Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Exam Questions Swarthmore Undergraduate

Swarthmore. Senior comprehensive economics exam, 1931

 

The two previous posts provided undergraduate comprehensive examinations for Harvard and Princeton from the early 1930s that were published in the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges (December, 1933). The cross-section of comprehensive economics exams is now expanded with this post to include Swarthmore College’s economics department.

A decade later Swarthmore College brought in external examiners (many of whom recruited from Wolfgang Stolper’s network of Harvard graduate buddies), e.g.

_________________

Senior Comprehensive Examination in Economics

Swarthmore College, 1931

  1. a. Why have railroads been subject to an unusual amount of regulation?
    b. Appraise reproduction cost as a basis for the valuation of public utilities.
    c. Explain the operation of the principle of joint costs in the determination of rates for specific services.
  2. Discuss:
    a. “One of the unions’ chief errors is restriction of output, which is always against the social interest and even fruitless for the workers.”
    b. “To the extent that employee representation seems to the worker to be just an employer’s weapon against trade unionism, it will be still less popular in the future than today and even its good points will be ignored.”
  3. Is it necessary to make goods in order to make money? Give the answers of T. N. Carver, S. & B. Webb, F. M. Taylor, T. Veblen, Adam Smith, R. H. Tawney, and Alfred Marshall. Why have these scholars come to such contrary conclusions after examining the facts? Is it possible that both groups are right; that neither one is right? How so? If not, which group is right and why?
  4. a. Since it is understood that all kinds of money in this country are to be maintained at a parity of value with standard money, would not inconvertible paper money issued by our government be quite as acceptable and useful as any kind? Explain.
    b. In the United States there are many kinds of money. What are they, and what is the security behind each one? Does Gresham’s Law operate? Why, or why not.
  5. a. It is said that the United States is evolving into a commission form of government; that the government set up by the Constitution is gradually delegating its duties to “expert commissions.” Bearing in mind the frailty of commissioners and their staffs, do you believe this is a wise movement? Why? Be specific.
    b. Giving generous reference to the history of governmental regulation in the United States, what do you believe will be the position of the government as a regulator of business twenty-five years hence?
  6. According to present estimates, the federal government will complete this fiscal year, June 30, 1931, with a deficit of nearly one billion dollars. Outline, in detail, the causes of this deficit. Suggest, with reasons, the fiscal program which the government should adopt, for the coming year, in view of this deficit.
  7. Philip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, has proposed the imposition of a tax on the site value of land as a means of balancing the British budget. It is argued that such a tax would have less of a repressive effect upon industry than any other type of tax which might be imposed. Give in detail the reasoning which supports this position.
  8. Give an historical account of the currency agitation and legislation from the end of the Civil War to the end of the last century. What issues were involved and how did they arise? On the whole, do you think that our currency history of this period refutes or verifies the quantity theory of money?
  9. a. Imagine yourself a Congressman in the year of 1828 and make a brief argument for the high tariff policy adopted in that year. Would you argue in the same way today? If not, why not? Is your supposed speech that of a representative from South Carolina or Pennsylvania? Give reasons.
    b. Briefly comment upon what you regard as three important causes or factors in the present industrial depression.
  10. a. How important for price theory and for practical life are differences in the elasticity of demand for commodities? Illustrate, using diagrams.
    b. Translate, and if necessary, correct the following popular statements into the more exact language of economic theory:

(1) “We produce too much coal and people freeze to death; we raise too much cotton and people go naked.”
(2) “Great Britain’s foreign trade is in a bad way; she has an extremely unfavorable balance.”
(3) “The price of corn is low because you can buy good corn land so cheaply.”
(4) “Depressions are due to over-production, and by this I mean that more goods are produced than can be sold, for two reasons; rich people save too much, and the workers do not get high enough wages.”

(Answer five questions. Use the first half-hour to study and select your questions. Then devote about thirty minutes to answering each question.)

 

Source:  Edward S. Jones. Comprehensive Examinations in the Social Sciences, Supplement to the December, 1933 Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, pp. 41-43.

Image Source: Parrish Hall, Swarthmore College  .

 

Categories
Exam Questions Princeton Undergraduate

Princeton. Two undergraduate comprehensive exams in economics, 1929 and 1932

 

Another catch in my trawling for exams, we have below two undergraduate comprehensive examinations from Princeton (1929 and 1932).  These exams were selected and published in a supplement to the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges dedicated to the subject of comprehensive exams. The style of the questions is rather different from those seen for Harvard from 1931 that were transcribed for the previous post.

__________________________

Senior Comprehensive Examination
Princeton University, 1932

Part I
Use a separate book for each question

I
(20%)

  1. Contrasting the England of 1700 with the England of the Middle Ages, R. H. Tawney states: ” Opinion ceased to regard social institutions and economic activity as amenable, like personal conduct to moral criteria.”
    How far was this true (1) of price; (2) of the money reward for human labor? Give the reasons.
  2. Compare Henry George’s theory of rent with Ricardo’s theory of rent.

II
(40%)

  1. What was the Marxian theory of “surplus value”? Discuss the present price and wages policy in Russia in the light of the Marxian theory.
  2. “Socialization will proceed, step by step, from one industry to another, according as circumstances in each country may permit. Objectionable as private profit-making enterprise is to Socialists, they will refrain from destroying it in any industry until they are in a position to replace it by a more efficient form of organization.” (From a resolution of the Labor and Socialist International.)
    What is the “more efficient form of organization” proposed for the “nationalized industries,” as illustrated in the Webb Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain? Would it be more efficient than “private profit-making enterprise” in these industries? Give your reasons.

III
(40%)

Answer one of the three following questions: A, B, or C.

A

Discuss the Interstate Commerce Commission in its present status as a regulator of interstate commerce. Is it lacking any powers which it should possess? Should it be deprived of any powers that it now has? Are there any powers it should retain which could be made more effective by legislation? Give reasons for your answers.

B

At the time of the Napoleonic Wars the following statement was made as to the ability of Great Britain to make remittances to the continent to support her armies and subsidize her allies:

“A favorable balance of trade is a very probable consequence of large drafts on Government for foreign expenditure; an augmentation of exports, and a diminution of imports, being promoted and even enforced by the means of such drafts.”

A few weeks ago, in a discussion of the payments of inter-allied debts, it was stated:

“The essential fact about war debt payments is that they are foreign payments. Many people seem to think that the French Government may tax its citizens, deposit the money in the Bank of France, and then either draw a check upon the Bank of France to pay the United States on war debts, or use the same money for armament expenditures. The essential difference is that a check drawn in francs by the French Government upon the Bank of France to the credit of the American Treasury is of no value to us until it is transferred into dollars.”

On the basis of these statements, discuss critically the topic, “Divergent Views on the Payment of International Obligations,” laying particular emphasis on the economic principles which are involved. Where possible, use historical illustrations in your discussion.

C

A certain industrial corporation has outstanding common stock of par value of $10,000,000; also a first mortgage bond issue, amply secured by the plant, of $2,000,000.

Below is a list of five possible methods of voluntarily revising the capital structure of this company.

  1. The issuance of convertible bonds,
  2. The declaration of a stock dividend,
  3. The declaration of a privileged stock subscription,
  4. The purchase of the company’s own stock in the open market,
  5. The formal reduction of the corporation’s capital by amendment of the certificate of incorporation.

Discuss thoughtfully four of these five methods.

While it is not desirable to lay down any rigid plan to be adhered to in discussing all of these methods, your answer should explain (1) what is involved in the use of the method in question, (2) the objective or objectives ordinarily sought to be attained by its use, (3) what conditions other than those stated in the first paragraph should prevail in order to justify the use of the method, and (4) any special disadvantage which might be suffered.

__________________________

Senior Comprehensive Examination
Princeton University, 1929

Examination in Special Field I

I

Case A

During the latter part of the period of inconvertible paper currency in this country (1862-1879) trade dollars (a silver coin somewhat heavier than the standard silver dollar and possessing at that time the right of free coinage) began to appear in circulation alongside the greenbacks, although the trade dollar was intended for use only in foreign trade.

Case B

In Russia, the chervonetz, a paper monetary unit issued in 1923, kept at a high value by relative limitation of quantity and backed by a considerable gold reserve, quickly drove the Soviet paper rouble, an enormously depreciated paper monetary unit, out of circulation.

Case C

In Germany, in 1923, foreign gold standard currencies appeared in considerable volume in ordinary commercial transactions, which up to that time had for years been carried on almost entirely with highly depreciated paper marks.

In all these cases “bad” money not only did not drive out good but the reverse was more nearly true. Explain each case and state Gresham’s Law so as to make it universally applicable.

II

Suppose that the United States in 1893 had abandoned the gold standard, taken from gold the legal tender quality and made all paper currency redeemable in silver dollars which were no longer freely coined.

(a) What would have been the upper and lower limits on the exchange rates of the dollar against gold standard currencies?

(b) What influences would have affected the gold value of the dollar?

(c) How, if at all, would the gold price of silver have been affected?

(d) Could the rise in prices, which took place after 1896, have been prevented under the monetary system outlined above? Reasons.

III

Compare the check and deposit system of banking, such as prevails in Anglo-Saxon countries, with the French system where checks are little used and practically the whole of the circulating medium is issued by the Bank of France which shares its profits with the government of the republic.

Your answer should attempt to assess, from the point of view of the general interest, the relative virtues and vices of the two types of banking, showing specifically and precisely in what manner advantages or disadvantages accrue under the one or the other system.

IV

Assume that in any given country:

(a) central bank reserves are very high;

(b) exports are increasing relative to imports;

(c) stock speculation has been and continues rampant and stock prices have risen greatly;

(d) commodity prices are stable.

What policy do you think the central bank should pursue, and why?

V

Spain is now on an inconvertible paper monetary standard. Suppose that political disturbances lead to a sharp decline in confidence with regard to Spain’s economic prospects, that present foreign lenders to Spain seek to withdraw their capital and that further loans are refused. Trace through the resulting movement of exchange rates the probable course of trade and industry in Spain up to the point of restoration of a stable economic equilibrium. Assume no further inflation of the Spanish currency.

VI

  1. Give a brief description of the Dawes Plan of reparations payments, criticizing adversely where such criticism seems to you to be warranted.
  2. Compare the economic effects on both paying and receiving countries of reparations in cash and reparations in kind.

 

Source:  Edward S. Jones. Comprehensive Examinations in the Social Sciences, Supplement to the December, 1933 Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, pp. 38-41.

Image Source:John E. Sheridan, Princeton Poster, c. 1901  . Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Three economics subject exams from divisional comprehensives, 1931

 

Being a scavenger for old economics exams, I just had to transcribe the following three comprehensive subject examinations from the Harvard Division of History, Government, and Economics battery of comprehensive exams from 1931.  These exams were selected and published in a supplement to the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges dedicated to the subject of comprehensive exams. The subjects examined were History of Economic Thought, Public Finance, and Labor Problems.

For some strange reason two of the questions were omitted, with a note that the questions were presented “elsewhere”. I have identified what I think to be the likely missing questions from a list of 65 questions discussed earlier in the monograph. These two questions are placed in square brackets in the public finance and labor problems examinations.

__________________________

History of Economic Thought

Harvard University, 1931
(Three hours)

Answer either FOUR or FIVE questions, including TWO from each group. If you answer FOUR questions, write about an hour on one of them and mark your answer “Essay.” This question will be given double weight.

A

Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.

  1. Discuss the economic policies of one of the following in the light of theory and contemporary conditions: Colbert, Hamilton, Turgot, Bismarck, Andrew Jackson, Gladstone, Cromwell.
  2. Compare the part played by economic theories in the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution.
  3. In what ways do you think the economic thought of the Greeks reflects the social, intellectual, and political conditions of the period?
  4. Discuss the influence of economic fallacies upon public policy during the past hundred years.
  5. To what extent do you think the social and economic organization of medieval towns is reflected in the economic views of medieval thinkers?
  6. “Mercantilism is, in substance, the sum of all efforts to bring about a self-sufficient empire.” Discuss.
  7. How did contemporary writers explain the price revolution of the sixteenth century? Were these new or already accepted doctrines?
  8. Discuss the importance of economic theory for an understanding of British colonial policy during the period from 1783 to 1867.

B

Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.

  1. What were some of the more widely held theories of wages during the nineteenth century?
  2. Discuss one of the following topics: The Medieval Doctrine of Just Price; The “Dismal Science”; Economic Stages.
  3. “Though the real problem of Distribution was sometimes approached by the Classical Economists, it was never properly presented, nor was an attempt made at its solution.” Discuss.
  4. What were the chief contributions to economic thought of one of the following writers: Senior, J. B. Clark, Walker, Cantillon?
  5. Explain the meaning of three of the following terms and tell with what writer or group they are chiefly associated: produit net, lucrum cessans, preventive check, productive forces, non-competing groups.
  6. ” There are no terms in economics which bear about them more palpable traces of the conflicts through which they have gone than ‘production’ and ‘productive.'” Discuss.
  7. What were the principal doctrines of the Austrian school of economics?
  8. Discuss the relation between the work of one of the following writers and the work of earlier thinkers: Smith, J. S. Mill, Marshall.

__________________________

Public Finance

Harvard University, 1931
(Three hours)

Part I
(About one hour)

  1. White an essay on one of the following topics:

(a) The general property tax,
(b) British budget principles since 1860,
(c) The sales tax,
(d) Postal rate problems in the United States,
(e) Financial problems of highway construction and maintenance.

Part II
(About one hour)

Answer TWO questions only.

  1. Do you think it wise for a government to exempt its own bonds and notes from taxation? Why, or why not?
  2. Indicate the nature and significance of the “grant in aid” in British public finance.
  3. Discuss recent tendencies in state and municipal expenditure.
  4. Discuss the fiscal aspects of a system of protective tariff duties.
  5. [In what ways do the problems of government finance affect currency systems and the control of currency?]

Part III
(About one hour)

Discuss THREE of the following quotations.

  1. “Modern taxation or tax making in its most characteristic aspect is a group contest in which powerful interests vigorously endeavor to rid themselves of present or proposed tax burdens.”
  2. “Though differential rents of land have complete ability to bear taxation directly imposed upon them, and cannot shift such taxation, they cannot be reached by a tax imposed upon their produce.”
  3. “To tax investment income at a higher rate would seem to be trebly unjust; for ‘savings’ are first taxed as ‘earned income’; the income derived from them is then taxed as ‘investment income’; and, thirdly, a portion of the invested capital, is confiscated by the ‘death duties’—a triple penalty upon thrift.”
  4. “It must not be supposed that a government’s safe borrowing power is anything like its national wealth, for the wealth belongs to the people and can be taken from them only by law and the laws are made by the people indirectly and eventually.”
  5. “Taxes should fall proportionately to the wealth of the taxed, that is, the sacrifice should be equally felt by all. This rule is easy to keep when taxation is light; but when taxation must be heavy, the rule is difficult to keep.”

[Note: Part II, Question 6 has been identified from a list of 65 questions as likely. It was appears to be the better “fit” of  two optional, 20-minute public finance questions.]

__________________________

Labor Problems

Harvard University, 1931

Part I
(About one hour)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:

(a) the legal status of trade unions in Great Britain,
(b) unemployment and the business cycle,
(c) standard wage rates,
(d) the family allowance system,
(e) the policy of organized labor towards new machinery.

Part II
(About one hour)

Answer TWO questions only.

  1. To what extent does welfare work contribute to the solution of the labor problem?
  2. What is a sweated industry? What are the best correctives for this abuse?
  3. Compare the policies of the trade unionists in any two of the following countries:

(a) United States,
(b) France,
(c) Germany,
(d) Australia.

  1. Discuss the policy and objectives of the British Labor Party.
  2. Discuss the tendencies of judicial interpretations of “liberty of contract” in labor cases in the United States.

Part III
(About one hour)

Discuss THREE of the following questions.

  1. “Only the most formal conception of the idea of equality and the most unrealistic attitude toward groups in our community could think of the ordinary forms of labor legislation as class legislation.”
  2. “If no general fund exists which can be diverted from some other form of surplus income into wages, trade unionism becomes a mere device for adding to certain well organized groups of workers a scarcity wage paid by less favorably placed workers.”
  3. “Wages are more of a question for business than they are for labor. Low wages will break business far more quickly than they will labor.”
  4. “Scientific management, properly applied, normally functioning, should it become universal, would spell the doom of effective unionism as it exists today.”
  5. [“As long as there is liberty there will be strikes, for a strike is nothing more or less than liberty to stop work and to wait for a bargain.”]

 

[Note: Part III, Question 11 has been identified from a list of 65 questions as an optional optional labor question for about 20 minutes and that fits the discuss the quotation format]

 

Source:  Edward S. Jones. Comprehensive Examinations in the Social Sciences, Supplement to the December, 1933 Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, pp. 33-36.

 

Categories
Chicago Curriculum Economics Programs

Chicago. First detailed announcement of Political Economy program, 1892

 

The founding Head-Professor of Political Economy, J. Laurence Laughlin, arrived at the University of Chicago in June 1892. The following printed announcement of the programme of courses in political economy ends with a call for fellowship applications with a last-submission date of June 1, 1892. Thus we can presume that Laughlin had organized his department’s course offerings and staffing before he physically reported for duty,  and I would guess this announcement was published in the late winter/early spring of 1892. Besides being an artifact we can date to the Big Bang moment of creation of the University of Chicago’s department of political economy, the announcement provides us relatively thick descriptions of the respective courses in the political economy programme at that early date.

 

_______________

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
1892-3

PROGRAMME OF COURSES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

CHICAGO
The University Press of Chicago
1892

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
1892-3.

OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION:

J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN, Ph. D., Head-Professor of Political Economy.

ADOLPH C. MILLER, A. M., Associate-Professor of Political Economy.

WILLIAM CALDWELL, A. M., Tutor in Political Economy.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

INTRODUCTORY.

The work of the department is intended to provide, by symmetrically arranged courses of instruction, a complete training in the various branches of economics, beginning with elementary work and passing by degrees to the higher work of investigation. A chief aim of the instruction will be to teach methods of work, to foster a judicial spirit, and to cultivate an attitude of scholarly independence, (1) The student may pass, in the various courses of instruction, over the whole field of economics; (2) when fitted, he will be urged to pursue some special investigation. (3) For the encouragement of research and the training of properly qualified teachers of economics, Fellowships in Political Economy have been founded. (4) To provide a means of communication between investigation and the public, a review, entitled The Journal of Political Economy, has been established, to be edited by the officers of instruction in the department; while (5) larger single productions will appear in a series of bound volumes to be known as Economic Studies of the University of Chicago.

REMARK: In the following list the term Minor, is applied to a course which calls for four or five hours of class-room work per week for a period of six weeks. A Double Minor is a Minor running through two periods of six weeks.

 

LIST OF COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.

STARRED * COURSES ARE NOT GIVEN IN 1892-3.

  1. First Quarter: Principles of Political Economy. — Exposition of the Laws of Political Economy in its present state. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Laughlin’s edition).

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

Second Quarter:

Either, 1A. Advanced Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — Marshall’s Principles of Economics (vol. I.).

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Caldwell.

Or, 1B. Descriptive Political Economy. — Lectures and Reading on Money, Banking, Cooperation, Socialism, Taxation, and Finance. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s Bimetallism.

4 hrs a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

  1. Industrial and Economic History. — Leading Events in the Economic History of Europe and America since the middle of the Eighteenth Century. — Lectures and Reading.

4 hrs. a week, 2 Double Minors.
Mr. Caldwell.

  1. Scope and Method of Political Economy. — Origin and Development of the Historical School. — History of Political Economy in Germany. — Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Caldwell.

  1. Unsettled Problems of Economic Theory. — Questions of Exchange and Distribution.— Critical Examination of selections from leading writers.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. History of Political Economy. — History of the Development of Economic Thought, embracing the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats, followed by a critical study of Adam Smith and his English and Continental Successors. — Lectures and Reading. — Reports.

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Caldwell.

  1. Recent German Systematic Writers*. — Wagner, Cohn, Schmoller, Schäffle, and Menger. — Exposition, critical comments, and reading of authors. — Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Caldwell.

  1. Socialism. — History of Socialistic Theories. — Recent Socialistic Developments. — Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Dr. Veblen.

  1. Social Economics. — Social questions examined from the economic standpoint.

A*. Social Reforms. — Future of the Working-classes. — Immigration. — State Interference. — Insurance Legislation. — Arbeitscolonien.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Caldwell.

B. Coöperation. — Profit-Sharing. — Building Associations. — Postal Savings. — Trade Unions. — Factory Legislation. — Public Charities.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor Bemis.

  1. Practical Economics. — Training in the Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Important Questions of the Day. — Lectures and Theses.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

  1. Statistics. — Methods and practical training. — Organization of Bureaus. — Tabulation and Presentation of Results.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Mr. Fisher.

  1. Railway Transportation. — History and Development of Railways. — Theories of Rates. — State Ownership.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. Tariff History of the United States. — Legislation since 1789. — Economic Effects. — Reading.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. Financial History of the United States.— Rapid Survey of the Financial Experiences of the Colonies and the Confederation. — Detailed Study of the Course of American Legislation on Currency, Debts, and Banking since 1789. — Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

  1. Taxation. — Theories and Methods of Taxation. — Comparative Study of the Revenue Systems of the Principal Modern States. — Problems of State and Local Taxation in America. — Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

  1. Public Debts and Banking. — Comparative Study of European and American Methods of Financial Administration. — The Negotiation, Management, and Effects of Public Debts. — Examination of Banking Problems and Banking Systems. — Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Associate Professor A. C. Miller.

  1. Problems of American Agriculture*. — Comparison with European Systems of Culture. — Land Tenures. — Lectures, Reading, Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. Seminary. — Intended only for mature students capable of carrying on independent researches.

4 hrs. a week, 3 Double Minors

 

 

DESCRIPTION OF COURSES
GENERAL.

The courses may be roughly classified into —

Group I., Elementary. — Courses 1, 1A, 1B, and 2;
Group II., Theoretical. — Courses 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7;
Group III., Practical. — Courses 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.

Students are advised to begin the study of economics not later than the first year of their entrance into the University College; and students of high standing, showing special aptitude for economic study, may properly take Course 1 in the last year of the Academic College.

For admission into the courses of Groups II. and III., a prerequisite is the satisfactory completion of Course 1 (with either 1A or 1B), or its equivalent. Those desiring only a general acquaintance with the subject are expected to take Course 1B during the second quarter; but those who intend to make a serious study of economics are advised to take 1A during the second quarter.

After passing satisfactorily in Course 1 (with either 1A or 1B), the student will find a division of the courses into two general groups: Group II. will be concerned chiefly with a study of economic principles, their historical development, and the various systems of economic thought; Group III., while making use of principles and economic reasoning, will be devoted mainly to the collection of facts, the weighing of evidence, and an examination of questions bearing on the immediate welfare of our people. For a proper grasp of the subject, Courses 3, 4, and 5 are indispensable; and in the second year of his study of economics the student should supplement a course in Group I. by a course in Group II.

Ability to treat economic questions properly can be acquired only if the student, being possessed of some natural aptitude for the study, devotes sufficient time to it to enable him to assimilate the principles into his thinking, and to obtain certain habits of mind, which are demanded for proficiency in this, as in any other important branch of study. Tests of proficiency will be exacted at the end of each period, six weeks.

 

 

SPECIAL.

COURSE 1.

First Quarter: Principles of Political Economy. —Exposition of the Laws of Political Economy in its Present State. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Laughlin’s edition).

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Second Quarter:

Either, 1 A. Advanced Political Economy.— Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — Marshall’s Principles of Economics (vol. I).

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Or, 1B. Descriptive Political Economy. — Lectures and Reading on Money, Banking, Cooperation, Socialism, Taxation, and Finance. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s Bimetallism.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor

All students beginning the study of Political Economy will take Course 1. At the second quarter the class will divide. Those desirous of laying the foundation for work in the advanced courses will take 1A; those who, while giving their attention mainly to other departments, seek simply that general knowledge of economics demanded by a liberal education, and cannot devote more time to the study, will take Course 1B. Course 1 is designed to give the student an acquaintance with the working principles of Political Economy.

Course 1A will continue the theoretical training in the principles of Political Economy. The discussions will be based on Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy, and Marshall’s Principles of Economics (vol. I). Only those students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1A, will be admitted to Courses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9.

Course 1B is mainly descriptive and practical; in it will be considered the various practical questions illustrating the application of economic principles, the lectures and reading supplying the student with the knowledge necessary for the more intelligent discharge of the duties of citizenship. The subjects discussed will be: Money, banking, coöperation, socialism, taxation, finance, and railway transportation. Students will be expected to read Hadley’s Railroad Transportation, and Laughlin’s History of Bimetallism in the United States.

COURSE 2.

Industrial and Economic History. — Leading Events in the Economic History of Europe and America since the middle of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures and Reading.

4 hrs. a week, 2 Double Minors.

This course endeavors to present a comprehensive survey of the industrial, commercial, and economic development of the western world since the middle of the last century. After a preliminary study of the industrial revolution and the rise of the factory system, attention will be called to the economic and social effects of the American and French revolutions; to the development of American commerce; to the introduction of steam transportation; to the adoption of free trade by England; to the new gold discoveries and their wide-spread effects; to the civil war in the United States; to the French indemnity; to the crisis of 1873; and to the economic disturbances of the past twenty years. The course is conducted mainly by lectures, but a course of collateral reading will be prescribed upon which students will be expected to report from time to time.

No previous economic study is required of students entering this course, but it will be taken to best advantage by those who already have some knowledge of economic principles, or who are taking this course in connection with Course 1.

COURSE 3.

Scope and Method of Political Economy. — Origin and Development of the Historical School. — History of Political Economy in Germany. Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

This course attempts to define the province, postulates and character of Political Economy; to determine its method, and to examine the nature of economic truth. The methods of proof and the processes of reasoning involved in the analysis of economic phenomena and the investigation of economic problems, and the position of Political Economy in the circle of the Moral Sciences — its relation to Ethics, Political Science, and Sociology — will be studied. In view of the controversies which have arisen on these fundamental topics, a critical estimate will be made of the views of leading writers on Methodology, such as Mill, Cairnes, Menger, Wagner and Schmoller.

The origin and development of the modern historical school will be described, special attention being devoted to Knies, Die Politische Oekonomie vom Geschichtlichen Standpunkte.

In connection with this work, the course of German economic thinking will be traced from the earlier writers, Rau, von Thünen, and Hermann; after which the influence of the English writers, the later formation of various groups, with their distinguishing tenets, and the German point of view, will be presented. The statements of the writers themselves, rather than opinions about them, will be studied.

Students will be required to prepare critical studies on books, or subjects, selected by the instructor. Course 3 is preliminary to Course 6.

COURSE 4 .

Unsettled Problems of Economic Theory. — Questions of Exchange and Distribution. Critical examination of selections from leading writers.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Little use will be made of text-books, or lectures, in this course, it being intended to take up certain topics in economic theory and to follow out their treatment by various writers. The more abstruse questions of exchange and distribution will be considered. No student, therefore, can undertake the work of this course with profit who has not already become familiar with the fundamental principles. The course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1A., or who can clearly show that they have had an equivalent training.

The subjects to be considered in 1892-3 will be as follows: The theories of final utility and cost of production as regulators of value, the wages-fund and other theories of wages, the interest problem, manager’s profits, and allied topics. The discussion will be based upon selected passages of important writers. The study of wages, for example, will include reading from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Ricardo’s Works, and the writings of J. S. Mill, Longe, Thornton, Cairnes, F. A. Walker, Marshall, George and Böhm-Bawerk. Students will also be expected to discuss recent important contributions to these subjects in current books or journals; and they will be practised in the exposition of special points before their fellow students.

COURSE 5 .

History of Political Economy. History of the Development of Economic Thought, embracing the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats, followed by a critical study of Adam Smith and his English and Continental Successors. Lectures, Reading, and Reports.

5 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

This course treats of the history of economic theory, not of the history of economic institutions; of the origin and development of our existing knowledge of economic principles, not of the phenomena of wealth with which these economic principles are concerned. Since it investigates the evolution of economic thinking as expressed in a growing collection of principles, the student will have little occasion to study writers previous to the XVI century. The time will be given to the economic theories and commercial policy of the Mercantile system; to the Physiocratic school; to Adam Smith and his immediate precursors; to the English writers from Adam Smith to the present day; and to a brief review of French, Italian, and American writers. From the multiplicity of writers, selections will be made of those who have had great influence, or who have made marked contributions to political economy. The whole study will aim to present the continuity of development of economic doctrine from its origin to the present time.

The work, however, is not intended merely as a means of information. It is expected that the student himself should in every case read portions of the great authors bearing on cardinal principles, and, by critical comment and comparison, it is hoped he may gain much in discipline and in judicial insight. It is believed that a more fresh, original, and just understanding of the history of political economy can be obtained by this mode of treatment than by taking a knowledge of the authors at second-hand. The work of this course, therefore, must largely be carried on in the Economic Library. In this, as in other courses, the instructor will pay early attention to bibliography and to the best methods of using books.

COURSE 6.

Recent German Systematic Writers. Wagner, Cohn, Schmoller, Schäffle, and Menger. Exposition, critical comments, and reading of authors. Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

It is the object of this course to present the point of view of the leading recent German writers in Economics, through a study of the character and contents of their systematic treatises. In this way it is hoped that the desire for a direct acquaintance with the particular economic doctrines which are actually taught in Germany at the present day can be adequately met. The student will be helped to appreciate the spirit, quality, and tendency of German economic thinking, and thus be enabled to broaden his view of fundamental economic ideas.

The instructor will outline the system of each writer, give the substance of less important portions, and, with comments, translate in the class-room considerable selections. The student will be expected to have a working knowledge of German, and will be required to read parts of the authors not read in the class-room, upon which reports and critical studies in writing must be made. An incidental aim of this course will be to assist the student in acquiring a rapid reading knowledge of economic German.

The authors to be used are as follows:

Wagner, Volkswirthschaftslehre. Grundlegung.
Schmoller, Ueber einige Grundfragen des Rechts und der Volkswirthschaft.
Schäffle, Bau und Leben des socialen Körpers (ed. 1881).
Cohn, System der Nationaloekonomie. Grundlegung.
Menger, Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre,

COURSE 7.

Socialism. History of Socialistic Theories. Recent Socialistic Developments. Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

The origin of the present socialistic movements, whether popular or scientific, will be traced to their beginnings previous to the middle of the present century; the events ending in 1848 will be described; and an examination will be made of the writings of Rodbertus, Marx, Lassalle, Karl Marlo, and William Thompson, from the economic standpoint. The criticisms offered, among other writers, by Leroy-Beaulieu, Rae, H. Spencer, and Schäffle, will be brought under review. A study of the “International” will be followed by an account of the spread of Socialism to England and America. The position and tenets of the Fabian Society in England; the popular agitations of the present day in Europe and America; the socialistic tendencies imputed to George’s Progress and Poverty, Gronlund’s Coöperative Commomwealth, and Bellamy’s schemes for Nationalism, will be taken up. Practical work will be done with the programs and platforms of socialistic, labor, and trade organizations.

Attention will then be given to the alleged socialistic trend of development, to State Socialism, to the economic factors in operation, and to the ethical aspect of the economic questions involved.

Students will be expected to make written reports and critical studies from time to time, in addition to selected reading. Those who have not examined questions of value and distribution carefully will be at a disadvantage in this course.

COURSE 8.

Social Economics. Social questions examined from the economic standpoint.

Course 8 includes two separate courses, known as Course 8A, and Course 8B. Under these heads many subjects into whose treatment ethical and social considerations enter, but which have a distinct economic character, will be considered.

COURSE 8A. Economic Reforms — Future of the Working-classes. Immigration. — State Interference. — Insurance Legislation. — Arbeitscolonien.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Under this head the ethical, sociological and political principles underlying proposed practical reforms and methods of social improvement will be noticed and criticised, and their economic values and effects will be considered and estimated. It will be sought to determine, as far as possible, the teaching of history and experience on these matters, and also the conditions and range, the merits and defects of various experiments.

COURSE 8B. Coöperation. — Profit-Sharing. — Building Associations. — Postal Savings. — Trades Unions. — Factory Legislation. — Public Charities

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

In this course schemes of economic reform will be studied and presented with a view to inform the student how they may be carried out into actual practice. It is hoped that members of this course, under the guidance of the instructor, may be familiarized with the process of organizing desirable movements of a philanthropic character in various parts of the community.

Both of these courses may well be elected by candidates for the ministry, who have already passed in Course 1. Reading and reports will accompany the lectures.

COURSE 9.

Practical Economics.Training in the Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Important Questions of the Day. Lectures and Theses.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Preliminary training for investigation is combined in this course with the acquisition of desirable statistical information on practical questions of the day. The student is instructed in the bibliography of a subject, taught how to collect his data, and expected to weigh carefully the evidence on both sides of a mooted question. The short theses form a connected series, and give practice in written exposition as well as in the graphic representation of statistics. Mere compilation is objected to, and the student is urged to reach his conclusions independently and solely on the facts before him. Fresh and independent judgments are encouraged. The work of writing theses is so adjusted that it will correspond to the work of other courses counting for the same number of hours.

The instructor will criticise the theses before the class, and members of the class will be frequently called upon to lecture on the subjects of their theses and answer questions from their fellow-students.

The subjects taken up will be chosen from the following: Money, prices, bimetallism, note-issues, shipping, and commercial crises.

COURSE 10.

Statistics. Methods and practical training. Organization of Bureaus. Tabulation and Presentation of Results.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

The purpose of this course is to train students in the theory and methods of statistics. Inasmuch as economic principles throw light upon the proper choice and comparison of statistical data, a knowledge of Course 1 is a prerequisite to entrance into this course. On the other hand, statistical methods are needed for the correction and furthering of our knowledge of economic principles.

Attention will be given to the vast statistical material at hand, and the student will have an introduction into the bibliography of the subject. The growth of the study; establishment of statistical offices and their organization; collection and elaboration of data; detection and elimination of errors; presentation of results in tabular form; training in graphic representation; — will form a part of the work.

Practical exercises will be required of each student in connection with the collection and presentation of statistics of mortality, insurance, production, population, wages, prices, trade, crime, etc. The great libraries of the City of Chicago will furnish exceptional advantages for this work.

COURSE 11.

Railway Transportation. History and Development of Railways. — Theories of Rates. — State Ownership.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

The economic, financial, and social influences arising from the growth of modern railway transportation, especially as concerns the United States, will be discussed. The history of railway development in Europe and America; its social and economic influence; railway accounts; competition and combination; various theories of rates; railway legislation in the United States; state railway commissions; the Inter-State Commerce Act; government ownership; and a comparison with the railway systems of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Australia, — will form the essential work of the course.

Studies in writing will be exacted from each student. In addition to the lectures, the student is expected to read Hadley’s Railroad Transportation, and Acworth’s The Railways and the Traders.

COURSE 12.

Tariff History of the United States. Legislation since 1789. Economic Effects. Lectures and Reports. Reading.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Course 12 is fitly taken in connection with Course 13, which runs parallel with it. An historical study will be made of the legislation on the tariff in the United States from the beginning in 1789 to the present day. Study will be given to the provisions of each act, the causes of its passage and its economic effects. The growth of the principal industries of the country will be sketched in connection with the duties affecting them.

Students will be required to present studies on special topics connected with the course.

COURSE 13.

Financial History of the United States.— Rapid Survey of the Financial Experiences of the Colonies and the Confederation. — Detailed study of the course of American Legislation on Currency, Debts, and Banking since 1789. Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Without excluding the history of taxation, this course concerns itself chiefly with the history of our national legislation on currency, loans, and banking. The study will be based upon a careful examination at first-hand of the leading provisions of the Acts of Congress, and other materials important in our financial history. These will be reviewed from the political as well as from the financial standpoints, it being one of the objects of the course to develop the relation between finance and politics in our history. Special attention will be given to Hamilton’s system of finance and the changes introduced by Gallatin; to the financial policy of the War of 1812; to the establishment of the Second United States Bank and the struggles over its re-charter; to the crisis of 1837-9 and the establishment of the independent Treasury; to the financial problems and management of the Civil War; to the establishment of the national banking system; the refunding and reduction of the debt; and the resumption of specie payments.

COURSE 14.

Taxation. Theories and Methods of Taxation. — Comparative Study of the Revenue Systems of the principal modern States. — Problems of State and Local Taxation in America. Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

This course is both theoretical and practical, and the method of presentation historical as well as systematic. A critical estimate of the theories of leading writers — such as Wagner, Cohn, Leroy-Beaulieu — will be made with a view of discovering a tenable basis of taxation. Principles are discussed; the various kinds of taxes are examined and their complementary functions in a system of taxes determined; the methods in vogue in different countries are described, special attention being given in this connection to the experiences of France. In their proper places the incidence of taxes, progressive taxation, the single tax, and the special problems of American taxation will be carefully considered. All questions will be discussed from the twofold standpoint of justice and expediency. A reading knowledge of either French or German will be expected of all students entering this course.

COURSE 15.

Public Debts and Banking. — Comparative Study of European and American Methods of Financial Administration. — The Negotiation, Management, and Effects of Public Debts. — Examination of Banking Problems and Banking Systems. Lectures and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

This course treats of the organization and methods of financial administration; the formal control of public expenditures by means of the budget; the development of public debts and their economic and social effects. Consideration will be given to the various problems involved in the management of public debts, such as modes of issue, conversion, and reduction; and the methods practised in our own and other countries will be described. This course also treats of the development and history of banking; the leading systems are compared, and proposed changes in legislation examined. The relations of the banks to the public and their management in a time of crisis will receive special attention.

COURSE 16.

Problems of American Agriculture. Comparison with European systems of culture. Land Tenures. Lectures, Reading, and Reports.

4 hrs. a week, Double Minor.

Special study will be given to the extension and changes of the cultivated area in the United States; the methods of farming; the influence of railways and population, and of cheapened transportation; the fall in values of Eastern farm-lands; movements of prices of agricultural products; European markets; competition of other countries; intensive farming; diminishing returns; farm mortgages, and the comparison of American with European systems of culture. Systems of holdings in Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Germany will be touched upon, together with the discussion of forestry legislation.

Reports will be prepared by students on topics assigned.

COURSE 17.

Seminary. Intended only for mature students capable of carrying on independent researches.

4 hrs. a week, 3 Double Minors.

Under this head are placed the arrangements for Fellows, graduates, and suitably prepared persons, who wish to carry on special researches under the guidance of the instructors. Candidates for the higher degrees will find in the seminary a means of regularly obtaining criticism and suggestion. It is hoped that each member of the Seminary will steadily produce from time to time finished work suitable for publication. Emphasis will be placed on accurate and detailed work upon obscure or untouched points.

Students may carry on an independent study upon some special subject, making regular reports to the seminary; or, several students may be grouped for the study of a series of connected subjects. For this purpose, during 1892-3, the following topics are offered:

(a) American Shipping, with a retrospect to the experience of Great Britain and Holland since 1650, and a comparative study of modern European policies.

(b) A Study of Modern Currency Problems, treated theoretically and historically.

(c) A critical and historical examination of the Internal Revenue System of the United States.

 

FELLOWSHIPS.

Independently of the fellowships offered by the departments of Political Science and Social Science, at least three Fellowships, yielding an annual income of $500, will be assigned to students within the department of Political Economy for the year 1892-3. Appointments will be made only on the basis of marked ability in economic studies, and of capacity for investigation of a high character. Candidates for these fellowships should send to the President of the University a record of their previous work and distinctions, degrees and past courses of study, with copies of their written or printed work in economics. Applications for 1892-3 should be sent in not later than June 1, 1892.

Fellows are forbidden to give private tuition, and will be called upon for assistance in the work of teaching in the University; but in no case will they be expected or permitted to devote more than one-sixth of their time to such service.

 

PUBLICATIONS.

As a means of communication between investigators and the public, the University will issue quarterly The Journal of Political Economy, beginning in the autumn of 1892. Contributions to its pages will be welcomed from writers outside as well as inside the University, the aim being not only to give investigators a place of record for their researches, but also to further in every possible way the interests of economic study throughout the country. The Journal will aim to lay more stress than existing journals upon articles dealing with practical economic questions. The editors will welcome articles from writers of all shades of economic opinion reserving only the privilege of deciding as to merit and timeliness.

Longer investigations, translations of important books needed for American students, reprints of scarce works, and collections of materials will appear in bound volumes in a series of Economic Studies of the University of Chicago. Announcement of works already in preparation will be made at an early date.

 

LIBRARIES.

In the suite of class-rooms occupied by the department will be found the Economic Library. Its selection has been made with great care, in order to furnish not only the books needed for the work of instruction in the various courses, but especially collections of materials for the study of economic problems. It is believed that ample provision has thus been made for the work of serious research. The work of the students will necessarily be largely carried on in this Library.

Arrangements have been made with other libraries in the city for supplementing the Economic Library of the University on a large and generous scale. The combined library facilities of Chicago are exceptional. The Public Library, maintained by a large city tax; the Newberry Library, under the supervision of W. F. Poole, with a fund of several millions of dollars; and other possibilities, will enable the student to obtain any books he may need in the prosecution of detailed investigation. In the near future, it is confidently believed, the supply of reference books for students in the libraries of Chicago will be greater than anywhere else in this country; and graduate students will have exceptional opportunities for specialized research.

The officers of the department will cheerfully answer any inquiries from institutions looking for suitable teachers of Political Economy.

Inquiries and applications of students should be addressed to

THE EXAMINER,
The University of Chicago,
Chicago.

 

Source:  The University of Chicago: programme of courses in political economy, 1892-1893. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press, 1892.

Image Source: University of Chicago yearbook, Cap and Gown , 1900 , p. 19.

Categories
Columbia Rochester

Columbia. Economics PhD Alumnus, Meyer Jacobstein, 1907

 

Today in our continuing historical series “Get to know an economics Ph.D.”, we meet Meyer Jacobstein (1880-1963), a Columbia University Ph.D. (1907) who, before serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1923-1929), taught economics at the University of North Dakota and the University of Rochester.

Jacobstein’s disssertation was published by the Columbia Faculty of Political Science in its house journal:

Meyer Jacobstein. The Tobacco Industry in the United States. Studies in History, Economics and Public Law (Vol. XXVI, No. 3), 1907.

In his introduction Jacobstein thanks E.R.A. Seligman, H. R. Seager and H.L. Moore for criticism and suggestions.

______________

From: Columbia University Catalogue of Officers and Graduates

Meyer Jacobstein, A.B., 05; A. M., 05; Ph. D, 07; Asst. Prof. Univ. N. Dak. (University, N. Dak.)

Source:  Catalogue of Officers and Graduates of Columbia University from the Foundation of King’s college in 1754.(XVI edition, 1916), p. 200.

______________

From: Biographical Director of the U.S. Congress

JACOBSTEIN, Meyer, a Representative from New York; born in New York City, January 25, 1880; moved with his parents to Rochester, N.Y., in 1882; attended the public schools and the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.; was graduated from Columbia University, New York City, in 1904; pursued postgraduate courses at the same university in economics and political science; special agent in the Bureau of Corporations, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., in 1907; assistant professor of economics, University of North Dakota at Grand Forks 1909-1913; professor of economics in the University of Rochester 1913-1918; was a director in emergency employment management at the University of Rochester under the auspices of the War Industry Board 1916-1918; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth, Sixty-ninth, and Seventieth Congresses (March 4, 1923-March 3, 1929); was not a candidate for renomination in 1928; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1924 and 1932; declined the nomination of mayor of Rochester, N.Y., in 1925; engaged in banking in Rochester, N.Y., 1929-1936; in 1936 became chairman of the board of the Rochester Business Institute; member of the Brookings Institution staff 1939-1946; economic counsel in the legislative reference service of the Library of Congress from 1947 until his retirement May 31, 1952; resided in Rochester, N.Y., until his death there on April 18, 1963; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

______________

Obituary

Dr. Meyer Jacobstein, Noted Economist and Educator, Dies in Rochester
(Apr. 21, 1963)

Funeral services were held here for Dr. Meyer Jacobstein, former member of the U.S. Congress, college professor and publisher of the Rochester Journal-American, who died last Thursday at the age of 83.

Born in New York, Dr. Jacobstein spent most of his life in Rochester. He was elected in 1922 to Congress on the Democratic ticket, and was the second Democratic representative from the 38th Congressional District since the Civil War. He was reelected twice but chose not to run in 1928. He was assistant professor of economics in the University of North Dakota from 1909 until 1913. In 1913 he joined the faculty of the University of Rochester as professor of economics.

Dr. Jacobstein was publisher of The Journal American here, from 1924 until the newspaper suspended in 1937. He then became a research consultant for the Brookings Institute in Washington. In 1944, he was director of a Senate special committee on postwar economic policy and planning. He retired from public life in 1957, after completing a one-year study of Rochester employment at the request of Governor Averell Harriman. He is survived by his widow, Lena (Lipsky), two daughters and eight grandchildren.

Source: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, April 22, 1963.

______________

Image Source: Campaign button from U.S. Congress, History of the House website; Meyer Jacobstein in Wikipedia.

Categories
Funny Business M.I.T.

M.I.T. Economics Christmas skit with basketball theme, 1961

Boston, MA - 1/1/1960: From left, Boston Celtics players Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell, Capt. Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman and Frank Ramsey pose together at the Boston Garden in Boston circa 1960. (Boston Globe Archive/) --- BGPA Reference: 170504_BS_001

 

Spoiler alert: you are about to encounter one of the least funny economics skits in the history of the genre, so this artifact is regrettably low on entertainment value.  Still the six acts have a certain seven-acts-of-man structure: Act I (the department recruits), Act II ( advising the first-year student), Act III (graduate student complaints), Act IV (choosing guest speakers), Act V (general examinations), Act VI (job market). 

After reading the skit, you might need a palate cleansing or better: for that purpose here are a few links to the key word “Funny Business” at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror that take you to some of the greatest hits of economics skits.

____________________

ANOTHER TWO POINTS FOR THE FACULTY,
ANOTHER FOUL ON THE STUDENTS

A Christmas Drama (with suggestions for a cast), December 15, 1961

ACT I

(The curtain rises on a scene of [Edgar Cary] Brown, [Franklin Marvin] Fisher, [Charles Poor] Kindleberger and [Abraham J.] Siegel seated around a table reading applications.

SIEGEL: Here’s a guy who may be OK…No…the place is no good. A cow college. They average only 50 points a game.

BROWN:  Here’s a good one.

FISHER: What’s his record?

BROWN: Pretty darn good. Worth at least tuition plus $500. Maybe $750.

FISHER: What’s his record?

BROWN: Pretty darn good. He’s from Podunk. And they’re pretty good. He was the best they had.

FISHER: How did he score, for crying out loud?

BROWN: He’s six-feet-five, weighs 195 pounds, and fast; he averaged 23.7 points a game. He has a great set shot, never misses from the foul line, and superb off the backboard. He’s just what we need in Graduate Economics at M.I.T.

 

ACT II

(An office: Siegel is advising a student.)

SIEGEL: For the first year I would take pretty standard fare: theory, history, statistics, finance, and international, plus of course the workshop. There’s no use trying to take too much. Pace yourself.

STUDENT (perhaps [Stephen Herbert] Hymer?): I don’t have much math. Why do I need to take statistics?

SIEGEL: Ando is very good. He doesn’t always make things completely clear, but you have to take statistics if you want to be able to handle averages, to work out the point per game and point per shot records; and you need probability to help compute odds on all the league games. Statistics is a must.

STUDENT: Why the history, finance and international?

SIEGEL: International is important. You ought to know how to schedule the Harlem Globetrotters, and who has the best chance in the Olympics. One of our best graduates played on the Oxford team against Poland and Czechoslovakia. That was Chuck Cooper, and it got him a job as Walter Heller’s assistant at the Council. Finance is important. When the gamblers start bribing players you need to know how to invest the funds. And history is vital. On the general exams they always ask who was James Naismith, the man who invented basketball. That’s for every student. The good students they ask when it was invented…of course 1891. And the very best students they ask where…past, Springfield, Mass. Remember, it’s not Springfield, Illinois. That’s Abe Lincoln.

STUDENT: OK. But tell me about the last one.

SIEGEL: Theory isn’t much. [Paul Anthony] Samuelson teaches about how to make inputs for two points, and when to dribble.

STUDENT: Samuelson teaches drivel?

 

ACT III

(A group of students, griping.)

STUDENT 1 (Francis Michel Bator?): This place is no good. It’s theory, theory, theory all the way. Anyone knows that the way to win at basketball is to practice. Practice makes perfect. Theory makes perfect fools. All you do is study and take exams. “Who was James Naismith? Who was Adam Yea-Smith? When do you chop down the tree?” Bah! I say we ought to study policy. With a two-point lead and three minutes to go, should you freeze the ball or plop in an input for an output of two points?

STUDENT 2 ([Paul Narcyz] Rosenstein-Rodan?): They tell me [Robert Merton] Solow has been converted from theory to policy. He is no longer interested in questions like whether the best set shot is an inverted rectangular parabola, but real issues, like the queuing problem: how many substitutes does a team need to field five men for an hour, with one personal foul every six minutes and four personal fouls per man disqualifying. If you have too many players on the bench you get unemployment. The team needs growth. Maybe you ought to add a man and play six.

STUDENT 3 ([Robert] Evans?): What’s bad is to have to play far away from the Sloan building. Those workshops on top on Walker and over in the Armory are OK, but they are too far away. We need the Ford Foundation to give us a workshop right here.

STUDENT 1: Haven’t you heard? The talk is that the new building to go up in the back lot is a library. But as I see its dimensions unfold- 90 feet by 50 – and transparent backboards and netting and grandstands, I can’t believe it’s a library. It must be a basketball court.

 

ACT IV

(A meeting of the G.E.A.)

RALPH BULL (played by [Robert Lyle] Bishop?): Do any of you fellows have suggestions for speakers besides Cousy, Russell, Jungle Jim Lusketoff, and that 6.8 outstanding economist, [John Kenneth] Galbraith, who can stand with his head coming up through the basket?

STUDENT B: What about Milton Friedman? He is under the five feet which some say is the minimum allowable in a monetary theorist, but he sure is good at the far-fetched shot.

STUDENT B: Why not get Clifford Odets?

RALPH BULL: Clifford Odets? Why him?

STUDENT B: Don’t you remember the famous line in “Awake and Sing”? “My brother Sam joined the Navy. He don’t know from nothin’, that dumb basketball player.” I want to know whether the emphasis is “that dumb basketball player” or “the [sic] dumb basketball player”. Are there any smart basketball players?

 

ACT V

KINDLEBERGER: As chairman of this exam, let me tell you that you have the right to pick the order of your exam. Do you want to start with Theory, or Statistics?

STUDENT (Samuelson?): I think I’ll start by jumping against Fisher, your professorship, sir. Ando’s the smaller, so I’ll take him last when I’m tired.

KINDLEBERGER: All right. (Student and Fisher face each other. Kindleberger blows whistle and throws imaginary ball. Cheers of amazement from faculty.)

FISHER: Very well. I have decided to let you combine Theory and Economic History.

STUDENT: Hey, Ref, your Ph.D.ship, sir, I’m not responsible for History. Isn’t that a foul?

KINDLEBERGER: I didn’t see nuthin’.

FISHER: Consider the population explosion of the last 150 years. Discuss the relative roles of (a) men and (b) women in this affair.

ANDO [Albert Keinosuke] : Good shot. That’s two points for our side.

STUDENT: I don’t know that, your cap-and-gownship, sir, but I know the roles are neither reflexive, symmetric, or transitive.

KINDLEBERGER: (blows whistle) Foul. You used big words in a generals. That’s only permitted the faculty.

FISHER: I’ll give Albert my free throw.

ANDO: (taking the foul shot) Please discuss the role of the nearly decomposable take-off in the application of a priori oligopoly theory to the A&P case.

STUDENT: Hey! You guys are ganging up on me.

ANDO: Well, you outnumber us in class.

STUDENT: (driving hard for basket) It can be set up as a nine-dimensional matrix problem and the latent roots dispensed with. I think the take-off is fine if done along the turnpike, watching out for model changes in passing cars.

ANDO: Fantastic! (Faculty huddle.)

KINDLEBERGER: That was a good answer. We’ve decided to give you an Excellent minus for being a good scorer, but to ask you to leave the Institute for fouling out on personals.

KINDLEBERGER, ANDO, FISHER: Rah, team!

 

ACT VI

DOMAR [Evsey David]: Well, you have the degree wrapped up, and now want a job. Not bad. You got a good grade on the orals, and would have gotten a top grade if you hadn’t thought that Stilt Chamberlain played for the Celtics and failed to distinguish Slippery Sam Jones from Casey Jones. Your thesis was entirely satisfactory, on a good topic: How to Get to the Boston Garden from Madison Square Garden: An Application of the Turnpike Theorem. And you even did languages: basketball communication in the Ivy League, or basketball with a broad A. Now the job. What do you think? Big Ten? Ivy League? Small liberal arts? Girls’ rules like Wellesley or Vassar? Or maybe the real big time: Kentucky, Long Island University, St. Joseph’s in Brooklyn, Notre Dame. L.I.U. is to economics like M.I.T. was to economics.

STUDENT (perhaps [Max Franklin] Millikan?): I don’t now if I’m ready for the Big Time.

DOMAR: What about applying some of your basketballmetrics for the government? They need our graduates. Or for an oil company. Maybe you would like to take a ball and a whistle and go abroad, demonstrating technical assistance to underdeveloped countries. There are jobs like that.

STUDENT: No. I guess I’m fussy. What I’d like is just what all the gang would like, to stay here at Cambridge with Harvard and the Celtics, and to referee like you and [Robert Lyle] Bishop and Samuelson, always blowing off your whistle and shouting foul, going first class to conferences, and shouting foul, foul, foul at the students.

 

Source:  M.I.T. Archives. MIT Department of Economics records, Box 2, Folder “GEA 1961-67”.

Image Source:  Boston Celtics players Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman and Frank Ramsey in 1960. “Twelve of the greatest Celtics players of all time”  from Boston.com website (March 18, 2018)

 

Categories
Curriculum Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics course offerings, 1910-1915

 

Here are five more installments in the series “Economics course offerings at Radcliffe College”…

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for 1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 , 1905-1910 have been posted earlier.

________________

1910-1911
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. HUSE and DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Money, and Banking.

45 Undergraduates, 6 Special students. Total 51.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

3 Graduates, 31 Undergraduates, 1 Unclassified student.  Total 35.
(1 Graduate, 2d half only).

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 8 Undergraduates. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 12 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. Total 18.

81. Dr. HUSE. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

7 Undergraduates. Total 7.

82. Dr. DAY. — Banking and Foreign Exchange. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

5 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 11 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 15.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 11 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 16.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Millinery Trade in Boston. 1 Graduate. (b) The Small Loan Business in Boston. 1 Graduate.

Total 2.

**20b. Professor CARVER. — The Laws of Production and Valuation.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1910-11, pp. 49-50.

_______________

1911-1912
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY and Mr. J. S. DAVIS. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

43 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 1 Unclassified student.
(1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student 1sthalf only.)  Total 52.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. — Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

4 Graduates, 18 Undergraduates, 6 Special Students. (1 Special student, 1st half only.)  Total 28.

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 14.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

*18. Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

6 Undergraduates. (4 Undergraduates, 1st half only; 1 Undergraduate, 2d half only.)  Total 6.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. 1 Graduate. (b) Economic Policy of England from 1625 to 1660. 1 Graduate. (c) Women in the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts. 2 Graduates.

Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1911-12, pp. 53-54.

_______________

1912-1913
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

24 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 4 Unclassified students.
(1 Special student, 1st half only.) Total 36.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

3 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 8.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

3 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 8.

7 (formerly 14). Professor CARVER. — Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice. 3 hours a week.

9 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

8 (formerly 3). Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 3 hours a week.

27 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. (1 Undergraduate, 1st half only.)  Total 31.

9 (formerly 18). Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**121 (formerly 13). Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1sthalf-year.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

**13 (formerly 4). Professor RIPLEY. — Statistics, Theory, method and practice. 2 hours a week.

3 Graduates. Total 3.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**23 (formerly 11). Dr. GRAY. — Economic History of Europe to 1760. 3 hours a week.

1 Special student. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Selected Topics in Modern European Economic History.

2 Graduates. Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 42-43.

_______________

1913-1914
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY and Mr. BURBANK. — Principles of Economics. 3 hours a week.

33 Undergraduates, 5 Special students, 2 Unclassified students.  Total 40.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 10 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 14.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student. Total 13.

7 (formerly 14). Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Economic Theory: Value and Related Problems. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 5 Undergraduates.  Total 6.

9 (formerly 18). Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**11. Professor TAUSSIG. — Economic Theory. Half-course. 3 hours a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

**14. Professor BULLOCK. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**24. Professor GAY. — Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evenings a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates (1 Graduate, 1st half only). Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 99-100.

_______________

1914-1915
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY. — Principles of Economics.

5 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Unclassified students, 4 Special students.  Total 42.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

2a1 hf.  Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

3 Graduates, 3 Seniors. Total 6.

2b2 hf.   Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States

3 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

7. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate, 3 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.  Total 9.

8. Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Principles of Sociology.

6 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 1 Special student. Total 10.

Accounting

Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting.

5 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

 

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

**121hf. Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**13. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics: Theory, method, and practice.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Applied Economics

**33 hf. Professor TAUSSIG. — International Trade, with special reference to Tariff Problems in the United States.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**34. Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Course of Research

20a2 hf. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates.  Total 2.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1914-15, pp. 41-42.

Image Source: From front matter of the bound version of  The Radcliffe Bulletin, 1912-13 in the Harvard University Library.

 

 

Categories
Columbia Exam Questions

Columbia. Microeconomic theory exam. Becker, 1965.

 

The following set of Gary Becker’s microeconomic theory examination questions (found in a folder in the Milton Friedman papers at the Hoover Archives) does not have an institution identification. According to the copy of Gary Becker’s c.v. buried in the website at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, we can be reasonably confident that this course was taught while Becker was still a professor at Columbia University. 

__________________

Final Examination
G6213x
Prof. G. S. Becker
January, 1965

THREE HOURS—Persons whose native language is not English can have an additional 45 minutes.

  1. (40 points) Answer each of the following as true, false or uncertain and justify your answer in the space provided.
    1. Over time in the U.S. since 1929 output of the service industries rose at about the same rate as that of goods. Since the price of services rose at least as rapidly as that of goods, the income elasticity of demand for services would be greater than that for goods.
    2. A weighted average of all price elasticities must add up to one.
    3. Suppose the excise tax on bus travel was reduced and not on plane, train or other travel. This would reduce the use of buses if such travel was a sufficiently strong inferior good relative to other kinds of travel.
    4. The ability of firms of very different sizes to survive in an industry means that the long run marginal cost curve is horizontal over the range of firm sizes that survive.
    5. If an increase in the output of any firm lowered the marginal cost curves of other firms in the same industry (external economies) a competitive industry as a whole might show increasing returns; i.e., have a negatively inclined supply curve.
    6. Short run marginal costs can never be below long run marginal costs.
    7. Suppose that a competitive firm maximizes not income but its sales subject to the constraint that it does not make any losses. Then reduction in the demand for its product might not lead it to reduce output.
    8. Goods X and Y are either substitutes, complements, or independent if an increase in the amount of X either reduces, raises or leaves unchanged the marginal utility of Y.
    9. If the price of a good competitively produced was free to vary and yet did not change much between a seasonal low and a seasonal high in demand, this means that the industry’s long run marginal cost curve was very elastic.
    10. An ad valorem tax, with a tax rate proportional to producer’s price, on a competitive industry that yielded the same revenue at the initial output as a specific tax, fixed amount per unit, would reduce output less than the specific tax.

 

  1. (20 points) Treat charitable contributions as a commodity entering the utility functions or indifference curves systems of the contributor. Assume, as is largely true, that contributions can be deducted from income in arriving at taxable income. Assume a proportional tax rate equal to t.
    1. What would be the effect of an increase in the tax rate for any one person alone on his contributions? How does your analysis compare with the traditional analysis for commodities?
    2. Is he more likely to increase or decrease his contributions?
    3. Suppose now the tax rate increased for everyone. Would your answers to a. and b. be significantly different?

 

  1. (20 points) Suppose the traffic department would like to enforce parking regulations in an efficient way. Assume that each person has the choice of parking illegally or legally; the latter costs X dollars per “day” and the former, if one is caught, causes a fine equal to F dollars per time caught.
    1. Assume first that the sole aim of the traffic department is to discourage illegal parking at minimum cost. Assume also that all drivers simply try to maximize expected money income. How frequently should the traffic department inspect parking in order to achieve its aim?
    2. If all drivers maximized expected utility and had diminishing marginal utility of income, (but there is no utility or disutility from disobeying the law), how would this affect your answer? If they had increasing marginal utility of income?
    3. Suppose the traffic department received all the fines and desired just to maximize its expected income. How would your answer to 1. be affected?
    4. How does your answer to a. and c. depend on F, the size of the fine, and X, the cost of legal parking?

 

  1. (20 points) Suppose the earnings of military personnel were set below the price that would make the number of volunteers equal to the demand by the military, and that draft calls were sent out strictly at random to males aged 18-26 to bring the number entering up to demand

a.

1. How would the composition of drafted personnel compare with those that would enter if military earnings were raised sufficiently to make the number of volunteers equal to demand?

2. How would the total tax burden and its distribution among the population compare?

b. Assume now that drafted personnel could buy a substitute or substitute for someone else (as during the Civil War) instead of entering as a draftee. Assuming the capital market for substitutes works well, in equilibrium

1. How would the composition of men entering and the tax burden compare with that under a drafted and a fully voluntary system?

2. What determines the price that substitutes can get?

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives.  Milton Friedman Papers, Box 80, Folde.r “University of Chicago, Student doctoral thesis and papers”.

Image Source:  Gary S. Becker from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf7-00059, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. History of Commerce to 1750. Usher, 1929-30

 

This post provides the course description, enrollment figures, reading assignments, and final examination questions for Abbott Payson Usher’s course “History of Commerce: 1450-1750” that he taught at Harvard in 1929-30.

The economic historian, Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965), received his A.B. (1904), A.M. (1905), and Ph.D. (1910) all from Harvard. He taught ten years at Cornell and two years at Boston University before returning to his alma mater in 1922 where he remained on the faculty for the rest of his career. Usher was a visiting professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1949-51 and 1955-57.

A bibliography of Usher’s writings is included in the Festschrift for him, Architects and Craftsmen in History (1956).

A memorial essay written by Thomas M. Smith was published in Technology and Culture, vol. 6, no. 4 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 630-632 [gated].

A few other Abbott Payson Usher artifacts from courses at Harvard already transcribed at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

Economic History to 1450 [1934]
Modern Economic History [1937-41]
European Economic History [1921]

 ___________________

From Usher’s report to the Harvard Class of 1904
(15th anniversary, 1919)

ABBOT PAYSON USHER

Born: Lynn, Mass., Jan. 13, 1883. [Died: June 18, 1965]
Parents:  Edward Preston Usher, Adela Louise Payson.
School: High School, Grafton, Mass.
Years in College: 1900-1904.
Degrees:  A.B. 1904; A.M. 1905; Ph.D. 1910.
Married: Miriam Shoe, Grafton, Mass., Sept. 3, 1914.
Children: Eunice, Sept. 8, 1915.
Business: Teacher.
Address:  (home) 108 Linden Ave, Ithaca, N.Y. (business) 260 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, N.Y.

My contribution for the war was the preparation of a special report for Colonel House’s committee.

Publications: “The Technique of Medieval and Modern Produce Markets.” Journal of Political Economy, xxiii, p. 365, 1915. “Germanic Statecraft and Democracy.” Unpopular Review, vol. iv, p. 27, 1915. “Generalizations in Economic History.” Journal of Sociology, vol. xxii, p. 474, 1916. “Influence of Speculative Marketing on Prices.” Economic Review, vol. vi, p. 49, 1916. “England’s Place in the Sun.” Unpopular Review, vol. vi, p. 311, 1916. “The Parisian Bill Market in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. xxiv, p. 985, 1916. “The Government, the Speculators and the Food Supply.” Cornell Countryman, vol. xiv, p. 726, 1917. “The Content of the Value Concept.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxxi, p. 711, 1917. “The Unions and the Labor Problem.” Unpopular Review, vol. viii, p. 168, 1917. “Science and Learning in France.” Chicago: Society for American Fellowships in French Universities, 1917, p. 287-290.

[Reviews of] “Customary Acres and Their Historical Importance,” by F. Seebohm. American Acad. of Polit. and Social Science, lvii, p. 342, 1915. “Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History”; edited by P. Vinogeradoff. Vol. iv. Same, lvii, p. 343, 1915. “History of Commerce and Industry,” by C.A. Herrick. American Economic Review, vol. viii, p. 101, 1918.

Member: Ithaca Country Club.

Source:  Harvard College Class of 1904. Fifteenth Anniversary Report (1919), pp. 408-9.

___________________

Announcement of Usher joining Harvard Faculty in 1922 as Assistant Professor in economics

Abbott Payson Usher ’04, Professor of Economics at Boston University, has accepted an appointment at the University as Assistant professor of Economics and tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

Professor Usher took the degree of A.M. at the University in 1905, served as assistant and instructor in Economics until 1910, and in the latter year took the higher degree of Ph.D. For the next ten years he taught at Cornell, first as instructor in Economics and later as Assistant Professor. In 1920 he has called to Boston University as a full Professor and this year he is serving also as lecturer in Economics at Harvard.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, June 10, 1922 .

___________________

Course Description
1929-30

[Economics] 10a 1hf. The History of Commerce, 1450-1750

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. Associate Professor Usher.

A study of the expansion of Europe approached as a consequence of the great discoveries. The age of discovery is studied with special regard to the influence of improvements in the technique of ship-building and navigation. Changes in the physical volume of commerce and consumption will be studied by quantitative methods. The commercial policies and colonial systems of the leading countries will be studied.

Source:  Division of History, Government and Economics, 1929-30. Official Register of Harvard University, vol. 26, No. 36 (June 27, 1929), p. 70.

___________________

Course Enrollment
1929-30

[Economics] 10a1hf. Associate Professor Usher.—History of Commerce, 1450-1750.

Total 5:  4 Graduates, 1 Junior, 2 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1929-30, p. 78.

___________________

Course Readings

Economics 10a.
1929-30
History of commerce: 1450-1750.

  1. The great discoveries. To be completed, Oct. 21.

Beazley, C.R. Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 1-123, 138-46, 160-78.
Olivera Martins, J.P. The golden age of Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 61-84, 169-231.
Nunn, G.E. The geographical conceptions of Columbus, pp. 31-53.
Vignaud, H. Toscanelli and Columbus, pp. 52-74, 243-73.

  1. Portugal, Spain, and Holland. To be completed, Nov. 15.

Whiteway, R.S. The rise of Portugese power in India, pp. 1-57, 128-79.
Haring, C.H. Trade and navigation between Spain and the Indies, pp. 3-45, 96-200.
Day, C. The policy and administration of the Dutch in Java, pp. 39-82.
Moreland, W.H. From Akbar to Arungzeb. pp. 1-188.

  1. England and France. To be completed, Dec. 23

Thomas, P.J. Mercantilism and the East India Company. pp. 1-47, 67-166.
Scott, W.R. The history of the Joint Stock companies, vol. I, pp. 1-15, 105-28, 326-52, 439-73.
Unwin, George. Studies in economic history, pp. 133-220.
Weber, Max. General economic history, pp. 275-301, 315-51. pp. 275-301, 315-51.

  1. Reading period.

Lyall, A. History of British India, chapters 2-11.
or
Dodwell, Henry Dupleix and Clive. pp. 3-269.

 

Source:Harvard University Archives.Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1929-1930”.

___________________

Final Examination, 1930

1929-30
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10a1

Answer SIX questions.

  1. Sketch the history of geographical science from the death of Prince Henry the Navigator to the death of Mercator.
  2. Describe the place of the “Mesta” in the economic life of Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
  3. What were the distinctive features of Dutch colonial policy in Java?
  4. Describe and discuss the status and obligations of the natives to the government and to the Spanish settlers in the Spanish possessions in the New World in the sixteenth century.
  5. Sketch the development of the free trade policy in England in the seventeenth century, with special reference to the relation of the arguments of the Free Traders to analysis of international trade.
  6. What were the characteristic differences between the Regulated Company and the Corporation?
  7. What influence was exerted upon economic policy by Machiavelli’s treatise “The Prince”?
  8. Sketch the career of Dupleix or Clive.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers—Finals, 1930(vol. 72). Papers Printed for Final Examinations, History, New Testament,…Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science (January-June, 1930).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1934.

Categories
Economists Stanford

Stanford. Economic Ph.D. alumni, brothers Arthur Bruce and Donald Elliot Anthony, 1927-28

 

 

In the continuing series “Get to know an economics Ph.D.” we meet the brothers Arthur Bruce Anthony (1892-1974) and Donald Elliot Anthony (1899-1974). The brothers each earned an economics Ph.D. from Stanford in 1927 and 1928, respectively.

Arthur Bruce Anthony’s 1927 dissertation: “Some influences tending toward American economic imperialism…”
Donald Elliot Anthony’s 1928 dissertation: “Labor Conditions in the Canning Industry in the Santa Clara Valley of the State of California”.

The original starting point for this post was a one-page typed outline c.v. for “A.B. Anthony” apparently submitted sometime in 1928 to the Harvard economics department as part of Arthur Bruce Anthony’s job search following his 1927 Stanford Ph.D. What struck me in reading his c.v. was the list of courses taught and their respective textbooks.

The brothers were born in the City of Berkeley, California. Their parents were Arthur Kellogg Anthony and Minnie Elliot  Anthony (née Buckelow).

 Arthur Bruce Anthony was born May 22, 1892 and died May 4, 1974.
Donald Elliot Anthony was born November 30, 1899 and died in Kent, Ohio in September, 1974 (According to the Social Security Death Index September 9, State of Ohio Death Records September 5, Find-A-Grave index September 7).

 The older brother, Arthur, began his final university appointment (in economics) at Mercer University (Georgia) immediately after the end of the Second World War.  The younger brother, Donald, appears to have spent his entire teaching career (business administration) starting 1929 at Kent State University (Ohio).

____________________

Arthur Bruce Anthony’s c.v. ca. 1928

Academic Record

A.B., Stanford, 1919; M.A., Stanford, 1921; Ph.D., Stanford, 1927.
Graduate Student, Cornell University, 1922-23.
Graduate Student, University of Chicago, summers of 1921-22, 1924-25, resp.
Thesis Field: International Economic Relations.
Stanford University Fellowship, 1925-26.
Graduate Student, Stanford University, summer of 1926-27.

Note. In addition to my A.B. work in Economics, I have the equivalent of A.B. work at Stanford in History, and also in Philosophy.

Teaching Record.

Butler University, Indianapolis, 1921-22. Instructor in Economics.
Cornell University, 1922-23. Instructor in Economics.
University of Pittsburgh, 1923-24, 1924-25. Instructor in Economics.
St. Louis University, 1926-27, 1927-28. Head of Dept. of Economics.1
Total Teaching Time, six years. (June, 1928.)

1Note: The Dean of the Department of Commerce and Finance in St. Louis University doe not believe in separate ranks for his teachers.

Subjects Taught.

Principles of Economics. Text, Taussig.
Principles of Economics. Text, Ely.
Money, Credit and Banking, Text. Jos. F. Johnson. Outside Readings.
Transportation. Text, Johnson and Van Metre. Outside Readings.
Foreign Exchange. Text, Whitaker. Outside Readings. Advanced Course.
Transportation. (Advanced Course.) Text, H.G. Brown, “Transportation Rates and Their Regulation.” Outside Readings, espec. W.Z. Ripley.
Economic Geography. Text, J.R. Smith. Outside Sources.
Elementary Sociology. Texts, E.A. Ross, and W.G. Beach (Stanford).
Graduate Seminar in Sociology.

References: Dr. M.S. Wildman, Stanford Univ; Dr. R.H. Jordan, Cornell Univ; Dr. Jacob Viner, Univ. of Chicago; Dr. M.O. McKay, Univ. of Pittsburgh.

(signed) A.B. Anthony

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 3, Folder “A”.

____________________

From Arthur Bruce Anthony’s 1957 AEA Handbook entry

Anthony, Arthur Bruce, Mercer Univ., Macon, Ga. (1949) Mercer Univ., prof. of econ., teach; b. 1892; A.B., 1919, M.A., 1921, Ph.D., 1927, Stanford; 1921-22, Cornell Univ.; 1923-24 Pittsburgh; summers, Chicago. Fields 5 [Economic Systems; Planning and Reform; Co-operation], 1 [General Economics], 9 [International Economics]. Doc. dis. Some tendencies towards economic imperialism. Pub. Economic and social problems of machine age (Univ. of Southern California Press, 1930); “Economic development of modern corporation,” in Georgia Corporation Law, Appendix (C. E. Nadler, 1950) Dir. W. W. in Amer., Dir. of Amer. Schol.

Source:  The American Economic Review, Vol. 47, No. 4, Handbook of the American Economic Association (Jul., 1957), p. 8.

____________________

New Head of Economics
[Mercer University, October 1946]

Dr. Arthur Bruce Anthony, Ph.D., Stanford University, ’27, arrived at Mercer with the fall session to be head of the Department of Economics. Having last taught at Park College, Parkville, Missouri, Dr. Anthony has served on the faculties of University of Southern California, University of Pittsburgh, Cornell University, Butler University, and Whitman College, and was connected with the War Department from 1941 to 1942.
He has had a book published, entitled Economic and Social Problems of the Machine Age.

Source:  The Mercerian, October, 1946, p. 6.

______________________

From Donald Elliot Anthony’s entry in
AEA 1948 List of Members

ANTHONY, Donald Elliot, Kent, Ohio. (1928) Kent State Univ., Dept. of Bus. Admin., dept. head, teach., res.; b. 1899; B.A., 1922, Stanford; M.A., 1923, Cornell Univ.; Ph.D., 1928, Stanford. Fields 16 [Labor], 12b [Public Regulation and Control of Business; Public Administration; Operation in War and Peace], 4a [Economic Systems and Policies]. Doc. dis. Problems of women and children in canning industry of central California. Pub. “How collective bargaining works,” Ch. 12, Rubber products (Twentieth Century Fund, 1942); “Filipino labor in central California,” Sociology and Soc. Res., Nov.-Dec., 1931; “An economist looks at the last decade,” Torch, Oct., 1941. Dir. Dir. of Schol.

Source:  The American Economic Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, The 1948 Directory of the American Economic Association (Jan., 1949), p. 6.

______________________

Image Sources:  For Arthur Bruce Anthony, The 1951 Mercer University Yearbook (Cauldron).  For Donald Elliot Anthony, 1950 Kent State Yearbook (Chestnut Burr).