Category: Columbia

Categories
Columbia Courses Curriculum

Columbia. Economics Curriculum 1898-99

In the December 1898 issue of the Columbia University Quarterly an overview of the curriculum for economics and social science (i.e. sociology with a bit of anthropology without political science that was split between the subjects  of history and public law) offered by the Faculty of Political Science was sketched by Professor Richmond Mayo-Smith. I have appended the Economics and Sociology course offerings for 1898-99 (which can be compared to an earlier posting for 1905-07). In the early years of graduate education there was considerable overlap between undergraduate and graduate course offerings so that an understanding of the graduate training in economics at least in these early years requires us to keep an eye on undergraduate curriculum as well.

_______________________________________

Department of Economics and Social Science.—The courses in this department have been so systematized as to meet the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students, while offering to other members of the University and of allied institutions the opportunity to broaden their studies by some knowledge of social theory and social problems.

The undergraduate begins with the Economic History of England and America (Economics 1), which gives him that understanding of the evolution of economic institutions, such as the systems of land tenure, the factory system, the institutions of commerce and trade, which is necessary for any approach to economic discussion. That is followed by the Elements of Political Economy (Economics A), where the fundamental principles of the science are laid down and illustrated by contemporary events. These courses are usually taken during the Junior year, but may be taken a year earlier by students desiring to specialize in this direction. The lettered course is required of every student, and is in the nature of logical discipline for clear reasoning and a preparation for good citizenship. The College is held thereby to have discharged its duty to itself, in fulfilling the minimum required for the degree of A.B., and to the community, in inculcating sound principles in its graduates.

For the majority of undergraduates these courses are but the preliminary sketch, the details of which are to be filled out by the more intensive study of Senior year. For this abundant opportunity is offered in the course on modern industrial problems, money, and labor (Economics 3), in the treatment of finance and taxation (Economics 4) and in the critical consideration of theories of socialism (Economics 11) and projects of social reform (Economics 12). At the same time the elements of sociology (Sociology 15) furnish a broader foundation for generalization in regard to the fundamental principles of social life, and afford the student on the eve of graduation an opportunity to coordinate his knowledge of history, economics, philosophy, and ethics into a theory of society.

These courses of Senior year constitute the fundamental university courses, and are frequented by graduates of other colleges and by many students from the law school, the theological seminaries, and Teachers College, who find them valuable as auxiliary to their main lines of study. For the specialist and special student these courses in their turn are preliminary. They form the introduction to the university courses proper.

Here the specialist finds opportunity for development in economic theory (Economics 8, [Economics] 9, and [Economics] 10) and for further practical work (Economics 5 and [Economics] 7), for sociological theory (Sociology 20, [Sociology] 21, and 25 [sic, perhaps “Sociology 24” intended, no record found here or in earlier/later years for a course “Sociology 25”], for the treatment of problems of crime and pauperism (Sociology 22 and [Sociology] 23), and for the theory and practice of statistics as an instrument of investigation in all the social sciences (Sociology 17, [Sociology] 18, and [Sociology] 19). Crowning the whole are the seminars in political economy and sociology, and the statistical laboratory, where the student is trained for original work.

Columbia University has attempted thus to formulate in the Department of Economics and Social Science a programme that shall be systematic, in the sense of orderly development and logical sequence (the course covers four or five years), and at the same time flexible, for the purpose of meeting the just demands of a great variety of students—the undergraduate, the specialist, and the special student.

R. M.-S. [Richmond Mayo-Smith]

 

Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 1, December, 1898, pp. 76-77.

________________________________________

COURSES OF STUDY AND RESEARCH
Group III — Economics and Social Science

It is presumed that students before entering the school have studied the general principles of political economy as laid down in the ordinary manuals, and possess some knowledge of the facts of economic history. Students who are not thus prepared are recommended to take the following courses in Columbia College: [The lettered course is required of all candidates for A.B. in Columbia College.]

Economics 1 — Economic History of England and America. — This course studies primarily the economic history of England, as affording the clearest picture of the evolution of economic life from primitive society to the complicated mechanism of modern industrial life. Incidentally a comparison is made with the contemporary movements in other European countries. Beginning with the seventeenth century, attention is directed to facts of American economic development, and the last part of the course is devoted exclusively to the study of the economic and social conditions underlying the history of the United States.-Three hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman and Mr. [Arthur M.] Day.

Economics A — Outlines of Economics. — Bullock’s introduction to the study of economics, and lectures on the evolution of the modern economic organization, the principle of economic freedom and the institution of private property.— Three hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith and Mr. [Arthur M.] Day.

The university courses fall under two subjects: A. Political Economy and Finance. B. Sociology and Statistics.

Courses 3, 4, 11, 12, 15 and 16 are open to Seniors in Columbia College, and count towards the degree of A. B. If taken for the higher degrees, such additional work must be done in connection with them as may be prescribed by the instructor.

Subject A — Political Economy and Finance

Economics 3 — Practical Political Economy. — This course is divided into four sections as follows:

(a) Problems of Modern Industry . — This part of the course is devoted to a special study of the modern industrial organization and of the application of economic principles to social life. The principal topics are: The scope, method and function of political economy; the physical environment; law of population; economic freedom and private property; theory and problems of consumption; theory and problems of production, land-tenure, labor and machinery, the growth of capital; forms of productive enterprise, the concentration of industry; monopolies and trusts; governmental enterprise; effects of modern methods of production on producer and consumer. Three hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(b) The Problems of Exchange. — (Money and Trade.) This course is devoted to a study of the mechanism of exchange with special reference to modern currency and commercial questions. The principal topics are: Value and prices, speculation, law of monopoly prices, commercial crises; money, bimetallism, the silver question in the United States; credit, banking, paper money; international exchange; transportation and commerce. Three hours a week, second half-year (1899-1900) [For students desiring to take (a), (b) and (c) in one year a short résumé of the omitted course (b) or (c) will be given.]: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(c) The Problems of Distribution. — (Labor and Capital.) This course is devoted largely to the labor question. The principal topics are: The theory of distribution, history and present condition of the laboring class, wages, trades unions and strikes, arbitration and conciliation, co-operation and profit-sharing; factory laws, employer’s liability; interest, profit and rent; social distribution; distributive justice. Three hours a week, second half-year (1898—’99), alternates with above. [For students desiring to take (a), (b) and (c) in one year a short résumé of the omitted course (b) or (c) will be given.]: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(d) Readings in Marshall’s Principles of Economics. — This course constitutes a fourth hour in connection with the lectures under (a), (b) and (c). It is open to candidates for A.B. by special permission, but the hour cannot be counted towards that degree. It, or its equivalent, is required of all candidates for the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D., taking Economics III. as a major or minor. One hour a week: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 4 — Science of Finance. — This course is historical as well as comparative and critical. After giving a general introduction and tracing the history of the science, it treats of the various rules of public expenditures and the methods of meeting the same among different civilized nations. It describes the different kinds of public revenue, including the public domain and public property, public works and industrial undertakings, special assessments, fees and taxes It is in great part a course on the history, theories and methods of taxation in all civilized countries. It considers also public debt, methods of borrowing, redemption, refunding, repudiation, etc. Finally, it describes the fiscal organization of the state by which the revenue is collected and expended, and discusses the budget, national, state and local. Although the course is comparative, the point of view is American. Students are furnished with the current public documents of the United States Treasury, and the chief financial reports of the leading commonwealths, and are expected to understand all the facts in regard to public debt, revenue and expenditure therein contained. — Two hours a week: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 5 — Fiscal and Industrial History of the United States. — This course endeavors to present a survey of national legislation on currency, finance and taxation, including the tariff together with its relations to the state of industry and commerce. Attention is called to the fiscal and industrial conditions of the colonies; to the financial methods of the revolution and the confederation; to the genesis of the protective idea; to the fiscal policies of the Federalists and of the Republicans; to the financial management of the war of 1812; to the industrial effects of the restriction war period; to the crises of 1819, 1825 and 1837; to the tariffs of 1816, 1824 and 1828; to the distribution of the surplus and the Bank war; to the compromise tariff and its effect on industry; to the currency problems before 1863; to the era of “free trade,” and the tariffs of 1846 and 1857; to the fiscal problems of the Civil War; to the methods of resumption, conversion and payment of the debt; to the disappearance of the war taxes; to the continuance of the war tariffs; to the money question and the acts of 1878 and 1890; to the loans of 1894-1896; to the tariffs of 1890, 1894 and 1897. The course closes with a discussion of the current problems of currency and coinage, and with a general consideration of the arguments for and against protection as illustrated by the practical operation of the various tariffs. Two hours a week, first half year (1899-1900): Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 7 — Railroad Problems; Economic, Social and Legal. — These lectures treat of railroads in the fourfold aspect of their relation to the investors, the employees, the public and the state respectively. A history of railways and railway policy in America and Europe forms the preliminary part of the course. The chief problems of railway management, so far as they are of economic importance, come up for discussion.

Among the subjects treated are: Financial methods, railway construction, speculation, profits, failures, accounts and reports, expenses, tariffs, principles of rates, classification and discrimination, competition and pooling, accidents, and employers’ liability. Especial attention is paid to the methods of regulation and legislation in the United States as compared with European methods, and the course closes with a general discussion of state versus private management. — Two hours a week, second half-year (1899-1900): Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 8 — History of Economics. — In this course the various systems of political economy are discussed in their historical development. The chief exponents of the different schools are taken up in their order, and especial attention is directed to the wider aspects of the connection between the theories and the organization of the existing industrial society. The chief writers discussed are:

I Antiquity: The oriental codes; Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Cato, Seneca, Cicero, the Agrarians, the Jurists.

II Middle Ages: The Church Fathers, Aquinas, the Glossators, the writers on money, trade, and usury.

III Mercantilists: Hales, Mun, Petty, Barbon, North, Locke; Bodin, Vauban, Boisguillebert, Forbonnais; Serra, Galiani; Justi, Sonnenfels.

IV Physiocrats: Quesnay, Gournay, Turgot, Mirabeau, etc.

V Adam Smith and precursors: Tucker, Hume, Cantillon, Steuart.

VI English school: Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, McCulloch, Chalmers, Jones, Mill.

VII The continent: Say, Sismondi, Cournot, Bastiat; Herrmann, List, and Thunen.

VIII German historical school: Roscher, Knies, Hildebrand.

IX Recent development: England: Rogers, Jevons, Cairnes, Bagehot, Leslie, Toynbee, Marshall; Germany: Wagner, Schmoller, Held, Brentano, Cohn, Schaffle; Austria: Menger, Sax, Böhm-Bawerk, Wieser; France: Leroy-Beaulieu, De Laveleye, Gide, Walras; Italy: Cossa, Loria, Pantaleoni; America: Carey, George, Walker, Clark, Patten, Adams.

—Two hours a week: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 9 — Economic Theory I. — This course discusses the static laws of distribution. If the processes of industry were not changing, wages and industry would tend to adjust themselves according to certain standards. A study of the mechanism of production would then show that one part of the product is specifically attributable to labor, and that another part is imputable to capital. It is the object of the course to show that the tendency of free competition, under such conditions, is to give to labor, in the form of wages, the amount that it specifically creates, and also to give to capital, in the form of interest, what it specifically produces. The theory undertakes to prove that the earnings of labor and of capital are governed by a principle of final productivity, and that this principle must be studied on a social scale, rather than in any one department of production. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark.

Economics 10 — Economic Theory II. — This course discusses the dynamic laws of distribution. The processes of industry are actually progressing. Mechanical invention, emigration, and other influences, cause capital and labor to be applied in new ways and with enlarging results. These influences do not repress the action of the static forces of distribution, but they bring a new set of forces into action. They create, first, employers’ profits, and, later, additions to wages and interest. It is the object of the course to show how industrial progress affects the several shares in distribution under a system of competition, and also to determine whether the consolidations of labor and capital, which are a distinctive feature cf modern industry, have the effect of repressing competition. — Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark.

Economics 11 — Communistic and Socialistic Theories. — This course studies the theories of St. Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, Rodbertus, Marx, Lassalle, and others. It aims to utilize recent discoveries in economic science in making a critical test of these theories themselves and of certain counter-arguments. It examines the socialistic ideals of distribution, and the effects that, by reason of natural laws, would follow an attempt to realize them through the action of the State. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 12 — Theories of Social Reform. — This course treats of certain plans for the partial reconstruction of industrial society that have been advocated in the United States, and endeavors to determine what reforms are in harmony with economic principles. It treats of the proposed single tax, of the measures advocated by the Farmers’ Alliance and of those proposed by labor organizations. It studies the general relation of the state to industry. — Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 14 — Seminar in Political Economy and Finance. — For advanced students. — Two hours, bi-weekly: Professors [Edwin R. A.] Seligman and [John Bates] Clark.

Subject B— Sociology and Statistics

Sociology 15 — Principles of Sociology. — This is a textbook course. — Two hours a week: Professor [Franklin H.] Giddings. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Sociology 16 — Applied Anthropology. — This course is composed of two distinct parts. In the first half-year under Dr. Farrand of the Faculty of Philosophy, primitive institutions, language, mythology and religions are considered primarily from the psychological point of view. This is important for sociological work. Anthropometry and the history of the science of anthropology are also treated. The second half-year work given by Dr. [William Z.] Ripley is primarily concerned with the anthropology and ethnology of the civilized peoples of Europe. This is intended to subserve two ends. It is an ethnological preparation for the historical courses, especially those concerning the classic peoples of antiquity; and it also provides a groundwork for the statistical and demographic study of the populations of Europe. In this sense it is distinctly sociological in its interests. — Two hours a week. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Sociology 17 — Statistics and Sociology. — This course is given every year, and is intended to train students in the use of statistics as an instrument of investigation in social science. The topics covered are: Relation of statistics to sociology, criteria of statistics, population, population and land, sex, age and conjugal condition, births, marriages, deaths, sickness and mortality, race and nationality, migration, social position, infirmities, suicide, vice, crime, nature of statistical regularities. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 18 — Statistics and Economics. — This course covers those statistics of most use in political economy, but which have also a direct bearing on the problems of sociology. These include the statistics of land, production of food, condition of labor, wages, money, credit, prices, commerce, manufactures, trade, imports and exports, national wealth, public debt, and relative incomes. Two hours a week, second half-year, given in 1898-99 and each alternate year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 19 — Theory, Technique, and History of Statistical Science. — This course studies the theory of statistics, law of probabilities, averages, mean error, rules for collecting, tabulating and presenting statistics, graphical methods, the question of the freedom of the will, the value of the results obtained by the statistical method, the possibility of discovering social laws. Some account will also be given of the history and literature of statistics, and the organization of statistical bureaus. — Two hours a week, second half-year, given in 1899-1900, and each alternate year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 20 — General Sociology . — A foundation for special work is laid in this fundamental course. It includes two parts, namely: (1) the analysis and classification of social facts, with special attention to the systems of Aristotle, Comte, Spencer, Schäffle, De Greef, Gumplowicz, Ward, Tarde and other theoretical writers; (2) an examination of sociological laws, in which the more important social phenomena of modern times and the principles of theoretical sociology are together brought under critical review in a study of social feeling, public opinion, and organized action. In this second part an attempt is made to analyze the causes of emotional epidemics, panics, outbreaks of mob violence, and revolutions; to explain by general principles the growth of public opinion on great questions; and to prove from history and from current events that public action is governed by definite laws of social choice. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 21 — Progress and Democracy. — The phenomena of social progress are the general subject of this course, which includes two parts, namely: (1) a study of the historical evolution of society, with special attention to social origins; to the development of the family, of the clan and of the tribe; and to the beginnings of civilization; (2) the social as distinguished from the political organization of modern democracies. This part of the course may otherwise be described as a study of the modern “state behind the constitution.” The forms of voluntary organization are observed, and the question is raised, To what extent are the non-political associations of men in modern democracies themselves democratic? Do business corporations labor unions, churches, and associations for culture and pleasure, tend to become more or less democratic? The democratic social ideals of equality and fraternity are examined, and an attempt is made to show their relations to social order and to liberty. Modern philanthropic movements, including the work of university and other social settlements, and many social phases of municipal reform are touched upon in this course. —Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 22 — Pauperism, Poor Laws and Charities. — This course begins with a study of the English poor law, its history, practical working, and consequences. On this foundation is built a study of pauperism in general, but especially as it may now be observed in great cities. The laws of the different commonwealths in regard to paupers, out-relief, alms-houses, and dependent children, are compared. Finally the special modern methods of public and private philanthropy are considered, with particular attention to charity organization, the restriction of out-door alms, and the reclamation of children.— Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 23 — Crime and Penology — The topics taken up in this course are the nature and definitions of crime, the increase of crime and its modern forms, criminal anthropology, the social causes of crime, surroundings, parental neglect, education, the question of responsibility, historical methods of punishment, the history of efforts to reform prison methods, modern methods, the solitary system, the Elmira system, classification of criminals, classes of prisons, reformatories, and jails. — Two hours a week, second half year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 24 — The Civil Aspects of Ecclesiastical Organizations. — The purpose of this course is to define the present relations of the institutional church to the other institutions of American society; the state, the government, marriage, family, education and public wealth. An analysis is made of the guarantees of religious liberty contained in the federal and commonwealth constitutions, of the civil status of churches in terms of constitutional and statute law, of the methods of incorporation, of the functions of trustees, of legislative and judicial control, of denominational polity according to its type, of the functional activity of churches in their departments of legislation, administration, adjudication, discipline and mission, of the influence of churches on ethical standards, of the distribution of nationalities among the denominations, of the territorial distribution of denominational strength, of the relation of polity to density of population and of the current movements in and between various organizations tending toward changes of function and structure. One hour a week: Dr. [George James] Bayles.

Sociology 29 — Laboratory Work in Statistics. — The object of the laboratory is to train the student in methods of statistical analysis and computation. Each student will pursue a course of laboratory practice dealing with the general statistics of population, the relation of classes, the distribution of wealth, and the statistics of crime, vice and misfortune. He will be taught how to judge current statistics and to detect statistical fallacies; in short, to become an expert in judging of the value of sociological evidence. Each year some practical piece of work on an extensive scale is undertaken by the class. — In connection with courses 17, 18 and 19: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 30 — Seminar in Sociology and Statistics. — Discussions and papers, theses and dissertations presented in the seminar may be upon any of the following topics:

I
POPULATION

1 The growth of population in the United States, inducing studies of birth rates and death rates.
2 Immigration into the United States.
3 The migration of population within the United States.

II
RACES AND NATIONALITIES

4 The social traits, habits and organization of any race (e. g. negro or Indian) in the United States.
5 The social traits, habits and organization of any nationality (e. g. Irish or German or Italian) in the United States.

Ill
THE FAMILY

6 Historical or statistical studies of marriage, of divorce, or of the parental care and education of children in the United States.
7 Studies of legislation affecting the family in the United States.

IV
COMMUNITIES

8 Descriptive or historical studies of peculiar, exceptional or otherwise noteworthy communities or sections.

V
THE SOCIAL LIFE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SELF-SUPPORTING POOR

9 Dwellings and surroundings.
10 Expenditure and domestic economy.
11 Marriages, domestic festivals, funerals, family life and morals.
12 Education.
13 Religious ideas, habits, meetings, festivals and institutions.
14 Amusements, celebrations, social festivals and clubs.
15 Trade unions.
16 Political and legal ideas, affiliations and activities.

VI
PAUPERISM AND CHARITY

17 Historical studies of the origin, growth and forms of pauperism.
18 Statistical studies of the extent and causes of pauperism.
19 Historical and comparative studies of poor laws and public relief.
20 Historical and comparative studies of the methods of private charity.

VII
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

21 Historical studies of the origin, increase and forms of crime.
22 Statistical studies of the extent and causes of crime.
23 Critical studies of criminal anthropology or criminal sociology.
24 Historical and comparative studies of punishment and reformation.

Two hours bi-weekly: Profs. [Franklin H.] Giddings and [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Source: Columbia University, School of Political Science, Announcement, 1898-99, pp. 29-40.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Cornell Curriculum Harvard Johns Hopkins Pennsylvania Princeton Wisconsin Yale

Columbia Economics’ Market Share in 1900

The School of Political Science at Columbia University was divided into three groups of subjects: History and Political Philosophy, Public Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, and Economics and Social Science.

Economics and Social Science comprised the two subject groups: Political Economy and Finance; Sociology and Statistics. 

Seligman figured that of the approximately 135 graduate students specializing in economics in 1899-1900 in the seven eastern departments (Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale), about 75 were at Columbia.

___________________

SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Department of Economics.—Since the recent reorganization of the work in economics, there has been a marked increase in the number, as well as in the quality of the students. Numbers, indeed, constitute no adequate test of the real work done by the various departments within a university; for the subject which attracts the fewest students may possess the highest scientific value and may be presided over by the ablest professors. But, when an institution is compared with others of about the same grade and size, the relative number of students in any one department affords a fair indication of the importance to be assigned to it. Hence, the following table is of much interest:

 

1900_ColumbiaEconomics

*By graduate student is meant a student holding a first degree.
1 Attending for three terms.
2 Including Economics and Public Law.
3 Including Economics, Politics and History.

The number of graduate students in economics and social science at Columbia is much greater than the number in any other American institution. If we compare Columbia with six Eastern universities,—Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Princeton,—we find that Columbia has almost as many such students as all six, that is, 75 as against 89. And if it were possible to separate the students working primarily in economics at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Cornell (where the figures include other students in political science as well), it is practically certain that Columbia would be found to possess more graduate students working primarily in economics and social science than the other six institutions together. Assuming that half of the students returned in Johns Hopkins, Yale and Cornell are working primarily in economics,—a very liberal assumption, —we should have a total of 60 in the six Eastern universities, as against 75 in Columbia. This is a remarkable showing.

In order that it may not be supposed that the basis of classification varies, it may be added that each of the students at Columbia is enrolled primarily under the Faculty of Political Science and is a candidate for the master’s or doctor’s degree, with the major subject in economics and social science. Every such student is required to attend a seminar. In addition to the seminar, 35 of the 75 students are taking 3 or more courses in economics or social science and 20 are taking 2 such courses. The remainder, who are taking one course in addition to the seminar, are chiefly students who have taken most of their lecture work in previous years.

The following figures, as to enrollment in economics and social science, will prove instructive:

Graduate students, primarily enrolled in political science, taking graduate courses (whether as a major or minor) 95
Graduate students (male) in the whole university taking graduate courses 123
Non-graduates (male), primarily registered in political science, doing chief work in economics 22
Students, graduates and non-graduates (male, but exclusive of seniors and other college students) in the whole university, taking graduate courses 149
Enrollment of students, as above (not deducting duplicates), in graduate courses in economics and social science 559
Enrollment of under-graduates in Columbia College 179
Enrollment of students of all kinds (male) pursuing these studies 738
Enrollment of Barnard students 140
Total enrollment in the University 878

The relative importance of the university work may also be seen by this comparison with Harvard:

Harvard Columbia
Total students primarily registered in non-professional (graduate) schools 341 331
Total graduates in non-professional (graduate) schools 323 292
Total graduates in political science 52 or 16% 114 or 39%
Total graduates primarily in economics and social science 8 or 2½% 17 or 26%

This showing is doubtless due in part to the system on which the work in economics and social science at Columbia is organized. The department has four full professors, one instructor and two lecturers. The work has been so apportioned that each professor devotes himself primarily to his own specialty—Professor Mayo-Smith to statistics and practical economics, Professor Clark to economic theory, Professor Giddings to social science, and Professor Seligman to economic history and finance. Another explanation of the large numbers is the facility afforded to students to combine with their studies in economics the courses in history, public law and general political science.

Among the recent graduates in economics of the School of Political Science, no less than 25 are now giving instruction in economics at other institutions, including Yale, Cornell, Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Syracuse, the Universities of Illinois, Indiana, and Colorado, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A number of graduates have become editors of important daily or weekly papers, in New York, Buffalo, Omaha and other cities, and a large number occupy administrative positions in the service of the national and state governments. Among the latter may be mentioned one of the chief statistician in the census office, a number of expert agents and chief clerks in the departments of the treasury and of agriculture in Washington; and the deputy commissioner of labor statistics and the sociology librarian in the State Library at Albany.

E. R. A. S. [Edwin R. A. Seligman]

___________________

Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 2, June, 1900, pp. 284-287.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Cornell Harvard Johns Hopkins Michigan Pennsylvania

Top Eleven Economics PhD Programs in US, 1934

A listing of 22 U.S. graduate programs in economics judged by majority vote of a jury of 54 individuals (identified by name) to be adequately staffed and equipped for work leading to the doctorate in Economics. Eleven of those programs were designated to be “distinguished”.

Copy of the Report at the University of Illinois.

________________________________

Excerpt from:

American Council on Education.
Report of Committee on Graduate Instruction.
Washington, D. C., April 1934.

…In preparing a list of graduate schools the following procedure was followed:

  1. A list of 50 fields of knowledge in which it seemed possible to study the graduate work was prepared. The study as concluded covered only 35 fields.
  2. A list of the 50 fields was sent to the Dean of the graduate school of every institution known to be offering work for the doctorate. The Dean was requested to check the fields in which graduate work for the doctorate was offered, to indicate the number of doctorates conferred in the last 5 years, and to submit a list of the graduate faculty in each field. The responses of the deans varied in accuracy and comprehensiveness.
  3. From the reports of the deans, supplemented by study of catalogs, lists of institutions offering graduate work for the doctorate in each field, were prepared, complete so far as our information went.
  4. The secretary of the national learned society in each field was requested to provide a list of 100 well-known scholars distributed, as far as possible, among the various special branches of the field.
  5. To each of these scholars was sent a list of all the institutions offering work for the doctorate in the field with their respective graduate staffs in the field. Each scholar was requested to check those institutions which in his judgment had an adequate staff and equipment to prepare candidates for the doctorate; and to star the departments of the highest rank, roughly the highest 20 per cent.
  6. The returns from these scholars were summarized, and those institutions accorded a star by the majority voting were placed in the starred group; those checked by a majority, but failing of a majority of stars, were placed in the group of those adequately staffed and equipped….

…Many votes on departments came in too late for inclusion in tabulations.

[…]

ECONOMICS
100 ballots sent out.
61 returns; majority, 31 votes.
535 doctorates were conferred in the period 1928-1932: 53 institutions offered work for doctorate.

Composite ratings were made from reports of the following persons: James W. Angell, George E. Barnett, J. W. Bell, A. B. Berglund, Roy G. Blakey, E. L. Bogart, O. F. Boucke, F. A. Bradford, T. N. Carver, J. M. Clark, Clive Day, F. S. Deibler, Paul Douglas, F. A. Fetter, Irving Fisher, F. B. Garver, Carter Goodrich, C. E. Griffin, M. B. Hammond, Alvin Hansen, C. O. Hardy, B. H. Hibbard, H. E. Hoagland, Grover G. Huebner, John Ise, Jens Jensen, Eliot Jones, Edwin Kemmerer, James E. LeRossignol, H. L. Lutz, David McCabe, H. A. Millis, Broadus Mitchell, Wesley C. Mitchell, H. G. Moulton, C. T. Murchison, E. G. Nourse, E. M. Patterson, Carl Plehn, C. O. Ruggles, W. A. Scott, Horace Secrist, S. H. Slichter, T. R. Snavely, W. E. Spahr, R. A. Stevenson, G. W. Stocking, Frank T. Stockton, H. C. Taylor, Jesse Tullock, Francis Tyson, Jacob Viner, G. S. Watkins, A. B. Wolfe.

The jury named above has by a majority vote approved the following institutions as adequately staffed and equipped for work leading to the doctorate in Economics, starring which it considers most distinguished:

Brown University

*

 University of Chicago

*

 Columbia University University of Illinois

*

 Cornell University University of Iowa

*

 Harvard University—Radcliffe College

*

 University of Michigan
Johns Hopkins University

*

 University of Minnesota
New York University University of Missouri
Northwestern University

*

 University of Pennsylvania
Ohio State University University of Texas

*

 Princeton University University of Virginia
Stanford University

*

 University of Wisconsin

*

 University of California

*

 Yale University

[…]

 

Categories
Columbia Courses Syllabus

Columbia. Public Finance Syllabus. Seligman circa 1923

A printed copy of the syllabus and list of readings for the one-year, two course sequence for public finance of Edwin R. A. Seligman can be found in the papers of Robert Murray Haig who succeeded Seligman in teaching this public finance course at Columbia  in 1931-32.  The latest date in the list of readings is 1923, so I date the syllabus to the 1923-24 academic year. I have merged the reading list with the syllabus so that the reading assignments are paired with the class session(s).

_____________________________

Economics 101–Public Finance. 3 points Winter Session. Professor Seligman.
M. and W. at 1:10. 515 Kent.

General introduction and history of public finance. Different kinds of public revenues, including public domain and public property, public works or industrial undertakings, fees, and special assessments. General theories and principles of taxation, incidence of taxation, and newer social theories of taxation.

Economics 102–Public Finance. 3 points –Spring Session. Professor Seligman.
M. and W. at 1:10. 515 Kent.

Application of general principles to consideration of actual systems of taxation. Practical American problems of federal, state, and local taxation. Classes of public expenditure and fiscal principles which govern them. Public debt, methods of borrowing, redemption, etc. Fiscal organisation of state. Budgets, national,  state, and local.

Students who have not completed Economics 101 are admitted to Economics 102 only by special permission.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information, 23rd Series, No. 35 (June 2, 1923). History, Economics and Public Law: Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science. Announcement 1923-1924,  p. 20.

_____________________________

Columbia University
In the City of New York
ECONOMICS 101-102

OUTLINE OF LECTURES
ON
PUBLIC FINANCE

By Edwin R. A. Seligman

ECONOMICS 101

Part I
Introduction

  1. Finance and the Science of Finance. Public Finance and Fiscal Science.
  2. Relation to Economics. Content and Method.

Shirras, ch. i; Lutz, ch. i; Bastable, introduction, ch. i; Dalton, ch. i.

  1. Growth of Public Finance.

Bullock, ch. iii; Lutz, ch. ii.

  1. History and literature of Fiscal Science

Bullock, ch. i; Bastable, ch. ii; Shirras, ch. ii.

  1. The general theory of Public Finance.

Adams, introduction; Dalton, chs. ii, iii; Peck, ch. ii.

Part II
Public Revenues

  1. Historical development of public revenues.
  2.      The ancient world: Greece, Rome.
  3.      The middle ages: feudal income.
  4.      The absolute monarchy: England, the Continent.
  5.      The modern state.

Seligman I, ch. i.

  1. Classification of public revenues.

Seligman I, ch. xiv; Adams, part II, preliminary chapter; Shirras, ch. xiii; Lutz, ch. ix; Bastable, book II, ch. i; Plehn, part II, ch. i; Dalton, ch. iv.

Book I
Quasi-public Revenues

  1.    I. Prices.

   Bastable, book II, ch. ii.

  1.           Public domain.

Lutz, ch. x; Bullock, ch. v; Davies, ch. iii.

  1.                The public domain of the United States.

Adams, part II, book I, ch. i; Hibbard, chs. iv-vi, x, xv.

  1.           Public property; funds and investments.

Bastable, book II, ch. v; Dalton, ch. xiv.

  1.           Public industry: business enterprise.

Shirras, ch. xxx; Bastable, book II, ch. iii.

  1.                Fiscal monopolies.

Adams, part II, book i, ch. ii; Madsden, ch. ii.

  1.                Social monopolies: commercial undertakings.

Lutz, ch. xi; Davies, chs. vii, x, xiii.

  1.                     Coinage, credit and insurance.
  2.                     Post office, telegraph and telephone.
  3.                     Markets, docks and harbors.

Bullock, ch. vi; Smith, chs. i-iii, viii;
Barker, ch. xvi.

  1.                     Roads, canals and railways.

Dixon, chs. ix-xiv; Barker, chs. x-xii.

  1.                     Municipal monopolies; water, light and power.

Lutz, ch. xii; Watkins, passim; Barker, chs. i-ix, xiii-xv.

  1.                Public prisons and workshops.

Bastable, book II, ch. iv.

  1.    II. Fees: history, classification, description, criticism.

Bullock, ch. vii; Urdahl, part I, chs. i, ix, x; part II, chs. vi and viii; Lutz, ch. xiii.

  1.    III. Special assessments: history, theory, purposes, methods, extent, criticism.

Rosewater, chs. i, ii and v.

Book II
Taxation—General

  1. Definitions and terminology.

Lutz, ch. xiv; Bastable, book III, ch. i.

  1. Classification of taxes.

Adams, part II, book II, ch. i; Dalton, ch. v.

  1. Historical development of taxation.

Plehn, part II, ch. iv.

  1.           Ancient taxation.

Seligman I, pp. 34-37.

  1.           Mediaeval taxation.

Kennedy, chs. ii-iv; Seligman I, pp. 38-56.

  1.           Modern taxation.

Plehn, ch. v.

  1.           Local taxation.

Cannan, chs. i-iv.

  1. Essentials of taxation.

Lutz, ch. xv; Bastable, book III, ch. ii.

  1.           Reason of taxation.

Weston, ch. iii

  1.           Function of taxation.

Stamp, ch. vi; Bullock, ch. ix.

  1.           Nature of taxation.

Seligman I, ch. x; Jones, ch. i.

  1.           Limits of taxation.

Adams, ch. i.

  1.           Source of taxation.

Bullock, ch. viii.

  1. Incidence of taxation.

Seligman II, introduction; Bastable, book III, ch. v; Plehn, part II, ch. x.

  1.           Theories of incidence.

Seligman II, part I; Dalton, ch. vii; Hobson, ch. iii;
Brown, chs. iii, v; Shirras, ch. xviii; Lutz, ch. xvii.

  1.           General principles.

Conference I, pp. 424-433; Seligman II, part II, ch. i.

  1.           Application to separate taxes.

Seligman II, part II, chs. ii-viii; Seligman III, ch. ii [iii?]; Brown, chs. vii-x; Shirras, ch. xix.

  1. Influence and effects of taxation.

Seligman III, ch. iii; Stamp I, ch. v; Stamp II, ch. iv; Bullock, ch. viii; Dalton, chs. x-xii.

  1. Canons and principles of taxation.

Bastable, book iii, ch. vi; Jones, ch. iii; Stamp I, ch. i.

  1.           Secondary canons.

Jones, ch. iv; Stamp I, ch. iv.

  1.           Primary canons.

Plehn, part II, ch. iii; Bullock, ch. ix.

  1.    I. Uniformity and equality of taxation.

Bastable, book III, ch. iii; Weston, chs. v-vi; Robinson, ch. ii.

  1.           Basis of taxation.

Hobson, part I, chs. i, ii; Dalton I, part II, ch. ix.

  1.           Norm of taxation.

Seligman IV, introduction; Robinson, ch. iv.

  1.           Graduation of taxation.

Seligman III, introduction; Adams, part II,
book ii, ch. ii; Stamp I, ch. ii.

  1.                History of progressive taxation.
  2.                Facts of progressive taxation.

Seligman III, part i.

  1.                Theory of progressive taxation.

Seligman III, part ii, chs. i-iv; Weston, ch. vii.

  1.           Differentiation of taxation.

Seligman IV, pp. 22-25; Weston, ch. vii; Stamp I, pp. 83-91.

  1.    II. Universality of taxation.
  2.           Exemptions.

Seligman IV, pp. 25-29; Conference, xii, p. 477.

  1.           Double taxation.
  2.                 By the same jurisdiction.

Seligman I, ch. iv.

  1.                 By competing jurisdictions.

Conference, ii, p. 547; iv, p. 261; ix, p. 358.

  1. The tax system. Single versus plural taxation.

Bastable, book III, ch. iv.

  1.           The single tax.

Seligman I, ch. iii; Hunter, ch. xvi.

  1. Tax administrations. Tax commissions.

Seligman I, chs. xiii, xix-xxi; Lutz, passim.

 

Book III
Taxation—Special

Part I.—Direct Taxes: Taxes on Wealth.

  1. Impersonal taxes.

Bastable, book IV, ch. i.

  1.    I. Tax on real estate.

Bullock, ch. xiv.

  1.           Land tax. Taxation of forests and mines.

Conference, v, p. 345, iv, p. 313; vi, p. 371; vii, 387; viii, 338; xiii, p. 405; xiv, p. 36; xv, p. 127; Young, chs. i, v-vi and ix; King, chs. i-iv.

  1.                Unearned increment and land-value taxes.

Sheftel, chs. i, vii-x; Seligman I, ch. xvii; New York Report, pp. 100-120; Bullock, ch. xix.

  1.                House tax.

Haig I, pp. 262-280; New York Report, pp. 7-60, 85-99.

  1.    II. Tax on personal property.

Conference, xi, pp. 118, 218.

  1.           Tax on tangibles.

Hunter, ch. xi.

  1.           Tax on intangibles.

Conference, viii, p. 207; Wells, chs. xviii-xix; Hunter, ch. xii.

  1.    III. Business tax.

Bastable, book iv, ch. ii; Conference, i, p. 442; xl, p. 185.

  1.           License tax.

Bullock, ch. xvi; Conference, ii, p. 273; Hunger, ch. x.

  1.           Corporation tax.

Seligman I, chs. vi-viii; Conference, v, p. 139; vii, p. 372; Bullock, ch. xvii.

  1.           Excess-profits and other business taxes.

Haig II, summaries.

  1. Personal taxes.
  2.           Poll tax.

Bastable, book iv, ch. iii; Bullock, ch. 4.

  1.           Expenditure tax. Luxury tax.

Seligman I, ch. ii; Conference, iv, p. 299.

  1.           General property tax.

Pethick-Lawrence, passim; Soward, ch. xi; Allen, ch. viii; Pigou, part IV, ch. xi; Dalton II.

  1.                     The capital levy. Capital increment tax.

Seligman IV, part ii; Conference, vi, p. 321; ix, p. 279; x, pp. 126, 279; Haig III, pp. 1-20; Bullock, ch. xii; Comstock, chs. i, xi.

  1.           Income tax.

Seligman I, ch. v; Bullock, ch. xviii; Hunter, ch. xiv.

  1. Mixed taxes. Inheritance tax.

Conference, iv, p. 279; Soward, chs. viii, xiii.

Part II.—Indirect Taxes: Taxes on Exchange and Consumption.

  1. General considerations.

Bastable, book IV, ch. vi; Robinson, ch. iii; Pigou, part IV, ch. v.

  1. Taxes on commodities.

Bullock, ch. xxi; Plehn, part II, ch. vi; Smith, chs. viii, ix.

  1.           Customs duties.

Bastable, book IV, ch. vii; Plehn, part II, ch. vii.

  1. Stamp taxes.

Bullock, ch. xxi.

  1. Taxes on transactions.

Smith, ch. vi.

  1.      Sales tax. Luxury tax.

Industrial Conference Board, ch. iv; Seligman VI, passim.

  1. Taxes on transportation and communication.

Bastable, book IV, ch. viii.

Part III.—Local Taxation.

  1. English system.

Grice, chs. ii, iii; Cannan, ch. vi; Webb, chs. i-iii; Robinson, ch. vii.

  1. Continental systems.

Grice, chs. viii, xi, xv-xviii.

  1. American system.
  2. Relation of local, state and federal finance.

Seligman I, chs. xii, xxi.

  1. Local option and separation.

Seligman I, ch. xi; Conference, v, p. 271; ix, p. 42.

  1. Selection of local revenues.
  2. General conclusion.

Bullock, ch. xiii; Adams I, part II, ch. vi; Seligman I, [no chs. listed]

_____________________________

ECONOMICS 102

Part III
Public Expenditures

  1. General considerations.

Lutz, ch. iii; Shirras, ch. iii; Bastable, book i, ch. i; Bullock, chs. ii, iii; Adams, part i, book i.

  1. History.

Lutz, ch. v; Dalton, ch. xvi.

  1. Principles

Lutz, ch. vii; Shirras, ch. iv.

  1. Classification.

Lutz, ch. iv; Shirras, ch. v.

  1.           A. General governmental expenditures.

Bastable, book i, ch. vi.

  1.           B. Protective expenditures.

Shirras, ch. vi; Bastable, book i, ch. ii.

  1.           C. Judicial and reformatory expenditures.

Bastable, book i, ch. iii.

  1.           D. Educational and charitable expenditures.

Shirras, ch. viii; Bastable, book i, ch. v.

  1.           E. Health and recreation expenditures.

Shirras, ch. vii; Bastable, book i, ch. iv.

  1.           F. Commerce and industry expenditures.

Shirras, ch. ix.

  1.           G. Public debt expenditures.

See Part IV.

  1. Conclusion

Lutz, ch. viii; Shirras, ch. xii; Bastable, book i, ch. viii; Dalton, chs. xviii-xx; Rosa, passim.

Part IV
Public Credit

  1. General considerations

Bastable, book v, ch. ii; Dalton, part iii, ch. xxi; Lutz, ch. xxiv; Shirras, ch. xxxiii.

  1. History of public credit.
  2. War chests and reserves.

Bastable, book i, ch. iii, iv; Shirras, ch. xxxv-xxxvi.

  1. Theories of public credit.

Bullock, ch. xxii; Bastable, book v, ch. v.

  1. Influence of public indebtedness.

Bullock, ch. xxiii; Adams, book iii, ch. i; Dalton, ch. xxii; Pigou, part iv, ch. viii.

  1. Debts versus Peace and war finance.

Seligman, ch. xxiii; Adams II, part ii, ch. i; Allen, ch. vi; Robinson, ch. viii; Hunter, ch. xix; Pigou, part iv, chs. viii and ix.

  1. Classification of public debts.
  2.           A. Compulsory, patriotic and voluntary loans.
  3.           B. Funded and floating debts.
  4.           C. Bonds and annuities.
  5.           D. Temporary and perpetual debts.
  6.           E. Premium and discount bonds.

Bastable, book V, ch. vi; Adams II, part ii, ch. ii; Hollander, passim; Hunter, ch. xvi; Lutz, ch. xxvi.

  1. Contraction of public debts. Methods of emission.

Adams II, part ii, ch. iii.

  1. Conversion of public debts. Refunding.

Bastable, book v, ch. vii; Lutz, ch. xxvii.

  1. Redemption and payment of public debts.

Adams II, part ii, ch. iv; Bullock, chs. xxiv-xxv; Dalton, ch. xxiii; Shirras, ch. xxxviii.

  1. Government paper money.

Seligman V, passim.

  1. Local indebtedness.
  2.      State debts.
  3.      Municipal debts.

Bastable, book v, ch. vii; Bullock, ch. xxvi.

 

Part V
The Budget

  1. History of the budget.

Stourm, introduction; Bastable, book vi, ch. i.

  1. Comparison of European and American budgets.

Adams I, book ii, ch. i; Ford, chs. ii, iv, viii.

  1. Preparation, form and composition of the budget.

Stourm, part i; Higgs, ch. i; Adams, book ii, ch. ii; Bastable, book vi, ch. ii; Buck, chs. vi-viii; Shirras, ch. xxxviii.

  1. Presentation, discussion and vote of the budget.

Stourm, part ii; Higgs, ch. iii, iv; Adams, book ii, ch. iii; Bastable, book vi, ch. iii; Shirras, ch. xxxvix.

  1. Execution of the budget.

Stourm, part iii; Higgs, ch. v,vi; Adams, book ii, ch. iv; Buck, chs. xi-xii; Lutz, ch. xxx; Shirras, ch. xl.

  1. Control of the budget.
  2.      Administrative control.
  3.      Judicial control.
  4.      Legislative control.

Stourm, part iv; Adams, book ii, chs. iv, v.

  1.      Conclusion.

Higgs II, passim.

_____________________________

REFERENCES

Allen, J. E.—The War Debt. 1919.

Adams I, Adams, H. C.—The Science of Finance. 1898.

Adams II, Adams, H. C.—Public Debts. 1887.

Bastable, C. F.—Public Finance. 3d ed., 1903.

Buck, A. E.—Budget Making. 1921.

Bullock, C.—Selected Readings in Public Finance 2d ed., 1920.

Cannan, E.—History of Local Rates in England. 2d ed., 1912.

Comstock, A.—State Taxation of Personal Incomes. Columbia Studies, no. 223. 1921.

Conference—Proceedings of the Conference of the National Tax Association, vols. i-xv, 1907-1923.

Daniels, W. M.—The Elements of Public Finance. 1889.

Dalton I, Dalton, H.—Principles of Public Finance. 1923.

Dalton II, Dalton, H.—The Capital Levy Explained. 1923.

Ford, H. J.—The Cost of our National Government. 1910.

Grice, J. W.—National and Local Finance. 1910.

Haig I, Haig, R. M.—The Exemption of Improvements from Taxation. 1915.

Haig II, Haig, R. M.—The Taxation of Excess Profits in Great Britain. 1920.

Haig III, Haig, R. M.—The Federal Income Tax. Columbia Lectures, ed. by Haig, 1921.

Higgs, H.—The Financial System of the United Kingdom. 1914.

Hobson, J. A. Taxation in the New State. 1919.

Hollander, J. H.—War Borrowing. 1919.

Hunter, M. H.—Outlines of Public Finance. 1921.

Industrial Conference Board—Report of the Tax Committee of the National Industrial Conference Board, no. 18. 1920.

Jones, R.—The Nature and First Principles of Taxation. 1914.

Kennedy—English Taxation, 1640-1799. 1913.

King, W. I.—The Valuation of Urban Realty for Taxation. 1914. (University of Wisconsin Series.)

Lutz, H. L.—State Tax Commissions. 1918.

New York Report—Final Report of the committee on Taxation of the City of New York, 1916.

Pethick-Lawrence, F. W.—A Levy on Capital. 1918.

Pigou, A. C.—Economics of Warfare. 1920.

Plehn, C. C.—Introduction to Public Fiance. 4th ed., 1920.

Robinson, M. E.—Public Finance. 1922.

Rosa, E.-B.—Expenditures and Revenues of the Federal Government. In Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. XCV. May, 1921.

Seligman I—Essays in Taxation. 9th ed., 1921.

Seligman II—The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation. 4th ed., 1921.

Seligman III—Progressive Taxation. 2d ed., 1908.

Seligman IV—The Income Tax. 2d ed., 1914.

Seligman V—Currency Inflation and Public Debts. 1921.

Secrist, H.—An Economic Analysis of the Constitutional Restrictions upon Public Indebtedness in the U. S. (University of Wisconsin Series.)

Sheftel, Y.—The Taxation of Land Values. 1916.

Smith, H. F.—The United States Federal Internal Tax History. 1914.

Soward, A. W., and Willan, W. E.—The Taxation of Capital. 1919.

Stamp I, Stamp, Sir Josiah—The Fundamental Principles of Taxation. 1921.

Stamp II, Stamp, Sir Josiah—Wealth and Taxable Capacity. 1922.

Stourm, R.—The Budget, American Translation, 1917.

Webb, S.—Grants in Aid., New ed., 1920.

Wells, D. A.—The Theory and Practice of Taxation. 1900.

Weston, S. F.—Principles of Justice in Taxation. Columbia Studies, vol. xviii, 1903.

Young, L. E.—Mine Taxation in the United States. University of Illinois Studies, 1916.

Seligman—Studies in Public Finance [last item typed addition]

 

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Robert M. Haig Papers. Box 15 Lecture Notes (3). Folder “Bibliography”.

Image Source: National Civic Federation Review (1905), p. 229.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Cornell Curriculum Harvard Johns Hopkins Michigan Pennsylvania Yale

Cornell. Laughlin’s Scheme to Expand Economics,1891

J. Laurence Laughlin was hired away from Cornell to build the Department of Political Economy at the University of Chicago that began operation in the academic year 1892-93. This proposal to expand Cornell’s own instructional and research work in political economy and finance is interesting as Laughlin’s vision of what it would take to go from second-rate to the leading department. It is also interesting for its table comparing Laughlin’s dream department with the state of affairs at six rival universities: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Michigan and Pennsylvania in 1890-91.

_______________

SCHEME FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY AND FINANCE IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY, PRESENTED TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

I.

In view of the arrangement of courses for the coming year, (1891—2,) careful consideration should be given to the opportunities afforded by this department. The subjects heated are essential parts of the civic education of every member of society. Apart from their disciplinary value, their practical character would alone make it natural that the curricula of such schools as those of Agriculture, and of Mechanic Arts, should be enriched by including in them economic courses. This policy has already been announced by the statement in the University Register that Political Economy shall be hereafter made a part of the course of Civil Engineering. When regard is had to the prevailing ignorance of economics and its effect on national legislation, the wisdom of this policy is undoubted. The question might even be raised whether it were not advisable to require Political Economy of all students in the various courses, quite as much as History, or Chemistry. I cannot think, however, it is of advantage to the influence of a study to make its pursuit obligatory; but there cannot, I suppose, be any difference of opinion as to the wisdom of providing the proper amount of instruction, when the study of it is voluntary, and when the numbers of students are too great, (as is now the case,) to be properly cared for by the single professor

II.

In extending the reputation and prestige of Cornell University, no possible investment of its funds would, in my judgment, produce larger or earlier fruit than those spent in enlarging the work of this department. Such a policy would, at once, lend aid in educating the country where it most needs education, and bring here greater numbers of bright students who want economic training. The real University is to be found in the men it trains, and in the influence they exert on the community.

The deplorable ignorance and prejudice regarding questions of great practical importance, (such as banking and currency topics.) in the very regions from which we now draw our students, and must hereafter draw them in increasing numbers, makes the duty, as well as the opportunity, of our University, one of transcendent importance. Can it rise to the occasion? It is entirely within the truth to say that no such opportunity is open to us in any other branch of study. Furthermore, no other institution in our country is, at present, so well situated as Cornell University for doing a great and striking work in economics. If we accomplish this work, we can secure a strong hold on the people, and an enviable repute for enthusiastic, enterprising scholarship on subjects touching the immediate welfare of every individual citizen.

The mere fact of having had this exceptional opportunity for twenty years, and not having used it, (excepting one year,)—although there may be good reasons for it—has created a widespread belief elsewhere in our lack of interest and purpose in aiding economic study. To take only a second-rate position, therefore, or to do only moderately well, will not be enough to place us in a proper attitude before the public. Nor will it do to act so slowly that the growth of the department, however real, may be imperceptible to the outside world. In short, to produce the desired effect we should, if possible, draw the attention of the country to us by a striking and important movement; and it will be easy to make it striking and effective, because it is started in a subject which is occupying general attention. To indicate what form this movement should take is, in my opinion, the proper purpose of this communication. It has consequently seemed best to present a scheme of work for the department in as nearly complete a form as possible; a scheme, which shall be more thorough, more comprehensive, more scholarly than that presented by any other university. If adopted, it may then be said that greater advantages for economic study are offered at Cornell University than at any other American university. That a distinct opportunity exists for us, any member of an economic department in other institutions would be the first to admit. Our apathy in this matter has, in the past, excited some comment and surprise.

The discussion regarding the neglect by this University of liberal studies in favor of the professional and technical schools, might suggest the present as a favorable opportunity to disabuse the public of that mistaken idea, by adopting this scheme for enlarging the department of economics; for, while appealing to those who believe in an intensely practical education, economics in truth belongs, because of its disciplinary power, to the culture studies. Should the Fayerweather bequest be received, may it not be the means, by concentrating its use on one field, of making a striking movement which would command public attention?

III

I present herewith a list of courses which, if provided, would place this department ahead of any other in America. This is then followed by a comparison of the proposed scheme with the courses offered at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The courses run throughout the year, at the given number of hours per week :—

  1. Introductory course. Principles of Modern Economics. Elementary Banking. Descriptive economics: Money, coöperation, bimetallism, railway transportation, etc.
    3 hours a week. [At present, two sections, requiring of the instructor six hours a week.]
  1. Advanced course. History of Economic Theory. Examination of writers and systems. Critical Studies. Open only to those who have passed in course 1.
    3 hours a week.
  1. Investigation of Practical Economic Questions of the day: shipping, money, profit-sharing, social questions. Theses and Criticisms. Training for Seminary. Open only to those who have passed in course 1.
    2 hours a week.
  1. The Industrial and Economic History of Europe and the United States in the last 100 years. Lectures and selected reading. No previous economic study required.
    3 hours a week.
  1. Taxation. Public Finance. Banking. Comparative study of the Financial Methods of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, etc. Open only to those who have passed in course 1.
    3 hours a week.
  1. History of Financial Legislation in the United States since 1789. Lectures and reports. Open to all students.
    1 hour a week.
  1. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States since 1789; Tariff Legislation of France, Germany and Great Britain. Open to all students.
    2 hours a week.
  1. Railway Transportation and Legislation in the United States and Europe. Open to all students.
    2 hours a week.
  1. Statistics. Methods. Practical Training for Statistical Work. Presentation of Results. Open only to those who have passed in course 1.
    3 hours a week.
  1. Land Tenures. Land Systems of England, Ireland, France Belgium. Germany, and the United States. Open to all students. 1 hour a week.
  1. Socialistic Theories. Marx, Lasalle, Proudhon; and modern popular theories. Open only to those who have passed in course 1.
    1 hour a week.
  1. Seminary. Special Investigations. Open only to competent students.
    2 hours a week.

 

COMPARISON OF THE PROPOSED COURSES WITH THOSE NOW GIVEN AT VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES.

Courses. Proposed for Cornell. Now Given at
Cor-
nell.		 Har-
vard.		 Yale. Colum-
bia.		 Johns Hopkins. Penna. Michi-
gan.
1 3 3 3 7 ½ 1 5 4 ½ 2
2 3 }3 3 3 1 ½ 5 (?) 6 1
3 2 1 ½ 1 2 2 ½
4 3 3 2 1 2 1[*]
5 3 3 2 3 1 1 ½
6 1 1 ½ }2 2 2
7 2 1 1 ½ 1 1
8 2 1 ½ 1 1 ½
9 3 2 1 ½
10 1
11 1 1 2
12 2 2 2(?) 2 ½ 2 2 2 2
Total. 26 9 20 22 19 12 18 ½ 11 ½
Number of In-
structors.		 5 1 4 4 4 1 5 2

[* The actual entry in this cell appear to be:
LaughlinGraphic

This Table makes obvious, at a glance, how far Cornell is behind other universities in this department. When it is considered that man’s character is moulded by his material surroundings; that questions of livelihood and economic concern occupy his thoughts more hours in the day, possibly, than any other subject; that the great forming agencies of the world are religious and economic,—this shortcoming in our courses of instruction becomes painfully evident. Not only are we behind other institutions, but this department, with all its importance, is far behind almost every other of our departments, especially in comparison with the Historical group.

The present number of students in the department (about 160) is, moreover, too large to be properly cared for by one instructor. Nor should the present professor be expected to keep in view the larger questions of the scope and influence of the department, or the work of investigation, and yet continue the reading of routine, but necessary, exercises.

To give the courses in the proposed list above, in addition to the present professor, there would be needed at least one associate professor, at a probable salary of $2,000 (to whom it would be necessary, in order to obtain the right man, to offer some definite expectation of further promotion in the future); one assistant-professor, at the usual salary, and two capable instructors, paid probably $1,000 each. These estimates are, of course, provisional.

IV

Of equal, or even greater importance than the increased hours of instruction, for the purpose of touching the work of students at its most vital point, is the grant of a suitable Publication Fund. The professor in charge believes this to be essential to the success of the department; that this part of the scheme is of primary importance. It is proposed to publish investigations of students and instructors in a series of bound volumes, with a distinctive cover, marking them as productions of Cornell University, and entitled “Cornell University Studies in Economics.” For this purpose at least $1,000 per annum should be granted. It would be appropriate to name this the “Fayerweather Publication Fund,” and every volume issued would bear the name of this benefactor. With the material already in sight that sum would not be sufficient; but it would, so far as it goes, send the name of the University into every centre of scholarly work in this country and in Europe. Still better, it would do more than any other one thing to stimulate the work of our students, and to produce finished and accurate scholarship; while the practical bearing of these studies would bring the University to the notice of men in business and financial circles.

The subject has been carefully examined and studied in view of past experience in other institutions. The establishment of the Quarterly Journal of Economics by Harvard University was due to the creation of a Publication Fund, and it has won the respect and attracted the attention of scholars, as well as the public, the world over. Columbia College has wielded a large influence by the Political Science Quarterly, and stimulated its work in these lines: while, in addition, the publication of a series of monographs is now announced. The University of Pennsylvania has lately taken energetic steps to increase its publications, by which the work of the Wharton School has been suddenly brought to the attention of students everywhere. Not only a journal, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, but a series of monographs, and translations of important German works, are published by this school. The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science have been published for years, and, although not even in quality, have done more than anything else to attract attention to their facilities for investigation and study. Finally, the scheme of the new University of Chicago, following the trend of these successful movements, makes the “University Publication Work” one of the three general divisions of its work, and emphasizes the desire to publish papers, journals, and books by instructors, thereby hoping to furnish greater stimulus and incentive than now exist toward original investigation.

V

The fixing of a high standard of work by students; in the department; the encouragement of capable young men to carry on their studies beyond mere superficial work; a relief to poor, but able, men from subsidiary employments to earn a living while engaged in investigations; a means of drawing here from other institutions the brightest men who have distinguished themselves in economics; and, to provide for investigators, who will present their results to the public and enlarge the repute of the University for scholarly work both at home and abroad,—all these things can be effected only by the creation of fellowships and scholarships in this department. Five (5) fellowships, permitting the holders to reside either at the University, or abroad, with an annual income of $500 each; and four (4) scholarships, with an annual income of $250 each, are urgently needed.

VI

The library is deficient in important collections and series, which are absolutely essential to economic research; and which are possessed by other institutions. In other places these deficiencies are supplemented by access to neighboring libraries (e.g., at Columbia College, by the Lenox and Astor Libraries; at Harvard University, by the Boston Public Library and the Atheneum. Our absolute isolation requires that we should own these important collections outright. We have, for example, none of the British Government Publications (the “Blue-Books”), a complete set of which is very expensive; nor those of France, or Germany, whose statistical work is exceedingly valuable. Of the various European economic journals, by which we may keep abreast of current thinking, we have almost none. It is a hindrance: which would be regarded as intolerable in Physics, Chemistry, or Philology. In short, the department needs a special annual grant of $2,000 for at least five (5) years beyond the present and expected allowance of next year for this department) to bring it to a respectable basis, as compared with other departments. Detailed accounts of these wants can be given, if needed.

VII

SUMMARY.

The Board of Trustees is respectfully asked to grant an annual appropriation to this department of the following sums :—

Additional instruction,
One Associate Professor,

$ 2,000
One Assistant Professor,

   1,600
Two Instructors at $1000 each,

   2,000

$ 5,600
Five Fellowships at $500 each,

   2,500
Four Scholarships at $250 each,

   1,000
Publication fund,

   1,000
Books (for five years),

   2,000
Total,

$12,100

With this grant, it is quite certain we can produce results which are not now possible in any university in this country Our department of economics will then be the first in the United States.—one of which every friend of Cornell can speak with pride. Especially will it mark an epoch in the history of economic training in this country, and bring Cornell to the front in an important subject of universal, and yet practical, concern. The University is not rich enough to permit any other institution to seize the opportunity for which she herself has so evident an advantage, and for which she so evidently occupies a strategic position.

Very respectfully presented by

J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN.

Professor of Political Economy and Finance.

March 2, 1891

_______________

 Source: Laughlin, James Laurence. Papers, [Box 1, Folder 17], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Image Source: Clipped from printed speech given at the 78th meeting of The Sunset Club at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, December 6, 1894 found in Laughlin, James Laurence. Papers, [Box 1, Folder 17], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Columbia Courses Syllabus

Columbia. Readings International Economics. Angell, 1933

This course title is a bit misleading from today’s perspective. The emphasis is on international finance and commercial policy with maybe one-third of the second semester devoted to trade theory. This course reading list comes from Milton Friedman’s Papers at the Hoover Institution though this particular course was apparently not ever taken for credit by Milton Friedman. I have not yet found a more recent picture of Angell than this passport photo taken when he was 23-24 years of age.

__________________________

Economics 125-126—International trade. 3 points each session. Professor J. W. Angell.
M. and W. at 11. 301 Fayerweather.

World trade currents today; the foreign trade of the United States. The foreign exchanges and the world money markets. The classical theory of international trade; the maintenance of equilibrium in trade; international capital movements. Tariffs and the protective controversy. The effects of currency depreciation. Reparations and inter-ally debts.

Students who have not completed Economics 125 are admitted to Economics 126 only by permission of the instructor.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information 32 Series, No. 33 (May 14, 1932). History, Economics, Public Law, and Social Science. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science for Winter and Spring Sessions 1932-33, pp. 28-29.

__________________________

READING LIST IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Economics 125-126
Revised: 1933

#          Required reading

##       Required reading, to be prepared for class-room discussion

 

FIRST SEMESTER

  1. The Balance of International Payments: World Trade Currents

# U.S. Dept. of Commerce, The Balance of International Payments of the U. S. in 19__ (Trade Information Bulletin). This study is made annually; read study for current year.

Boggs, T. F., The International Trade Balance (1922).

Bullock, C. J., Williams and Tucker, The Balance of Trade of the U.S. (Review of Economic Statistics, 1919; reprinted separately).

German Statistical Office, Wirtschaft und Statistik (this journal contains semi-annual studies of the German balance of payments).

Great Britain, Board of Trade, Journal (contains annual survey of the British balance of payments).

League of Nations, Memorandum on Balance of Payments (appears about every two years).

Lewis, Cleona, The International Accounts (1927).

Meynial, P., La Balance des Comptes (articles appearing about once a year on the French balance of payments, in La Vie Économique Française or in the Revue d’Éonomie Politique).

_____________________

Bishop, A. L., Outlines of American Foreign Commerce (1923).

Cowden, D., Measures of Exports of the U. S. (1931).

Day, C., History of Commerce (1917; new ed. 1931).

Johnson, E. R., History of the Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the U. S. (1915).

League of Nations, World Economic Survey: 1931-32; 1932-33 (successive volumes).

U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Commerce Yearbook (annual).

 

  1. Foreign Exchange; Money Markets

##Furniss, E. S., Foreign Exchange (1922). [✓]

# Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform (1924), pp. 125-151. [✓]

#Angell, J. W., Foreign Exchange (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1931). [✓]

Cross, I. B., Domestic and Foreign Exchange (1923).

Edwards, G. W., International Trade Finance (1924).

Escher, F., Elements of Foreign Exchange (1910).

Whitaker, A. C., Foreign Exchange (1921).

_____________________

Bagehot, W., Lombard Street (1873; 14 ed. 1915).

Beckhart, B. H., ed., The New York Money Market (4 vols.: 1931-32).

Burgess, W. R., The Reserve Banks and the Money Market (1927).

Goschen, Viscount G. J., Foreign Exchange (1861; reprinted 1926).

Spalding, F., The London Money Market (1924).

Withers, H., International Finance (1916).

———–, The Meaning of Money (1909, reprinted).

 

  1. Tariffs: International Commercial Policies

##Taussig, F. W., Selected Readings in International Trade (1921): pp. 62-69; Parts II, III.

#Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (1920).

#Delle Donne, O., European Tariff Policies (1928).

#Taussig, F. W., Necessary Changes in Our Commercial Policy (Foreign Affairs, April, 1933).

#————, Some Aspects of the Tariff Question ( 3 ed. 1931).

#————, Tariff History of the U. S. (7 [(corrected by MF) 8] ed., 1931).

American Tariff League, Statistical Bulletin.

Allix, E., Les Droits de Douanes (2 vols.; Paris, 1932).

Berglund, A., and Wright, P. G., The Tariff on Iron and Steel (1929). Also see other studies in this series (Institute of Economics) for other commodities.

Beveridge, Sir W. H., ed., Tariffs: The Case Examined (1931).

Bidwell, P., Tariff Policy of the U. S. (Council on Foreign Relations, 1933).

Cairnes, J. E., Leading Principles of Political Economy (1874): Part III, ch. 4.

Crompton, G., The Tariff (1927): esp. chs. 13, 14.

Eiteman, W. J., The Rise and Decline of Orthodox Tariff Propaganda (Quar. Jour. Econ., Nov. 1930).

Foreign Policy Association, Reports, passim.

Graham, F. D., Some Aspects of Protection Further Considered (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1923).

Gregory, T. E., Tariffs (1921).

Grunzel, J., Economic Protectionism (translated 1916).

Hewins, A. S., Trade in the Balance (1924).

Marshall, A., The Fiscal Policy of International Trade (British Parliamentary Papers, 1908; Cd. 321).

McClure, W., Commercial Policy of the U. S. (1924).

Page, T. W., Making the Tariff in the U. S. (1929).

Schüller, R., Schutzzoll und Freihandel (1905).

Stanwood, E., American Tariff Controversies in the 19th Century (1903).

Stewart, M. S., Tariff Issues Confronting the New Administration (Foreign Policy Association, Reports, March 29, 1933).

Taussig, F. W., Free Trade, The Tariff and Reciprocity (1920).

—————–, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff (1893).

—————–, The Tariff Act of 1930 (Quar. Jour. Econ., Nov. 1930).

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Trade Information Bulletins, passim.

U. S. Tariff Commission, Reports, etc. (so far as published).

Wright, P. G., Sugar in Relation to the Tariff (1924).

_____________________

#Angell, J. W., Financial Foreign Policy of the U. S. (Council on Foreign Relations), 1933). [✓]

[One (of Culbertson, Donaldson or Fisk/Peirce)]

#Culbertson, W. S., International Economic Policies (1925).

# Donaldson, J., International Economic Relations (1926).

#Fisk, G. M., and Peirce, P. S., International Commercial Policies (1923), esp., chs. 8, 11, 12.

# Williams, B. H., Economic Foreign Policy of the U. S. (1929). [✓]

Delaisi, F., Political Myths and Economic Realities (1927); also other works.

Donham, W. B., National Ideals and Internationalist Idols (Harvard Business Review, April, 1933).

Eulenberg, F. Aussenhandel und Aussenhandelspolitik (1929).

Fontana-Russo, L. Traité de politique commerciale (1908).

Knight, M. M., Water and the Course of Empire in North Africa (Quar. Jour. Econ., Nov. 1928).

Moon, P. T., Imperialism and World Politics (1927).

Somary, F., Changes in the Structure of World Economics since the War (1931).

Viner, J., Dumping (1923).

———-, Memorandum on Dumping (League of Nations, 1927).

Wallace, B. B., and Edminster, L. R., International Control of Raw Materials (1930).

Whittlesey, C. R., Governmental Control of Crude Rubber (1931).

 

SECOND SEMESTER

  1. The General Theory of International Trade

## Ricardo, D., Principles of Political Economy (1817): ch. 7.

## Mill, J. S., Principles of Political Economy (1848): Bk. III, chs. 17-22, 25.

## Cairnes, J. E., Leading Principles of Political Economy, (1874): Part III, chs. 1, 2, 3, 5.

#   —————-, Essays in Political Economy (1873): chs. I, II.

## Bastable, C. F., Theory of International Trade (4 ed., 1903): chs. 1-4.

## Taussig, F. W., International Trade (1927): chs. 1-18.

# Angell, J. W., Theory of International Prices (1926): chs. 14, 16, 18.

# —————, Equilibrium in International Trade (Quar. Jour. Econ., May, 1928).

#Viner, J., International Trade: Theory (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1932).

Burns, A. F., A Note on Comparative Costs (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1928).

Carr, R. M., The Role of Prices in the International Trade Mechanism (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1931).

Cournot, A. A., Principes de la théorie des richesses (1863).

Graham, F. D., The Theory of International Values Re-Examined (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1923).

——————, The Theory of International Values (Quar. Jour. Econ., Sept. 1932).

Haberler, G., The Theory of Comparative Costs Once More (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1929).

Keynes, J. M., Treatise on Money (2 vols.; 1930): esp. ch. 21.

Mangoldt, J., Grundriss der Volkswirtschaftslehre (1863; 2 ed., 1871).

Marshall, A., Pure Theory of Foreign Trade (1879; reprinted in Royal Economic Society, Reprints of Scarce Tracts, vol. i: 1930).

Ohlin, B., Equilibrium in International Trade (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1928).

———–, Interregional and International Trade (1933).

Pareto, V., Cours d’économie politique (2 vols.; 1896-97).

Williams, J. H., The Theory of International Trade Reconsidered (Econ. Jour., 1929).

Yntema, T. O., A Mathematical Reformulation of the Theory of International Trade (1932).

Young, A. A., Marshall on Consumer’s Surplus in International Trade (Quar. Jour. Econ., 1924).

Zapoleon, L. B., International And Domestic Commodities and the Theory of Prices (Quar. Jour. Econ., May, 1931).

 

  1. International Capital Movements; Reparations and Inter-Ally Debts

## Taussig, F. W., International Trade (1927): chs. 19-25.

# Angell, J. W., Theory of International Prices (1926): Appendix I.

# Gregory, T. E., The Gold Standard and Its Future (1932): chs. 1, 2.

Bullock, C. J., Williams and Tucker, The Balance of Trade of the U. S. (Review of Economic Statistics, 1919: reprinted separately).

Einzig, P. Some New Features of Gold Movements (Econ. Jour., 1930).

———–, International Gold Movements (1930).

Feis, H., Europe: The World’s Banker, 1870-1914 (1930).

Graham, F. D., International Trade of the U. S., 1862-1879 (unpublished thesis in Harvard University Library: 1922).

Hobson, C. K., The Export of Capital (1912).

Jenks, L. H., The Migration of British Capital to 1875 (1927).

McGuire, C., Italy’s International Economic Position (1926). Also see other Institute of Economics studies of post-war European finance.

National Industrial Conference Board, The International Financial Position of the U. S. (1929).

Rogers, J. H., America Weighs Her Gold (1931).

Viner, J., Canada’s Balance of International Indebtedness, 1900-1913 (1924).

Williams, J. H., Argentine International Trade, 1880-1900 (1920).

_____________________

Agent General for Reparation Payments, Reports (Berlin, 1924-1930).

Angell, J. W., The Recovery of Germany (1929).

#————–, Reparation (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1934).

————–, Reparations and the Inter-Ally Debts in 1930 (Foreign Policy Association, Reports, April 29, 1931, 2 ed., August, 1931).

International Conciliation (series; see especially no’s. 262, 282).

Keynes, J. M., The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919).

Long, R. C., The Mythology of Reparations (1928).

McFadyean, Sir Andrew, Reparation Reviewed (1930).

Moulton, H. G., and Pasvolsky, L., War Debts and World Prosperity (1932).

—————————————–, World War Debt Settlements (1926).

National Industrial Conference Board, The Inter-Ally Debts and the United States (1925).

Reparation Commission, Reports, etc. (1922 ff.).

Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), Survey of International Affairs (annual, on intergovernment debts see especially volumes for 1920-23 and for 1926).

Schacht, H., The End of Reparations (translated, 1931).

Wheeler-Bennett, J. W., and Latimer, H., Information on the Reparation Settlement (1930).

World Peace Foundation (reprints of many documents on intergovernment debts, with explanatory comments).

 

  1. Depreciated Currencies and Foreign Exchanges

#Angell, J. W., Theory of International Prices (1926): chs. 7, 17.

#—————–, Exchange Depreciation, Foreign Trade and National Welfare (Proceedings, Academy of Political Science, June, 1933).

# Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform (1924): chs. 2, 3.

# Taussig, F. W., International Trade (1927): chs. 26-30.

Angell, J. W., Monetary Theory and Monetary Policy (Quar. Jour. Econ.., 1925).

Brown, W. A., England and the Gold Standard (1928).

Cassel, G., Money and Foreign Exchange After 1914 (1922).

————, Post-War Monetary Stabilization (1928).

Dulles, E. L., The French Franc, 1914-1928 (1929).

Fetter, F. W., Monetary Inflation in Chile (1931).

Graham, F. D., Exchange, Prices and Production in Hyper-Inflation: Germany, 1920-1923 (1930).

Keynes, J. M., Treatise on Money (1930): see index for relevant sections.

Nogaro, B., La monnaie (1924). English translation: Modern Monetary Systems (1927).

Rist, C. La déflation en pratique (1924).

Rogers, J. H., The Process of Inflation in France, 1914-1927 (1929).

U. S. Senate, Commission of Gold and Silver Inquiry: Foreign Currency and Exchange Investigation (by J. P. Young. 2 vols.; 1925).

U. S. Tariff Commission, Depreciated Exchange and International Trade (2 ed., 1922).

__________________________

Source: Hoover Institution Archives, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 5, Folder 5.12 (Student years)

Image Source:  James Waterhouse Angell’s July 18, 1922 U.S. passport application. National Archives.

Categories
Columbia Courses Economists Syllabus

Columbia. Introductory Economics. First-term, 1912-13.

According to the Columbia University Catalogue for 1912-13, Economics 1-2, Introduction to economics–Practical economic problems was a 3 hour course taught by Professors Seager, Mussey, Agger, and Dr. Anderson. According to this outline it would appear that these instructors taught the material in the assigned textbook readings listed and once a week, a professor from the graduate faculty of Political Science would hold a lecture. The printed copy of the lectures and assignments transcribed here was found in the Papers of John Bates Clark.

________________________

Columbia College

Lectures and Assignments, Economics I.
[1912-13]

 

SEPTEMBER
27 Introductory Lecture. Professor H. R. Seager
30 ELY, Chapter I.—Nature and Scope of Economics.
OCTOBER
2 SELIGMAN, Chapter V.—The Economic Stages.
4 Lecture. The Accumulation of Economic Facts. Prof. R. E. Chaddock.
7 SELIGMAN, CHAPTER IV.—The Historical Forms of Business Enterprise
9 SELIGMAN, CHAPTER IX.—Private Property
11 Lecture. Conservation as an Economic Movement. Prof. R. E. Chaddock.
14 SELIGMAN, CHAPTER X.—Competition
16 SELIGMAN, CHAPTER XI.—Freedom
18 Lecture. A Method of Approaching and Testing Economic Reforms. Prof. R. E. Chaddock.
21 ELY, Chapter VII.—Elementary Concepts. To page 101.  
23 ELY, Chapter VIII.—Consumption. Pages 106 to 113 to “Luxury”
25 Lecture. Value and Price. Dr. B. M. Anderson, Jr.
28 ELY, Chapter IX.—Production. Pages 121-131 incl. (omitting 132-145).
30 Written Quiz covering all the above.
NOVEMBER
1 Lecture. Normal Price. Dr. B. M. Anderson, Jr.
4 ELY, Chapter XI.—Value and Price. Pages 156-163 to “Elasticity”. [corrected by hand from “Electricity”]
6 ELY, Chapter XI.— Value and Price. Pages 163-168 incl.
8 Lecture. Capitalization of Value. Dr. B. M. Anderson, Jr.
11 ELY, Chapter XII.—Value and Price. Pages 170-177 to “The Surplus of Bargaining”.
13 ELY, Chapter XII.— Value and Price. Pages 177-186.
15 Lecture. The Size of the Population. Prof. H. L. Moore.
18 ELY, Chapter XIII.—Monopoly. Pages 187-192 to “Classification” and page 197 “Monopoly Price” to page 201.
20 ELY, Chapter XIII.—Monopoly. Pages 201-208 to “Monopolies and the Distribution of Wealth”.
22 Lecture. The Quality of the Population. Prof. H. L. Moore.
25 Review.
27 Written quiz.
29 Thanksgiving Holidays.
DECEMBER
2 ELY, Chapter XIX.—Distribution as an Economic Problem, Pages 315-325.
4 ELY, Chapter XIX.— Distribution as an Economic Problem, Pages 326-333.
6 Lecture. Efficiency and Income. Prof. H. L. Moore.
9 SELIGMAN, Chapter XXIII.—Profits. Sections 152-154 incl.
11 SELIGMAN, Chapter XXIII.—Profits. Sections 155-157 incl.
13 Lecture. Profits. Prof. J. B. Clark.
16 ELY, Chapter XXI.—Rent of Land. Pages 348-357 to “The Different Uses of Land”.
18 ELY, Chapter XXI.—Rent of Land. Pages 357-366.
20 Lecture. The Rent of Land and the Single Tax. Prof. J. B. Clark.
Christmas Holidays
JANUARY, 1913
6 ELY, Chapter XXII.—The Wages of Labor. Pages 367-376 to “Subsistence Theory.”
8 ELY, Chapter XXII.—The Wages of Labor. Pages 376-385.
10 Lecture. Wages of Labor. Prof. J. B. Clark.
13 ELY, Chapter XXIV.—Interest. Pages 416-425 to “The Shifting of Investment”.
15 ELY, Chapter XXIV.—Interest. Pages 425 to 438 omitting fine print.
17 Lecture. Capital and Interest. Prof. J. B. Clark.
20 Review

The text assignments are to the 1910 editions of Prof. E. R. A. Seligman’s Principles of Economics and to Prof. R. T. Ely’s Outlines of Economics.

 

            COLLATERAL READING: (Pages to be assigned)

Bücher Industrial Evolution

Bullock Readings in Economics.

George Progress and Poverty. [Memorial Edition(1898): Vol. I, Vol. II.]

 

Source: John Bates Clark Papers, Series II.4. Box 9. Folder “Administrative Records and Course Material Undated”; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

 

Categories
Columbia Economists

Columbia. Lecture Series. Seager on Economics. 1907-08.

 

Lectures on Science, Philosophy and Art, 1907-1908 at Columbia University.

A SERIES of twenty-two lectures descriptive in untechnical language of the achievements in Science, Philosophy and Art, and indicating the present status of these subjects as concepts of human knowledge, were delivered at Columbia University, during the academic year 1907-1908, by various professors chosen to represent the several departments of instruction.

The entire lecture series was published by Columbia University Press in book form. These lectures were also published by Columbia University Press separately in pamphlet form, at a price of twenty-five cents each, “carriage extra”. I was able to find most of the individual lectures. In boldface are people who were either members of or regularly taught courses in Columbia’s Faculty of Political Science, which was disproportionately represented in the lecture series.

  1. MATHEMATICS, by Cassius Jackson Keyser, Adrain Professor of Mathematics.
  2. PHYSICS, by Ernest Fox Nichols, Professor of Experimental Physics.
  3. CHEMISTRY, by Charles F. Chandler, Professor of Chemistry.
  4. ASTRONOMY, by Harold Jacoby, Rutherfurd Professor of Astronomy.
  5. GEOLOGY, by James Furman Kemp, Professor of Geology.
  6. BIOLOGY, by Edmund B. Wilson, Professor of Zoology.
  7. PHYSIOLOGY, by Frederic S. Lee, Professor of Physiology.
  8. BOTANY, by Herbert Maule Richards, Professor of Botany.
  9. ZOOLOGY, by Henry E. Crampton, Professor of Zoology.
  10. ANTHROPOLOGY, by Franz Boas, Professor of Anthropology.
  11. ARCHAEOLOGY, by James Rignall Wheeler, Professor of Greek Archaeology and Art.
  12. HISTORY, by James Harvey Robinson, Professor of History.
  13. ECONOMICS, by Henry Rogers Seager, Professor of Political Economy.
  14. POLITICS, by Charles A. Beard, Adjunct Professor of Politics.
  15. JURISPRUDENCE, by Munroe Smith, Professor of Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence.
  16. SOCIOLOGY, by Franklin Henry Giddings, Professor of Sociology.
  17. PHILOSOPHY, by Nicholas Murray Butler, President of the University.
  18. PSYCHOLOGY, by Robert S. Woodworth, Adjunct Professor of Psychology.
  19. METAPHYSICS, by Frederick J. E. Woodbridge, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy.
  20. ETHICS, by John Dewey, Professor of Philosophy.
  21. PHILOLOGY, by A. V. W. Jackson, Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages
  22. LITERATURE, by Harry Thurston Peck, Anthon Professor of the Latin Language and Literature.

Image Source: Roberto Ferrari, Unveiling Alma Mater [Sept 23, 1903]. Columbia University Libraries. July 15, 2104.

Categories
Columbia Courses Economists Syllabus

Columbia. Syllabus for Trust Problem. Seager, 1907

The second in a two-semester “problem sequence” taught by Professor Henry Rogers Seager at Columbia. Found in the papers of John Maurice Clark. The first semester was a course on the labor problem. The field of pre-game-theory industrial organization can trace its roots to the trust problem.

________________________

ECONOMICS 106—Trust Problem.        Professor Seager.

Tu. And Th. At 11.30, second half-year. 415 L.

In this course special attention is given to the trust problem as it presents itself in the United States. Among the topics considered are the rise and progress of industrial combinations, the forms of organization and policies of typical combinations, the common law and the trusts, anti-trust acts and their results, and other proposed solutions of the problem.

Given in 1906-07 and in alternate years thereafter.

Source: Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Fifth Series, No. 10 (March 25, 1905). History, Economics, and Public Law. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science. Announcement 1905-07, p. 25.

________________________

Columbia University
in the City of New York

 

THE TRUST PROBLEM

OUTLINE OF COURSE
BY
HENRY R. SEAGER
Professor of Political Economy

 

(The references are to the numbers attached to the titles in the bibliography. Those printed in heavy-faced type constitute the required reading for the course. Those marked with asterisks are especially recommended.)

 

  1. Nature and scope of the trust problem. Survey of literature. (43, chap. XVIII, pp. 428-441.)
  2. Progress of the corporation movement in the United States. (*8, chap. I; *36, June, 1890, pp. 50 et seq.; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XI, and 1905, Bulletin 57, pp. 13-18.)
  3. Progress of the trust movement in the United States. (5, chap. I; 9, chap. I; *14, chap. V; *30, chap. I; 31; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 595-608; 47, 1900, vol. VII, chap. II, sec. XVII.)
  4. Conflicting theories in regard to the economic advantages of the trusts. (22, chaps. I and II; 43, chap. XVIII, pp. 442-461; *6, pp. 35-42; *14, chap. IV; *30, chap. II; 27, Part I.)
  5. Typical American trusts; the Addyston Pipe Company. (22, chap. VII ; 43, chap. V.)
  6. Typical American trusts : the Standard Oil Company. (22, chap. VIII, pp. 151-157; 29; 39; 40; 41, vol. I, pp. 93-173; *44; 46.)
  7. Typical American trusts: the Standard Oil Company today. (*37.)
  8. Typical American trusts: the United States Steel Corporation. (22, Appendix F ; *28, chap. XVII ; 41, vol. I, pp. 173-205; 42; *48.)
  9. The United States Steel Corporation’s bond conversion (43, chap. VIII.)
  10. Typical American trusts: the International Mercantile Marine Company. (43, Chap. VI.)
  11. Typical American trusts: the United States Shipbuilding Company (43, chap. IX.)
  12. The success of American trusts as business enterprises. (*15, 1907; 31.)
  13. Conflicting legal theories in regard to corporations and the attitude of American courts. (16; *17, pp. XVIII-XLIII ; *21, pp. 7-16 ; *45, chaps. III and VIII.)
  14. The development of corporation laws in the American states and the present law of New Jersey. (4; *6, pp. 383-394, 409-422 ; *21; 23.)
  15. The Massachusetts Business Corporation Law. (43, chap. XV; *38.)
  16. State anti-trust legislation and the reasons for its failure. (*1, 1904, pp. 37-41; *13, vol. II, part VIII; 30, chap. V ; 41, vol. I, pp. 225-232, vol. II.)
  17. The federal anti-trust act of 1890 and what has been accomplished under it. (43, chap. XII ; 13, vol. II, part VII.)
  18. Latest phases of the attempt to enforce the anti-trust act. (43, chap. XIV.)
  19. The trust problem in the United Kingdom and the British Companies Act of 1900. (43, chap. XVII; 20, part II, chap. III ; 27, chaps. VIII and IX ; 41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. II.)
  20. The trust problem in Germany. (22, chap. XII; 24 ; 35, third series, vol. V, no. 3; *41, vol. XVIII, part I, chap. V.)
  21. Germany’s corporation law and the attitude of the German government towards trusts. (43, chap. XVI; 24 ; *41, vol. XVIII, part II, chap. IV.)
  22. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and investors. (22, chaps. V and VI; 28, chaps. VII, VIII, XV, and XIX ; 41, vol. I, Digest, pp. 242-253.)
  23. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and wage-earners. (22, chap. IX; 6, pp. 349-354 ; 9, chaps. VII and VIII.)
  24. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and consumers. (22, chap. VIII; 41, vol. I, part I, pp. 39-57.)
  25. Present problem in the United States: the trusts and the tariff. (22, chap. III; 5, chaps. VI and XV; *6, pp. 171-177 ; *8, chap. III; 25; 41, vol. XIX pp. 627-631.)
  26. Proposed solutions of the trust problem. (22, chap. XI; *1, 1904, pp. 44-63; 30, chap. VI; 41, vol. XIX, pp. 649-652.)
  27. Objects to be accomplished through federal control over the trusts. (22, chap. XIII; *7, chaps. IV and V; 21, pp. 168-173; 28, chap. XX.)
  28. The future of trusts in the United States. (*26, part III, chap. II; *27, chap. XII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

  1. Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Corporations. 1904—
  2. Baker, Monopolies and the People. Third edition. 1899.
  3. Beach, A Treatise on the Law of Monopolies and Industrial Trusts. 1898.
  4. Black, Corporation Laws of New York and New Jersey. Second edition, 1904.
  5. Bolen, Plain Facts as to the Trusts and the Tariff. 1902.
  6. Chicago Conference on Trusts, September, 1899. 1900.
  7. Clark, The Control of Trusts. 1901.
  8. Clark, The Problem of Monopoly. 1904.
  9. Collier, The Trusts. 1900.
  10. Cook, “Trusts.” Second edition. 1888.
  11. Davis, Corporations: Their Origin and Development, 2 vols. 1905.
  12. Dos Passos, Commercial Trusts. 1901.
  13. Eddy, The Law of Combinations, 2 vols. 1901.
  14. Ely, Monopolies and Trusts. 1900.
  15. Financial Review (Annual) of the Commercial and Financial Chronicle.
  16. Freund, The Legal Nature of Corporations. 1896.
  17. Gierke, Political Theories of the Middle Ages. 1900.
  18. Gunton, Trusts and the Public. 1899.
  19. von Halle, Trusts or Industrial Combinations in the United States. 1895.
  20. Hirst, Monopolies, Trusts and Kartells. 1905.
  21. Horack, the Organization and Control of Industrial Corporations. 1903.
  22. Jenks, The Trust Problem. Revised edition. 1903.
  23. Laws of the State of New Jersey Relating to Business Companies. 1905.
  24. Liefmann, Die Unternehmerverbände. 1897.
  25. Liefmann, Schutzzoll und Kartelle. 1903.
  26. Macgregor, Industrial Combination. 1906.
  27. Macrosty, Trusts and the State. 1901.
  28. Meade, Trust Finance. 1903.
  29. Montague, The Standard Oil Company. 1904.
  30. Montague, Trusts of Today. 1904.
  31. Moody, Truth about the Trusts. 1904.
  32. Mussey, Combination in the Mining Industry. 1905.
  33. Nettleton, Trusts or Competition. 1900.
  34. Political Science Quarterly. 1886—
  35. Publications of the American Economic Association. 1886—
  36. Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association. 1888—
  37. Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Transportation of Petroleum. 1906.
  38. Report of the Committee (Massachusetts) on Corporation Laws. 1903.
  39. Report of the Committee (New York) on General Laws on the Investigation Relative to Trusts. New York Senate Document No. 50, Vol. V. 1888.
  40. Report of the Committee (United States) on Manufactures on the Investigation of Trusts. House of Representatives Report, No. 3112. 1888.
  41. Report of the United States Industrial Commission, 19 vols. 1900—1902.
  42. Reports of the United States Steel Corporation. 1902—
  43. Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations. 1903.
  44. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, 2 vols. 1904.
  45. Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations. Fifth edition. 1905.
  46. Trust Investigation of the Ohio Senate. 1898.
  47. United States Census Reports and Bulletins.
  48. Wilgus, The United States Steel Corporation. 1901.

Source: Columbia Archives. John M. Clark Collection. Box 23, Lecture Notebooks.

Monopoly Image: From The Up-to-date Primer: A First Book of Lessons for Little Political Economists.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Courses Syllabus

Columbia. Friedman Course. Structure Neoclassical Economics 1939-40

In 1939-40 Milton Friedman taught the course Structure of Neo-classical Economics,  Columbia University Extension ub-171/172. The outline and reading assignments from this course were later used as a foundation for the earliest version of Friedman’s Price Theory, Economics 300A, taught in the Autumn Quarter of 1946 at the University of Chicago. In a later posting  and most recently we will see the obvious similarities but for now the following note found among the early Friedman papers for Economics 300A is sufficient to document that link.

Columbia University Extension
Course Outline
Course Reading Assignments

______________________________

­­­­­­­­­­

Tuesday

Dear Nerlove:

The only thing I have on the theory course is the attached outline of a course I gave at Columbia. I shall depart from this at numerous points but, for the moment at least, plan to follow its broad outlines.

I should appreciate it if you would return this when you’re through with it, since I have only one other copy.

[signed]

Milton Friedman

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers. Box 76, Folder 9 (Ec 300a)

Note: From the location of this note in the folder and the fact that the outline to which is being referred was indeed returned, the note is most likely from 1946. The econometrician Marc Nerlove (b. 1933) would have been too young to be the addressee. Perhaps this was addressed to his father Chicago Business School professor, Samuel Nerlove, or a much older sibling.

______________________________

Columbia University Extension Courses

“With the beginning of the academic year 1910-1911 the financial responsibility for the work of Extension Teaching, as the movement was then known, was assumed by the Trustees of Columbia University…the development of Extension Teaching may be said to be an outgrowth of the striking success of the Summer Session of the University. After ten years’ experience, the Summer Session had more than justified itself, and it was proposed to extend the operation of the principles which had been successful in the Summer Session so as to provide classes and laboratory work at the University, both in the evening and during the day, in other parts of the city, and in neighboring parts of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, for the benefit of those who were not able to avail themselves of the regular courses of instruction. In 1921, by act of the trustees, the title of Extension Teaching was changed to University Extension.”

______________________________

Outline of Course Given at Columbia by M. Friedman
Entitled “Structure of Neo-classical Economics”

A. Pricing of Final Goods [“Pricing of Final Goods Sold on Market” in original]

  1. The nature of economics; the concept of a free enterprise system; general outline of how free enterprise system solves economic problem.
  2. Momentary price
    1. Market demand for a product: demand curve, composite demand, joint demand, dealers’ [apostrophe placement as in original] demand, consumer’s [apostrophe placement as in original] demand
    2. [Momentary] Supply of a product: supply curve, effect of time
    3. Price as set by supply and demand
  3. The demand curve
    1. General
      1. Elasticity of demand
      2. Assumptions underlying demand schedule
      3. Generalization of mathematical school
      4. Statistical demand curves: from time series; from spatial data; [“Engel curves” crossed out in original] cobweb theorem
    2. Demand curve of an individual consumer
      1. Utility analysis
      2. Difficulties with utility analysis
      3. Indifference curve analysis
      4. Difficulties with indifference curve analysis
    3. Demand curve for the product of an individual firm [“Demand curve for the product of an individual producer” in original]
      1. Competitive vs. monopolistic
      2. Relevance of anticipations
      3. Marginal revenue
    4. Short run supply
      1. Economics of individual firm
        1. [Crossed out in original “a. Production function. Law of diminishing returns”] Perfect competition: producer must decide what to produce, how to produce it, how much to produce
        2. Monopolistic conditions: producer must decide what to produce, how to produce it, price or how much to produce [In original last item reversed: “how much to produce or price”]
        3. Cost curves for individual firm
      2. Widespread importance of marginal concepts
      3. Relation of cost curves of individual firm to supply curve of industry under competition
      4. Different kinds of monopolistic conditions: monopolistic competition, oligopoly, duopoly
      5. Supply under monopolistic competition: impossibility of defining industry, or supply curve for industry; [following not in original] implications for practical usefulness of theory of monopolistic competition
      6. Law of diminishing returns
      7. Translation of physical law of diminishing returns into economic cost curves
      8. Statistical cost curves: how reconcile declining marginal cost curves with theoretical expectations? [Original: “Statistical cost curves: how can declining marginal cost curves be reconciled with theory?”]
    5. Long run supply
      1. Implications of linear homogeneous production function: constant costs
      2. Effect of indivisibilities and discontinuities
      3. Pecuniary factors making for decreasing or increasing cost[s]
      4. Internal and external economies of scale
      5. Social and private economies and diseconomies of scale

[Crossed out “6. Joint Demand and Supply (Transition to Distribution)

1. Joint demand and supply; derived demand
2. Distribution theory if factors must be used in fixed proportions”]

B. Distribution Theory

  1. General: pricing of factors special case of theory of market price [“market” added]
  2. Demand for factors of production
    1. Marginal productivity determines demand by individual firm
    2. Relation between demand by individual firm and demand for factor
    3. Determinants of marginal productivity
    4. Ethical implications of marginal productivity theory: does it justify existing distribution of income? Meaning of exploitation
    5. Relation of marginal productivity analysis to cost curve analysis
      1. Alternative ways of explaining equilibrium of individual firm
      2. Translation of marginal productivity curves into cost curves [Original: “Relation of cost curves to marginal productivity curves”]
      3. Influence of [“changing” in original] number of firms
    6. Monopsony: impossibility of defining demand curve for factor
  3. Supply of labor
    1. Short run
    2. Long run
  4. Wages in different occupations
    1. Equalizing differences
    2. Non-competing groups
    3. Frictional differences [“3. Frictional differences” was added.]
  5. Capital theory
    1. Why marginal productivity analysis not applicable to determination of interest rate [“to determination of interest rate” was added]
    2. Alternative approaches adopted to explain demand curve
      1. Time preference
      2. Time period of production
      3. Knight’s simultaneous equation
      4. Keynes’ marginal efficiency of capital [“of capital” was added]
      5. Comparison of Keynes and Knight [Ordering in original: “Knight and Keynes”]
    3. Supply of capital
      1. Sources of capital
      2. Difficulties in defining capital, in measuring and defining savings [“in defining capital,” not in original]
      3. Relation of savings to rate of interest
    4. Relation between functional distribution of income and personal distribution.

C. General Equilibrium

  1. Concept of interdependence: direct and indirect effects [“direct and indirect effects” not in original]
  2. Walrasian equations of general equilibrium

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 75, Folder 1 “Columbia University” for carbon copies of the typed outline. “Original” refers to Friedman’s handwritten draft found in Box 75, Folder 12.

_________________________________

The following list of assignments for Friedman’s course Structure of Neo-classical Economics was taken from a poor carbon copy with Friedman’s handwritten revisions, e.g. the new title would read “Assignments in course given at Columbia by M. Friedman entitled ‘Structure of Neo-classical Economics’”. Also the sections of suggested readings for mathematicians and in mathematics in the Columbia version were apparently intended to be omitted in the later version. We have Friedman’s handwritten notes for the dates of assignments. Lectures (for which typed student notes are available) are designated below with an asterisk (*). These incomplete student notes are misfiled in Hoover Institution Archives,Milton Friedman Papers, Box 75, Folder 12 “University of Minnesota, B.A. 102”. There is a later typed alternate version of this assignment list with a few handwritten additions that I have included below in curved brackets {}.

_________________________________

{Wallis and Friedman—Indifference Curves
Knight—Functions}

Assignments in Economics ub-171-2 [1939-40]
“Structure of Neo-classical Economics”

Instructor: Milton Friedman

(listed in order in which assigned)

First Semester

[Sept 28*:] Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, Book III, ch. 2, 3, 4; Book V, ch. 1, 2

[Oct 5*:] Henry Schultz, The Meaning of Statistical Demand Curves, pp. 1-10

{§§5,6,7,8,III, ch 4. Add Marshall Bk III, ch 5 }

E.J. Working, “What do Statistical ‘Demand Curves’ Show?”, Q. J. E. Vol. XLI (1927), pp. 212-27

Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, ch. 3.

Frederic Benham, Economics, pp. 89-100

Suggested

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital, pp. 11-37

Suggested readings for mathematicians

O. Lange, “On the Determinateness of the Utility Function”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I (1933-34), p. 218ff.

R. G. D. Allen, “The Nature of Indifference Curves”, Ibid., p. 110ff

Suggested reading in mathematics

R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists, ch. 2, §§ 2.1, 2.2 (pp. 28-36), §2.9 (pp. 54-56); ch. 4, ch. 5, pp. 107-14; ch. 6, Sec. 6.1-6.3 (pp. 134-40), 6.5-6.6 (pp. 143-9), Balance of Chapter 5 also pertinent.

[October 12*: “Assignment: Think over paragraph below. What does it mean? Is it true. Write paragraph or two discussing it.

“Since elasticity measures variations in quantity (demanded or offered) divided by variations in price, the elasticity of demand for anything will be seven times as large for seven similar demanders as it is for one.” A. C. Pigou, A Study in Public Finance, p. 207.”

October 19*. Elasticity of Demand.
October 26*. Usefulness of Elasticity of Demand. Implicit assumptions underlying the demand curve.]

Marshall, Book V, ch. 3, 4, 5, 12, Appendix H

[November 2*. Estimating demand curves. Data difficulties.
November 9*. Problem of the Demand Curve of the Individual Consumer.
November 16*: rest of list for first semester is distributed]

A. L. Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, ch. 5 (pp. 46-62); 7,8,9 (pp. 83-124)

Joan Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, ch. 2 (pp. 26-43)

J. M. Clark, The Economics of Overhead Cost, ch. 9 (pp. 175-203)

Jacob Viner, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift fuer National oekonomie, Bd. III (Sept., 1931), pp. 23-46

Edward Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 3, sec. 1 (pp. 30-32); 4,5,6 (46-55); ch. 5 (71-116)

M. Abramovitz, “Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy”, Q. J. E. , Feb., 1938, pp. 191-214

R. F. Harrod, “Doctrines of Imperfect Competition”, Q. J. E., May, 1934, sec. I, pp. 442-61

[November 23 (Thanksgiving)
November 30
December 7
December 14
December 21 (probably not held)
January 5. Lecture No. 12.
January 12
January 19
Exam Jan 26]

Second Semester

Marshall, {handwritten addition: Book IV, ch. 1, 2, 3} Book V, ch. 6

J.B. Clark, The Distribution of Wealth, Preface, ch. 1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 23

John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, ch. 14

J. R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages, ch. 1-6

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, ch. 10

Marshall, Book VI, ch. 1-5

Simon Kuznets and Milton Friedman, “Incomes from Independent Professional Practice”, Bulletin 72-3, National Bureau of Economic Research, section 5, appendix
{handwritten addition: Preface V to X; ch. 3, Sec 3 (pp. 81-95; ch. 4, Sec 2, pp. 118-137; Appendix Sec 1, 3, pp. 142-151 and 155-161}

F. H. Knight, “Interest”, in Encyclopoedia of the Social Sciences, also in Ethics of Competition

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, ch. 11-14

Gustav Cassell, Fundamental Thoughts in Economics, ch. 1, 2, 3

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 76, Folder 1 “Columbia University” for carbon copies of the typed outline. “Original” refers to Friedman’s handwritten draft and reading assignments (both carbon copy and hand-written) found in Box 75, Folder 12.

Image Source: Columbia University, Columbia 250 Celebrates Columbians Ahead of Their Time.