Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Curriculum Economists Gender

Smith College. Henry L. Moore’s teaching, 1898-99

 

Looking for something quite different, I stumbled upon this picture of the young Henry Ludwell Moore from 1898 when he taught at Smith College. Since I very much like to display pictures of members of the economists’ pantheon from when they were young, I decided to look for some artifact associated with Moore’s teaching at Smith to include with the picture. For those interested in the history of economics education of women, such course catalogue excerpts from the traditional women’s colleges are of considerable interest.

_____________________

ECONOMICS.

Professor, Henry L. Moore.

  1. General Economics. A thorough course in the elements of the science. Lectures, recitations and papers. Text-book, Walker’s Political Economy (Advanced Course). Elective for Juniors, and, together with 2, alternate with History 5 or 8 in the group-system. Three hours a week for the first semester.
  2. Applied Economics. The Tariff; Railroad Transportation; Money. Lectures, recitations and debates. Elective for Juniors, and, together with 1, alternate with History 6 or 8 in the group-system. Three hours a week for the second semester.
  3. Modern Industrial Combinations. A study of Trusts, Pools and Corners. Elective for Seniors. Two hours a week for the first semester.
  4. Socialism and Social Reformers. A critical study of theories of the French and German Socialists, the Christian Socialists in England, the Fabians and the Nationalists. Elective for Seniors. Two hours a week for the second semester.

Source:   Official Circular of Smith College.  1898-99, p. 23.

Image Source:  Henry L. Moore in Classbook of 1898, Smith College.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for international trade and finance. Leontief, 1934

 

International Trade and Finance was a course taught by Wassily Leontief during the second semester of his second year on the Harvard economics faculty (1933-34).    

Course description, final exam, and enrollment for Economics 39,  International Trade and Finance, taught by Leontief in 1932-33 have been posted earlier.

The exam questions from both years provide some light on the actual course content.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 55 2hf. (formerly Economics 39). Asst. Professor Leontief.—International Trade and Finance.

Total: 6 of which 5 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1933-34, p. 86.

___________________________

1933-34
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 552

Answer three out of the four questions

  1. What are the terms of trade? Indicate the factors which effect their change; describe the methods of their statistical measurement.
  2. Give a critical discussion of the purchasing power parity theory.
  3. Under which conditions can an import duty be beneficial?
  4. Discuss what is in your opinion the fundamental difference between Taussig’s and Ohlin’s approach to the problems of international trade.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Finals 1934 (HUC 7000.38, vol. 76).

Image Source: Wassily Leontief in Harvard Class Album, 1934.

Categories
Columbia Curriculum Gender Undergraduate

Columbia. Economics and social science curriculum as of Dec. 1898

Columbia 1890-1898

 

One of the duller parts of my project that covers roughly a century’s development (1870-1970) of undergraduate and graduate economics education is gathering information on the nuts-and-bolts of curriculum structure. Today, looking at a report of the Faculty of Political Science published in the December 1898 issue of Columbia University Quarterly, I saw the announcement that 1898-99 was the first time that women were admitted to graduate courses in history and economics. The report also presented an easy to follow outline of the four or five year curriculum in economics and the social sciences. The idea behind the curriculum was to provide an orderly and logical sequence of courses, yet with sufficient flexibility to serve the needs of undergraduates, graduates (a.k.a. specialists), and special students (those from outside the Faculty of Political Science).

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Other Relevant Columbia University Artifacts

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Highlights from the December 1898 report of the Faculty of Political Science

“For the first time in its history women are admitted to its courses in history and economics, but only women who are graduates and who are competent to carry on the work of the courses. No women are admitted as special students or to the courses given to the undergraduates, the idea being to put the women graduate students on the same footing as the men, giving them the same opportunities.” p. 75.

“Several new volumes in the series of Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law are now completed, including volumes eight and nine. These studies comprise the most successful of the dissertations which are submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the doctor’s degree.”

Economics and social science curriculum (four or five years)

“Columbia University has attempted thus to formulate in the Department of Economics and Social Science a programme that shall be systematic, in the sense of orderly development and logical sequence (the course covers four or five years), and at the same time flexible, for the purpose of meeting the just demands of a great variety of students—the undergraduate, the specialist, and the special student.” p. 77.

Junior year economics:

“The undergraduate begins with the Economic History of England and America (Economics 1), which gives him that understanding of the evolution of economic institutions, such as the systems of land tenure, the factory system, the institutions of commerce and trade, which is necessary for any approach to economic discussion. That is followed by the Elements of Political Economy (Economics A), where the fundamental principles of the science are laid down and illustrated by contemporary events. These courses are usually taken during the Junior year, but may be taken a year earlier by students desiring to specialize in this direction. The lettered course is required of every student, and is in the nature of logical discipline for clear reasoning and a preparation for good citizenship. The College is held thereby to have discharged its duty to itself, in fulfilling the minimum required for the degree of A.B., and to the community, in inculcating sound principles in its graduates.” p. 76.

Senior year economics:

“For the majority of undergraduates these courses are but the preliminary sketch, the details of which are to be filled out by the more intensive study of Senior year. For this abundant opportunity is offered in the course on modern industrial problems, money, and labor (Economics 3), in the treatment of finance and taxation (Economics 4) and in the critical consideration of theories of socialism and projects of social reform (Economics 10 and 11). At the same time the elements of sociology (Sociology 15) furnish a broader foundation for generalization in regard to the fundamental principles of social life, and afford the student on the eve of graduation an opportunity to coordinate his knowledge of history, economics, philosophy, and ethics into a theory of society.

These courses of Senior year constitute the fundamental university courses, and are frequented by graduates of other colleges and by many students from the law school, the theological seminaries, and Teachers College, who find them valuable as auxiliary to their main lines of study. For the specialist and special student these courses in their turn are preliminary. They form the introduction to the university courses proper.” pp. 76-77.

Graduate (or specialist) economics:

“Here the specialist finds opportunity for development in economic theory (Economics 8, 9, and 10) and for further practical work (Economics 5 and 7), for sociological theory (Sociology 20, 21, and 25), for the treatment of problems of crime and pauperism (Sociology 22 and 23). and for the theory and practice of statistics as an instrument of investigation in all the social sciences (Sociology 17, 18, and 19). Crowning the whole are the seminars in political economy and sociology, and the statistical laboratory, where the student is trained for original work.” p. 77.

_____________________________

Faculty of Political Science
[Full Report for Dec. 1898 Columbia University Quarterly]

Department of History.—The late war seems to have had its effect on educational matters, and several resulting tendencies have been particularly marked at Columbia University. Thus, in the School of Political Science the attendance of students in the course on the general principles of international law has been very large and much interest is being manifested in the subject. Ordinarily this course, as well as a number of others treating of kindred subjects, is given by Professor Moore, who is at present in the service of the United States government. In his absence the course is being conducted by Mr. Edmond Kelly, who has lectured before the school on numerous occasions. Professor Moore’s course on diplomatic history is now being given by Dr. Frederic Bancroft, formerly librarian of the State Department, and a former lecturer in this Faculty.

The Faculty of Political Science has commenced the term with every indication of a most prosperous year. For the first time in its history women are admitted to its courses in history and economics, but only women who are graduates and who are competent to carry on the work of the courses. No women are admitted as special students or to the courses given to the undergraduates, the idea being to put the women graduate students on the same footing as the men, giving them the same opportunities.

The number of publications from the members of this faculty is constantly increasing, and several important works have recently been published or are in preparation. The Macmillan Company will soon publish Professor John B. Clark’s two-volume work on the distribution of wealth and the new edition of Professor Seligman’s Shifting and Incidence of Taxation. Several new volumes in the series of Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law are now completed, including volumes eight and nine. These studies comprise the most successful of the dissertations which are submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the doctor’s degree. Professor Robinson has just published a volume entitled Petrarch’s Letters, and Professor Munroe Smith’s Study of Bismarck has been issued from the University Press.

As Wednesday, October 19, was appointed Lafayette Day, President Low arranged for an address on “The Life and Services to this Country of Lafayette,” by Professor J. H. Robinson.

The department of history has enrolled about four hundred students from Columbia and Barnard. It offers a total of thirty-three courses. The new circular which explains fully its resources and gives a detailed account of its work can be had on application to the Secretary of the University. Professor Dunning is absent on leave. He is spending the winter in Rome, engaged in certain researches connected with the history of political theories and ancient institutions.

W. M. S. [William M. Sloane]

 

Department of Economics and Social Science.—The courses in this department have been so systematized as to meet the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students, while offering to other members of the University and of allied institutions the opportunity to broaden their studies by some knowledge of social theory and social problems.

The undergraduate begins with the Economic History of England and America (Economics 1), which gives him that understanding of the evolution of economic institutions, such as the systems of land tenure, the factory system, the institutions of commerce and trade, which is necessary for any approach to economic discussion. That is followed by the Elements of Political Economy (Economics A), where the fundamental principles of the science are laid down and illustrated by contemporary events. These courses are usually taken during the Junior year, but may be taken a year earlier by students desiring to specialize in this direction. The lettered course is required of every student, and is in the nature of logical discipline for clear reasoning and a preparation for good citizenship. The College is held thereby to have discharged its duty to itself, in fulfilling the minimum required for the degree of A.B., and to the community, in inculcating sound principles in its graduates.

For the majority of undergraduates these courses are but the preliminary sketch, the details of which are to be filled out by the more intensive study of Senior year. For this abundant opportunity is offered in the course on modern industrial problems, money, and labor (Economics 3), in the treatment of finance and taxation (Economics 4) and in the critical consideration of theories of socialism and projects of social reform (Economics 10 and 11). At the same time the elements of sociology (Sociology 15) furnish a broader foundation for generalization in regard to the fundamental principles of social life, and afford the student on the eve of graduation an opportunity to coordinate his knowledge of history, economics, philosophy, and ethics into a theory of society.

These courses of Senior year constitute the fundamental university courses, and are frequented by graduates of other colleges and by many students from the law school, the theological seminaries, and Teachers College, who find them valuable as auxiliary to their main lines of study. For the specialist and special student these courses in their turn are preliminary. They form the introduction to the university courses proper.

Here the specialist finds opportunity for development in economic theory (Economics 8, 9, and 10) and for further practical work (Economics 5 and 7), for sociological theory (Sociology 20, 21, and 25), for the treatment of problems of crime and pauperism (Sociology 22 and 23). and for the theory and practice of statistics as an instrument of investigation in all the social sciences (Sociology 17, 18, and 19). Crowning the whole are the seminars in political economy and sociology, and the statistical laboratory, where the student is trained for original work.

Columbia University has attempted thus to formulate in the Department of Economics and Social Science a programme that shall be systematic, in the sense of orderly development and logical sequence (the course covers four or five years), and at the same time flexible, for the purpose of meeting the just demands of a great variety of students—the undergraduate, the specialist, and the special student.

R. M.-S. [Richmond Mayo-Smith]

 Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 1 (December 1898), pp. 74-77.

Image Source:  Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1890). Columbia University Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-cc6c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Undergraduate economics course outline and exam for business cycles. Hansen, 1948-49

 

This post provides enrollment data, course outline, reading assignments and final examination questions for Alvin H. Hansen‘s undergraduate economics course on business cycles  for the first semester of the Harvard 1948-49 academic year.

The 1950-51 course outline only differs with respect to a few items. Beginning 1951-52 the material for this course was swept into the second semester of Economics 141. Money, Banking and Economic Fluctuations offered jointly by Alvin Hansen and John H. Williams.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 145a (formerly Economics 45a). Business Cycles (F). Professor Hansen.

Total: 83 of which 48 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1948-49, p. 77.

_________________________

Economics 145a
Business Cycles                 1948-49                    Professor Hansen

Part I. Descriptive Survey

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 1,9.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. I, II.
Schumpeter, “The Analysis of Economic Change,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. I.
Federal Reserve Chart Book (available at the Coop.)

**********

Suggested Reading:

Mitchell, “Business Cycles,” in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106.
Kondratieff, “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 3.
Frickey, Economic Fluctuations in the United States.
Burns and Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Part II, Sec. 1 and Appendix A.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, pp. 161-174; 212-219.
Dewey and Dakin, Cycles, Ch. 1-9.

Part II. The Meaning and Genesis of National Product

Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4.
Gilbert and Jaszi, “National Product and Income as an Aid in Economic Problems,” in Readings in the Theory of Income and Distribution, Ch. 2.
Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 10, only pp. 210-234.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. I.
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 8, Section 4, pp. 222-232; Ch. 13, Section 1, pp. 455-461.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XI, XII, XIII, XIV.

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Suggested Reading:

National Income, Supplement to Survey of Current Business, July, 1947.
Kuznets, (a) The National Income and its Composition, Ch. 1; (b) National Income, A Summary of Findings.
M. Hoffenberg, “Estimates of National Output, Distributed Income, Consumer Spending, Saving, and Capital Formation,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1943.
Polanyi, Full Employment and Free Trade, Ch. I.
Kaldor, “The Quantitative Aspects of the Full Employment Problem in Britain,” Appendix C in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
Smithies, “Forecasting Post-War Demand,” Econometrica, January, 1945.
National Planning Association, National Budgets for Full Employment.

Part III. Theory of Cycles and Investment

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 10, 11, and 3; Ch. 13, Section 3, pp. 473-479.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XVI and XVII; (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 14-16.
Keynes, General Theory, ch. 22.
Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 21, 22.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 33.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. IV, Sections A, B, and C, pp. 130-161; Ch. VII, Section C., pp. 325-351.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 7-9.

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Suggested Reading:

Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, Macmillan, 1947. Ch. 1-4.
Long, Building Cycles and the Theory of Investment, Ch. I, II, VII, VIII, XII.
Haberler, Remainder of Prosperity and Depression, especially Chapter VIII.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 8-15; 18-19; 39-40.
Schumpeter, Further reading in Business Cycles, especially Chapters 6 and 7.
Tinbergen, Robertson, Hayek, Hawtrey in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 15, 16, 17.
Clark, Strategic Factors in Business Cycles.
Wilson, The Fluctuations in Income and EmploymentCh. 1-10.
Estey, Business Cycles, Ch. 1-16.
Hansen (a) Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 8; (b) Full Recovery or Stagnation, Ch. 3 (Hayek); and Appendix Keynes’ Treatise, pp. 331-343.
Metzler, (a) “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles,” in Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1941; (b) “Business Cycle Theory and the Theory of Employment,” in Am. Econ. Review, June, 1946.
Samuelson, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 12.
Samuelson, Chapter II in Harris’ Postwar Economic Problems: Income, Employment and Public Policy (Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen), W.W. Norton, 1948.
E. V. Morgan, Conquest of Unemployment, Samson-Low Co. London, 1948.

Part IV. Policy

Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies No. 3, Comar, Public Debt and National Income, pp. 53-68.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 16-17; 34-35.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. 9. (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 5-13; 22.
C. E. D., Research Staff, Jobs and Markets, Ch. 8.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Parts IV and V.
C. E. D., Taxes and the Budget, 1947.

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Suggested Reading:

Hicks, Ch. 24, in Readings in Income Distribution (Keynes and the Classics; also in Econometrica, Vol. 5, 1937).
Pigou, Lapses from Full Employment.
Kaldor, “Stability and Full Employment,” in the Economic Journal, Dec.1938.
Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies, No. 3, Musgrave, “Federal Tax Reform,” pp. 22-52.
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. XV, XVI, XVII.
Harold Smith, Testimony in Hearings of Senate Committee Banking and Currency on Full Employment Act of 1945, S. 380, pp. 676-696.
Twentieth Century Fund, American Housing, Ch. 12, pp. 311-341.
Financing American Prosperity, Ch. 3, 5, 6, 7 (Clark, Hansen, Slichter and Williams).

 

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read one of the following four assignments:

  1. Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 10-18.
  2. Kaldor, Appendix C. (pp. 344-400) in Beveridge, Full Emploment in a Free Society.
  3. Polanyi, Free Trade and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4, 6, 7; and H. Williams, “Free Enterprise and Full Employment,” Chapter 7 in Financing American Prosperity.
  4. Terborgh, George, The Bogey of Economic Maturity (entire book, disregarding appendices) and A. H. Hansen’s review of Terborgh’s book in Appendix B in Economic Policy and Full EmploymentandWright’s review in Review of Economic Statistics, February, 1946, pp. 13-22.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4. Folder: “Economics, 1949-1950 [sic] (2 of 3)”.

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1948-49
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 145a
[Final examination, January 1949]

Part I
(Answer any THREE questions)

  1. Certain theorists believe there is not one “business cycle,” but rather several of different duration and nature. Outline and discuss four types of cycle with particular reference to their interrelationships, if any.
  2. Discuss the factors that bring about a termination of the boom (the upper turning point). Introduce the views of different cycle theorists and critically examine their explanations.
  3. Gross National Product statistics provide an important tool in analyzing the cyclical nature of economic activity. Present the main components on (a) the expenditure side (b) the income (distributive shares) side of Gross National Product.
    Analyze the factors chiefly responsible for determining the level of: (a) investment, (b) consumption, (c) saving, in any period.
  4. (a) Using the Keynesian “instantaneous” analysis and assuming hypothetical values for the consumption function and the level of income, show how an increase of $10 billion in investment would affect income and consumption. Illustrate your answer graphically.
    (b) Show how the above analysis would be changed if the Robertsonian time period approach were used. What is the essential difference between the two forms of analysis, especially with regard to the multiplier.
  5. (a) Discuss the relative merits of fiscal and monetary policies as means of reducing business cycle fluctuations.
    (b) Discuss the proposals for stability and full employment contained in two CED publications: (1) Jobs and Marketsand (2) Taxes and the Budget.

Part II (Required of everyone)

Summarize the salient points in any oneof the following, and critically evaluate the conclusions reached by the author:

(a) Morgan: Income and Employment
(b) Kaldor: (Appendix C) in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
(c) Polanyi: Free Trade and Full Employmentand Williams in Financing American Prosperity.
(d) Terborgh: The Bogey of Economic Maturity.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28, Box 16 of 284). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, February, 1949.

Image Source:  Harvard Album 1952.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Chicago Economists Harvard

Chicago. Economics Professor William Hill. Events leading to his leave of absence, 1894

 

 

The “peculiarly sad circumstances”, apparently a manic break in a bi-polar disorder, were reported for University of Chicago economics professor William Hill in 1894. I was able to trace much of the c.v. of this Harvard economics A.M. for today’s post. Apparently his last professional station was at Bethany College in West Virginia where his wife was able to get an appointment teaching history. I’ll keep my eyes open for more biographical information about William Hill (not an uncommon name). There were probably also episodes of depression in his life.

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HE GOES TO KANSAS.
PROF. HILL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GIVEN A VACATION. [1894]

Peculiarly Sad Circumstances Said to Surround the Action of the Faculty in Giving Mr. Hill Chance to Rest and Recuperate – He Is Deeply Interested in Irrigation Affairs, and a Lecture Before the Political Economy Club is Stopped by Physicians.

Prof. William Hill of the University of Chicago has been granted vacation under peculiar and sad circumstances.

Mr. Hill, who is instructor in tariff history and railway transportation, lives in Graduate Hall, occupying Suite No. 16. In addition to his duties in the university, Prof. Hill has been greatly interested in a scheme for the irrigation of arid land in the western part of Kansas. He has always been noted for his studious habits, and, having perfected his plans for reclaiming the Kansas property, he has recently been trying to form a company to give them practical application. At 4 o’clock Thursday morning of last week Night Watchmen Wilson was making his last rounds through Graduate Hall. He had just put out the lights on the third floor and was just about to descend when he heard stealthy footsteps on the floor below.

“Who is there?” He called. “Hill,” was the answer.

Going down Wilson was met by Prof. Hill, who was partially undressed.

“Do you want to make some money?” He asked.

The watchmen expressed his willingness to get rich.

“I’ll show you how you can make thousands,” said the professor, leading the astonished man into his room. There he proceeded to outline his plan for irrigating the dry lands of Kansas and to talk glibly of the vast sums of money to be made in the work.

Wilson was impressed with the peculiar manner of the professor and reported it to his superior officer. The same evening in Cobb Hall Prof. Hill was scheduled to deliver an address before the Political Economy club. He kept his appointment and began his lecture, but before going far the rambling manner of his talk so alarmed his listeners that a physician was summoned, who forbade him to finish. Later the same night Pres. Harper of the university and Prof. Laughlin were driven to the rooms of Prof. Hill and had a conference over his condition. In view of the fact that Prof. Hill’s condition is not considered serious it was decided not to remove him from his rooms, his brother coming on to attend him. Wednesday Prof. Hill was granted a vacation by the faculty and started for his old home in Kansas where he will remain until he has entirely recovered his health.

One of the launchers in graduate Hall was awakened before daylight Tuesday by hearing the professor talking in a loud and disconnected way. He was laboring under the delusion, apparently, that the faculty did not properly understand his case. “The facts must be laid before the members in a proper way,” said Prof. Hill, “so that they will know all about it. I know I am ill. Of course I am ill, but if the thing is not done right who is to know it?”

“What the professor was saying,” said the one who overheard him last night, “and his manner of saying it was like that of a man in a delirium. He has been overworked and overexcited over something. Once I went into his room and found a stranger there with him. The stranger had some sort of a machine, which he was showing Prof. Hill. I understood it was something to be used for irrigating purposes. The interest the professor showed in it was intense.”

When a call was made on Prof. J. Lawrence Laughlin last night the following conversation took place:

“It is said Prof. Hill, one of the instructors in your Department of Political Economy, is ill. Will you tell me how he is?”

“The report is utterly untrue, utterly untrue; Prof. Hill is away on his vacation.”

“Is there nothing the matter with him?”

“Nothing at all; the story is utterly untrue.”

[William Hill graduated from the University of Kansas in 1891 and spent the next year at Harvard where he took his masters degree under Dr. Taussig. At Harvard he also won the Lee Memorial Fellowship. He is the author of the American Economical Association monograph on “Colonial Tariffs.” He came to Chicago University in October, 1892 and has since then become popular with both students and faculty he is Acting President of the Political Economy club of the University and his known as a bicycle rider and tennis expert.]

Source:  Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 December 1894, p.1.

________________

Chicago Years

William Hill. Associate in Political Economy, 1893-94; Instructor, 1894-97; Assistant Professor, 1897-1908; Associate Professor, 1908-12.

Source: James Laurence Laughlin, Twenty-Five Years of the Department of Political Economy, University of Chicago. Chicago: Privately printed, 1916.

________________

Harvard Years

Resident Fellow

Henry Lee Memorial Fellowship, William Hill, A.B. (Univ. of Kansas) 1890, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1891, a student of Political Science.

Source:Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1890-91, p. 90. and  Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 96.

Henry Lee Memorial Fellowship

For 1892-93: WILLIAM HILL, A.B. (Kansas State Univ.) 1890, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1891, A.M, (Ibid.) 1892. Res. Gr. Stud., 1891-93. II. year of incumbency and as a student in the School. Studied at this University. Withdrew at the close of the year, and is now Instructor in Political Economy at the University of Chicago.

Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1892-93, p. 125.

Harvard Publications

William Hill, Colonial Tariffs, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 7, Issue 1, October 1892, Pages 78–100.

William Hill, “The First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States,”  Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 8 (1893), 452-614.

List of publications by William Hill at jstor.org.

________________

Bethany College, West Virginia

William Hill, A.B., A.M., Dean of Agriculture and Land Director.

Graduate of Friends’ Bloomingdale Academy,’ 87; Student in Earlham College [Richmond, Indiana], ’87-’88; Student in Kansas State University, ’88-’90; A.M., Harvard University, ’90-’93; Henry Lee Memorial Fellow in Harvard University, ’92-’93; Instructor in Economics in The University of Chicago, ’93-’95; Assistant Professor, ’95-’08; Associate Professor, ’08; Organizer and Director of the Agricultural Guild, ’08; Dean of Agriculture, Bethany, 1911 –

Wife:  Caroline Miles Hill, A.M., PhD., Professor of History.

A.B., Earlham College, 1887; Teacher in Friends Bloomingdale Academy, 1887-1889; A.M., Michigan State University, 1890; Fellow in History, Bryn Mawr College, 1890-1891; Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1892; Professor of History and Philosophy, Mount Holyoke College, 1892-1893; Professor of History, Wellesley College, 1893-1895; Studied in Europe, 1895-1896; Engaged in Educational and Social Work in Chicago, 1896-1910; Principal of Friends  Bloomingdale Academy, 1910-1912; Professor, Bethany, 1912 —

Source: Bethany College Bulletin, 1912 and 1913, p.8.

Source for marriage

Hill, William: s. 87-88; m. Caroline Miles, A 1887; l. add. Chicago, Ill.

Source: Who’s Who Among Earlhamites 1916, p. 82.

________________

Caroline Miles Hill, Instructor in History, ’93-’95, has recently published a valuable anthology, “The World’s Greatest Religious Poetry” [Macmillan, 1923].

Source:  The Michigan Alumnus. Vol 33 (1926-27), p. 127.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Yale

Harvard. Final Examination, U.S. Economic History. Callender, 1899-1900

 

This post is a cross between “get to know an economics Ph.D. alumnus (Harvard)” and a deposit into the data bank of old exams. For three years at the end of the 19th century Guy Stevens Callender taught U.S. economic history at Harvard where he received a Ph.D. in 1897.  He ultimately went on to a professorship at Yale. One of the connections that I discovered in preparing the post is that Guy Stevens Callender and John R. Commons were undergraduate classmates at Oberlin.

For an article about Callender’s contributions:

Engelbourg, Saul. Guy Stevens Callender: A Founding Father of American Economic History. Explorations in Economic History. Vol. 9, 1971-72, pp. 255-267.

_________________

Biographical note:

Guy Stevens Callender was born on 9 November 1865 in Hartsgrove, Ohio, the son of Robert Foster Callender and Lois Winslow Callender.  The family moved from Massachusetts to the Western Reserve when Callender was a child.  At an early age he demonstrated that he had an active mind, intellectual curiosity, and a strong physical constitution; these attributes, along with his being an avid reader of books, led him at the age of fifteen to teach in the district schools of Ashtabula County.  Using his savings from several winters of teaching and his summer earnings made working on the family farm, Callender succeeded in paying for college preparatory courses at New Lyme Institute, South New Lyme, Ohio.

In 1886, at the age of twenty-one, Callender enrolled at Oberlin College where he took the classical course.  There he was influenced by James Monroe, professor of political science and modern history, who taught courses in political economy and sponsored Callender’s volunteer work in the Political Economy Club.  Callender also was an active participant in extracurricular organizations, including the Oberlin Glee Club, Oratorical Association, Phi Delta Society, The Review (student newspaper), and the Traveling Men’s Association.  In these groups, some of Callender’s affinity for leadership and exactness became evident (i.e., service as the financial manager and secretary).  He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1891, counting among his classmates John R. Commons and Robert A. Millikan.

After a year spent traveling and working in the business departments of newspapers in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Chicago, enrolled (1892) for graduate study at Harvard University from which he received a B.A. (1893), an M.A. (1894), and a Ph.D. in political science (1897).  During his graduate studies at Harvard he served for some time as instructor in economics at Wellesley College, and he was considered an “outstanding man among our graduate students” by Frank W. Taussig and other members of the teaching faculty.  Following the award of his Ph.D., Callender held an appointment as instructor in economics at Harvard from 1897 to 1900.  There he conducted a course in American economic history, which he personally created.  In 1900 he was appointed professor of political economy at Bowdoin College; in 1903 he accepted an appointment as professor in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, where he continued to teach and engage in scholarly research until 1915.  He also served as a member of the Governing Board of the Sheffield Scientific School. In 1904 Callender married Harriet Belle Rice; they had one son (Everett, b. 1905).

Callender published his only book, Selections from the Economic History of the United States, 1765-1860 in 1909.  In it he revealed his entire theory of the progress of the United States from the beginning of colonization until the Civil War.  Callender’s most important contributions are to be found in his condensed, precisely written introductory essays that precede each chapter. His article “The Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises of the States in Relation to the Growth of Corporations,” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (November 1902) was also well recognized and consulted by scholars.

Callender was as a member of the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, and he was a frequent contributor as a book reviewer, essayist, and speaker.  Callender’s contribution to scholarship is probably best summed up in his “The Position of American Economic History,” American Historical Review 19 (October, 1913).  Therein he argued that American economic history should “be pursued as a separate subject of study” and that economic historians must be prepared to interpret facts.  For Callender economic history was more than the chronological recital of events of commercial and industrial significance.  He sought historical explanations by applying the principles of economic science to the economic and social development of communities.  His published studies included an analysis of the part played by economic factors in the adoption of the Federal Constitution and in the debate over the economic basis of slavery in the South.

Prior to his death, Callender worked on several writing projects, including a comprehensive, multivolume economic history of the United States, but poor health prohibited him from completing this project.  Another work in progress was a critical essay of Arthur Young’s Political Essays Concerning the British Empire (1772), which focused on the history of British colonies in America.  Until then, Young’s essays had not been generally appreciated or known by American scholars.  Callender was also at work on an introduction for a new edition in two volumes of American Husbandry, which was first published in London in 1775.  Callender’s review of Cyclopedia of American Government (edited by A.S. McLaughlin and Albert Bushnell Hart) appeared in the Yale Review shortly after his death.  According to commentator C. W. Mixter, this highly critical review showed “in a marked degree the range, vitality and acuteness of his thinking” (Yale Alumni Weekly, Oct. 1, 1915, p. 48).

Callender was the recipient of numerous awards and honors.  In 1907 Yale University awarded him an honorary M.A.  Two months before his death the Oberlin College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa elected him to membership.  Upon Callender’s death from a cerebral hemorrhage in Branford, Connecticut, on 8 August 1915, members of the Oberlin College Class of 1891 purchased from his widow his library of some 2500 volumes and gave it to the institution in his memory.  The Class raised additional funds to purchase other titles on economic history, thus rounding out and completing the collection.  A small amount of money was also set aside as an ongoing fund to keep the collection up-to-date.  Callender’s gift to the College Library, established by his graduating class, set an Oberlin precedent.

Source:  Oberlin College Archives.  Guy Stevens Callender Papers, 1820-1870.

_________________

Course Enrollment
1899-1900

[Economics] 6. Dr. [Guy Stevens] Callender.—The Economic History of the United States. Lectures (2 hours); discussions of assigned topics (1 hour); 2 theses.

Total: 163.  11 Graduates, 64 Seniors, 58 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Annual report of the President of Harvard College 1899-1900, p. 69.

_________________

Course Description
1897-98

[Economics] 6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Mr. Callender.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the formation of the Union to the present time, and considers also the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by the experience so surveyed. A review is made of the financial history of the United States, including Hamilton’s financial system, the second bank of the United States and the banking systems of the period preceding the Civil War, coinage history, the finances of the Civil War, and the banking and currency history of the period since the Civil War. The history of manufacturing industries is taken up in connection with the course of international trade and of tariff legislation, the successive tariffs being followed and their economic effects considered. The land policy of the United States is examined partly in its relation to the growth of population and the inflow of immigrants, and partly in its relation to the history of transportation, including the movement for internal improvements, the beginnings of the railway system, the land grants and subsidies, and the successive bursts of activity in railway building. Comparison will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of European countries.

Written work will be required of all students, and a course of reading will be prescribed, and tested by examination. The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. While an acquaintance with economic principles is not indispensable, students are strongly advised to take the course after having taken Economics 1, or, if this be not easy to arrange, at the same time with that course.

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98.  pp. 32-33.

_________________

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Final examination, 1900]

  1. Into what periods may the economic history of the United States be properly divided? Give your reasons for making such a division, pointing out the chief characteristic of each periods.
  2. “A monopoly may be either legal, natural, or industrial.”—
    Distinguish each of these from the others by examples, and explain at length what is the character of an “industrial monopoly.”
  3. What legislation, if any, do you think is needed for the control of trusts? Give in full the reasons for your opinion.
  4. What features of American railway legislation do you consider open to criticism?
  5. “…As has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, cotton culture offered many and great advantages over other crops for the use of slave labor; but slavery had few, if any advantages over free labor for the cultivation of cotton….”—
    (a) Point out some of the advantages of cotton over other crops for the use of slave labor. (b) How do you reconcile the last part of the statement with the fact that cotton was produced chiefly by slave, instead of free, labor?
  6. Considering the conditions prevailing among the negroes in the South as well as in the West Indies since emancipation, what criticism, if any, would you make upon the policy of emancipation as actually carried out by the federal government during and after the war?
  7. What influences can you mention which have contributed to the recent depressed condition of cotton producers? (Do not confine your attention to the “credit system.”)
  8. What were the principal provisions of the resumption act? Explain the conditions under which it was carried into effect.
  9. Explain the conditions which led to the crisis or 1893.
  10. What reasons can you give to support the proposition that immigration has increased the population of the United States but little, if any?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001.Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1899-1900”.

Categories
Columbia Economists

Columbia. Economics department in WWII. Excerpt from letter to President Butler, Nov. 1942

 

There is a lot of information packed into the annual budget requests submitted by an economics department. Below I have limited the excerpt from the November 30, 1942 budget submission by the head of the economics department to Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler to a brief introduction that provides an executive summary of the state of staffing and enrollment one year into the Second World War for the U.S. 

_____________________

Excerpt from R. M. Haig’s Budgetary Requests for 1943-44

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

File: R. M. Haig
November 30, 1942

President Nicholas Murray Butler
Columbia University

My dear Mr. President:

[…]

Introductory

Before turning to the detailed proposals, it may be helpful to outline certain facts regarding the general situation we face.

  1. The war has made heavy inroads on both our staff and our students. Two ([James W.] Angell and [Arthur R.] Burns) of our ten regular professor offering graduate instruction are in Washington on war service and most of those who remain are devoting a substantial portion of their time to the war effort. The staff of Columbia College has been even more heavily hit. Of the men giving instruction in the college in 1940-1941, [Carl Theodore] Schmidt and [Charles Ashley] Wright are now army officers, [Hubert Frank] Havlik, [Clement Lowell] Harriss, [Walt Whitman] Rostow and [Donald William] O’Connell are in war work in Washington, and [Robert] Valeur is devoting most of his time to aiding the Free French. However, we have been exceedingly fortunate in the substitutes we have been able to secure and (especially as compared with other institutions) we present a strong front in spite of our losses.
  2. It was apparent a year ago that the demand from Washington for persons with graduate training would sweep large numbers of our students from their classrooms before the completion of their courses. Requisitions for economists continue to arrive in almost every mail although we have long since placed in positions everyone on our eligible lists. Yet, as we anticipated last year, our body of graduate students still remains at a figure that makes it desirable and necessary to offer substantially all of our fundamental courses. The decline in the number of our students since our peak year (1938-1939, when 340 were registered) has been very great. However, we still are the largest graduate department of economics in the country by a wide margin. I am told that at Harvard, where there were 115 students last year, only 33 are in attendance this semester, and that at Chicago a similar loss has been suffered. In my letter dated December 30, 1941, it was suggested that we might have as many as 150 graduate students registered in our department this year. The latest count shows 130, with a fair prospect that the figure of 150 will be reached in the Spring session. A poll of the staff shows that, in the opinion of some, the number will be fully as large next year and the consensus is that the number will not be less than 100. Moreover all agree that with the coming of peace we shall be faced with an influx of students which may easily swamp the facilities of our graduate staff. For Columbia College, where this year the enrollment has been large, the outlook for economics in 1942-1943 is very obscure. At this time, it appears probable that the regular offering of courses, at least in skeleton form, will be required to serve a small number of regular students. Fortunately the commitments of the University to individuals on the College staff are such that the situation is highly flexible and can be accommodated with relative ease to whatever special program may be adopted for the undergraduates. In this budget, request is made for appropriations in blank for several instructorships, to be utilized only in case the need for them develops as plans for the college become more definite.
  3. Because of retirements, actual or more or less immediately impending, the department is faced with a serious problem of wise replacement of staff in its graduate division, if we are to maintain in the future the position of eminence we have held in the past. In view of this problem, it has seemed wise to make a virtue of our necessities and to utilize the need for temporary replacements for professors absent on leave during the emergency as an opportunity to invite as visiting professors certain men whom we rate high in the list of possible future staff members. This year we have three such men on the campus ([Oskar] Lange, Arthur F. Burns and [Clarence Arthur] Kulp). We believe that it will be wise to continue this policy of exploration and experimentation next year with funds released from the appropriations for the salaries of [James W.] Angell and Arthur R. Burns, in case the war continues and they do not return to their regular posts.
  4. As an incident to the policy referred to in the preceding paragraph, we have been able this year to offer a remarkably strong series of courses in the field of economic theory. However, we are this year relatively weak in economic history, socialism and industrial organization, offering no courses at all in the last-named subject. The chief embarrassment experienced this year by the unsettled staff situation has been in connection with the supervision of student research. Some of our students who have dissertations in progress have been seriously inconvenienced by the absence of the professors under whom they initiated their studies.

[…]

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 386, Folder “Haig, Robert Murray 7/1942—1/1943”.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Contemporary U.S. Economic History Seminar. Galbraith, 1973

 

 

Not really sure what was actually behind Galbraith giving up his “big course in the Social Sciences” for a cozy post-lunch seminar on Galbraith and the middle-two quarters of the twentieth century U.S. economic history. It seems that you could count the reasons on the middle finger of his right hand. But maybe it reveals nothing more nor less than a desire to simply reduce his teaching obligations to a delightful minimum. Still, not uninteresting to see how John Kenneth Galbraith chose to spend his Wednesday afternoons with a couple dozen Harvard undergraduates nearly a half century ago.

________________

March 16, 1973

Professor and Mrs. R. Paul Levine
Co-Masters, Currier House
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Dear Ursula and Paul:

I’ve given up my big course in the Social Sciences and I’m going to give a smaller seminar in contemporary economic history. Unfortunately there are some reasons why the Department wishes that this be an Economics course—it is something of a problem that, in recent years, my courses have been outside the Department. I wonder, however, if I might schedule it over in Currier House, and I wonder whether, as a further idea, it might be possible to schedule it, say, at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday, with the understanding that I would meet beforehand with any students who would like to join me for lunch. I propose to limit the attendance to 20 or 25—always assuming that many want to take it—so the congestion would not be too great. Perhaps you would let me have your thoughts.

Meanwhile my best to you both.

Yours faithfully,

John Kenneth Galbraith

JKG:mjh
cc: James S. Duesenberry

________________

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Economics 2365. Seminar: The United States Since the Great Depression
Professor John Kenneth Galbraith

The Crash and the Slump. The reputable view of cause and cure in the current economic orthodoxy. The collapse of banks, utilities, railroads. The agricultural crisis. Unemployment and the old labor movement. Roosevelt and the rationale of the recovery program. The process of recovery and the impact of Keynes. Radicalism and the rise of the CIO. The approach of World War II. The nature of the wartime economic mobilization. The transition to peace and the rise of economic evangelism. The Fifties and the economics of euphoria. The high tide of the New Economics. The new orthodoxy and the role of conditioned irrelevance.

Half course (fall term). Wednesday, 2-4 p.m.
For Graduates and Qualified Undergraduates. Enrollment limited as necessary.

________________

ECONOMICS 2365
AUTUMN TERM 1973-74
PROFESSOR JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

MEETINGS: This course will meet on Wednesday afternoons. Each week at 1:00 there will be an informal lunch in the Currier House private dining room. Class will be from 2:00 to 4:00 in the Currier House Binghem Room. There will be no meeting on Wednesday, November 21st. The course will observe the reading period.

REQUIREMENTS: The major course requirement is a twenty-five page paper due on January 14, 1974. It should develop critically one or another of the subjects discussed in the course. It is expected that the paper will display an understanding of the material presented in class and in the readings; unfamiliarity with relevant lectures and readings, however concealed or explained, will be adversely scored. Each student is to submit the proposed title of his paper by November 21st. Office hours will be arranged in early November for that purpose.

PREREQUISITES: There are no formal prerequisites.

 *  *  *  *  *

I. INTRODUCTION (Sept. 26)

II. THE GREAT CRASH AND ITS CAUSES (Oct. 3)

J. K. Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

III. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: DOMESTIC ASPECTS (Oct. 10)

L. Chandler, America’s Great Depression 1929-1941, Chapters 1-7.

IV. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: WORLD ASPECTS (Oct. 17)

A. Lewis, Economic Survey 1919-1939

V. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: I (Oct. 24)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 1-10

VI. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: II (Oct. 31)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 16-25.

VII. THE IMPACT OF KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS (Nov. 7)

J. K. Galbraith, “How Keynes Came to America,” in Economics, Peace, and Laughter. ***
R. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Chapter 9—“The Heresies of John Maynard Keynes.”
M. Stewart, Keynes and After, Chapters 4, 6, 11, 12.

VIII: THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION (Nov. 14)

J. K. Galbraith, A Theory of Price Control
W. K. Hancock, British War Economy, chapters 11, 12, 17 ***

IX. THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION: THE COMPARATIVE BRITISH AND GERMAN ORGANIZATION (Nov. 28)

B. Klein, Germany’s Economic Preparation for War, (Omit statistical appendix)

X. CRITIQUE OF THE NEW ECONOMICS (Dec. 5)

J. K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, Chapters 9-25.

XI. THE ECONOMICS OF THE COLD WAR AND VIETNAM (Dec. 12)

P. B. Baran and P. M. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital, Chapter 7—“The Absorption of Surplus: Militarism and Imperialism.”
G. W. Domoff, “Who Made American Foreign Policy 1945-1963.” ***
J. D. Phillips, “Economic Effects of the Cold War.” ***
R. Eisner, “The War and the Economy.” ***

XII. INFLATION AND THE PRESENT CRISIS (Dec. 19)

J. K. Galbraith, “Inflation.”
B. Bosworth, “The Current Inflation: Malign Neglect” in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1973. ***
M. Ulmer, The Welfare State, Chapter 4—“The Anatomy of Inflation and Unemployment.” ***

All of these readings are required. Unless otherwise indicated, the entire book should be read. Readings which are in xeroxed form as well as in book form are marked with a triple asterisk***. Copies of all readings are on reserve in Lamont, Hilles, and Littauer libraries.

 

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers.  Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 522, Folder “Economics 294: Spring term, 1968 (2 of 2) [sic]”.

Image Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Biographical Profile: John Kenneth Galbraith.

Categories
Suggested Reading Swarthmore Syllabus

Swarthmore. Honors Economic Theory Seminar. Stolper, ca. 1944

 

This seminar reading list and reports was probably typed by Wolfgang Stolper himself and given to a (the?) departmental secretary for preparing 25 mimeographed copies to distribute. While this typed seminar outline has no date, at least judging from the last item to be reported on, William Beveridge’s Full Employment in a Free Society, the outline probably dates from the 1944-45 academic year.

The course description remained the same throughout Stolper’s years at Swarthmore.

Paul Samuelson was an honors examiner in 1943.

Richard Musgrave also served as an external examiner in 1946.

______________________

Course Description
(taught by Stolper 1941-42 through 1946-47, 1948-49)

The following seminars prepare for examinations for a degree with Honors:

[…]

  1. Economic Theory. Mr Stolper. Each semester.

An advanced analysis of the processes by which the prices of goods and services and the incomes of the factors of production are determined under various market condition. A study of theories of the business cycle. Directed reading and discussion, supplemented by reports on the theoretical problems raised by factual studies.

Source:  Swarthmore College Catalogue, 1941-42 p. 62.

______________________

Stolper
Economics Theory Seminar
25 copies

(1) First Week

Assigned:

Joan Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Bk. I
E.H. Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1,2
Ricardo, Principles, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Introd. und Pt. I, Sec 1

Suggested:

J.St. Mill, Principles, Bk. III, except Ch. 5
J. Cassels, A Re-interpretation of Ricardo on Value, QJE, Vol. 49, p. 518

Topic:

Review of the Tools of Analysis

(2) Second Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Pt. I, pp. 29-100.  You may omit: p. 31 small print; p. 60-63 small print; p. 79, 2d last para- p. 81 top; p. 93-95, small print and diagram
J. Viner, Cost Curves and Supply curves
Marshall, Principles, Bk. V, Chs. 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 15

Topic:

Pure Competition. The Classical Statement of Value Theory

(3) Third Week

Assigned:

Marshall, op.cit. Bk. V., Chs. 12, 14
Chamberlin, op.cit., Chs. 3-6
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Pt. I, secs. 1, 2,4; Pt. II complete

Suggested:

Triffin, op.cit. Pt. I, Secs. 3, 5, note

Topic:

Monopolistic Competition

Report:

TNEC Monograph 21, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, by Clair Wilcox

(4) Fourth Week

Assigned:

Triffin, op.cit., Pt. III, secs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Suggested:

Triffin, Monopoly in Particular Equilibrium…,Econometrica. Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 121
J. Robinson, What is Pure Competition? QJE Vol. 49, p. 104
F.Y. Edgeworth, Pure Theory of Monopoly
Cournot, Mathematical Theory of Wealth

Topic:

Criticisms of Monopolistic Competition

Reports:

(a) The Problem of Excess Capacity(See Bibliography in Chamberlin, op.cit.)
(b) Price Discrimination between Markets

G. Haberler, International Trade, Ch. on Dumping
J. Robinson, op.cit., Ch. XV
For illustrative facts refer to the following:
TNEC Monog. 41, Price Discrimination in Steel
TNEC Monog. 42, The Basing Point Problem

(c) Price Policy

TNEC Monog. 1, Price Behavior and Business Policy
Hall and Hitch, Oxford Economic Papers No. 2, pp. 12-45
Clive Saxton, The Economics of Price Determination
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy

(d) F.P. Bishop, The Economics of Advertising

 (5) Fifth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 1, 2, 11
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 1. You may omit: pp. 127-129, small print. Don’t worry about the mathematics on pp. 127-131, 139-40
Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, Ch. XIII (old edition, Ch. XI)
J. Cassels, The Law of Variable Proportions, Explorations in Economics, pp. 223-228
Chamberlin, op.cit. Ch. VIII (also in Explorations, …., pp. 237-250)
Triffin, Pt. III, Sec. 2
Schumpeter, The Instability of Capitalism, Economic Journal, Vol 38 (1928)

Suggested:

Articles by Machlup, Hart, Smithies, and remainder of article of Cassels, in Explorations in Economics
G. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories

 (6) Sixth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 3, 4, 5 Bk. IV, Ch. 4, 5
Ricardo, Ch. 5
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Complete

Suggested:

A. C. Pigou, Theory of Unemployment
J.T.Dunlop, Wage Determination under Trade Unions

Topic:

Wage Theory and Wage Problems

Reports:

(a) Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, particularly, Chs. V-IX
(b) National Resources Planning Board, Problems of a Changing Population, pp. 1-138
Reddaway, Economics of a Declining Population
Malthus, Principles,
Myrdal, Population
Hansen, Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 366-85

(c) P. Douglas, Theory of Wages
National Income of the US, Chs. 1-4

(d) TNEC Monog. 22, Technology in our Economy
TNEC Hearing on Technological Progress, selections
Consult for further readings

(e) J.T. Dunlop, op, cit., Chs. I-VI, IX, X
(f) TNEC Monog. 5, Industrial Wage Rates, Labor Costs and Price Policies

(7) Seventh Week

Assigned:

Ricardo, Ch. 2, 3
Mill, Bk. III, Ch. 5
Marshall, Bk. V, Ch. 10, 11, Bk. VI, Chs. o,10
Chamberlin, op.cit. Appendix D

Report:

H.W. Singer, Index of Urban Land Rents, Econometrica, Vol IX,

(8) Eighth Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chs. 2, 3, 4
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. V, omitting B
Marshall, Bk, VI, Chs. 7, 8
R.A.Gordon, Explorations in Economics, pp. 306-317
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Pt. II, sec. 3

Reports:

(a) Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property
TNEC Monograph 29, The Distribution of Ownership in the 200 largest non-financial Corporations
(b) W.L.Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

Topic:

Profits. General Summary of Value and Distribution

(9) Ninth Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 2; Pt. III. You may omit: Sec D, pp. 172-184; pp. 203-5, small print; p. 216, 2d para—p. 217, 1stpara
Marshall, Bk, VI, Ch. 6
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. V, I
Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14
Higgins and Musgrave, Deficit Financing—The Case Examined, Public Policy Yearbook II, pp. 136-207
O. Lange, The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, No. 8

Suggested:

J.M. Keynes, General Theory
Readings…., Pt. II

Topic:

Interest Theory

Reports:

(a) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, Bks. I-III
(b) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Bks. IV to end
(c) F.A.Lutz, The Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. 55,

(10) Tenth Week

Assigned:

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1939 ed. or later, Chs. 8, 9, 13
Hicks, Value and Capital, Ch. 24
Hicks, Social Framework, Chs. XI-XVI, Appendices E and F
and either
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. 4
Kuznets, Review of Schumpeter, AER
or
Mitchell, Business Cycles, Ch. III

Suggested:

Readings…., Pt. I

Topic:

Measurement and Separation of Cycles

Reports:

(a) Burns, Production Trends in the US since 1870
(b) Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Chs. 6, 7
Kondratieff, Readings…, pp. 20-42
(c) Schumpeter, Cycles, Vol. II, Chs. 14, 15
(d) The Cob Web Theorem

(11) Eleventh Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 6
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
P.A.Samuelson, Readings…. pp. 261-289

Suggested:

Readings, Pt. III, IV, V.
Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business Cycle Theories, Econometrica, Vol. 10, pp. 129 ff

Reports:

(a) A.H.Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, particularly Pts. I, III, IV
P.A.Samuelson, A Synthesis of the Principle of Acceleration and the Multiplier, JPE, 1939
_______________, Fiscal Policy and Income Determination QJE, August 1942
(b) Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 4, 6, 7
Hansen, Business Cycle Theory
Readings, …., Pts. IV, V
(c) Wm. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society

Topic:

Business Cycles, Theory and Theories

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economist Papers’ Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Folder “S miscellaneous (2 of 3) Swarthmore Theory outline”.

Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).

Categories
Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. Examination Questions of the Economics Tripos. 1932

 

In the U.S. Library of Congress I came across a collection of the Cambridge University Economics Tripos examinations for 1931-1933. In an earlier post I provided transcriptions of the 1931 exams. This post provides the 21 examinations for 1932. For a later post I’ll transcribe the 1933 exams.

___________________

PART I.

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES I.

  1. Bring out clearly the economic principles which determine the relative values of a bushel of wheat and a pair of boots.
  2. Define the following and consider the relations between them: wealth, capital, land.
  3. What do you understand by (a) saving; (b) investment? Explain the process by which savings are converted into capital.
  4. A tenant farmer is cultivating a dairy farm in the West of England and paying a rent of £200 per annum. The landlord dies and the farm is put up for sale and offered for £4000 to the tenant, in the first instance. What various economic factors should influence the farmer in deciding whether to buy or not?
  5. What forces tend to remove and what forces tend to perpetuate inequalities in wage rates (a) in the same industry in different parts of the country; (b) in different industries in the same country?
  6. Bring out the importance for the theory of value of (a) marginal utility; (b) the principle of substitution.
  7. How do you account fort he observed tendency for the prices of foodstuffs and raw materials to fluctuate much more widely than the prices of most manufactured articles?
  8. Under what circumstances is it likely that unrestricted competition will lead to the formation of a monopoly?
  9. On what does the marginal net product of labour depend?
  10. Trace the stages by which a sudden but enduring fall of 50 per cent. in the demand schedule for an article will react upon (a) the supply of that article; (b) its price.
  11. Analyse profits on capital and discuss the tendency of each element to rise or fall.
  12. “To use the phrase ‘negative quasi-rent’ is to misconceive the nature of Marshall’s doctrine of ‘quasi-rent.’” Comment on this statement.

 

Monday, May 30, 19932. 1½ — 4½.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

  1. What do you understand by (a) primary poverty, (b) secondary poverty? Are there in your view any immediate means of removing the causes or remedying the effects of primary poverty?
  2. Which is the more suitable body for applying the “means test” to applicants for unemployment benefit, the Ministry of Labour or the Public Assistance authority? Is the test desirable as a permanent feature of the unemployment insurance system?
  3. In which industries is unemployment most severe at the present time? In the event of a general revival of trade in England in the near future, in which industries would you expect employment to increase most rapidly?
  4. Compare with reference to the course of events since the War the relative efficacy of (a) “direct action,” and (b) political pressure for increasing taxation and social services, as methods of improving the welfare of the working classes.
  5. There has recently been a widespread substitution of piece-work for time-work in Russia, leading to large increases of output. Would you regard this as evidence in favour of extending piece-work in other countries?
  6. Consider the arguments for and against the extension of unemployment insurance to cover agricultural workers.
  7. What evidence is there that the population of Great Britain will begin to decline within twenty years? Would a declining population solve (a) the housing problem, (b) unemployment?
  8. Would you favour the use of a Government housing subsidy to provide rent rebates varying according to the size of the family housed?
  9. Under what conditions will the general introduction of the automatic loom in Lancashire aggravate unemployment? Is it desirable to introduce labour-saving machinery during depression?
  10. How would you account for the growing tendency in recent years for the formation of Industrial Unions rather than Craft Unions?
  11. “It is a direct corollary of the ‘marginal productivity’ theory of wages that high wages cause unemployment.” Discuss.
  12. Why are the representatives of organized labour as well as of employers in this country opposed to compulsory arbitration as a method of settling trade disputes?

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 9 — 12.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES II.

A.

  1. How is elasticity of demand measured? Under what conditions is the demand for some product likely to be very elastic?
  2. What evidence would you require in order to discover whether this country is over-populated?
  3. “Price is equal to marginal cost.” Explain the meaning of the word “marginal” in Economics. What is the relation of marginal to average cost?
  4. What are the chief assumptions made in the construction of the competitive theory of value? Are they closely related to the actual conditions of modern economic life?
  5. Show, with a diagram if possible, how a publisher would determine the price that he should charge for a new book.
  6. “Owing to the falling off of sales in 1931, and the consequent increase of overhead cost per unit of output, it has proved necessary for us to advance the prices of our products.” Examine the validity of this argument as applied to a short period.

B.

  1. By what means can a central bank control the level of prices in a country?
  2. What effect on prices would you expect (a) if the practice of paying wages by cheque became more common, (b) if wages were paid monthly instead of weekly?
  3. What is meant by the “purchasing power parity” theory of exchanges? How far do you consider it possible to calculate the present equilibrium rate of exchange between the pound and the dollar?
  4. Can two countries both gain by the existence of a trade between them?
  5. Explain in detail how a Bill of Exchange serves to make payments between persons in different countries.
  6. Give some account of the legal enactments at present governing the issue of paper money in this country, and of the more important changes which have been made in the last hundred years.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
ESSAY SUBJECTS.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

  1. Mr MacQuedy: “Then, sir, I presume you set no value on the right principles of rent, profit, wages and currency?”
    The Rev. Dr. Folliott: “My principles, sir, in these things are, to take as much as I can get, and to pay no more than I can help. These are every man’s principles, whether they be the right principles or not. There, sir, is political economy in a nutshell.”
    (T. L. Peacock: Crotchet Castle.)
  2. The future of party government.
  3. The British Empire as an economic unit.
  4. High Finance.
  5. Sweepstakes.

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY

  1. Give some account of the “old colonial system” and estimate its importance in the economic development of England from 1660 to 1776.
  2. Examine the causes and the principal consequences of the enclosure movement of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
  3. “So far from originating cruelty to children, the factory system called attention to the evil by concentrating it where all could see.” Discuss this view.
  4. Compare the outlook and objectives of the Chartists with those of the advocates of the Repeal of the Corn Laws.
  5. What were the principal reasons for the industrial leadership of Great Britain in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties of last century?
  6. “All through the nineteenth century the railways have been the great factor making for the extension of the sphere of State action and the abandonment of the idea of free competition.” Discuss.
  7. Outline the development of direct taxation from Pitt to Gladstone.
  8. Describe and account for the main changes that took place in the general level of gold prices between 1850 and 1914.
  9. What were the principal changes in agricultural organization and policy from the acute depression of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties to the outbreak of the World War?
  10. Give some account of the growth of Trade Unionism and the Labour Movement between 1867 and 1913.
  11. Why did the Protectionist campaign of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain fail, and that of Mr Neville Chamberlain succeed?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE

  1. Give some account of the technical advantages of large scale production in any one industry with whose conditions you are acquainted.
  2. What is meant by “the external economies” of an industry? What difficulties are involved in this conception?
  3. How would you account for the fact that some industries are much more localized than others? In what ways do you consider it likely that the development of the cheaper transmission of electricity will alter the location of British Industries?
  4. Give some account of the objects and methods of Scientific Management.
  5. If in any firm the most efficient technical size of several processes were too large for efficient management, how could the organization be adjusted to minimize this loss of efficiency?
  6. What are the proper functions of advertisement? Do you consider that the total expenditure on advertising in this country is excessive?
  7. How would you explain the fact that in many districts almost every firm turns out more than one product, instead of specializing on a single product?
  8. Describe the more important channels whereby saving is placed at the disposal of industry. What suggestions would you make for their improvement?
  9. Which of the various arguments used to justify the imposition of tariffs at the present moment do you consider valid?
  10. Give an account of the monopoly organisations in any one important British Industry. What factors limit the power of the monopolist to raise prices in the case that you are considering?
  11. Describe the methods employed for the marketing of either cotton or wool at each stage from the raw material to the finished product. Explain why each particular method is adopted, and consider whether any change in the method is desirable.

 

PART II.

Monday, May 30, 19932. 1½ — 4½.
SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Thrift.
  2. The Future of the Party System.
  3. Sky-writing.
  4. The Scope and Method of Realistic Economics.
  5. Disarmament as a Practical Problem.
  6. Man in the Machine Age.

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
MONEY, CREDIT AND PRICES.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

  1. Do you consider that the legal regulation of the Central Bank’s minimum gold reserve serves a useful purpose in a gold standard country? What form of regulation, if any, do you recommend?
  2. Are there good reasons for holding that the “rate of saving” and “rate of investment” should appear as terms in the equation used to demonstrate the principal factors which govern the value of money?
  3. Explain the working of a forward foreign exchange market. How far can it obviate the inconveniences which arise when there is no fixed par of exchange between currencies?
  4. If it had been decided to stabilize the purchasing power of the national standard of value in terms of an index number of prices, what main categories of goods and/or services would you include in the index number?
  5. What considerations have to be taken into account in analyzing the causes which determine the velocity of circulation of money?
  6. If the principal nations of the world decide to adhere to a gold standard in future, would you consider that the impeding gold shortage gives ground for alarm? State your reasons.
  7. In what respects, if any, do you conceive that the policy of the Federal Reserve System has been open to criticism in the period from 1926 to the present day?
  8. “The resistance of wage earners to reductions in money wages has been of value in saving us from the worst excesses of deflation.” Examine this contention.
  9. On what lines should the Indian currency system be developed?
  10. Do you agree with the view that public works designed to stimulate employment in a slump “are a mere piece of ritual, achieving nothing which could not equally well be achieved b the banking system acting alone, through a sufficiently great alteration in tis terms of lending”?
  11. Would the formation of a large “sterling area” be of advantage or disadvantage to this country, in your opinion, if she were endeavouring to maintain a stable currency divorced from gold?

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
POLITICAL THEORY.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

 

  1. “The State may be defined as a juridically organized nation.” Discuss this definition.
  2. Would you agree that political obligation is equally binding on the citizen whether he lives in a democracy or under a dictatorship?
  3. Dicey contended that democracy and “collectivism” were inconsistent. Do you accept his contention?
  4. Would you consider that the conception of a right of property as belonging to the individual has permanent value, or would you regard it as only characteristic of a particular phase of social development?
  5. In what sense can we speak of law as being “enacted,” and what are the organs of such enactment in the modern State?
  6. How would you analyse the conception of “public opinion,” and by what methods would you suggest that such opinion should be brought to bear on political government?
  7. On what principles, and by what methods, would you impose limits (if any) on liberty of the expression of thought?
  8. Discuss the prison as one of the institutions of political life, with reference to (a) the purpose which it should serve, and (b) the methods which it should employ.
  9. It has been said that “the process of discovering the Sovereign is in all modern States the same.” By what process would you seek to discover the Sovereign in the modern State?
  10. “The State properly intervenes not to conduct the economic business of the country, but to uphold social standards.” Discuss the value of the distinction here suggested.
  11. ”The problem of our days is not the Man versus the State, as it was when Herbert Spencer wrote in 1884, but the State versus the Group.” Comment on this statement, explaining the sense which you would attach to the term “Group.”

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932.  1½ — 4½.
DISTRIBUTION AND LABOUR.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

  1. “Every factor of production tends to be remunerated at a rate equivalent to its marginal net product of commodities in general.” Does this statement need any modifications or qualifications when it is applied to land which are not equally necessary when it is applied to the other factors? Give your reasons.
  2. “The Dole has kept up wages above their proper level.” What are the arguments in support of this view? Discuss their soundness. What changes in public policy, if any, do your conclusions suggest as desirable?
  3. What principal factors determine the magnitude of the change which a fall in the general level of commodity prices occasions in the proportion of the national income accruing to the owners of fixed-interest bearing investments?
  4. With the object of creating employment, a grant is made by the exchequer to a local authority for a road-widening scheme. The local authority sets about doing the work as efficiently as possible with the aid of steam navies and other labour-saving machinery. Ought the Exchequer to challenge this actions? Argue the case for and against.
  5. “The money now paid in unemployment benefits should be used to provide employment.” Suggest possible schemes and discuss their soundness.
  6. Compare the relative levels of wages in skilled and unskilled occupations in this country to-day and before the War. Discuss the bearing of any changes upon (a) the supply of skilled workers, (b) industrial contentment, (c) labour organization and policy.
  7. What are the principal differences between the English and German provisions for State action in the regulation of wages and the settlement of industrial disputes? Discuss whether England could with advantage follow the German example in these matters more closely.
  8. Discuss the relative merits of systems under which wage-rates vary with (a) the market price of the product, (b) a cost of living index, (c) a wholesale price index, (d) the profit of the undertaking.
  9. Explain and discuss the place and function of the Trades Union Congress and the General Council of the Trades Union Congress in labour organization.
  10. If you had to measure the change in the general level of money wages in this country since 1900, what difficulties, theoretical and practical, would you encounter?
  11. If a British lace manufacturer proposed to run his establishment continuously on a three-shift system, what procedure would he have to adopt (a) to conform with legal requirements and (b) to meet possible opposition from any quarter?
  12. What are the functions of the Public Assistance Committees? Do you consider that any of them should be transferred to other authorities or modified in any way? State your reasons.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
STRUCTURE AND METHODS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE MODERN WORLD.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

  1. Discuss the powers of the Supreme Court, under the American system of government, in disallowing legislation. Would it, in your view, be possible or desirable to institute a judicial body with similar powers in a nonfederal State?
  2. Discuss the methods by which the House of Commons controls finance. Would you regard those methods as adequate, at the present time, for the purpose of regulating the distribution of expenditure or of enforcing general economy?
  3. Describe the effect of the main changes which have taken place in the relations of the component parts of the British Commonwealth between the outbreak of war in 1914 and the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
  4. Describe the position and powers of committees of the legislature under the French system of parliamentary government. In what ways do they differentiate that system from the system in Great Britain?
  5. What contrast would you draw between the British party system and that of Germany in regard to (a) their influence on the electorate, and (b) their effects on general working of the Constitution?
  6. How far has England developed the French system of “administrative justice” during the present century? What are the defects of administrative jurisdiction as it exists in England to-day?
  7. What would you regard as the main reforms effected in English local government since 1902, and what further reforms would you advocate in regard to the areas or functions of local authorities?
  8. Describe in general terms the composition and functions of the National Economic Council of Germany, and discuss the tendencies in Great Britain towards the development of a similar system since 1918.
  9. Give some account either of the merits and disadvantages of the system of “indirect rule” in the British Colonial Empire or of the varieties and the working of the system of British Mandated Territories.
  10. Would you agree that there is an increasing recognition in Great Britain of the part which the “Expert” should play in the work of government?
  11. Compare the position of the American Senate with that of the German Reichsrath. How would you account for the comparative weakness of the latter?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRY.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

  1. “The entrepreneur has passed away with the Victorian era. His place has been taken by a combination of financier and salaried manager.” Discuss the truth of this contention.
  2. Discuss the possibility of defining “an industry” so as to make it a useful conception in the analysis of economic structure without doing violence to its popular meaning.
  3. Are there any special circumstances in England to-day that make the rational planning of each industry of more importance than in the past? Illustrate what is included under planning from your knowledge of any one industry.
  4. Explain the nature and causes of any differences that occur in the marketing of (a) producers’ goods, (b) consumers’ goods, and the effect of these differences upon the location of the plants making these two types of goods.
  5. How far can statistical proof be adduced for the contention that some manufacturing industries are subject to the law of increasing returns?
  6. What precisely are the supposed defects in a system of private enterprise that have led to schemes for the public control of such activities as transport, generation of electricity and the supply of water?
  7. “Co-operative societies in agriculture are nothing more nor less than cartels, and threaten the consumer with the same sort of exploitation.” Comment.
  8. What forms of integration and combination seem to you to best calculated to reduce the risks of industrial fluctuations, and why?
  9. Discuss the effect on national and international localization of industry of the modern and the possible future development of (a) the telephone, (b) road transport, (c) commercial aviation.
  10. Are we bound to expect a contraction in British industries manufacturing for export? What statistical sources and methods would you use to estimate the extent of such contraction, and to indicate industries and services to which investment might advantageously be directed or transferred?
  11. Discuss any differences between British and foreign systems of education and training in respect of their effect upon the costs of industrial leadership at home and abroad.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 9 — 12.
ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Use “the famous fiction of the ‘stationary State’” to illustrate the uses and abuses of abstraction in the treatment of economic problems.
  2. Analyse, and illustrate by examples, the various ways in which a change in the supply of one commodity may affect the demand for others.
  3. “Under conditions of simple competition in a perfect market, the price of a commodity must, in the long run, be equal both to the marginal and to the average cost of producing it in a representative firm.”
    Explain precisely, what you take this statement to mean, and briefly discuss its validity.
  4. What effect might a substantial tax upon imports of wheat and wheaten flour be expected to have, in this country, upon (a) the price of bread, (b) farming profits, (c) agricultural rents? Give reasons for your answer.
  5. What functions does a company promoter perform, and how are his earnings determined? Frame your answer so as to show how it fits into your general theory of distribution.
  6. In a country like Great Britain, how would an increase in the supply of capital affect the earnings of labour? What do you understand by “an increase in the supply of capital”?
  7. In what circumstances will a monopolist charge different customers different prices for the same product?
  8. How would you proceed if you were required to decide whether profits in any given industry were ‘normal”?
  9. For what reasons may a country permanently import part of its supply of a commodity and produce part at home; and what determines, in such a case, the proportion of the total supply which is imported?
  10. When several different things are produced by the same firm, on what economic principle, if any, is it possible to assign a separate cost of production to each of them?
  11. If the habit of keeping a banking account were to spread among wage-earners in this country, how would the general level of prices be affected?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
INTERNATIONAL LAW.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Discuss the modern theories of the basis of obligation in International Law.
  2. What is the present position in International Law of the right of navigation of international rivers?
  3. What are the sanctions provided by the Covenant of the League of Nations for its enforcement? They have been termed “Pseudo-Sanctions”; do you consider there is any justification for this?
  4. Under what circumstances is a war-ship justified in interfering with a merchant ship of another State on the high seas in time of peace?
  5. What is the connection between the Permanent Court of International Justice and the League of Nations?
    What is implied by signing the “Optional Clause”?
  6. Explain the circumstances under which a State may (a) sue, (b) be sued in a foreign Court of Law.
  7. Article 21 of the Covenant of the League of Nations speaks of “regional undertakings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace.”
    Comment on this.
  8. Give the provisions of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928. What methods exist for the pacific settlement of international disputes?
  9. What is the position of
    (a) Sea-borne Mails,
    (b) Submarine Cables,
    in time of war?
  10. What were the methods employed by the Allied Powers in the restriction of enemy commerce during the war of 1914-18? Discuss their legality under the rules of International Law

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
PUBLIC FINANCE.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. What considerations of equity are involved by the action of a Government which reduces rewards to its employees either (a) as a measure to repair a national deficit, or (b) as an example to other employers?
  2. Consider whether there are any grounds for believing that taxation should be progressive if it is to impose equal sacrifice.
  3. “Twenty-five years ago differential taxation was first levied on unearned as against earned income. The time has now come to differentiate between unearned income from fixed-interest securities and that from fluctuating sources.” Is this proposed differentiation (a) desirable (b) feasible?
  4. In what sense, if any can (a) the Income Tax, and 8b) Local Rates be said to enter into the cost of production of goods?
  5. Discuss the possibility of devising a scheme for the taxation of incremental site values which does not place an unfair burden on existing landowners as a class compared with other property owners.
  6. Examine the view that Family Endowment has a good claim to be made a charge on the Exchequer.
  7. If a Board, having a monopoly of the import and export trade of a country and able to buy and sell at current prices at home and abroad, were instructed to maximize its profits, would the effect be more or less advantageous to the country than the flow of trade in free trade conditions?
  8. Compare the economic effects of devaluating the currency of a country by x% in terms of all foreign currencies, with those of imposing an x% ad valorem tariff on all her imports together with an x% ad valorem bounty on all her exports.
  9. What fiscal policy would you adopt if your sole object were to secure the reduction of foreign import duties affecting British exports?
  10. Compare the proper policy of the central authority with that of local authorities with regard to the expansion or contraction in the volume of their outstanding indebtedness.
  11. On what principles should a municipality owning a tramway system proceed in computing the fares to be charged to its passengers?

 

Thursday, June 2, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

  1. Down to 1860 the economic relations of Great Britain and the United states were complementary rather than rival: after 1870 they were sharply rival.” Comment.
  2. Give examples of the influence of English thought and practice upon the labour movements of America in the early part of the nineteenth century.
  3. Why did the American Mercantile Marine fall away after the Civil War?
  4. Can it be argued that the North and South went to war over any other issue than slavery?
  5. How far was the Tariff responsible for the growth of Trusts? Test your conclusion by reference to particular Trusts.
  6. Distinguish between the “Old” and the “New” Immigration, in respect of (a) its origin, (b) its contribution to American economic life.
  7. Discuss the effect of the disappearance of free land on the economic and social structure of the United States.
  8. Show the significance of the concept of an economic metropolis in an examination of the distribution and range of American industry and commerce.
  9. Indicate, by a sketch map if possible, the regional specialization of American agriculture.
  10. Compare the experience of the United States under the paper dollar of 1862-79 with the experience of England under the paper pound of 1797-1821.

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9 — 12.
MONEY.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Do you consider that the effects of Peel’s Bank Act were salutary?
  2. Are there good reasons for holding that the “rate of saving” and “rate of investment” should appear as terms in the equation used to demonstrate the principal factors which govern the value of money?
  3. Explain the working of a forward foreign exchange market. How far can it obviate the inconveniences which arise when there is no fixed par of exchange between currencies?
  4. If it had been decided to stabilize the purchasing power of the national standard of value in terms of an index number of prices, what main categories of goods and/or services would you include in the index number?
  5. What considerations have to be taken into account in analyzing the causes which determine the velocity of circulation of money?
  6. Would you have been a mono-metalist or a bi-metalist in the year 1886? State your reasons.
  7. In what respects, if any, do you conceive that the policy of the Federal Reserve System has been open to criticism in the period from 1926 to the present day?
  8. “The resistance of wage earners to reductions in money wages has been of value in saving us from the worst excesses of deflation.” Examine this contention.
  9. “A series of accidents gave India a more satisfactory standard of value than England had in the period from 1873 to 1923.” Discuss.
  10. Do you agree with the view that public works designed to stimulate employment in a slump “are a mere piece of ritual, achieving nothing which could not equally well be achieved by the banking system acting alone, through a sufficiently great alteration in its terms of lending”?
  11. Would the formation of a large “sterling area” be of advantage or disadvantage to this country, in your opinion, if she were endeavouring to maintain a stable currency divorced from gold?

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
LABOUR.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Sketch in outline the course followed by real wages in this country during the second half of the nineteenth century, and give some account of the principal causes which brought the changes about.
  2. “The Dole has kept up wages above their proper level.” What are the arguments in support of this view? Discuss their soundness. What changes in public policy, if any, do you conclusions suggest as desirable?
  3. What principal factors determine the magnitude of the change which a fall in the general level of commodity prices occasions in the proportion of the national income accruing to the owners of fixed-interest bearing investments?
  4. With the object of creating employment, a grant is made by the Exchequer to a local authority for a road-widening scheme. The local authority sets about doing the work as efficiently as possible with the aid of steam navies and other labour-saving machinery. Ought the Exchequer to challenge this action? Argue the case for and against.
  5. “The money now paid in unemployment benefit should be used to provide employment.” Suggest possible schemes and discuss their soundness.
  6. Compare the relative levels of wages in skilled and unskilled occupations in this country to-day and before the War. Discuss the bearing of any changes upon (a) the supply of skilled workers, (b) industrial contentment, (c) labour organization and policy.
  7. What are the principal differences between the English and German provisions for State action in the regulation of wages and the settlement of industrial disputes? Discuss whether England could with advantage follow the German example in these matters more closely.
  8. Discuss the relative merits of systems under which wage-rates vary with (a) the market price of the product, (b) a cost of living index, (c) a wholesale price index (d) the profit of the undertaking.
  9. Trace the history of the “One Big Union” idea and movement in this country since 1800.
  10. If you had to measure the change in the general level of money wages in this country since 1900, what difficulties, theoretical and practical, would you encounter?
  11. What were the principal influences determining the development of factory legislation in this country between 1825 and 1878?
  12. What are the functions of the Public Assistance Committees? Do you consider that any of them should be transferred to other authorities or modified in any way? State your reasons.

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
INDUSTRY.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. “The entrepreneur has passed away with the Victorian era. His place has been taken by a combination of financier and salaried manager.” Discuss the truth of this contention.
  2. Discuss the possibility of defining “an industry” so as to make it a useful conception in the analysis of economic structure without doing violence to its popular meaning.
  3. Are there any special circumstances in England to-day that make the rational planning of each industry of more importance than in the past? Illustrate what is included under planning from your knowledge of any one industry.
  4. Explain the nature and causes of any differences that occur in the marketing of (a) producers’ goods, (b) consumers’ goods, and the effect of these differences upon the location of the plants making these two types of goods.
  5. How far can statistical proof be adduced for the contention that some manufacturing industries are subject to the law of increasing returns?
  6. Consider the reasons for the introduction and development of municipal trading during the nineteenth century.
  7. How far is it true that since the days of Malthus science and invention have entirely offset any tendency to diminishing returns in the various branches of agriculture?
  8. What forms of integration and combination seem to you to best calculated to reduce the risks of industrial fluctuations, and why?
  9. Discuss the effect on national and international localization of industry of the modern and the possible future development of (a) the telephone, (b) road transport, (c) commercial aviation.
  10. Are we bound to expect a contraction in British industries manufacturing for export? What statistical sources and methods would you use to estimate the extent of such contraction, and to indicate industries and services to which investment might advantageously be directed or transferred?
  11. Discuss any differences between British and foreign systems of education and training in respect of their effect upon the costs of industrial leadership at home and abroad.

 

Thursday, June 2, 1932. 9 — 12.
THEORY OF STATISTICS (OLD REGULATIONS.)
STATISTICS. (NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Give an account of the principal properties of the association table, and tests for or measures of association,. Use Table A to illustrate your remark.
TABLE A.
Nervous Symptoms
Women
engaged in		 None or slight Marked Total
Factory work 53 30 83
Clerical work 31 7 38
Total 84 37 121
  1. Explain what is meant by a “frequency distribution” and state how, given the data, you would proceed to compile the distribution, directing attention to common faults of presentation. You can use Table B as an illustration. Comment on the dictum “Think in terms of frequency distributions, not of averages.”
TABLE B.
Salaries per day of 10 hours: workers on the French railways, 1896.
Salary Number of workers per 10000
0.25—0.75 10
0.76—1.25 53
1.26—1.75 46
1.76—2.25 145
2.26—2.75 1010
2.76—3.50 3545
3.51—4.25 1921
4.26—5.50 2009
5.51—6.50 702
6.51—7.50 353
7.51—9.00 150
9.10—11.00 37
11.10—15.00 15
15.10—20.00 4
Total 10000

Find some form of average and measure of dispersion for Table B, giving reasons for your choice.

  1. Prove the formula

{\sigma ^2} = {s^2} + {d^2}
where σ is the standard deviation, s is the root-mean-square deviation when deviations are measured from an arbitrary origin, and d is the difference of the mean from the arbitrary origin.
Find the standard deviation of the data in Table C, and check your own work by any method you consider most effective.

TABLE C.
Deaths from Glanders, persons England and Wales.
1882 3 1892 5
1883 2 1893 6
1884 2 1894 2
1885 5 1895 3
1886 5 1896 1
1887 6 1897 6
1888 2 1898 4
1889 8 1899 5
1890 3 1900 2
1891 4 1901 4
  1. Table D shows the correlation between the class obtained in Part I and the class obtained in Part II by 500 candidates who sat for both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1922-30. Find the correlation, and the regression equation for class in Part II on class in Part I, and check the fit of the line of regression. The following are the means and standard deviations: suffix 1 refers to Part I and 2 to Part II.
M1= 1.66 σ12 = 0.4337 σ1 = 0.659
M2= 1.93 σ22 = 0.5445 σ2 = 0.738.

 

TABLE D.
Class in Part II
Class in Part II 1 2 3 Total
1 121 35 — 156
2 92 117 16 225
3 11 72 36 119
Total 224 224 52 500
  1. Explain what is meant by a “weighted” mean, giving illustrations of its use in connection with index numbers of prices.
    Show that ,
    {M_w} = M + r{\sigma _x}\frac{{{\sigma _w}}}{{\bar w}}
    where Mw is the weighted mean of X, M the arithmetic mean of X, σx the standard deviation of X, σw the standard deviation of the weights w, {{\bar w}} the mean of the weights and r the correlation between X and w. In the light of this formula comment on the statement “Weighting usually has little effect.”
  2. What is meant by the “standard error” of a statistical constant? State carefully the conditions assumed, and explain how these limit the value of the standard error as a general measure of “trustworthiness.”
    Prove the formula for the standard error of the arithmetic mean, and find the standard error of the difference between the means M1, M2 below, σ1 and σ2 being the respective standard deviations and N1, N2 the numbers of observations.
M1= 41.3 σ1= 3.8 N1= 100
M2= 38.9 σ2= 3.2 N2= 64.

 

  1. (1) Test the significance of the association in Table A.
    (2) Test whether the data of Table C show anything but mere fluctuations of sampling.
  2. Table E shows the numbers of married women in England and Wales at ages between 15 and 45, reduced to a total of 1000. By some method of interpolation break up the two final decennial groups into quinquennial groups.
TABLE E
Age Married Women
per 1000
15— 7
20— 100
25— 431
35—45 462
1000
  1. Table F shows the beginning of a life-table for Females (no. 7, 1901-10). Explain the meaning of the columns and calculate the figures that should be inserted in the spaces numbered (1), (2) etc. to (9).
    Find also the life-table death-rate and explain why this greatly exceeds the mean crude death-rate for Females 1901-10, viz. 14.4. What light does this phenomenon throw on the probable future course of the crude death-rate?
TABLE F
Age Age
x lx dx px qx Lx Tx e°x X
0 1000 1174 .8826 .1174 9163 523820 (7) 0
1 8826 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) 1
2 8494 — — — — (6) (9) 2

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

  1. Discuss the main features of Hegel’s conception of “economic” or “bourgeois” Society (die bürgerliche Gesellschaft). How far can that conception be regarded as the basis of Marxian theory?
  2. “The expansion of England…was an expansion of Society, and not of the State” (Unwin). Examine the part played by social co-operation, as distinct from political organization, in the development of modern England.
  3. What is the value, and what are the dangers, of the application of biological metaphors (e.g. “the body politic” or “the social organism”) to the study of political theory?
  4. “A true conception of personality and its claims is the first necessity of political theory.” Discuss this statement.
  5. “Liberty is rightly preferred to equality, when the two are in conflict.” Would you agree with this proposition?
  6. What, in your view, is the final basis of the authority of law?
  7. How far does the idea of a “social contract” afford a satisfactory answer to the problem of political obligation?
  8. Does the conception of “the sovereignty of the national State” necessarily involve the unlimited supremacy of such a State?
  9. How far is the conception of “natural rights” a necessary condition of legal progress?
  10. Is the preservation of a distinction between the different “functions” or “powers” of government essential to the liberty of the subject?
  11. What are the political principles implied in the development of “social services” in England during the present century? What limits would you assign on grounds of principle, to the further extension of such services?
  12. “Democracy is not a particular form of State, but the necessary mode of action of all forms of State.” How far would you accept, or on what grounds would you criticize, this proposition?

 

Source:  Cambridge University. Economics Tripos Papers 1931-1933. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1933, pp. 28-52.

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