Author: Irwin Collier

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Bibliography Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. European and U.S. Economic History. Reading Lists and Exams. Gay and Gray, 1909-10

Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray

 

Edwin Francis Gay teamed up a young history Ph.D., Howard L. Gray [see biographical material included below], to teach the European and U.S. economic history sequence, Economics 6a and 6b in 1909-10 at Harvard.

Materials, mainly course descriptions, enrollment and final exams for 1901/2-1908/9, that have been transcribed earlier are linked below.

Course bibliographies for 1909-10 are included in this post as well.

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Economic History Materials
Posted Earlier

Economic History of the United States

1901-02. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague and J.H. Patten]

1902-03. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1903-04. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1904-05. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1905-06. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States [with Frank W. Taussig]

1906-07. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay and M.T. Copeland]

European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 that was posted earlier.

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Howard Levi Gray, History Ph.D. 1907

HOWARD LEVI GRAY, A.B. (Univ. of Rochester) 1897, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1898, A.M. (ibid.) 1900. Subject, History. Special Field, Economic History. Thesis, “A Contribution to the Study of Anglo-Saxon Settlement.” Continuing his studies at London, as Edward William Hooper Fellow.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-07, p. 135.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard Levi Gray (see A.B. 1898), Instr. in History 1909-1914; Instr. in Economics 1911-1912; Tutor 1914-1915; Asst. Prof, of History 1914-1915.

Source: Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates 1636-1930, p. 83.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard L. Gray, Historian, 71, Dies

Professor at Bryn Mawr for 25 Years Retired in 1940
—Had Taught at Harvard

Special to The New York Times

BRYN MAWR, Pa., Sept 15— Howard Levi Gray, professor emeritus of history at Bryn Mawr College, died in his sleep early yesterday at Canajoharie, N. Y., at the age of 71, according to word received at the college here.

Professor Gray was born in Starkesville, N. Y., near Fort Plain, where his family had lived for many generations. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Rochester in 1897; an A.B. from Harvard University in 1898, and an M.A. in 1900.

He was an instructor in history at Harvard from 1909 through 1913 and assistant professor of history from 1914 until 1915 when he came to Bryn Mawr College as Professor of History. At his retirement in 1940 he was the Marjorie Walter Goodhart Professor of History.

While in Government service in London in the department of supply for the year 1918-1919, Professor Gray gathered material for his book, “Wartime Control of Industry.” His other publications included “Influence of the Commons on Early Legislation,” “English Field Systems,” “The First Benevolence” and “Greek Visitors to England in 1455-1456.” At his death he was at work on a new book, a study of mid-Fifteenth Century finance and administration.

Source: The New York Times, 16 Sept 1945.

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Econ 6a.
European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, 1909-10

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray.

Course 6a undertakes to present the general outlines of the economic history of western Europe since the Industrial Revolution. Such topics as the following will be discussed: the economic aspects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms, the Zoll-Verein, Cobden and free-trade in England, labor legislation and social reform, nationalism and the recrudescence of protectionism, railways and waterways, the effects of transoceanic competition, the rise of industrial Germany.

Since attention will be directed in this course to those phases of the subject which are related to the economic history of the United States, it may be taken usefully before Economics 6b. It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 55.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 96: 12 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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ECONOMICS 6a (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 609-669.

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 10-82.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, pp. 32-93.

Woollen Report of 1806; reprinted in Bullock, Selected Readings in Economics, pp. 114-124.

Walpole, The Great Inventions, in History of England, Vol. I, pp. 50-76; reprinted in Bullock, pp. 125-145, and Rand, Selections illustrating Economic History, chapter ii.

Chapman, The Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 1-112.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-101.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation, pp. 14-42.

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, pp. 197-240.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 179-502.

Cooke Taylor, The Modern Factory System, pp. 44-225.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, Selections, pp. 55-85.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Vol. I, pp. 287-297. (Rand, pp. 86-98.)

*Morier, Agrarian Legislation of Prussia, in “Systems of Land Tenure,” pp. 267-275. (Rand, pp. 98-108.)

*Brentano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia, Econ. Jour., Vol. VII, pp. 1-20.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriété Rurale, pp. 80-164.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, pp. 52-89.

Von Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, pp. 40-50.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. II, pp. 371-394.

Schulze-Gävernitz, Volkswirtschaftliche Studien aus Russland, pp. 308-383.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 71-116.

*Taylor, Decline of Land-Owning Farmers in England, pp. 1-61.

Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 64-103.

Brodrick, English Land and English Landlords, pp. 65-240.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, pp. 473-528.

Garnier, English Landed Interest, Vol. II, pp. 360-512.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I, pp. 10-109, 133-174.

Levy, Entstehung und Rückgang des landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebs in England.

  1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Levi, History of British Commerce, pp. 218-227, 261-272, 292-303; in Rand, pp. 207-241.

*Morley, Life of Cobden, chapters vi, vii, xvi.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, pp. 32-64, 296-392.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. I, pp. 49-77.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, Vol. II, pp. 522-559; Vol. III, pp. 220-252.

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 27-99.

Tooke, History of Prices, Vol. V, pp. 391-457.

  1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

*Ashley, Modern Tariff History, pp. 3-62, 301-312, [267-300].

Worms, L’Allemagne Économique, pp. 57-393.

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, Vol. I, pp. 21-34, 219-316.

Perigot, Histoire de Commerce Français, pp. 77-185.

Lang, Hundert Jahre Zollpolitik, pp. 168-230.

  1. FINANCE.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 689-703, 822-829, 833-840.

*Andréadès, History of the Bank of England, pp. 284-294, 331-369, 381-388.

Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, pp. 38-54, 62-121.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, pp. 115-134.

Macleod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), Vol. I, pp. 433-540; Vol. II, pp. 1-197.

Bastable, Public Finance, Bk. V, chaps. 3 and 4 (3d ed.), pp. 629-657.

  1. THE NEW GOLD.

*Cairnes, Essays, pp. 53-108; in Rand, pp. 242-284.

*Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 34-92.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Traité d’Economie Politique, Vol. III, pp. 192-238.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, pp. 75-97,k 121-228.

Hooper, Recent Gold Production of the World, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1901, pp. 415-433.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 146-202.

*Preferential Treatment given by Railway Companies in Great Britain, Report of the Royal Commission of 1906, pp. 11-34.

McLean, English Railway and Canal Commission of 1888, in Q.J.E., 1905, Vol. XX, pp. 1-55, or in Ripley, Railway Problems, pp. 603-649.

Acworth, Railways of England, pp. 1-56.

Acworth, Elements of Railway Economics, pp. 50-159.

McDermott, Railways, pp. 1-149.

Porter, Progress of the Nation, pp. 287-339.

Edwards, Railways and the Trade of Great Britain, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1908, pp. 102-131.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 1-184.

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 3-20, 133-182.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, Vol. II, pp. 178-284.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 82-120.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, pp. 107-137.

Léon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, pp. 1-156.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – STATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 236-258, [203-235].

*Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 92-188.

Acworth, Relation of Railways to the State, Econ. Jour., 1908, pp. 501-519.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie des Deutschen Eisenbahnen, pp. 3-14.

Lotz, Verkehrsentwicklung in Deutschland, pp. 2-47, 96-142.

Leuschau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, pp. 9-56, 95-161.

Peschaud, Belgian State Railways, translated in Pratt, State Railways, pp. 57-107.

Tajani, The Railway Situation in Italy, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIII, pp. 618-653.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 185-326.

Pratt, Railways and Nationalization, pp. 1-120, 253-293.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century (ed. 1905), pp. 55-107.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 1-95.

Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, pp. 55-106, 207-249.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, pp. 252-260, 306-317.

Glover, Tonnage Statistics of the Decade 1891-1900. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1902, pp. 1-41.

Ginsburg, British Shipping, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 173-195.

LeRoux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, pp. 93-224.

Charles-Roux, L’Isthme et le Canal de Suez, Vol. II, pp. 287-339.

Von Halle, Volks- und Seewirtschaft, pp. 136-219.

  1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

*Report on Agricultural Depression, 1897, pp. 6-10, 21-40, 43-53, 85-87.

*Report on Small Holdings in Great Britain, Royal Commission of 1906.

Haggard, Rural England, Vol. II, pp. 536-576.

The Tariff Commission, Vol. III, Report of the Agricultural Committee, 1906.

Thompson, Rent of Agricultural Land in England and Wales during the Nineteenth Century. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 587-611.

Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 274-364.

Arch, Autobiography, pp. 65-144, 300-345.

Little, The Agricultural Labourer, Report to the Royal Commission on Labour, 1894, Vol. I, pp. 195-253.

Adams, Position of the Small Holding in the United Kingdom. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 412-437.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), pp. 175-209.

Bastable, Some Features of the Economic Movement in Ireland, Econ. Jour., Vol. XI, pp. 31-42.

J. Méline, The Return to the Land, pp. 83-144, 185-240.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, pp. 24-34, 127-223.

Simkhovitch, The Agrarian Movement in Russia, Yale Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 9-38.

King and Okey, Italy Today, pp. 156-192.

  1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

*Smart, Return to Protection, pp. 7-44, 136-185, 284-259.

*Balfour, Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade. (Also in Fiscal Reform, pp. 71-95, [97-113, 266-280]).

*Chamberlain, Imperial Union and Tariff Reform, pp. 19-44.

Ashley, W.J., Tariff Problem, pp. 53-210.

Marshall, Fiscal Policy of International Trade, pp. 30-82.

Pigou, Protective and Preferential Import Duties, pp. 1-117. (See also his Riddle of the Tariff, pp. 1-107.)

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 100-168.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History, pp. 78-112, 313-358.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

Meredith, Protection in France, pp. 54-129.

  1. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

*Ashley, W.J., British Industries, pp. 2-38, 68-92.

*Howard, Recent Industrial Progress in Germany, pp. 51-109, [1-50]

Cox, British Industries under Free Trade, pp. 2-84, 142-175, 235-376.

Levasseur, Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous le troisième République, pp. 27-166.

La Belgique, 1830-1905, pp. 397-617.

Fischer, Italien und die Italiener (ed. 1901), pp. 240-267.

Machat, Le Developpment Èconomique de la Russie, pp. 157-229.

  1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

*Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165, [14-38]

*Macrosty, The Trust Movement in Great Britain, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 196-232.

Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in Europe, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 13-41.

———, Combinations in German Coal Industry, pp. 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 22-32.

Baumgarten und Meszlény, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 83-152.

  1. LABOR — COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

*Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, pp. 22-57, 81-127.

*Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency, Vol. II, pp. 307-350.

Wood, Real Wages and the Standard of Comfort since 1860. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1909, pp. 91-101.

Cost of Living of the Working Classes in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Report to the Board of Trade, 1909.

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, pp. 29-87.

Beveridge, Unemployment.

Ashley, W.J., Progress of German Working Classes, pp. 1-65, 74-141.

Dawson, The German Workman, pp. 1-245.

Holyoake, History of Coöperation in England (ed. 1906), [pages missing?]

Gide, Productive Coöperation in France, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 30-66.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 394-397, 407-413.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1909-1910”.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. State the topics you would discuss if you were to write on the agricultural history of England in the nineteenth century.
  2. In the light of your knowledge of the movement of wages and rent in England, comment on the following statement by Henry George: —

“Though neither wages nor interest anywhere increase as material progress goes on, yet the invariable accompaniment and mark of material progress is the increase of rent … Increased power of production has everywhere added to the value of land; nowhere has it added to the value of labor; everywhere wages, as a proportion of the produce, have decreased.”

  1. Courcelle-Seneuil wrote of Peel’s Bank Charter Act: “The Bill of 1844 was based on several errors of fact … and as soon as it was put to the test of experience the inadequacy and danger of its effects became evident.” Discuss this view, stating at the outset the chief provisions of the Act.
  2. Do you find in the facts of the recent economic history of England any justification for the revival of protectionism in that country? State the chief arguments for and against such a policy.
  3. (a) Give examples of the different classes of Kartells or trade associations.
    (b) Are Kartells, as Grunzel asserts, essentially different from trusts or amalgamations?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 41-42.

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Econ 6b.
Economic and Financial History of the United States,
1909-10

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones.

The following are among the subjects considered: aspects of the Revolution and commercial relations during the Confederation and the European wars; the history of the protective tariff policy and the growth of manufacturing industries; the settlement of the West and the history of transportation, including the early canal and turnpike enterprises of the states, the various phases of railway building and the establishment of public regulation of railways; banking and currency experiences; various aspects of agrarian history, such as the public land policy, the growth of foreign demand for American produce and the subsequent competition of other sources of supply; certain social topics, such as slavery and its economic basis, and the effects of immigration.

It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 56.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 170: 12 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 70 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 14 Freshmen, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Callender, Economic History of the United States, pp. 6-63, 85-121.

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.
  1. 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).

Callender, Economic History, pp. 432-563.

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.

  1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 271-275, 345-404.

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.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

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.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 597-692.

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

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.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

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.

  1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 738-819.

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

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-119.

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.

Ballagh, Land System of the South, Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 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.

1860-1900.
  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

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

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.

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

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

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

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

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 257-283.

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

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

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

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

  1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 114-152, 182-233.

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.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

  1. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

*Taussig, Tariff Act of 1909, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIV, pp. 1-38.

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.

Taussig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344.

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. 311-487.

  1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 284-354.

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.

  1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 724-746, 793-833.

*Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

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.

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.

  1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

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

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

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

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies 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, 1909-1910”.

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ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1830-40 with that of the decade 1850-60.
  2. (a) Outline the tariff legislation of the United States from 1816 to 1860.
    (b) Compare Hamilton’s argument for Protection with the recent statement of the “true principle.”
  3. Comment on the following: —
    “It is the American farmer who sustains the foreign credit of the United States, and keeps the balance of trade favorable. During the fiscal year of 1907 the exports of farm products exceeded the imports by four hundred and forty-four millions of dollars. The farmer has succeeded in keeping the balance favorable for eighteen years, the aggregate in favor of the United States during that time being more than six billion dollars, while the non-agricultural products during the same period have shown an adverse balance of more than four hundred and fifty millions.”
  4. (a) In 1891 ex-Senator Peffer wrote: “Agriculture is behind, farming is profitless. farmers are not doing business on a cash basis. The railroad builder, the banker, miner, and manufacturer are growing richer, while the farmer and his co-worker are poorer as the years pass.”
    What remedies were then proposed, and what has in fact remedied the condition of the farmer?
  5. Summarize the merits and defects of the trade union policies as compared with those of the “Trust.”
  6. Discuss briefly:
    1. Specie Circular.
    2. Suffolk Banking System.
    3. The abuses of the public land policy.
    4. The “American Invasion.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 42-43.

Image Source: The portraits of Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray in Radcliffe College, The Book of the Class of 1916.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Economics of Transportation. Description, Enrollment, Reports, and Exam. Ripley and Jones, 1909-1910

The teaching assistant to William Zebina Ripley in 1909-10 for his course on the economics of transportation (mostly or all about railroad economics) was Eliot Jones (Ph.D., 1913) who continued on to a distinguished career as a professor of economics at Stanford.

Ripley covered a good chunk of the economics curricular waterfront (statistics, railroads, labor, and corporations) at Harvard. 

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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5 (Economics of Transportation), etc.

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)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren). Also with the Assignment of Reports.
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1908-09 (Ripley with Edmund Thorton Miller)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)

______________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

APPLIED ECONOMICS
For Undergraduates and Graduates

5 1hf. Economies of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley and Mr. Eliot Jones.

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad Operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under Legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced.

Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 57.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 5 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 142: 6 Graduate, 48 Seniors, 57 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 6 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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

Eliot Jones (Ph.D. 1913)

ELIOT JONES, A.B. (Vanderbilt Univ.) 1906, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1908. Subject, Economics. Special Field, Railroad Transportation. Thesis, “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the United States, with some Account of the Early Development of the Anthracite Industry.” Instructor in Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 90.

Obituary of Eliot Jones
[b. 12 Feb 1887; d. 17 Oct 1971]

Eliot Jones, retired professor of economics at Stanford University, died Sunday at the Los Gatos Community Hospital. He was 84.

Jones, a native of Grinnell, Iowa, was graduated in 1906 from Vanderbilt University, where he set a record for the half-mile run in the Southern Intercollegiate Association. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard in 1908 and 1913.

During World War I Jones was a member of the Federal Trade Commission and the War Industry Board. He was named associate professor at Stanford in 1917 and a full professor in
1920. He was chairman of the department of economics from 1920 to 1922. He retired in 1952.

Jones’s books include “The Anthracite Coal Combination in the U.S.,” “The Trust Problem in the U.S.,” “The Principles of Railway Transportation,” “Railroads,” and “Principles of Public Utilities.”

He is survived by his wife, Mabel Ross Jones of Los Gatos; a son, Eliot Jones of Carmel; a brother, Chapin Jones of Char-lottesville, Va.; and a sister, Mrs. Cyrus J. Fitton of Hamilton, Ohio…

Source: The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, CA. October 19, 1971.

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ECONOMICS 5
ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

⇒ Exact reference 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 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) Gross earnings from operation. (7) Operating expenses: gross and per mile of line.

(8) Net income from operation. (9) Stock and bonds. (10) Stock and bonds per mile of line.

(11) Dividends paid. (12) Surplus. (13) 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. as described under A on the preceding page; “16 & 37 B,” that a comparison of the Erie and the Wabash Railroads is expected, as described under B on the preceding page; 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. (See Northern Securities Co., since 1900.)
    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. Western Pacific Co.
    84. Colorado and Southern.
DIRECTIONS

First. — Secure if possible by correspondence, enclosing ten cents postage, the last or recent annual reports of the company. P. O. addresses are given in Poor’s Manual of Railways; the Official Guide of Railways in the United States; the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle; or bankers’ and stock exchange Handbooks, Manuals of Statistics, etc.

Second. — Before compiling any returns for ton or passenger mileage, revenue per train mile, etc., read carefully Ripley, in Final Report U. S. Industrial Commission, pp. 274-280 and 293-295; [James Shirley] Eaton, Railway Operations, pp. 190-201; or Woodlock, Anatomy of a Railroad Report, pp. 101-111; and especially [T. L.] Greene, Corporation Finance, pp. 79-130.

Third. — Work back carefully through the file of the Investors’ Supplement, N.Y. Commercial and Financial Chronicle. [e.g., for  January 31, 1903] 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.

Fourth. — Look up the summaries and criticisms of each year’s annual report in The Railway Age, and since 1908 in The Railway Age Gazette.

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 the Wall Street Journal are also valuable.

Fifth. — 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, 1909-1910”.

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ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. What were the most significant events in our railroad history in the decade 1870-80?
  2. Describe at least three main reasons for the roundabout routing of freight. Are there any remedies for it?
  3. What are the three modes of emission of new capital stock by railroads under the Massachusetts laws? Why was the last change made?
  4. Name the principal contrasts between British and American railway conditions?
  5. Outline the procedure by which rates are supervised by the government in France.
  6. “While continuing to insist in words that rate control is an exercise of the police power, the (Supreme) Court has in fact treated it as if it were a phase of the power of eminent domain.” What does this mean as applied to the judicial review of railway rates? What objections to this contention may be offered?
  7. —
    1. Explain just how the issue of valuation of railways has arisen in the United States.
    2. Show the distinction between the two kinds of valuation.
  8. State in separate paragraphs at least five of the proposals for new legislation concerning railroads of the present Federal Administration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 41.

Image Source: “The Right of Way” by Beaumont Fairbank, published in Puck, 25 May 1910. A locomotive labeled “Private Monopoly Special” racing down tracks labeled “Opportunity” while two trains labeled “Plain People Local” and “Legitimate Business” have been side-tracked, giving the monopoly the “right of way”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Exams for Statistics. Ripley, 1909-1910

William Zebina Ripley

William Zebina Ripley’s teaching portfolio at Harvard included the methods of (descriptive statistics) which was still not yet a mandatory part of the training of graduate students of economics in 1910. Also worth noting is that there was not a deep bench at Harvard to cover the field of statistics in the first decade of the twentieth century—the course was not offered by anyone in 1905-06.

Ripley lists ten treatises on statistics in his chapter on social statistics in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al. There is certainly overlap with his course readings there.

________________________

Statistics (Econ 4) Exams
from previous years

1901-02.
1902-03.
1903-04.
1904-05.
1905-06 [not offered]
1906-07. [offered but no printed exam found]
1907-08. [only mid-year exam found]
1908-09.

________________________

Course Description
1909-10

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. Tu., Th., at 11. First half-year: Professor Ripley. Second half-year: Mr. —.

This course is intended rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as embodying mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of census and other statistical methods in the United States and abroad, with the scientific use and interpretation of results. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor, wages, and employment; statistics of agriculture, manufactures, and transportation, will be then considered in order. Laboratory work, amounting to not less than two hours per week, in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material, will be required.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29
(23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 53.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 4. Professor Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 26: 8 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 4 Freshmen, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Suppose that an investigation as to unemployment in 1909 among 5,000,000 men, showed the following result:—
45 per cent. were idle 1 month,
20 per cent. were idle 4 months,
15 per cent. were idle 7 months,
10 per cent. were idle 9 months,
5 per cent. were idle 11 months.

What would be the average unemployment? Could you state the result in any better way?

  1. Fisher estimates a possible average prolongation of life of 15 years; and cites three factors which may still further extend it beyond this limit. What are these?
  2. The median age of the population of the United States in 1900 was 22.85; in 1880 it was 20.86. The average age in 1900 was 26.2; in 1880 it was 24.6. (a) Why is the average age so much higher than the median age? (b) Explain how each is obtained. (c) Which is the better mode of expressing the statistical facts?
  3. The population of Marseilles in 1828 was 133,000, of which 33,000 were vaccinated. There were 3,330 cases of smallpox of which 2,289 were of persons not vaccinated. Of these latter 420 died; while among 1,041 vaccinated persons stricken, only 17 died. Was vaccination a success or not? Is there a showing unfavorable to vaccination deducible from these figures? Prove in each case by ratios.
  4. —
Standard Birth rate. Correction Factor. Crude Birth rate. Corrected Birth rate.
Boston 39.04 0.8942 29.15 _____
Providence, R. I. 43.86 0.7959 26.46 _____
Native born 30.88 1.1305 15.09 _____
Foreign born 55.67 0.6271 49.37 _____

Explain (a) how this table was constructed in principle; (b) complete it by filling in the blank spaces; and (c) explain exactly what it means.

  1. From the age of 10 forward, the probability of death increases progressively. Will a mortality table show more or fewer deaths in consequence between the ages of 60-65 or of 10-15 years?
  2. Is registration of births or of deaths making the more rapid progress in the United States? How widely extended is each?
  3. How is the birth rate for the United States computed from the census data? What is the principal element of uncertainty in such an estimate?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What is usually conceded to be the best statistical measure of the well-being of a community or a family? Name some authorities who have worked in this field.
  2. About how much unemployment is there normally in civilized countries? Criticise the evidence available.
  3. Where would you find statistical data as to —
    1. Membership in trade unions?
    2. The amount of gold and silver in circulation in the United States?
    3. Traffic on rivers and canals in the United States?
    4. The prevalence of crime in the different states of the Union?
  4. What does the following table show?

Cost of a product valued at $100.

Materials Wages Misc. Exp. Total
U.S. all industries, 1890 $55.08 $24.36 $6.73 $86.17
  1. What is shown by the following table?

Labor cost in three industries.

United States, 1900 Per cent of wages
and value of product		 Average wages
Iron and steel 15.0 $543
Cotton goods 25.6 $286
Flour and grist mills 3.2 $478
  1. Could any change in conditions between 1890 and 1900 be proved by such data?
  2. Describe the statistical system as to price movements of Soetbeer in detail.
  3. Criticise the Aldrich Committee Report on the movement of wages since 1890.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 40.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1909-1910

Thomas Nixon Carver taught or co-taught sociology in the Harvard economics department eight times in the first decade of the twentieth century. Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

__________________________

Carver’s teaching assistant was J. S. Davis [Ph.D., 1913] whose obituary, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was written by Joseph H. Willits. It was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

__________________________

Sociology exams from earlier years

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

The purpose of this course will be to make an analytical study of social life in order to discover the elementary factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The development of social institutions, such as the family, the state, religion, property, and contract, will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Reading in connection with the lectures will be assigned in such works as Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Kidd’s Social Evolution, and in Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis [Ph.D., 1913]. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 70: 12 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

Do not try to write too much. Think out your answers and express yourself clearly.

  1. How would you define Sociology, and into what departments would you divide it?
  2. How does the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters affect the problem of race improvement?
  3. Do geographical conditions exercise as powerful an influence upon mental and social life in advanced stages of civilization as in the lower stages? Explain your position.
  4. How is the form of social organization affected when the social group is compelled to wage its chief struggle against other social groups? How is it affected when the group must wage its chief struggle against the forces of nature?
  5. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the relative importance of intellectual and moral development.
  6. What is meant by the standard of living, how is it maintained, and how does its maintenance affect the general problem of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What, according to Spencer, are the original external and the original internal factors of sociology?
  2. What professions have developed from the priesthood, and how has the development taken place?
  3. What are the points of resemblance between the mediaeval prince and the modern political boss?
  4. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the development of European society in the near future?
  5. How, according to Buckle, is civilization affected by the “aspects of nature”?
  6. What is meant by the “zone of the founders of religion”?
  7. What is meant by “The Productive Life”?
  8. What is the relation of morality to adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 39-40.

Image Source: Portraits of Thomas Nixon Carver and Joseph Stancliffe Davis from the Harvard Class Album 1916.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and semester examinations for principles of economics. Carver and Bullock, 1909-1910

After a long break to finish the draft of a paper and a couple of weeks of vacation, your Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s curator is back in action. We resume with the transcription of the 1909-10 Harvard economics course examinations. Economics 1, Principles of Economics is the subject of this post. Professors Carver and Bullock covered the course for Frank Taussig in 1909-10 due to a last-minute leave of absence taken by Taussig (undoubtedly related to the ill-health of his wife [Tuberculosis?]).

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Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1908/09

1871-75

 1880-81 1890-91 1900-01
1881-82 1891-92

1901-02

1882-83 1892-93 1902-03
1883-84 1893-94

1903-04

1884-85 1894-95 1904-05
1885-86 1895-96

1905-06

1876-77

 1886-87 1896-97 1906-07
1877-78 1887-88 1897-98

1907-08

1878-79

 1888-89 1898-99 1908-09
1879-80 1889-90 1899-00

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Frank Taussig on Leave, 1909-1910

Owing to the absence of Professor Taussig, the following changes in the courses in Economics will be made:

Economics 1 will be conducted by Professors Bullock and Carver; Economics 2 will not be given; Economics 14a and 14b will be given as hitherto, but will be starred,–that is, may not be taken without the consent of the instructor; Economics 23 will not be given; Economics 4, which was announced to be given as a half-course only, in the first half-year, will be given as a full course, by Professor Ripley; Economics 9b, which was announced to be omitted, will be given; Economics 20d will not be given.

Source: The Harvard Crimson (29 September 1909).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

“The work that gave final form to the Principles was done in an atmosphere of sorrow. Mrs. Taussig’s health had given cause for anxiety for some time. In 1909-1910 he took a year’s leave of absence, which they spent in Saranac [Lake], N.Y., and there she died on April 15, 1910.”

Source: J. A. Schumpeter, A. H. Cole, and E. S. Mason, “Frank William Taussig”, Quarterly Journal of Economics (May, 1941), p. 352.

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Economies. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Dr. Huse and Messrs. M. T. Copeland, Holcombe, Sharfman, and Usher.

Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1.

Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 1. Professors [Thomas Nixon] Carver and [Charles Jesse] Bullock, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Ph.D., 1907] and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe [Ph.D., 1909], Messrs. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland [Ph.D., 1910], [Isaiah Leo] Sharfman [LL.B., 1910], and [Abbott Payson] Usher [Ph.D., 1910] . — Principles of Economics.

Total 423: 15 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 193 Sophomores, 80 Freshmen, 52 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 43.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Distinguish between free goods and economic goods; between productive labor and unproductive labor; between wealth and capital.
  2. State the law of diminishing returns from land and explain its relation to the intensive and extensive margins of cultivation.
  3. If you were to find that all the land of a country had been brought under cultivation, what should you say would be the conditions which would permit a further increase of population?
  4. What are the chief advantages of a division of labor and what determines the extent to which the division of labor can be carried out?
  5. Name the great mechanical inventions since 1750 which have brought about a change in the form of industrial organization. What has been the character of this change?
  6. Can the value of a commodity depend both on demand and supply and on cost of production? If so, how? Can it ever depend on demand and supply and not on cost of production? Can it ever depend on cost of production and not on demand and supply? Explain?
  7. What will be the probable effect of the present meat boycott on the price of meat, other food products, cattle, hides, assuming the boycott to be permanent?
  8. Outline briefly the principal acts of congress relating to the coinage of money in the United States, explaining particularly those acts which produced effects illustrating Gresham’s Law.
  9. Compare the Bank of England, the Bank of Germany and the national banks of the United States as to (1) security of note issue; (2) elasticity of note issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. —
    1. Distinguish between elastic and inelastic demand; between total and marginal utility.
    2. Can the value of any commodity depend both on marginal utility and on cost of production today it ever depend on one and not on the other? Explain carefully.
  2. What are the methods by which a bank may sell its credit? What provisions in the national banking law of the United States serve as a safeguard against the over-extension of credit?
  3. A has a piece of land which produces 100 bushels of wheat at an average cost of 60 cents a bushel. The cost of producing a bushel of wheat on the extensive margin of cultivation is 90 cents. What elements does this marginal cost of production include? Calculate the selling price of A’s land, the current rate of interest being 5%.
  4. Suppose that every person engaged in agriculture owned the land which he cultivated, and that all advantages of superior fertility were exactly offset by greater costs of transportation, would rent arise under any conditions? If so, how would it be determined? If not, would the land have any exchange value? Give reasons.
  5. —
    1. Suppose that every person made and used his own tools, would interest exist? Give reasons.
    2. Is the payment of interest at the current rate to a multi-millionaire for the use of his capital justifiable? Give reasons.
  6. What are net profits? To what are they due? Are they a factor in determining price? Give reasons.
  7. What effect upon wages would you expect as a result of:—
    1. the extension of industrial education;
    2. immigration;
    3. the limitation of the output by labor unions;
    4. an increase in the supply of capital;
    5. the introduction of socialism?
  8. Discuss briefly:—
    1. overcapitalization.
    2. Rochdale Pioneers.
    3. Knights of Labor.
    4. Single Tax.
    5. “Gold points.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 38-39.

Image Source: Charles Jesse Bullock and Thomas Nixon Carver portraits in the Harvard Class Album 1915.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Philosophy Social Work

Harvard. Description, enrollment and exam for Social Ethics. Peabody, 1908-1909

At the turn of the 20th century social policy at Harvard was a subject for the department of social ethics located at the intersection of economics and philosophy. It was taught as a subfield of philosophy (Social Ethics) by divinity professor Francis Peabody together with a changing cast of junior instructors to assist him.

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Exams from past years

Exam questions  this course from the late 19th century have been transcribed and posted: 1888-1889; 1889-1890; 1890-1891; 1892-1893; 1893-1894; 1894-1895; 1895-1896.

1902-03. Listed as Philosophy 5. Taught by Peabody and Ireland.

1904-05. Listed as Philosophy 5 and Ethics 1. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.

1906-07. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.

1907-08. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.

__________________________

Francis Greenwood Peabody. The Approach to the Social Question. New York: Macmillan, 1912. “The substance of this volume was given as the Earle Lectures at the Pacific Theological Seminary in 1907.”

Peabody’s own short bibliography on the Ethics of Social Questions was published in 1910.

Another post provides the history of Harvard’s Department of Social Ethics up through 1920.

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DR. RAY MADDING McCONNELL

Harvard Instructor in Social Ethics Had Made Long Study of Important Problems

Dr. Ray Madding McConnell, long active in educational work, died early this morning at a private hospital in Cambridge. Dr. McConnell, who was a graduate of Harvard, class of 1902, was born in Tennessee in 1875, and had been since his college days a great student of sociological problems and recently instructor in social ethics at Harvard.

Dr. McConnell received numerous honorary degrees, including his A.B. from Southern University in Alabama, in 1899, his S.T.B. from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee in 1901, his A.M. from Harvard in 1902, and from that university his Ph.D. in 1908. He was a writer on the subject to which he had given so many years of earnest study and research, and last year his book on “The Duty of Altruism” was brought out and he had at this time another book in preparation, “Philosophy of Crime.” He had contributed frequently to the International Journal of Ethics, and at Harvard he had given courses of lectures on “Moral Obligations of the Modern State.”

Dr. McConnell was married, in 1907, to Miss Phoebe Estes Bedlow of Ithaca, N.Y., by whom he is survived, as well as by a young son, Frank McConnell.

Source: Boston Evening Transcript (June 24, 1911), p. 14.

________________________

Course Description
1908-09

  1. Social Ethics. — The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory. Lectures, special researches, and prescribed reading. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Peabody assisted by Messrs. [Ray Madding] McConnell [d. 1911 of thematic fever and pneumonia], [James] Ford, and [Robert Franz] Foerster.

            This course is an application of ethical theory to the social problems of the present day. It is to be distinguished from economic courses dealing with similar subjects by the emphasis laid on the moral aspects of the Social Question and on the philosophy of society involved. Its introduction discusses various theories of Ethics and the nature and relations of the Moral Ideal [required reading from Mackenzie’s Introduction to Social Philosophy, and Seth’s Study of Ethical Principles]. The course then considers the ethics of the family [required reading from Bosanquet’s The Family]; the ethics of poor-relief [required reading from Devine’s Principles of Relief]; the ethics of the labor question [required reading from Adams and Sumner’s, Labor Problems]; and the ethics of the drink question [required reading from The Liquor Problem; a Summary of Investigations]. In addition to lectures and required reading two special and detailed reports are made by each student, based as far as possible on personal research and observation of scientific methods in poor-relief and industrial reform. These researches are arranged in consultation with the instructor or his assistant; and an important feature of the course is the suggestion and direction of such personal investigation, and the provision to each student of special literature or opportunities for observation.

            Rooms are expressly assigned for the convenience of students of Social Ethics, on the second floor of Emerson Hall, including a large lecture room, a seminary-room, a conference-room, a library, and two rooms occupied by the Social Museum. The Library of 1800 volumes is a special collection for the use of students of Social Ethics, with conveniences for study and research. The Social Museum is a collection of graphical material, illustrating by photographs, models, diagrams, and charts, many movements of social welfare and industrial progress.

Source: Announcement of the Divinity School of Harvard University, 1908-09, p. 24.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Social Ethics 1. Professor Peabody, assisted by Dr. McConnell and Messrs. Ford and Foerster. — Social Ethics. The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory.

Total 136: 3 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 65 Juniors, 29 Sophomores, 6 Freshmen, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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SOCIAL ETHICS 1
Year-end Examination 1908-09

This paper should be considered as a whole. The time should not be exhausted in answering a few questions, but such limits should be given to each answer as will permit the answering of all the questions in the time assigned.

  1. The place in the modern labor question of:—

Leclaire.
Lassalle.
Conseils des Prud’hommes.

  1. Discuss the following:—

“Labor is the original source of all value.”
“Property is robbery.”
“Surplus-value.”

  1. What is:—

“Economic determinism”;
“A class-conscious conflict”;
“Collective bargaining”?

  1. Ruskin’s criticism of the economists, and his own theory of value. [“Unto this Last” by John Ruskin]
  2. The evidences of progress on the part of the working-classes since the introduction of the factory-system. (Adams and Sumner, pp. 502-526.)
  3. The legal aspects of strikes. (Adams and Sumner, p. 187 ff.)
  4. The development in England of the principle of Employer’s Liability.
  5. The prospects of Industrial Co-operation in Great Britain and in the United States. The relative advantage of Federalism and of Individualism applied to Coöperation.
  6. The Pennsylvania Railroad Relief-Department; its organization, operation, and the criticisms which it encounters.
  7. The physiological action of alcohol and its relation to intellectual work. (Lectures, and The Liquor Problem, pp. 19-42.)
  8. The Scandinavian Liquor-System. (The Liquor Problem, p. 153ff.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 69.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  Francis Greenwood Peabody [photographic portrait, ca. 1900], Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Microeconomics

Chicago. Price Theory Core Examination. Summer 1961

 

Another gap just filled in a quarter century of University of Chicago graduate qualifying exams in price theory.

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Chicago Price Theory
Preliminary/Core Exams
Previously Posted

Summer 1949
Summer 1951
Summer 1952
Winter 1955
Summer 1955
Winter 1957
Winter 1958
Summer 1960
Winter 1961
Summer 1962
Winter 1963
Winter 1964
Winter 1965
Winter 1969
Summer 1975

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ECONOMIC THEORY (Old Rules)
Summer 1961

Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

Answer all questions. Time: 4 hours.

  1. Indicate whether statement is true, false, or uncertain, and briefly give your reason.
    1. A firm has a monopoly in its home market and also sells in a perfectly competitive world market; if its home-market price is 50% above the world market price, the elasticity of demand in the home market must be 3.
    2. If a multiplant firm has to produce a given quantity of output, it will never pay it to produce in more than one of its plants if that plant has decreasing marginal costs.
    3. The development of more rapid urban transport will inevitably raise the aggregate rental value of urban residential property.
    4. If the number of acceptable applicants for admission to medical schools is less than the number that could be accepted, the medical profession cannot be raising its earnings by artificially restricting entry.
    5. The rate of interest is determined by the marginal productivity of capital.
    6. If a particular commodity is subject to a special tax not imposed on other commodities, removal of that tax will always increase economic welfare.
    7. If the supply curve of a competitive industry has a positive slope, it means that the industry is subject to decreasing returns to scale.
    8. If wage rates, on the average, increase at the same rate as average product per worker, this means that the marginal return on investment declines over time.
    9. Entrepreneurs in a competitive industry may realize short term gains or profit as a result of an increase in the price of an input (due to a shift in the supply function for the input), even if the demand curve for the industry remains unchanged.
  1. A. A drug manufacturer stated that the prices of drugs sold in England were priced at about one half the price of similar drugs in the United States. The reason given for the price difference was that per capita incomes were much lower in England than in the United States and the English could not afford to pay as much for the drugs.
    Accept the factual statements as valid. Discuss the statement in terms of:

    1. Demand functions for drugs in the two countries (income and price elasticities).
    2. Whether the manufacturer could be maximizing his profits.
    3. International trade restrictions on drugs in the two countries.
  1. B. In a given competitive industry, both price and output increase between two time periods. Indicate why each of the following statements is consistent or inconsistent with the observed changes in price and output or is simply irrelevant:
    1. The industry has a perfectly elastic supply curve.
    2. The demand curve has shifted to the right.
    3. The factor supply curves are upward sloping.
    4. The industry is subject to diminishing returns.
    5. Total revenue has increased because the price elasticity of demand is greater than unity.
    6. Rents and quasi-rents have increased.
  2. A. In the effect of union-produced wage increases on prices, one economist says,

“A competitive industry (with a horizontal long run supply curve] will eventually pass all of a wage increase on to consumers in higher product prices” but “a monopolized industry, if it maximizes profits both before and after the wage increase, will not pass on the full amount of the wage increase in prices.”

Assume that the monopolized industry, like the competitive, operates under long-run constant costs.

    1. Explain precisely what “pass all of a wage increase on to consumers in higher prices” means.
    2. Is the statement for the monopolized industry correct? If so, prove it. If not, state why not and indicate any additional conditions required to make it true.
  1. B. This economist also says that the competitive industry “will regain its normal rate of profit”, whereas, in the monopolized industry, “the wage increase will lower monopoly profits”
    1. What does the word “profit” mean in these statements? in the phrase “maximizes profits” of the preceding question?
    2. Do the two statements imply a difference in results in the sense that the monopolized industry will not regain “its normal rate of profit”?
    3. Indicate briefly what other meaning or meanings, if any, does the term “profit” have in economic theory.
  2. Discuss the relation between forward (and/or futures) prices and spot prices on commodity markets and foreign exchange markets and the role of “speculators” and “hedgers” in these markets. State some of the leading theories about this relationship and discuss the kinds of evidence used in testing them.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1957-1965”.

Categories
Economists Harvard Math Michigan

Harvard. Application for PhD candidacy and graduate records. Olin Winthrop Blackett, 1926

The first two items posted below from the graduate records of Olin Winthrop Blackett (Harvard PhD 1926) are of particular significance, marking what appears to be the very first time that Mathematics was accepted as a field in the General Examination for a PhD in economics at Harvard. The decision to accept Mathematics as a minor field was made in November 1920, Blackett’s general examination took place in May 1922 and his PhD was awarded in 1926. The title of Blackett’s doctoral thesis was “The Cyclical Movements of the Prices of Raw materials in the Iron and Steel Industry.”

 

_________________________

Requesting approval of a mathematics minor in the General Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
A. A. Young
W. M. Persons
E. E. Day
J. S. Davis
H. H. Burbank
A. S. Dewing
E. E. Lincoln
A. E. Monroe
A. H. Cole		  

 

 

 

Cambridge, Massachusetts

November 5, 1920

Prof. C. H. Haskins,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Mr. Haskins,

I enclose herewith O. W. Blackett’s application for candidacy for the degree of Ph.D. in Economics. Blackett’s program is perfectly regular with the possible exception of the offering Mathematics as his minor. It seems to me that even in this particular the program is normal. I have talked over the Mathematics minor with the Department of Mathematics, particularly with Professor Huntington and have come without difficulty to an understanding which seems to assure a minor in that Department fully the equivalent of any of the other more common minors, and particularly serviceable for men who propose to specialize, as does Blackett, in the field of Statistical Method.

If Blackett’s program is approved, one or two others of similar kind will be submitted at an early date. I doubt not, furthermore, that Mathematics minors will become common among those expecting to specialize along statistical lines. Statistical method clearly is developing in directions that make a sound mathematical training an indispensable element in an adequate professional equipment.

Should Mathematics be accepted for men specializing in Statistics, I would suggest that you try to obtain the services of Professor Huntington as examiner when the field is up at the General Examinations. Professor Huntington has a definite interest in the application of Mathematics to Statistical Methode and is thoroughly acquainted with the material upon which candidates in Economics may most profitably be examined.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Edmund E. Day

EED A
Encl.

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

Request Granted

8 November 1920

Dear Day:

I cordially approve of Blackett’s programme, with the explanation given in your letter. It seems to me that when we accept Mathematics, we should be sure of men’s general Economics preliminary training, and that these men in particular get the courses in Economic History. Our plans ought always to be flexible enough to include the acceptance of an outside subject, where it is essential to the student’s work. What you say about the necessity of Mathematics for statisticians is sound, and I hope we shall encourage other men to take the same field. I shall bring the plan up at the next meeting of the Division.

Sincerely yours,
[unsigned copy of C. H. Haskins]

Professor E. E. Day.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

Olin Winthrop Blackett. July 12, 1895. Winthrop, Mass.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

Wesleyan University, 1914-17, & 1919-20.
Rich Fellow and Assistant in Economics, Wesleyan, 1919-20.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

B.A. Wesleyan, 1917.
M.A. Wesleyan, 1920.

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc. In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

Economic Theory —1 year elementary —3 years advanced.
Money and Banking —1 year. Corporations —1 year.
Tariff and International Trade —1 year. Labor Prob. —1 year.
Socialism, Single Tax, etc. —2 years. Statistics — 1 year.
American History —1 year. English & European History —1 year.
Philosophy —2 years. German —2 years. Math —4 years.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory. — This was my major study during three years of undergraduate work and one year of work for the masters degree. Taught theory 1 year in Wesleyan U. Eco. 11 & 14 at Harvard this year.
  2. Money, Banking, and Crises. — 1 year course in Wesleyan University. Auditor in Eco. 3 this year.
  3. Public Finance. — Eco. 31 this year at Harvard.
  4. Statistics. — 1 year in Wesleyan University. Private study during the summer of 1920.
  5. Economic History. — Studied in connection with courses in economics and history in Wesleyan U. Econ. 2a & 2b this year at Harvard.
  6. Mathematics. — 4 years work in Wesleyan U. including algebra, trig. analytic geom., calculus, finite differences, reduction of observations, interpolation, theory of errors, least squares, moments. 

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Statistics

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

The Machine Tool Industry. Cyclical Price Movements of Raw Materials in the Iron and Steel Industry.
Prof. Persons.

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

As late as possible in the spring of 1921 for the general examination.

X. Remarks

 [left blank]

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] Edmund E. Day — Chairman

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Olin W. Blackett.

Approved: January 25, 1921.

Ability to use French certified by C. J. Bullock. 3 March, 1922.

Ability to use German certified by  C. J. Bullock. 3 March, 1922.

Date of general examination May 19, 1922. Passed.

Thesis received October, 1925.

Read by Professors Persons, Crum, and Young.

Approved November 1925.

Date of special examination Monday. April 12, 1926.

Recommended for the Doctorate [left blank]

Degree conferred [left blank]

Remarks.  Mr. O. W. Blackett was examined on Monday, April 12, at 4 p.m. in room 404 College House by Professors Persons (chairman), Crum, Huntington and W.M. Cole. The committee unanimmously voted that the examination be accepted as satisfactory.
[signed] Warren M. Persons, Chairman.

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

Postponing General Examination from Spring to Fall 1921

15 Park Vale
Brookline, Mass.,
March 2, 1921

My dear Miss Cogswell:

Please pardon the delay in returning the copy you sent me. The material is as complete as I am able to make it at the present time. I shall not be a candidate for the General Examination this spring but shall present myself probably in the fall.

Yours truly,
[signed] Olin W. Blackett.

[NOTE: The General Examination was in fact postponed to the following Spring, May 19, 1922]

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

Draft of Planned General Examination Announcement (undated)

OLIN WINTHROP BLACKETT.

GENERAL EXAMINATION in Economics

COMMITTEE [left blank].

ACADEMIC HISTORY: Wesleyan University, 1914-17, 1919-20; Harvard Graduate School, 1920-. A.B., Wesleyan, 1917; A. M., ibid., 1920. Assistant in Economics, Wesleyan University, 1919-20.

GENERAL SUBJECTS: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Money, Banking, and Crises. 3. Public Finance. 4. Statistics. 5. Economic History. 6. Mathematics.

SPECIAL SUBJECT: Statistics.

THESIS SUBJECT: [left blank].

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

Certification of reading knowledge
of French and German

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
A. A. Young
W. M. Persons
E. E. Day
H. H. Burbank
A. S. Dewing
J. H. Williams
A. E. Monroe
A. H. Cole
R. S. Tucker
R. S. Meriam		  

 

 

 

Cambridge, Massachusetts

March 3, 1922

Dear Haskins:

This certifies that I have examined Mr. O. W. Blackett and find that he has such a reading knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the Degree of Philosophy [sic].

Very truly yours,
[signed] Charles J. Bullock

Dean C. H. Haskins

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

Date and Place of General Examination

16 May 1922

My dear Mr. Blackett:

Your General Examination on Friday, 19 May, will be held in Widener U at 4 P.M.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

Mr. O. W. Blackett.

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

Committee of General Examination

23 May 1922

My dear Sir:

Your general examination will come Friday, 19 May, unless otherwise notified. Professors Day, Huntington, Young, Burbank, and Dr. Clark, have ben appointed to examine you. Of course, the committee is tentative, not final.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

Mr. O. W. Blackett.

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

General examination passed

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

F. W. Taussig
T. N. Carver
W. Z. Ripley
C. J. Bullock
A. A. Young
W. M. Persons
E. E. Day
H. H. Burbank
A. S. Dewing
J. H. Williams
A. E. Monroe
A. H. Cole
R. S. Tucker
R. S. Meriam		  

 

 

 

Cambridge, Massachusetts

May 22, 1922

Dear Young,

For the purposes of final record may I report that Mr. Olin W. Blackett’s General Examination in Economics was conducted on the afternoon of the 19th by the following Committee: Professors Day (chairman), Huntington, Young, Burbank,and Dr. Clark. This Committee voted unanimously that the examination be accepted. I return herewith the papers covering Mr. Blackett’s candidacy.

Very truly yours,
[signed by “K” for] E. E. Day

Professor A. A. Young

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

Special Examination Date
When exactly?

Februrary 1, 1926

My Dear Mr. Blackett:

Mr. Robinson, the Secretary of the Graduate School, has communicated to me the contents of your letter to him in which you say that vou will not be able to reach Cambridge until April 12. Do you mean thet you would like to have your special examination on that date, or on some day later in the month? Your thesis has been approved.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned Gladys E. Campbell]
Secretary.

Mr. O. W. Blackett

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

Request for Special Examination during week of April 12th

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
School of Business Administration

February 4, 1926.

Miss Gladys E. Campbell
Div. of History, Gov. and Econ.
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.

My dear Miss Campbell,

I have your letter of February 1st and would appreciate it very much if you would make arrangements for my special examination in Statistics during the week of April 12th.

Very truly yours,
[signed] O. W. Blackett

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

Request to Confirm Special Examination during week of April 12th

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
School of Business Administration

March 18, 1926.

Miss Gladys E. Campbell
Div. of History, Gov. and Econ.
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.

My dear Miss Campbell,

I have not heard from you whether arrangements have been made for my special examination in Statistics during the week of April 12th. Would you let me know as soon as final arrangements can be made?

Very truly yours,
[signed] O. W. Blackett.

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

Date and Committee
for Special Examination

March 18, 1926.

My dear Mr. Blackett:

I have your note of March 13 asking if arrangements had been made for your special examination. The date has been arranged for April 12 at four o’clock and the committee consists of Frofessors Persons (chairman), Crum, Cole, and Huntington. The place will be named later.

Letters addressed to Professor Haskins or to me will reach us more quickly if sent to 774 Widener Library.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned Gladys E. Campbell]
Secretary of the Division.

Mr. O. W. Blackett

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

Record of Olin Winthrop Blackett in the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
(2 November 1925)

1920-21
Grades
Course Half-Course
Economics 2a1 B
Economics 2b2 C
Economics 11 A
Economics 14 A minus
Economics 31 A
1921-22
Grades
Course Half-Course
Economics 151 A
Economics 41 A
1922-23
Grades
Course Half-Course
Economics 20 A
1923-24
Grades
Course Half-Course
Economics 20 (1st half) A

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics. PhD. Examinations, Box 6: 1924-26.

__________________________

Course Names and Instructors

1920-21

Economics 2a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Dr. E. E. Lincoln assisted by Mr. Hyde.

Economics 2b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Dr. E. E. Lincoln assisted by Mr. Hyde.

Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.

Economics 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Professor Bullock.

Economics 31. Public Finance. Professor Bullock.

1921-22

Economics 15 1hf. Modern Schools of Economic Thought. Professor Young.

Economics 41. Statistical Theory and Analysis. Professor Day.

1922-23, 1923-24

Economics 20. Economic Research.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1920-21. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Announcements of the Courses of Instruction, 1921-22.

__________________________

Olin Winthrop Blackett
His life and career

Olin Winthrop Blackett, Obituary

Olin Winthrop Blackett, born July 12, 1895 in Winthrop, MA, died peacefully on Sept. 12, 1993 [sic, September 7 is correct] in Tacoma, WA. He attended Wesleyan University, the United States Naval Academy and served in the U.S. Navy in World War I. He received a PhD in economics from Harvard University where he continued on to teach in the Harvard Business School. He moved to Ann Arbor, MI, in 1924 where he was Professor of Business Statistics at the University of Michigan Business School until his retirement in 1965. He then lived in Key Alegro, TX until the death of his wife, Ruth E. Blackett in 1978 when he moved to Tacoma…

Source: The News Tribune (Tacoma WA) 9 September 1995

Image Source: Portrait from the Anne Olson family tree, “Olin Winthrop Prof. Blackett” at ancestry.com

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Graduate Economic Theory Exam. April 1960

 

Another one of the graduate theory exams from the Harvard economics department from the papers of Professor Edward H. Hastings in the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Clearly the 1960s required less technical virtuosity at finger exercises. I would love to see what the actual bluebooks of students (and the corresponding grades awarded) look like. Perhaps some day, in some archive…

_________________________________

Harvard Written Exams
in Economic Theory
Posted Earlier

November 3, 1960
April 11, 1961
April 10, 1962
November 13, 1962
April 8, 1963

_________________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Written Examination
in Economic Theory
April 14, 1960

WRITE LEGIBLY

PART I
2 ½ Hours

Answer all the questions, spending approximately 50 minutes on each:

  1. Write an essay on the explanation and function of (a) profits or, (b) wages in economic theory from the classical period to the present time.
  2. Explain the distinction between the general equilibrium and the partial equilibrium approaches and the relation between them. Give specific examples of the application of both.
  3. Discuss the relation of the quantity of money to the level of production and employment from the Keynesian and neoclassical points of view.

PART II
1 ½ Hours

Answer 3, and only 3, of the following questions:

  1. Demonstrate that from the point of efficiency completely discriminating monopoly is superior to single price monopoly.
  2. Compare the views of Marshall, Ricardo, and Jevons or the Austrians on the relation of cost of production to value.
  3. What makes a satisfactory theoretical solution of the oligopoly problem so difficult? Illustrate by a critical analysis of one or more particular theories.
  4. Discuss the differences and similarities between the loanable funds and liquidity preference theories of interest.
  5. Compare the explanation of factor prices in terms of linear programming theory and marginal productivity theory.

PLEASE RETURN THIS EXAMINATION PAPER WITH YOUR BLUEBOOK.

Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Graduate Economic Theory Exam. November 1960

This particular addition to the series of written economic theory exams in the Harvard graduate program reveals that in 1960 aspiring economics Ph.D. candidates were still expected to know something about what Ricardo, Malthus, and Marx thought. Somewhat amusing is the reference to the “so-called Cobb-Douglas production function”. As opposed to what might we ask … “Chuck & Paul’s neat little production function”?

_________________________________

Harvard Written Exams
in Economic Theory
Posted Earlier

April 11, 1961
April 10, 1962
November 13, 1962
April 8, 1963

_________________________________

PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Written Examination
in Economic Theory
November 3, 1960

PART I
Two hours

Answer all the questions.

  1. Discuss the arguments for or against Say’s Law advanced by Ricardo, Malthus, Marx, and Keynes. Synthesize.
  2. “The equilibrium concept is meaningful only in the context of a dynamic theory.” Discuss that proposition, illustrating your argument with specific examples.
  3. Describe the general theoretical properties of the so-called Cobb-Douglas production function. Explain its use (a) in the analysis of income distribution, and (b) in the analysis of technological change.
  4. Under what assumptions with respect to the flexibility of prices, the shape of the investment demand function, and the shape of the demand for money function will a “liquidity preference” theory of interest lead to the same result as a “neo-classical” theory of interest?
PART II
Two hours

Answer three out of five questions.

  1. “The subjective value theory of Jevons and the Austrians diverted economics from the classical tradition to which it returned only in recent years.” Discuss the validity of this statement.
  2. Describe the meaning and the significance of the so-called “duality theorem” of linear programming when it is interpreted in terms of economic analysis.
  3. Can a price ceiling imposed on the production of a monopolist induce him to produce and sell (a) a smaller or (b) a larger amount than that he would have produced and sold without such limitation? Explain your answer for either case.
  4. Give a theoretical explanation of the demand for labor (i.e., of the number of workers hired) by (a) an enterprise which pays its workers hourly wages, and (b) an enterprise which remunerates its workers on the straight piece-work basis.
  5. Economists frequently despair of the possibility of measuring the stock of capital, but do not raise similar problems with respect to measurement of the stock of labor or real output. Discuss.

PLEASE RETURN THIS EXAMINATION PAPER WITH YOUR BLUEBOOK.

Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.

Image Source: Original black and white images from Amherst College, Digital Collections. Amherst College Yearbook, Olio1926: Charles W. Cobb on p. 34; Paul H. Douglas on p. 36. Colorized at Economics by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.