Cambridge. Examination Papers in Political Economy, 1871-1872

 

This post takes us back nearly 150 years to the University of Cambridge and to when political economy was merely one among several moral sciences worthy of study. Below you will find sets of three examination papers in Political Economy from each of the (i) Moral Sciences Tripos, (ii) Second Special Examination in Moral Science for the Ordinary B.A. Degree, and (iii) Special Examination in Moral Science for the Ordinary B.A. Degree for the 1871-1872 academic year.

One notes the relative prominence given to the work of Frédéric Bastiat. In contrast John Stuart Mill’s name does not appear in the examination questions.

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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION PAPERS
MICHAELMAS TERM, 1871 TO EASTER TERM, 1872.

MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

TUESDAY, Nov. 28, 1871. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. EXPLAIN the nature of the distinction between fixed and circulating capital.
   A timber merchant gradually disengages his capital from that business, and invests it in an omnibus company: what effect is produced thereby upon the fixed and circulating capital, respectively, of the country?
2. What is meant by the Effective Desire of Accumulation? In discussing this desire is it assumed that old men, as a rule, save as much as young men; and, if so, is the assumption correct? Examine Bastiat’s definition of “saving.”
3. State, without any further explanation, the Ricardian theory of Rent.
   If a farmer were to insist that rent enters into the cost of production of his corn, because, without having to pay rent, he could have afforded to sell his corn at 30s. a quarter, but, paying rent, only at 40s.; what should you reply?
4. What is meant by “gratuitous” and “onerous utility”? What laws determine their relative proportion?
5. How is our silver coinage guarded against any present danger of being melted down, and from what causes could such a contingency arise?
6. Explain, in their usual sense, the following terms:— Free trade, excise duties, prohibitive duties, ad valorem duties, direct and indirect taxation.
7. By what arguments is the “right to employment” supported? How does Bastiat endeavour to meet them?
8. If any one had private information that war was about to break out between England and America, what sort of changes in his investments might it be prudent for him to make?

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 25.

 

MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

THURSDAY, Nov. 30, 1871. 9 to 12.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

[Not more than four of these questions are to be attempted. Full marks may be obtained by adequate treatment of any one.]

1. SUPPOSE that a comparison were made between the capital of this country now and a century ago: describe the principal respects in which you would expect to find an increase.
2. What are the principal causes which determine the average rate of interest in a country, and its temporary fluctuations?
   To what extent is the price of shares in British and in Foreign railways affected by the varying rate of interest at home
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages, and to what classes of society, of the enclosure of common lands? Illustrate your views historically.
4. Estimate the probable effect of Post Office savings banks upon the capital and wealth of the country.
5. Has Political Economy or Ethics the most to learn from the other?
6. Discuss the social and political effects of the custom of primogeniture as compared with those of a law of equal division.
7. Examine the probable results, to the different classes of English society, if the anticipated decline and ultimate exhaustion of our coal-fields were to commence at once.
8. “The Internationale however goes much farther than this. It proposes that the central authority in Switzerland shall abolish all indirect taxation whatever, even we presume upon alcohol, and substitute for all a property-tax estimated by valuation, as in America, but increasing in rate with the increase of the fortune upon which it is levied, and accompanied by a heavy succession duty…With the revenue thus accumulated the central authority is to create a State Bank, with the sole right of issuing notes, and is, with those notes, to furnish all associations of operatives with the capital they require, thus superseding the necessity for the individual capitalist. The State itself would be the sole employer of labour, the payment or receipt of wages would be prohibited by statute, and all profits would be divided equally amongst those who earned them. The capitalist would thus be summarily extinguished…every citizen being declared entitled to poor relief, first from his Commune, and afterwards, if the Commune is over pressed, from the State. No condition whatever, except poverty, is annexed to this relief.”
   Do you consider any of the above provisions wise or feasible?

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 27.

 

MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.

FRIDAY, Dec. 1, 1871. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. WHAT exactly is meant by the Cost of Production of an article? Take, as an example, a bottle of old vintage port.
2. Why is it that people at watering-places find it cheaper to live in lodgings than in hotels?
3. Explain what is meant by the principle of Cooperation, as applied to manufactures and to trades. What limits to its extension, if any, do you anticipate?
4. What does Prof. Cairnes understand by a monopoly rent, and in what respects does he contrast it with an agricultural rent?
5. What do you consider to be the effects of Freedom of Trade, with and without reciprocity?
6. Illustrate the principal mistakes which have been made, or which might be made, in taxing imported commodities.
7. Indicate briefly the opinions held by Adam Smith upon the following points:

(1) “The different effects of the Progress of Improvement upon three different sorts of rude produce.”

(2) The principal forms of Circulating Capital in any country.

(3) The evidences of any change in the value of silver before the discovery of the American mines.

(4) The objects of the Navigation Act.

(5) The causes which have interfered with the “Natural course of things,” in respect of the order of priority of agriculture, manufactures, and foreign commerce.

(6) The Methuen treaty.

(7) Taxes upon the Wages of Labour.

(8) The objections to taxes upon luxuries.

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 28.

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SECOND SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

THURSDAY, Nov. 30. 9 to 12.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. EXPLAIN the terms Fixed and Circulating Capital.
   An omnibus proprietor gradually disposes of his business, and invests his capital instead in the wine trade; what sort of change is produced thereby, so far as he is concerned, upon the fixed and circulating capital respectively, of the country?
2. Describe the causes which render manufactures on a large scale more profitable than those on a small scale.
   Why then is not the manufacture of every particular article in a country carried on in a single establishment?
3. What exactly is meant by saying that profits depend, not upon wages but, upon the cost of labour?
4. Explain the principal reasons why cotton goods are cheaper now than they were a century ago, whereas butcher’s meat is much dearer.
5. Discuss, with examples of your own, the causes which procure a permanently higher rate of wages for some employments than for others.
6. Distinguish between Value and Price.
   What sort of connection would you expect to find between the prices respectively of beef, of milk, and of hides?
7. What is meant by saying, of certain articles, that their value depends upon demand and supply? Apply your remarks to the case of corn in spring and autumn. What sort of articles are likely to vary most in market value?
8. If any one were to melt a quantity of our silver coins, and then sell the bullion, he would find that he lost by the process. Explain (1) why this is so, (2) the object of the mint regulations by which this result is secured.

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 52.

SECOND SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

THURSDAY, Nov. 30, 1871. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY

1. To what extent, in you: opinion, does the Science of Political Economy furnish rules for human action?
2. Compare economically the advantages and disadvantages of large and small farms.
   Supposing that serf-labour on large farms were found cheaper than free, what objection could be made, economically, to its employment?
3. Adam Smith says, “There seem, however, to be two cases in which it will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign, for the encouragement of domestic industry.” What are those cases?
4. Quote Adam Smith’s remarks upon the system of taking fines on the renewal of agricultural leases.
5. “A militia, however, in whatever manner it may be either disciplined or exercised, must always be much inferior to a well-disciplined and well-exercised standing army.”
   By what arguments does Adam Smith support this assertion?
6. Give a brief account of the Agricultural systems of Political Economy.
7. What is Adam Smith’s opinion of Treaties of Commerce?
8. Shew that in consequence of International Trade it may be profitable to the trader to sell articles in the foreign country at a price which does not exceed their market price in his own by the cost of carriage.
   To what limit do you consider that the difference in price of the same article in the home and foreign countries would ultimately tend?
9. The rate of Discount has varied, within the last few years, between one per cent, and ten per cent. Indicate the causes on, which such variations depend.
   Should you expect to find any corresponding variations in the price of the Public Funds?

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873),  pp. 53-54.

SECOND SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

FRIDAY, Dec. 1, 1871. 9 to 12.
POLITICAL ECONOMY

1. QUOTE some of Bastiat’s arguments in favour of “free-trade.”
2. Give a sketch of the “mercantile system” as described by Adam Smith.
3. State Bastiat’s definition of “Value;” and quote his criticisms upon the definitions of other political economists.
4. Bastiat says:
   “Each step of progress annihilates value.”
   “In all departments of industry value increases with the density of population.”
   How does he argue in support of these propositions?
5. Bastiat asserts that “There is not in the entire price of the corn (offered for sale in any market) a single farthing which does not go to remunerate human services.”
   Examine the validity of this assertion.
6. “The Bankers,” says Adam Smith, “invented therefore another method of issuing their promissory Notes, by granting, what they called, Cash accounts.”
   How does he describe the effect of these “cash accounts” on trade?
7. Adam Smith says, “There are no public institutions for the education of women, and there is accordingly nothing useless, absurd, or fantastical in the common course of their education.”
   Give a sketch of the argument in the course of which this statement is made.
8. Discuss some of the common objections to the fairness of an Income Tax.
9. Discuss the policy of the English Poor Law from an economical point of view.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 54.

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

Monday, June 3, 1872. 9 to 12.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. DEFINE Political Economy: investigate the relation between it and Political Philosophy: and discuss the statement that it is hard-hearted and selfish.
2. Define Wealth, Capital, Productive Labour, Metayer Tenancy; and distinguish between Direct and Indirect Taxation.
3. Compare the economical benefits of large and small farming.
4. What is Communism? Explain and criticize the schemes of Communism proposed by St. Simon and Fourier respectively.
5. State Ricardo’s theory of Rent, and examine any arguments which have been brought against it.
6. What are the principal causes of the different rates of wages in different trades?
7. Explain the statement that ‘There cannot be a general rise in values, but there can be a general rise in prices.’
8. How do you account for the fact that both wages and profits are generally high in a new colony?
9. State Adam Smith’s four ‘Canons’ of taxation, and give examples illustrating their infringement.
10. Who really pays the poor-rates, (a) upon farms, (b) upon houses in an ordinary village, (c) upon shops in Regent Circus, (d) upon cotton-mills?

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 10.

 

SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

MONDAY, June 3, 1872. 1 to 4.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. “THE real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.” In what way is this statement ambiguous? How should you mend it?
2. What are the principal artificial causes mentioned by Adam Smith, as producing inequalities in the wages and profit in different employments?
3. Adam Smith makes one division of rude produce to consist of those articles which it is scarce in the power of human industry to multiply at all. What other divisions does he take account of? Give examples of each sort.
4. Give a brief account of the principal restraints upon importation and encouragements to exportation which were formerly supported by statesmen and economists. On what ground are they now generally condemned?
5. What was the nature and object of the laws against forestalling and engrossing?
6. What kinds of trade does Adam Smith consider suitable for joint-stock companies? What general judgment does he pronounce upon the management of the East India Company?
7. What are Capitation Taxes? What taxes of this description have been actually imposed in England or France?
8. “The progress of the enormous debts which at present oppress, and will in the long run probably ruin, all the great nations of Europe has been pretty uniform.” Give some account of the progress of our national debt since these words were written. What circumstances have contributed to avert, in our case, the fate here anticipated?
9. Discuss the policy of attempting to pay off a national debt, shewing to what extent your conclusion is affected by the circumstances, social commercial or otherwise, of the particular country in question.
10. Mention some of the principal taxes which have been remitted in England during the last ten years, and the grounds of their remission.

Source: Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 11.

SPECIAL EXAMINATION IN MORAL SCIENCE FOR THE ORDINARY B.A. DEGREE.

TUESDAY, June 4, 1872. 9 to 12.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

1. “TAKE up the Collection des Economistes, and read and compare all the definitions [of value] which you will find there. If there be one of them which meets the case of the air and the diamond, two cases in appearance so opposite, throw this book into the fire.”
   Describe the difficulty here alluded to, and give some account of the way in which Bastiat considers that he has solved it.
2. “Of all the elements of which the total value of any product is made up, the part which we should pay for most cheerfully is that element which we term the interest of the advances or capital.” Why so?
3. To what extent is Utility, according to Bastiat, dependent upon labour? Illustrate your answer by examples of your own.
4. Indicate, as precisely as you can, the extent to which you consider Bastiat to be in error on the subject of Rent.
5. If twelve pence were melted or defaced the metal would not be worth a shilling. Explain clearly why this is so, and what is the nature and object of the legislation by which the inequality is secured.
6. What is meant by saying that the foreign exchanges are against any particular country?
7. What is meant by saying that the current rate of discount is four per cent.?
   To what extent are the fluctuations in the value of Railway and other Stocks dependent upon the rate of discount?
8. Describe the principal mistakes to be avoided in levying taxes upon imported commodities.

Source:  Cambridge University Examination Papers. Michaelmas Term, 1871 to Easter Term, 1872 (Cambridge, 1873), p. 12.

Image Source: George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. “Bridge of Sighs” St. John’s College, Cambridge, England.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 8, 2019. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-362a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99