Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Economists Gender M.I.T. Northwestern

M.I.T. Complaint about ill-treatment of woman in job interview, 1982

 

With the current discussion of economist men acting badly with respect to their women colleagues and students in mind, I have transcribed the following letter by the long-time head of the M.I.T. economics department to complain about the positively unprofessional treatment of a woman graduate student interviewed by the Northwestern economics department. E. Cary Brown’s letter is a fine example of what senior male colleagues can do to support their women students. Perhaps someone knows how the letter was received at Northwestern.

Brown’s MIT obituary has been appended to this posting.

____________________

Chair to Chair Complaint
E. Cary Brown to Dale Mortensen

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Economics
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

January 9, 1982

Professor Dale T. Mortensen
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2750 Ridge Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201

Dear Professor Mortensen:

It is no pleasure to report to you that one of our graduate students was extremely upset by the interview given her by the Northwestern delegation at the recent American Economic Association meetings, and so are we.

She reports that there were six people in the room, three of whom were lying on the bed for the whole time of the interview; she was introduced to no one; she was sat down in a low chair with the sun shining in her face; she was questioned in a desultory way with what seemed to her to be an elaborate lack of interest in anything she had to say. Naturally she suspects that she was part of a pro forma affirmative action charade, and the evidence makes it difficult to deny.

We are all aware that job interviews are an extraordinarily tense time for graduate students, even when conducted with courtesy and consideration. My colleagues join me in hoping that the reported experience was a major deviation from Northwestern policy.

Sincerely yours,

[signed]

E. Cary Brown
Head

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives. Department of Economics. Records, 1947—, Box 3, Folder “N”.

____________________

E. Cary Brown, fiscal policy expert, dies at 91

June 27, 2007

E. Cary Brown, a leading expert on fiscal policy and the economics of taxation and a member of the MIT economics faculty for more than 60 years, passed away on June 8. He was 91.

As a professor of economics at MIT, Brown taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses on tax policy design, statistical methods for economics and the economics of fiscal policy.

Brown was born on April 14, 1916, in Bakersfield, Calif. He received the B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937 and pursued graduate work in economics at Berkeley and Harvard. His graduate studies were interrupted by World War II. Brown served as an economist at the War Production Board in 1940-41 and as an economist at the Division of Tax Research at the U.S. Treasury Department between 1942 and 1947. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1948.

Brown joined the MIT faculty in 1947 and was promoted to full professor in 1958. He was a Guggenheim Fellow, a Ford Foundation Faculty Fellow and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as department head for Economics for 18 years, presiding over a period of departmental expansion and a time when MIT achieved recognition as one of the world’s leading economics departments. He retired from the MIT faculty in 1986 and served as an emeritus professor until his death.

Brown was widely acclaimed for his seminal research on the design of depreciation allowances, the income tax provisions that permit corporations and other investors who purchase long-lived assets to claim tax deductions as these assets decay. In a classic 1948 study, “Business Income Taxation and Investment Incentives,” Brown outlined a fundamental set of relationships between the investment credit a firm receives when it makes an investment, the present discounted value of subsequent depreciation allowances and the effective tax burden on new investments. His insights have remained a touchstone for virtually all subsequent research on this issue and still feature in the public policy debate on the choice between income and consumption taxation.

Brown was also an expert on broader issues of fiscal policy. His 1956 paper on “Fiscal Policy in the Thirties: A Reappraisal” was one of the first applications of the full-employment budget deficit concept. In contrast to the then-prevailing wisdom, the study suggested that fiscal policy had not been particularly expansionary through much of this period, thereby calling into question the extent to which fiscal policy could have contributed to the U.S. economy’s recovery from the depths of the Great Depression.

Brown was a leader in the post-World War II research effort to understand the economic effects of different tax instruments and to design an equitable and efficient tax system. Policy-makers often sought his advice on questions of tax policy, and he was a frequent consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department. In the early 1960s, he was actively involved in the Kennedy Administration’s consideration of proposals for accelerated depreciation for capital goods, and he was one of the architects of the 1962 investment tax credit.

Brown was an avid tennis player throughout his life. After his retirement from MIT, he played on the Super Seniors Tennis circuit, competing throughout the United States and winning several competitions in various age groups. He remained an active tennis player until he was 88.

A long-time resident of Concord, Brown is survived by three sisters, Phyllys Ohanian of Newton, Mass., Molly Canan of Philomath, Ore., and Constance Morse of Plymouth, Mich.; and one brother, Lewis Brown of New York City. He is also survived by his daughters, Rebecca Brown Corwin of Roslindale, Mass., and Gretchen Brown Rossman of Amherst, Mass.; two granddaughters, three great-grandchildren and two stepchildren.

His first wife, Tomlin E. (Edwards) Coggan, died in 1994; they were divorced. His second wife, Margaret Durham, resides in Evergreen, Colo.; they were divorced.

Source:  MIT News, June 27, 2007.

Image Source:  E. Cary Brown portrait from the MIT Museum Website.

Categories
Brookings Chicago Economists

Chicago. Harold Moulton (Ph.D. 1915) leaves for the Institute of Economics in Washington, D.C., 1922

 

 

After leaving the University of Chicago in 1922, Harold Glen Moulton (1883-1965) went on to head the Brookings Institution for 30 years.  The following report comes from the University of Chicago Magazine that provided a biographical sketch along with the announcement of Moulton’s moving on to Washington, D.C.

_________________

Prominent Alumni
Harold G. Moulton, ’07, Ph.D. ’15

This biographical sketch, as may be noted, is in the nature of a farewell. Although but recently elected full professor in political economy, Harold G. Moulton, ’07, Ph.D. ’15, will leave the University in September, to become the head of The Institute of Economics now being created by the Carnegie Corporation and to be established at Washington, D. C. We feel it most fitting, therefore, that, on the “eve of his departure,” we pass on to our readers some details about the life of H. G.

He was born at LeRoy, Michigan, November 7, 1883. After the usual home-town preliminaries, he attended Albion College, Michigan, for two years, distinguishing himself in debating and baseball, and then entered the University of Chicago. At Chicago he continued his debating activity with pronounced success, and, in his senior year, won his “C,” playing left field on the 1907 baseball team. He was a member of Washington House and of Delta Sigma Rho honorary fraternity. Harold Moulton stood out as one of the real leaders of his class and was always popular throughout his college career.

For several years after graduation he taught at University High School and at Evanston Academy, also coaching the high school baseball, football and track teams. He once boasted, “My football team went through an entire season and never once crossed anybody’s goal line.” However plus nevertheless, he always maintained keenest interest in athletics, and today is known as “Dope” Moulton, because nobody, outside of the Old Man, knows as much “dope” about Chicago athletics and athletes. In fact, but recently Tom Eck said, “He can tell the time to within one-fifth of a second simply by feeling his pulse.” He has dispensed interesting information to our alumni clubs on a number of occasions.

In 1911 Harold returned to the University, to complete his graduate work, and obtained his Ph.D. in economics in 1915. During this period he was the debating coach—a task in which he won notable victories for Chicago. On June 17, 1912, he married Frances C. Rawlins. The Moultons have two children, Jack, aged 9, and Barbara, aged 7.

He began teaching political economy at Chicago in 1911, as an instructor, and because of his brilliant lectures and writings rose rapidly in his profession. In 1912 he won the Hart, Schaffner & Marx economic essay prize with a volume on Waterways Versus Railways. He is joint-author of Readings in the Economies of War, author of Principles of Money and Banking, of The Financial Organization of Society, and, this year, co-author with John F. Bass of America and the Balance Sheet of Europe. He has also written numerous pamphlets on economic subjects and articles in scientific, business and literary magazines. He writes the Weekly Analysis of general business conditions for the Chicago Association of Commerce. Moulton represented the Chicago Association at the London Conference last year, is on finance committees of both the Chicago and the United States Chamber of Commerce, and has lectured at Columbia and other universities.

The new Institute of Economics, which he has been appointed to organize and direct, has two aims: (1) Seek the truth; (2) present it so that a layman can understand it. It is not a government bureau, but will cooperate with various departments of the government and with the United States Chamber of Commerce. Its library will accommodate 100,000 volumes, and students, while working there as assistants, will have an opportunity to write and publish pamphlets, monographs and special reports. The University and the alumni regret to see H. G. Moulton leave, but a great honor, a great opportunity has been extended to him, and he leaves with our heartiest best wishes for fullest success; indeed, with our complete confidence that it will require but a very brief time to prove that the right man has been selected.

Source: The University of Chicago Magazine, Vol. XIV, No. 8 (June, 1922),  p. 297.

Image Source: The University of Chicago Magazine, Volume V, No. 4 (February 1913), p. 115

 

 

Categories
Columbia Computing

Columbia. Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, 1948

 

 

Columbia professor of economics and statistics and NBER researcher Frederick C. Mills was sent the following invitation to visit an open-house at Columbia’s Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory followed by a dinner in honor of Thomas J. Watson (IBM) that was to take place April 20, 1948. [In absence of evidence to the contrary, I presume for now that the dinner took place as announced.] A link is provided below to a history of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory. My favorite illustration is a photo of a “grandfather type clock” that synchronized all clocks throughout the laboratory.

 

_______________

Carbon Copy of Invitation from Frank Diehl Fackenthal to Frederick C. Mills

[handwritten note:] 3.30.48

Professor Frederick C. Mills
401 Fayerweather

Dear Professor Mills:

I am inviting you to join a small group of approximately fifty scientists who are interested in modern calculating devices to dine with me on April 20 to honor Mr. Thomas J. Watson for his outstanding leadership in the development of mathematical calculating machines and laboratories which has stimulated research in many fields of science. The dinner will be at Faculty House, 400 West 117th Street, at six-thirty p.m. The Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, at 612 West 116th Street, will be open for inspection from five to six-fifteen p.m., and you are invited to visit that laboratory just before the dinner.

Mr. Watson’s interest in scientific calculating machines began twenty years ago with a series of adaptations of IBM tabulating machines for complex statistical computations which were first applied on a large scale in the Columbia University Statistical Bureau. In 1934 Mr. Watson set up the computing laboratory which has become the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau. In 1940 came the Matrix Multiplier adaptation of the IBM Test Scoring Machine announced in 1936. In 1944 several projects came to dramatic fruition in the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, The Relay Calculators, and the Automatic Recording and Computing Equipment for the wind tunnel laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. In 1945 the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was established, and in January 1947 the great IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator was dedicated to science.

It will give me and my colleagues much pleasure to have word that you will be our guest on April 20.

Sincerely yours,

Frank Diehl Fackenthal
Acting President

(Business dress at the dinner)

 

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-. Box 396, Folder “Mills, Frederick Cecil”

Image Source: First home of the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was a renovated former fraternity house. Illustration on page 15 from The IBM Watson Laboratory at Columbia University—A History by Jean Ford Brennan. 1971.

Categories
Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus Tufts

Tufts/Fletcher. International Economics, Readings and Final Exam. Samuelson, 1944

 

 

During the mid-1940s Paul Samuelson regularly taught courses at Tufts University in international economics and policy. Transcribed below are two reading lists and a final exam from the second term of the 1943-44 academic year. All the material comes from a single folder but at least the sections of the reading lists match well the exam questions for international economics so we can be reasonably sure that they belong together for Samuelson’s course at the Fletcher School. Unlike international economics courses today that typically start with real trade theory and commercial policy and then move on to international monetary/macroeconomics, the sequence in this course was clearly reversed. Also interesting to note that the first reading list here is nearly identical to that from M.I.T. from February 1943.

___________________________

READING LIST
January, 1944
P. A. Samuelson

Asterisks indicate required reading, other items suggested reading.

  1. NATIONAL INCOME, EMPLOYMENT & PRODUCTION

M. Gilbert, “War Expenditures & National Production,” Survey of Current Business, March, 1942.
S. S. Kuznets, National Income & Its Composition, 1919-1938, Vol. I.
W. L. Crum, J. F. Fennelly, L. J. Seltzer, Fiscal Planning for Total War.
S. Fabricant, Productivity of American Manufacturing Industries.
Federal Reserve Board Bulletin, August & September, 1940.
R. A. Nixon & P. A. Samuelson, “Estimates of Unemployment in the U. S.,” Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1940.

  1. NATURE OF BUSINESS CYCLE

(*) A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy & Business Cycles, Ch. 1-4.
(*) Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, 1941 Reprint of 1913 Edition, Ch. V, Part I.
(*) J. P. Wernette, The Control of Business Cycles, pp. 3-23 and Conclusion.
(*) J. R. Meade & H. Hitch, Economic Analysis & Policy, Ch. I.
(*) G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, Ch. IX, I & II.
(*) S. H. Slichter, Towards Stability, Ch. I.
A. H. Hansen, Business Cycle Theory, Chs. I, II, IV, & VI.
S. H. Slichter, Towards Stability, Chs. II & IV.
G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, any part, especially Ch. 8.
S. Harris, Postwar Economic Problems, Chs. by Hansen, Samuelson, Bissell and Kindleberger.

  1. SAVING AND INVESMENT

(*) Joan Robinson, Introduction to the Theory of Employment.
(*) T.N.E.C. testimony of Hansen and Currie.
(*) A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy, Chs. 11, 12, 15 & 24.
(*) L. V. Chandler, Introduction to Monetary Theory, Chs. VI & VII.
O. Altman, T.N.E.C. Monograph #37, Saving & Investment.

  1. THE PROPENSITY TO IMPORT & THE FOREIGN TRADE MULTIPLIER

(*) R. F. Harrod, International Economics, (Rev. Ed.) Ch. 6, 7, (8 & 9 optional).
(*) W. A. Salant, “Foreign Trade Policy in the Business Cycle,” in Public Policy II (editor E. S. Mason).
(*) J. M. Keynes, General Theory, Preface, Chs. 23 & 24.
(*) F. Machlup, International Trade & the National Income Multiplier, Chs. I-IV, IX.
I. DeVegh, Review of Economic Statistics, 1940.
C. Clark & J. Crawford, National Income of Australia.
L. Metzler, Journal of Political Economy, 1942.

  1. INTERNATIONAL PROPAGATION OF BUSINESS CYCLES

(*) G. Haberler, Prosperity & Depression, Ch. XII, pp. 455-473.
(*) J. Viner, Studies, pp. 432-436.
(*) League of Nations, Annual Survey, 1939-40.
(*) Sir A. Salter, Recovery, pp. 27-66, (101-195 optional).
R. Bennett, National Bureau, manuscript.
P. Einzig, Bankers, Statesmen & Economists.
League of Nations, B. Ohlin, Course & Phases of the World Economic Depression, especially pp. 116-215.
O. Morgenstern, Journal of Political Economy, August, 1943, “On the International Spread of Business Cycles.”

___________________________

[Handwritten note: “Fletcher”]

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
Reading List
March, 1944

  1. Mercantilism

Viner, Studies, Chs. I and II.
E. F. Heckscher, Mercantilism, Vol. I, Introduction, Vol. II, Chs. I and II of Part II.
A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chs. I and II, Introduction, and glance through Ch. VIII.

  1. Tariffs and Import Quotas

G. Haberler, Theory of International Trade, pp. 169-174, and Chs. XV, XVI, XVII, XX, XXI.
F.W. Taussig, Some Aspects of the Tariff Question, Part I and one other part of your own choosing.
Sir W. Beveridge and others, Tariffs: The Case Examined, Chs. II-XI.
H. Heuser, Control of International Trade, Chs. I, II, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, and pp. 150-151, 155-156, 158-159, 161-162.

  1. Exchange Control and Trade Agreements

P. Einzig, Exchange Control, Chs. I, II, VII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XVIII.
P. Einzig, Economic Warfare, Chs. VI, IX, X, XI.
H. S. Ellis, Exchange Control in Central Europe, Chs. I, IV, V.
Hearings before the Ways and Means Committee on Extension of Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, 76th Congress, 3rd Session, H.J. Res. 407 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940), Vol. I. Go through testimony of Hull (4-15, 31-33), Wallace (116-122, 125, 142-143), Noble (169-171), Fox (491-503), Grady (713-750, 899-910) and anything else that interests you.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 1
Final Examination
May 18, 1944
Professor Samuelson

3 hours
Answer 3 out of 4 questions

  1. To what extent has the business cycle been international? Discuss the mechanisms whereby the cycle may be transmitted between countries.
  2. Analyze the pros and cons of one of the advantages claimed for the tariff, with specific reference to some American industry.
  3. Describe the successive steps by which a country extends exchange control. What problems is each designed to meet?
  4. Bring to bear the tools of analysis developed in this course upon some anticipated postwar problem of international economic relations.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, 1930s-2009, Box 33, Folder “Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1944-1947”.

Image Source:  Paul Samuelson faculty photo in MIT Technique 1950.

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Berkeley Chicago Columbia Economists NBER New School

Columbia. Memorial Minute for Wesley Clair Mitchell, 1949

 

Memorial minutes entered into a faculty’s record have the virtue of being brief and typically are written by someone who has had a close personal/professional relationship with the subject as seen in the following memorial minute delivered by Wesley Clair Mitchell’s student and later colleague, Frederick C. Mills.

The dual memoir Two Lives–The Story of Wesley Clair Mitchell and Myself, written by Mitchell’s wife Lucy Sprague Mitchell is available at hathitrust.org and provides much detail, e.g. an eight page autobiographical letter written by Mitchell in 1911.

______________________

WESLEY CLAIR MITCHELL
Memorial Minute read by Professor F. C. Mills
February 18, 1949

Wesley Clair Mitchell, Professor Emeritus of Economics, died in New York City on October 29, 1948. In his death the world lost one of the great scholars of our generation and the members of this Faculty lost a distinguished colleague and a cherished friend.

Wesley Mitchell was born in Rushville, Illinois, on August 5, 1874, the son of a country doctor who had won the rank of Brevet Colonel as a Civil War surgeon. The family was of New England stock, and although a middle-western boyhood and later adult years in California and New York left their impress on Mitchell, something of the New England strain was always discernible in the pattern of his thought and life.

Mitchell’s student days, undergraduate and graduate, were spent at the University of Chicago, with a one-year interim period at Halle and Vienna. The influence of the German and Austrian residence was slight; Mitchell was a product of American university training in the period of vigorous growth that came at the turn of the century. His outstanding qualities as an economist were distinctive of ways of thought and study that were largely indigenous to this country. Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, J. Laurence Laughlin in their several ways deeply affected Mitchell’s thinking and his way of conceiving of the problems of society.

Following a year at the Census Bureau and a short term as instructor at the University of Chicago, Mitchell moved in 1902 to the University of California, at Berkeley, to begin a decade of fruitful work and of steady personal growth. His tools of research were sharpened and his mastery of them perfected. The brilliant studies of the greenback period, in which the pattern of his scholarly work was first defined, were extended. The massive monograph on Business Cycles, one of the great products of scholarship in the social sciences, was here completed. But beyond these solid contributions to economic thought and method this was a rich period inMitchell’s life, to which he always looked back as something of a personal golden age. A young man intellectually somewhat aloof and inclined toward austerity mellowed in the sunshine of the west and in the easy, pleasant companionships of the young University. He took to the Sierras avidly, relishing the free ways, the free language and the physical release to be found in mountain climbing. A companion of those days says that Wesley’s inhibitions were peeled off like the layers of an onion as successive altitude levels were passed. He found a wife, too, in the west; when he left California in 1912 he took with him the Dean of Women of the University.

Wesley Mitchell’s service at Columbia began in 1913 and extended to the date of his retirement in 1944, except for a three-year term at the New School for Social Research. Indeed, his Columbia connection extended, properly, to the day of his death, for there was no time when we did not consider him one of us, or when he did not so regard himself. Mitchell’s reputation had been established by the time he came to Columbia; he had reached full scholarly maturity. Yet his growth continued and his accomplishments multiplied. A steady (but not a voluminous) flow of papers, reviews, addresses and more extensive studies came from his pen. Into each, whether brief or extended, went care in the construction of a logical and orderly argument, skill in the marshaling of evidence, and objectivity in the use of that evidence. Each, too, was in exposition a work of craftsmanship by a man whose ear was extraordinarily sensitive to the rhythms of our language and whose mind was alert to shades of meaning and subtleties of expression.

There was also an almost uninterrupted series of public and professional services and of accumulating honors. He was Chief of the Price Section of the War Industries Board during the first World War, chairman of the President’s Committee on Recent Social Trends, a member of the National Planning Board, the National Resources Board, and the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, and chairman of the Committee on the Cost of Living when that burning issue threatened to check the steady production of goods during the second World War. There was the launching in 1920 and the directing for a quarter of a century of a new instrument for the advancement of knowledge—the National Bureau of Economic Research. Over a long stretch of years he helped to break down the barriers between the social sciences and to unify their activities in the Social Science Research Council. He was one of those who founded and shaped the New School for Social Research. Counsel and guidance were given over many years to the Bureau of Educational Experiments. He was called upon to direct the affairs of professional societies, serving as President of the American Economic Association, the American Statistical Association, the Econometric Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. There were elections to learned societies at home and abroad. Honorary degrees came from Oxford, the University of Paris, and from major universities in this country. These were rich honors and they were not unwelcome; but he remained to the day of his death a modest scholar, who would both gladly learn and gladly teach.

It was as teacher and scholar that Mitchell’s greatest services were rendered to Columbia, and it was in these roles that he was best known to us of this Faculty. Mitchell possessed in high degree the qualities of a good teacher. There was insight in his analyses; there was a freshness of view that he never lost; there was lucidity of thought and expression; there was a sense of sharing with the student the task of inquiry. Above all, perhaps, was the sense of integrity. Here was a man without affectation, without pretense, who honestly sought understanding.

The specific contributions that Mitchell made to economics will be duly appraised by his colleagues in that profession. As members of a political science faculty, however, it is proper for us to recognize the service of Mitchell in breaking economics out of the tight formalism of the tradition that prevailed when he came to the subject. He was profoundly unhappy about economics as a branch of logic, dealing with the interaction of atoms in the form of human reasoning machines, subjecting itself only to tests of logical consistency, almost indifferent to the relevance of its principles to complex and constantly changing reality. Mitchell himself was not unskilled in the spinning of deductive arguments, but he was keenly aware of the dangers of self-delusion in unchecked rationalism. His bent was empirical; his emphasis in research was on the constant checking of reason against observation. First in the monetary field, later in the study of prices, of business cycles, and of national income, he developed and refined methods of quantitative analysis and stimulated a movement that has deeply affected the character of economic research and the content of economic thought the world over. But Mitchell’s concern was never with method as method. Man was at the center. Economics was to him on of the sciences of human behavior. And the human being with whose actions he was concerned was a complex creature whose motives could not be reduced to the reasoned balancing of satisfactions against pains or of prospective gains against prospective losses. He stressed the role in economics of institutions — of money, of the industrial system — which man had shaped and which in turn were shaping him; in so doing he helped to turn many younger economists to the study of a neglected phase of economic life. These various aspects of Mitchell’s thought are developed in treatises and shorter papers published over a period of fifty years. They are outstandingly revealed in the series of books on business cycles that are Mitchell’s greatest substantive contribution to economics.

Some of the personal qualities of Wesley Mitchell have been suggested in this brief account of his work. But there was much more than this. He was a lover of poetry whose mind was stocked with verse. He was a connoisseur of mystery stories who could warmly resent the moral betrayal of the reader when the author played unfairly with him. He was a craftsman, skilled in the fine art of woodwork. He was tenacious and unremitting in seeking principles of order in human affairs, yet free from dogmatism and open to criticism and advice from his youngest associates. He was a kindly and generous man, a source of continuing and friendly inspiration to students and colleagues alike. In his life’s work Mitchell served the human race. In his own being he helped to give dignity to that race.

 

Source: Memorial Minute on Professor Wesley C. Mitchell read by Professor F. C. Mills at the meeting of Faculty of Political Science of February 18, 1949. Appended to the Minutes of the Faculty Meeting.

Image Source:Foundation for the Study of Cycles Website  .

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. Alumnus (1922), William Arthur Berridge in mid-career 1939

 

 

 

Today’s posting provides some biographical detail (through age 46) of  William Arthur Berridge (b. 13 April 1893; d. 25 Sept 1973). Harvard Class of 1914, Phi Beta Kappa and 1922 economics Ph.D. that comes from his personal report to the Class of 1914’s twenty-fifth reunion volume. Besides being on the lookout for the artifacts of economics education in the form of course descriptions, notes, reading lists and examination questions, Economics in the Rear View Mirror is interested in the life and career stories of economics Ph.D.’s. Contributions from the community of visitors are very much welcome. Well-told personal anecdotes of time in the trenches as a graduate student would greatly add to this growing collection of material.

___________________

WILLIAM ARTHUR BERRIDGE
HARVARD CLASS OF 1914
[1939 report]

 

Born: Lynn, Mass., Apr. 13, 1893. (Bill). Parents: Frank Berridge, Sadie May Brown.
Prepared at: Classical High School, Lynn, Mass.
Years in College: 1910-1914. Degrees: A.B. magna cum laude, 1914; A.M., 1919; Ph.D., 1922.
Married: Ruth Reid, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 24, 1918. Children: Katherine Beatrice, May 31, 1919; Ruth Margaret, Mar. 4, 1921.
Occupation: Economist, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 1 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y.
Address: 52 Gramercy park North, New York, N. Y.

 

Perhaps the World War which broke out before we had recovered from Commencement did not affect me more than my average classmate. But perhaps it affected me differently from most. One influence that it had was to switch me from physical to social sciences. The route was circuitous, however. My aspirations were, one after another, to enter (1) engineering, (2) physics, (3) mathematics, (4) ministry, (5) social administration or social ethics, (6) statistics, and finally (7) economics. They even overlapped; for, during the two years when I was studying in numbers (4)-(5), the beloved Bôcher got me appointed an instructor in no. (3) over at the College.

The longer I live, the less do I regret all that “batting around.” I find it has enriched my working and living. Even the two years in uniform benefited me and my work in several ways, some of which I did not properly evaluate until years afterward.

In 1919, on nothing at all, we went back to Cambridge, to learn how better to help the world understand, if not solve, the expected war aftermath of economic problems. While studying for a Ph.D., I enjoyed earning a living as a research assistant for Bullock’s and Persons’ Committee on Economic Research, and as an instructor and tutor—this time, for a change, in the same field I was studying—aided by two or three windfalls from writing.

After completing in 1922 my thesis on unemployment, I spent five pleasant years in Providence as assistant (later associate) professor of Economics at Brown, but in 1924 I began devoting half-time to the Metropolitan Life in New York as consulting economist. In 1927 I left Brown to become full-time (and over-time!) economist for that company. It is a voluminous but varied and intensely interesting assignment on the research end, and in addition it is in a very real sense teaching as well. I love the work, and the social-minded institution for which I do it.

Elsewhere in the company, such varied and distinguished research is being done as to create some real “university” atmosphere. I also keep up, as well as I can, contacts with outside research men, in both the academic and the applied fields.

Politics? I still call myself an Independent Democrat, though I have never yet voted for a presidential candidate who won! The personal views that I hold as to many current political conditions and economic policies, I refrain from writing, for I have no asbestos paper.

Travel? During my Coast Artillery experience, travel was confined mostly to a rocky island far out in Boston Harbor, where it was my fate to have a Mine Command—among other duties. So I did not travel abroad until 1922, when (with my wife) I spent the summer in England as a Sheldon Traveling Fellow, consulting British specialists on unemployment. We also discovered numerous Berridges, above as well as below ground. In 1928 I spent a delightful month in France and Germany, ending a year’s sojourn by the family there. Since then I have delegated my foreign traveling wholly to the family—Italy, Greece, etc.

Hobbies? “Puttering around”—making and doing things at my farm in Berkshire County. We also like music, dancing and theater and perhaps 1 in 10 of the movies produced in recent years. So far, I have never made headway toward realizing either of two old aspirations: (1) to become a “Sunday painter” in both oils and water color, (2) to write a play that would “make” Broadway.

Publications: “Cycles of Unemployment in the U.S.,” Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923; “Purchasing Power of the Consumer” (with two others), A. W. Shaw Company, 1925; “Employment Statistics for the U.S.” (with one other), Russell Sage Foundation, 1926; One chapter in “Unemployment and Business Cycles,” McGraw-Hill Company, 1923; various articles on economic subjects, such as unemployment, labor turnover, gold, silver, foreign trade, U.S. and U.K. business conditions, etc.

Member of: American Economic Association; American Statistical Assn. (fellow); Social Science Research Council (to 1939, representing A.S.A.); American Farm Economic Assn.; Academy of Political Science; American Academy of Political and Social Science; Royal Economic Society, Royal Statistical Society, England; Harvard Club of New York City; Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

 

Source:   Harvard College Class of 1914 Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report. Cambridge, MA: Cosmos Press, 1939, pp. 52-54.

Image Source:  Cover of Harvard Class Album 1946.

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Reading assignments and final exam for Business Cycles. Samuelson, 1948

 

The reading list and final exam questions for Paul Samuelson’s course on business cycles at M.I.T. that he taught during the second term of 1942-43 were posted earlier. In this posting I provide transcriptions for the reading list and final exam for the same course offered five years later. I have included a carbon copy of the first two questions that are different from the first two questions in the mimeographed copy. Maybe the carbon copy was preliminary, perhaps undergraduates and graduates received different questions. In any event the questions are different and clearly identified for the same examination date and same course. Note the tease in his illustration for Question 3 where he lists “in order of importance” “sunspots” and “anti-Keynesian” as Samuelson’s personal main theories.

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Reading Assignment, Economics 26
Spring Term 1948

  1. The student should buy J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Money and Interest; and if possible, G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression (3rd revised edition).
  2. As background reading, the student may wish to consult J. A. Estey or E. Bratt on Business Cycles [James Arthur Estey, Business Cycles, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1941; Elmer Clark Bratt, Business Cycles and Forecasting, 3rd 1949] and Joan Robinson, Introduction to the Theory of Employment.

 

Reading Assignments
A

Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles: The Problem and its Setting (1927), Chapters 1, 4.
A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 1, 2
Wm. H. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Appendix A.
J. A. Schumpeter, Business Cycles (1939), Chapters 4, 7C, 15G
S. Kuznets, National Income and its Composition, Vol. 1, Chapter 1
G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chapters 1, 9

Optional:

A. F. Burns and W. C. Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles.

 

B

G. Haberler, op cit, Ch. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
A. H. Hansen, Business Cycle Theory, 1, 2, 4, 8
K. Wicksell, Interest and Prices, Introduction, Ch. 5, 7, 8, 11.

 

C

J. M. Keynes, General Theory
P. Samuelson, Ch. 13 on Savings and Investment in Economics
A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
G. Haberler, Ch. 8, Part III
S. E. Harris, Postwar Economic Problems, Ch. 2, 5
S. E. Harris, Economic Reconstruction, Ch. 5
Selected Readings on Business Cycles, [Probably: American Economic Association. Gottfried Haberler, chairman of the selection committee. Readings in Business Cycle Theory. Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1944.] Lange, Clark, Tinbergen papers.

 

D

Financing American Prosperity. [Financing American prosperity : a symposium of economists. Editors: Paul T. Homan and Fritz Machlup. New York : The Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.] Read Ch. 1 and any other two
Federal Reserve Monograph No. 3. First Musgrave Article and Comments.

 

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Business Cycles
Ec 26 Examination
May 27, 1948
[from mimeographed copy]

20 minutes

  1. What postwar public policies should be followed in connection with business cycles? (If none, justify your answer.)

 

15 minutes

  1. Define in a paragraph or less:

acceleration principle
Say’s Law
marginal propensity to invest
“foreign trade multiplier”
Juglar cycle

 

15 minutes

  1. Next to each of the following writers fill in the appropriate letter and number (or numbers if more than one is called for).

Thus the correct answer for Samuelson might be as indicated:

Samuelson    A         2         9

if his principal contribution occurred in the last 20 years; and if the theories of the cycle for which he is best known were (in order of importance) “sunspots” and “anti-Keynesian.”

 

Time of Principal Contribution Main Theory or Theories
A. Last 20 years 1. monetary
B. Early 20th century (1900-27) 2. sunspots and weather
C. 19th century or earlier 3. underconsumption
4. self-generating, endogenous
5. exogenous investment fluctuation
6. Say’s Law of Markets
7. eclectic (some truth in most theories)
8. overinvestment
9. anti-Keynesian

 

 

Time of Principal Contribution

Main Theory or Theories
Cassel

_____

_____; _____
Catchings

_____

_____
Dewey and Dakin

_____

_____
Fisher (I.)

_____

_____
Foster

_____

_____
Haberler

_____

_____
Hawtrey

_____

_____
Hansen

_____

_____; _____
Hobson

_____

_____
Hayek

_____

_____; _____
Jevons

_____

_____
Anderson

_____

_____; _____
Keynes

_____

_____; _____
Pigou

_____

_____
Lauderdale

_____

_____
Mitchell

_____

_____; _____
Mises

_____

_____; _____
Malthus

_____

_____
Spiethoff

_____

_____
Ricardo

_____

_____
Tugan-Baranowsky

_____

_____; _____
Schumpeter

_____

_____

_____________________________

Business Cycles
Ec 26 Examination
May 27, 1948
[from carbon copy]

 

20 minutes

  1. In retrospect what public policies seemed called for in the period between the two world wars in connection with “business cycles”?

 

15 minutes

  1. Define or describe in a paragraph:

natural rate of interest vs. real rate of interest
open market purchase
Kondratieff cycle
marginal efficiency of capital

 

Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Paul A. Samuelson Papers: Box 33, Folder “14.451 Business Cycles, 1943-1955”.

Image Source: From the slideshow at the MIT Memorial Service for Paul A. Samuelson held on April 10, 2010.

 

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T.

M.I.T. Final exam for business cycles course taught by Paul Samuelson, 1943

 

The following exam questions come from the carbon paper copy in Paul Samuelson’s papers. Transcribed below are the final exam questions for his course on business cycles taught during the second term of the 1942/43 academic year at M.I.T. The reading list for this course was transcribed and posted earlier. The next posting will provide the reading assignments and final examination for his course five years later.

______________________

Business Cycles
Ec 26 Examination
Thursday, May 20, 1943

Answer two or three questions not all from the same section.

I

  1. “The older economists regarded the trade cycle as a fluctuation around an undefined base. Modern economists have for the first time a theory of effective demand to determine that base.” Develop the last sentence, and weigh the accuracy of the whole quotation.
  2. Must savings equal investment? Discuss this problem, giving as little weight as possible to terminological and definitional matters. Go to the heart of the matter, and show how hoarding enters the picture if at all.
  3. What is the optimum amount of money in a system; the optimum marginal efficiency of capital; the optimum marginal propensity to consume? Explain.
  4. How can those who have lost faith in monetary control have so much confidence in the efficacy of fiscal policy?

 

II

  1. What is the effect on prices and wages of greatly increased effective demand? Illustrate with the policy problems raised during a war.
  2. Weigh the chances for boom and depression in the half decade after the war.
  3. Resolved: Secular stagnation is likely if not inevitable. Prepare a brief for the affirmative and for the negative.
  4. Discuss the problems raised by the public debt.

 

Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Paul A. Samuelson Papers: Box 33, Folder “14.451 Business Cycles, 1943-1955”.

Image Source: From the slideshow at the MIT Memorial Service for Paul A. Samuelson held on April 10, 2010.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate Core Economic Theory, Readings and Exams. Schumpeter, 1936-37

 

The reading lists and exams for Schumpeter’s graduate economic theory course in 1935-36 have been posted earlier (the year Paul Samuelson took the course). It is worth noting that Keynes and the General Theory (at least Chapters 11, 13-16) were added to the readings for the second term of 1936-37.

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Course Announcement, 1936-37

Economics 101 (formerly 11). Economic Theory

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2. Professor Schumpeter.

Source:  Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1936-37 (first edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXIII, No. 5 (March 2, 1936), p. 142.

__________________________

Course Enrollment, 1936-37

Primarily for Graduates:

[Economics] 101. (formerly 11). Professor Schumpeter.–Economic Theory.

Total 36:  30 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1936-1937, p. 93.

__________________________

Economics 101

Following is a list of some of the most important works in English dealing with problems outside the range of perfect competition. They are not all assigned, but assigned reading is taken altogether from this list.

Pigou, A. C., Economics of Welfare, 3rd Edition.
Chamberlin, E. H., The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
Chamberlin, E. H., On Imperfect Competition, in the March, 1934 Supplement of The American Economic Review, pp. 23-27.
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition.
Robinson, Joan, What is Perfect Competition, Q. J. E., Nov. 1934.
Zeuthen, F., Problems of Monopoly and Economic Warfare.
Cournot, A. A., Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth.
Edgeworth, F. Y., The Pure Theory of Monopoly (Papers, Vol. I)
Hotelling, Harold, Stability in Competition, E. J., March 1929.
Shove, G. F., The Imperfection of the Market, E. J., March 1933.
Harrod, R. F., Doctrines of Imperfect Competition, Q. J. E., May 1934.
Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Monopoly, Econometrica, Jan. 1935.

The subjects, in the order in which they will be taken up, together with the assigned reading, are given below.

I.  The Technique and the Background.

Pigou, Part II, Ch. XIV.
Robinson, Chs. 1, 2.
Chamberlin, Chs. 1, 2.

  

V. Monopolistic Competition

Chamberlin, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7.
Robinson, Ch. 7. Q.J.E., Nov. ‘34
Shove, E.J., March ’33.
Harrod, Q.J.E., May ’34.
II.  Simple Monopoly.

Pigou, Part II, Ch. XVI.
Robinson, Chs. 3, 4, 5.

 VI. Discrimination.

Pigou, Chs. XVII, XVIII (Part II).
Robinson, Chs. 15, 16.
III.  Duopoly and Oligopoly

Pigou, Part II, Ch. XV.
Chamberlin, Ch. 3.

  
IV. Bilateral Monopoly.

Hicks, Sect. 3.

  

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder “Ec 11, Fall 1936”.

__________________________

[Hand-written notes, neat, presumably to be typed]

  1. On Substitution

Marshall, V., Chs. 4, 8; VI, Ch.1.
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Ch. 6.
Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Ch. 22.
Machlup, “Commonsense of the Elast. of Subst.”, Rev. Econ. Stud., Vol II, No. 3. (on Econ. 1 shelf)

More Advanced

Hicks, Appendix.
Various notes on elast. of subs. In Vols I and II, Rev. Econ. Stud., by Hicks, Lerner, Kahn, Tarshis etc.
Hicks, Rev. Econ. Stud. Oct., 1936.
Pigou, Econ. Journal, June, 1934.

  1. On Period of Production

Böhm-Bawerk, E., Positive Theory of Capital, Bk II, Ch. 2, 3.
Knight, F. H., “Capital, Time + the Interest Rate,” Economica, August 1934 (on Econ. 151 shelf)
Hayek, F. A., Q. J. E., Feb., ‘36
Machlup, F. “Professor Knight + the Period of Production,” J. P. E., Oct. 1935.

More Advanced

Gifford, C.H.P., Econometrica, April 1935 (in Econ. 102 shelf).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder “Ec 11, Fall 1936”.

__________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101

(Answer any FIVE questions)

  1. What meaning can be attributed to
    1. Positively inclined demand curves?
    2. Negatively inclined long-run average cost curves?
  2. Define arc elasticity of demand and explain the usefulness or otherwise of the concept.
  3. From given demand curves for consumers’ goods we derive demand curves for the producers’ goods or factors of production. From these in turn we derive the prices of factors and hence incomes. And these incomes determine the demand curves for consumers’ goods. Does this involve circular reasoning?
  4. Why is the explanation of market price by means of the theory of marginal utility superior to the explanation of market price by means of the Ricardian theory of quantity of labor?
  5. Consider a commodity A which is the product of two factors of production B and C. Then “an increase in the supply of A raises the demand for B in terms of money if the elasticity of the demand for A is greater than the elasticity of substitution.” Prove.
  6. Show why and in what sense price is determinate in the case of bilateral monopoly.
  7. “Perfect competition exists to such a negligible extent in the modern economy that all theorizing based on this assumption must be regarded as sheer waste of time.” What have you to say to this?
  8. “The key to problems of imperfect competition lies in the conditions of demand. But it is precisely when we come to problems of imperfect competition that the ordinary demand curve apparatus ceases to have any clear meaning.” Comment.

Mid-Year. 1937.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 9, Folder “Ec 11, Fall 1936”.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 101 [“37” is handwritten here]

The first month of the second term will be devoted to a study of the principles underlying the theory of distribution, with special emphasis on wages.

  1. Substitution and Relative Shares
    1. Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Wages, Ch. VI.
    2. Machlup, Fritz, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution”, Review of Economic Studies, June, 1935.
    3. Hicks, J. R., “Distribution and Economic Progress: A Revised Version”, Review of Economic Studies, October, 1936.
    4. Also notes and articles on substitution and relative shares in Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2, though not required reading, may be consulted.
  2. Theory of Wages and Marginal Productivity
    1. Marshall, Bk. VI, especially Ch. I.
    2. Hicks, J. R., Theory of Wages, Ch. I.
    3. ——-, Marginal Productivity and the Principle of Variation,” Economica, February, 1932.
    4. Schultz, Henry and Hicks, J. R., “Marginal Productivity and the Lausanne School: “A Reply” and “A Rejoinder”, Economica, August, 1932.
    5. Robertson, D. H., “Wage Grumbles” in the volume of essays entitled Economic Fragments.
    6. Chamberlin, E. H., On distribution under Imperfect Competition, pp. 23-27 of the Supplement to the American Economic Review, March, 1934.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 10, Folder “Ec 11, Spring 1937”.

__________________________

 ECONOMICS 101

            The next two or three weeks will be devoted to the discussion of capital and interest. A select bibliography and the assigned reading are listed below.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Böhm-Bawerk, E., Capital and Interest (a history of interest theories) [: and] The Positive Theory of Capital (the third edition, available only in German, containing the polemical Excursi, is to be preferred to the English translation)
  2. Marx, Karl, Capital (especially Vol. I, Parts III and VII; Vol. II, Part III; Vol. III, Parts II and III)
  3. Wicksell, Knut, Über Wert, Kapital und Rente [, and] Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. I
  4. Fisher, Irving, The Rate of Interest (1907) [; and] The Theory of Interest (1930) (a rewriting of the earlier work)
  5. Taussig, F.W., Wages and Capital
  6. Knight, F.H., “Interest”, article in The Encyc. of Soc. Science
  7. For a rather complete list of the numerous recent articles on capital, interest and the structure of production, Cf. Machlup, Fritz, “Professor Knight and the Period of Production”, Journal of Political Economy, 1935, first footnote.
  8. For an exposition of Böhm-Bawerk, Wicksell and the later work along the same lines done in Sweden, particularly by Gustav Akerman, Cf. Kirchmann, Hans, Studien zur Grenzproduktivitätstheorie des Kapitalzinses.
  9. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.

ASSIGNED READING

  1. Fisher, The Rate of Interest, Part I, Chs. 1,2,3; Part III, Ch. 10
  2. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Book I, Ch. 2; Book II, Chs. 2,4,5; Book V, Chs. 1,2,3,4,5; Book VI, Chs. 5,6,7; Book VII, Chs. 1,2,3.
  3. Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, pp. 144-171; 185-195.
  4. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 10, Folder “Ec 11, Spring 1937”.

__________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101

Answer FIVE questions. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Saving, by increasing the quantity of capital, will tend to increase its absolute and relative share. At the same time saving will tend to reduce the rate of interest and thereby to decrease capital’s absolute and relative share. State the conditions on which the net effect of saving on the absolute and relative share will depend. What do you think the actual effect is in practice?
  2. Classical economists spoke of a net benefit accruing from free trade. Have we any means to measure that benefit and to determine how it is divided between the trading nations?
  3. Which of the theories of interest which you have studied seems to you most acceptable and why?
  4. What warrant is there for the statement that in perfect competition and perfect equilibrium every firm will produce that quantity which corresponds to the point of minimum average cost?
  5. Discuss the problem of inequality of incomes from the following points of view: (a) measurement, (b) economic effects, (c) relation to welfare.
  6. Could unemployment exist with perfect competition?
  7. What do you regard as the most desirable railroad rate policy? State clearly and justify your criteria of desirability, and show how the policy selected meets these criteria.

Final. 1937.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes. Box 10, Folder “Ec 11, Spring 1937”.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. HUGBS 276.90p(43) Irving Fisher and J. A. Schumpeter (May 12, 1934).

Categories
Fields Harvard

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. Candidates’ General/Special Examination Fields, Committees. 1918-19

 

 

For nine Harvard economics Ph.D. candidates this posting provides information about their respective academic backgrounds, the six subjects of their general examinations along with the names of the examiners, their special subject, thesis title and advisor(s) (where available).

________________________________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.
1918-19

Notice of hour and place will be sent out three days in advance of each examination.
The hour will ordinarily be 4 p.m.

Chungtao Tahmy Chu.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, November 14, 1918.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Whipple, Carver, Persons, and Dr. Lincoln.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1914-17; Harvard Graduate School, 1917—. A.B., 1917. Assistant in Economics, 1917-18.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1760. 3. Statistical Method and its Application. 4. Money and Banking. 5. Municipal Government. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: “Taxation of Salt.”

John Henry Williams.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, November 15, 1918.
General Examination passed May 7, 1917.
Academic History: Brown University, 1909-12; Harvard Graduate School, 1915-17. A.B., Brown, 1912; A.M., Harvard, 1916; Instructor in English, Brown University, 1912-15. Sheldon Travelling fellow in Argentina, 1917-18. Instructor in Economics 1918-19.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Public Finance. 4. Labor Problems. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. International Trade and Tariff Policy.
Special Subject: International Trade.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Carver, and Dr. Persons.
Thesis Subject: “Argentine International Trade Under Inconvertible Paper Money, 1880-1900.”
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Taussig, and Carver.

Norman John Silberling.

Special Examination in Economics, Monday, May 12, 1919.
General Examination passed November 6, 1916.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1910-14; Harvard Graduate School, 1914—. A.B., 1914; A.M., 1915. Assistant in Economics, 1915-17.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistical Method and its Application. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Psychology.
Special Subject: Money and Banking.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Carver, Day, Langfeld, Dr. Persons, and Dr. Lincoln.
Thesis Subject: “A History of British Theories of Money and Credit, 1776-1848.”
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Day, and Dr. Monroe.

Joseph Lyons Snider.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 14, 1919.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Ripley, Foerster, Burbank, and Dr. Persons.
Academic History: Amherst College, 1911-15; Harvard, February 1917—. A.B., Amherst College, 1915; A.M., Harvard, 1918. Assistant in Public Speaking, Amherst, 1915-16; assistant in Social Ethics, Harvard, 1917-19; instructor in Radcliffe College and Wellesley College, 1918-19.
General Subjects: 1. Ethical Theory. 2. Economic Theory. 3. Poor Relief. 4. Social Reforms. 5. Sociology. 6. Statistics.
Special Subject: Sociology.
Thesis Subject: “Feeble-mindedness in Massachusetts.” (With Professor Carver.)

Benjamin Walter King.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, May 16, 1919.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Ripley, McIlwain, Day, Dr. Persons, and Dr. Lincoln.
Academic History: West Virginia University, 1904-09; University of Chicago, 1912-13; Harvard Graduate School, 1915-17, 1918—. A.B., West Virginia University, 1909; A.M., Harvard, 1917. Assistant in Economics, 1917.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. History of Political Theory. 3. Economics of Corporations. 4. Economic History since 1750. 5. Railways. 6. Statistical Method and its Application.
Special Subject: Statistical Method and its Application.
Thesis Subject: “Inquiry into Prices.” (With Dr. Persons.)

Robert Herbert Loomis.

General Examination in Economics, Tuesday, May 20, 1919.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Bullock, Carver, Dr. Hooton, and Dr. Persons.
Academic History: Clark College, 1908-11; Harvard Graduate School, 1914-18. A.B., Clark, 1911; A.M., Harvard, 1918. Teacher, Fay School, Southboro, 1912-14; Assistant in Social Ethics, 1915-16; Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1916-17. Instructor in Economics, Simmons College, 1918-19.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistical Method and its Application. 3. Labor Problems. 4. Socialism and Social Reform. 5. Anthropology. 6. Economic History since 1750.
Special Subject: Economic History since 1750.
Thesis Subject: “Development of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts since 1875.” (With Professor Gay.)

Duncan Clark Hyde.

General Examination in Economics, Tuesday, May 27, 1919.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Carver, McIlwain, Day, Dr. Persons, and Dr. Lincoln.
Academic History: McGill University, 1913-17; Harvard Graduate School, 1917—. A.B., McGill, 1917; A.M., Harvard, 1918.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistical Method and its Application. 4. Sociology. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: “Canadian War Finance.” (With Professor Bullock.)

Wilfred Eldred.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 29, 1919.
General Examination passed April 29, 1912.
Academic History: Washington and Lee University, 1906-09; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-14. A.B., Washington and Lee, 1909; A.M., ibid., 1909; A.M., Harvard, 1911. Instructor in Economics, 1912-14. Instructor in History and Economics, San Diego High School and Junior College, 1914-15. Instructor in Economics, Leland Stanford Junior University, 1915-17.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Public Finance and Financial History. 4. Money, Banking, and Crises. 5. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Economic History of the United States.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Hart, Bullock, Ripley, and Dr. Monroe.
Thesis Subject: “The Wheat and Flour Trade Under Food Administration Control.” (With Professor Carver.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Carver, Ripley, and Burbank.

Martin Gustave Glaeser.

General Examination in Economics, Saturday, May 31, 1919.
Committee: Professors Ripley (chairman), Bullock, Carver, McIlwain, Foerster, and Dr. Lincoln.
Academic History: University of Wisconsin, 1906-07, 1908-11, 1913-17. A.B., 1912. Assistant in Business Extension Division, University of Wisconsin, 1910-11. Special lecturer in Public Finance, University of Wisconsin, 1917.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Economics of Corporations. 4. Labor Problems. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Transportation.
Special Subject: Transportation.
Thesis Subject: “The Cost of Service Theory in Rate Regulation.” (With Professor Ripley.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1918-19”.

Image Source: Dedication of the Widener Memorial Library, 1915.  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.