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Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. The Economics Tripos, 1924

Coats of Arms. Cambridge University

In 1903 Alfred Marshal, the first Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, established what was to become the Economics Tripos as an undergraduate degree course at the Faculty of Economics and Politics. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is on the lookout for these examinations. The 1924 Economics Tripos is the seventh transcribed and posted thus far.

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Economics Tripos Papers
Previously posted

1921
1922
1923
1931
1932
1933

Also of interest, 

Guide to Moral Sciences Tripos 1891

Report of the Faculty Board of Economics and Politics on amendments to the regulations for the Economics Tripos (October 2001)

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1924 Economics Tripos Papers

Part I

Examiners. A. W. Flux, M.A. (St. John’s); Leonard Alston, M.A. (Christ’s); T. H. Marshall, M.A. (Trinity); Donald Knoop, M.A. (Manchester).

Part II

Examiners. J. R. M. Butler, M.A. (Trinity); D. H. Robertson, M.A. (Trinity); F. Lavington, M.A. (Emmanuel); P. E. Gregory, D. Sc.

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[p. 58]

PART I

ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY.

MONDAY, June 2, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Explain and criticise British colonial policy during the eighteenth century.
  2. What principles governed Walpole’s financial policy, and what were the main sources of public revenue at his disposal?
  3. Examine the nature of the service rendered by Arthur Young to the cause of agricultural progress.
  4. Outline the history of the part played by the Joint Stock Company in English trade and industry since 1688.
  5. Why, and with how much justice, are Malthus and Ricardo referred to as “Pessimists”?
  6. Compare the conditions prevailing in the Lancashire cotton industry and the Yorkshire woollen industry at the close of the Napoleonic wars.
  7. Compare the agricultural depression that followed the Napoleonic wars with that which followed the war of 1914—1918.
  8. Compare the character and aims of the trade-union movement in the period 1830—1840 and in the period 1880—1900.
  9. “Both Huskisson and Gladstone have, in a sense, a right to be called ‘Free Traders.’”
    Compare their policies and achievements from the standpoint of this dictum.
  10. “The prosperity of the fifties and the depression of the seventies were both closely connected with improvements in the methods of transport.”  Discuss this statement.
  11. Examine historically the effect of industrial changes since 1750 on the parts played in industry by capital and by personal ability respectively.
  12. In what ways has State action for the promotion of the welfare of the wage-earning class been extended in the last half century?

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[pp. 59-60]

INDUSTRY AND LABOUR.

MONDAY, June 2, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. What influences govern the introduction of labour-saving machinery into industry?  Why is it more used in some countries than in others?
  2. “The only trades which is seems possible for a joint stock company to carry on successfully, without an exclusive privilege, are those of which all the operations are capable of being reduced to what is called a routine….Of this kind is, first, the banking trade; secondly, the trade of insurance…; thirdly, the trade of making or maintaining a navigable cut or canal; and fourthly, the similar trade of bringing water for the supply of a great city.”  (ADAM SMITH.)
    Joint Stock Companies appear to operate successfully in many spheres to-day.  How do you account for this development?
  3. What do you understand by the phrase “economy of high wages”?  How can it be economical for an employer to pay high wages?
  4. “The notion we can secure real stability in enterprise and freedom from unemployment, even if the stabilization of the general price level were entirely successful, might bring with it grave disappointment.”  (HARTLEY WITHERS.)
    Examine this contention.
  5. Discuss the various methods, in use in this country, of preventing or settling industrial disputes.
  6. Compare and classify the different types of industrial combinations.
  7. Examine these suggestions.
      1. “Wages should vary with movements in the price of the commodity which the wage-earner helps to produce.”
      2. “Wages should vary with movements in the Ministry of Labour cost of living figures.”
      3. “Wages should vary with movements in the general level of prices.”
  1. Discuss the argument that such schemes as profit-sharing, co-partnership, etc., are socially undesirable because they reintroduce into the workers’ lives an element of fluctuating uncertainty from which the ordinary wage system relieves them.
  2. Distinguish between “craft unionism” and “industrial unionism” and show the importance of this distinction in modern Trade Union development.
  3. Is it true that a margin of unemployed labour is essential to the satisfactory working of the present system of economic organization?  State reasons for your answer.
  4. “The government is right in doing what it can to assist co-operative societies established either for the manufacture of agricultural products or for joint marketing….In the case of agricultural credit societies certainly the experience in Europe has been that their success has varied inversely with the amount of assistance they have received from the State.”
    State the case for agricultural co-operation in this country.

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[pp. 60-61]

ECONOMIC THEORY
(VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION).

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  9—12.
  1. “Cheap capital and cheap labour are essential conditions of a rapid growth of national wealth.”  Comment.
  2. “The law of diminishing returns, emphasizing as it does the tendency of land to deteriorate under use, resembles the allowances that industrialists make for the annual depreciation of machinery.”  Consider whether the suggested analogy is justified.
  3. Is there loss of national wealth if an invention appears which suddenly renders obsolete great masses of expensive machinery?
  4. What are the chief qualifications to be made to the assumption that it is desirable that all new capital should be free to flow into the channels most profitable to the owner of the capital?
  5. “The evils of Monopoly are not greater than the evils of unrestrained Competition.”  Discuss this point.
  6. How are rising rates of interest related to the prosperity of the wage-earning class?
  7. Discuss the connexion between the rate of interest and the accumulation of Capital.
  8. What are the strongest reasons that can be adduced in justification of the continuance of substantial inequalities in the distribution of wealth?
  9. Discuss the relation between the Standard of Life and the growth of population, bringing out clearly what you understand by the “Standard of Life.”
  10. Discuss various applications of the term “Speculation,” showing in what respects activities that are classed as “speculative” may be socially beneficial or injurious.
  11. What truth is there in the view that heavy national taxation is a burden upon the production of wealth and a cause of unemployment?

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[p. 61]

SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  1.30—4.30.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

  1. Twentieth Century Imperialism.
  2. Problems of emigration and immigration.
  3. “The forward march of economic progress that marked the Nineteenth Century cannot be expected to continue.”
  4. The formation of an Index of Prosperity.
  5. “Contentment spells stagnation; while discontent breeds friction.”
  6. The English Poor Law.
  7. “Scientific Management.”

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[pp. 62-63]

TRADE AND FINANCE.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Give some account of (a) the reasons for, and (b) the extent of, the changes in English legal tender money (standard and token) since July, 1914.  Could these changes have been avoided?
  2. “It has been asserted that the rise of prices in the United States during the greenback depreciation was not due to the quantity of the greenbacks, but to the public distrust of greenbacks.”
    Explain the principle enunciated in this statement and illustrate from recent experience in Europe.
  3. “The general rate of interest will be raised by a gradual and anticipated fall in the value of currency relatively to commodities, and will be lowered by a rise in that value.”
    Examine this statement and consider its bearing on the use of the discount rate as a means of controlling price movements.
  4. The excess of our imports over our exports is partly balanced by the services of British shipping.  Show by an illustration how this is effected, and discuss its importance in a period when shipping is being operated at a loss.
  5. Explain generally the means by which, during 1916, 1917 and 1918, the exchange between New York and London was maintained at a steady rate.  Why was it necessary to abandon the fixed rate in 1919?
  6. Consider the following case: A country possesses abundant resources of water-power readily accessible.  The development of science and engineering enables these resources to be exploited so as to furnish industrial power at a cheaper rate than in other countries.  What will be the nature of the effect on the foreign trade of such a country of so utilising the water-power?
  7. A large part of the bank deposits in this country result from loans, and so do not add to the bank’s resources.  Explain this, and consider particularly the case of loans of the character of “Ways and Means” advances to the Government.
  8. Explain what is meant by proportional, progressive and degressive taxation.  Distinguish carefully between the application of these terms to particular taxes and to the tax system as a whole.  Illustrate from modern practice in this country.
  9. “Generally, though not necessarily, the burden of the rich is lessened, that of the poor increased, by the use of loans rather than taxes.”  Examine the validity of this statement.
  10. In what sense is it possible to measure the general level of prices by means of an index number?
    Discuss briefly the inclusion of wage rates and stock exchange quotations among the elements to be used in the calculation of the index number.
  11. In what way can it be possible for a nation to expend upon a war a greater sum year by year (in addition to the proceeds of any loans raised abroad) than would represent the annual savings of the same nation during a period of peace and prosperity?

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[pp. 63-64]

RECENT ECONOMIC AND GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  1.30—4.30.

  1. “The Berlin Decree of 1806 not only was, but was intended to be, a self-denying ordinance.”  Discuss this view of Napoleon’s intentions in devising the Continental System.
  2. Napoleon’s overthrow marked “the victory of the national spirit over the alien tyranny which educates and fosters its destroyer.”  Explain and comment on this statement.
  3. Give a sketch of the condition of French agriculture and land tenure in 1815, noting how they had been affected by the Revolution.
  4. By what steps did Germany acquire a system of State railways, and why?
  5. Give a critical analysis of French commercial policy from 1815 to the Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1860.
  6. Compare the Greek and Italian movements for national independence, showing what each owed to European diplomacy and to intervention by Powers not directly concerned.
  7. Bismarck, referring to his opinions in 1866, said, “I did not doubt that a Franco-German war must take place before the construction of a United Germany could be realised.”  Discuss the causes of the war of 1870—1871 in the light of this statement.
  8. Show how the “scramble for Africa” inaugurated a new period in the history of the relations between the Great Powers.
  9. Give some account of trade-union organization in pre-war France, and of the methods and doctrines of French syndicalism.  How do you explain the weakness of trade-unionism in France?
  10. Compare the banking systems of England and Germany, with special reference to the influence exerted by the banks over industry.
  11. What part has been played by Kartells in the development of German industry?
  12. What are the main points of resemblance and difference between the attempt to regulate the affairs of Europe by Congress from 1815 to 1823 and the similar attempt after the peace of 1919?

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[pp. 64-65]

RECENT ECONOMIC AND GENERAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
AND THE UNITED STATES.

THURSDAY, June 5, 1924.  9—12.
  1. “It will always be more easy for the State governments to encroach upon the national authorities, than for the national government to encroach upon the State authorities.” FEDERALIST.
    How far does the history of the United States confirm this view?
  2. Give some account of the most striking features in the history of the American mercantile marine prior to 1914.
  3. Examine the main political and economic forces that influenced the tariff policy of the United States from 1789 to 1860.
  4. Account for the rapid development of the American “Middle West” and describe the chief characteristics of its economic life.
  5. “The Monroe Doctrine has become out of date, owing to the increasing importance in international affairs of economic, as against purely political, relations.”  Explain the origin and purpose of the Monroe Doctrine, and discuss this view of its importance in the modern world.
  6. Estimate America’s debt to Abraham Lincoln.
  7. Compare the consequences, both local and general, of the gold discoveries in (a) California, (b) South Africa.
  8. What do you understand by “Canadian Reciprocity”?  Outline the history of the controversy on this question since 1841, showing how it involved the problem of the relations between Canada and the United Kingdom.
  9. What circumstances have, up to the present time, determined the character, growth and distribution of the population of Australia?  How has the distribution affected the problem of transport?
  10. What examples do the British Dominions afford of the use of conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes, and what lessons would you draw from their experience?
  11. Compare the cotton industries of India and Lancashire in respect of their history, their organization and the social and economic problems that confront them.
  12. “Dyarchy should lead to Federalism, and Federalism to Home Rule.”  Explain clearly the meaning of the above terms, and discuss this comment on the Government of India Act of 1919.

 

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PART II

[pp. 66-67]

PUBLIC FINANCE.

MONDAY, June 2, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Discuss the economic and administrative advantages and disadvantages of the substitution of a single tax on incomes for all existing forms of taxation.
  2. Discuss the view that death duties destroy “capital.”  Contrast the effects on the annual volume of savings of raising a given amount of revenue (a) from death duties, (b) from income taxes.
  3. Discuss the contention that (a) beneficial rates are borne by the occupier, (b) onerous rates are borne by the landlord.  Indicate to what extent these doctrines are applicable to the incidence of (a) the education rate, (b) the poor rate.
  4. Discuss critically the “Principle of Minimum Sacrifice” as the true canon of taxation.  To what extent is the doctrine operative in British Public Finance at the present time: what further extensions do you think practicable?
  5. To what extent, if at all, is it true that domestic loans are to be preferred to foreign loans?  Apply any general principles you may lay down to the case of (a) British borrowing in the U.S.A. during the War, (b) the International Loan to Austria.
  6. Should the Post Office yield a profit to the State?
  7. Discuss the views that a Capital Levy is unworkable without (a) causing injurious deflation, (b) causing injurious inflation.
  8. Discuss the effects (a) of a uniform customs duty, (b) of a customs duty varying with the country from which the article comes, imposed on an article, (1) not produced at all within the country imposing the duty, (2) produced in part in the country imposing the duty.
  9. Supposing all local rates to be abolished, and the expenditure of the local authorities to be met out of funds derived from uniform national taxes, what principles should be adopted in determining the distribution of the sums so raised among the various areas and services involved?
  10. “In so far as we adopt indirect taxation at all, the best form of such a tax is one which hits articles obeying the Law of Diminishing Return.”
    Discuss this statement.

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[pp. 67-68]

ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.

MONDAY, June 2, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. Examine the distinction between joint and common (e.g. supplementary) costs and compare the special influences they respectively exert on value.
  2. Discuss the view that a “living wage” should be a first charge on the proceeds of industry.
  3. A commercial undertaking supplies electricity at three different prices: (a) a standard rate to consumers of light; (b) a lower special rate to consumers in the neighbourhood of efficient gas companies; (c) a still lower rate to consumers of power.  Are such discriminations socially desirable?
  4. Consider the causes which may produce differences between the internal and external value of a currency and the effect of such differences on the foreign trade of the country concerned.
  5. “It is becoming more and more clear to Economists that monopoly and competition are not mutually exclusive terms, but are omnibus phrases with no exact connotation.”  Discuss this.
  6. Trace the probable effects on our foreign trade of the adoption, within the country, of a universal seven hours day.
  7. In industry A wages are above, in industry B they are below, the marginal net product of labour.  What are the probable causes of these discrepancies?
  8. “It is changes in the will to buy rather than changes in the power to buy which accentuate the intensity of business cycles.”  Examine this statement.
  9. How would you proceed to find an answer to the question whether or no the material welfare of this country would be increased by a reduction in its population?
  10. Examine the effect on the general rate of interest of a nearer approach to equality of individual incomes.

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[p. 68]

SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  9—12.

Write an Essay on one of the following subjects:

  1. The place of motive in Economic theory.
  2. Economic Security.
  3. Fairness or Expediency.
  4. “The only forces strong enough to drive men to revolution are religion and hunger.”
  5. Public Opinion.
  6. “The magnificent episode of the nineteenth century.”
  7. The causes of the next world war.
  8. The future of Islam.
  9. Inequality.

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[pp. 68-69]

STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS OF MODERN INDUSTRY.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. Discuss the extent to which associations of producers are in a position to eliminate the independent middleman.
  2. “The function of the Stock Exchange is to capitalise Securities at their true relative value.”  In this connection discuss the function and rewards of the speculator, and, if you think his remuneration excessive, discuss means by which it could be reduced.
  3. “The growth of joint stock organization means that the problem of leadership is as acute to-day in industry as it is in the services maintained by government.”  Discuss this view.
  4. “The main difficulty in the way of the socialisation of industry lies not in the field of production, but of marketing.”  Discuss.
  5. Discuss the propriety of Government action in stimulating and regulating the supply of the raw materials of industry.  Illustrate your answer from the experience of recent years.
  6. Discuss the extent to which in the leading industrial countries the government of industry has passed into the hands of interests which are primarily financial rather than industrial: and indicate the probable effects of such a development upon national economic welfare.
  7. What British industries seem to you to have the strongest claims to assistance by means of protective tariffs, and on what grounds?
  8. Give some account of the prospects and problems facing any one of the following British industries at the present time :— shipping, cotton, building.
  9. How do you account for the falling-off of 25% in the volume of British exports since 1913?  Indicate the bearing of your answer on the question of how far and in what directions the character of British industry is likely to change in the next half-century.
  10. Discuss the extent to which vertical and horizontal combinations are typical of British industry to-day.  On what technical conditions does the extension of these forms respectively depend, and what is likely to be the trend of development in the future?

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[pp. 69-70]

STRUCTURE AND METHODS OF GOVERNMENT
IN THE MODERN WORLD.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. “In England the law of the constitution is not the source, but the consequence, of the rights of individuals, as defined and enforced by the courts.”
    Explain this statement, and consider how far the feature it refers to is distinctive of England.
  2. Explain the special difficulties encountered in providing for the amendment of a federal constitution, and consider with what success existing federal states have surmounted them.
  3. “If you will have democracy, you must have something like Caesarism to control it.”  How far is this dictum justified by the experience of the last 10 years?
  4. Consider whether external checks on the action of an elective legislature are more, or less, necessary where there are three or more parties than under the two-party system.
  5. State shortly the objects, and discuss the degree of success, of the principal systems of “proportional representation” in force at the present day.
  6. Compare the federalism of the German Reich with that of the United States.
  7. “The nation [England] has been saved from a bureaucracy, such as prevails over the greater part of Europe, on the one hand, and from the American spoils system on the other, by the sharp distinction between political and non-political officials.”
    Explain and discuss this judgment.
  8. Illustrate from the practice of modern countries the variety of methods by which nationalised services can be administered.
  9. Discuss the merits and demerits of a “communal franchise” where a population is not homogeneous.
  10. Explain the principal differences between the British and any other system of colonial administration.

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[pp. 70-71]

DISTRIBUTION AND LABOUR.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Examine the view that the methods of modern social reform, by encouraging the propagation and survival of the biologically unfit, tend to lower the average quality of the population.
  2. “The man who is unemployed through no fault of his own has a right to full and unconditional maintenance at the expense of the community.”
    “Above all, idleness must be made substantially less lucrative than normal work.”
    Discuss, with special reference to the system in force in Great Britain, the validity of these principles as a guide to the treatment of unemployment.
  3. What is meant by the statement that the differences at present prevailing in this country between the earnings of different grades and groups of labour are economically unjustifiable, and what grounds are there for believing it to be true?
  4. Examine the practical possibilities of so re-casting and developing the system of social insurance in this country as to afford adequate protection to the wage-earner against all the risks of industrial life.
  5. Describe the various possible methods of attaching legal sanction to wage agreements arrived at between the parties themselves and wage awards made by an outside body; and discuss the difficulties which stand in the way of their more extensive adoption in this country.
  6. How far in your opinion is the existing inequality in the distribution of income bound up, whether as cause or effect, with the existing inequality in the distribution of property?  Indicate the bearing of your answer on the question of the practicability of reducing the inequality in the distribution of income.
  7. Elucidate the exact meaning of the proposition that the workers in each industry should exercise a greater share in the control of that industry, and explain how far you consider development along these lines to be (a) desirable, (b) probable.
  8. Investigate the view that the restriction of output by particular groups of work-people is necessarily injurious to the economic welfare of the country as a whole.
  9. Examine the proposal that the standard rates of wages established in each industry should be subject to variation in accordance with the family responsibilities of individual wage-earners.
  10. “Only by extensive cuts in wages can demand be stimulated and markets recovered.”
    “Wage-cuts diminish purchasing-power, and thus aggravate trade depression.”
    In the light of these quotations, prescribe a wise policy for Trade Unionism in the face of a slump in trade.

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[p. 72]

POLITICAL THEORY.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Sketch in outline the origin, historical development, and political importance of the doctrine of the Law of Nature.
  2. “To determine the best form of government was according to Bentham a very simple matter.”  Explain and criticise Bentham’s method of determining it.
  3. Explain the significance in the history of political thought of either Edmund Burke or Giuseppe Mazzini or Karl Marx.
  4. “All men…have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity.”  Virginia Bill of Rights.
    “A right against society…is a contradiction in terms.” T. H. GREEN.
    Discuss these two opinions.​
  5. “To speak of the group will or the social conscience is not only idle but dangerous; only individuals have either wills or consciences.”  Discuss this view.
  6. Is there, in your opinion, any adequate ground for holding that a democratic form of government is peculiarly favourable to liberty?
  7. To what extent do you accept the principle of self-determination for national groups?
  8. Discuss what are the proper functions of the State with regard to (1) religious education, (2) the supply of information, (3) the supply of alcoholic liquor.
  9. Discuss on what grounds the parliamentary franchise should be granted or withheld, considering in particular the cases of illiterate persons, paupers, and conscientious objectors to military service.
  10. To what extent and in what form is the political representation of economic and vocational “interests” likely, in your opinion, to be effective or beneficial?

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[p. 73]

MONEY, CREDIT AND PRICES.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. Give reasons for thinking that the elasticity of demand for currency is not always, or even usually, unity.  What modifications, if any, does the truth of this view necessitate in the Quantity Theory of Money?
  2. Illustrate from British and American experience the functions of central banks in the modern credit structure.  To what extent is the rate of discount an adequate instrument of credit control?
  3. To what extent do you regard it as legitimate to compare the currency events of the last few years to those usually manifested in the course of a credit-cycle?
  4. “The problem of Reparations is not mainly one of taxation, but of strain upon the mechanism of the Foreign Exchanges.”
    Discuss this statement.
  5. “In truth, the gold standard is already a barbarous relic.”
    Discuss this statement.
  6. Trace the effects on the general level of prices in this country of
    1. a rise of 10% in the wages of British coal miners,
    2. a bad harvest throughout the world.
  7. “A State cannot steady industry by constructing public works in time of depression rather than of boom; for whether it borrows for this purpose at one time or the other its action has no effect upon the purchasing power of the community as a whole.”
    Examine this statement.
  8. What are the causes which are today threatening the position of London as “the financial centre of the world”?
  9. Contrast the organizations of England and Germany for the supply of capital for industrial, as distinguished from commercial, purposes.
  10. How would you construct, with existing information, an index number to show changes in the general level of (money) wages in this country?

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[pp. 74-75]

INTERNATIONAL LAW.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  1.30—4.30.
  1. “Necessity in war overrules the customs of warfare.”
    Discuss this doctrine.
  2. To what extent were the provisions of the Declaration of London observed during the Great War?  If the Declaration of London had been generally ratified, to what extent would its provisions have provided a satisfactory body of rules for the conduct of modern naval warfare?
  3. Discuss the general principles on which in your opinion should be founded the Law of War relating to the use of
    1. Bombing Aircraft.
    2. Poison Gas.
  4. Discuss briefly:
    1. The Alabama Dispute.
    2. The right of Angary.
    3. Neutral Asylum.
  5. Was Pacific Blockade without declaration of war legitimate as a means of coercion before the establishment of the League of Nations?  In what way, if at all, is the doctrine affected by the Covenant?
  6. Discuss the doctrine of Austin concerning the legal nature of International Law.
  7. Give an account of the general principle of the provisions of the Treaty of Vienna concerning international rivers, and of its application and extension in subsequent international conventions.
  8. Discuss the principle of the Three Mile Limit in the light of recent disputes.
  9. Compare the Permanent Court of Arbitration established by the First Hague Conference in 1899 with the Permanent Court of International Justice, and trace the connection between them.
  10. To what extent are the arguments used by international lawyers before the War against the principle of compulsory arbitration of all international disputes valid against the proposal to ratify the optional protocol providing for the compulsory jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice?

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[p. 75]

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND, 1823—1828, AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THOUGHT.

THURSDAY, June 5, 1924.  9—12.
  1. How far, in your opinion, do Huskisson’s speeches reveal a complete imperial economic policy?
  2. Examine the case of the employers against the Combination Act of 1824.
  3. “With all his keen wit, Place was as blind to the real problems of the future as any Tory.”  Do you agree?
  4. Explain the organization of the silk industry and the effect of recent legislation upon the industry, in 1828.
  5. On what main aspects of the social life of the time do you regard Cobbett’s evidence as of first rate value, and why?
  6. “The problem of emigration, as the committees of 1826 and 1827 learnt, was more an Irish than an English problem.”  Discuss this expression of opinion.
  7. How do you explain William Thompson’s evolution from a disciple of Ricardo into a disciple of Owen?
  8. “Owen’s original scheme of social reconstruction was a child of New Lanark by the Poor Law.”
    Is this view justified?

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[pp. 75-77]

THE THEORY OF STATISTICS.

THURSDAY, June 5, 1924.  9—12.
  1. Define the geometric mean and discuss its uses in statistics.
    Show that, if deviations are small compared with the mean, we have approximately

G = M (1 – ½v²),

where G is the geometric mean, M the arithmetic mean, and v the coefficient of variation.

  1. Show that the frequencies of 0, 1, 2, … successes in samples of n events are given by the successive terms of a binomial series, and find the mean and standard deviation.  Discuss the applications of these results.
  2. State the formula for the normal curve of errors, describe its principal properties, and find the relation between the fourth and second moments about the mean.
  3. Of 773 men in a certain battalion exposed to an epidemic 138 in all were attacked.  Of the 773, 133 had been inoculated and of these only 18 were attacked.  Set out these data in a table, describe the principal methods of testing for association in such a table, and find whether in the given case the association is or is not significant.
  4. The mean of a sub-sample of n1 observations is compared with the mean of a sample of n1+ n2 observations which contains the sub-sample.  Find the standard error of the difference between the two means.
  5. The following data are given for 90 industrial towns :

X = index-number for wages of unskilled labour,

Y = index-number for rents of working-class dwellings,

Mx = 83·1,        σx = 11·55,

My = 59·7,        σy = 11·86,

rxy = + 0·46.

Explain the meaning of the coefficient of correlation rxy, describe the method of calculation, and determine the two regression equations.  The regression not being linear, what is the significance of the regression equations?

  1. The following are the numbers (in 1000’s) of females in England and Wales, as returned at the Census of 1911, between the ages of 30 and 49.  Obtain by any algebraical method a graduated figure for the number 40 years of age.

Age

Number

Age

Number

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

344
282
305
281
289
284
280
255
280
252

40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

282
208
242
216
208
213
200
192
207
187
  1. How are the “comparative mortality figures” for different occupations, in the Decennial Reports of the Registrar General for England and Wales, obtained?  Discuss the principal sources of untrustworthiness in this data.
  2. Supposing you were given for a certain district (1) the numbers of the population of males, by single years of age from 0 to 5 and by quinquennial groups thenceforward, (2) the average annual deaths of males for the same age-groups, describe in general terms how you would proceed to construct a life-table, including the column for the complete expectation of life.  Mention any practical difficulties that are likely to occur, owing to deficiencies in the data or otherwise, stating how you would surmount them.

Source: Cambridge University. Economics tripos papers, 1921-1926. Cambridge at the University Press, 1927.

Image Source: Cambridge University Coats of Arms. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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