Author: Irwin Collier

Categories
Libertarianism

Freedom School. First Newsletter. January, 1964

Robert LeFevre’s Freedom School in the late 1950’s through the 1960’s offered two kinds of libertarian agit-prop courses at its log-cabin campus located in the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado: a two week comprehensive course and shorter intensive courses designed for business executives interested in the fundamentals of libertarian philosophy, politics, and economics. The 1962 Prospectus for the Freedom School was posted earlier.

An academic upgrade was introduced for the 1963-64 academic year, named the Phrontistery [“a thinking place”]. The goal was to have a two semester course organized around a series of invited distinguished lecturers that included Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Gordon Tullock, and Warren Nutter.

Fun fact: the main house of Milton and Rose Friedman’s “Capitaf” was designed using the plans for the hexagonal Falcon’s Lair building at the Freedom School provided to them by Robert LeFevre.

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The Freedom School is an educational institution offering short courses of instruction in the field of economics, philosophy, ethics, history and political science. Special sessions each year are reserved for executives and those making managerial decisions in business and the professions. Eight two-week comprehensive courses are offered to adults each summer from June through September. Special Workshop and library facilities are available for graduates.

                  Write for informational folder.

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To Our Readers…

With this issue of the Newsletter, the Freedom School initiates a new monthly publication, designed to keep you informed on news of the Freedom School. It will bring you information about additions to the staff, faculty and trustees, as well as plans for the progress of the School — in its summer sessions and in its development of Rampart College.

The Newsletter will give you information on our graduates  – what they are doing and how they are communicating the philosophy of freedom.

This publication is for you  – we want you to read it, we want it to be interesting to you and, therefore, we want to hear about it from you. We want to know what interests YOU particularly, what features we can incorporate into the Newsletter that will give you and the School an instrument of mutual communication.

Please don’t hesitate – give us your opinion of the Newsletter: good, bad or indifferent.

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Texas Biochemist Discusses “Equality

Professor Roger J. Williams

No man is the equal of any other man in the view of a leading biochemist from the University of Texas who spoke at the Freedom School Phrontistery last November.

He is Dr. Roger J. Williams, who has been the director of the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute at the University since 1941.

The professor has spent a life-time studying, teaching and researching bio-chemistry, and has pioneered in thought and research on the human side of the problem.

In his studies, the professor has concluded that biochemically and every other way every human is different, even though all may look alike superficially. He explained in his lectures how each person is different anatomically, neurologically, endocrinologically, biochemically, and psychologically.

The professor has been a trail-blazer in his field, and is the discoverer of pantothenic acid (one of the B vitamins) which is required in the machinery of all oxygen-using organisms.

He also did pioneer work on folic acid, and named it. It is another B vitamin that is used in the treatment of anemias. At the Clayton Institute, more vitamins have been discovered than in any other laboratory in the world.

The professor was the first biochemist to be elected president of the American Chemical Society, which now has about 100,000 members, and has received the Mead Johnson award of the American Institute of Nutrition.

Williams is a firm believer in the individuality of each person and his belief is backed up with facts acquired during his long career in biochemistry.

He is a living example of his own theory, having a great interest in literature as well as in his chosen field of study, and he maintains a parallel interest in people. Williams is the kind of man who can say with a twinkle in his eye, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating and in the subsequent metabolic effects,” and mean what he says.

A little key to what the professor is talking about is found in his book, “Nutrition in a Nutshell”, which tells a reader more about his own nutritional problems than he probably knew before — facts he ought to know — and he does it in words that we can understand. In the book Williams points out that each individual has his own nutritional problems.

Two other books by Williams may be time bombs planted in the field of social sciences. They are “The Human Frontier” and “Free and Unequal”, which discusses the biological basis of individual liberty.

What Williams has learned in a life-time of study and reflection about people and each man’s individuality was discussed by him under the theme, “The basis of our love of liberty is biological.”

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Tullock Tells of New Approach to Politico-Economic Study

Professor Gordon Tullock

Dr. Gordon Tullock, associate professor, Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy, University of Virginia, was the second visiting professor to lecture at the Freedom School Phrontistery.

The professor is one of a small group of men in America, numbering about 30, who set about studying political science in a different way.

“We are trying to apply a logical, scientific approach to the political phenomena in an effort to improve our knowledge of politics,” is the way Tullock explains why these few are interested in approaching the study of politics from an unconventional view.

He passed on some of his theories on that subject to Freedom School Phrontistery enrollees in his two series of lectures last November. The two topics were, “Property Institutions” and “Modern Political Theory”.

In the new approach to political science, Tullock attempted to apply the classic economic theories to politics. He hastened to point out that he and fellow theorists are not another group of economic determinists.

Rather, he explained, he and his confreres are applying economics to the study of politics as the pioneer political geographers applied geography to the study of politics.

Tullock added that the studies have no particular relevance to the specific political activities that are going on now and will increase later this year.

“Some people think that a professor of economics ought to be able to make a fortune in the stock market, but this is not necessarily so. That is the case with us. We are studying politics, but are not necessarily able to make predictions on any campaign,” Tullock said.

Tullock was graduated from the University of Chicago in 1947 with a degree in law, after having earned his bachelor’s degree there during prior study.

Shortly after his graduation he went to work in a law office in Chicago, and was given a chance to enter foreign service. In 1948 he was on duty in Tientsin, China. He was there for two years, including a year under the communists. He also served in Hong Kong and Korea and did post-doctoral studies in Chinese at Yale and Cornell Universities before he resigned from the service in 1955 to enter the academic world.

He now claims to have found the field of study which intrigues him most. He says there is plenty to keep him busy in his area of economics-political science.

Tullock knows there is lots of hard work ahead. “I’m an optimist and a crusader,” he explained. He and his fellow students in the field intend to push toward their goals as far as they can in one generation.

“We have a genuine theory of politics. We think ours is a more sensible view of politics,” he explained. The immediate goal of his studies is to learn more about how politics works and to determine these facts through scientific investigation.

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Freedom School Growth Measured
in Land, Construction, Students

During the calendar year 1963, the Freedom School’s growth has been such as to amaze the early graduates of the School. In March, 206 acres of rolling meadow-land were added to the 320 acres that originally comprised the campus. This land adjoins the eastern boundaries of the School, and provides a mile of road frontage along Perry Park Road, Colorado Highway 105. This land will probably play a major role in the location and development of Rampart College.

Also in 1963 a new building was completed. Although construction was started in the fall of 1962, the building was not ready for occupancy until February. The major part of this building (called Falcon Lair) is hexagonal in shape, built of logs, and the focal point is a huge hexagonal stone fireplace in the center of a large room which serves as a combination living room-lounge, in which students can relax and where informal entertainment and discussion take place.

Also within the “hex” is a modern kitchen and other facilities. Attached to the “hex” and also built of logs is a rectangular building containing living accommodations for the president and his wife. A wide, open porch extends from the north and east sides of the building.

Other improvements include a general remodeling of Falconwood Lodge, the main building which housed the first classroom and the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen has been doubled in size — with commercial equipment added, making it possible to maintain the same high standard of food preparation and service the School has featured. The new, modern, attractive and comfortable dining room, which can seat 50, has new tables, chairs and lighting.

Below the dining room, the “Bunkhouse” which has, during the life of the School, served as student quarters and office space, is now a recreation room for students. Soft drink, coffee and hot chocolate machines have been added, along with a “Skittles” game and a regulation size pool table, making it a convenient place for students to relax and play various games.

Carpeting has been added to the living quarters in Reno Sales Lodge and to the two cabins that house four students each — Deer Haven and Tall Pines — resulting in more comfortable quarters for students.

The growth of the School can also be measured in the increased number of students who have been graduated each year. During the first year of operation, 26 students were graduated. That number has increased yearly and during the summer season of 1963, 143 students were graduated from Freedom School.

In addition, three special sessions (a workshop and two three-day seminars) were held, with a total enrollment of 44 persons. Inquiries for 1964 courses were received months before the new 1964 Bulletin was in the mails.

View of fireplace in Falcon Lair. The hexagonal stone fireplace, focal point of the 1469-square-foot main room, weighs 23 tons, seven tons of which is the stone facing, and is 14 feet tall. The striking hexagonal wrought-iron chandelier was a gift of Freedom School graduate Brian Monahan.

[Note: Substituted this better image from the Rampart College Bulletin, 1966.]

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F.S. CALENDAR [1964]

Jan. 13 – 17: Prof. Ludwig von Mises, speaking on:
1) Determination of Prices of the Factors of Production;
2) Savings and Accumulation of Capital;
3) Profit and Loss.

Jan. 27 – 31: Prof. Sylvester Petro, speaking on:
1) Freedom, Competition and Property as Juridical Concepts;
2) the Monopoly Issue at Common Law and Under Interventionism;
3) Freedom and Trade Unionism.

Feb. 10 – 14: Dr. F. A. Harper, speaking on the Philosophical Aspects of Peace.

 These lectures will take place from 9 a.m. until noon, with discussion from

2 to 5 p.m. on each of the dates specified. Anyone interested in attending any of these meetings may do so by applying to the Registrar of the Freedom School.

Information will be sent upon request.

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Hamowy Wins Oxford Grant

Ronald Hamowy, graduate of the Freedom School (1962) and author of the Phrontistery Organizational Plan, is the recipient of a two-year fellowship to Oxford.

Hamowy’s association with the Freedom School began in the summer of 1962 when his services were obtained to prepare the outline and to project the operation of the Phrontistery. The Organizational Plan was the result of much study and with on modest modification is the working format presently employed. Hamowy also made the recommendations for enrollees and guest lecturers, but was required to depart for England and his studies at Oxford a few weeks before the Phrontistery program.

During much of the time he was preparing the outline and interviewing prospective students, Hamowy was conducting research at the University of Paris.

He is a graduate of City College of New York (1960), is a candidate for doctorate in social thought under F. A. von Hayek at the University of Chicago, and now Earhart Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

During his two-year fellowship, Hamowy plans on making frequent trips to the United States, and hopes to visit the Phrontistery early in the year.

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Phrontistery Under Way

Phrontistery enrollees are (seated): Dale M. Haywood, Michael F. Helm, Peter C. Blake, Kameon Kimball, Leanna Koehn, Eduardo Helguera, R. Douglas Pinkney; (standing) Juan Manzano-Taylor, Calvin Byles, Jerry Woloz, William A. Colson, Robert E. Gaskins, Jr., David S. Jackman III, R. James Graser, Charles M. McGehee, Charles F. Adams, Hollis B. Danvers, Burl B. Bigelow, and Juan Larreta.

[ Note: This clearer image has been substituted from a Colorado Public Radio podcast episode “Liberty’s Pitchman, Robert LeFevre: The Freedom School” ]

Dean of the Freedom School Phrontistery is Dr. V. Orval Watts, who for 17 years has been a college instructor and professor of economics. Dr. Watts has taught at Clark University, Harvard University, Antioch College, Carleton College, Claremont Men’s College and the Freedom School. Most recently he served as Visiting Professor of Money and Banking at Pepperdine College, California. He received his B.A. from the University of Manitoba and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. In conjunction with his duties at the Freedom School, Dr. Watts is Director of Economic Education for Northwood Institute in Midland, Michigan.

Dr. V. Orval Watts

Dr. Watts is a charter member of the Mont Pelerin Society and a member of the Economists’ National Committee on Monetary Policy, and has been economic counsel for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation for Economic Education, and business and industrial institutions in Southern California, as well as producer and moderator of radio and television forums. His experience and talents make him a valuable asset to the Phrontistery.

Assisting Dr. Watts is Robert J. Smith, assistant dean of the Phrontistery. Smith is a Freedom School graduate (1958) and received his B.S. from Stanford University. During the summer of 1959 he managed the Stanford Geological Survey, later joining the Foundation for Economic Education as a part time staff member. He was recently a William Volker Fellow in economics at New York University, and is working toward his master’s degree in Business Administration under Professor Ludwig von Mises.

                  Participating in the Phrontistery are 19 students, 16 of whom are Freedom School graduates, listed below:

Charles F. Adams, Denver, Colo., University of Colorado; Burl B. Bigelow, Denver, Colo., Western State College; Peter C. Blake, Weslaco, Tex., Yale University, University of Colorado; Calvin Byles, New Braunfels, Tex., Texas University; William A. Colson, Bellevue, Wash., San Jose City College, Calif.; Hollis B. Danvers, Houston, Tex., Southern Methodist University; Robert E. Gaskins, Jr., Encino, Calif., Summerfield Scholar, University of Kansas; R. James Graser, Oconomowoc, Wis., Beloit College, University of Wisconsin; Dale M. Haywood, Arcadia, Neb., University of Nebraska, New York University; Eduardo Helguera, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires; David S. Jackman III, Wichita, Kans., University of Kansas; Kameon Kimball, Waterville, Wash., University of Washington; Leanna Koehn, Dodge City, Kans., University of Kansas; Juan Manzano-Taylor, Rizal, P.I., University of the Philippines; Charles M. McGehee, El Paso, Tex., Texas Western College; and R. Douglas Pinkney, Willoughby, O., Grove City College, Pa.

Students who had not attended the Freedom School prior to the Phrontistery are: Michael F. Helm, Reseda, Calif., San Fernando Valley State College, Calif.; Juan R. Larreta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires; and Jerry Woloz, Brooklyn, N.Y., San Fernando Valley State College, Calif.

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Many Thanks

The Freedom School wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the following graduates for their recent contributions to the School (September through November, 1963).

$1,000 and above:

R. C. Hoiles
Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Threshie, Jr.

$100 and above:

Mrs. Mabelle Acorn
Robert E. Ahern
Russell E. Baetke
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bassett
Burton Bergman
Mrs. May Bowman
Henry B. Herreid
Roland W. Holmes
Mr. and Mrs. Ned W. Kimball
Mrs. Mary H. Vincent

Up to $100:

Miss Susan M. Breck
Mr. and Mrs. George A. Brightwell, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Axtell Byles
Floyd E. Camp
Mr. and Mrs. Wayne T. Carroll
Mrs. Patricia F. Cornell
Miss Carol E. Dazey
Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Estes
Miss Margaret Harkness
Russell Johnson
Mrs. Marjorie Lawrence
Mr. and Mrs. J. Dohn Lewis
Dr. Ruth S. Maynard
Brian J. Monahan
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Pavey
James Pessagno
John V. Peters
Cecil Quinn
Mr. and Mrs. John L. Russell
Butler D. Shaffer
Mrs. Katharine W. Spaulding
Leonard A. Talbot
Herman A. Tessmann
Joseph M. White, Jr.
Mrs. Louise Young

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“Freedom and liberty always refer to interhuman relations. A man is free as far as he can live and get on without being at the mercy of arbitrary decisions on the part of other people.” —

Ludwig von Mises, “The Individual in Society”,
Essays on Liberty, 1952.

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The Freedom School
NEWSLETTER

NAN CORBY
Editor

J. DOHN LEWIS
Director of Publications

Published on the 15th of each month.
Third class postage paid at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Mailed to those interested in education for liberty.

Published by
Pine Tree Press
for The Freedom School, Inc.
Box 165
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Source: HenryHazlittarchives (Beta). Series>Henry Hazlitt Articles>LeFevere’s [sic] Journal 1964-1974.

Categories
Economics Programs Economists M.I.T.

M.I.T. Department of Economics Annual Report by E. Cary Brown, 1975-1976

The following annual report of the M.I.T. department of economics was most likely written for the care and feeding of administrators and the members of the department’s visiting committee. This report covers what was my second year of graduate school, so for folks from that time it reads like an annual Holiday newsletter to the family.

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Department of Economics
1975 – 76

Undergraduate Program

The long-run impact of the past year’s changes in the Institute Requirement in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is not yet clear. Unquestionably they have increased the Department’s enrollment, but the precise amount is uncertain because simultaneously a major revision was made in the two introductory economics subjects. In the past year enrollments were larger than previously, but smaller than in the transition of the previous year. Nearly 200 of the Class of 1976 concentrated in economics for their Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Requirement. Of all students presently enrolled, 327 (primarily juniors and seniors) have elected to concentrate in economics.

Undergraduate majors remain steady in numbers. As in 1974-75, 20 degrees were awarded. In the spring term the Undergraduate Economics Association was reactivated. Its weekly meetings with faculty led to several proposals for revision of the undergraduate program, and several student-faculty socials were organized.

Graduate Program

Enrollment has been remarkably steady in the graduate program. The number of applications for admission was virtually identical to the average of the previous six years. Next year’s entering class of 32 will be slightly larger than average, and will have fewer foreign students and more women, reflecting a shift in the percentage of applications from these groups. Four students from minority groups are expected to be in this class.

Financial support for the graduate student has changed very little over the last several years. We are still fortunate in having from one-third to one-half of the entering students on National Science Foundation Fellowships. For the whole student body, there has been an increase in the support by US foundations (other than NSF) and a decrease in support provided by M.I.T.

The number receiving the Doctor of Philosophy increased somewhat in the past year to 21. For the first time, two American blacks received degrees.* The class fared well in placement, their median salary offer totaling 24 percent above that of 1971. Like the past average, 86 percent went into teaching and 14 percent into non-teaching positions.

*Samuel Myers, Jr. Ph.D. thesis: “A Portfolio Model of Illegal Transfers”, supervised by Robert Solow.
Glenn Loury. Ph.D. thesis: “Essays in the Theory of the Distribution of Income”, supervised by Robert Solow.
See: William Darity Jr. and Arden Kreeger, “The Desegregation of an Elite Economics Department’s PhD Program: Black Americans at MIT“, History of Political Economy 46 (annual suppl.)

The Graduate Economics Association awarded the outstanding teacher in the Department prize to Professor Stanley Fischer.

PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES

The faculty has always been involved in public service activities tying research to the public interest. In connection with M.I.T.’s participation in the Bicentennial Celebration, Professor Jagdish N. Bhagwati set up a recent conference on the New International Economic Order: Professor Ann F. Friedlaender is planning one for this fall on Air Pollution and Administrative Control. Through the German Marshall Fund, Professor Richard S. Eckaus is organizing a fall conference on economic problems of Portugal. Professor Franco Modigliani arranged a conference through the Bank of Finland on International Monetary Mechanisms.

Various Congressional committees and government agencies have been advised. Professor Peter A. Diamond served on the Consultant Panel on Social Security for the Congressional Research Service. Professors Rudiger Dornbusch and Fischer and Institute Professor Paul A. Samuelson prepared a report for the US Department of Commerce on international financial arrangements. Professor Robert E. Hall was a member of the Advisory Committee on Population Statistics, Bureau of the Census. Professor Jerry A. Hausman served on the Econometrics Advisory Committee to the Federal Energy Administration. Institute Professor Modigliani was a consultant and member of the Committee on Monetary Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Institute Professor Samuelson consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the US Treasury, and the Congressional Budget Office. Professor Charles A. Myers was a member of the National Manpower Policy Task Force. Institute Professor Robert M. Solow served as Deputy Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Several faculty members have been involved with the National Academy of Sciences and its related organizations. Professor Eckaus prepared a report, Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries, for the Board on Science and Technology for Developing Countries of the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Professor Franklin M. Fisher served on a National Academy panel on the Effects of Deterrence and Incapacitation; Professor Friedlaender was on the Executive Committee, Assembly of Behavioral and Social Sciences, National Research Council; Institute Professor Modigliani was on the Finance Committee; Institute Professor Samuelson served on the Editorial Board of the Proceedings; and Institute Professor Solow chaired the Steering Committee on Environmental Studies.

Professor Eckaus led an OECD Mission to Portugal that included Professors Lance Taylor and Dornbusch.* Professor Paul L. Joskow was a consultant to OECD in energy. Professor Evsey D. Domar was a member of a delegation of economists sent by the American Economic Association to the Soviet Union. Institute Professor Modigliani, who gave much time to the problems of stabilization in Italy, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Council for Social Sciences.

*Along with several graduate students among whom were Paul Krugman, Andrew Abel and Jeffrey Frankel. Paul Krugman has written a short note about this experience with a picture!

The Brookings Institution Panel for Economic Activity included Professors Dornbusch and Hall, with Institute Professors Modigliani, Samuelson, and Solow as senior advisors to it. Professor Friedlaender served on the examining committee, Graduate Records Examination, Educational Testing Service. Institute Professor Modigliani served on the Committee on Economic Stabilization, Social Science Research Council. Professor Fisher is a member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University. Institute Professor Solow continues as Trustee for the Institute of Advanced Study.

RESEARCH

International topics seem to dominate the research interests of the faculty. Professor Bhagwati, in addition to his work in developing countries and international trade theory, has given attention to a proposal for applying taxation to the brain drain. Professor Eckaus studied the role of financial markets and their regulation and the behavior of income distribution in economic development. Professor Taylor had three major areas of research: the development of nutrition planning models in Pakistan, international food aid and reserve policies, and growth and income distribution in Brazil.

Professor Morris A. Adelman’s continuing research on the world oil market, Professor Joskow’s analysis of the international nuclear energy industry, and Professor Martin L. Weitzman’s examination of OPEC and oil pricing involve applied microeconomics with international implications.

Research in various applied microeconomics areas was responsible for the second largest fraction of faculty effort. Institute Professor Solow continued to research the economics of exhaustible resources, and Professor Weitzman completed his analysis of the optimal development of resource pools. Professor Joskow has explored the future of the electric utility industry and its financing, the future of the US atomic energy industry, and the pattern of energy consumption in the US. He is developing a simulation model of the energy industry, and is reviewing the regulatory activities of government agencies in general and the health care sector in particular. Professor Hausman examined the Project Independence Report and is analyzing the choice of new technologies in energy research.

In the transporation field, Professor Friedlaender surveyed the issues in regulatory policy for railroads and alternative scenarios in federal transporation policy. Professor Jerome Rothenberg examined such problems in urban transportation as pricing policies, demand sensitivity to price, and modeling locational effects. Professor William C. Wheaton considered an optimal pricing and investment policy in highways under a gasoline tax.

Inextricably intertwined with urban transportation are questions of urban location and housing. Professor Rothenberg carried out research in such aspects of this problem as microeconomics of internal migration, supply-demand for housing in multizoned areas, the impact of energy costs on urban location, and the development of a model of housing markets and of metropolitan development and location that can be applied to general policy questions. Professor Wheaton developed an equilibrium model of housing and locational choice based on Boston experience.

Institute Professor Modigliani also conducted research on the housing market, but his interest comes primarily from the side of stabilization policies and similar macroeconomic problems. He also participated in a review after 20 years of his life cycle hypothesis of saving, made monetary policy prescriptions for both the US and Italy, reflected on the description of financial sectors in econometric models, and explored more deeply the application of optimal control to the design of optimal stabilization policies in economic models. Institute Professor Samuelson reviewed the art and science of macromodels over the 50 years of their development. Professor Friedlaender completed a quarterly macromodel of the Massachusetts economy. Professor Hall developed a model to deal with income tax changes and consumption.

Public economics has both macro and micro aspects, both of which are represented in the Department’s research. With Visiting Professor James A. Mirrlees, Professor Diamond theorized about public shadow prices with constant returns to scale, and about the assignment of liability. He also has generalized the Ramsey tax rule and continued his research into an optimal Social Security system. Professor Hausman is reexamining the cost of a negative income tax; Professor Rothenberg analyzed the distributional impact of public service provision; and Professor Wheaton explored intertemporal effects of land taxes, fiscal federalism in practice, and the financial plight of American cities.

Besides such theoretical research, there was significant research of an entirely pure nature. Professor Robert L. Bishop reexamined the measurement of consumer surplus. Professor Fisher extended his exploration of the stability of general equilibrium and of aggregate production functions. Professor Weitzman investigated the welfare significance of national product in a dynamic economy. Professor Hal R. Varian further explored the theory of fairness, non-Walrasian equilibria, and macromodels of unemployment and disequilibrium. Professor Hausman examined the econometric implications of truncated distributions and samples, of probit models, and of simultaneous equation models. In historical research, Professor Domar was concerned with serfdom, while Professor Charles Kindleberger investigated the role of the merchant in nineteenth-century technologic transfer.

Publications

Professor Bhagwati edited Taxing the Brain Drain: A Proposal and Brain Drain and Taxation: Theory and Empirical Analysis, and coauthored Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: India. Professors Dornbusch and Kindleberger published numerous papers on implications of the new international monetary exchange structure for exchange rates, price stability, international trade, and international capital movements. Professor Weitzman continued his study of the Russian economy with a paper on the new Soviet incentive model.

With Visiting Professor of Management Ezio Tarantelli*, Institute Professor Modigliani published Labor Market, Income Distribution and Private Consumption (in Italian) and various papers on stabilization policy in Italy. He also wrote papers on inflation and the housing market and edited New Mortgage Designs for Stable Housing in an Inflationary Environment. Professor Hall’s labor market research resulted in papers on persistence of unemployment, occupational mobility, and taxation of earnings under public assistance. Professor Michael Piore wrote on labor market stratification and the effect on industrial growth of immigration from Puerto Rico to Boston. Professor Fisher had several publications on indexation and adjustment of mortgages to inflationary episodes. In the realm of economic history, Professor Temin published Reckoning with Slavery and Did Monetary Force Cause the Great Depression?

*Ezio Tarantelli was the victim of a Red Brigades’ assassination in 1985.

Institute Professor Samuelson published theoretical papers on factor price equalization and trade pattern reversal. In the realm of pure research, he put out papers on nonlinear and stochastic population analysis, optimal population growth, and the optimal Social Security system implied in a lifecycle growth model. He also brought out the tenth edition of his famous text, Economics: An Introduction Analysis.

FACULTY

Visiting Professor John R. Moroney was here from Tulane University; Visiting Professor Mirrlees came in the spring term from Nuffield College, Oxford University. Regular faculty on leave were Professors Fisher and Joskow in the fall and Professor Weitzman in the spring.

It is a pleasure to report the promotion to Associate Professor of Jerry A. Hausman. A new appointee, Professor Jeffrey E. Harris, with the unusual background of an M.D. and a Ph.D. in economics, will provide long-sought coverage in health economics.

Professor Kindleberger will retire as Ford Professor and become a Senior Lecturer on a half-time basis. Since 1948, when he came as an Associate Professor, Professor Kindleberger has been an effective teacher, scholar, participant in faculty governance, and counselor to governments and the public. He has trained the leading international economists of the next generation; he has produced a dozen books and more than a hundred articles in international trade and finance and in economic history. He epitomizes the highest kind of academician.

Several honors were bestowed on members of the Department. Institute Professor Modigliani will complete his year as President of the American Economic Association. Professor Myers received a Distinguished Alumni award from Pennsylvania State University. Professor Fisher was F.W. Paish Lecturer to the Association of (English) University Teachers of Economics. Institute Professor Solow received a D. Litt. from Warwick University, and Institute Professor Samuelson, a D.Sc. from the University of Rochester.

EDGAR CARY BROWN

Source: MIT Libraries, Institute Archives and Special Collections. MIT Department of Economics Records, Box 1, Folder “Annual Report 1975-6”.

Image Source: Building E52, Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Building, later Morris and Sophie Chang Building

 

https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/subject/building-e52-alfred-p.-sloan-jr.-building-later-morris-and-sophie-chang-building-52

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization Problem Sets

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Report assignments and final exam. Ripley, 1906-1907

This version of William Ripley’s course on corporations was the fourth time of what would become a standard offering. He was an institutionalist-style economist who wallowed in the utter variety of economic organisations, be they on the side of labor or corporate capital. These did not fit neatly into the perfectly competitive theory of markets. He was interested in larger molecules and not so much in the atoms of economic life.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

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Course Readings

Cases for the course are most certainly found in Trusts, Pools and Corporations (1905), edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley. From the series of Volumes Selections and Documents in Economics, edited by William Z. Ripley published by Ginn and Company, Boston.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Corporations.

Total 236: 11 Graduates, 70 Seniors, 103 Juniors, 40 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

1907
ECONOMICS 92

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS.

Exact references by title, volume, and page must be given in foot-notes for all facts cited! This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

GROUP A

Students will report upon the organization and present character of one industrial combination in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against the student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the industrial combination similarly numbered on this sheet. See directions on last page.

GROUP B

Students will compare the character and extent of industrial control in two different industries in the United States. These are indicated by numbers given below, which are posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be to point out and explain any discoverable differences in the nature or extent of the industrial monopoly attained in the two industries concerned. Mere description of conditions in either case will not suffice; actual comparison is demanded. The parallel column method is suggested. See directions on last page.

GROUP C

Students will compare industrial combinations in different countries of Europe with one another, or with corresponding ones in the United States. The assignment of industries will be made by numbers, referring to the list below, these numbers being posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. Mere description will not be accepted; the student will be judged by the degree of critical comparison offered. Parallel columns may be used to advantage. See directions on last page.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “31 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the American Cotton Oil Co.; “2 & 64 B,” that a comparison of the American Bridge Co. and the United States Leather Co. in the United States is expected; while “59 & 158 C” calls for an international comparison of industrial organizations in thread manufacture as described under Group C.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

A star indicates that data will be found in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. I or XIII.

  1. American Axe and Tool Co., 1889.
  2. American Bridge Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  3. American Iron and Steel Mfg. Co., 1899.
  4. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  5. *American Radiator Co., 1899.
  6. *American Sheet Steel Co., 1900. (See No. 123.)
  7. *American Steel and Wire Co. of New Jersey, 1899, (See No. 123.)
  8. American Steel Casting Co., 1894.
  9. *American Steel Hoop Co., 1899. (See No. 128.)
  10. *American Tin Plate Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  11. *Federal Steel Co., 1898. (See No. 123.)
  12. International Steam Pump Co., 1899.
  13. *National Shear Co., 1898.
  14. *National Steel Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  15. National Tube Co., 1899. (See No. 123.)
  16. *Otis Elevator Co., 1898.
  17. Republic Iron and Steel Co., 1899.
  18. United Shoe Machinery Co., 1899.
  19. United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Co., 1899.
  20. American Beet Sugar Co., 1899.
  21. *American Chicle Co., 1899.
  22. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  23. *American Sugar Refining Co., 1891.
  24. *Glucose Sugar Refining Co., 1897.
  25. *National Biscuit Co., 1898.
  26. National Sugar Refining Co., 1900.
  27. *Royal Baking Powder Co., 1899.
  28. United States Flour Milling Co., 1899.
  29. *American Fisheries Co., 1899.
  30. American Agricultural Chemical Co., 1899.
  31. *American Cotton Oil Co., 1889.
  32. American Linseed Co., 1898.
  33. *Fisheries Co., The, 1900.
  34. *General Chemical Co., 1899.
  35. *National Salt Co., 1899.
  36. *National Starch Manufacturing Co., 1890.
  37. *Standard Oil Co., 1882.
  38. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., 1895.
  39. American Shot and Lead Co., 1890.
  40. American Smelting and Refining Co., 1899.
  41. American Type Founders Co., 1892.
  42. *International Silver Co., 1898.
  43. National Lead Co., 1891.
  44. American Malting Co., 1897.
  45. American Spirits Manufacturing Co., 1895.
  46. Kentucky Distilleries and Warehouse Co., 1899.
  47. Pittsburgh Brewing Co., 1899.
  48. St. Louis Brewing Association, 1889.
  49. Standard Distilling and Distributing Co., 1898.
  50. *American Bicycle Co., 1899. (Now Pope Bicyele Co.)
  51. American Car and Foundry Co., 1899.
  52. *Pressed Steel Car Co., 1899.
  53. Pullman Co., The, 1899.
  54. American Snuff Co., 1900.
  55. *American Tobacco Co., 1890.
  56. *Continental Tobacco Co., 1898.
  57. *National Cordage Co., 1887. (See No. 62.)
  58. American Felt Co., 1899.
  59. *American Thread Co., 1898.
  60. American Woolen Co., 1899.
  61. New England Cotton Yarn Co., 1899.
  62. *Standard Rope and Twine Co., 1895. (See No. 57.)
  63. American Hide and Leather Co., 1899.
  64. *United States Leather Co., 1893-1905.
  65. American Straw Board Co., 1889.
  66. American Writing Paper Co., 1899.
  67. International Paper Co., 1898.
  68. *National Wall Paper Co., 1892-1905.
  69. Union Bag and Paper Co., 1899.
  70. United States Envelope Co., 1898.
  71. American Clay Manufacturing Co., 1900.
  72. American Window Glass Co., 1899.
  73. International Pulp Co., 1893.
  74. National Fire Proofing Co., 1899.
  75. *National Glass Co., 1899,
  76. *Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 1895.
  77. United States Glass Co., 1891.
  78. American School Furniture Co., 1899.
  79. Diamond Match Co., 1889,
  80. National Casket Co., 1890
  81. United States Bobbin and Shuttle Co., 1899,
  82. American Glue Co., 1894.
  83. American Ice Co., 1899.
  84. American Shipbuilding Co., 1899.
  85. American Soda Fountain Co., 1891,
  86. *General Aristo Co. (Photography), 1899.
  87. Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., 1899.
  88. United States Rubber Co., 1892.
  89. Allis-Chalmers Co., 1901.
  90. American Cigar Co., 1901.
  91. American Grass Twine Co., 1899.
  92. American Light and Traction Co., 1901.
  93. American Locomotive Co., 1901.
  94. American Machine and Ordnance Co., 1902.
  95. American Packing Co., 1902.
  96. American Plow Co., 1901.
  97. American Sewer Pipe Co., 1900.
  98. American Steel Foundries Co., 1902.
  99. Associated Merchants Co., 1901.
  100. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 1902.
  101. Consolidated Railway Lighting and Refrig. Co., 1901.
  102. Consolidated Tobacco Co., 1901.
  103. Corn Products Co., 1902.
  104. Crucible Steel Co., of America, 1900.
  105. Eastman Kodak Co., 1901.
  106. International Harvester Co., 1902.
  107. International Salt Co., 1901. (Also National Salt Co.)
  108. *Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 1902.
  109. *National Asphalt Co., 1900.
  110. New England Consolidated Ice Co., 1902.
  111. New York Dock Co., 1901.
  112. Pacific Hardware and Steel Co., 1902.
  113. Pennsylvania Steel Co., 1901,
  114. Railway Steel Spring Co., 1902.
  115. International Mercantile Marine Co., 1902.
  116. Northern Securities Co., 1901. (See Library Catalogue.)
  117. United Box, Board and Paper Co., 1902.
  118. United Copper Co., 1902.
  119. United States Cotton Duck Corporation, 1901.
  120. United States Realty and Construction Co., 1902.
  121. United States Reduction and Refining Co., 1901.
  122. United States Shipbuilding Co., 1902.
  123. American Tobacco Co., 1903.
  124. Central Leather Co.
  125. American Ice Securities Co.
  126. Amalgamated Copper Co.
  127. General Electric Co.
  128. United Shoe Machinery Co.
  129. American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
  130. United Gas Improvement Co.
  131. Interborough-Metropolitan Co.
  132. Mass. Electric Companies.
  133. Mass. Gas Companies.
  134. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.
  135. Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.
  136. N. Y. Consolidated Gas Co.
  137. American Express Co.
  138. Adams Express Co.
  139. United States Steel Corporation; Promotion.
  140. United States Steel Corporation; Financial Development.
  141. United States Steel Corporation; Bond Conversion.
  142. United States Steel Corporation; Relations to Employees.
  143. United States Steel Corporation; Earnings, Quotations and Business.

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS IN EUROPE.

[Consult: Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII; U.S. Special Consular Reports, Vol. XXI, Part III; and London Economist on England since 1895; Griffin’s Library of Congress List of Books on Trusts, 1902, p. 35; and for the respective countries, Stock Exchange Official Intelligence (Lib 5230.7), Salling’s Börsenpapiere (Lib. 5234.5.2), and Annuaire Général des Sociétés françaises par Action (5232.5), On Germany consult also Kontradictorische Verhandlungen über deutsche Kartelle (Lib., Econ. 3871.1).]

  1. Canadian Iron Founders’ Association. (See Canadian Commission on Trusts, 1888.)
  2. *Bleachers’ Association, England.
  3. *Iron Combination, France.
  4. *Iron Combination, Germany. (Stahlwerkverband.)
  5. *Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate.
  6. *Spirits Combination, Germany.
  7. *United Pencil Factories’ Company, Germany.
  8. *Portland Cement Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  9. *Bradford Dyers’ Association, England.
  10. *Brass Bedstead Association, England.
  11. *British Cotton and Wool Dyers’ Association.
  12. *British Oil and Cake Mills.
  13. *Calico Printers’ Association, England.
  14. *Wall Paper Manufacturers’ Association, England.
  15. *English Sewing Cotton Co.
  16. *Petroleum Combination, Germany.
  17. *Petroleum Combination, France.
  18. *Sugar Combination, Germany.
  19. *Sugar Combination, Austria.
  20. German Salt Combination.
  21. German Potash Combination.
  22. International Sulphur Trust.

DIRECTIONS.

All books here referred to are reserved in Gore Hall.

First.—Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. Unless they are “listed” on the stock exchanges, no reports will be furnished. P. O. addresses for American corporations will be found in the latest Moody’s Manual of Corporation Securities; in 12th U. S. Census, 1900, Manufactures, Part I, p. lxxxvi; in the latest Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or in the Manual of Statistics.

Second.—In all cases where possible (starred on list) consult Vols. I, XIII, or XVIII, U. S. Industrial Commission Reports. Read appropriate testimony in full, consulting lists of witnesses, Vol. I, p. 1263, and Vol. XIII, p. 979; and also using the index and digests freely. Always follow up all cross references in foot-notes in the digests. Duplicate sets of these Reports are in Gore and Harvard Halls.

Third.—For companies organized prior to 1900 look through the bibliography and index in Halle or Jenks for references; and also in Griffin’s Library of Congress List.

Fourth.—Work back carefully through the files of Moody’s Manual of Corporations and of the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in Bulletin U. S. Dept. of Labor, No. 29.

Fifth.—The files of trade publications should also be consulted. Among these are Bulletin of the National Wool Manufacturers’ Association, The Iron Age, Dry Goods Economist, etc. (Boston Public Library.)

Sixth.—Read carefully in the U.S. Census the special reports on industries; and compile all data possible as to the growth and development of the industry in general, by means of statistics of production, exports and imports, number of employees and capital invested.

The course of prices of securities in detail for many companies is given in Industrial Commission Reports, Vol. XIII, p. 918, et seq.

As for the form of the reports all pertinent matter may be introduced, proper references to authorities being given. Particular attention is directed to the extent of control, nature and value of physical plant, mode of selling products and fixing prices, amount and character of capitalization, with the purpose for which it was issued, relative market prices of different securities as well as of dividends paid through a series of years, degree of publicity in reports, etc. Mere history is of minor importance, unless it be used to explain some features of the existing situation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1906-1907”.

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ECONOMICS 9b
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

  1. Why was the Sherman Act passed when it was? Describe the general situation.
  2. Show how the competition of a large producer — an industrial combination, for example — located at a distance may operate to restrict the market of a smaller independent concern. Can you suggest any remedy; or is it inevitable?
  3. Invent two cases, typical of the most frequent form of controversies at common law, raising the issue of restraint of trade. Develope (sic) the reasoning involved.
  4. What was “an immunity bath”? How was the matter dealt with by Congress?
  5. Meade gives five reasons for the inferior investment value of industrial, as compared with railway bonds. What are they, succinctly stated?
  6. “The principal point is this: in England the promoters’ and middlemens’ profit is added to the nominal capital of a company, whilst in Germany it is added to the price of the shares.” Show the possible effects of this difference upon each party concerned.
  7. What remedies proposed by Attorney General Knox in 1903 (Trusts, Pools, and Corporations, pp. 262-288) have since been enacted into law? Have new solutions been proposed?
  8. Upon which of the three possible theories for the issuance of corporate capital are the laws of the following states based; viz.: (a) Massachusetts; (b) New Jersey; (c) England.
  9. Outline the experience of the American Window Glass Co. in dealing with labor organizations.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), p. 33.

Image Source: Share of the Standard Oil Company, issued 1. May 1878. FromWikimedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Enrollment and Final Exam, Labor Problems. Ripley, 1906-1907

This post provides material from William Zebina Ripley’s fifth iteration of his labor economics course at Harvard. A quick search using the usual internet sources that have proven handy for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror picked up a few facts about the teaching assistant for the course who would have been a law student at the time.

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Meet the course teaching assistant

Edwin DeTurck Bechtel.

b. 19 Aug 1880 in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania
d. 4. Jul 1957 in Bedford Four Corners, New York

Home: Calcium, Pennsylvania. High School in Reading, Pennsylvania. Recipient of the Price Greenleaf Scholarship.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1901-02, p. 116.

A.B. (Harvard) 1903, A.M. (Harvard) 1904. ― Resident Graduate Student, 1903-04. ― Student of Social Science at Harvard. Continuing his studies in social science in Europe, as Robert Treat Paine Fellow (1903-04).
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1903-04, p. 157.

Student, Harvard Law School
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President, 1904-05, p. 161.

Worked for theWall Street law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn at least as early as December 1916. Represented American Express in London and Paris for some urgent matter in early 1917. (Passport Application from December 21, 1916: includes a signed statement by his sister that the family settled in Pennsylvania prior to 1750). According to his World War II draft registration form (25 Apr 1942), he was still working at the same Wall Street law firm. He died in Bedford Four Corners, New York on July 4, 1957. He became a noted expert on roses.
Source: Items at the genealogical website ancestry.com.

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Other Labor Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Problems of Labor, 1903-1904.

Problems of Labor, 1904-05.

Problems of Labor, 1905-06.

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

Trade Unionism and Allied Problems, 1914-1915.

Problems of Labor, 1931.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. E. DeT. Bechtel. — Problems of Labor.

Total 100: 8 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 33 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 9a
Mid-Year Examination, 1906-07

  1. What is the difference between an “Allied Trades Council” and a “Federal Union”? Where are they to be found respectively, and what are their functions?
  2. Is there any difference in principle between the British Workmen’s Compensation Act and the German Compulsory Insurance Acts? If so, what is it?
  3. What are some of the legislative remedies proposed for the abuse of the injunction as applied to labor disputes? Criticise them.
  4. In what respects are American Industrial conditions different from those of the Australian colonies? Do these explain the differences in labor legislation in part? If so, how?
  5. What are the two most tangible results of the Australian labor legislation? Explain how they have come about.
  6. In the Higgling of the Market to determine rates of income, what are some of the advantages, or “bulwarks” as Webb styles them, which are enjoyed by the employer? What offsets has the workman?
  7. In what different ways may the non-union man be dealt with in Collective Bargains? Instance concrete examples.
  8. State briefly, but without discussion, three points in favor of, and three arguments against the German Compulsory Insurance Acts.
  9. What is the attitude of Trade Unionists in general toward incorporation? What substitute for incorporation, which will accomplish the same purpose, can you suggest?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Exams for Money and Banking. Andrew, 1906-1907

A two course sequence covering money, banking and foreign exchange became an established specialty field at the beginning of the twentieth century. Assistant Professor A. Piatt Andrew covered that field at Harvard.

__________________________

Previous course materials for
Money and Banking 

1900-01 (Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1905-06 (Andrew’s money and banking exams)

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Course Enrollment 1906-07
Money, first semester

Economics 8a 1hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 50: 4 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. Why was the Latin Monetary Union instituted? Why does it continue to exist? What conclusions of general significance can be drawn from its history?
  2. When may the levying of a seignorage be expected to result in rising prices? Falling prices? Stationary prices?
  3. “It is possible to introduce either a system of bi-metallism which will make prices fall, or one which will make them rise.” Explain these two systems, and show why they would affect prices in such ways.
  4. How is the increasing gold supply likely to affect —
    1. the interests of the working classes?
    2. the prosperity of business?
    3. the income of persons living upon a salary?
    4. the price of real estate?
    5. the price of bonds?
      Explain the reasons in each case.
  5. Explain the character, merits, and defects of —
    (a) the mathematical mean, (b) the geometrical mean, (c) the median, (d) the mode, (e) weighted averages, as methods of measuring changes in the value of money.
  1. “If an ounce of gold, which would be coined into the equivalent of £3 17s 10½ d, is sold for £4 or £5 in paper, the value of the currency has sunk just that much below what the value of a metallic currency would be.” — Mill, II, p. 92. What is your opinion of this statement?
  2. What does Darwin mean by the labor standard? By the commodity standard? Explain the merits claimed for each, and show the exemplification of the two standards in the history of the precious metals between 1873 and 1896. Has either been exemplified in the history of gold or silver since 1896?
  3. Enumerate the different kinds of money now current in the United States, and explain the circumstances and conditions of their issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07. A copy is also found in Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 30-31.

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Course Enrollment, 1906-07
Banking, second semester

Economics 8b 2hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Banking and Foreign Exchange.

Total 82: 3 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 32 Juniors, 30 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1906-7

Omit one question
  1. Name and characterize briefly the various classes of banks existing in (a) the United States, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) France, and (e) Germany.
    Name when possible a few leading examples of each class.
  2. What is meant in England by the official Bank rate, the actual Bank rate, the deposit rate, the market rates?
    Suppose that the official rate is raised from 4% to 5%, to what extent will the other rates probably be affected? and why?
    Would the answer have been different thirty years ago?
  3. In what manner and to what extent does the government derive especial advantage in the way of revenue and of services from the banks in the United States? in England? in Germany?
  4. It has been said that “any amount of credit may be created … so long as the claims held by the bank are based upon actual and salable property.”
    Mention any person or persons to whom one might attribute this opinion. Would you accept it?
  5. Express and illustrate the various circumstances under which American quotations of exchange upon France may (1) exceed, and (2) fall short of the nominal gold points.
  6. In your opinion did Andrew Jackson’s policy work permanent benefit or permanent harm to the banking interests of the country? State reasons.
  7. Explain briefly the innovations made by Secretary Shaw in the relations of the Treasury with the banks, and state your opinion of the general policy involved therein.
  8. What contributions to the development of banking in England were made by the authors of (a) “The Bullion Report,” (b) “Lombard Street”?
    In what ways and how far are the principles there presented applicable to the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 31-32.

Image Source: A. Piatt Andrew’s The Red Roof Guestbook, 1914-1930. Available at the Historic New England Website. Henry Davis Sleeper (Andrew’s neighbor on the left) and A. Piatt Andrew Jr. (right).

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam for European economic history (19th century). Gay, 1906-1907

Before Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965) and Alexander Gerschenkron (1904-1978) and after William Ashley (1860-1927), Professor Edwin Francis Gay (1867-1946) taught European Economic history in the Harvard economics department. This post adds to the collection of his examination questions transcribed and posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Previously posted:
European economic history
taught at Harvard

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

Exams for 1905-06

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

Gay and Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 73: 17 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. Compare the conditions of land-ownership in England, France and Germany during the first half of the nineteenth century. Explain the differences.
  2. [European tariff policies]
    1. Date the liberal period in the tariff history of the chief European countries.
    2. Why was the English Corn Law repealed?
    3. Give a brief account of the tariff history of Germany since the formation of the Zollverein.
  3. What consequences, according to Chevalier, would follow from the increased production of gold?
  4. [Railroad policies]
    1. When and for what reasons did the states of Germany and Russia obtain ownership of the railroads? What value has their experience for other countries?
    2. State Hadley’s criticism of the English Railway Commission.
  5. Describe briefly the extent, causes and results of the agricultural depression in Europe.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

Image Source: WikimediaCommons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and Exam for U.S. Economic History. Gay, 1906-1907

Edwin Francis Gay solo-taught the course on U.S. economic and financial history in 1906-07. He modified and expanded the course reading list from that used in the previous year by him and Taussig, but the structure of the course nonetheless appears to have been essentially unchanged.

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Previously…

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan. The Taussig/Gay reading list and final exam for 1905-06.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor [Edwin Francis] Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 112: 20 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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Course Reading List
1906-07

[Library Stamp: “May 13, 1907”]

ECONOMICS: 6b

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp.36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86; 124-139.

1776-1860.
2. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

3. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257; printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, IV. Nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci, and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

4. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

5. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 75-117, 223-237, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

*Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37. 64-76.

Kinley. History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

6. POPULATION AND SLAVERY.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

1860-1900.
7. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254 (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

8. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

9. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, 193-213.

10. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 156-229.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-437.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-cxc (note especially the maps and comments on pp. clxx-clxxviii).

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-126.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

12. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

13. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-107.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

14. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept. 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept. 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 3-16, 502-547.

Levasseur. American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

15. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION
AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-Ivii.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 38-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

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ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

  1. Describe briefly (not more than five minutes each) :—
    1. Independent Treasury.
    2. Greenbacks
    3. Mills Bill.
    4. Minimum system.
    5. Homestead system.
    6. Chief Canal systems.
  2. Outline succinctly :—
    1. The history and results of the tariff on wool and woolens.
    2. The experience of the United States with reciprocity.
  3. Comment on the following (from Grant’s message of 1870):
    “Building ships and navigating them utilizes vast capital at home; it creates a home market for the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy of the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war.”
  4. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1870-80 with that of the decade 1890-1900.
  5. [International labor migration]
    1. Describe the administration of the alien contract labor law.
    2. What are the present tendencies in the distribution of immigrants?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 29-30.

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay, seated in office, 1908. From Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Problem Sets Transportation

Harvard. Report assignment and final exam for transportation economics. Ripley, Daggett and McLaren, 1906-1907

American Railroad Scene

With the railroad industry posing so many interesting questions in the organization and regulation of industry, corporate finance, and economic geography it comes as no wonder that William Zebina Ripley taught one of the more popular advanced courses offered by the Harvard economics department early in the 20th century.

Worth noting is that the instructions for course reports transcribed below was only very slightly changed from an earlier version (1903-04).

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett and Mr. W. W. [Walter Wallace] McLaren. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 205: 7 Graduates, 59 Seniors, 100 Juniors, 31 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact references by title, volume, and page must be given in footnotes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

GROUP A

            Students will report upon the organization and present condition of one railway company in the United States. This will be indicated by a number, placed against each student’s name on the enrolment slip, which number refers to the railroad similarly numbered on this sheet. See Directions on last page.

            The information to be procured is as follows, and should be numbered in correspondence with this list. Note all changes during the year; and compare the results with those for the railway group in which the company lies, as given in U. S. Statistics of Railways. (1) Miles of line. (2) Passengers transported. (3) Tons of freight carried: gross and per mile of line. (4) Tons carried one mile, with revenue per ton mile. (5) Revenue per train mile. (6) Average train load and changes therein. (7) Classification of freight and changes therein. (8) Gross earnings from operation. (9) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line. (10) Net income from operation. (11) Stock and bonds. (12) Stock and bonds per mile of line. (13) Dividends paid. (14) Surplus. (15) Present prices and movements of prices of the various securities listed.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP B

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger mileage; and the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses. (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) market prices of securities; for two different railways. These are indicated by numbers posted against the student’s name on the enrolment slip. The aim should be not only to discover differences, but, as far as possible, to explain them. Mere description of conditions is not desired; actual comparison is demanded. The use of parallel columns is suggested. See Directions on last page

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

GROUP C

            Students will compare the volume of business (1) in gross and (2) by ton and (3) passenger miles; together with the (4) gross income, (5) operating expenses, (6) net income per mile of line, and (7) prices of securities; for a given railway through a series of years, since 1890, if possible. Note carefully, however, all changes or additions to the line from year to year. The railway assigned is indicated by a number placed against the student’s name on the printed class lists. The analysis of annual reports in financial journals must be carefully followed year by year. Results may be plotted on cross section paper where possible. See Directions on last page.

            With this data as a basis prepare as full a general description of the property as possible.

⇒The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “26 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the New York Central R.R.; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, etc.

RAILWAY COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
  1. Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fé.
  2. Baltimore and Ohio.
  3. Canada Southern.
  4. Central of New Jersey.
  5. Chesapeake and Ohio.
  6. Chicago and Alton.
  7. Chicago Great Western.
  8. Chicago, Indiana, and Louisville.
  9. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul.
  10. Chicago and Northwestern.
  11. Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific.
  12. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis. (Big Four.)
  13. Delaware and Hudson.
  14. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
  15. Denver and Rio Grande.
  16. Erie.
  17. Great Northern.
  18. Hocking Valley.
  19. Illinois Central.
  20. Iowa Central.
  21. Lake Erie and Western.
  22. Louisville and Nashville.
  23. Mexican Central.
  24. Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.
  25. Missouri Pacific.
  26. New York Central.
  27. New York, Ontario, and Western.
  28. Norfolk and Western.
  29. Pennsylvania.
  30. Philadelphia and Reading.
  31. St. Louis and San Francisco.
  32. St. Louis Southwestern.
  33. Southern Pacific.
  34. Southern Railway.
  35. Texas and Pacific.
  36. Union Pacific.
  37. Wabash.
  38. Wheeling and Lake Erie.
  39. Wisconsin Central.
  40. Ann Arbor.
  41. Atlantic Coast Line.
  42. Boston and Maine.
  43. Boston and Albany. (See New York Central.)
  44. Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
  45. Central Vermont.
  46. Central Railroad of New Jersey.
  47. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton.
  48. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha. (See Chicago and Northwestern.)
  49. Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
  50. Pittsburgh, Evansville, and Terre Haute.
  51. Lehigh Valley.
  52. Long Island.
  53. New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
  54. New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.
  55. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. (See New York Central.)
  56. Maine Central.
  57. Pittsburgh, Bessemer, and Lake Erie.
  58. Western Maryland.
  59. Rio Grande Western.
  60. St. Paul and Duluth.
  61. Northern Pacific. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  62. Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern.
  63. St. Joseph and Grand Island.
  64. Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis.
  65. International and Great Northern.
  66. Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis.
  67. Mobile and Ohio.
  68. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley. (See Illinois Central.)
  69. Plant System.
  70. Georgia Railroad and Banking Company.
  71. Central of Georgia.
  72. Pere Marquette.
  73. Columbus, Sandusky, and Hocking.
  74. Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling.
  75. Mexican Central.
  76. Grand Trunk.
  77. Canadian Pacific.
  78. Chicago, Burlington, and Quiney. (See Northern Securities Co.)
  79. Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf.
  80. Rutland.
  81. Seaboard Air Line.
  82. Northern Securities Co.
  83. The Rock Island Co.
DIRECTIONS

First — Read over the latest annual reports of the company. These are usually republished in Bradstreets; the N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle [Gore Hall]; or the N. Y. Journal of Commerce and Wall Street Journal. [Daily files of last two in 24 University Hall.] Statistical abstracts of these are also in Poor’s Manual of Railroads; the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully T. L. Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130 [better buy it, for use in Economics 9b]; Ripley, Transportation (in Vol. XIX, U. S. Industrial Commission Report, 1900), pp. 274-280 and 293-95; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111. (Copies in Harvard Hall.)

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N. Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. These Supplements, prior to 1902, are bound in with the regular issues of the Chronicle, one number in each volume. Since 1901 they are separately bound for each year. The Investors’ Supplement will be recognized by its gray paper cover, and must be carefully distinguished from the other supplements of the Chronicle. Market prices of securities are given in a distinct Bank and Quotation Supplement, also bound up with the Chronicle. Having found the company in the Investors’ Supplement, follow up all references to articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle as given by volume and page. Also use the general index of the latter, separately, for each year since the company was organized.

The files of Bradstreets should also be used, noting carefully that the index in each volume is in three separate divisions, “Editorials” being the most important. The course of prices is summarized at the end of each year in January Bradstreets, and also in the Reports of the U.S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII.

The files of Poor’s Manual, the Railway Age, the Railway World, the Wall Street Journal, and other technical papers may of course also be consulted.

Fourth. — Analyze carefully by means of its indexes the returns in the official Statistics of Railways in the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Note the statistical division into groups shown on the map at the head of each volume. Note also that for each railway lying in two or more groups, a Summary for the road as a whole is given as a Supplement to each table.

The Annual Statistical Abstract of the United States contains convenient general tables for certain purposes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. State and explain three leading reasons for the issue of preferred stock by a railroad.
  2. What peculiarities of the anthracite coal industry have led to overproduction and irregularity of prices, in absence of monopolistic agreements?
  3. The following statistics are drawn from the 1906 reports of two leading railroads. Complete the tables approximately, and state the main conclusions deducible from the statement of facts :—
Road A. Road B
Mileage operated 2062. 4423.
Tons rev. freight 20,259,000 25,641,000
Passenger mileage 1,255,625,000 511,391,000
Ton mileage 1,888,605,000 6,230,593,000
Average haul one ton (miles) 93 243
Loaded car mileage, one direction 86,381,000 353,282,000
Loaded car mileage, other direction 59,362,000
Average tons freight per train 236 410
Gross revenue from freight $27,247,000 $34,637,000
Freight train mileage 7,778,000 17,209,000
Earnings from operation $52,984,000 $51,636,000
Operating expenses $35,222,000 $34,302,000
Freight traffic density (compute it.) (compute it.)
Revenue per ton mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Freight earnings per train mile (compute it.) (compute it.)
Operating ratio (compute it.) (compute it.)
  1. What is the method of valuation of franchises in Wisconsin? Criticise it.
  2. What, in your judgment, are the three most important provisions of the Hepburn Act of 1906?
  3. What is the Doctrine of Judicial Review? Criticise it.
  4. Is railroad rate regulation in England more or less strict than in the United States? Describe the situation as regards the rate. making power.
  5. What are the various economic considerations involved in the making of a freight classification? Illustrate by taking a few typical commodities.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 28-29.

Image Source: American Railroad Scene: Lightning Express Trains Leaving the Junction. Currier & Ives (1874). Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress …. Washington : Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 39.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Macroeconomics

John Hopkins. Final exam for graduate macroeconomic theory. Aschheim, Christ, Mills. 1962

Carl Christ

 

The only remarkable thing to note about the following macroeconomics examination from Johns Hopkins is its somewhat confusing scheme for allowing students to select from the questions. No heroic leaps of imagination were demanded of the examinees, which is humane I guess. But an artifact is an artifact, so duly transcribed, posted, and added to the collection.

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MACROECONOMIC THEORY 18.604
Final Examination, May 21, 1962

Messrs. [Joseph] Aschheim,
[Carl] Christ, and [Edwin] Mills

Answer all questions except:

either       (a) three of the 12-point questions in Part II.
or             (b) one of the 36-point questions in Part I.

Time: 3 hours (i.e., 180 minutes); total credit 180 points.

PART I. 36 points each.
  1. Compare the roles assigned to technological progress in major writings of Schumpeter and Solow.
  2. Write a short critical essay comparing either
    1. The growth models of Harrod and Domar, or
    2. The models of growth and fluctuations presented by Tobin (JPE 1955) and Duesenberry (Business Cycles and Economic Growth)
  3. Analyze the essential differences between the modern conventional theory of public debt and the recent reformulation of this theory.
  4. The stability of equilibrium in the Wicksellian monetary system has been subjected to opposing interpretations by Myrdal and Patinkin. Review these opposing interpretations in light of Wicksell’s own formulation.
PART II. 12 points each.
  1. Saving equals investment.
  2. The demand for money (as a stock) depends on bondholdings as well as on income and interest rates.
  3. Disarmament would create a major depression in the United States.
  4. The effect of an increase in government expenditure does not depend on how the extra expenditure is financed, as long as it does not come from increased taxes.
  5. If national income is $500 billion and consumption is $400 billion, then for each increase of $1 in government expenditure the equilibrium level of national income will increase by $5.
  6. The multiplier analysis is useful for studying economic growth, abstracting from cyclical fluctuations.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives. Department of Political Economy, Box 3/1 Series 6 , Folder “Graduate Exams 1933-1965” (sic).

Source: Professor Carl Christ in the Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1964, p. 42.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exam questions for principles of sociology. J.A. Field, 1906-1907

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was on a European sabbatical with his wife and three children during the academic year 1906-07 so substitutes were needed to cover his courses on sociology, agriculture and income distribution. The graduate student James A. Field took over the principles of sociology course in Carver’s absence.

Note: Materials from some courses have already been transcribed and posted. Whenever that is the case, I’ll just add a link to the relevant post. Falling between Economics 1 and Economics 3 was Frank W. Taussig’s course, Economics 2 (“Principles of Economics–Second Course”). It was the “advanced” economic theory course in the curriculum.

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Previous Posts about James A. Field

Chicago. Decennial Harvard Class Report of associate professor of political economy James A. Field, ABD, 1913.

Harvard. Economics Graduate School Records of James Alfred Field, ABD. 1903-1911.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 3. Mr. J.A. Field. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 4 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

I.

  1. [Elective reading(s)]
    1. Name the author and the title of the book which you chose for elective reading (or of each of the books, if your reading involved more than one).
    2. Indicate and briefly describe that which seems to you the central thought or the most interesting thought in the book (or in each of the books) thus read.
    3. Criticise the book (or one of the books) with regard to both merits and defects, giving special attention to the part you have described in your answer to question (b) above.

II
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What do you consider to be the true conception of social progress?
    To what extent does social progress in this sense promote the welfare of individuals?
  2. What is an acquired character?
    Assuming that acquired characters are not inherited, in what ways is that fact advantageous for society?
    Does this assumed non-inheritance of acquired characters become more advantageous or less advantageous as civilization advances?
  3. Describe the three stages traced by Comte in the progress of human society.
    Is Comte’s scheme in harmony with Kidd’s belief regarding the conditions of progress?
  4. What is meant by social heredity?
    Show the relation between social heredity and the theories of Baldwin, Fiske, and Tarde which have been considered in this course.

III
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What is Buckle’s conclusion as to the relative importance or moral and the intellectual factors of progress, and on what reasons is his conclusion based?
    Do you accept his conclusion and his reasoning as correct?
  2. How may self-interest act as a socializing influence?
  3. In what sense can a social mind be said to exist?
    How is it related to the individual minds of the members of society?
  4. What is religion, according to Kidd?
    How much has it in common with “the struggle for the life others”? How much has it in common with Idealization?
    Would Kidd agree that the function of all religions is to reconcile us to the inevitable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 3

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

[Omit one question.]

  1. Briefly explain:
    1. Exogamy.
    2. Anthropomorphism.
    3. Refraction of Imitation.
    4. Vicarious Leisure.
    5. General Social Sanction.
  2. What are the functions which are organized in the institution of the family?
    Describe the Religious-Proprietary Family.
  3. Criticise Spencer’s antithesis of the militant and industrial types of society and compare it with Robinson’s theory of the relation between war and economics.
  4. What is the Standard of Living?
    For what reasons, and under what conditions, is a high standard of living desirable?
  5. Compare economic competition with the biological struggle for existence.
  6. What are the relations of cause and effect which connect competition, specialization and capitalism?
  7. Explain and criticise Veblen’s theory of the Instinct of Workmanship.
  8. Discuss the relation of women to the competitive process, to conservatism and reform, to religion and to the institution of the leisure class.
    How do you explain the psychic differences between men and women which this discussion suggests? To what extent do you regard these differences as merely the result of social conventions?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 27-28.

Image Source: Original black-and-white image from the Special Diplomatic Passport Application by James Alfred Field (January 1918). Cropped and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. (Note: left third of the image is slightly distorted because of a transparent plastic strip used to hold pages in the imaging process)