Author: Irwin Collier

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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate Economics Exams, 1920

Barnett, Weyforth, Mitchell

 

Even at the Johns Hopkins University, one of the pioneers in academic economics in the United States, there were only six semesters worth of undergraduate economics actually offered in 1919-20. This post provides transcriptions of the six semester final examinations for that year.

The final examinations for the 1922-23 academic year have been transcribed for an earlier post.

Note:

Political Economy 2(b) Money and Banking was scheduled to be taught by Professor Barnett in 1919-20. However in the announcement for 1920-21 Dr. Weyforth was listed as course instructor which is consistent with the ex post report for 1919-20 for instruction in the department of political economy.

Political Economic 4(b) was scheduled as Public Finance to be taught by Professor Hollander in 1919-20, but from the exam below it is clear that the course matches “Corporation Finance” found in the course announcements for 1920-21 which was taught by Professor Barnett.

___________________

Instructors of Undergraduate Courses
1919-20

George Ernest Barnett, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.
A. B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.
Appointment to professor, 1911.

Broadus Mitchell, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.
A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph. D., 1918. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

William Oswald Weyforth, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.
A. B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1919-20

  1. (a) Economic History.
    The economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States are studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Elements of Economics.
    Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
  2. (a) Statistical Methods.
    After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor Barnett.
    (b) Money and Banking.
    The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth.
  3. (a) Insurance.
    The principles of insurance are taught with reference to existing systems of property, personal, and social insurance.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year.
    (b) Transportation.
    The history and theory of transportation are taught with particular reference to conditions in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year.
    [Course 3 will not be given in 1919-1920.]
  4. (a) Labor Problems.
    The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Corporation Finance.
    The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.

NOTE—Undergraduate Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed or are pursuing Course 1: Courses 3, 4, and 5 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, University Register 1918-1919 with Announcements for 1919-20. Circular, Vol. 38, No. 314, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p.222.

Johns Hopkins University, Annual Report of the President 1919-20, Circular, Vol. 39, No. 327, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p. 66.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Economic history]

February 5, 1920, 9 – 12 A.M.

  1. Describe the manor system.
  2. How were the gilds organized, and what were the circumstances of their dissolution? What were the economic consequences of the Black Death?
  3. Discuss the Industrial Revolution, giving its causes and main effects. What results did it have for the manual worker in England?
  4. What is the doctrine of laissez faire, and how did it come to have such vogue, particularly in the first years of the 19th century?
  5. Discuss the Factory Acts. What tendency in social thinking did they represent?
  6. What are chief social and economic advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor?
  7. Do you think our present method of securing entrepreneurs a good one? How might it be improved?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Elements of economics]

June 3, 1920, 9 A.M. – 12 M.

  1. Name and discuss as many theories of wages as you know.
  2. Explain, with the assistance of a diagram, the differential principle of rent. How does the argument of the Single Tax rest on this law?
  3. What is the distinction between interest and profits? Explain the economic justification of each.
  4. Describe the functions of credit. Show how the Federal Reserve System has remedied defects in the National Bank System.
  5. Comment upon the following statement: “We are coming to be more interested in promoting the health of nations than the wealth of nations. The aim of political economy is humanistic.”
  6. Using your economic knowledge, supplemented by conversation with a man of affairs, give an estimate of the present financial and business situation.
  7. What are the theoretical foundations and practical proposals of socialism?
  8. What advantage have you gained from studying political economy?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Statistical methods]

February 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Explain how a “refined” death rate is calculated. Illustrate.
  2. What kinds of questions can not properly be asked in taking a census?
  3. Define “average” and “measure of dispersion.”
  4. Discuss the significance of different averages.
  5. Calculate Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the probable error, and the ratio of variation for the following:

X

 Y
1

2

2

5

3

3

4

 8
5

7
  1. Define an index number.
  2. Discuss the relative advantages of the “aggregate” and the “relative” methods of computing index numbers.
  3. Under what conditions is “weighting” necessary?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Money and banking]

TUESDAY June 1, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Describe the various forms of money in use in the United States.
  2. What are the essential features of a system of bimetallism? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a system.
  3. Give a brief history of the greenbacks.
  4. What is a bill of exchange? An acceptance? A promissory note? What are the advantages of trade acceptances?
  5. What are the principal ways in which deposits originate in commercial banks? Explain the connection between loans and deposits.
  6. Describe the defects of the old national banking system.
  7. Outline the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  8. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect of both money and deposits on prices.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Labor problems]

February 3, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Did trade unionism in England originate in the gilds? Did the American labor movement grow out of gild organizations? Give reasons for your answer.
  2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect British working-men?
  3. Discuss the Combination Acts. Who was Francis Place and what part did he play in the labor movement?
  4. What facts as to the Knights of Labor are indicated by the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all”?
  5. Discuss the closed shop.
  6. Is there any justification for the policy of restriction of output as employed by unions? By employers?
  7. What are the chief causes of strikes? How have unions affected the causes of strikes?
  8. What did you learn from the steel strike and the coal strike?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Corporation finance]

June 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Discuss the relative advantages of the various legal forms of the business unit.
  2. Trace briefly the history of the corporation.
  3. Define “preferred stock” and describe the varieties of such stock.
  4. Why are ordinary business corporations frequently over-capitalized? Is this justifiable?
  5. State the principles of capitalization adopted by public service commissions.
  6. Explain the difference between “treasury stock” and “authorized but not issued” stock.
  7. Discuss the legal relations of the persons participating in a syndicate.
  8. How are corporate securities usually marketed? Why?
  9. Explain and discuss the principle of “trading on the equity” as applied in the capitalization of corporations.
  10. Under what conditions would the issue of common stock only be desirable?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Eisenhower Library. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box: 6/1. Folder: Department of Political Economy, Exams, 1907-1924.

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Image Sources: Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

George Ernest Barnett (1873-1938), ca 52 years of age
William Oswald Weyforth (1889-1983), ca 36 years of age
John Broadus Mitchell (1892-1988), ca 30 years of age

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate core economic theory, Syllabus and Exams. Chamberlin, 1941-42.

 

Reading assignments in the first year core economic theory course taught by Edward Chamberlin at Harvard University in 1941-42 included some of the golden ‘oldies of David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, John Elliott Cairnes, John Bates Clark, and Alfred Marshall. Works by Joan Robinson, John Hicks and, of course, Chamberlin himself provided modern accents to the economic theory taught in the course.

Edward Chamberlin’s syllabus and final year-end exam for his 1938-39 version of core economic theory were posted earlier as have been the syllabus and both semester final exams for 1946-47.

___________________________

Economic Theory.
Edward Hastings Chamberlin

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 101. Professor Chamberlin. – Economic Theory.

Total 53: 9 Graduates, 7 Radcliffe, 8 School of Public Administration.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1941-42, p. 63.

___________________________

Course Description

[Economics] 101. – Economic Theory.

This course aims to provide a general background in economic theory. Leading problems in value and distribution will be discussed with some reference to particular writers and schools of thought, but with the main objective of training the student in economic analysis. Active participation in the class discussions is expected.

Source: Identical descriptions in the Division of History, Government, and Economics announcements for 1940-41 and 1942-43.

___________________________

Economics 101

1941-42

First Semester

I.     Mill – Principles, Book II, chapter 4; Book III, chapters 1, 2.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.

Mill – Principles, Book III, chapters 3, 5, 6.

Marshall – Principles, pp. 348-50; p. 806 note.

Mill – Principles, Book III, chapter 4.

Suggested Reading:

Introduction to the Ashley ed. of Mill, or

Mill’s Autobiography

Ricardo – Political Economy (Gonner edition), chapter 1.

II.   Boehm-Bawerk – Positive Theory of Capital, Books III, IV.

Marshall – Principles, Appendix I.

Wicksell – Lectures on Political Economy, chapter 1.

Suggested Reading:

Jevons – Theory of Political Economy, chapters 3, 4.

Phelps-Brown– The Framework of the Pricing System, chapter 2.

III.  Hicks – Value and Capital, chapters 1, 2.

IV. Marshall – Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; Book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12; Appendix H.

Knight, F. H. – “Cost of Production and Price over Long and Short Periods”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 29, p. 304 (1921). (Reprinted in Knight, The Ethics of Competition and Other Essays, Chapter 8).

Viner – “Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

Suggested Reading:

Additional reading in Marshall.

Keynes – “Alfred Marshall” – Economic Journal, September 1924. (Also in Keynes, Essays in Biography.)

Sraffa – “The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions,” Economic Journal, Vol. 36, p. 535 (1926).

Taussig, F. W. –  “Price Fixing as Seen by a Price Fixer,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 33, p. 205.

V.  Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapter 3.

Abramovitz – “Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 52, p. 191 (1938).

Suggested Reading:

Zeuthen – Problems of Monopoly, chapter 2.

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix A.Problems of Monopoly and Economic Warfare

VI.   Robinson – Imperfect Competition, Introduction, and chapters 1,2,3.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5; Appendices D, E.

Chamberlin – “Monopolistic or Imperfect Competition?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1937.

Sweezy, P. M. – “On the Definition of Monopoly”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51, p. 362 (1937)

Cassels, J. M. – “Excess Capacity and Monopolistic Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51, p. 426. (1937)

Suggested Reading:

Kaldor – “Professor Chamberlin on Monopolistic and Imperfect Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1938: and Reply.

Robinson – Imperfect Competition, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7.

VII. Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, Appendix C.

Alsberg, C. L. – “Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

Suggested Reading:

Hotelling, H. “Stability in Competition”, Economic Journal, Vol. 39, p. 41 (1929)

Lerner, A. P. and Singer, H.W. – “Some Notes on Duopoly and Spatial Competition”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, p. 145 (1937)

Burns, A.R. – The Decline of Competition, chapter VIII, “Non-Price Competition”.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and ReadingLists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder, “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1941-42.”

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1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101
Mid-year examination, 1942.

Answer question 2 and any five of the others (six in all).

  1. What parts of Mill’s theory of value would be acceptable and what parts not acceptable to economic theory today?
  2. Answer either (a) or (b).
    1. What does utility theory contribute to our understanding of the economic process, and how useful do you think it is to the economist of 1942? Answer the same question for the indifference curve analysis.
    2. Discuss the following proposition: “An individual will maximize his total satisfaction or utility, if the marginal utilities of all commodities are equalized.”
  3. Distinguish between a supply curve and a cost curve. Under what conditions is it possible for either or both to fall from left to right? What are the consequences of such a phenomenon?
  4. Write a critical appraisal of Professor Viner’s article “Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” confining yourself to the subjects which seem to you most important. Compare his views where possible with those of other writers and with your own.
  5. What types of industries, if any, would you expect to find operating under conditions of increasing cost? Constant cost? Decreasing cost? Compare your own views with those of other writers with whom you are familiar.
  6. Discuss the difficulties involved in constructing a demand curve for the product of an individual firm where oligopolistic influences are important.
  7. What has monopolistic competition in common with pure competition? With monopoly? Discuss fully.
  8. Answer either (a) or (b).
    1. Discuss any aspect of the experimental market problem worked out in class which you think interesting or important.
    2. “With respect to quality there appears to be a sort of ‘Gresham’s Law’ for commodities: the inferior products tend to drive the better ones from the market.” Discuss.

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 15, Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1942.

___________________________

Economics 101

1941-42

Second Semester

I.    Selling Costs:

Monopolistic Competition, Chapters 6, 7.

Braithwaite, Dorothea, “The Economic Effects of Advertisement,” Economic Journal, Vol. 38, p. 16 (1928). Reprinted as Chapter VII in Braithwaite and Dobbs, the Distribution of Consumable Goods.

II.   Distribution – General:

Marshall, Principles, Book VI, Chapters 1-5.

Clark, J. B., Distribution of Wealth, Chapter 8.

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Chapter 4.

Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 8.

Suggested Reading:

Garver & Hansen, Principles, Chapter 5.

Kahn, “Some Notes on Ideal Output” (last half) Economic Journal.

III. Wages:

Hicks, Theory of Wages, Chapters 1-7; 9; 10, section 1; 11, section 5.

Taussig, Principles, 3rd revised edition Chapter 47.

Robertson, Economic Fragments, Chapter on “Wage Grumbles.”

Suggested Reading:

Machlup,  “The Common Sense of Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. II, Page 202.

Cairnes, Leading Principles, Chapter 3.

IV.  Interest:

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Book I, chapter 2; Book II; Book V; Book VI, chapters 5, 6, 7; Book VII, chapters 1, 2, 3.

Fisher, Theory of Interest, pp. 473-85.

Marshall, Principles, Book IV, chapter 7; Book VI, chapter 1, sections 8, 9, 10, chapter 2, section 4, chapter 6.

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, pages 144-171, 185-195, 207-218.

Clark, J. B., Distribution of Wealth, chapters 9, 20.

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, chapters 1-5.

V.    Rent:

Ricardo, Chapter 2.

Marshall, Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 11.

Robinson, Imperfect Competition, chapters 8, 9.

VI.   Profits:

Marshall, Book VI, chapter 5, section 7; chapters 7, 8.

Taussig, Principles, 3rd revised edition, Vol. II, chapter 50, section 1.

Henderson, Supply & Demand, chapter 7.

Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, chapter 5, section 6; chapter 7, section 6; Appendices D, E.

Schumpeter, (see under Interest)

Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation, Book IV.

Gordon, R.A., “Enterprise, Profits and the Modern Corporation,” in “Explorations in Economics,” p. 306.

Suggested Reading:

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit.

VII. General:

Knight, The Ethics of Competition, Essay No. 11: “Economic Theory and Nationalism.”

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder, “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1941-42.”

___________________________

1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101
Final examination, 1942.

Write on FIVE questions altogether, four from Part A and one from Part B. Be careful to divide your time about evenly between the questions.

A
Write on FOUR questions from this group.

  1. What conflicts and harmonies of interest do you find between labor and the rest of society in the matter of wages, technical progress and efficiency? Discuss the issues involved with some reference to the economic theory of the subject.
  2. Describe and contrast the several most important types of interest theory which you have found in your reading, identifying them where possible with particular writers. State and defend your own theory of interest.
  3. The rent of land has been variously described as a scarcity return, a differential return, a surplus and a monopoly income. Discuss the issues presented by each of these terms and give your own conclusions.
  4. To what extent, if at all, do you believe it possible to explain profits in terms of the marginal productivity of the entrepreneurial factor? Discuss with some reference to issues raised in your reading on the subject of profits.
  5. What various meanings have been or may be given to the concept of “marginal productivity,” and under what conditions would each meaning be relevant? Discuss the circumstances under which all factors may be remunerated according to their marginal products without deficit or surplus.

B
Write on FOUR questions from this group.

  1. “Both prices and monopoly profits are necessarily increased by the presence of advertising.” Do you agree? Discuss critically.
  2. “From this it will appear that the law of increasing or decreasing economy of large-scale production, while sufficiently distinct from that of increasing or diminishing returns to warrant a difference of name, is yet very much like it.” (From Carver’s Distribution of Wealth) Discuss, giving your own conclusions on this set of issues.
  3. Discuss critically Knight’s essay on “Economic Theory and Nationalism” or any part or phase of it which interested you in particular.

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001. Box 6, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1942.

Image Source: Edward Chamberlin in Harvard Class Album, 1939.

Categories
Funny Business Gender M.I.T. Policy Popular Economics

M.I.T. Washington Post op-ed by Samuelson on Sound Debt Policy, 1963

 

Source: Paul A. Samuelson, “We can have sound debt policy” from the Washington Post, included with Extention of remarks of Hon. Jeffery Cohelan of California in the House of Representatives, Friday, May 31, 1963 in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates. Volume 109, part 25—Appendix, May 31, 1963, p. A3510

Also found as a mimeographed copy in Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alvin Harvey Hansen, Box 1, Folder “Business Cycles.”

Image Source:  Samuelson Memorial Information Page/Photos from Memorial Service.  Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Categories
Bryn Mawr Columbia Economists Gender

Columbia. Economics Ph.D. alumna. Mildred B. Northrop, 1938

 

For this post I have put together a timeline for the life and career of the Columbia University economics Ph.D (1938), Mildred Benedict Northrop. Other than her dissertation (cited below), I could find little of substantive research by her. Nonetheless she did attract an obituary notice by the New York Times (see below) and I was able to find an instance of Congressional testimony given by her in 1948:

United States Senate. Eightieth Congress, Second Session. Extending Authority to Negotiate Trade Agreements. Hearings before the Committee on Finance on H. R. 6566. Washington, D.C.: June 1-5, 1948. [Incidentally Alger Hiss testified at those hearings.]

During the twenty-five years that she was on the faculty at Bryn Mawr College, Northrop taught a broad portfolio of courses that included industrial organization, Keynesian macroeconomics, international economics, comparative economic organization, history of economic thought, and development of underdeveloped areas.

For a backgrounder on women researchers at Bryn Mawr before Mildred Northrop, see:

Mary Ann Dzuback. Women and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College, 1915-40. History of Education Quarterly,  Vol. 33, No. 4, Special Issue on the History of Women and Education (Winter, 1993), pp. 579-608.

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Mildred Benedict Northrop, life and career

1899. July 12. Born in Kansas City, Missouri.

1922. A.B. University of Missouri

From University of Missouri yearbook: 1922 Savitar, p. 55.

1923. A.M. University of Missouri

1923-26. Executive Secretary of the Social Service League, Easton, Pennsylvania

1926-31. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Economics and Sociology, Hood College

1931-34. Instructor in Economics, Hunter College

1934-35. Fellow of The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.

1935-38. Division of Research and Statistics, United States Treasury Department

1938. Ph.D., Columbia University. Thesis adviser: James W. Angell

Published Ph.D. dissertation Control Policies of the Reichsbank, 1924-1933 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1938).

1938-39. Lecturer in Economics, Bryn Mawr College

1939-41. Assistant Professor in Economics, Bryn Mawr College

1941. Associate Professor (elect), Bryn Mawr College

War service: chief of export-import branch of the War Production Board; Foreign Economic Administration

1945-46. Adviser to State Department’s Office of Finance and Development Policy

1946-47. Acting Director of the Carola Woerishoffer Graduate Department of Social Economy and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College

1948-49. Professor (elect), Bryn Mawr College

1949-. Professor, Bryn Mawr College

1949-50. Leave of absence.

1963. November 19. Died in Bryn Mawr. According to the coroner’s report (November 20, 1963), the immediate cause of death was pneumonia that was due to burns to over 30% of her body resulting from a fire from smoking in bed.

___________________

Mildred Benedict Northrop, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Associate Professor-elect of Economics.

A.B. University of Missouri 1922 and M.A. 1923; Ph.D. Columbia University 1938. Executive Secretary of the Social Service League, Easton, Pennsylvania, 1923-26; Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Economics and Sociology, Hood College, 1926-31; Instructor in Economics, Hunter College, 1931-34; Fellow of The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1934-35; Division of Research and Statistics, United States Treasury Department, 1935-38. Lecturer in Economics, Bryn Mawr College, 1938-39, Assistant Professor, 1939-41 and Associate Professor-elect 1941.

Source: Bryn Mawr College Catalogue and Calendar, 1941-1943, p. 20.

___________________

Northrop’s entry in the AEA Handbook, 1956

NORTHROP, Mildred Benedict, Bryn Mawr Col., Bryn Mawr, Pa. (1942) Bryn Mawr Col. Prof., teach., dept. head, res.; b. 1899; A.B., 1922, M.A., 1923, Missouri; Ph.D., 1938, Columbia. Fields 9ab, 3b, 2c. Doc. Dis. Control policies of the Reichsbank, 1924-33 (Columbia Univ. Press, 1938). Dir. Amer. Men of Sci., III, Dir. Of Amer. Schol.

Source: Handbook of the American Economic Association in American Economic Review, Vol. 47, No. 4 (July, 1956), p. 220.

___________________

Obituary. New York Times.

Dr. Mildred B. Northrop, Economist at Bryn Mawr.

Bryn Mawr, Pa., Nov. 19—Dr. Mildred B. Northrop, chairman of the department of economics at Bryn Mawr College, died today in Bryn Mawr Hospital after a brief illness.

Dr. Northrop joined the Bryn Mawr faculty in 1938. She taught previously at Hood and Hunter Colleges.

She was born in Kansas City, Mo., and was graduated from the University of Missouri in 1922. The following year she earned a master’s degree there. She received her doctorate from Columbia University in 1938.

During World War II, Dr. Northrop was chief of the export-import branch of the War Production Board and an adviser to the Foreign Economic Administration. In 1945 and 1946 she was adviser to the State Department’s Office of Finance and Development Policy.

Dr. Northrop is survived by a brother Eugene S. Northrop, of Darien, Conn., and a sister, Mrs. Robert D. Ayars of Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Source: New York Times (November 20, 1963), p. 43.

Image Source: Bryn Mawr Yearbook 1942.

Categories
Chicago Economists Policy Race Socialism

Chicago. Laughlin’s anti-bank-deposit-insurance talk, 1908

 

There are two things that I have not been able to figure out about the following report of a talk given by the founding head of the University of Chicago’s Department of Political Economy, J. Laurence Laughlin, against the bank-deposit guarantees promised in the 1908 Democratic Party Platform: (1) what was the point of his joke about the black man and the razor and (2) does “Shivers” refer to a person’s name or does it refer to the physical “shivers” of nervous bank depositors? William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate in the Presidential election of 1908, is clearly Laughlin’s target.

Image Source: From the election of 1908.  Davenport, Homer, 1867-1912, “William Jennings Bryan, bank deposits, political cartoon,” Nebraska U, accessed December 16, 2019.

__________________

Shivers Bryan Bank Plank
Chicago University Financial Expert Declares It Chimerical.
Points Out Its Injustice

Guaranty of Deposits Is Described as a Socialistic Scheme.

Prof. J. Laurence Laughlin, head of the department of political economy of the University of Chicago, who is a national authority on monetary matters, took another hard rap yesterday at the democratic plank for the guaranty of bank deposits.

In concluding his statements, which were made in Cobb hall at the university, the economist declared his opinion about the democratic plank was epitomized by the story of a negro who went into a shop to buy a razor.

“The negro,” said Prof. Laughlin, “was asked if he wished a common razor or a safety razor. “

‘No, sah,’ returned the negro, ‘I just want one for social purposes.’ There you have the bank deposits guaranty idea.

“No one,” continued the speaker, “is so senseless to promote an immediate fund to secure all deposits. It is purely chimerical. Immediate redemption in cash is impossible, especially in any serious crisis since there is no ready money.

Would Work in Insane Asylum.

“The 1907 panic would have spread far and wide if this guaranty of deposits had been in effect then. This guaranty would have been a mere bagatelle. The proposal shows mere ignorance in asking absolute security—just as if any one in this world could give absolute security.

“It is just as well to ask a clergyman on becoming a pastor of a church to guarantee that every member of his flock will not tell a lie, be guilty of any misconduct or go to everlasting damnation,

“It is like A robbing B and going up on the hill to rob C so that B could be reimbursed. In this way C would have to pay for all the deviltry in town. Yes; the bank deposits guaranty would work perfectly-in an insane asylum.

Safety in Bank’s Integrity.

“Do these advocates really know what they are talking about? Good banks can’t prevent bad banks from making poor loans. They can’t stop the initial loans. Why, it would be worse than a disease.”

 

Source: Chicago Tribune, 7 October 1908, p. 5.

Image Source:  Caricature of J. Laurence Laughlin in the University of Chicago yearbook, Cap and Gown, 1907.

.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Commercial crises and trade cycles, final exams. Andrew, 1903-1908

 

 

A course on commercial and financial crises has been offered at Harvard nearly every year during the first half of the 20th century. The course was first offered by A. Piatt Andrew (Harvard Ph.D., 1900) who taught at Harvard until 1908. He went on to National Monetary Commission fame and later served in the U.S. Congress during the last fifteen years of his life.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has a biographical page for A. Piatt Andrew. Also available is the reading list for A. Piatt Andrew’s money course, Economics 8, from 1901-02.

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Warren Samuels reported on the 1905-06 course “Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade” (Economics 12b):

Samuels, Warren J.  The Teaching of Business Cycles in 1905-6: Insight into the Development of Macroeconomic Theory. History of Political Economy, vol. 4 (Spring 1972), pp. 140-62.   Based on 177 pages of notes by Harvard senior Robert Lee Hale.

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Pro-tip: student lecture notes for Andrew’s financial crises course, 1905

Robert Lee Hale Papers at Columbia University Archives.

According to finding aid, the notes are in Box 5, Folder 67 “Lecture notes, Economics 12b, fall 1905”.

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1902-03

Course as Coming Attraction

It is expected that Professor Taussig will conduct his courses in economics next year. The subject mater of course 8 has been divided into three parts: 8a. on money by Dr. Andrew; 8b on banking by Dr. Sprague; and 12a on international trade and payments by Dr. Sprague. A new half-course has been added on the history and theory of commercial crises by Dr. Andrew. Courses 10 and 11 which were formerly given by Professor Ashley as full courses in alternate years will both be given in 1902-03 as half-courses by Mr. Gay. Course 5 on railways etc. will be given as a half-course. Economics 14 on methods of Social reform will be made a full course; 9 and 9a are combined into a full course on labor and industrial organization and will be given by Professor Ripley who has recently been appointed a full professor in the department.

Source: The Harvard Crimson. Changes in Courses for 1902-03. May 24, 1902.

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Course Enrollment, 1902-03

[Economics] 12b 2hf. Dr. Andrew.— History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 37: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1902-03, p. 68.

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Course Announcement and Description, 1902-03

[Economics] 12b2 hf. History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 9. Dr. Andrew.

Course 12b will be devoted to the study of the more important crises of the past two hundred years. The phenomena of these crises will be described, and the record of events before and after will be examined with the object of disentangling their contributory causes and their consequences. The influence upon commercial fluctuations of the present organization of industry, of government finance, of foreign trade, of the money supply, of speculation, of banking methods, and of other credit institutions will be considered, as well as questions with regard to periodicity, over-production and over-investment. In connection with these subjects attention will be given to the methods actually employed in dealing with crises, and to proposed reforms designed to prevent or relieve them.

Subjects will be assigned for special reports, and these reports will be presented for discussion in class.

Course 12b is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University. University Publications, New Series, No. 55. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03, pp. 48-49.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Final Examination. 1903.

Omit one question.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasingly subject.”
    Give your opinion of these statements.
  2. In what respects was the English crisis of 1866 peculiar?
  3. “Commercial crises of the earlier type now belong only to history in England.”
    Discuss this statement and explain the situation to which it refers.
  4. Compare the American crises of 1884 and 1893 as regards antecedent conditions, course of events and consequences.
  5. Describe in their mututal connections the fluctuations in exports and imports of commodities, in gold shipments, and in prices which occur in a normal trade cycle.
    Discuss DeLaveleye’s theory of crises.
  6. (a) How far did Jeveons succeed in proving a relation between crises and agricultural conditions?
    (b) To what extent can a connection be traced in the United States between trade cycles and crop conditions?
    (c) In the case of which crop is the connection closest?
  7. Explain and discuss Professor Laughlin’s theory as to the relations between “normal” and “abnormal” credit and price movements.
  8. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  9. Explain and discuss Professor Carver’s theory of industrial depressions.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6: Bound volume for 1902-03, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,… (June 1903), p. 30.

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1903-04

Course Enrollment, 1903-04

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 39: 5 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1903-04, p. 67.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Examination. 1904.

Omit one question.

  1. Discuss the merits and limitations of each of the following sorts of statistics as measures of industrial prosperity:—

Bank clearings, wages, cotton, copper, chemicals, iron and steel, railway net earnings, railway gross earnings.

  1. Explain the usual relation during a trade cycle,—
    1. between the number of failures and their liabilities.
    2. between banking and commercial failures.
  2. Explain and show the significance of any general differences between the price fluctuations,
    1. of raw and finished commodities.
    2. of securities and commodities.
  3. Compare industrial, political, and financial conditions in the United States in 1903 with those of 1873, 1883, and 1893.
  4. In what respects have the trade cycles of England differed from those of the United States during the past thirty years?
    What is your opinion is the explanation?
  5. Explain what the British government did to restore confidence in 1793, 1825, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1890?
  6. Upon what occasions within the past twenty years, and by what means, has the American Secretary of the treasury helped to relieve a stringency in the financial centres?
  7. The following are abstracted statements of the New York City clearing house banks.

 

Aug. 5 ‘93
(1)		 Feb. 3, ‘94
(2)		 May 20, ‘99
(3)		 May 23, ‘03
(4)
Loans 409 420 763 923
Deposits 373 552 902 914
Capital 129 133 134 224
Circulation 6 13 16 44
Reserve 79 250 260 238

Compare 1 with 2, and 3 with 4, explaining in each case the change in the relations (a) between loans and deposits (b) between deposits and reserve.

  1. Explain what in your opinion are remediable defects in the American banking regulations, and the best remedies therefor.
  2. To what extent in your opinion is there periodicity in trade reactions, and to what conditions is it attributable?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1903-04. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

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1904-05

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 41: 2 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1904-05, p. 75.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Exam. 1905.

Omit one question.

  1. State briefly the geographical range of the various crises of the 19th
  2. Compare industrial and financial conditions in the United States in 1903 with those of 1873, 1883, and 1893.
  3. Explain Juglar’s theory as to the movements of bank loans and reserve, and state how far it is confirmed by American experience.
  4. What reasons are there for believing that a rise in the value of money will check the production of wealth? And what reasons for believing that it will not do so?
  5. How far in your opinion are trade conditions likely to be affected
    1. by the trust movement,
    2. by stock-exchange regulations like the German bourse law,
    3. by better facilities for storing staple products,
    4. by the maintenance of a large army and navy?
  6. How far in your opinion are trade reactions due to
    1. the waste or destruction of capital,
    2. the excessive creation of capital?
  7. “There are reasons, other than psychological, why an investor’s market must be more unstable than a consumer’s market.” What are they?
  8. Discuss three different methods of making our currency system more responsive to trade needs.
  9. What groups in a community are injured by a crisis? What groups are benefitted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1904-05. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

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1905-06

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 55: 9 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1905-06, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Exam. 1906.

  1. Compare as regards recent cycles of trade,—
    1. the number and liabilities of failed firms.
    2. banking and commercial failures.
    3. railway and commercial failures.
  2. To what extent have changes in the clearings of the New York banks registered changes in general business?
  3. Explain Juglar’s theory as to the movements of bank loans and reserves, and state how far it is confirmed by American experience.
  4. Explain what was done by the Bank of England to relieve apprehension in 1825, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1890.
  5. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  6. Upon what occasions within the past thirty-five years and by what means, have the American Secretaries of the Treasury helped to relieve a stringency in the financial centres?
  7. In what ways is business affected by the condition of the crops? Within what limitations? In the case of which crops is the connection closest?
  8. What part does “credit” play in the explanation of crises,—
    1. according to Laughlin,
    2. according to Chevalier,
    3. in your own opinion?
  9. In what ways and to what extent are trade conditions apt to be affected,—
    1. by the increasing gold supply,
    2. by the trust movement,
    3. by increasing armies and navies,
    4. by the present agricultural situation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1905-06. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

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1906-07

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 26: 4 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1906-07, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12
Mid-Year Exam. 1907.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasingly subject.” How far does your study confirm this statement?
  2. Name any occasions in the nineteenth century when crises have occurred either in England or America without occurring in both countries. Explain the variation in conditions as between the two countries in each case.
  3. What seem to you the main causes of the American crisis of 1893? In what respects did the movement which culminated in that year differ from the movement before the panic of 1884?
  4. Show briefly in what respects conditions in America in 1857 and in the years just preceding resembled those of 1907 and the years through which we have just passed? Show also the contrasting conditions.
  5. To what causes were crises attributed by (a) De Laveleye, (b) Rodbertus, (c) Jevons? Explain and criticize their theories.
  6. What contributions to the explanation of crises have you found in reading (a) Walker, (b) Selden, (c) Carver?
  7. What reasons are there for believing that an appreciating standard of value will hamper industry? And what reasons for believing that it will not do so?
  8. Under what circumstances and by what means have the following Secretaries of the Treasury helped to relieve disturbances in the New York money market? (a) Richardson, (b) Fairchild, (c) Gage, (d) Shaw.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1906-07. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

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1907-08

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 62: 1 Graduate, 17 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1907-08, p. 67.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12
Mid-Year Exam. 1908.

  1. When did stock speculation begin in England? Name the principal crises in England of the 18th century.
  2. To what extent have banks in this country suspended payment in successive panics since 1800? To what extent in England? To what extent in France?
  3. Describe the methods of relief pursued by Secretary Cobb in the panic of 1857? By Secretary Boutwell in the panic of 1873? By Secretary Shaw in the stringencies of 1902, 1903, and 1906? By Secretary Cortelyou in the panic of 1907?
  4. In your opinion does the emergence of loans above deposits in the New York banks necessarily betoken a condition of danger? Has it always done so in the past? Why, or why not?
  5. In what ways do crop conditions affect business in the United States? Are any recent changes in their influence to be noted?
  6. Enumerate briefly as many points of resemblance and of contrast as possible between the panics of 1893 and 1907 and their antecedent conditions.
  7. “The farther removed the producer’s goods are from some consumable product and the more remotely their value is derived from that of some consumable product, the more violent the fluctuations in value tend to be?”
    Explain and criticize this statement in its relation to the theory of crises.
  8. Suppose everybody resolved to consume productively only, what would be the result?
  9. What explanations of crises were offered by J. S. Mill? By de Laveleye? By F. A. Walker?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1907-08. (HUC 70000.55). Box 8. Copy also available at Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), p. 36.

Image Source: A. Piatt Andrew at Red Roof, his home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1910.  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of A. Piatt Andrew.(Box 47, folder 9).

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T.

M.I.T. General Examination in Advanced Economic Theory. Sept 1962 and May 1963

 

 

Edwin Burmeister received an M.A. from Cornell in September 1962 before going on to M.I.T. to complete his Ph.D. in economics in 1965. His papers at the Duke Economists’ Papers Archive include a folder of advanced economic theory general examinations at M.I.T. (May and September 1962; May 1963). The copy of the May 1962 exam has been transcribed and posted earlier. This post adds the remaining two exams to the collection of artifacts. Pro-tip:  Burmeister’s papers includes his solutions to the September 21, 1962 exam, most likely prepared during his preparation for the May 1963 exam.

I should mention that on none of the three exams is “M.I.T.” actually written. However, since Samuelson and Solow’s names are typed on the copy of the Sept 1962 exam and since Burmeister was a M.I.T. graduate student  for certainly the May 1963 examination (and, like many before and after him, cast an eye on previous exam questions), it is pretty obvious where the exam questions must have come from.

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General Examination
Advanced Economic Theory

Professors P. A. Samuelson and R. M. Solow
Friday, September 21, 1962

Do as many problems as you have time.

  1. Derive the demand function, Xi = Di(I, p1, …, pn) ≥ 0 for a consumer with income I and having positive prices and having respectively preferences satisfying the following utility functions:
      1. U = k1 log X1 + … + kn log Xn
      2. U = mX0 +logX1 [Be careful!]
      3. U = a1X1 + a2X2 + … + anXn [where] ai≥0

Extra credit

      1. U = Min (X1/b1, X2/b2, …, Xn/bn)
  1. A firm owning some fixed and non-transferable “capital” has a production function

Q = f(labor, land) = 20L.5T.25

It sells in a competitive market at $Pq. It rents labor in a competitive factor market at $W and rents land at $R.
What are its demand relations for factors, and its supply relation for output? What are its “profits” or “quasi-rents to owned capital.”
It will suffice for you to write down all the relations that define these desired functions and describe how they could be solved. (In other words, you don’t have to do the explicit solving.)

  1. In a Hicksian general equilibrium model all income effects turn out to be negligible. Comment decisively on its

(a) Property of dynamic stability (or possible instability)
(b) Property of imperfect stability (or possible instability)
(c) Property of perfect stability (or possible instability)

  1. Let H(X,y) be a function of non-negative vectors X(of dimension m) and y (of dimension n). Define X*, y* as a saddle point of H if

H(X*,y) ≥ H(X*,y*) ≥H(X,y*)

For all non-negative (X,y).
Prove that X* and y* are optimal vectors for a pair of dual linear programs if and only if they provide a saddle point for the function

H(X,y) = C’X+b’y – y’AX.

Show that a simple Leontief model is capable of producing any positive vector final demands (given enough labor) if and only if (I-A)-1 is non-negative.

  1. Consider the von-Neumann model with 3 activities and 4 commodities and with input matrix

\text{A}=\left[ \begin{matrix} 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ \end{matrix} \right] and output matrix \text{B}=\left[ \begin{matrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 2 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ \end{matrix} \right]

Find the optimal activity and price vectors in the von-Neumann sense, and the associated expansion rate.

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General Examination in Advanced Economic Theory: May 1963

Answer any 4 questions.

  1. Suppose all of the N people in a market have identical indifference maps, that are homothetic (i.e., with unitary income elasticities everywhere). Let each jth man have his endowment

\left( \bar{Q}_{1}^{j},\bar{Q}_{2}^{j},\ldots ,\bar{Q}_{r}^{j} \right)

      1. Show that the final equilibrium of exchange is quite independent of the distribution among men of the fixed totals

    \begin{array}{l}\bar{Q}_{1}^{1}+\bar{Q}_{1}^{2}+\ldots +\bar{Q}_{1}^{N}={{A}_{1}}\\...................................\\\bar{Q}_{r}^{1}+\bar{Q}_{r}^{2}+\ldots +\bar{Q}_{r}^{N}={{A}_{r}}\end{array}

    1. Show that the equilibrium prices can be found by treating any man as the single Robinson-Crusoe living under autarky.
    2. What can you, therefore, state about the i) Imperfect, ii) Perfect, and iii) Dynamic stability of the equilibrium?
  2. A Kaldor-Goodwin model defines[sic]
    \text{a}\frac{\text{dK}}{\text{dt}}=\beta \text{Y}-\text{K, }\left( \text{a,b,}\beta \right)>0
    \text{b}\frac{\text{dY}}{\text{dt}}=\frac{\text{dK}}{\text{dt}}-\text{S}\left( \text{Y} \right)
    (i) Explain the meaning of each equation. (ii) Give an equation for its stationary equilibrium solution. (iii) What does its local stability and oscillation depend on? (iv) What shape for the only arbitrary function will give rise to unique-amplitude oscillation?
  3. In Mitopia
    \text{C}+\frac{\text{dK}}{\text{dt}}=\sqrt{\text{KL}}\text{ and L = }{{\text{L}}_{0}}{{\text{e}}^{\text{gt}}}.
    How must K(t) grow if C/L, per capita consumption, is to remain at a maximum constant level? What will then be the interest rate, and the relative share of labor?
  4. A machine with a length of life T costs $f(T). The machine is known with certainty to yield a net income stream of $a per year steadily throughout its lifetime. Find the equation determining the optimal length of life of a machine under each of the following assumptions.
    1. The instantaneous rate of interest in a perfect capital market is r; the length of life is chosen to maximize the present value of net cash flow (including initial cost).
    2. The interest rate r is used to discount net income, and durability is chosen to maximize the capital value of a new machine per dollar of initial cost.
    3. The internal rate of return (i.e. the discount rate that equates capital value and initial cost) is maximized.

Suppose that in cases (a) and (b) the interest rate is such that the capital value of the machine equals its initial cost. Show that all three solutions then coincide. Which is the “right” way to look at the problem?

  1. In a Leontief system with n commodities and one primary factor, labor, let Pi be the money price of commodity i, P0 the money wage, aoi the direct labor input per unit output of commodity i, Xi the output of commodity i, and Ci the final demand for commodity i. Show that the increase in Pj/P0 resulting from a unit increase in a0i equals the increase in Xi needed for a unit increase in Cj.
  2. Consider an individual whose life is divided into two periods, Present and Future. He is endowed with some physical good in each period.
    1. Show how to construct a supply curve relating the amount of saving he will do in the Present as a function of the rate of interest.
    2. Show that in a society of identical individuals with no time preference, the equilibrium rate of interest is zero if corresponding to each individual with endowment X in the Present and Y in the Future, there is another individual with endowment Y in the Present and X in the Future.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Edwin Burmeister papers. Box 23, (unlabeled) Folder.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for international payments and specie flows. Dunbar and Meyer, 1894,1901

 

At Harvard around the turn of the twentieth century, international economics was taught as a sequence of two semester courses—one on the subject of trade and tariffs and one on payments and international financial flows, especially specie flows. This post provides enrollment data and final exam questions for the international payments course taught, respectively, by Charles Dunbar and later by Hugo Richard Meyer.

 

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Course enrollments

1893-94

[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-1894, p. 62.

[Not offered 1894-95; 1895-96]

1896-97

[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar and Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. Hf. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 20: 9 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1896-1897, p. 66.

[Not offered 1897-1898; 1898-1899; 1899-1900]

1900-01

[Economics] 12a1 hf. Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.

Total 16: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 64.

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1893-94
ECONOMICS 122.

  1. Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
  2. Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
  3. What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
  4. Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
  5. Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
  6. Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
    Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000.
  7. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
  8. State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
  9. Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
  10. Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
    La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.

    1. What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
    2. What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
    3. What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

  1. On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
    1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
    2. The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
    3. The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
    4. The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
    5. The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46.

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1900-01
ECONOMICS 12a1.
Mid-Year. 1901.

Observe strictly the order in which the questions are arranged.

  1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
  2. What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
  3. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered), what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.), page 139.]
  4. The conditions which led to the flow of gold to the United States in the fiscal years 1880 and 1881?
  5. What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point both in domestic and in international finance?

Alternative:

The reasons for the return flow from Europe of American securities in the years 1890-1900?

  1. What sort of wealth did France actually sacrifice in paying the indemnity? What was the process?
  2. Is Mr. Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall”?
  3. Why is it that certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments which have to be made in one direction?

Alternative:

Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years: 1900-1901 (HUC 7000.55).

Image source: Harvard Gate, ca. 1899. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540.

Categories
Bibliography Columbia Suggested Reading

Columbia. Bibliography on Government Debt for Fiscal Policy Course. Shoup, 1948

 

Government debt was the subject of this first installment of a planned (perhaps completed later) bibliography for a course on fiscal policy that was prepared by Carl Shoup (New York Times obituary). This draft with a few hand-corrections was found in the papers of his colleague in public finance, Robert Haig.

_____________________

Economics b160—Fiscal policy. 3 points. Spring Session. Professor Shoup. M. W. 9. 710 Business.

A study of the reasons why governments choose to follow a policy of deficit financing, balanced-budget financing, or surplus financing, as the case may be, with emphasis on the economic forces that influence these decisions and on the economic results of the various policies. Topics discussed include war finance, compensatory spending in a depression, public finance aspects of theories of long-term investment stagnation, and the problems of the interest charge on the budget and the growing stock of money that may be associated with a great increase in the public debt.

Source: Columbia University. Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions, 1947-1948, p. 50.

_____________________

[Pencilled Note: “For Dr. Haig. (Parts II, III, IV to follow)”]

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

BIBLIOGRAPHY, ECONOMICS b160,
FISCAL POLICY
February, 1948

This bibliography is divided into four parts, and each part is further divided into sections. The four parts are:

Part I. Government Debt
Part II. Taxation
Part III. Government Expenditures
Part IV. Fiscal Policy in the United States and Abroad in Recent Years

Most of the sections are directly concerned with government debt, taxation, and expenditures; for these sections an attempt has been made to present a fairly comprehensive coverage of the periodical and book literature of the past three or four years. The readings that are particularly important for purposes of the present course are marked with an asterisk. The asterisked readings have been put on reserve in the School of Business library.

A few sections are concerned with topics that are only collateral to fiscal policy: for example, the technique of bank deposit expansion, and data on recent changes in amount of currency outstanding. In these sections the references are highly selective, being designed only to assist the student to refresh his background, or to suggest a minimum of reading.

PART I: GOVERNMENT DEBT

  1. Technique of Credit Creation by the Banking System
  2. Technical Characteristics and Pattern of Ownership of Each Type of Federal Security
  3. Non-Negotiable Securities; Securities Ineligible for Bank Holding
  4. Currency
  5. Gold and Silver
  6. Bank Holdings of Government Bonds, and Data on Bank Deposits
  7. Total Interest Charge on Government Debt
  8. Interest Rates
  9. “Burden” of Debt
  10. Debt Management
  11. Debt Management and Credit Control

 

1. Technique of Credit Creation by the Banking System. –The creation of credit by commercial banks is well described in a general way by Bowman and Bach, Economic Analysis and Public Policy (1943), 589-99; but to get a thorough understanding, the student should read J. Brooke Willis, The Relation of Bank Deposits to War Finance (Chase National Bank, November 18, 1942, mimeographed). A description of the Federal Reserve System is given on pp. 636-53 of Bowman and Bach. See also J. E. Horbett, “Banking Structure of the United States,” in Banking Studies, by members of the staff, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System (1941). Some brief discussions in the Federal Reserve Bulletin may aid in avoiding elementary misconceptions: “Central Banking” (December 1940), “Federal Reserve Bank Lending Power…” (February 1941), “Bank Credit and…Reserves”- (July 1941), “Bank Deposits [and]…Savings Bonds” (August 1941). An explanation of how credit is created under the British banking system, with particular attention to wartime developments, is given in Norman Crump, Facts about British Banks and the War (1943).

 

2. Technical Characteristics and Pattern of Ownership of Each Type of Federal Security.— The types of security issued by the Federal Government, and the relative importance of each, are given in the monthly Bulletin of the Treasury Department, in the section headed “General Fund Position and Debt Outstanding” (consult any recent issue). Note the names of the different kinds of obligations, their respective interest rates and periods to maturity, as shown in the tables headed “Offerings of Marketable Issues of Treasury Bonds, Notes, and Certificates of Indebtedness” “Offerings and Maturities of Treasury Bills,” “Sales and Redemptions of United States Savings Bonds.—Table 1, Summary…,” and “Sales and Redemptions of Treasury Savings Notes.—Table 1, Summary…” Then study the tables headed “Public Debt and Guaranteed Obligations of the United States Government Outstanding”: “Table 1, Summary;” and “Table 2, Interest-Bearing Public Debt;” then the table headed “Computed Interest Charge and Computed Interest Rate….” Note the data on who owns the federal debt, in the section headed “Ownership of Government Securities.” Study the charts on “Yields of Treasury Securities….”

See also:

Hargreaves, H. W. H., “The Guaranteed Security in Federal Finance,” J.P.E., Aug., 1942.

Mann, F. K., “The Dual-Debt System as a Method of Financing Government Corporations,” J.P.E., Feb., 1947, 39-56.

Simmons, E. C., “The Position of the Treasury Bill in the National Debt,” J.P.E., Aug., 1947, 333-45.

“Treasury Financing Operations,” statement on first page of each issue of Treasury Bulletin in recent issues.

“Direct Exchange of Maturing Treasury Bills for New Issues,” Fed. Res. Bull., May, 1947.

“Treasury Bills and Certificates as Outlets for Idle Funds,” Fed. Res. Bull. July, 1942.

“The Tax Savings Plan,” Red. Res. Bull., Aug., 1941.

 

3. Non-Negotiable Securities; Securities Ineligible for Bank Holding.—

Secretary of the Treasury, “Spreading the Public Debt,” Treasury Bulletin, May, 1947.

Secretary of the Treasury, “The Role of Savings Bonds in Public Debt Management,” Treasury Bulletin, May, 1947.

Tostlebe, A. S., “Estimate of Series E Bond Purchases by Farmers,” J.A.S.A., Sept., 1945.

“Bank Purchases of Restricted Treasury Bonds,” Treasury Bulletin, July, 1946.

 

4. Currency.—The wartime rise in currency is described by G. L. Bach, “Currency in Circulation,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, April, 1944. See also the following unsigned articles in the Federal Reserve Bulletin: “The Currency Function of the Federal Reserve Banks,” July, 1940; “Recent Changes in the Demand for Currency,” April, 1942; and “Relation between Currency and Bank Deposits,” May, 1943.

For a historical treatment: V. M. Longstreet, “Currency System of the U.S.” in Banking Studies, Federal Reserve System, 1941. For terminology; I. B. Cross, “A Note on the Use of the Word ‘Currency,’” J.P.E., December, 1944.

 

5. Gold and Silver.—The vast literature in recent years on the gold situation in general will not be considered here; however, reference by be made to F. D. Graham and C. R. Whittlesey, Golden Avalanche, 1939. For the place of gold in the present U.S. money and credit system, see Bowman and Bach, Economic Analysis and Public Policy, Chapter 42, “Gold and the Price Level,” and a series of notes in the Federal Reserve Bulletin: “Ownership of the Monetary Gold Stock” (May, 1940), “Utilization of the Monetary Gold Stock” (June, 1940), “The Gold Stock” (September, 1940), “Definition of Lawful Money” (July, 1941), and “Money and Inflation” (March, 1944). The Treasury position on gold was stated by Secretary Morgenthau in two press releases, March 23, 1939 (reply to Senator Wagner’s questions) and May 3, 1940 (address before National Institute of Government).

 

6. Bank Holdings of Government Bonds, and Data on Bank Deposits—An appreciation of the quantitative aspects of the bank-credit expansion of the war and postwar years can be obtained from “The Wartime Expansion of Liquid Assets,” Fed. Res. Bull., Oct., 1944, and from “Estimated Liquid Asset Holdings of Individuals and Business,” Fed. Res. Bull., Sept., 1947, and earlier reports on the same subject in the issues of June, 1945; Feb., 1946; and Nov., 1946.

See also:

Robinson, Roland I., “Money Supply and Liquid Asset Formation,” A.E.R., March, 1946.

Warburton, Clark, “Quantity and Frequency of Use of Money in the United States, 1919-45,” J.P.E., Oct., 1946.

“Ownership of Demand Deposits [as of Feb. 26, 1947],” Fed. Res. Bull., June, 1947.

* “Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks and Mutual Savings Banks, December 31, 1939-1946.” Treasury Bulletin, July, 1947.

“Measurement of Factors Influencing the Volume of Deposits and Currency,” Fed. Res. Bull., June, 1944.

“Wartime Monetary Expansion and Postwar Needs,” Fed. Res. Bull., Nov. 1945. For the growth in deposits prior to the war, see “Factors Responsible for Increase in Bank Deposits,” Fed. Res. Bull., March, 1941.

 

7. Total Interest Charge on Government Debt.—

“Transfer to Treasury of Excess Earnings of Federal Reserve Banks,” Fed. Res. Bull., May, 1947, 518-19.

Rolph, Earl R., “The Payment of Interest on Series E Bonds,” A.E.A. Proceedings., May, 1947, 318-21.

Shoup, Carl, “Postwar Federal Interest Charge,” A.E.R., Supplement to June, 1944 issue (“Implemental Aspects of Public Finance”).

 

8. Interest Rates.—The average rates (including the case of zero interest) and the structure of interest rates of the public debt are discussed particularly in the following articles. The recent United States experience is analyzed in:

Coleman, G. W., “The Effect of Interest Rate Increases on the Banking System,” A.E.R., Sept. ’45.

Harris, S. E., “A One Per Cent War?” A.E.R., Sept. ’45.

*Samuelson, Paul A., “The Effect of Interest Rate Increases on the Baking System,” A.E.R, March, 1945.

Samuelson, P. A. “The Turn of the Screw [Interest Rates and the Banks],” A.E.R., Sept. ’45.

Seligman, H. L., “The Problem of Excessive Commercial Bank Earnings,” Q.J.E., May, 1946.

*Seltzer, L. H., “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” A.E.R., Dec., 1945.

Wallich, Henry C., “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” A.E.R., Dec. 1946.

Willis, J. Brooke, “The Case against the Maintenance of the Wartime Pattern of Yields on Government Securities,” A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947.

“Yields on United States Government Securities—Revision of Averages,” Fed. Res. Bull., Oct., 1947.

The wartime position of the United States Treasury on interest rates was stated by Secretary Morgenthau in three addresses printed in the Treasury Bulletin, Nov. 1944.

Recent British discussion includes:

Henderson, H., “Cheap Money and the Budget,” E.J. Sept., ’47.

Paish, F. W., “Cheap Money Policy,” Economica, Aug., 1947.

The particular case of interest-free financing has been the subject of some debate recently; see:

Poindexter, Julius C., Proposals for Interest-Free Deficit Financing. Ph.D. Virginia, 1944 (May be obtained on inter-library loan).

Poindexter, J.C., “Fallacies of Interest-Free Deficit Financing,” Q.J.E., May, 1944.

Wright, D. McC., “Interest-Free Deficit Financing: a Reply,” Q.J.E., Aug., 1944.

Poindexter, J. C., “Interest-Free Deficit Financing: Rejoinder [to Wright’s article],” Q.J.E., Nov. 1945.

Poindexter, J. C., “A Critique of Functional Finance through Quasi-Free Bank Credit,” A.E.R., June, 1946.

Benoit-Smullyan, Emile, “Interest-Free Deficit Financing and Full Employment [Poindexter’s article],” A.E.R., June, 1947.

Pritchard, L. J., “The Nature of Bank Credit [Poindexter’s article]: A Comment,” A.E.R., June, 1947.

In view of the recent changes in the interest rate structure, the forecasts of a few years ago are worth reviewing:

Morgan, E. V., “The Future of Interest Rates,” E.J., Dec., 1944.

Round Table, “The Future of Interest Rates,” A.E.A. Proceedings, March, 1943.

Riddle, J. H., “The Future of Interest Rates,” Bankers Magazine, March, 1943.

 

9. “Burden” of Debt.—Interest and amortization requirements on the public debt lead to a discussion of the degree to which a domestically held debt is a burden. On this topic, see:

*Kalecki, M., “The Burden of the National Debt,” Bull., Oxford Inst. Stat., April 3, 1943.

Ratchford, B. U., “The Burden of a Domestic Debt,” A.E.R., Sept., 1942.

Wright, D. Mc., “Mr. Ratchford on the Burden of a Domestic Debt: Comment,” A.E.R., March, 1943.

*Hansen, A. H., “The Growth and Role of Public Debt,” Ch. IX, especially pp. 135-44, 152-61, 175-85, in Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles.

Harris, S. E., “Postwar Public Debt,” Chapter X in Postwar Economic Problems;

Mitnitzky, Mark, “Some Monetary Aspects of Government Borrowing” A.E.R., March, 1943.

Hahn, A., “Should a Government Debt, Internally Held, Be Called A Debt at All?” Banking Law Journal, July, 1943.

Domar, E. D., “The ‘Burden of the Debt’ and the National Income,” A.E.R., Dec., 1944.

Ratchford, B.U., “Mr. Domar’s ‘Burden of the Debt,” and rejoinder by Domar, A.E.R., June, 1945, 411-14.

 

10. Debt Management.—More comprehensive discussions of the problems posed by the public debt are found in writings on “debt management,” “limits to the debt,” etc. (see also the references in No. 11 below):

*Abbott, Charles C., Management of the Federal Debt, McGraw-Hill, 1946, 187 pp., Rev. in A.E.R., March, ’47.

*Committee on Public Debt Policy, National Debt Series, Nos. 1 to 4 issued in 1947. 12 to 22 pp. each.

Garritsen, Margaret M., Some Theoretical and Practical Problems in the Management of the Federal Debt in the Postwar Period. Ph.D., Mass. Inst. of Tech. 1946. (May be available on inter-library loan.)

*Hansen, A. H., “Federal Debt Policy,” Proceed., N.T.A., 1944, 256-67, 295-97.

Leland, Simeon E., “Management of the Public Debt after the War,” A.E.R., Supplement to the June 1944 issue (“Implemental Aspects of Public Finance”), and discussion by D. T. Smith and L. H. Seltzer.

Leonard, Norman H., Public Debt Management. Ph.D. Yale (no date given). (May be available on inter-library loan.)

Mehta, J. K., “Some Problems of Public Debt,” South Indian Journal of Economics, Feb., 1946.

Neale, E. P., “The Growth of New Zealand’s General Government Debt,” Eco. Record, Dec. 1945.

Neumark, F., “Limite de la dette publique ou deficit permanent?” L’Egypte Contemp., March, 1946.

Ratchford, Benjamin U., “History of the Federal Debt in the United States,” A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947, 131-41; discussion by L. Wilmerding Jr. and C. C. Abbott, 151-56.

Suiter, William O., “Some Questions Relative to the Management of the National Government Debt,” Bull. N.T.A., June, 1946.

Wallich, H. C., “La dueda publica y el ingreso nacional de Estados Unidos,” El Trimestre Econ., Jan. and April, 1946.

*Wallich, H. C., “Debt Management as an Instrument of Economic Policy,” A.E.R., June, 1946.

Wickens, Aryness Joy, “The Public Debt and National Income,” A.E.A., Proceedings, May, 1947.

Woodward, Donald B., “Public Debt and Institutions,” A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947, 157-83. Discussion by L. H. Seltzer, Susan S. Burr, R. J. Saulnier and E. A. Goldenweiser.

 

11. Debt Management and Credit Control.—The complex relations that link debt management and credit control have received increasing attention in recent years as evidenced by the following articles. The discussion is chiefly in terms of inflationary rather than deflationary conditions.

Abbott, Charles C., “The Commercial Banks and the Public Debt”; discussion by H. H. Preston, A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947.

Arndt, H. W., “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Spending: A Comment on …. Warburton’s Article [in RES, 1945, 74-84].” R.E.Stat., May, 1946.

Bach, George L., “Monetary-Fiscal Policy, Debt Policy, and the Price Level,” A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947.

Carr, Hobart C., “The Problem of Bank-Held Government Debt,” A.E.R., Dec. 1946.

Chamberlain, N. W., “Professor Hansen’s Fiscal Policy and the Debt”; rejoinder by Hansen, A.E.R., June, 1945.

Cluseau, M., “De quelques definitions necessaires,” Rev. de Sci. et Législ. Fin., April, 1947.

Eccles, M. S., “Sources of Inflationary Pressures,” Fed. Res.Bull., Feb. 1946.

*Eccles, M., “Methods of Restricting Monetization of Public Debt by Banks,” Fed. Res. Bull., April, 1947.

Eccles, M. S., “The Current Inflation Problem—Causes and Controls,” Fed. Res. Bull. Dec., 1947.

Goldenweiser, E. A., “Federal Reserve Objectives and Policies: Retrospect and Prospect,” A.E.R., June 1947.

Hauge, Gabriel, Banking Aspects of Treasury Borrowing in World War II. Ph.D., Harvard, 1947 (Available only on inter-library loan.)

*Hardy, C. O., “Bank Policy versus Fiscal Policy as an Economic Stabilizer,” Proceed. Nat. Tax Assn., 1946.

Lerner, Abba P., “Money as a Creature of the State,” A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1947.

Mikesell, Raymond F., “Gold Sales as an Anti-Inflationary Device,” R.E.Stat., May, 1946.

Mints, Lloyd W., Hansen, A. H., Ellis, Howard S., Lerner, A. P. and Kalecki, M. “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” R.E.Stat., May, 1946.

Robinson, R. I., “The Reserve Position of the Federal Reserve Banks,” Fed. Res. Bull., March, 1945.

Seltzer, Lawrence, “The Changed Environment of Monetary-Banking Policy”; discussions by D. B. Woodward and R. A. Young, A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1946.

*Simons, Henry C., Economic Policy for a Free Society, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1948, 353 pp. espec. Chs. VII, “Rules versus Authorities in Monetary Policy,” VIII, “Hansen on Fiscal Policy,” IX, “On Debt Policy,” X, “Debt Policy and Banking Policy” and XIII, “The Beveridge Plan: an Unsympathetic Interpretation.”

Sproul, Allan, “Monetary Management and Credit Control,” A.E.R., June, 1947.

Sweezy, Alan R., “Fiscal and Monetary Policy”; discussion by J. H. G. Pierson, W. J. Fellner, and Clark Warburton; A.E.A. Proceedings, May, 1946.

Villard, H. H., “The Problem of Bank-Held Government Debt: Comment [on Carr’s article],” A.E.R., Dec. 1947.

Wallace, Robert F., “The Federal Debt and Inflation,” Bull. N.T.A., June, 1947.

Wallich, H. C., “The Current Significance of Liquidity Preference,” Q.J.E., Aug., 1946.

*Warburton, Clark, “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Spending,” R.E.Stat., May, 1945, 74-84.

Warburton, Clark, “Monetary Theory, Full Productivity, and the Great Depression,” Econometrica, April, 1945.

Warburton, Clark, “The Volume of Money,” J.P.E., June 1945.

Whitaker, T. K., Financing by Credit Creation, Dublin, 1947, 67pp. (E.J., Sept. ’47.)

Whittlesey, C. R., “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition,” Q.J.E., May, 1946.

“Treasury Finance and Banking Developments,” Fed. Res. Bull., May, 1946.

* “Debt Retirement and Bank Credit,” Fed. Res. Bull., July, 1947.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Robert M. Haig Collection. Box 16, Folder “Bibliography”.

Image Source: The Columbia Spectator Archive. March 8, 1967.

Categories
Chicago History of Economics Suggested Reading

Chicago. Bibliography for History of Economic Thought. Frank Knight, 1933

 

 

Milton Friedman’s papers at the Hoover Institution Archives include the economics course notes from his student years. In an earlier post I transcribed Friedman’s own listing of his coursework in economics, statistics and mathematics by quarter/semester and academic institution. This is how we know that it was during the 1933 Winter Quarter that Milton Friedman attended Frank Knight’s course on the history of economic thought.  Friedman’s notes begin with a four page course bibliography. An image of the first page is included below. A transcription of the complete bibliography, augmented with links to almost all items, immediately follows.  

I had earlier transcribed the mimeographed course bibliography from the 1946 Winter Quarter found in Norman Kaplan’s student notes that I found in the University of Chicago archives. The 1946 course bibliography includes about twenty additional items when compared this 1933 version.

With a clear, typed bibliography to check against Friedman’s sometimes only partially legible handwritten notes, I discovered that duplication technology must have dramatically improved between 1933 and 1946 at the University of Chicago. Friedman clearly copied from a nearly identical bibliography (including Knight annotations!) that I surmise might have been only available as a single typed list posted with reserve material at the library. 

First page of Frank Knight’s bibliography for the History of Economic Thought course in Milton Friedman’s student notes at the University of Chicago, Winter Quarter 1933.

 

___________________________

Economics 302
History of Economic Thought
Frank H. Knight

Bibliography

General Works

Gray, Alexander—Development of Economic Doctrine

Haney, L.H.—History of Economic Thought

(Read both of them on classical school with care)

Ingram, J. K.—A History of Political Economy. Briefer than Haney, and usable

Spann, O. History of Economics (English Translation [of 19th German ed., 1930]) [17th ed., German original Die Hauptheorien der Volkswirtschaftslehre (1928)]

Valuable for its intense opposition to the viewpoint of the classical school, in favor of an organismic or universalistic standpoint.

Won’t make much use of:

Oncken A.—Geschichte der National Ökonomie. Very good up to Adam Smith (Knight likes)

Gide, C. and Rist, C.—History of Economic Doctrine. (Translation from French) Competent but uninspired book. (Begins with Physiocrats) (Knight does not like.)

Schumpeter, Joseph—Epochen der Dogmen- und Methodengeschichte, contained in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. I. [English translation]

On the whole period before the classical school

Monroe, A.E.—Early Economic Thought. Lengthy excerpts from important writers

Dunning, W.A.—History of Political Theories, Ancient and Mediaeval

Dunning, W.A.—History of Political Theories, From Luther to Montesquieu

 

Greco-Roman Economics

Miss [E.] Simey—article entitled Economic Theory among the Greeks and Romans [Economic Review vol. 10 (October 1900), pp. 462-481] (On Reserve)—Best about ancient

Laistner, M.L.W.—Greek Economics, Introduction and excerpts.

 

Medieval

Ashley, W. J.—English Economic History and Theory. Volume I, Part I, Chapter 3, and Volume I, Part II, Chapter 6. Best general account.

O’Brien, George—An Essay on Medieval Economic Theory. Highly important, especially because from a Catholic point of view.

Becker Carl, The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers. Chapter 1 on the climate of opinion.

Tawney, R.H.—Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Chapter I on the Medieval Background.

 

Physiocrats.

(Given very little attention in this course)

Ware, Norman—article on the Physiocrats in American Economic Review, 1931

Turgot, A.R.J., Formation and Distribution of Riches (Ashley Economic Classics)

 

Mercantilism

Viner, J. English Theories of Foreign Trade before Adam Smith. In Journal of Political Economy, volume 38, numbers 3 and 4. [Reprinted in Studies in the Theory of International Trade: First Part; Second Part]

Schmoller, Gustav. The Mercantile System. Invaluable, also as a specimen of the German Historical Economics.

Ashley, W. J. The Tory Origin of Free Trade. Q. J. E. Volume 11.

 

Classical School

Whitaker A. C.—Labor Theory of Value in English Political Economy. Nearly essential.

Cannan E. –Theories of Production and Distribution. Valuable, but laborious reading.

Cannan—Review of Economic Theory. Later and more available.

 

(Ought to own)

Adam Smith—Wealth of Nations. Full text, Everyman’s Library (2 volumes) most available [Volume One; Volume Two]. Abridged edition edited by Ashley gives part covered in course conveniently in one volume. Cannan Edition (2 vols.), the definitive edition, but expensive and bulky.

Ricardo, David—Principles of Political Economy. Gonnar Edition best. Available in Everyman’s.

Mill, J. S.—Principles of Political Economy. Ashley edition

 

Subjective Value or Marginal Utility School

Smart Wm.—Introduction to the Theory of Value.

Wieser, F.—Natural Value

Smart’s prefaces to Böhm-Bawerk’s two main volumes [Böhm-Bawerk Capital and Interest and Positive Theory of Capital] and to Wieser’s Natural Value.

Weinberger, Otto—Die Grenznutzenschule

Mises, Ludwig—Bemerkungen zum Grundproblem der Subjektivistischen Wertlehre, contained in Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik. Band 59, Heft 1.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives.  Milton Friedman Papers, Box 120. Notebook: “Economics

Image Source: Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-03516.