Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Economists M.I.T.

MIT. No Job Offer to Frank D. Graham, 1942

 

 

From the following copy of a letter written by MIT President Karl Taylor Compton in June 1942 to the distinguished professor of international finance at Princeton, Frank D. Graham (1890-1949), we see that MIT at least considered adding a prominent senior person to its economic department but in the end decided to stick with the strategy of hiring young economists of promise. Graham, a Frank Taussig student, earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1920.

In Memoriam: Frank Dunstone Graham 1890-1949, The American Economic Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Sixty-second Annual Meeting of the American Economic Asociation (May, 1950), pp. 585-587.

 

____________________

 

Office of the President
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

COPY

June 23, 1942

Personal

Professor Frank D. Graham
Department of Economics and Social Institutions
Princeton University
Princeton, N.J.

Dear Frank:

I am returning the copy of the very fine testimonial to you from your recent group of graduate students, and was interested to receive your letter supplementing our conversation at the time of your visit.

So far as I can evaluate our situation in Economics, I do not believe that we would be justified or able to offer you a position which would be anywhere near appropriate to a person of your attainments and distinction. With the limitations of our resources it is generally agreed that our best procedure is to try to assemble a group of very promising younger men, giving them the best opportunities for professional development which we can offer and hoping to hold at least some of them permanently on the staff. This is the program which Professor Freeman has been following and I am decidedly enthusiastic about the younger group which he has in the department at the present time.

It is conceivable that some situation might develop which would require a reevaluation of our program. In fact, we have scheduled for early July a thorough study of our personnel situation in this department. It seems to me, however, that any change in the situation which would make it possible for us to offer you an appropriate position would be the result of some presently unexpected occurrence.

I am sorry that this reply is not more constructive because the possibility of your attachment to our staff is very intriguing to me, both on personal and on professional grounds. Professor Freeman and I are both glad to have had this possibility suggested to us, even though it seems remote, and I shall certainly let you know it there is any turn in the situation which might open up the possibility which we have discussed.

Very sincerely yours

President

KTC/L

 

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. MIT. Office of the President, 1930-1956. Records, 1930-1959. Box 93, Folder 7 “Freeman, R. E.”.

Image Source: Princeton Yearbook, The Bric-a-Brack 1942.

Categories
Harvard Statistics Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus for Undergraduate Course, Economic Statistics. Frickey, 1940-41

 

In the last post we saw the final exam for the course taught by Edwin Frickey on Economic Statistics at Harvard during the first term of the 1938-39 year. The earliest syllabus for this course that I have been able to  find comes from the collection of course outlines at the Harvard Archives. The syllabus was unchanged (except updating for the current academic year) from 1940-41 through 1946-47.

_____________________________

 

Course Listing

Economics 21a 1hf. Introduction to Economic Statistics

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Associate Professor Frickey.

Two hours a week laboratory work are required.

 

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1940-41. (First edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 31 (May 21, 1940), p. 56.

_____________________________

 

Course Enrollment

Economics 21a 1hf. Associate Professor Frickey.—Introduction to Economic Statistics

Total 92: 10 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 31 Sophomores, 5 Others.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments, 1940-41, p. 58.

_____________________________

 

Economics 21a
1940-41

References:

C.P.T.—Crum, Patton and Tebutt, Economic Statistics;
N.P.—mimeographed Notes and Problems

 

  1. Introduction to Course

Outline of course. Relation of statistics to economics. Elementary concepts. Introductory problem, designed to get students familiar with sources and the nature of statistical analysis in economics.

C.P.T., Ch. I

  1. The Description of a Statistical Series by Charts, Tables, and Statistical Measures

The description of a statistical series by these various devices; the condensing of information. Principles of table and chart construction, illustrated by laboratory work. The description of a statistical series by statistical measures, developed by means of an example—the study of profits and certain economic problems connected therewith. Averages, dispersion, skewness: the criterion for choice of statistical measures; technique of computation; basis for critical judgment.

C.P.T., Chs. V to IX, XI, XII, XIV.
N.P., pp. 81-90, 111-119, 131-132, 161-167.

  1. Index Numbers

Use of index numbers in economics. Basic concepts. Points of view as to the nature of an index number. The simpler methods of computation—weighted aggregate, arithmetic mean of relatives, geometric mean of relatives—and the assumptions behind them. The Fisher formula: advantages and limitations. Various aspects of the problem of weighting. Non-technical discussion of topic of “bias,” indicating its practical importance.

C.P.T., Chs. XVIII, XIX.
N.P., pp. 201-233.
Bulletin No. 284, U.S.B.L.S. (Wesley C. Mitchell on Price Index Numbers), first half of pamphlet.

  1. Time Series

Use of index numbers in economics. Basic concepts. Points of view as to the nature of an index number. The simpler methods of computation—weighted aggregate, arithmetic mean of relatives, geometric mean of relatives—and the assumptions behind them. The Fisher formula: advantages and limitations. Various aspects of the problem of weighting. Non-technical discussion of topic of “bias,” indicating its practical importance.

C.P.T., Chs. VIII, XX to XXIII.
N.P., pp. 300-311, 338-345, 381-388.
Frickey, “The Problem of Secular Trends,” Review of Economic Statistics, September 1934.

  1. Correlation: the Study of Relationships

Use of statistical correlation procedure in economic problems. Basic concepts. Linear versus non-linear correlations. The three fundamental aspects: description, sampling inference, causation. The questions which correlation analysis attempts to answer. The correlation coefficient and related measures: step-by-step development of the logic of the various modes of explanation. The drawing of inferences from the results of a correlation study pertaining, explicitly or implicitly, to a sample. The relation of correlation to causation. Cautions regarding the calculation and interpretation of correlation measures.

C.P.T., Chs. XV, XVI.
N.P., pp. 401-437.
Day, Statistical Analysis, Chs. XII, XIII.
Mills, Statistical Methods, pp. 370-374 and Ch. XI.

  1. Sampling

The various sampling methods used in economics; their advantages and limitations. The precise significance of random sampling and “probable errors.”.

C.P.T., Chs. XIII.

  1. Basic Statistical Data

Statistical Sources. The collection of statistical data. The problem of obtaining homogeneity. The possibilities for misuse of statistical data—illustrated by problems.

C.P.T., Chs. II to V.
Mills, Statistical Methods, Ch. I.
Chaddock, Principles and Methods of Statistics, Chs. I to III.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives, Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-41”.

Image Source: From the cover of Harvard Class Album 1946.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Undergraduate Introduction to Economic Statistics. Final Exam, 1939

 

The exam questions seen below, even making an allowance for coming from an undergraduate course (nonetheless 13 of the 87 students were graduate students), indicate that the statistical training of economists at Harvard was a fairly low-grade affair even by the late 1930s, only a mechanical manipulation of different measures of central tendency and dispersion with a dash of trend-fitting and seasonal adjustment for good taste.

_____________________________

Course Listing

Economics 21a 1hf. Introduction to Economic Statistics

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Associate Professor Frickey.

 

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1938-39. (Second edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXV, No. 42 (September 23, 1938), p. 147.

_____________________________

Course Enrollment

 

Economics 21a 1hf. Associate Professor Frickey.—Introduction to Economic Statistics

Total 87: 13 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 6 Freshmen, 3 Others.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments, 1938-39, p. 98.

_____________________________

1938-39
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 21a1

Part I

(One hour and thirty minutes.)
Answer any THREE questions.

    1. You are faced with the problem of computing an index of physical production of agricultural products for the years 1910 through 1935.
      1. What significant differences would you expect to find between the results of indexes computed as the weighted geometric mean of relatives and as the weighted arithmetic mean of relatives? Which average would you choose, and why?
      2. What difference would you expect to find among indexes computed respectively on the bases 1910, 1926, and 1935? Would you choose one of these three base periods, or some other base period?
      3. What sort of system of weights would you employ? Why?
    2. During a given interval in 1936, the wages paid to individual laborers in two New England cloth mills were recorded. A frequency table of wages paid was drawn up for each mill, and from the frequency tables, the following characteristics were computed.
Mean Wage Median Wage Standard Deviation of Individual Wages
Company A $25 $25 8.367
Company B $25 $16 23.875
    1. Inferring from the above data, describe the general nature of the frequency distribution of wages for each firm, and compare the wage conditions in the two firms.
    2. What “typical average” would you choose for the distribution of Company A? For that of Company B?
  1. The monthly ordinates of trend found by fitting a linear or curvilinear trend line to a time series of price data would be held by some to represent “long-run normal prices”—that is, the values which the price data would have assumed in the absence of short run cyclical disturbances. Others would maintain that these same trend ordinates are merely the outcome of the particular trend—fitting procedures applied by the statisticians, and therefore reflect only his arbitrary definition of what constitutes “trend” and what constitutes “cycle” in the price series. Evaluate the relative merits of these two points of view toward statistical trend lines, and state your own viewpoint.
  2. In an investigation conducted to ascertain the correlation existing between the value of the assets of firms and the amount of their annual net earnings, the following results were among those obtained. For the specialty store field, the line of regression of annual earnings on asset values gave a “standard error of estimate” of $1000. For the service station field, a similar line of regression of annual earnings on asset values showed a “standard error of estimate” of $500.
    Can we conclude from this that the correlation between earnings and assets is twice as great for service stations as for specialty stores? Why or why not? What additional data would you require in order to ascertain the actual correlation in each case and thereby clinch your argument?

 

PART II

(One hour and thirty minutes.)
Answer question 1, and either 2 or 3.

    1. (Approximately one hour.) The following is a segment of a time series for which certain statistical values have already been computed.
1st quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter
1924 21 27 34 40
1925 32 36 28 30
1926 35 37 31 35
1927 36 41 35 39

The central ordinate of trend (a), and the annual increment of trend (b), based on annual averages of quarterly data for a longer period, have been found to be as follows: a = 35; b = 4. The center of the trend period for which these quantities were computed falls at the middle of the year 1924.
The median link relatives, showing typical quarter to quarter change for a longer period, have been found to be:

1st q ÷ 4th q = 110
2nd q ÷ 1st q = 105
3rd q ÷ 2nd q = 85
4th q ÷ 3rd q = 112

Given the preceding data, compute for the period 1924 through 1927 the following:

    1. The quarterly ordinates of trend
    2. The relatives of actual items to the trend.
    3. The seasonally adjusted relatives to trend, to the base 100. (This last step will require also the computation of a seasonal index by the Persons method.)
  1. For the following frequency series, compute the quartile deviation, the coefficient of variation, and determine a good empirical mode. (Show your computations, but do not compute any square roots.)
Wages (dollars per week) No. of Men
0—5 22
5—10 29
10—15 18
15—20 12
20—25 9
25—30 5
30—35 3
35—40 2

 

  1. (a) From the data below compute a price index for 1933 on 1932 as a base, using the Fisher formula.
Commodity Unit Price per unit Physical quantity
1932 1933 1932 1933
A bu. $0.50 $0.60 60 50
B lb. $3.00 $3.30 22 20
C bu. $0.30 $0.24 240 200

(b) If the Fisher formula price index for 1934 on 1933 as a base is 110, and for 1935 on 1934 as a base is 90, construct from the index which you have computed and from the results just given an index for the four years 1932-1935 by which each year is related to a common base.

 

Mid-Year. 1939.

 

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Library. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “Dust Proof File”.

Image Source: Harvard Album 1947.

Categories
Chicago Fields Regulations

Chicago. L. C. Marshall Memos Regarding Doctoral Field Committees and Advising, 1926-27

 

 

The following set of memoranda from the head of the department of economics at the University of Chicago provides us with an academic administrator’s perspective of the organization of a doctoral program and the departmental structure by fields. We see to which fields different economics professors were associated (consigned?), none of which we couldn’t guess, but memoranda like these help to nail these things down for sure. It is dull reading, and perhaps next time I make it to the University of Chicago archives, I’ll be able to find some of the actual written responses by field which should provide us more content. Still I find it interesting to see just how underwhelming was the prompt response to the chair’s request to his colleagues to meet with each other and write something up as seen in his three part reminder/nudge/nag memorandum dated about a half-year after his first requests! 

 

__________________________________

Memo #1. Formalizing Academic Advising

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Memorandum to: P. H. Douglas, H. A. Millis, Jacob Viner C. W. Wright

from L. C. Marshall

October 13, 1926

I am inclined to think it would be a good plan if we arranged for a somewhat decentralized system of advice for our students who are preparing for the doctorate. I refer particularly to their four fields.

When a man has decided that he wishes to use fields a, b, c, d (let us say) for the doctorate, would it not be a good plan for someone in each field to take him in hand and talk the whole situation over with him? What formal previous training has he had? What informal? What practical experience? What courses in Economics here would be useful to him? What courses in other Departments would be useful? What informal reading might wisely be covered, etc., etc.

If such a scheme were carried out there ought to be some sort of formal written record of the comments and recommendations of the group advisor, so that there could be no future misunderstanding and so that a temporary absence of the advisor would not cause any embarrassment.

It would be easy to provide a memorandum pad that would provide an original for the candidate, a duplicate for the registering representative and a triplicate for the group advisor.

Won’t you give me suggestions of the kind of thing that ought to appear on a pad of this kind?

__________________________________

Memo #2. Coordinating Fields within Common Economics & Business Doctoral Program

 

November 22, 1926

Memorandum to all persons mentioned herein:

The problem attacked in this memorandum is that of carrying through effectively the legislation which has established the single Ph.D. degree for work in our group.

The particular aspect of that problem which is taken up below is the matter of securing competent advice and counsel (not compulsion) in the fields in which candidates present themselves for written examinations.

Will the person whose name in underscored in each group undertake (within the next week, if reasonably possible) the responsibility of calling a meeting of the members of his group with the idea of

(a) listing the resources (mainly courses) available in our own offerings
(b) listing the resources (mainly courses) available in other divisions of the University
(c) listing fruitful lines of practical endeavor or outside experience
(d) and in particular, developing any other fruitful lines of counsel and suggestion for candidates in the field.

And will each leader of these group discussions please put the outcome in writing and send it to the undersigned? It is possible that (d) above will yield results that will cause all of us to get together for further discussion.

FIELDS FOR THE SINGLE DEGREE

  1. Economic Theory and Principles of Business Administration

(a) Viner, Douglas, Cox, Nerlove, Kyrk [in pencil: “Edie, Schultz, Knight”]
(b) McKinsey, Meech, Stone, Barnes

  1. Statistics and Accounting: Theory and Application of Quantitative Method

(a) Cox, Schultz, Nerlove
(b) Rorem, McKinsey, Daines

  1. Economic History and Historical Method

Wright, Sorrell, Viner, Palyi

  1. The Financial System and Financial Administration

Mints, Cox, Meech, Palyi

  1. Labor and Personnel Administration

Millis, Douglas, Stone

  1. The Market and the Administration Marketing

Duddy, Palmer, Barnes, Dinsmore

  1. Risk and its Administration

Nerlove, Cox, Millis, Mints

  1. Transportation, Communication and Traffic Administration

Sorrell, Wright, Duddy, Douglas

  1. Resources, Technology and the Administration of Production

Mitchell, Marshall, Schultz, Sorrell

  1. Government Finance

Viner, Millis, Douglas, Stone

  1. Social Direction and Control of Economic Activity

Spencer, Wright, Millis, Christ, Pomeroy

  1. Population and the Standard of Living

Kyrk, Douglas, Viner

  1. Field proposed by the candidate

L. C. Marshall

 

__________________________________

Memo #3. Advanced General Survey Courses by Field

November 30, 1926

Memorandum from L. C. Marshall to All Persons Mentioned Herein:

 

The problem attacked in this memorandum is that of carrying through effectively our arrangements with respect to our advanced general survey courses—courses that in the past we have sometimes referred to as “Introduction to the Graduate Study of X,” although we are not now following this terminology.

The following background facts will need to be kept in mind:

  1. We are to have introductory point of view courses designed to give an organic view of the Economic Order. These courses are numbered 102, 103, 104.
  2. Our next range of courses is designed primarily to deal with method. This range includes: 1. Economic History; 2. Statistics; 3. Accounting; 4. Intermediate Theory.
  3. The foregoing seven courses are the only courses for which we assume responsibility as far as the ordinary [pencil: “Arts & Literature] undergraduate is concerned. It may well be that from time to time some member of the staff will be interested in giving for undergraduates a course on some live problem of the day, but this is an exceptional matter and not a matter of our standard arrangement.
  4. Our best undergraduates may move on to the type of courses referred to above in the first paragraph, such as courses 330, 340, 335, 345, etc. In general the prerequisites for admission to these courses (as far as undergraduates are concerned) would be a certain number of majors in our work plus 27 majors with an average of B. Under the regulations which the Graduate Faculty has laid down, students who have less than 27 majors could not be admitted to these courses except with the consent of the group and Dean Laing.

It is highly essential that our work in these advanced survey courses such as 330, 340, 335, 345, etc. shall:

  1. Really assume the method courses mentioned above: really be conducted at a level which assumes that the student possesses certain techniques
  2. Really assume an adequate background of subject-matter content.

Will the person whose name is underscored in each group undertake (as promptly as reasonably may be) the responsibility of conducting conferences designed

  1. To lead to explicit definite arrangements looking toward the actual utilization of the earlier method courses in these advanced survey courses.
  2. To prepare a bibliography that can be mimeographed and placed in each student’s hands who enters one of these advanced survey courses. This bibliography is not to be a bibliography of the course (that is a separate matter) but a bibliography of what is assumed by way of preparation for the course. Whether a somewhat different bibliography should be made for the Economics course and the Business course in a given field is left for each group to discuss. Personally I hope that it will be a single bibliography for the two. Mr. Palyi suggests the desirability of a bibliographical article (worthy of pulication) for each field. This seems to me an admirable suggestion—one difficult to resist.

Will each leader of the group referred to below please put the outcome of your discussion in writing and send to the undersigned? It is to be hoped that you will find other matters to report upon in addition to the foregoing.

GROUPS

  1. The Financial System and Financial Administration

Meech, Mints, Cox, Palyi

  1. Labor and Personnel Administration

Douglas, Millis, Stone, Kornhauser

  1. The Market and the Administration Marketing

Palmer, Duddy, Barnes, Dinsmore

  1. Risk and its Administration

Nerlove, Cox, Millis, Mints

  1. Transportation, Communication and Traffic Administration

Sorrell, Wright, Duddy, Douglas

  1. Government Finance

Viner, Millis, Douglas, Stone

  1. Population and the Standard of Living

Kyrk, Douglas, Viner

  1. Resources, Technology and the Administration of Production

Mitchell, Daines, McKinsey

The following fields are not included in this memorandum either because of specific course prerequisites or because of obvious difficulties in the case:

  1. Economic Theory and Principles of Administration
  2. Statistics and Accounting
  3. Economic History and Historical Method
  4. Social Direction and Control of Economic Activity

__________________________________

Memo #4. Written Field Examinations

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
THE WORK IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Memorandum to:
Members of the Instructing Staff from L. C. Marshall, January 27, 1927

This communication is directed toward carrying one step farther the work of the various groups which are preparing for the effective administration of the single doctorate.

You will remember that in each functional field an analysis has been made of our resources. This looks in the direction of more competent advice to students concentrating in the various fields. You will also remember that in each functional field certain steps have been taken looking toward the more effective operation of the courses that in the past we have sometimes referred to as “Introduction to the Graduate Study of X.”

The primary purpose of this present memorandum is to suggest to each functional group that it now examine carefully the matter of the written examination in that field; giving attention to the character of the standards which should be insisted upon, the number and type and grouping of questions which should be asked, and any other significant issues. After each group has examined the issues and difficulties in its particular field it may prove necessary to have a general meeting of all groups to determine general policies in these matters. It seems unnecessary to hold a general meeting in advance of the special meeting since we can assume our existing standards and practices as at least a point of departure for the group discussions.

Will the person whose name is underscored undertake as promptly as reasonably may be the responsibility of conducting group conferences on this matter of written examinations for the doctorate.

  1. Economic Theory and Principles of Administration (Here is the only really difficult problem in the whole matter. This field is to be required of all candidates and the outstanding problem is how to formulate an examination that will properly cover the case. Probably there will be little or no difficulty in the case of economic theory for students who are primarily interested in Business Administration for they would certainly have covered 301, 302, 309 and they would almost certainly have covered a theoretical course in some special field, e.g., Wages, in the field of Labor. The case is different in the matter of the Business Administration requirement for persons who are primarily interested in orthodox Economics, since Business Administration courses are confessedly not as well organized as courses in Economic Theory. The difficulty may, however, be exaggerated in our minds. Under our new groupings most candidates will automatically have come into contact with an administrative course in one or more functional fields. Probably a little practical wisdom in arranging requirements for a brief transition period will leave us with few problems in this matter after the transition is over.)
    Douglas, Viner, Millis, Cox, Nerlove, Spencer, McKinsey, Meech, Stone
  2. Statistics and Accounting; theory and application of quantitative method. (Our general standard has been general knowledge of both fields and detailed knowledge of one in case this field of work is offered.)
    Daines, Wright, Cox, Schultz, Nerlove, Rorem, McKinsey
  3. Economic History and Historical Method (Since no particular change is occurring in this field the leader of the group may be able to cover the case by informal conversations.)
    Wright, Sorrell, Viner, Palyi
  4. The Financial System and Financial Administration.
    Cox, Mints, Meech, Palyi, Wright
  5. Labor and Personnel Administration.
    Stone, Millis, Douglas, Kornhauser
  6. The Market and Market Administration
    Barnes, Duddy, Palmer, Dinsmore
  7. Risk and its Administration
    Nerlove, Cox, Millis, Mints (Since no particular change is occurring in this field the leader of the group may be able to cover the case by informal conversations.)
  8. Transportation, Communication and Traffic Administration. (Since no particular change is occurring in this field the leader of the group may be able to cover the case by informal conversations.)
    Sorrell, Wright, Duddy, Douglas
  9. Resources, Technology and Administration of Production. . (Since no particular change is occurring in this field the leader of the group may be able to cover the case by informal conversations.)
    Mitchell, Daines, Schultz, Sorrell
  10. Government Finance. . (Since no particular change is occurring in this field the leader of the group may be able to cover the case by informal conversations.)
    Millis, Viner, Douglas, Stone
  11. Social Direction and Control of Economic Activity. (Although no great change is taking place in this field, the problem is sufficiently difficult to justify a conference.)
    Pomeroy, Spencer, Wright, Millis, Christ
  12. Population and the Standard of Living. (In Mr. Field’s absence let us omit discussion of the written examination.)

__________________________________

Memo #5. Please Respond to Memos #2-#4

May 25, 1927

Follow up Memorandum to persons mentioned herein from L. C. Marshall

On November 22, 1926, a memorandum was sent to certain groups of committees dealing with the problem of securing competent advice and counsel in the fields in which candidates present themselves for written examinations. The committees were asked to list the resources available in the University in each field; to list fruitful lines of practical endeavor or outside experience; and to indicate other fruitful lines of counsel and suggestion for candidates.

It was hoped that data would become available in time to make the circular for 1927-28 more attractive and in time to prepare mimeographed sheets for the use of students this year.

Below is a statement of the committees, with their chairmen. The asterisk indicates that the committee has reported. Will those who have not yet reported please do so as soon as possible.

Theory, Viner
Administration, McKinsey*
Statistics, Cox*
Accounting, Rorem*
Econ. Hist. etc. Wright
Finance etc. Mints
Labor etc. Millis*
Market etc. Duddy*
Risk etc. Nerlove*
Transportation etc. Sorrell
Resources etc. Mitchell*
Govt. Finance, Viner
Social Direction etc. Spencer*
Population etc. Kyrk

* * * * * *

On November 30, 1926, a memorandum was sent to certain groups of committees dealing with the problem of carrying through effectively our arrangements with respect to our advanced general survey courses. Each committee was asked to indicate what definite things can be done in the way of making certain that the preparatory method courses will eventually be utilized; what can be done in the way of mimeographed bibliography indicating what is assumed by way of preparation for each advance survey course; what other things can be done.

It was hope that the data would be available in time to enable us to take quite a long step forward in this matter in connection with the 1927-28 advanced survey courses.

Below is a statement of the committees with their chairmen. The asterisk indicates that the committee has reported. Will those who have not yet reported please do so as soon as possible.

Finance etc. Meech*
Labor etc. Douglas
Market etc. Palmer*
Risk etc. Nerlove*
Transportation etc. Sorrell
Govt. Finance, Viner
Population etc. Kyrk
Resources etc. Mitchell

* * * * * *

On Feb. 3, 1927 a memorandum [Probably the memorandum was that dated January 27, 1927] was sent to certain groups of committees dealing with the problem of the character of the written examination in each functional field.

It was hoped that we could start the year 1927-28 with a clearer view of what should be our positions with respect to these examinations.

Below is a statement of the committees with their chairmen. The asterisk indicates that the committee has reported. Will those who have not yet reported please do so as soon as possible?

Economic Theory and Principles of Business Administration, Douglas
Statistics and Accounting: Theory and Application of Quantitative Method, Daines
Economic History and Historical Method, Wright
The Financial System and Financial Administration, Cox
Labor and Personnel Administration, Stone
The Market and the Administration Marketing, Barns*
Risk and its Administration, Nerlove
Transportation, Communication and Traffic Administration, Sorrell
Resources, Technology and the Administration of Production, Mitchell
Government Finance, Millis
Social Direction and Control of Economic Activity, Pomeroy*

Source: The University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records. Box 22, Folder 6.

Categories
Curriculum Yale

Yale. Undergraduate and Graduate Courses in Economics, 1899-1900

 

 

Occasionally Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will post the economics course offerings at leading U.S. and Canadian universities at the turn of the twentieth century. Today we have both undergraduate and graduate course offerings in economics and social science at Yale for 1899/1900. While Irving Fisher was already member of the Yale Faculty, he was in the middle of a three year struggle with tuberculosis, returning to teaching (part-time) in the fall term of 1901. We see that John Bates Clark was brought in to teach a course on theories of income distribution. For those who find the discipline name “sociology” somewhat ugly, they will discover here that William G. Sumner appeared to have a certain fondness for the alternative “Societology“. 

_____________________

 

 

Catalogue Yale University 1899/1900,
pp. 66-70

II. POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
[Undergraduate Courses, Yale College]

 

30 Economics. 3 hrs.

Lectures: Wednesday and Saturday, 11.30. 12 divisions,
Monday to Saturday, 8.30.

President Hadley and Professor Schwab.

            Two hours a week will be devoted to lectures,—for two-thirds of the year by President Hadley on the general problems of production, exchange and distribution of wealth; for the remaining time by Professor Schwab on money and monetary questions. The third hour will be occupied by a quiz-exercise in small sections under an assistant.
Text-books: Hadley’s Economics and Jevons’ Money and the Mechanism of Exchange.

 

31 Statistics. 2 hrs.

Monday and Thursday, 12.30.

Dr. Bailey.

            The sources and reliability of statistical data are discussed, and the methods of distinguishing true and false inferences are pointed out. Index numbers are studied, and the lectures treat of statistics of population, crime, suicide, property, etc. The attempt is made to determine the laws which govern the group actions of men.
Mayo-Smith’s Statistics and Sociology is used as a basis.

 

The following courses (32 to 38 inclusive) are open only to those who have already studied elementary economics.

 

32 Finance. [Seniors.] 3 hrs.

Monday and Thursday, 11.30, A1 O; divisions
I, Monday, 8.30.
II, Wednesday, 8.30.
III, Friday, 8.30.
IV, Tuesday, 12.30.

Professor Schwab.

            A course on Money, Banking, and Finance. Two hours a week will be devoted to lectures, one hour a week to quiz-exercises in small sections under Dr. Bailey.
Text-books: White, Money and Banking, Dunbar, Banking; Greene, Corporation Finance, and Plehn, Public Finance.

 

33 United States Industrial History. [Seniors.] 3 hrs.

Tuesday and Friday, 11.30, A1 O; divisions
I, Tuesday, 8.30.
II, Wednesday, 12.30.
III, Saturday, 8.30.
IV, V, Saturday, 9.30.

President Hadley and Professor Schwab.

A course on the history of the tariff legislation and industrial development of the United States. Two hours a week will be devoted to lectures—for two-thirds of the year by Professor Schwab on tariff history, foreign commerce and industrial organization; for the remaining time by President Hadley on railroads. The third hour will be occupied by a quiz-exercise in small sections under Dr. Bailey.

Text-books: Taussig, Tariff History of the United States (edition 1898); Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism; Hadley, Railroad Transportation, and Newcomb, Railway Economics.

 

34 Mathematical Economics. [Seniors.] 2 hrs.

Wednesday and Saturday, 10.30.

Mr. Gaines.

The course is prefaced by a few lessons in elementary calculus. These are followed by the analysis of: I, value and prices; II, general price-levels; III, effects of “appreciation” and “depreciation,” with statistical discussion; IV, bimetallism and other currency schemes, with especial reference to the experience of France, Austria, and India; V, international trade; VI, capital and interest; VII, distribution.

Cournot’s Mathematical Theory of Wealth and Fisher’s Introduction to the Calculus; Value and Prices, and Appreciation and Interest, are used as a basis. Reading is also assigned in other works, especially recent investigations. Special papers are read by members of the class.

 

35 Debates on Public Questions. [Seniors.] 2 hrs.

Tuesday, 4.00 to 5.50.

Dr. Raynolds.

Members of the class will be expected to organize debates each week on subjects of public interest; to prepare and interchange briefs, and argue the questions at issue on the basis of special study and investigation.

 

36 Theories of Distribution. [Seniors.] 2 hrs.

Friday, 2.00 to 3.50.

Professor J. B. Clark.

A comparative study of theories of the Distribution of Wealth. An outline of recent theories of Wages, Interest and Profits is presented and is compared with the doctrines of Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, Mill and Cairnes. A study is made of the relation of changes in the processes of industry and in the structure of society to Economics as a science; and a view is afforded of the natural relation of the deductive method of study to the historical method. It is an object of the course to accomplish a certain constructive work, and to utilize the results of comparative studies in determining positive laws of distribution.

 

38 United States Financial History. [Seniors.] 1 hr.

Wednesday, 12.30, E2 O.

Professor Schwab.

An investigation course in the financial history of the United States. The periods selected for study are the years 1873–1900; and the topics investigated are those connected with the silver agitation.

 

40 The Science of Society. [Seniors.] 2 hrs.

Monday and Thursday, 8.30, A1 O.

Professor Sumner.

An elementary course, with text-book lessons and examinations, in Anthropology and Ethnology, with the origin of civilization and the development of institutions. In connection with this will be a course of lectures on Systematic Sociology [Societology]. Topics are: The organization of society; the individual and the social; social forces; militarism and industrialism; property; marriage, family, and the status of women; primitive notions in religion and philosophy; civil government, law and rights; slavery and classes; economic interests and their collisions; conditions of welfare; origin of moral standards; reaction of reason on experience. These topics are treated exclusively in the light of Historical Anthropology and Ethnology.

 

41 The Science of Society. [Seniors.] 2 hrs., to count as 3 hrs.

Monday and Thursday, 8.30, A1 O.

Professor Sumner.

A course with a German text-book (Lippert’s Kulturgeschichte, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1887), for those who are able to read difficult German. The exercises are coincident with those of course 40, including the lectures as above.
[Those who take this course are responsible for providing themselves with the text-book before Sept. 28.]

 

45 Jurisprudence and Law. [Seniors.] 2 hrs.

First term: Friday and Saturday, 12.30, A1 O.

Mr. Gager.

Lectures, recitations, private readings, and examinations on the following subjects: law in its relations to the origin, development, and government of political society; origin and development of customary law; relation of statute law to customary law; formation and development of codes of law; nature and origin of legal rights; principles of the law governing rights in land; principles of the law governing contract rights; the law of remedies for the violation of rights; origin and procedure of courts of law and equity; criminal law. The instruction in this course is designed to present an historical and philosophical view of the law in its great outlines, as common to all nations, and particularly as developed in the Anglo-Saxon race. In addition it is designed to show the practical methods which obtain in modern commercial transactions and the law as applied to them, and to point out the principal rights acquired, the duties owed, and the liabilities incurred in the every-day conduct of affairs.
To those exhibiting satisfactory evidence of having read the four books of Blackstone’s Commentaries in connection with this course, a special examination in Blackstone will be given. All who satisfactorily pass such special examination will be entitled to a certificate of having completed the reading of Blackstone.

Second term; Friday and Saturday, 12.30, A1 O.

Professor E. J. Phelps.

Lectures upon American Constitutional Law and upon International Law. Text-books are read in connection with the lectures. This course is not intended merely for those who are contemplating the study of the law as a profession, but for all who may be interested in the subjects as a branch of general education. Students who pursue the course and pass the graduating examination thereon, are entitled to a certificate which in many States is accepted as counting a year in the period of study required for admission to the bar.

* * * *

Catalogue Yale University 1899/1900, pp. 210-14

II. ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, HISTORY, LAW
[Graduate School]

President Hadley, LL.D. George P. Fisher, D.D., LL.D.
Edward J. Phelps, LL.D. William H. Brewer, Ph.D.
Arthur M. Wheeler, LL.D. William G. Sumner, LL.D.
Charles H. Smith, LL.D. George B. Adams, Ph.D.
Henry W. Farnam, R. P. D. John B. Clark, Ph.D., LL.D.
William F. Blackman, Ph.D. Edward G. Bourne, Ph.D.
John C. Schwab, Ph.D. Irving Fisher, Ph.D.
George L. Fox, M.A. Edwin B. Gager, B.A.
Frederick Wells Williams, B.A. Walter I. Lowe, Ph.D.
William B. Bailey, Ph.D. Edward D. Collins, Ph.D.
John M. Gaines, B.A. Albert G. Keller, Ph.D.

ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Professor Sumner :—

1 Anthropology. 2 hrs.

A careful study of Ranke’s Der Mensch (2d ed.), with an examination of the separate topics by means of all the appropriate material.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

2 Systematic Societology; Section IV. a. 2 hrs.

An ethnological study of the development of the Mental Operations and of the growth and contents of the Mental Outfit of the human race, in the earlier stages; knowledge and pseudo-knowledge, world-philosophy, otherworldliness, industrial theories, mores, codes, mental training, traditional wisdom.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

3 Politics and Finance in the History of the United States. 2 hrs.

A study of the evolution of the institutions of the democratic republic, of the societal organization, and of the history of the money of account.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

4 The Industrial Revolution of the Renaissance Period. 2 hrs.

A chapter in the history of the development of the industrial organization. The industrial element in the Renaissance. The transition from medieval to modern society in its causes, new elements, effects on classes, effects on economic doctrine. Changes imposed on the industrial organization; world-commerce, land-tenure, handicrafts, banking, and money.
[Monday, 10.30 A.M. and Wednesday, 9.30 A. M.]

5 The Beginnings of the Industrial Organization. 2 hrs.

An ethnological study of the industrial organization from its earliest beginnings. Division of labor between the sexes and the special functions of each; regulation of industry; slavery; formation of capital; discoveries and inventions; domestication of animals and plants; money, etc.
[Wednesday and Thursday, 10.30 A.M.]

*6 The Science of Society. 2 hrs.

[See Course 40, page 68.]

*6a The Science of Society. 2 hrs.

[See Course 41, page 69.]

 

Professor J. B. Clark :—

7 History of Theories of Distribution.

A comparative study of theories of the Distribution of Wealth. An outline of recent theories of Wages, Interest and Profits is presented and is compared with the doctrines of Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, Mill and Cairnes. A study is made of the relation of changes in the processes of industry and in the structure of society to Economics as a science; and a view is afforded of the natural relation of the deductive method of study to the historical method. It is an object of the course to accomplish a certain constructive work, and to utilize the results of comparative studies in determining positive laws of distribution.
[Friday, 2.00 to 3.50.]

 

Professor Farnam:—

8 Pauperism. 2 hrs. 1st term.

An examination of the nature and causes of indigence, the history of efforts to deal with it, and some of the modern problems arising in connection with it.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

9 The Modern Organization of Labor. 2 hrs. 2d term.

These lectures treat of the historical antecedents and the development during the nineteenth century of associations of wage-receivers. They therefore include an account of the structures, aims, and methods of such societies in different countries, together with a discussion of their relations to socialism, the factory system, labor disputes, labor legislation, workingmen’s insurance, provision for the unemployed, and other features of the modern industrial world.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

10 The Principles of Public Finance. 2 hrs.

A systematic survey of the means by which the expenditures of government are met, being had both to the economic principles involved and to the fiscal systems of modern states. Leading topics are: the budget, taxation (national and local), public debts, and state banks considered as aids to public credit.
[Not given in 1899–1900.]

 

President Hadley and Professor Schwab :—

*11 Economics. 2 hrs.

[See Course 30, page 66.]

*12 United States Industrial History. 2 hrs.

[See Course 33, page 67.]

 

Professor Schwab :-

*13 Finance. 2 hrs.

[See Course 32, page 66.]

*14 United States Financial History. 1 hr.

[See Course 38, page 68.]

15 The Finances of the Confederate States, 1867-65. 1 hr.

A course of lectures upon the financial and industrial history of the South during the Civil War.
[Tuesday, 10.30 A.M.]

 

Professor Blackman :—

16 Social Science. 2 hrs.

A study of some important problems of American life, such as the negro; the immigrant; the defective, dependent, vicious and criminal classes (charities and correction); the city; the wage and factory system; the family; and communism, socialism, and anarchism. The lectures are supplemented by reports and book-reviews by the students, and (probably) by a visit to the charity and correctional institutions of New York. As introductory to the course, a few lectures are given on the study and literature of Sociology.
[Wednesday and Saturday, 8.25 A. M.]

 

17 The Literature of Sociology. 2 hrs. 1st term.

A classification of the principal writers in “schools,” and a comparison and contrast of their points of view and methods: contractual (Rousseau), positivist (Comte), evolutionary (Spencer, Drummond), biological (Schäffle), psychological (Tarde, Durkheim, Le Bon, Simmel, Ward, Giddings, Baldwin), “groupwise” (Gumplowicz), observational, and statistical (Le Play, Quetelet), theocratic (Old Testament).
[Thursday, 10 A. M.]

18 A Sociological Study of the Family. 1 hr. 2d term.

Its biological and psychological bases; its history; matriarchy and patriarchy; polyandry, polygyny, monogamy; heredity, physical and social; prostitution, and divorce; the moral and social significance of the family.
[Thursday, 10 A. M.]

19 The Social Teaching and Influence of Christianity. 1 hr.

Selected portions of the following works will be studied and discussed: Friedländer’s Sittengeschichte Roms, Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis, Mathews’s Social Teaching of Jesus, Schmidt’s Social Results of Early Christianity, Uhlhorn’s Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism and Die Christliche Liebesthätigkeit, Nash’s Genesis of the Social Conscience, Lecky’s History of European Morals, Dennis’s Christian Missions and Social Progress.
[Thursday, 8.25 A.M.]

 

Dr. Bailey :-

20 The Economic System of Classical Antiquity. 1 hr.

A critical study is made of the political and social institutions of Greece and Rome. The lectures treat of the income and expenditure of the state, the currency, credit instruments, poor relief, slavery, land tenure, commerce, trade regulations, marriage institutions, etc.
[Tuesday, 9.30 A.M.]

*21 Statistics. 2 hrs.

[See Course 31, page 66.]

 

Mr. Gaines :—

*22 Mathematical Economics. 2 hrs.

[See Course 34, page 67.]

 

Dr. Keller :—

23 Homeric Social Life.

A systematic study of Homeric social life from the direct documentary evidence of the Iliad and Odyssey; National Environment, Industrial Organization, Religion, Property, Marriage, Government and Classes will be studied in the light of Sociology and Culture-history. The comparative method will be used as far as possible, and an attempt will be made to “place” the Homeric Age in its various relations to general culture-development. The course will afford practice in the interpretation of historical documents and will be most profitably pursued by those able to read German or French.

 

 Image Source:  “Old Library, Yale Coll., New Haven, Conn.”The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1898 – 1931.

Categories
Columbia Economists Johns Hopkins

Columbia. Professor Henry L. Moore’s Undergraduate and Graduate Transcripts, 1890-96

 

For an earlier post I transcribed the faculty memorial minute for Columbia’s Henry L. Moore along with his request to the department chair in 1924 for a salary adjustment. Today I provide a couple of items that George Stigler had acquired during the course of his research for the paper commissioned by the editors of Econometrica in honor of the Henry L. Moore’s pioneering work in econometrics (Stigler, George J. “Henry L. Moore and Statistical Economics.” Econometrica, vol. 30, no. 1, 1962, pp. 1–21). In addition to some biographical data provided by the alumni office of the Johns Hopkins University, we find the transcripts of both Moore’s undergraduate and graduate courses. One is hardly surprised to see a brilliant undergraduate performance by Moore, though his undergraduate exposure to economics was limited to a single year course in political economy and his undergraduate math courses did not go beyond analytical geometry.

______________________________

 

Carbon Copy of George Stigler’s letter to Johns Hopkins Professor Heberton Evans

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Chicago 37, Illinois

Charles R. Walgreen Foundation for the Study of American Institutions
1126 East 59th Street

June 3, 1959

Professor Heberton Evans Jr.
Department of Political Economy
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland

 

Dear Heb:

Econometrica has asked me to prepare an essay on Henry L. Moore and I have agreed to undertake it because I think he is one of the major figures in American economics in the last half century. He took his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1896 and I hpe you will be kind enough to see if you cannot obtain for me a copy of the transcript of his record at Johns Hopkins and any other material pertaining to him that may be in the University file.

Cordially,

George J. Stigler

Source: University of Chicago Archives, George Stigler Papers. Box 2, Folder “Moore: Data gathered by correspondence”.

______________________________

 

Letter from Johns Hopkins Alumni Office to George Stigler

 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
BALTIMORE 18, MARYLAND

Alumni Records Office

June 8, 1959

Professor George J. Stigler
Haskell Hall
University of Chicago
Chicago 37, Illinois

 

Dear Professor Stigler:

Dr. G. Heberton Evans called me this morning and stated that you were interested in having what biographical information we have on Dr. Henry Ludwell Moore, who died on April 28, 1958. He also stated that you wanted a transcript of his work here.

I have talked with the Registrar about a transcript and she has had this looked up for you. Unfortunately in those days—when Dr. Moore was attending Hopkins—the courses were not as clearly outlined as they are now. Miss Davis will have to clarify some of the credits and the courses given and she will send you her findings when she does this. The Registrar’s Office is in quite a whirl at the moment because of Commencement tomorrow and it will probably be some days before Miss Davis can get this information for you.

I am enclosing a sheet giving an obituary which appeared in the Baltimore SUN at the time of Dr. Moore’s death and also a biographical sketch from Who’s Who. For your information I am giving the addresses of his sisters in Baltimore, which I have taken from the telephone directory:

Mrs. R(obert) Maurice Miller, 406 Hawthorne Road, Baltimore 10
Mrs. J(ohn) Talbot Todd, 100 W. University Parkway, Baltimore 10
Mrs. William P. Cole, 100 W. University Parkway, Baltimore 10

Dr. Moore entered Johns Hopkins in 1892 and was a graduate student in Economics through 1896, when he received the Ph.D. degree. His thesis was Von Thünen’s Theory of Natural Wages.

In the President’s Report for 1892-93 mention is made of “The Wage Theory of Von Thünen,” by Dr. Moore, published in abstract in the Johns Hopkins University Circular for May, 1893. Also, in the President’s Report for 1895-96 two papers by Dr. Moore were read discussed in Economic Conferences (a membership of eighteen students who met one evening fortnightly). The titles of these papers are: “The Personality of Professor Carl Menger,” and “Ricardo’s Attack Upon Malthus’s Doctrine of Rent.”

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
Josephine Cole

 

 

[Attachments from Alumni Files]

 

Obituary from the Baltimore Sun

Dr. Henry Moore Dies at Age 89

Dr. Henry Ludwell Moore, Maryland-born retired professor of economics and sociology at Columbia University, died yesterday in a Baltimore hospital after a long illness. He was 89 years old.

He had received his doctorate in 1896 at the Johns Hopkins University and was a former instructor of economics on the Hopkins faculty.

In 1902 he became an associate professor of economics and romance languages at Columbia where he served until his retirement several years ago. He also taught at Smith College.

Son of the late William Hanson and Sophia Moore, Dr. Moore was born at “Moore’s Rest,” the family home in Charles county. He earned his bachelor degree at Randolph-Macon College and then studied at the University of Vienna and the Hopkins.

He was a pioneer of the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic theory and wrote numerous articles and books in the field.

His wife was the late Mrs. Jane Armstrong Moore.

Surviving him are three sisters, Mrs. R. Maurice Miller, Mrs. J. Talbot Todd and Mrs. William P. Cole, Jr. all of Baltimore.

The funeral will be private.

 

From—WHO’S WHO

Moore, Henry Ludwell, political economist; b. Charles Co., Md., Nov. 21, 1869; s. William Henry and Alice (Burch) M.; B.A., Randolph-Macon Coll., Va. 1892; U. of Vienna, 1894-95; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1896; m. Jane Armstrong Shafer, of Richmond, Va., June 16, 1897. Instr. Johns Hopkins U., 1896-7; prof. polit. economy, Smith Coll., Mass., 1897-02; prof. polit. economy, Columbia U., 1902–*. Author: Laws of Wages, 1911; Economic Cycles, Their Law and Cause, 1914; Forecasting the Yield and the Price of Cotton, 1917; Generating Economic Cycles, 1923; also articles in scientific jours. on the math. and statis. phases of polit. economy. Home: Cornwall, N.Y.

*Dr. Moore retired from Columbia in 1929. The above does not state that Dr. Moore was also Lecturer in Political Economy at Johns Hopkins in 1897-98, during his first year at Smith College.

 

 

We do not know the source of the clipping which gives the following:

The John Marshall prize for the year 1913 has been awarded to Henry Ludwell Moore as a recognition of the value of his work entitled, “Laws of Wages.” The prize, which was established in 1891, consists of a bronze likeness of Chief Justice Marshall, and is given to a graduate of the University who has produced the best work during the preceding year upon some subject in historical or political science.

Source: University of Chicago Archives, George Stigler Papers. Box 2, Folder “Moore: Data gathered by correspondence”.

______________________________

 

Letter from Registrar’s Office of Johns Hopkins to George Stigler

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
BALTIMORE 18, MARYLAND

Office of the Register

April 5, 1960

Professor George J. Stigler

Haskell Hall
University of Chicago
Chicago 37, Illinois

Dear Professor Stigler:

From your letter of March 18, 1960, addressed to Miss Josephine Cole, it appears that I owe you an apology for not taking earlier action upon your request for information on Dr. Henry L. Moore. I am sorry to say that I have neither notes nor recollection of talking about this with Miss Cole last summer. I hope that the enclosed information will reach you in time to be of service.

I think it is in order to say a few words of explanation concerning the academic records of the early years of the University. No effort was made to keep track of a student’s enrollment in individual courses. Grades and points credit were not thought of, and apparently the student had nothing to show except some letters from his professors if he discontinued his studies here before receiving a degree. The final examinations for the degree and the dissertation were recorded, and they were, apparently, considered to be all important.

My source of information, in trying to reconstruct a record of this period, is a publication called “The University Circular”, which listed for each term the seminars and courses of lectures given, and the names of the professors and the students who attended. I thought it would interest you to see the names of the men under whom Dr. Moore studies.

Sincerely yours,

[signed]

Irene M. Davis
Registrar

 

HENRY LUDWELL MOORE
PH.D: 1896
[handwritten: “Johns Hopkins”]

Year Course Instructor
1892-93
(Graduate student)		 Historical Seminary Prof. Adams
Germanic History Prof. Adams
Church History Prof. Adams
English Constitutional Law & History Prof. Emmott
Economic Theory of Distribution Prof. J.B. Clark
Social Science Pres. Gilman
Ethnological History of the Indo-European Peoples Prof. Bloomfield
Methods of Historical Research Dr. Vincent
1893-94
(Graduate student)		 Historical Seminary Prof. Adams
Prussian History Prof. Adams
Railway Problems Prof. H.C. Adams
Administration Prof. W. Wilson
Social Economics Dr. Gould
Theory of Consumption Dr. Sherwood
Recent Economic Literature Dr. Sherwood
Economic Conference Dr. Sherwood
Elements & History of Political Economy Dr. Sherwood
Economic & Social History of Europe Dr. Vincent
1894-95
(Graduate student)		 University of Vienna
1895-96
(Fellow)		 Historical Seminary Prof. Adams
History of the Nineteenth Century Prof. Adams
Economic Conference Dr. Sherwood
Physiocrats Dr. Sherwood
Credit and Money Dr. Sherwood
History of Economic Theories Dr. Hollander
Advanced Economic Elective Dr. Sherwood
Social Economics Prof. Gould
Conditions and Remedies of Non-Employment Prof. Dewey

Source: University of Chicago Archives, George Stigler Papers. Box 2, Folder “Moore: Data gathered by correspondence”.

______________________________

Transcript from Randolph-Macon College

Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, Virginia

June 23, 1959

Henry L. Moore         307 St. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland

1st Report 2nd Report 3rd Report Exam
Term Ending:
Feb. 1890
English 95 98 98 —
Latin 98 97 99 —
German 98 97 97 —
Algebra 100 100 — —
Geometry 100 100
Term Ending:
June 1890
English 99 99 99 —
Latin 99 100 100 —
German 99 98 ½ 98 ½ —
Algebra 97 — — —
Geometry 100 100 99 ½
Term Ending:
Feb. 1891
English 100 99 100 95 ¾
Latin 100 99 100 98.7
Trigonometry 100 100 — —
Physics 96 100 100 100
Anal. Geom. — — 100 98
Pol. Economy 100 99.5 100 —
Term Ending:
June 1891
English 99 100 98 96 ¾
Latin 100 100 100 99.1
Anal. Geom. 100 100 100 99 ¾
Physics 100 100 100 100
Pol. Economy 100 100 — 100
Phys. Culture 100 100 100 —
Elocution — — 100 —
Term Ending:
Feb. 1892
English 100 100 100 99 ½
Latin 100 100 100 99
French 100 99 99 98 ½
Chemistry 99 100 — 98.5
Geology 100 100 — —
Physiology 95 100 100 98
Psychology 100 99 — —
Logic — — 100 —
Phys. Culture 80 — — —
Term Ending:
June 1892
English 99 100 99 98 ¾
Latin 100 100 100 99.3
French 98 93 99 95
Chemistry 100 98 98 99
Geology 100 100 99 —
Astronomy 100 98 100 98.5
Logic 100 99 99 99

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives, George Stigler Papers. Box 2, Folder “Moore: Data gathered by correspondence”.

______________________________

From the Catalogue of Randolph-Macon College for the Collegiate Year 1890-91

POLITICAL ECONOMY
[Taught by Professor of Moral Philosophy and Biblical Literature, John A. Kern D.D.]

This class meets twice a week throughout the session. It is usually taken separately from the other classes of the school, and for satisfactory attainments in it a certificate of distinction is awarded. The study of some question in practical economics is assigned as parallel work. The book used for this purpose last session, is Ely’s “The Labor Movement in America.“

Text-book: F. A. Walker’s Political Economy.

Source: Catalogue of Randolph-Macon College for the Collegiate Year 1890-91: , p. 24.

______________________________

 

Image Source: Cropped from portrait of Moore in Econometrica, Vol. 30, No. 1 (precedes the Stigler article).

 

 

Categories
Columbia Economists Harvard

Harvard and Columbia. The Role of University Presidents in the US. Economist, 1909.

 

 

Today’s post provides a glimpse of the major American universities as seen by the eyes of an Englishman (presumably F. W. H. was both English and a man). While the article highlights the role played by the university presidents, there are other differences noted, e.g. “all-pervading atmosphere of work” observed in the Harvard Law School and the “much greater popularity of politics and political economy”.

For fun I have appended the short-story referred to in the Economist article: “What the College Incubator Did for One Modest Lambkin.” It provides some nice examples of early 20th century American vernacular. Does anyone out there know what the “Harvard walk” looks like?

 

_______________

AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS.—THE UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR PRESIDENTS.

            Although my primary object in visiting America was to get some insight into the commercial and financial system, and to inform myself about the prevalent notions of commercial policy and monetary reform, it was desirable and even indispensable for the objects I had in view to see as much as possible of University men. If the average American university is less powerful than either Oxford or Cambridge as a medium for colouring society, it is perhaps for that reason a stronger element in the national life. The rather exclusive caste with its innumerable degrees that files out of Oxford and Cambridge is but faintly reproduced in the American system by Harvard and Yale, whose mannerisms are sometimes imitated by the youthful universities of the West, and often caricatured by the American humorist. No one who has read it could easily forget George Ade’s description of the grey-haired agriculturist of the Middle West who took his son to a cheap provincial university in the hope that he would “soak up all the knowledge in the market,” and qualify for an inspectorship of schools [George Ade, Breaking into Society (New York: Harper & Brothers,1904), pp. 21-30.]. When the first vacation came, the old man discovered with horror that his young scholar had only acquired the Harvard walk, a passion for athletics, and the habit of large expenditure upon dress. As a matter of fact, universities like Harvard, Yale, Colombia [sic], Cornell, the John Hopkins at Baltimore, and Jefferson’s University of Virginia, have a very high average standard of work. Diligence, as Mr Bryce puts it, is the tradition of the American colleges, partly because “in all but a few universities the vast majority of the students come from simple homes, possess scanty means, and have their way in life to make.” Even at Harvard, with all its rich endowments, its old traditions, and its association with Boston as the home of American men of letters, there is far less of the dilettantism and indifference to the practical business of life than is to be found in the extravagant sets at our fashionable colleges. But this may be partly due to the absence of the college system—a system which has its advantages as well as its defects.

When Professor Lawrence Lowell, who has just been unanimously elected president of Harvard, took me over the law school, I was immensely impressed by the all-pervading atmosphere of work. The ample libraries were filled not only with books, but with students, all engrossed in study, and each apparently convinced that he had not a moment to lose in the race after knowledge. But then, the Harvard law school is justly famous as the largest and best in the English-speaking world. The connection of law with business and of the universities with law is much more close and more real in the states than at home; the chief reason, I think, being the diversity of State legislation upon which all the corporations depend, and the consequent impossibility of carrying on the business of large concerns without constant advice from lawyers. The reliance of business men upon lawyers brings legal firms into far more intimate relations with business conditions than is the case in our own country. Moreover, as there is no distinction between barrister and solicitor, the eminent pleaders and jurists of the United States are not secluded and screened by an intermediate profession from real contact with their real client.

Another evidence of what may be called the actuality of academic life in America is the much greater popularity of politics and political economy. At Harvard, for example, Professor Lowell’s lectures on politics and Professor Taussig’s lectures on economics are regularly attended by three or four hundred students. The large universities have quite a number of economic lecturers, who often specialize on live subjects, such as railways, banking, or industrial corporations. Thus the students are constantly reminded of the various lines of business into which they can enter in order to earn a living after they have taken their degrees.

Lastly, the American university, while it resembles the Scottish or the German more than the English in many respects, differs from all European institutions in the singular importance that it attaches to the office of president. In the words of Mr Bryce, the position is one of honour and influence: “No university dignitaries in Great Britain are so well known to the public, or have their opinions quoted with so much respect, as the heads of the seven or eight leading universities in the United States.” President Eliot, of Harvard, for example, who has just resigned after a long and brilliant career, and Professor Butler, of Colombia[sic], who is still in the prime of life, are two of the most popular orators in the best sense of the word—one should perhaps say popular instructors—in the United States. Most of the presidents of universities are excellent business men, skilled in the arts of advertising their institution, and of attracting students and endowments. When they happen also to be gifted and erudite, their moral and intellectual influence over public opinion is naturally enormous. I was only when I began to realize all this that I could quite understand why the people one met in Boston and New York were often more excited about the presidential election for Harvard than about the Presidential election for the United States. It is probably not generally known that the president-elect, Professor Lowell, whose recently published work on our Constitution is already a classic, has been a successful director of large cotton mills, and is the sole manager of the Lowell Trust. A scholar and a business man with an aptitude for public speaking and liberal views of education should prove an ideal president for Harvard.

F. W. H.

Source: The Economist, January 16, 1909, pp. 105-6.

Image Source:  Abbott Lawrence Lowell, photographic portrait (1904) in Harvard University Archives Photograph Collection: Portraits; The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, the new President of Columbia University, New York.

 

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What the College Incubator Did for One Modest Lambkin.

from George Ade, Breaking into Society (New York: Harper & Brothers,1904), pp. 21-30.

ONE Autumn Afternoon a gray-haired Agriculturist took his youngest Olive Branch by the Hand and led him away to a Varsity. Wilbur was 18 and an Onion. He had outgrown his last year’s Tunic, and his Smalls were hardly on speaking terms with his Uppers. He had large, warty Hands, which floated idly at his sides, and his Wrists resembled extra Sets of Knuckles. When he walked, his Legs gave way at the Hinge and he Interfered. On his Head was a little Wideawake with a Buckle at the Side. Mother had bobbed his Hair and rubbed in a little Goose-Grease to make it shine. The Collar that he wore was size 13, and called the Rollo Shape. It rose to a Height of a half-inch above his Neck-Band. For a Cravat he had a Piece of watered Silk Ribbon with Butterflies on it.

Wilbur had his Money tied up in a Handkerchief, and he carried a Paper Telescope loaded down with one Complete Change and a Catalogue of the Institution showing that the Necessary Expenses were not more than $3.40 per Week.

As the Train pulled away from Pewee Junction Wilbur began to Leak. The Salt Tears trickled down through the Archipelago of Freckles. He wanted to Crawfish, but Paw bought him a Box of Crackerjack and told him that if he got an Education and improved his Opportunities some day he might be County Superintendent of Schools and get his $900 a Year just like finding it. So Wilbur spunked up and said he would try to stick it out. He got out the Catalogue and read all of the copper-riveted Rules for the Moral Guidance of Students.

The Curriculum had him scared. He saw that in the next four Years he would have to soak up practically all the Knowledge on the Market. But he was cheered to think that if he persevered and got through he would be entitled to wear an Alpaca Coat and a Lawn Tie and teach in the High-School, so he took Courage and began to notice the Scenery.

Wilbur was planted in a Boarding-House guaranteed to provide Wholesome Food and a Home Influence. Father went back after making a final Discourse on the importance of learning most everything in all of the Books.

Nine Months later they were down at the Depot to meet Wilbur. He had written several times, saying that he could not find time to come Home, as he was in pursuit of Knowledge every Minute of the Day, and if he left the Track, Knowledge might gain several Laps on him. It looked reasonable, too, for the future Superintendent of Schools had spent $400 for Books, $200 for Scientific Apparatus, and something like $60 for Chemicals to be used in the Laboratory.

When the Train suddenly checked itself, to avoid running past the Town, there came out of the Parlor Car something that looked like Fitz, on account of the Padding in the Shoulders. Just above one Ear he wore a dinky Cap about the size of a Postage Stamp. The Coat reached almost to the Hips and was buttoned below. The Trousers had enough material for a suit. They were reefed to show feverish Socks of a zigzag Pattern. The Shoes were very Bull-Doggy, and each had a wide Terrace running around it. Father held on to a Truck for Support. Never before had he seen a genuine Case of the inflammatory Rah-Rahs.

Wilbur was smoking a dizzy little Pipe from which the Smoke curled upward, losing itself in a copious Forelock that moved gently in the Breeze. Instead of a Collar, Wilbur was wearing a Turkish Towel. He had the Harvard Walk down pat. With both Hands in his Pockets, the one who had been pursuing Knowledge teetered towards the Author of his Being and said, ” How are you, Governor?”

Father was always a Lightning Calculator, and as he stood there trying to grasp and comprehend and mentally close in, as it were, on the Burlap Suit and the Coon Shirt and the sassy Pipe, something told him that Wilbur would have to Switch if he expected to be County Superintendent of Schools,

“Here are my Checks,” said Wilbur, handing over the Brasses.” Have my Trunks, my Golf Clubs, my portable Punching-Bag, the Suit-Case and Hat-Boxes sent up to the House right away. Then drive me Home by the Outside Road, because I don’t want to meet all these Yaps. They annoy me.”

“You’d better git out of that Rig mighty quick if you don’t want to be Joshed,” said his Parent. “Folks around here won’t stand for any such fool Regalia, and if you walk like a frozen-toed Hen you’ll get some Hot Shots or I miss my Calkilations.”

“Say, Popsy, I’ve been eating Raw Meat and drinking Blood at the Training-Table, and I’m on Edge,” said Wilbur, expanding his Chest until it bulged out like a Thornton Squash.” If any of these local Georgie Glues try to shoot their Pink Conversation at me I’ll toss them up into the Trees and let them hang there. I’m the Gazabe that Puts the Shot. Any one who can trim a Policeman and chuck a Hackman right back into his own Hack and drive off with him doesn’t ask for any sweeter Tapioca than one of these Gaffer Greens. The Ploughboy who is muscle- bound and full of Pastry will have a Proud Chance any time that he struts across my Pathway. In my Trunks I have eight suits a little warmer than this one and 47 pairs of passionate Hose. I’m out here to give the Cornfields a Touch of High Life. It’s about time that your Chaws had a Glimpse of the Great Outside World. Any one who gets Fussy about the Color-Combinations that I spring from Day to Day will be chopped up and served for Lunch. To begin with, I’m going to teach you and Mother to play Golf. If these Mutts come and lean over the Fence and start to get off their Colored- Weekly Jokes we’ll fan the Hill-side with them.”

“What do they teach up at your School — besides Murder?” inquired Father. ” I thought you wanted to be County Superintendent of Schools.”

“I’ve outgrown all those two-by-four Ambitions,” was the Reply. “I’m going to be on the Eleven next Fall. What more could you ask?”

That very week Wilbur organized a Ball Team that walloped Hickory Crick, Sand Ridge, and Sozzinsville. He had the whole Township with him. Every Cub at Pewee Junction began to wear a Turkish Towel for a Collar and practise the Harvard Walk.

MORAL : A Boy never blossoms into his full Possibilities until he strikes an Atmosphere of Culture.

Categories
Economists Fields Harvard

Harvard. Five Economics Ph.D. examinees, 1907-08

 

This posting lists the five graduate students in economics who took their subject examinations for the Ph.D. at Harvard from March 12 through May 21, 1908. The examination committee members, academic history, general and specific subjects are provided along with the doctoral thesis subject, when declared. Lists for 1903-04, 1904-05, 1906-07, 1915-16, and 1926-27 were posted previously. In the same archival box one finds lists for the academic years 1902-03 through 1904-05, 1906-07 through 1913-14, 1915-16, 1917-18 through 1918-19, and finally 1926-27. I only include graduate students of economics (i.e. not included are the Ph.D. candidates in history and government).

Titles and dates of Harvard economic dissertations for the period 1875-1926 can be found here.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.

 

1907-08

Walter Wallace McLaren.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, March 12, 1908.
General Examination passed April 10, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), McLean (University of Toronto), Gay, Bullock and Munro.
Academic History: Queen’s University (Canada), 1894-99; Queen’s University Theological College, 1899-1902; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-08; A.M. (Queen’s Univ.) 1899; B:D. (ibid) 1902.
Special Subject: Canadian Economic History.
Thesis Subject: “History of the Canadian Tariff.” (With Professor Taussig.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Taussig, Gay, Munro. 

Edmund Thornton Miller.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 6, 1908.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Taussig, Hart, Ripley, Gay, and Andrew.
Academic History: University of Texas, 1897-1901; Harvard Graduate School, 1902-03, 1907-08; A.B. (University of Texas) 1900; A.M. (ibid) 1901; A.M. (Harvard) 1903.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History to 1750. 3. Economic History since 1750. 4. Money, Banking and Transportation. 5. Public Finance and Financial History. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Public Finance and the Financial History of the United States since 1789.
Thesis Subject: “The Financial History of Texas.” (With Professor Bullock.)

Melvin Thomas Copeland.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 13, 1908.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Taussig, Carver, Hart, Ripley, and Andrew.
Academic History: Bowdoin College, 1902-06; Harvard Graduate School, 1906-08; A.B. (Bowdoin) 1906; A.M. (Harvard) 1907.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Statistics. 5. Transportation and Foreign Commerce. 6. History of American Institutions.
Special Subject: Economic History of the United States.
Thesis Subject: “Cotton Manufacturing in the United States since 1860.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Frank Richardson Mason.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 14, 1908.
General Examination passed May 8, 1907.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Carver, Gay, Bullock and Andrew.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1901-05; Harvard Graduate School, 1905-07; A.B. (Harvard) 1905; A.M. (ibid) 1906.
Special Subject: Economic History of the United States.
Thesis Subject: “The Silk Industry in America..” (With Professor Taussig.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Taussig, Carver, and Gay.

Robert Franz Foerster.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 21, 1908.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Royce, Carver, Ripley, Gay, and Bullock.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1902-05; University of Berlin, 1905-06; A.B. (Harvard) 1906.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology and Social Reform. 4. Statistics. 5. Labor Problems and Industrial Organization. 6. Philosophy.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: “Emigration from Italy, with special reference to the United States.” (With Professor Taussig.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1907-1908”.

Image Source: Memorial Hall, ca. 1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540.

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Junior Year Theory of Production and Distribution of National Income. Haberler and Leontief, 1942.

 

 

The last time Economics 1 was offered as a year course (1939-40), it was taught by Professor Chamberlin, Associate Professor Leontief and Instructor O.H. Taylor. Starting in the academic year 1940-41, Economics 1 was split into the two semester courses Economics 1a (Chamberlin: Economic Theory) and 1b (O.H.Taylor: Intellectual Background of Economic Thought). Two years later, 1941-42, the second semester course 1b was taught by Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief under the title “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income”. In 1942-43, Economics 1b as “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income” was taught a last time by Professor Leontief and Dr. Monroe.

Here is a recently added link to the final examination questions for the 1941-42 course taught by Haberler and Leontief.

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Course enrollment

*1b 2hf. Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief.–Theory of Production and Distribution of National Income.

Total 27: 2 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1941-42, p. 62.

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Economics 1b
1941-42

 

  1. Theory of Wages
  2. Theory of Capital and Interest
    1. Capital goods as factors of production. Stock vs. flow concepts. Durable and non-durable goods. Money capital and the rate of interest. Demand for capital by an individual firm.
    2. Time preference. Propensity to save.
    3. Interrelation of production and consumption goods industries. General equilibrium. national Income, Saving, and Investment.
  1. Theory of Profits
  1. Introduction to Welfare Economics

Modern theory of utility. Individual vs. social utility. Distribution of national income. Private vs. social marginal product.

 

Readings in: (Specific chapter and page of assignments will be given later.)

Paul Douglas, The Theory of Wages.
Meade and Hitch, An Introduction to Economic Analysis.
Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital.
J. B. Clark, The Distribution of Wealth.
Irving Fisher, The Theory of Interest (1930).
J. M. Keynes. General Theory of Interest and Unemployment.
K. Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy. [Volume I; Volume II]
Pigou, Economics of Welfare.
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory.

Articles by Frank Knight in the Journal of Political Economy and by A. Lerner in the Economic Journal.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1942.

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Junior Year Economic Theory, Chamberlin. 1940

 

 

The last time the undergraduate course Economics 1 (Economic Theory) was offered as a full year course (1939-40), it was taught as an honors course by Professor Edward Chamberlin, Associate Professor Wassily Leontief and Instructor O.H. Taylor. Starting in the academic year 1940-41, Harvard’s Economics 1 was split into back-to-back semester courses Economics 1a (Chamberlin: Economic Theory) and 1b (Taylor: The Intellectual Background of Economic Thought). Two years later the second semester course 1b was taught by Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief under the title “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income” (1941-42).

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Course Enrollment

*1a 1hf. Professor Chamberlin.—Economic Theory.

Total 63: 1 Senior, 56 Juniors, 6 Sophomores.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-1941, p. 58.

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ECONOMICS 1a
1940-41
Revised Outline

  1. The Law of Supply and Demand. Meaning and Generality. Relation to the Law of Cost. Cost curves and supply curves. Relation to monopoly and to competition. Pure and perfect competition. Market problem illustrating deviations from “equilibrium” as defined by perfect competition. Equilibrium vs. the equation of supply and demand.

Mill—Principles, Book III, chapters 2, 3, 5.
Chamberlin—Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.
Henderson—Supply and Demand, chapters 1,2.
Marshall—Principles, pp. 348-350; p. 806 note.

  1. Competitive theory, illustrated by Marshall.

Marshall—Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12.

  1. The effect of small numbers in the market.

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 3.

  1. Product differentiation. Co-existence and blending of monopoly and competition. Output (sales) as a function of price, “product” and selling outlays. Price-quantity relationships examined in some detail, selling costs and products as variables more briefly.

Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 (pp. 130-149), Appendices C, D, E.
Alsberg, C. L.—“Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation,” Q.J.E., Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

  1. Production and Distribution. Diminishing returns. Diminishing marginal productivitiy. The laws of cost. General effect of monopoly elements on the analysis.

Garver & Hansen—Principles, chapter 5.
Viner, J.—“Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

  1. Theory of Wages.

Hicks, J. R.—Theory of Wages, chapters 6, 7.

  1. Profits.

Henderson, Supply and Demand, Ch. 7.

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ECONOMICS 1a
1940-41

  1. The Law of Supply and Demand. Meaning and Generality. Relation to the Law of Cost. Cost curves and supply curves. Relation to monopoly and to competition. Pure and perfect competition. Market problem illustrating deviations from “equilibrium” as defined by perfect competition. Equilibrium vs. the equation of supply and demand.

Mill—Principles, Book III, chapters 2, 3, 5.
Chamberlin—Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.
Henderson—Supply and Demand, chapters 1,2.
Marshall—Principles, pp. 348-350; p. 806 note.

  1. Competitive theory, illustrated by Marshall.

Marshall—Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12.

  1. The effect of small numbers in the market.

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 3.

  1. Product differentiation. Co-existence and blending of monopoly and competition. Output (sales) as a function of price, “product” and selling outlays. Price-quantity relationships examined in some detail, selling costs and products as variables more briefly.

Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 (pp. 130-149), Appendices C, D, E.
Alsberg, C. L.—“Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation,” Q.J.E., Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

  1. Production and Distribution. Diminishing returns. Diminishing marginal productivitiy. The laws of cost. General effect of monopoly elements on the analysis.

Garver & Hansen—Principles, chapter 5.
Viner, J.—“Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

  1. Theory of Wages.

Hicks, J. R.—Theory of Wages, chapters 6, 7.

  1. Theory of Capital and Interest.

Clark, J. B., The Distribution of Wealth, Chapters 9 and 10.
Böhm-Bawerk, The Positive Theory of Capital, Book II, Chs. 2 and 5, Book V.

  1. Profits.

Marshall, Book VI, Ch. 5, section 7; Chs. 7, 8.
Taussig, Principles, Vol. II, Ch. 50, section 1.
Henderson, Supply and Demand, Ch. 7.
Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation, Book IV.
Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 5, section 6; Ch. 7, section 6; Appendices D, E; Ch. 8.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-1941”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album 1946.