the discovery of the Mexican and Peruvian mines. Diffusion of the new supplies over Europe. Effect on the price level.

The case of backward countries in the nineteenth century.

(m) Money and prices in countries with paper standards.

How the paper money gets into circulation. Why depreciation occurs. Withdrawal of specie from circulation and its effect on prices in specie-standard countries. Factors affecting the specie value of irredeemable paper money. Effect on the price level. Methods of resuming specie payments. Effect of resumption on the price level at home and abroad.

6—Effects of Changes in the Price Level on the Distribution, Production and Consumption of Wealth.

(a) Wages.

Immediate effect on purchasing power of money wages. Attempts to readjust rates of wages. Compensating effects on regularity of employment. The ease of professional men.

(b) Interest and relations between debtors and creditors.

Immediate effect. Difference between cases of loans on long and short time. Readjustments in rates of interest. The purchasing power of the principal.

(c) Rents.

Immediate effects. Long and short leases. Renting “on shares.” Attempts to readjust rates.

(d) Profits.

Gain or loss of residual claimants resulting from loss or gain of other classes. Effect of difference in complexity of business organization. Gain or loss resulting from inequality in the price fluctuations of different commodities.

(e) Production and consumption.

Effect of above noted changes in distribution on production and consumption. How far is the world’s economic progress dependent on variations in the production of gold?

7—Conclusion.

Purpose of preceding discussion is to account for changes in the price level and their economic consequences. Difficulties attending application of the analysis; the difficulty of obtaining adequate statistical material, and the difficulty of quantitative evaluation of the various price factors. A study of the changes in the price level of the United States since 1890 is made in Economics 25.

Source: University of California, Department of Economics and Commerce. Topics and references for economics 8B. Money. Berkeley: The University Press, 1906.

Image Source: 1922 Blue and Gold. Published by the Junior Class of The University of California.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Columbia. Syllabus and reading assignments from economic affairs course, 1931-36

New York City Public Library reading room, ca 1911

 

 

One fine research day when I was working in the splendid reading room of the New York Public Library, I came across a ninety page syllabus for a junior year course at Columbia College “The Organization of Economic Affairs” published in 1930. From two articles in the student newspaper “The Columbia Daily Spectator” it looks like this course had a five-year run from 1931-32 through 1935-36 (see below). I was struck by the deliberate sidestepping of “economic principles”, i.e. theory, and was less than impressed by the preface to the syllabus that I have nonetheless transcribed for the digital record. In addition I have transcribed the 73 reading assignments along with the list of required reading for the course (with links to the books that I could find).  For those interested in more, there are indeed 54 pages of detailed questions and commentary for the reading assignments in the published syllabus.

Of some interest for a modern instructor is that this syllabus includes absolutely no discussion of course requirements, grading or policies. The Columbia Daily Spectator description of the course has introduced me to the concept of “Wallop Courses” which in my day at Yale (early 1970s) were referred to as “Gut Courses” and at Harvard (ca. 1910) such courses attracted “snappers”.

___________________

Reform of Columbia College Economics Course Offerings for 1931-32.

“Contemporary Civilization 3-4 has been dropped from the schedule. The entire Economics and Social Science department’s presentation has been reorganized with many sweeping changes indicated.”

Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Vol. LIII, No. 122 (15 April 1930), p. 1.

 ___________________

Wallop Courses

         This series outlines courses in the University generally considered by students as easy, either because of the nature of the material or—the chief point—the absence of rigid study and assignment requirements. The purpose of the series is to determine, after investigation how such courses function; the attitude and methods of the instructors; the attitude of students toward course and instructor.

Merely because a course is a “wallop,” does not prevent students from deriving much benefit from it, or from doing unassigned readings if the spirit of the course can move them to it. The question is, What happens in “easy” courses? If a course is invaluable no one is to be blamed because it can be considered a “wallop.”

         Economic 3-4—The organization of economic affairs. Two points each session, and two maturity credits each session. Drs. [Addison T.] Cutler, [George S.] Mitchell and [Robert] Valeur.

This course is not a “wallop” in the strict sense of this rather vague word. It is rumored about the place that if the course is easy, (which it is not, according to some statements,) that it is due more to the ability of the instructors to get the material across than to facility of the material. There is a considerable list of assigned readings, but by paying attention in class it is deemed possible to make a fair grade with a minimum of reading.

The material studied consists of surveys of various important U. S. industries, and of studies of governmental policies toward industry and labor under the New Deal. The material is said to be about 25 per cent repetition of Contemporary Civilization B. Two term papers are required during the year, and grading of these papers is generally considered to be fairly liberal.

Fortunately, or otherwise, the course will be dropped at the conclusion of this year. The material will be included in a new course, to be known as Economics 7-8, which will combine the material of Eco. 3-4 and 5-6, a course in economic theory.

This change is expected to meet general approval of students, as, at present there is some overlapping of material between the two Courses, and both are usually taken by students specializing in Economics.

Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume LIX, No. 81 (21 Feb. 1936), p. 2.

___________________

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

THE ORGANIZATION OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
ECONOMICS 3-4

A SYLLABUS PREPARED AND EDITED BY THE STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE

PREFACE

ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

To the Students of Economics 3-4:

You have completed the two-year course called “An Introduction to Contemporary Civilization.” It is assumed that you wish to explore in more detail than was possible there the problems of “Economics”. You are not unacquainted with economic affairs, for, in addition to your daily observations, you have examined to a certain extent the development of man’s ways of making a living, his ways of living with his fellow men and his ways of interpreting the world. You have also considered some of the difficult problems centering around modern industry as it expands and affects more and more all phases of life.

What then, will be the content of this course? Shall it consist of the “principles” of economics, or a study of many economic problems, or a perusal of the theoretical contribution of some authoritative economist, or something else? For better or for worse “something else” has been chosen, and that choice is roughly indicated by the title of the course, “The Organization of Economic Affairs.” The reasons for this choice and the manner of executing the task have been dictated by a number of considerations, which have to do broadly with three sorts of things: the nature of your previous experience; other curricular offerings both in and out of the field of economics; and modern descriptive and analytical trends in the study and teaching of economics. In no genuine sense will you be “specializing” even here. You will be given other opportunities for particular study: the curriculum offers courses in money and banking, labor problems, public finance, business cycles and the like.

This course will center about economic organization today. But “economic organization” is huge, sprawling and complex. The term itself is subject to considerable ambiguity. Unfortunately it is not possible to picture economic organization with the same degree of precision as might be attained in describing the layout of a given steel mill, or the organization of the United States Steel Corporation, or the organization of the steel industry. The latter type of task is puzzling enough, as you will observe in the first section of the course. But economic organization in the large is infinitely more complex and bothersome. In a hundred courses dealing with economic organization which might be offered in as many universities, it is probable that one hundred different plans of procedure would be invented. This is true of the approach to most bodies of subject matter. It is abundantly and poignantly true in the present case.

Economic affairs are in process of change. Even though this course is intended to be concerned strictly with the contemporary, rather than with the historical, it will in no sense be addressed to fixed or static conditions. It would be strange indeed, after spending a good part of two years in studying developing institutions, to assume that institutions have ceased changing. They must be caught on the wing. Changes are immediately behind us, around us, and before us. We shall probably not have frequent occasion to go back of 1920. And the impossibility of isolating a static “present” may force us into some slight projection of the future.

Another characteristic of the course is its use of quantitative data. Many, although not necessarily all, economic phenomena are matters of “more” or “less”. Quantitative tools are an increasingly important part of the equipment for the study of social phenomena. We can hardly fail to recognize this fact, whatever our private convictions as to the ultimate value of “statistics” in general, or whatever our like or dislike for playing with figures. Our quantitative data will not be used for exercises in statistical technique (there are other opportunities for that), but rather for the direct purpose of coming face to face with economic institutions in operation and discovering their meaning, or at least suggested interpretations of meaning. In this, there are two apparent dangers: (1) the student may not be able to interpret the data; (2) he may over-estimate its significance. The latter may be a real danger if a reader accepts too readily a conclusion drawn from statistical data or accepts even the elements of a statistical series, when ignorant of the methods that have been used by the statistician. We shall make our way with at least a forewarning of these dangers. Some comfort may be had from the avoidance of highly specialized and refined statistical procedures. It will be found that in many cases the authors of the materials used have shown a commendable candor in describing the limitations of their own methods.

A word as to the materials used. An emphasis on change, and the use of quantitative data, will be found to characterize the book which will provide about half the reading material: Recent Economic Changes. This is a two-volume work prepared by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It is the product of many minds. It is admittedly not perfect for our purposes; but it does present the most comprehensive and incisive picture available concerning American economic organization on the move. We present it as the best raw material for the purpose at hand. Supplementing this book various other materials appear in the outline of the course.

The outline does not follow the order of topics in Recent Economic Changes. A three-fold division of another sort is employed. First comes an analysis of a small number of important industries, in each case dealing with the industry’s technology, its business organization, and its leading problems and trends. This is for the purpose of providing specific materials for a concrete and realistic background. The classification by “industries”, rather than by topics which are common to all industries, is followed especially because the economic activities of everyday life are usually centered about some particular industry. Recent Economic Changesis not used in this section.

The second section deals with “industrial relationships”. Here we take leave of the boundaries between the specific industries such as steel and textiles, and begin to consider the institutions and practices which industries have in common, and which, taken together, provide consumers with goods and services. Included here are recent trends in industrial technology, transportation, marketing, labor, finance and especially the price system. Each of these topics is studies in its own terms and usually without confinement to any one industry. In this section the use of Recent Economic Changesas text prevails.

The third section deals with the income, the standards of living, and the consumption levels of the various groups of the population; and a consideration of desirable public policy toward the organization and conduct of industry. This study of policy will include not only some familiar current issues such as farm relief, tariff-making and trust policy, but also some larger questions of planned as against unplanned production. Here Recent Economic Changesassumes a somewhat subordinate place in the reading list.

The course centers about economic life as it is found in the United States today; but this does not imply a narrowly nationalistic viewpoint, or a total exclusion of international features of industrialism. These appear inevitably at various points and especially toward the latter part of the third section where planned and unplanned production are discussed with reference to the Russian five-year economic plan and the long-range economic program devised by the British Liberal Party, with reference as well to our own planning and control of industry during the emergency of the World War.

The fact that many or most of the topics listed are already familiar to college Juniors may cause the course to appear repetitive. Any annoyance on this score should be short-lived. The similarities in names of topics often conceal real differences. Since the course is built upon the foundations of the two-years’ study of “Contemporary Civilization”, a more concentrated and intense piece of study may be expected than would be if the extended survey had not already been made.

 

LIST OF REQUIRED READINGS

Recent Economic Changes in the United States.McGraw-Hill, 1929 (text).

Berglund, A. and Wright, P. G.: The Tariff on Iron and Steel. The Brookings Institution, Washington, 1929.

Black, J. D.: Agricultural Reform in the United States. McGraw-Hill, 1929.

Britain’s Industrial Future. Benn, 1928.

Chase, S., Dunn, R., and Tugwell, R.G.: Soviet Russia in the Second Decade. John Day, 1928.

Commons, J.R. and Andrews, J.B.: Principles of Labor Legislation(second edition). Harper, 1927. [First edition, 1920]

Ellingwood, A.R. and Coombs, W.: The Government and Labor. McGraw-Hill, 1926.

Foster, W.Z.: The Great Steel Strike and Its Lessons. Viking Press, 1920.

Garrett, P.W.: Government Control over Prices. (Price Bulletin No. 3, War Industries Board.) Government Printing Office, Washington, 1920.

Keezer, D.M. and May, S.: Public Control of Business. Harper, 1930.

Lewisohn, S.A., Draper, C.S., Commons, J.R., and Lescohier, D.D.: Can Business Prevent Unemployment?Knopf, 1925.

Page, T.W.: Making the Tariff in the United States. McGraw-Hill, 1924.

Seager, H.R. and Gulick, C.A., Jr.: Trust and Corporation Problems. Harper, 1929.

Stocking, G.W.: The Oil Industry and the Competitive System. Houghton Mifflin, 1925.

Tugwell, R.G.: Industry’s Coming of Age. Harcourt, Brace, 1927.

Tugwell, R.G., Munro, T., and Stryker, R.E.: American Economic Lifeand the Means of Its Improvement(third edition). Harcourt, Brace, 1930.

Warshow, H.T., Representative Industries in the United States. Holt, 1928.

ARTICLES

Hartl, E.M., and Ernst, E.G.: “The Steel Mills Today,” The New Republic, February 19, 1930

“Steel’s Empire is Restless.” The Business Week, February 12, 1930.

Tugwell, R.G.: “Farm Relief and a Permanent Agriculture,” Reprinted from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1929.

Tugwell, R.G.: “Experimental Control in Russian Industry,” Reprinted from the Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XLIII, No. 2, June 1929.

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

I. SOME IMPORTANT AMERICAN INDUSTRIES

    1. Preface to the course.
      Introduction to Section I.
    2. Berglund and Wright: The Tariff on Iron and Steel, 10-40, 75-103.
    3. Seager and Gulick: Trust and Corporation Problems, 216-242.
    4. Seager and Gulick, 243-262.
      “Steel’s Empire is Restless,” The Business Week, Feb. 12, 1930.
    5. W. Z. Foster: The Great Steel Strike, Introduction, 1-7, 16-27, 50-67, 162-175.
      Hartl and Ernst: “The Steel Mills Today,” The New Republic, Feb. 19, 1930.
    6. Reading to be assigned.
    7. Reading to be assigned.
    8. Reading to be assigned.
    9. G. W. Stocking: The Oil Industry and the Competitive System, 1-35.
    10. Stocking, 83-114.
    11. Stocking, 115-164.
    12. Stocking, 165-210.
    13. Stocking, 238-265, 303-314.
    14. H. T. Warshow: Representative Industries, 3-44.
    15. Warshow, 44-71.
    16. Meat Packing. Warshow, 440-469.

II. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIPS

    1. Introduction to Section II.
      Changes in new and old industries. Recent Economic Changes, 79-95.
    2. Technical changes in manufacturing industries. Recent Economic Changes, 94-146.
    3. Technical Changes in manufacturing industries. Recent Economic Changes, 147-166.
    4. Suggested theories to account for increased productivity. R.G. Tugwell: Industry’s Coming of Age, 29-64.
    5. The changing structure of industry. Recent Economic Changes, 167-194.
    6. The changing structure of industry. Recent Economic Changes, 194-218.
    7. Recent Economic Changes, 425-462.
    8. Recent Economic Changes, 462-490.
    9. Proceedings, 1928 Convention of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers.
    10. Excerpts from the Proceedings of the 1929 Special Convention of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers (see Appendix).
    11. Transportation: railways. Recent Economic Changes, 255-279.
    12. Transportation: railways. Recent Economic Changes, 279-308.
    13. Transportation: shipping. Recent Economic Changes, 309-319.
    14. Recent Economic Changes, 321-343.
    15. Recent Economic Changes, 343-374.
    16. Recent Economic Changes, 374-402.
    17. Recent Economic Changes, 402-421.
    18. Money and credit and their effect on business. Recent Economic Changes, 657-679.
    19. Money and credit and their effect on business. Recent Economic Changes, 680-707.
    20. Foreign markets and foreign credits. Recent Economic Changes, 709-725.
    21. Foreign markets and foreign credits. Recent Economic Changes, 725-756.
    22. The system of prices. Tugwell, Munro, and Stryker: American Economic Life (third edition), 368-378.
      Excerpt from W. C. Mitchell: Business Cycles, the Problem and its Setting (see Appendix).
    23. Price movements and related industrial changes. Recent Economic Changes, 602-623.
    24. Price movements and related industrial changes. Recent Economic Changes, 623-655.

III. THE FRUITS OF INDUSTRY AND SOCIAL POLICY

    1. Introduction to Section III.
      Consumption and the standard of living. Recent Economic Changes, 13-51.
    2. Consumption and the standard of living. Recent Economic Changes, 51-78.
    3. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 757-774.
    4. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 774-813.
    5. The national income and its distribution. Recent Economic Changes, 813-839.
    6. Farm relief policy. J.D. Black: Agricultural Reform in the United States, 232-270.
    7. Farm relief policy. Black, 321-366.
    8. Farm relief policy. Black, 368-405.
    9. Farm relief policy. R.G. Tugwell: “Farm Relief and a Permanent Agriculture,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1929.
    10. Tariff policy. T. W. Page: Making the Tariff in the United States, 41-99.
    11. Tariff policy. Page, 100-170.
    12. Tariff policy. Page, 171-239.
    13. Social legislation. Commons and Andrews: Principles of Labor Legislation, 1-34.
      Ellingwood and Coombs: The Government and Labor, 20-26.
    14. Social legislation. Ellingwood and Coombs, 443-450, 461-467.
      Reprint of Lochner vs. New York (see Appendix).
    15. Social legislation. Ellingwood and Coombs, 559-579, 516-537.
    16. Social legislation. Lewisohn, Draper, Commons, and Lescohier: Can Business Prevent Unemployment? 152-210.
    17. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May: Public Control of Business, 40-84.
    18. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 85-120.
    19. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 121-148.
    20. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 149-183.
    21. Public policy toward large businesses. Keezer and May, 184-229.
    22. Planned production in Russia. Chase, Dunn, and Tugwell: Soviet Russia in the Second Decade, 14-54.
    23. Planned production in Russia. Chase, Dunn, and Tugwell, 189-215, 55-66.
    24. Planned production in Russia. R.G. Tugwell: “Experimental Control in Russian Industry,” Political Science Quarterly, June 1929.
    25. Planned production in Great Britain. Britain’s Industrial Future, the report of the Liberal Industrial Inquiry, v-vii, xvii-xxiv, 3, 14-20, 61-92, 116-120.
    26. Planned production in Great Britain. Britain’s Industrial Future, 139-141, 205-225, 265-279, 341-366.
    27. War-time planning and control in the United States. Excerpt from American Industry in the War (see Appendix).
      W. Garrett: Government Control Over Prices, 23-39.
    28. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 40-87.
    29. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 151-194.
    30. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 195-244.
    31. War-time planning and control. Garrett, 350-360, 380-414.
    32. A review of recent economic changes. Recent Economic Changes, 841-874.
    33. A review of recent economic changes. Recent Economic Changes, 874-910.

Source: Copy of The Organization of Economic Affairs–A Syllabus (1930) at the New York Public Library.

Image Source: The New York City Public Library Reading Room. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

Categories
Cambridge Exam Questions Germany

Cambridge. Exam question from a Ricardo quote translated into German, 1922

by Thomas Phillips, oil on canvas, circa 1821

 

 

The last post began with the exam question below taken from the 1922 Cambridge Economics Tripos.

Meanwhile at the Facebook outpost of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror Ross Emmett asked quite naturally “Who is the quote from?” Charles Robert McCann Jr did a Google books search on the quote and came up with a link to page 234 in Volume 5 of the series Ausgewählte Lesestücke zum Studium der politischen Ökonomie edited by Karl Diehl and Paul Mombert and published in 1912.

I was able to track down a pdf copy of the Diehl and Mombert volume at the University of Mannheim (see link below).  The quote actually comes from a Ricardo letter to Malthus quoted by Marshall in his Principles. The examination bastards board must have wanted to double-disguise the quote’s Ricardian/Marshallian origins, presuming the examinees would have been intimately familiar with Marshall’s Principles. Or perhaps this was merely a gratuitous test of German reading skills? Anyhow, mystery solved. You’re welcome!

_________________

Cambridge Economics Tripos
PART I

Monday, May 29, 1922. 9—12.
GENERAL ECONOMICS. I.

  1. “Ich bestreite nicht den Einfluss der Nachfrage weder auf den Getreidepreis noch auf dem Preis aller andern Dinge; aber das Angebot folgt ihr dicht auf den Fusse, und alsbald erlangt es die Macht, den Preis von sich aus eigenmächtig zu bestimmen, und indem es ihn regelt, ist er durch die Produktionskosten bestimmt.” Comment.

_________________

Where this German translation comes from

Alfred Marshall, “Note on Ricardo’s Theory of Value“: Anmerkung über Ricardos Werttheorie, Handbuch der Volkswirtschaftslehre, pp. 477-486. German translation from the 4th edition [sic] of Marshall’s Principles by Hugo Ephraim and Arthur Salz (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1905). Reprinted in Karl Diehl and Paul Mombert (eds.) Ausgewählte Lesestücke zum Studium der politischen Ökonomie, Band 5 Wert und Preis, II. Abteilung (Karlsruhe: 1912), p. 234.

_________________

Original: Ricardo to Malthus (1820)

“I do not dispute either the influence of demand on the price of corn or on the price of all other things; but supply follows close at its heels and soon takes the power of regulating price in his [sic] own hands, and in regulating it he is determined by cost of production.”

Source: Letter LXXIV (November 24, 1820) of Ricardo to Malthus, in James Bonar (ed.) Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823 (Oxford, 1887), p. 179.

Image Source: Thomas Phillips portrait of David Ricardo in 1821. Public domain copy at Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. Economics Tripos Examinations, 1922.

 

Links to economics examinations from the Economics Tripos at Cambridge University for other years:

Economics Tripos 1921.

Economics Tripos 1931.
Economics Tripos 1932.
Economics Tripos 1933.

_________________

PART I

Monday, May 29, 1922. 9—12.
GENERAL ECONOMICS. I.

  1. “Ich bestreite nicht den Einfluss der Nachfrage weder auf den Getreidepreis noch auf dem Preis aller andern Dinge; aber das Angebot folgt ihr dicht auf den Fusse, und alsbald erlangt es die Macht, den Preis von sich aus eigenmächtig zu bestimmen, und indem es ihn regelt, ist er durch die Produktionskosten bestimmt.” Comment.
  2. “In a sense all rents are scarcity rents, and all rents are differential rents” (Marshall). Comment on this statement.
  3. What are the chief social evils resulting from mal-investment of the community’s savings? What are the main causes of such mal-investment?
  4. “Profit is the test of service to the consumer.” Consider this defence of the economic motive.
  5. “Wages are determined by bargaining strength.”
    “Wages must correspond to the marginal net product of labour.”
    Are these views compatible ?
  6. “Whatever may be urged against attempts by the State to fix standard rates of pay, the fixing of maximum hours in all occupations has advantages that must outweigh any possible attendant drawbacks.” Comment.
  7. “In view of the heavy burdens of taxation under which British industry must for many years labour, it is inconceivable that we should quickly regain our pre-war position in our trade with those nations that do not suffer from similar handicaps.” Discuss this statement.
  8. “The fact that the general level of prices has fallen 40% during a period when the quantity of money has undergone little variation and production has been declining shows that the Quantity Theory provides a very inadequate explanation of the forces governing the general level of prices.” Comment.
  9. Discuss the view that the Law of Diminishing Returns is only a special case of a more general law of the combination of factors of production.
  10. How is the representative producer defined? Explain the use made of this idea in modern economics.

 

Monday, May 29, 1922. 1½—4½
RECENT ECONOMIC AND GENERAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

  1. Consider the objects and results of the policy of enclosures in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries.
  2. Sketch the growth of British power in Asia during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
  3. Discuss the causes of social unrest in England in the years immediately following the peace of 1815.
  4. “The accession of Queen Victoria coincided with serious troubles in our oversea dominions.” Explain what these were. Do you consider that they had any common cause?
  5. What were the principal causes of the expansion of British trade and industry between 1828 and 1853?
  6. Explain the causes of the flow of emigrants from the United Kingdom during the latter half of the nineteenth century and indicate to what extent the emigrants have gone to other parts of the British Empire.
  7. Consider the relative importance of the agricultural and the pastoral industries in the development of Canada and Australia.
  8. Discuss the influence of the gold discoveries in the Transvaal on the economic and political development of South Africa.
  9. “Between 1830 and 1880 British Labour turned from political to economic methods.” Explain the reasons for this and sketch the progress of the Labour movement in the United Kingdom in the period 1880-1914.
  10. To what extent did the great industries of England become localised during the nineteenth century? Explain the reasons for the localisation in each case.

 

Tuesday, May 30, 1922. 9—12.
SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

  1. The future of the world’s shipping industry.
  2. Subject races, mandates and protectorates.
  3. Modern applications of psychology to the study of industrial conditions.
  4. “The experiment of free government is not one which can be tried once for all. Every nation and every generation must try it for itself.”
  5. The economic transition in India.
  6. London as a financial centre.

 

Tuesday, May 30, 1922. 1½ — 4½.
RECENT ECONOMIC AND GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES.

  1. “Napoleon suppressed the political and maintained the social and economic results of the Revolution in France.” Discuss this statement.
  2. Sketch the history of American political parties down to the formation of the Republican Party in 1854.
  3. “The long peace which Europe enjoyed after 1815 was due to the justice of the settlement made at Vienna.” Discuss this opinion.
  4. Account for the rapid spread of settlement over the Mississippi Valley.
  5. Compare the progress made in railway construction in France and Germany down to 1870 and the principles on which each country acted.
  6. What influence had economic forces on the causes and the result of the American Civil War?
  7. “Que devenait la question des compensations? C’est ce que tout le monde se demandait dans notre pays, où l’on jugeait avec raison l’équilibre européen et les intérêts de la France compromis par le subit et énorme accroissement de la puissance prussienne. C’était bien l’avis de Napoléon III.”
    Explain the position of France at this juncture. By what means and with what success did Napoleon III endeavour to improve it?
  8. “Kurz, wenn ich in der Wahl zwischen dem russischen und dem österreichischen Bündniss das letzte vorgezogen habe, so bin ich keineswegs blind gewesen gegen die Zweifel, welche die Wahl erschwerten.”
    Discuss the problem of German foreign policy here indicated. In what manner did Bismarck deal with it?
  9. Compare the industrial development of Germany and the United States since 1880.
  10. “America’s foreign policy is summed up in the Monroe Doctrine.” Examine the truth of this statement as applied to the period since 1865.
  11. “The mutual suspicion of England and Russia was always the most serious part of the Balkan problem.” Discuss this opinion.

 

Wednesday, May 31, 1922. 9—12.
GENERAL ECONOMICS. II.

  1. Give a formula for measuring elasticity of demand. Consider the meaning of unit elasticity, and test it by an example.
  2. What are external economies? Consider the relations of a business to (a) its locality, (b) its industry, (c) general national conditions.
  3. What is theoretically included in the National Dividend? Show the difficulties of avoiding leakage and double counting.
  4. Discuss the statement that “the standard of life is the standard of activities adjusted to wants.”
  5. Discuss the relation of mobility of labour to the problem of unemployment.
  6. Describe critically any two types of sliding scale as methods of payment of wages.
  7. “The shareholders’ ultimate control is based upon the fact that they bear the financial risk of the concern.” Consider this justification of the existing control of industry.
  8. “Si vraiment l’évolution industrielle conduit aux monopoles, il est clair qu’elle conduit aussi à l’établissement du socialisme intégral. Lorsque toutes les industries auront subi la transformation annoncée comme necessaire, lorsqu’elles n’auront plus qu’une tête, lorsque la concurrence aura partout disparu, il sera logique et fatal qu’elles soient nationalisées. ” Consider this view.
  9. What are the chief sources of demand for foreign bills? Under what conditions is each form of demand most active?
  10. On what principles should bank loans be regulated (a) in a period of rising prices, (b) in a period of crisis?

 

Thursday, June 1, 1922. 9—12.
GENERAL ECONOMICS. III.

  1. Discuss the extent to which the future development of Economic knowledge is dependent upon either (a) mathematical methods, or (b) statistical investigations.
  2. To what extent is modern advertising an economic waste?
  3. Explain one form of the theory of “overproduction” and discuss its validity.
  4. Discuss the merits, limitations and social potentialities of Profit Sharing.
  5. Explain the process of dealing in futures in any produce market and give some details.
  6. Discuss the alleged advantages of “devaluation” at the present time.
  7. Discuss the economic problems that have arisen through the accumulation of gold in the United States.
  8. What use can properly be made of banking statistics in judging the extent to which inflation or deflation is proceeding?
  9. What is the relation between the burden of the National Debt and the National Income in the immediate future?
  10. Discuss the modern tendency to use taxation as an instrument for modifying the distribution of wealth.

 

PART II

Monday, May 29, 1922. 9—12.
ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.

  1. “Der Tausch ist, obgleich historisch älter als Ein- und Verkauf, in mancher Beziehung verwickelter.” Explain and elaborate.
  2. “Le fait est que l’abondance ou la rareté de l’argent, de la monnaie, ou de tout ce qui en tient lieu n’influe pas du tout sur le taux de l’intérêt, pas plus que l’abondance ou la rareté de la cannelle, du froment, ou des étoffes de soie.” Comment.
  3. How far can a policy of emigration be regarded as a remedy for unemployment?
  4. “There is no essential difference between domestic and international trade, and consequently no place for any special theory regarding the latter.” Discuss this statement.
  5. Examine the possible effects of inventions upon the economic rent of land.
  6. “A controlling influence over the relatively quick movements of supply price during short periods is exercised by causes in the background which range over a long period.” Indicate some of the ways in which such an influence may be exercised; and examine the general significance of the above proposition.
  7. Do you consider that it would be good policy for a country like Great Britain to discourage the export of capital?
  8. “The problems of distribution and exchange are so closely connected that it is doubtful whether anything is to be gained by the attempt to keep them separate.” Discuss this statement.
  9. Examine critically the assistance given to economic analysis by the method of classifying industries under the headings of (a) decreasing, (b) constant, (c) increasing returns.
  10. “Now the quantity of wealth abstained from is gauged by its value; and its value depends on its cost of production. If, then, we introduce abstinence as an element in determining value, and value as a factor in the measure of abstinence, we are clearly guilty of using the thing to be measured as part and parcel of our standard for measuring it.” Comment.

 

Monday, May 29, 1922. 1.30—4.30.
ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT.

  1. State, in its most plausible form, the principle of minimum sacrifice in relation to taxation, and consider its practical application. Is there a corresponding principle of maximum benefit, which is applicable to public expenditure?
  2. Is it desirable to subsidise from public funds (a) housing, (b) postal services, (c) University education?
  3. Examine the nature of the real burden of a public debt. For what purposes and within what limits is it legitimate to borrow in order to meet public expenditure?
  4. Examine the special arguments in favour of protective duties on imports from countries with depreciated foreign exchanges.
  5. “Expenditure on armaments is economic waste.” “The services of soldiers and sailors form part of the national dividend, no less than the services of policemen, plumbers and physicians.” Discuss these statements.
  6. Discuss the possibility of taxing a monopolist in such a way as to induce him to lower his selling price, and consider the practical difficulties in the way of making such a policy effective.
  7. “The removal of taxes on articles of working-class consumption will enable employers to reduce wages and will, therefore, benefit employers and not workmen.” Examine this view, distinguishing between cases where wages (a) are, and (b) are not, paid on a cost-of-living sliding-scale.
  8. In most countries, the State regulates the employment of women and children in industry more extensively and more stringently than that of men. Can this discrimination be justified on economic grounds? Consider separately the regulation of (a) wages, (b) hours, (c) working conditions.
  9. “Contrairement à ce qui se passe en Prusse, où la régie des chemins de fer, instrument fiscal, verse ses produits dans la caisse de l’Etat, en Suisse la régie garde pour elle ses bénéfices, de même qu’elle supporte les pertes, s’il s’en présente.” Which of these two arrangements do you consider the better, and why?
  10. “Eine gleichmässige Wertsteuer von allen wirtschaftlichen Gütern, oder was dasselbe heisst, eine Steuer auf den Aufwand, ist von vornherein die beste Steuer, denn sie leitet den Aufwand der Individuen nicht aus seinen natürlichen Kanälen.” Comment

 

Tuesday, May 30, 1922. 9—12.
MONEY, CREDIT AND PRICES.

  1. Discuss the influence exerted upon the general level of prices by a change in the amount of credit granted by manufacturers and traders to their customers. Would you treat trade- credit as “money” in expounding the Quantity Theory?
  2. “No bank can lend more money than is deposited with it.” Examine this statement and, in particular, its bearing upon the power of banks to increase the supply of money.
  3. Enumerate the principal items in the “Floating Debt” of the British exchequer. Would the general level of prices be either lowered or made steadier if a large part of this debt were (a) converted into long-term loans, (b) paid off out of taxation? Support your conclusions by arguments or evidence.
  4. Compare the present position of the Bank of England in the London money market with its position before the war, paying special attention to its power of controlling credit. Are the changes which have occurred likely to be permanent?
  5. How would you construct an index-number of prices to be used in testing the view that the foreign exchanges tend towards “purchasing-power parity”? Should such an index- number differ from one designed to measure the changes in expenditure necessary to enable a particular class of people in a particular country to purchase the same “standard of comfort” at different dates?
  6. Discuss the practicability of stabilising the price-level by currency regulation. Would this make for stability of trade?
  7. Compare the situation which developed in the London money market in August 1914 and the measures which were taken to meet it with the corresponding features of previous crises.
  8. Examine the causes which influence the day-by-day rate in the London money market, and discuss its relation with the Bank Rate.
  9. What were the principal respects in which the pre-war banking systems (a) of the United States, (b) of Germany differed from that of Great Britain?

 

Tuesday, May 30, 1922. 1.30—4.30.
DISTRIBUTION AND LABOUR.

  1. In several recent arrangements for changes in wages equal weekly amounts, instead of pro rata amounts, have been added or subtracted over a wide range of districts and occupations within an industry. Discuss the effect of this on the supply of labour to districts and occupations.
  2. Describe any one of the existing scales connecting wages to the index-number of Cost of Living. Discuss the view that these scales eliminate the variability in the purchasing power of currency and so facilitate wage-bargaining in relation to other factors.
  3. To what extent could industry accommodate itself to fluctuations of demand if there was no reserve of labour and if no overtime was worked? Is there any economic justification for paying higher rates of wages for overtime?
  4. Under what circumstances is the argument for a legal minimum wage strongest? Why in fact does the minimum continue in coal-mining while it is abolished in agriculture?
  5. How far does the classification of income by economic categories (arising from capital, enterprise, labour, etc.) correspond to a classification by persons? What were the sources and nature of information before the war about incomes of persons and how far are these sources still available?
  6. Distinguish between co-partnership and profit-sharing. Why are these methods commonly disliked by organised labour?
  7. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of bonus systems of wage payment, giving examples of such systems.
  8. In what way and to what extent does the provision of friendly benefits by a trade-union affect its bargaining power? Why do some unions provide large friendly benefits and others scarcely any?
  9. “The theory that people tend to receive as their remuneration the marginal net product of their services amounts, when analysed, to no more than that they tend to get what they tend to get.” How far is this criticism justified?

 

Wednesday, May 31, 1922. 9—12.
STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS OF MODERN INDUSTRY.

  1. Examine the claims of industrial combinations to promote industrial stability.
  2. “There are few who do more to increase the efficiency of labour in creating material wealth than an able and upright company promoter.” Comment.
  3. To what principal causes would you attribute British predominance in the shipping trade during the last half century? Analyse the influence on British shipping of the country’s Free Trade policy.
  4. How would you expect a great development in the means of transport and communication to affect the localisation of industry?
  5. In what types of industry is there (a) the strongest, (b) the weakest case for the ownership or control of industry by the State?
  6. To what extent is the large amount of time and money devoted by many manufacturers to advertisement, and selling organisation generally, evidence (a) of the existence of “increasing returns,” (b) of the wastefulness of competition?
  7. Discuss the probable limits to the future growth of the British co-operative movement. How might the question be affected by a marked change in the distribution of income?
  8. Consider and weigh against one another the arguments for and against greater publicity regarding business profits.
  9. “The necessity that those who bear the risks should exercise the control bars out all projects for workers’ control of industry.” “Workers’ control of industry is justifiable on the ground that they alone bear the risks of unemployment, accident and fluctuating wages.” Discuss these statements.

 

Wednesday, May 31, 1922. 1.30—4.30.
SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

  1. “Nothing is true in theory which is not also true in practice.”
  2. The relation of economics to ethics.
  3. The prospects of the League of Nations.
  4. Free Trade.
  5. Population — quantity and quality.
  6. “For each age is a dream that is dying,
    Or one that is coming to birth.”

 

Thursday, June 1, 1922. 9—12.
MISCELLANEOUS ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.

  1. “The assertion that unemployment is due to German reparations must mean that, owing to reparations, German goods are flooding our markets to a far greater extent than before the war. In fact, the proportion of such goods brought to this country last year was only one-quarter of what it was before the war.” Mr Bonar Law in the House of Commons. Comment.
  2. Distinguish the more important forms of economic pro vision for the future. Do you consider that the provision normally made in modern societies, under any of these forms, is either markedly excessive or markedly inadequate?
  3. The national capital may be estimated either by capitalising income or by multiplying the value of estates passing by death in a year by an appropriate factor; the latter method yields the smaller result. Can the discrepancy be explained by differences in definition of national capital?
  4. Distinguish the various types of inheritance tax which are, or might reasonably be imposed in modern communities, and compare their economic effects.
  5. Distinguish the chief causes of trade fluctuations in this country since 1918, and estimate their comparative importance.
  6. Show how the conception of the elasticity of demand as applied to an individual’s desire for income throws light upon (a) the effect of changes in wage-rates upon output, (b) the effect of taxation upon enterprise and saving.
  7. Discuss the more important conclusions which may be drawn from recent enquiries into industrial fatigue.
  8. “Reduction of wages causes reduction in purchasing power and therefore results in decreased rather than in increased employment.” Is there any element of truth in this statement?
  9. Is it reasonable that the cost of roads should fall mainly on the community and the cost of railroads on the users thereof?

 

Thursday, June 1, 1922. 1.30—4.30.
THE THEORY OF STATISTICS.

  1. How far does the precision of measurement of prices by index-numbers depend (a) on the theory of sampling, (b) on the theory of weighted averages? In your answer distinguish between the purposes for which such numbers are used.
  2. Discuss what system of averages, measurements of dispersion, etc. is best suited for comparing two wage groups, such as follows:

Wages of men working full time for a week in 1906
Cotton Industry

Woollen and
Worsted Industry

Under 15/-

 19 18
15/- ____ 141

134

20/- ____

 244 316
25/- ____ 193

206

30/- ____

 126

197

35/- ____

 87 65
40/- ____ 86

31

45/- ____

 58 10
50/- ____ 31

8

55/- ____

 10 3
60/- ____ 3

6

65/- and above

 2 6
1000

1000

Without doing the complete arithmetical work, show the method of calculation for the system you prefer.

  1. {{\mu }_{2}},{{\mu }_{3}},{{\mu }_{4}} are the second, third and fourth moments about the average of a frequency group containing an indefinitely great number of quantities. A variable y is formed by selecting two quantities from the group independently and adding them. M2, M3, M4 are the moments about its average of the frequency distribution of y.

Show that {{M}_{2}}=2{{\mu }_{2}}, {{M}_{3}}=2{{\mu }_{3}},, and {{M}_{4}}-3M_{2}^{2}=2\left( {{\mu }_{4}}-3\mu _{2}^{2} \right).

Assuming, that y is formed by the addition of n (instead of 2) quantities then {{M}_{2}}=n{{\mu }_{2}}, {{M}_{3}}=n{{\mu }_{3}}, {{M}_{4}}-3M_{2}^{2}=n\left( {{\mu }_{4}}-3\mu _{2}^{2} \right), show that when n is great the frequency curve of y satisfies the conditions for Type VII (the normal curve) in Professor Pearson’s system.

  1. Show that Pareto’s Law for the distribution of incomes, N=\frac{A}{{{x}^{\alpha }}}, where N is the number of incomes above x units, and A and \alpha are constants, leads to the law “average of incomes above x varies directly as x.”
    Test graphically and otherwise whether Pareto’s law is satisfied by the following figures and estimate roughly the value of \alpha .

Number of Persons Assessed to Super-Tax, 1916-17

Income

Number

Exceeding

Not exceeding

£

 £
3000 5000

16,065

5000

 10,000 10,306
10,000 50,000

5272

50,000

 100,000 239
100,000 ___

103

31,98

 

  1. Newton’s interpolation formula may be written

y={{y}_{0}}+\frac{x-{{x}_{0}}}{h}\cdot {{\Delta }_{0}}+\frac{x-{{x}_{0}}}{h}\cdot \frac{x-{{x}_{0}}-h}{2h}\Delta _{0}^{2}+....
State on what hypothesis it rests, and illustrate its use by estimating the number of wage-earners between 30/- and 32/- in the Cotton Industry (Question 2), using only the four entries 244, 193, 126, 87.

  1. Explain the terms “crude death-rate,” “standardised death-rate,” “correcting factor.”
    Give an account of the two methods in use for removing the local variations in age distribution which vitiate the utility of the crude death-rate and consider whether they may be expected to give approximately the same result.
  2. Under what conditions may a regression locus be expected to be approximately rectilinear?
    Estimate the correlation coefficient between girth and height from the following data:

Height
inches

 Number of instances Average girth
60 2

32.7

61

 7 33.6
62 9

33.5

63

 14 34.2
64 18

34.1

65

 14 34.7
66 14

34.7

67

 12 35.0
68 10

35.1

69

 7 35.5
70 3

36.3

110

Height: average 65.6, standard deviation 2.52.
Girth : average 34.5, standard deviation 1.66.

  1. The notation used in connection with the Life Table (stationary population) is based on successive values of lx, the number of persons who reach the precise age of x.

Express the central death-rate (mx), the force of mortality ({{\mu }_{x}}), and the complete expectation of life in terms of these values.

Show that {{m}_{x}}={{\mu }_{x+\left( {1}/{2}\; \right)}}, if the line representing survivals is regarded as straight in the neighbourhood of x.

  1. “Bernoulli’s Theorem exhibits algebraical rather than logical insight.” Comment.

Source:  Economics Tripos Papers, 1921-1926, pp. 21-36.

Image Source: Cambridge University, St. John’s Library from website Vintage Postcards.

Categories
Chicago Funny Business

Chicago. A Mikado parody number. Probably 1949.

 

Among the papers of Alfred Rees at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke and of Milton Friedman at the Hoover Institution Archives, one finds stapled copies of a skit written by graduate students at the University of Chicago with the title “Alice in Stationary State”. The cover page includes a list of 18 contributors to the skit either as librettist and/or as a performing member of the cast/chorus. Carl Christ who was to leave Chicago and join the faculty of the Department of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University in 1950 was named as a member of the cast/chorus. The mimeographed manuscript bears no date, but in Christ’s paper “The Cowles Commission’s Contributions to Econometrics at the University of Chicago, 1939-1955 (Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXXII, March 1994, pp. 30-59) two songs from the manuscript are quoted by Christ, one to the tune of “The American Patrol“. Since he dates the skit to about 1949 and we know his whereabouts for 1950, I think it is safe to trust his memory as to the 1949 date he mentions. Note the slight discrepancies with presumably a later, recycled version of the lyrics.

Other parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan that have been transcribed for Economics in the Rear-View Mirror include:  “When I was a Lad“, “The Major General’s Song” and “I’m Called Little Buttercup” . Non-Gilbert-Sullivan material  transcribed from the skit are the Song for an Entrepreneur (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) and “First Epistle unto the entering students” .

Here is a link to a YouTube clip from the Mikado for those of us whose familiarity with Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics is not quite up to mid-20th century Chicago levels.

_____________________

DECONTROL SONG
(to the tune of “My Object all Sublime from Patience (sic*))

*Actually from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado.

A more humane economist never
Did in Chicago exist;
To nobody second,
He’s certainly reckoned,
A true philanthropist.
‘Tis his most human endeavor
To make to some extent
Each individual
Tenant pay the
Equilibrium rent.		 A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist,
To nobody second,
I’m certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavor
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment.
CHORUS:

His object all sublime
He might achieve in time,
Convict the planners of their crime,
The planners of their crime.
Make those of Leftist bent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment, of innocent merriment.

 CHORUS:

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
The addle-pated
Who aggregate the unrelated data
And find instead of
The alpha they seek
A beta even greater.
The Keynesians and all their ilk
Who seek to find
Nirvana…He’ll fix them all,
He’ll fix them all,
He’ll ship them to Urbana!		 All prosy dull society sinners,
Who chatter and bleat and bore,
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four.
The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies
All desire to shirk,
Shall, during off-hours,
Exhibit his powers
To Madame Tussaud’s waxwork.
CHORUS:

His object all sublime
He might achieve in time,
Convict the planners of their crime,
The planners of their crime.
Make those of Leftist bent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment, of innocent merriment.

 CHORUS:

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Albert Rees Papers, Box 1, Folder “Personal”. Identical copy also found at The Hoover Institution Archives, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 6 “University of Chicago Miscellaneous.”

_____________________

Second, revised version

MEMBER OF THE FACULTY:
(to the tune of “My object all sublime” from the MIKADO)

A more humane economist never
In Chicago did exist;
To nobody second,
I’m certainly reckoned,
A true philanthropist.
It is my most human endeavor
To make to some extent
Each individual
Tenant pay the
Equilibrium rent.		 A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist,
To nobody second,
I’m certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavor
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment.
My object all sublime
I might achieve in time,
Convince the planners of their crime,
The planners of their crime.
Make those of Leftist bent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment
Of innocent merriment.		 My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
The addle-pated
Who aggregated unrelated data
And found instead of
The alpha they sought
A beta even greata.
The Keynesians and all their ilk
Who seek to find
Nirvana…I’ll fix them all,
I’ll fix them all,
I’ll ship them to Urbana!		 All prosy dull society sinners,
Who chatter and bleat and bore,
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four.
The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies
All desire to shirk,
Shall, during off-hours,
Exhibit his powers
To Madame Tussaud’s waxwork.

Source: The Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 6 “University of Chicago Miscellaneous.”