Category: Chicago

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Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic Theory Ph.D. Qualifying Exams, 1932-33

In the papers of economist Albert G. Hart at Columbia University there is a folder that contains nearly a complete run of economic theory qualifying exams from the University of Chicago covering the period 1926-1940. I include here the exam from the Spring quarter 1932 and the exam from the Autumn Quarter 1933, though I cannot say whether Hart himself actually took either one of these two theory exams. The previous two postings have field exams (money and banking exam, economic history exam)  that are (i) unique in his papers and (ii) have his handwritten notations, e.g. questions checked and time started and ended for some questions, so we can be very sure those were indeed “his” exams. In several of the theory exams before the Autumn 1933  there are Hart-like checkmarks over the names of economists explicitly mentioned which has led me to conclude that a part of Hart’s personal examination prep was to go over the old theory examinations to identify the economists most likely to make an appearance in his own economic theory exam. The Autumn 1933 exam of this posting has no such checkmarks and would coincide with the quarter he took his money-and-banking exam. In any event today’s postings are still valuable artifacts from the early 1930s Chicago department.

________________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY
Written Examination for the Ph.D.

Spring Quarter, 1932

Time: 3 1/2 hours.

Answer seven questions, of which at least three must be in Part I. C. & A. students may substitute question 6, Part II, for any other question.

Part I

  1. Discuss the relationships between the conclusions and assumptions of the neoclassical school[✓], the Weber[✓]-Sombart[✓] school, and the American institutionalists[✓].
  2. Trace the development of the demand concept from Adam Smith to the present, touching on the contributions of J.S. Mill[✓], Cournot[✓], Fleeming Jenkin[✓], Walras[✓], Böhm-Bawerk[✓], and the statistical economists. [(Schultz)]
  3. A producer of cement has a monopoly of the market in the area adjoining his plant, but is an insignificant factor in the rest of the country, where there are many competing producers. He can sell any desired portion of his output in the competitive market at the price there prevailing. Given the price prevailing in the competitive market, the demand schedule in his own monopolized market, his own average cost schedule, and any additional information which may be necessary for the solution of the problem, find the price he should charge in his own market, and the quantities he should sell in each market, to maximize his net revenue.
  4. Answer (a) or (b), but not both.

(a) The final degree of utility curves of A and B for corn (X) and beef (Y) are as follows, the small letters x and y representing the quantities of X and Y consumed by the person indicated by the subscript.

Commodity

Person

X (corn)

Y (beef)

A

fa(xa) = – (3/2)xa + (19/2)

?a(ya) = -(1/2)ya + 6

B

fb(xb) = -(3/8)xb + 5

?b(yb) = – yb + 7

The total market supply of corn is

x = xa + xb = 14

and the total market supply of beef is

y = ya + yb = 8

Without performing any numerical computations, explain how to deduce the combined demand curves of A and B for corn in terms of beef and for beef in terms of corn.

(b) Is there an equilibrium price and output when a commodity is produced by two competing monopolists? Discuss this problem touching on the solutions of Cournot[✓], Edgeworth[✓], Amoroso[✓], and Wicksell[✓].

Part II

  1. Describe the history and status of the real cost theory [✓] of value. [Marx]
  2. Point out the resemblances and the differences between the preconceptions, the methods of analysis, and the conclusions, of Adam Smith and the physiocrates [sic], or of the mercantilists and the physiocrates [sic], or of Malthus and Ricardo.
  3. Give some reasonable objectives for a centrally planned economy in a democratic state; state the grounds of your selection of objectives; indicate and discuss possible lines of procedure for realizing them through price control.
  4. Explain and comment on the following in connection with interest theory; [BB; Hayek; Fisher[?]]

(1)  length of the productive period; (2) underestimate of the future; (3) marginal physical productivity of waiting; (4) marginal abstinence; (5) “evening out the income stream.”

5.  Discuss the significant of variability of the proportions of the factors of production and of variability of the supplies of the productive factors for a marginal productivity theory of distribution.

For C. & A. students only

6.   Discuss the feasibility and merits of inflation in the present stage of the depression.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: Chicago”.

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ECONOMIC THEORY
Written Examination for the Doctorate

[Part I, Price theory/Microeconomics]
Autumn Quarter, 1933

Time: Three Hours.

Answer all the questions as directed.

1.   (Answer both parts)

A.  Defined or very briefly describe:

(1) Inelastic demand
(2) Elastic demand
(3) Incremental (or marginal) revenue
(4) Perfect competition (in terms of demand elasticity)
(5) Pure profit
(6) Productivity (incremental or marginal of a particular agency or factor)

B.  Is export dumping evidence of domestic monopoly? Explain. Under what conditions does export dumping lead to a lower domestic price in the exporting country?

2.   (Answer either A or B)

A.  State briefly the doctrine of market price and natural price of the early classical economists; contrast this with Marshall’s analysis of long-run and short on price, and give your own view of the correct classification of viewpoints with respect to time.

B. State and critically discuss the classical doctrine of productive and unproductive labor, and in view of the issues raised formulate a correct definition of production in economics.

3.  The theory of marginal utility: its origin, principal forms or interpretations, your own view of its meaning and use in price theory, and the critical appraisal of its validity. Consider especially the relations between the use of the principle as an explanatory concept and as a premise for the discussion of social policy.

4.  (Answer either A or B)

A.  Discuss the effects of establishing by legal action be minimum wage above the wage actually received by, say, one-fourths of the workers actually employed: (a) under conditions of prosperity with approximately full employment; (b) under depression conditions with a large volume of unemployment.

B.  Criticized the view that industry fails to distribute sufficient purchasing power to buy its product, resulting in economic on balance.

5. Show graphically the effect of lowering the tariff on sugar. (Assumed domestic and foreign demand and supply curves given, and neglect any disturbances in the balance of international payments.)

6. Briefly characterize and evaluate comparatively what you considered the significant “approaches” or methodologies in economic science. (The following are to be taken as suggestive catch-words: classical, inductive, institutional, historical, deductive, price theory, sociological, socialistic, control.) We are possible, cite examples of the different tendencies in the history of economic thought from the Greeks to the present.

 

PART II
MONETARY AND CYCLE THEORY

Written Examination for the Ph.D.
Autumn Quarter, 1933

Time: 2 hours

Answer four questions, including the first two.

  1. State the classical doctrine of international gold flows and price levels and discuss some recent criticism of this doctrine.
  2. “The primary cause of business depression is the rigidities of the price structure.”  “Through their alternating contraction and expansion of the circulating medium the banks are responsible for the wide swings in industrial activity.” Discuss these statements.
  3. Discuss the theoretical short-comings involved in a policy on the part of our federal government of progressively bidding up the price of gold in foreign markets.
  4. If business recovery came without the assistance of governmental inflation it would be accompanied by an expansion of the circulating medium as a result of the lending operations of the commercial banks. What significant similarities and differences are there between such expansion and (a) government borrowing from the banks in order to finance public works, (b) outright “greenbackism”?
  5. It has been argued that in as much as the demand for capital goods is a derived demand it follows that any voluntary saving will necessarily result in some degree of unemployment. That is to say, the savings will reduce the demand for consumers’ goods, thus reducing the demand for capital goods, and consequently not all the savings will be borrowed; hence unemployment. But the commercial banks, through their power to create circulating medium, make it possible for entrepreneurs to obtain the funds with which to create capital goods without the reduction in consumer demand which comes with saving. Hence the banks furnish a means of escape from the dilemma. Discuss.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: Chicago”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Lecture Hall 1). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07482, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic History, Ph.D. qualifying exam, 1933

The previous posting was a transcription of the examination questions for the Ph.D. qualifying exam in money-and-banking (a.k.a. financial organization) at Chicago in 1933. This posting gives us the analogous exam for the field Economic History which tested both U.S. and Western European economic history equally. Bracketed checkmarks have been included for the questions that the economist A. G. Hart explicitly checked himself.  It seems  unlikely that Hart did not answer two of the last three questions of Group II, but until someone finds the typed copy of his exam (see introduction to previous posting, link above), we won’t know.

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ECONOMIC HISTORY
Written Examination for the Ph.D.

[University of Chicago]
Summer Quarter, 1933

Time: 4 hours

Divide your time equally between Group I and Group II.

Where suitable, answers in outline form are preferable and will save time. Read the instructions and questions carefully.

Group I

Answer question 1 and 3 others. Time, 2 hours.

  1. [✓] What reasons can you suggest to explain why the per capita money income in the United States around the first of the twentieth century was so much higher than that in the United Kingdom?
  2. [✓] Explain how economic conditions in the colonies reacted upon the transplanting of English institutions, political, social and economic, in the colonies.
  3. Describe the chief laws governing the disposition of the public domain since 1800 and give a critical estimate of the results of this legislation.
  4. [✓] Enumerate the various ways in which our ideal of democracy (in the broad sense) has reacted upon our economic history.
  5. [✓] Outline and explain the history of our merchant marine since 1789.
  6. Trace the evolution of the financial institutions upon which agriculture had to depend for its credit since about 1820, giving a critical estimate of the adequacy of these facilities at different periods.

Group II

Answer question 1 and 3 others. Time, 2 hours

  1. [✓] Make an outline or list of the main changes in economic institutions from 12th-century West-Europe to the World War. Briefly compare the conditions of at the later date with economic organization at the height of “classical” (Greco-Roman) civilization.
  2. [✓] Discuss in detail the manner in which the rising prices during the 16th century may have affected industrial development in England, France and the Belgian provinces? What comfort can advocate of “controlled inflation” today derived from the monetary history of the 16th century in these three countries?
  3. Compare the agrarian history of Italy in the first and second centuries A.D. With that of northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries A.D. To what extent, if any, can the differences be explained by the differences in the natural resources of the two countries?
  4. Trace the history of thought in connection with any one of the following three subjects from the earliest times down to the present: (a) the influence of climate upon civilization; (b) The quantity theory of money; (c) The influence of religion upon the rise of capitalism.
  5. Selects some topic in economic history which you would be interested in investigating. Tell how you would go about obtaining the material. What sort of historical criticism would you apply to the material?

 Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: CHI QUALIFYING”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Lecture Hall 2). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07483, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Money and Banking Ph.D. qualifying exam, 1933

A. G. Hart’s education and career covered the big three economics departments of his day (Harvard, Chicago and Columbia). For my research on the history of economics education his papers constitute a particularly rich vein of material. In today’s posting I have transcribed the questions for his “qualifying examination” in money-and-finance at the University of Chicago. Bracketed checkmarks indicate the questions Hart chose to answer (the checkmarks are presumably his). In his memo of February 1985 (Columbia University, A. G. Hart papers: Box 60, Folder “Sec I Notes on teaching materials, Learning”) Hart wrote that his files include “answers to ‘qualifying examinations’ in microeconomics, money-and-finance, and economics history” to which he added the following footnote: “I was allowed to write these [qualifying] exams with aid of a typewriter, so that I was able to keep a legible copy. I ducked the qualifying exam in statistics (in which for that date I was very well trained) because I disapproved of the focus of previous exams upon minor technicalities—hence I exploited the loophole which made ‘financial organization’ a separate field even though in principle the ‘theory’ exam included monetary economics.” I must have missed his typed examination answers (or they were lost or misfiled). Perhaps someone else will locate them and post a comment here some day…

_____________________________________________

 

THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

Written Examination for the Ph. D. Degree
[University of Chicago]
Autumn Quarter, 1933

 

Time: 4 hours.

 

Write on 7 questions, including the first two in Part I and any two in Part II.

Part I

  1. [✓] Assume a large deposit of new gold in a member bank in the United States. Show the precise manner in which this deposit would result in an expansion of the circulating medium, and the approximate extent of such expansion. Develop in terms of the following topics: (a) a single bank; (b) the banking system; (c) drain of cash into circulation.
  2. [✓] Discuss the respective merits and limitations of the following as alternative methods of contributing to sustained recovery from the current depression: (a) the program of construction of public works financed by sale of bonds to banks; (b) federal unemployment benefits financed by sale of bonds to banks; (c) open market purchase of bonds by the Federal Reserve banks.
  3. To what extent have weaknesses in our banking system been responsible for the bank failures of the last 13 years[?] Have these weaknesses been remedied by recent legislation? If not, what changes would you recommend?
  4. [✓] “A world that was striving to maintain the currency system with the wider ambit than its banking system, its tariff system, and its wage system, witnessed the smash of them all – and blamed it on gold. Now that the full extent of the chaos is realized[,] one might wonder why the whole mechanism did not break down sooner in view of the well-nigh universal refusal to observe the rules of the game (gold standard).” What is the significance of the author’s first sentence? How would you state the “rules of the game”?
  5. [✓] Discuss the theoretical short-comings involved in a policy on the part of our federal government of progressively bidding up the dollar price of gold in foreign markets.
  6. Do the following experiences with paper money throw any light on the possible outcome of the present monetary and fiscal situation in the United States? The assignats, the period of the restriction in England, the Greenback Era, the post-world-war experiences in Europe.
  7. [✓] State and evaluate the argument that “maldistribution” of income is the cause of recurrent business depressions.

 

Part II

 

  1. [✓] It is alleged that the investment market has “dried up” because investors and bankers are uncertain of the future value of the dollar and because of the paralysis of investment banking caused by the “securities law.” Do you consider the allegations sound? Why or why not?
  2. [✓] What industries would be likely to profit most from a return to the 1926 price level? What industries least? Defend your answer. Be careful to state any important assumptions. Classify industries as you please.
  3. Assume you are treasurer of an automobile manufacturing corporation having a $5,000,000 bond maturity on January 1, 1934. What factors would you consider in planning to meet this maturity and why would you consider each of them?

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60; Folder “Sec 2 Ec 230 1933 Chicago Money (Summer course)”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Entrance, North 3). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07466, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Chicago Columbia Economists Michigan

Chicago, Columbia, Michigan. Henry Simons Coursework, 1916-1926

Simons

George Stigler’s research file for his paper “Henry Calvert Simons” (The Journal of Law & Economics, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Apr., 1974), pp. 1-5) includes the following artifacts that provide us with a complete, or at least near complete, listing of undergraduate and graduate coursework of the “Crown Prince of that hypothetical kingdom, the Chicago school of economics” — Stigler wisecracking at the start of his otherwise serious biographical essay on Henry Simons.

The 1968 International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences biography of Simons.

_____________________________________

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

1513 LS&A Building
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

[June 1972]

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

RE: HENRY CALVERT SIMONS

The following are the descriptive titles of courses pursued, together with the hours of credit earned and grades received by Henry Calvert Simons while a student in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, of The University of Michigan. He was in attendance during the years 1916-1920.

Course

 Descriptive Title Semester Hours Grade
1916-20
Latin 1 Cicero, Essays

4

B
Latin 2 Livy. Book I or XXI. Plautus, Terence.

4

B
Latin 3 Horace

4

B
Latin 4b The Letters of Pliny the Younger

2

B
French 1a Elementary French for Juniors & Seniors

4

D
French 2a Elementary French for Juniors & Seniors

4

B
Rhetoric 1 Composition & Rhetoric

3

B
Rhetoric 2 Continuation of Course 1

3

B
Rhetoric 3 Advanced Composition & Rhetoric

3

B
Rhetoric 4 Advanced Composition & Rhetoric

3

B
History W1 The Issues of the War; an exposition of the Causes & Significances of the Great War

3

B
Political Economy and Sociology

1

 Elements of Political Economy, I

5

B

7

 Essentials of Economic Theory

2

A

2

 Elements of Political Economy, II

5

B

38

 Principles of Accounting, I

4

A

37

 Corporation Finance

2

A

6

 Railway Problems

3

A

13b

 Studies in Economic Theory

2

A

9

 Banking and Foreign Exchange

3

A

15

 Corporations

3

A

39

 Principles of Accounting, II

4

B-

40

 Cost Accounting

3

C-

8a

 Economic Statistics

2

B

10

 Money, Credit, and the Level of Prices

3

A

13

 Studies in Economic Theory

2

B

16

 Public Service Industries

2

A

18

 Research Work

1

B

43

 Auditing and Special Accounting Systems

3

D-

43a

 Income Tax Procedure

2

C-
Math 1 Algebra, Trigonometry, & Analytic Geometry

4

B
Math 2 Plane Analytic Geometry

4

B
Math 51 Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Interest and Insurance, I

3

B
Math 52 Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Interest and Insurance, II

3

B
Math 3a Calculus, Shorter Course, I

3

B
Math 4a Calculus, Shorter Course, II

3

A
Chemistry 1 General and Inorganic Chemistry

2

B
Chemistry 1a General and Inorganic Chemistry

2

A
Chemistry 2 General and Inorganic Chemistry

2

B
Chemistry 2a General and Inorganic Chemistry

2

B
Military 4 The Basic Group

4

No grade is given

December 3, 1920—Henry Calvert Simons was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. With a Business Certificate, and Diploma.

_____________________________________

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240

College of Business Administration
Department of Economics
Area 319: 353-5128

June 30, 1972

 

Professor George J. Stigler
Department of Economics and Business
University of Chicago
Chciago, Illinois 60637

Dear Professor Stigler:

I am responding to your inquiry about information on Professor Henry C. Simons when he was at the University of Iowa. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find much useful information…

…The Personnel office gave me the following background from his file which is rather sterile information.

He received his B. A. from Michigan and began his appointment at Iowa, January 8, 1921 as an Assistant in Principles and Assistant in railroads, at a salary of $1,900. In 1925-26 he was on a leave of absence, but no indication as to where it was spent. [see University of Chicago transcript below] He became an assistant professor of economics in 1926 at a salary of $2,750…

Sincerely yours,

[signed]

Jerald R. Barnard
Associate Professor and Chairman

_____________________________________

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
in the City of New York
New York, N.Y 10027

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

Philosophy Hall
July 19, 1972

Mr. George J. Stigler
The University of Chicago
Haskell Hall
Chicago 37, Illinois

Dear Mr. Stigler:

I have your letter of June 26th concerning Henry Calvert Simons.

A careful check of our records indicates that he was with us as a student only during the Summer Session of 1922. He registered for two graduate courses in economics taught by Prof. Herbert J. Davenport. One course was in Pubic Finance and the other was the Theory of Price Competition. For reasons which I do not entirely understand, he did not receive a grade in either course.

I hope this information will be helpful to you.

Very truly yours,

[signed]

Charles P. Hurd
Registrar

_____________________________________

 

The University of Chicago
Office of the Recorder

Matr.   No. 104903
Name             Henry Calvert Simons, Jr.
Date of Matriculation          June 18, 1923
Home Address          College of Commerce, U. of Ia, Iowa City, Ia

Church Affiliation 

Membership Presbyterian
Preference [blank]

The Student’s degree of A. B. judged equal to the Degree of Ph. B. from the U. of C., lacking [blank] majors. Equivalence established by the University Examiner 7.17, 1930

Candidacy for the Degree of Ph. D. in the Dep’ts of 1. Economics 2. [blank]
recomm. by H. A. Millis        3.25, 1930
Approved by the Faculty 8. 9, 1930.

The Graduate School         Record of Work

Majors taken

 Abs. Grade Majors Credit

Grade Points
SUMMER QR. 1923
POL.EC.-mj.31-Advanced Banking A 1
POL.EC.-mj.40X-Org.Labor in Am.Indust.Soc C 1
POL.EC.-mj.65-Government Finance B 1
SUMMER QR. 1924
POL.EC.-mj.16-Hist.of Econ.Thought A 1
POL.EC.-mj.45-Types of Econ.Organiz’n. A ½
POL.EC.-mj.62-Probs.of Federal Aid (Visitor)
POL.EC.-mj.67-State Finance & Taxation A 1
SUMMER QR. 1925
POL.EC.-mj.311-Statistical Theory p 1
POL.EC.-mj.353-Internat.Economic Policies A 1
ED.-m.321A-Financial Administration (Visitor)
ED.-m.321B -Financial Administration
(Visitor)
WINTER QR. 1926
POL.EC.-mj.220-Economic Hist.of U.S. A 1
POL.EC.-mj.312-Statistical Graphics p 1
POL.EC.-mj.461-Research in Gov’t Finance p 1
SPRING QR. 1926
POL.EC.-mj.303-Mod.Tendencies in Economics A 1
POL.EC.-mj.462 Research in Gov’t Finance inc.
French Exams passed 9.2.26 SEP
SUMMER QR. 1927 1st Term
GER.-1010-German for Reading Req’ts (non-cr.)
German Examination Passed OCT

Source: University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Box 2, Folder “1972 GJS folder on H. Simons: Sources for articles in Dict. of Am. Biog. & Apr. 74 JLE”.

_____________________________________

[University of Chicago, Summer Quarter, 1923]

[Political Economy] 31. Advanced Banking.—A review of the elementary principles of bank credit will be followed by a brief discussion of foreign banking systems. The purpose of this will be to ascertain wherein, from an institutional point of view, the organization of American banking systems has been influenced by European methods. The course will conclude with an investigation of such topics as agricultural credit, the trade acceptance, the bank acceptance, check collections and clearances, and the problems of Federal Reserve management. The internal problems of bank management are not emphasized. Rather the endeavor is to show the manner in which economic principles work themselves out through the instrumentality of our financial institutions. Prerequisite: course 3 [The Financial Organization of Society] or its equivalent. Mj. 1:30, Professor [Harold Lyle] Reed [Professor of Finance and Banking, Washington University]. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1923, p. 26.]

[Political Economy] 40X. Organized Labor in American Industrial Society.—An advanced course, covering much the same ground as 40B [Collective Bargaining and Industrial Arbitration]. After obtaining the needed background in the extent of union organization and in union methods and policies, a study is made of collective bargaining and struggles between organized labor and employers in typical industries. Following this an examination is made of the law as ti is applied to organized labor and employers. The last part of the course is devoted to the mediation and the arbitration of industrial disputes. The course is designed primarily for students who desire a concrete and detailed knowledge of organized labor not to be obtained from a general course and who cannot take 40A [Trade Unionism] and 40B [Collective Bargaining and Industrial Arbitration]. Prerequisite: course 4 [The Worker in Modern Economic Society] or its equivalent. Mj. 10:00, Professor [Harry Alvin] Millis. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1923, p. 26.]

[Political Economy] 65. Principles of Government Finance.—This course deals with public expenditure, budgetary methods, public revenues, and public debt. Its purpose is to give a working knowledge of public financial institutions and practices and, more especially, an understanding of financial principles. About half of the quarter is devoted to the theory and practice of taxation. Special attention is paid to war finance. Some of the leading topics discussed are: the growth and amount of public outlays; the principles which should be observed in making appropriations; budgetary methods; the sources of revenue; public industries and price-making; fees and special assessments; the principles of taxation; the more important kinds of taxes; bonds versus taxes in war finance; the principles which should be observed in borrowing; the management of national and local debts. Prerequisite: course 1 [Principles of Economics II: Value and Distribution in Industrial Society] and 27 majors. Mj. 9:00, Associate Professor [Jacob] Viner. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1923, p. 26-27.]

 

[University of Chicago, Summer Quarter, 1924]

[Political Economy] 16. History of Economic Thought.—Attention is given throughout to the determining factors of economic thought as found in industrial conditions and in general political and social philosophy. The students are expected to make use so far as possible of primary sources. Prerequisite: 4 majors in the Department. Mj. 10:00, Professor [John Maurice] Clark. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1924, p. 23.]

[Political Economy] 45. Types of Economic Organization.—An examination of the various forms of economic organization that have been proposed, including the Utopias, Individualism, Marxian Socialism, Collectivism, the Single Tax, Syndicalism, and Guild-Socialism. Constant comparison will be made between these forms and the present structure of society. M. First Term, 2:30, Associate Professor [Paul H.] Douglas. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1924, p. 24.]

[Political Economy] 62. The Problems of Federal Aid.—A semi-research course, which is designed to analyze the economic and fiscal relations between the federal and state governments. The systems of grants-in-aid given in other countries and of state aid in this country will be first considered. The major portion of the course will deal with the specific federal aid laws enacted by the national government and their administrative history. An attempt will be made to work out standards of federal and state action. M. First Term, 3:30, Associate Professor [Paul H.] Douglas. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1924, p. 24.]

[Political Economy] 67. Federal and State Taxation Problems.—This course will deal in some detail with current problems of income, inheritance, property, and commodity taxation in federal and state finance in the United States. Students entering this course will be expected to have had a general course in government finance and a substantial knowledge of the principles and methods of taxation on their part will be taken for granted. Mj. 9:00 Associate Professor [Jacob] Viner. [University of Chicago. Announcements, Summer Quarter 1924, pp. 67-8.]

 

[University of Chicago, Summer Quarter, 1925]

[Political Economy] 311. Statistical Theory.—Mj. Summer, 8:00, Professor [James Alfred] Field. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-1926, p. 148]

[Political Economy] 353. International Economic Policies.—Mj. Summer, 10:00, Professor [Jacob] Viner. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-1926, p. 149]

 

[University of Chicago, Winter Quarter, 1926]

[Political Economy] 220. Economic History of the United States.—Mj. Professor [Chester Whitney] Wright. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-26, p. 146]

[Political Economy] 312. Statistical Graphics and Tabulation.—Mj. Professor [James Alfred] Field. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-26, p. 148]

[Political Economy] 461. Research in Government Finance.—Professor [Jacob] Viner. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-26, p. 149]

 

[University of Chicago, Spring Quarter, 1926]

[Political Economy] 303. Modern Tendencies in Economics.—Mj. Professor [John Maurice] Clark. . [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-26, p. 147]

[Political Economy] 462. Research in Government Finance.—Professor [Jacob] Viner. [University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for 1925-26, p. 149]

 

IMAGE SOURCE: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07613, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Chicago Suggested Reading

Chicago. History of Economic Thought. Frank Knight, 1946

This is now the fifth course reading list  I have posted from the valuable collection of University of Chicago lecture notes taken by the economist Norman Kaplan. The other four syllabi are from courses taught by Douglas, Friedman, Lange, and Mints. Today we have the “Working Bibliography” that Frank Knight provided students taking his graduate course on the history of economic thought. I have managed to add a good number of links to the items he cited just as I have for the analogous course offered at Harvard by Joseph Schumpeter in 1940.

Incidentally, the distinguished economic historian Stanley Engerman is the person to whom we all owe an enormous debt of gratitude. Professor Engerman was a colleague and friend of Norman Kaplan at the University of Rochester. After Kaplan’s death Engerman helped sort through the papers left in his deceased colleague’s office, spotted the extraordinary collection of extensive student notes for Kaplan’s years at the University of Chicago and then had the notes shipped to the University of Chicago Archives. 

___________________________

[Course Announcement]

[Economics] 302. History of Economic Thought. Brief survey of the whole field of economic thought and a more intensive study of the “classical school” of British economists, whose doctrines are studied in relation to the problems and discussions of today. Prereq: Econ 301 or equiv. Win: TuThu 3:30-5; Knight.

 

Source:  University of Chicago, Announcements–The College and the Divisions, Sessions of 1945-1946, p. 216.

___________________________

 

ECONOMICS 302
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
Winter 1946

Working Bibliography

General Character of the Course: A very brief survey of economic thought prior to the “classical school,” with chief attention devoted to the latter, especially to the price and distribution theory of Smith, Ricardo, Senior and Mill. Limited reference to Historical or Socialistic Schools. Matter outside the classical doctrine to be obtained chiefly from reading.

General Works (“Manuals”)

Ferguson, John M., Landmarks of Economic Thought.

Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine.

Two recent books very readable, and excellent within their scope. Gray has nothing on the historical schools. Neither is adequate on the classical writers.

 

Roll, Erich, History of Economic Thought. Somewhat Marxist slant.

Haney, L. H., History of Economic Thought. The fullest book covering the field; table of contents gives a fairly good arrangement of authors into groups or tendencies.
[1920 edition]

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

Spann, O., History of Economics. Translated from the German. Valuable for its intense opposition to the viewpoint of the classical school in favor of an organismic or universalistic standpoint. [Original: Othmar Spann, Die Haupttheorien der Volkswirtschaftslehre, 17th ed. 1928.]

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

Oncken, A. Geschichte der National Ökonomie. (Down to Adam Smith).

Gide, C., and Rist, C., History of Economic Doctrines (in French, or Translated from the French). (Begins with the Physiocrats). A competent but uninspired book. Emphasis on French work and on the socialistic schools.

Scott, William A., The Development of Economics. Covers modern period, beginning with background of classical economics. Excellent summaries, notable omissions (esp. Mathematical economists).

Whittaker, Edmund, A History of Economic Ideas. The best book in the field in content but massive, confusing, and repetitious through organization on the topical principle. First half deals with institutional and intellectual history rather than analytical economic thought. [Cf. his Schools and Streams of Economic Thought. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1960.]

Heimann, Eduard, History of Economic Doctrines. An Introduction to Economic Theory. Oxford University Press, 1945. Pp. ix, 263 (245). More introduction than history.

Salin, Edgar, Geschichte der Volkswirtschaftslehre. Covers the field briefly in an interpretive, historical-philosophical manner.

Encyclopedias; esp. Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy. (Ed. Henry Higgs 1926) and the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences; on men and movements, and especially, Bibliographies. [Palgrave, 1912-1915.  Vol I (A-E), Vol II (F-M), Vol III (N-Z)]

See Bibliographical Notes in Haney (above) 3d Revised Edition, 1936, pp. 803-809.

 

On the Whole Period before the Classical School

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

Oncken, A. See under General Works.

Sewall, H. R. The Theory of Value before Adam Smith, Publications of the American Economic Association, 1901.

Dunning, W. A., History of Political Theories, Ancient and Modern; also ibid. From Luther to Montesquieu. (Pre-classical economic thought being essentially political thought.)

 

Greco-Roman Economics

Simey, Miss E., article entitled “Economic Theory among the Greeks and Romans.” Economic Review, 1900. Copies on reserve. Best short account.

Laistner, M. L. W., Greek Economics. Valuable introduction and excerpts.

Calhoun, G. M., Business Life of Ancient Athens. Introduction and text valuable for background.

 

Medieval

Ashley, W. J. English Economic History and Theory, Vol. 1, pt. I, Chap. 3, and Vol. I, Pt. II, Chap. 6. Best general account.

O’Brien, Geo., An Essay on Medieval Economic Teaching. Highly important, especially because written from a Catholic point of view.

Tawney, R. H., Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Chapter One, on The Medieval Background

 

Mercantilism

Heckscher, Eli F., Mercantilism, 2 vols. [Volume One; Volume Two]

Horrocks, J. W., A Short History of Mercantilism.

Schmoller, Gustav, The Mercantile System. Ashley Economic Classics. Invaluable also as a specimen of the German historical economics. Inquire at desk. E11.

Ashley, W. J. The Tory Origin of Free Trade Policy, in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 11. Also in Surveys Historical and Economic.

Johnson, E. A. J. The Predecessors of Adam Smith.

Mun, Thomas, England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade. Ashley Economic Classics

Furniss, E. S., The Position of the Laborer in a System of Nationalism.

Viner, J., English Theories of Foreign Trade before Adam Smith, in Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 38, nos. 3 and 4. Reprinted in Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Harpers, 1937.

 

Physiocrats
(Given very little attention in this course.)

Higgs, Henry, The Physiocrats.

Ware, Norman, article on “The Physiocrats” in American Economic Review, 1931.

Bloomfield, Arthur I., Foreign Trade Doctrines of the Physiocrats. American Economic Review, Volume XXVIII, no. 4, December 1938 (Reprint on Reserve).

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

 

Classical School

Whitaker, A. C., Labor Theory of Value in English Political Economy. Nearly essential, if obtainable (Purchase).

Bowley, Marian, Nassau Senior and Classical Economics (Purchase, alternative to Whitaker). Better, but more difficult.

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

Cannan, Edwin, Review of Economic Theory. Used selectively, more available than his other book.

Taussig, F. W. Wages and Capital (London School Reprint).

Knight, F. H. The Ricardian Theory of Production and Distribution. Reprint from the Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science.

Cannan, Edwin, (ed.), Lectures of Adam Smith.

Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations.  Full text, Everyman’s Library (2 vols.) or Modern Library (Reprint of Cannan edition—1 vol.) most available. Abridged edition edited by W. J. Ashley gives portions covered in the course conveniently in one small volume.  Cannan edition (2 vols.) the definitive edition, but expensive and bulky for class use.

Ricardo, David, Principles of Political Economy. Available in Everyman’s Library (1 vol.)  Gonner edition best. (London, C. Bell and Sons: Bohn’s Libraries). [Sraffa edition]

Senior, N. W., Outline of Political Economy. Reprinted 1938, Allen and Unwin.

Mill, J. S., Principles of Political Economy. Ashley ed., Longmans, 1 vol.

 

Subjective Value or Marginal Utility School

Smart, Wm., Introduction to the Theory of Value.

Jevons, W. S. Theory of Political Economy.

Wieser, F., Natural Value.

Smart’s prefaces to Böhm-Bawerk’s two main volumes and to Wieser, Natural Value.

Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest and Positive Theory of Capital.

Weinberger, Otto. Die Grenznutzenschule.

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

 

Historical and Institutional and Socialistic Schools

See articles in Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy and in the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.

 

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Norman Maurice Kaplan Papers. Box 1, Folder 10.

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

Categories
Chicago Columbia Cornell Harvard Johns Hopkins Statistics Wisconsin

Graduate Student Enrollments in Economics. Seligman’s Tally, 1909

Here we have a letter from the chairman of the Columbia University economics department, Edwin R. A. Seligman, to the chairman of the trustees of Columbia University, George L. Rives, boasting of the large market share of Columbia with respect to graduate education in economics and sociology. We’ve seen earlier (1900) that Seligman kept a jealous eye on Columbia’s competition.

Ouch:  Due diligence in avoiding posting a second copy of an archival artifact was wanting. October 17, 2018 I did just that!

_____________________________________

[carbon copy of letter Seligman to Rives]

No. 324 West 86 street
New York, February 13, 1909

My dear Sir:

You may be interested in the enclosed statistics which have been compiled by me from answers to questions sent out to the various universities. It shows the relative position of Columbia compared to its six leading competitors, and it is a curious coincidence that the totals of Columbia on the one hand, and of the six universities together on the other, should be precisely the same.

Faithfully yours,

Edwin R. A. Seligman

(Enclosure)

 

To Mr. George L. Rives,
New York City

_____________________________________

STUDENTS WITH DEGREES ENROLLED IN
GRADUATE COURSES, Dec. 1909

 

Economics Sociology Total of Economics and Sociology
Harvard

27

 —

27
Yale

16

 12

28
Cornell

10

 4

14
Johns-Hopkins

12*

 —

12*
Chicago

12

 19

31
Wisconsin

22

 4

26
Total in the 6 universities

99

 39

138
Columbia

67

 71

138

*including duplications

 

Source: Columbia University Archives. Central Files 1890-, Box 338. Folder: “Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson. 1.1.110 2/5”

Image Source: Universities and their Sons, Vol. 2 (1899), pp. 485.

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Theory of Income and Employment. Domar, 1948

Jacob Marschak’s course “The Theory of Income and Employment” was taught by the (visiting) assistant professor of economics and research associate in the Cowles Commission, Evsey D. Domar, in the Spring Quarter of 1948. The appointment must have taken place after the Announcements for 1947-1948 were published in May, 1947, so one presumes there was a relatively late change in plans.

For those interested in Domar’s early backstory,  Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky arrived in the U.S. on the S.S. Taizo Maru that departed 27 July 1936 from Kobe, Japan and arrived at the port of Los Angeles, California August 16. Domar (“race: Hebrew; nationality: White Russian”) was born April 16, 1914 in Lodz, Poland and last resided in Dairen, Manchuria (now Dalian or Talien, China) before he left for the U.S. He worked his way through UCLA and his graduation photo from the college yearbook graces this posting.

___________________

ECONOMICS 335
THE THEORY OF INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

Spring, 1948
E. D. Domar

Required Reading List

It is assumed that the students are familiar with the contents of the first 20 chapters of A. P. Lerner’s Economics of Control.

 

PART I.   THE MEASUREMENT OF TOTAL OUTPUT.         March 30 – April 1

Simon Kuznets, National Income and Its Composition, V. I, Ch. 1.
J. R. Hicks and A. G. Hart, The Social Framework of the American Economy, ch. 3, 8, 10-13, 15, 16.
National Planning Association, National Budgets for Full Employment.
Survey of Current Business, National Income Supplement, July, 1947.

 

PART II.   THE ESSENCE OF THE THEORY.    April 3- 28.

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.
A. P. Lerner, Economics of Control, ch. 21-25.
American Economic Association, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, ch. 5-12.
S. E. Harris, editor. The New Economics, ch. 9, 11-15, 19, 33, 36.
Oscar Lange, Price Flexibility and Employment, pp. 1-90.
Milton Friedman, “Lange on Price Flexibility and Employment,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1946 (Reprints in Harper Reserve Room).
Lawrence Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, ch. 3-5.
Gottfried Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 8, 13.
A. C. Pigou, “The Classical Stationary State,” The Economic Journal, December 1943.
J. E. Meade and P. W. S. Andrews, “Summary of Replies to Questions on Effects of Interest Rates,” and “A Further Inquiry into the Effects of Rates of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, No. 1, 1938 and No. 3, 1940.
Simon Kuznets, “Relation between Capital Goods and Finished Products in the Business Cycle,” in Economic Essays in Honor of Wesley Clair Mitchell.
R. F. Kahn, “The Relation of Home Investment to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, 1931.

 

PART III.   UNDERCONSUMPTION, MATURE ECONOMY, AND CAPITAL ACCUMULATION.        May 4-14.

A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles.
A. H. Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, ch. 15, 16, Appendix B.
E. D. Domar, “Expansion and Employment,” American Economic Review, 1947 (reprints on reserve).
E. D. Domar, “The Problem of Capital Accumulation,” (Mimeographed).
P. M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, ch. 10, 12.
J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Part II.
G. Terborgh, The Bogey of Economic Maturity.
Readings in Business Cycle Theory, ch. 19-20.

 

PART IV.   POLICY          May 15- June 10.

(in addition to preceding readings)

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Public Finance and Full Employment, Postwar Economic Studies No. 3, pp. 1-21, 53-68.
A. H. Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, parts IV, V, VI.
M. De Chazeau and others (Committee for Economic Development) Jobs and Markets: How to Prevent Inflation and Depression.
E. F. Burchard and others (Oxford University Institute of Statistics), The Economics of Full Employment.
Mints, Hansen and others. Symposium of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
J. Mosak and Arthur Smithies, “Forecasting Post-War Demand,” Econometrica, 1945.
H. Simons, “Hansen on Fiscal Policy,” The Journal of Political Economy, 1942.
National Budgets for Full Employment
Economic Report of the President, January 1948.
A. P. Lerner and F. D. Graham, Planning and Paying for Full Employment.
M. Friedman, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” (Mimeographed).
W. H. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, a general survey, with emphasis on Appendix C.

___________________

Economics 335
Final Examination

June 17, 1948
One hour and fifteen minutes

Answer all questions. They carry equal weights.

  1. Ever since the end of the war, it has been asserted by various authorities that increased production is the best cure against inflation. But it can be also argued that while increased production enlarges the supply of goods, it also generates additional income and therefore demand. So in the end it may or it may not mitigate inflation.
    Analyze this question and try to find the correct answer. The quality and depth of your analysis will count more than its quantity.
  2. “In spite of his claims to the contrary, Keynes did not succeed in proving the possibility of underemployment equilibrium if wages and prices were flexible. That a long period of unemployment could persist as a result of wage and price rigidity we had known long before Keynes.”
    Comment on this statement and show what effects would flexible prices and wages have on elimination of unemployment (in a depression) and stabilization of the price level (in an inflation). Indicate clearly every step in your analysis. What practical recommendations follow from your discussion?
  3. You were employed by the U. S. Bureau of the Budget in 1941 to make an economic forecast and to recommend practical policy measures to prevent both unemployment and inflation in the year 1942, when large war expenditures were expected. Following roughly the method of national budgets (or an equally good alternative one) set up a hypothetical but reasonable numerical model for the year 1942. Show clearly (a) the information you will require; (b) the assumptions you will make; (c) how (a) and (b) are brought together; and (d) policy recommendations you will make. Indicate each step explicitly.
  4. Write for some twenty minutes on any subject covered in the course, but not included in the preceding questions and not studied in your term paper. Make sure you have something worth-while to say.

 

___________________

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 15, Folder: “Macroeconomics, Old Reading Lists”; Box 16, Folder: “Final Exams. Johns Hopkins, Stanford, U of Michigan”.

Image Source: Joshua Domashevitsky (Evsey D. Domar), University of California at Los Angeles, Bruin Life Yearbook/Southern Campus Yearbook, 1939, p. 52. Caption to graduation picture: “Joshua Domashevitsky, A. B./Economics/ Transferred from State College of Law, Manchuria: Foreign Trade Club; Artus, Chancellor of the Exchequer 4.”

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. International Trade and Policy. Advanced Graduate. Metzler, 1948 and 1950

Today we have the reading list for an early iteration of Lloyd A. Metzler’s second advanced course in international economics: the theory of foreign trade and commercial policy. The course was held in the Winter quarter of 1948 at the University of Chicago. I have used squared brackets and bold-blue text to indicate additions and  other changes or deletions for his Spring Quarter 1950 reading list.

______________________________________

[Course Description]

[Economics] 371. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMMERCIAL POLICY. Price theory and international trade; the gains from international specialization. International trade and the distribution of income. Historical and theoretical discussion of the theory of tariffs. Commercial policies of particular countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Commodity agreements and cartels. The growth of state trading. The new mercantilism. Prereq: Econ 330 or equiv. Spr: TuThS 9:30; Metzler.

Source: University of Chicago Announcements Division of the Social Sciences, 1949-1950. p.28.

______________________________________

[Handwritten] Winter 1948
[Date noted with course title in 1950]

 

ECONOMICS 371
[Spring Quarter – 1950]

Major Topics and Selected Reading

I. Mercantilism and the Classical Theory of the Gains from Trade.

J. Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Chapters 1, 2.
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV.
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Chapter 7.
J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book III, Chapters 17, 18.
J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Chapter 23.

II. Modern Price Theory and the Gains from Trade.

Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit and Commerce, Appendix J.
Gottfried Haberler, The Theory of International Trade, Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12.
J. Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Chapters 8, 9.
W. W. Leontief, “The Use of Indifference Curves in the Analysis of Foreign Trade,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1933. [reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade]
P. A. Samuelson, “Welfare Economics and International Trade,” American Economic Review, 1938.
[F. D. Graham, “The Theory of International Values Reexamined,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1923, reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade.
F. D. Graham, The Theory of International Values, Princeton, N. J., 1948.
E. F. Heckscher, “The Effect of Foreign Trade on the Distribution of Income,” Ekonmish Tidshrift, 1919, reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade.
P. A. Samuelson, “International Trade and the Equalization of Factor Prices,” Economic Journal, June, 1948.
P. A. Samuelson, “International Factor Price Equalization Once Again,” Economic Journal, June, 1949.]

III. The Theory of Tariffs

Gottfried Haberler, The Theory of International Trade, Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit and Commerce, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Tibor de Scitovsky, “A Reconsideration of the Theory of Tariffs,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 9, 1941-42.[reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade.]
F. W. Taussig, International Trade, Chapter 13.
W. F. Stolper and Paul A. Samuelson, “Protection and Real Wages,” Review of Economic Studies, 1941. [reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade.]
F. D. Graham, “Some Aspects of Protection Further Considered,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1923. [Item replaced by: F. D. Graham, Protective Tariffs, Princeton, N. J., 1942.]

 

IV. Some Aspects of Commercial Policy

F. W. Taussig, Some Aspects of the Tariff Question.
F. W. Taussig, Tariff History of the United States.
F. Benham, Great Britain Under Protection.
E. B. McGuire, The British Tariff System.
F. A. Haight, French Import Quotas.

 

V. The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Program of the United States [Section title changed: Recent Developments in Commercial Policy]

H. J. Tasca, The Reciprocal Trade Policy of the United States, 1938.
G. Beckett, “The Effect of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements upon the Foreign Trade of the U. S.,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1940.
[J. M. Letiche, Reciprocal Trade Agreements in the World Economy, 1948.
U. S. Department of State, Analysis of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Washington, D. C., 1947.
U. S. Department of State, Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization, 1948.]

 

VI. Cartels and Commodity Agreements.

C. Edwards, International Cartels, 1945.
E. S. Mason, Controlling World Trade, 1946.
J. S. Davis, International Commodity Agreements: Hope, Illusion, or Menace?, 1947.
[G. W. Stocking and M. W. Watkins, Cartels or Competition?, 1948.]

 

VII. The International Trade Organization [This section dropped in 1950]

Draft Charter of Proposed International Trade Organization, Geneva, 1947.

 

VIII. International Relations and the Structure of World Trade.

A. O. Hirschmann [sic], National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade, 1945.
J. Viner, “International Relations Between State Controlled National Economies,” American Economic Review, 1944 Supplement.
H. S. Ellis, Bilateralism and the Future of International Trade, Princeton University Essays in International Finance.
J. M. Keynes, “National Self Sufficiency,” Yale Review, 1933. [Keynes dropped in 1950]
D. H. Robertson, “The Future of International Trade,” Economic Journal, 1938.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder: “Econ. 371”.

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Advanced International Monetary Economics. Metzler, 1950

At the University of Chicago graduate courses numbered in the 200’s were called “Intermediate Courses” and those in the 300’s were “Survey and problem courses in special fields…The main purpose…is to prepare students for research.” The 400’s courses were for “Research, reading, and seminars”.

The Departmental course requirements for an M.A. in economics at the University of Chicago in 1950: “Normally fifteen courses (or their equivalent) in economics, eight of which ordinarily will be at the 300 level.”

The Departmental course requirements for a Doctor’s degree at the University of Chicago in 1950: “Completion of a program of work in economics at the 300-400 level ordinarily embracing at least six quarters of formal training”. Presumably this means in addition to the eight quarters at the 300 level for the M.A.

A few obvious misprints have been corrected and I have attempted to impose a consistent formatting (e.g. book titles underlined, etc.).

 _______________________________

[Course Description]

[Economics] 370. MONETARY ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE. Foreign payments and receipts. Classical and modern theories of adjustment of the balance of payments. Theories of exchange rates. Capital movements in the balance of payments. Postwar monetary plans. Prereq: Econ 330, 335, or equiv. Win: MTuWF 8:30 Metzler.

Source: University of Chicago.Announcements: The Division of the Social Sciences, Sessions of 1950-1951, p. 31.

_______________________________

ECONOMICS 370
Major Topics and Selected Reading
Winter, 1950

Lloyd A. Metzler

I. Elementary Principles of Foreign Payments and Receipts.

G. Haberler, The Theory of International Trade, Introduction.
P. T. Ellsworth, International Economics, Part I, Chaps. VII and VIII.

 

II. The Balance of Payments and the Measurement of Income.

J. R. Hicks and A. G. Hart, The Social Framework of the American Economy, Chapter 12.
R. F. Bennett, “Significance of International Transactions in National Income,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. VI, 1943.
Dept. of Commerce, National Income Supplement to Survey of Current Business, 1947.

 

III. Classical and Modern Theories of Adjustment of the Balance of Payments.

R. F. Harrod, International Economics, Chapters VI and VII.
F. Machlup, International Trade and the National Income Multiplier. Chaps. I-V.
F. W. Taussig, International Trade, Chaps. XVII-XXI.
J. Viner, Canada’s Balance of International Indebtedness.
League of Nations, International Currency Experience, Chapters I and IV.
G. Haberler, The Theory of International Trade, Chaps. II and III.
J. Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Chaps. VI and VII.
R. Nurkse, “Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium”, Princeton University, Essays in International Finance, reprinted in Readings in the Theory of International Trade.
F. W. Paish, “Banking Policy and the Balance of International Payments”, Economica, 1936, reprinted in Readings.
W. A. Salant, “Foreign Trade Policy in the Business Cycle,” Public Policy, reprinted in Readings.

 

IV. Theory of Income Transfers.

J. M. Keynes, “The German Transfer Problem,” Economic Journal, 1929, reprinted in Readings.
B. Ohlin, “Transfer Difficulties, Real and Imagined,” Economic Journal, 1929, also rejoinder by Keynes and reply by Ohlin in subsequent issues, reprinted in Readings.
L. A. Metzler, “The Transfer Problem Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, 1942, reprinted in Readings.
C. Iversen, International Capital Movements, Part II A.

 

V. Fluctuating Exchange Rates

League of Nations, International Currency Experience, Chapter V.
J. Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Employment, Part III, reprinted in Readings.
F. W. Taussig, International Trade, Part III.
G. Cassel, Money and Foreign Exchange after 1914.
S. E. Harris, Exchange Depreciation.
International Monetary Policies, Postwar Economic Studies, No. 7, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
J. E. Meade, “Financial Policy and the Balance of Payments,” Economica, May, 1948.
“Notes on Foreign Currency Adjustments”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, November, 1949.
T. Balogh, “Exchange Depreciation and Economic Readjustment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, November, 1948.
F. Machlup, “The Theory of Foreign Exchange,” reprinted in Readings.
“Readjustment of Foreign Currency Values”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, October, 1949.

 

VI. Multilateral and Bilateral Monetary Policies.

H.S. Ellis, “Bilateralism and the Future of International Trade,” Essays in International Finance, No. 7, Princeton, N. J. reprinted in Readings.
R. Frisch, “Forecasting a Multilateral Balance of Payments,” American Economic Review, XXXVII (September 1947) 535-551.
R. Frisch, “Outline of a System of Multi-Compensatory Trade,” Review of Economics and Statistics, November, 1948.
R. Hinshaw, Professor Frisch on Discrimination and Multilateral Trade, “Review of Economics and Statistics, November, 1948.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder: “Reading Lists 370”.

Source Image: Posting by Margie Metzler on the Metzler Family Tree at the genealogical website, ancestry.com.

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Intermediate International Monetary Economics. Lloyd A. Metzler, 1949

 

 

The Departmental course requirements for an M.A. in economics at the University of Chicago in 1949: “Normally fifteen courses (or their equivalent) in economics, eight of which ordinarily will be at the 300 level.” The courses numbered in the 200’s were called “Intermediate Courses” and those in the 300’s were “Survey and problem courses in special fields…The main purpose…is to prepare students for research.” The 400’s courses were for “Research, reading, and seminars”.

The final examination questions for the summer quarters of 1947 and 1948 for this course have been posted as well.

_______________________________

[Course Description]

[Economics] 270. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS. The nature of international payments and receipts; foreign trade and the banking system. The gold standard in the interwar period. The breakdown of the gold standard and the period of fluctuating exchange rates. Exchange controls, clearing agreements and payments agreements. The second world war and the foreign exchange markets. The position of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the present world economy. Prereq: Econ 209, 230 [Intermediate Economic Theory, Introduction to Money and Banking, respectively], or equiv. Aut: MWF 8:30; Metzler.

 

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements, Volume XLIX, Number 9: The Division of the Social Sciences, Sessions of 1949-1950, July 1, 1949, p. 24.

__________________________________

Economics 270
Major Topics and Selected Reading
Autumn Quarter 1949

I. Foreign Exchange Markets and Equilibrium of the Balance of Payments

Enke and Salera, Chapters 4, 6.
Southard, Chapters 2, 3.
International Monetary Fund, pp. 1-24.
U. S. Department of Commerce, The United States in the World Economy, pp. 1-25, 137-200.
U. S. Department of Commerce, International Transactions of the U. S. During the War.

II. The Pre-War Gold and Gold-Exchange Standards

Enke and Salera, Chapters 8, 9, 12, 28.
League of Nations, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4.
U. S. Department of Commerce, The United States in the World Economy, Chapters 2-4.

 

III. The Breakdown of the Gold Standard: Fluctuating Exchange Rates

League of Nations, Chapters 5,6
Enke and Salera, Chapter 30.

 

IV. The Development of Exchange Controls

Ellis, Chapters 1, 2, 4.
League of Nations, Chapter 7.
Triffin, “National Central Banking and the International Economy,” International Monetary Policies. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Rejoinder by Haberler.

 

V. The International Monetary Fund

Articles of agreement of the International Monetary Fund.
Third Annual Report of the International Monetary Fund.
Enke and Salera, Chapter 32.
Harris, The New Economics, Chapters 24, 25, 26, 27.
L. A. Metzler, “Exchange Rates ad the International Monetary Fund,” International Monetary Policies, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1947.
R. F. Mikesell, “The Role of the International Monetary Agreements in a World of Planned Economies,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1947.
Camille Gutt, “Exchange Rates and the International Monetary Fund,” Chapter 10 of Foreign Economic Policy for the United States.

 

VI. The International Bank For Reconstruction and Development

Articles of agreement of the International Bank.
Enke and Salera, Chapter 33, 34.
Third Annual Report of the International Bank.

 

VII. Post-war Trade and the World Shortage of Dollars

Harris, editor, Foreign Economic Policy for the United States, Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25.
United Nations, A Survey of the Economic Situation and Prospects of Europe.
United Nations, Economic Survey of Europe in 1948.

 

Books Referred to in this Bibliography

Enke and Salera, International Economics, New York, 1947.
H. S. Ellis, Exchange Control in Central Europe, Cambridge, Mass., 1941.
League of Nations, International Currency Experience, 1944.
F. A. Southard, Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy, New York, 1941.
International Monetary Fund, Balance-of-Payments Yearbook, Wash., D.C., 1949.
U. S. Department of Commerce, The United States in the World Economy.
U. S. Department of Commerce, International Transactions of the U. S. During the War.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, International Monetary Policies,
Wash., D.C., 1947.
S. E. Harris, editor, The New Economics, New York, 1947.
S. E. Harris, editor, Foreign Economic Policy for the United States, Cambridge, Mass., 1948.
United Nations, A Survey of the Economic Situation and Prospects of Europe.
United Nations, Economic Survey of Europe in 1948.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder: “Econ. 270 International Econ. (Chicago)”.

 

Source Image: “From family album, taken while Lloyd Metzler was a student at Harvard.”
“Lloyd A. Metzler” by Margiemetz – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.