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Distribution Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Final exam for distribution theory. Carver, 1905-1906

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was hired by Harvard based on his work in economic theory. As it turned out theory would only constitute a minor share of his portfolio of courses at Harvard. Here we have the exam for a theoretical course offered in 1905-06 dedicated to the functional distribution of income. This is the second time Thomas Nixon Carver taught this one-semester course at Harvard. (Exam from its initial run in 1904-05).

The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

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Course Enrollment
Distribution of Wealth
1905-06

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 46: 7 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 14a
Distribution of Wealth
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

  1. Why does the value of a consumable commodity fall when its supply increases, — other things remaining the same?
  2. Ditto of a productive factor?
  3. What limits or checks the supply of labor?
  4. Ditto of land?
  5. Ditto of capital?
  6. Fill out the blank columns in the [following] table.

Total Crop, Marginal Product of Labor, Total Wages, and Rent (All in Bushels) from Four Farms of Different Productivity when cultivated by Varying Numbers of Laborers, Capital being left out of account.

Farm A
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 500
2 900
3 1200
4 1400
5 1500
 

Farm B
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 400
2 700
3 900
4 1000
5
 

Farm C
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 300
2 500
3 600
4
5
 

Farm D
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 200
2 300
3
4
5
  1. In what proportion could six laborers be most advantageously distributed among these farms? Ten laborers? Fourteen laborers?
  2. When there are six laborers employed, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group of farms and laborers be reduced by the removal of one laborer, assuming the laborers all to be of the same efficiency? Ditto when there are ten laborers?
  3. When there are fourteen laborers employed on these farms, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group be increased by the opening up of a new farm of the same grade as farm A, and the transfer to it of four of the laborers?
  4. Compare Clark’s theory of business profits with Walker’s.
  5. State Hollander’s position on the question. Does rent enter into price?
  6. Compare Clark’s definition of capital with Taussig’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver from the Harvard Class Album 1913. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

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Business Cycles Distribution Economic History Exam Questions History of Economics Industrial Organization International Economics Johns Hopkins Labor Money and Banking Public Finance Public Utilities Statistics Theory

Johns Hopkins. General Written Exam for Economics PhD. 1956

 

One is struck by the relative weight of the history of economics in this four part (12 hours total) general examination for the PhD degree at Johns Hopkins in 1956. Also interesting to note just how many different areas are touched upon. Plenty of choice, but no place to hide.

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Other General Exams from Johns Hopkins

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GENERAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION FOR THE PH.D DEGREE
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

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PART I
June 4, 1956, 9-12 a.m.

Answer two questions, one from each group.

Group I.
  1. Write an essay on the theory of capital. It should include a discussion of the place of capital theory in economic analysis: for what purposes, if any, we need such a theory, Do not omit theories or issues which were important in the history of doctrines, even if you should regard them as irrelevant for modern analysis.
  2. Discuss and compare the capital theories of Böhm-Bawerk, Wicksell, and Hayek.
  3. Write an essay on the theory of income distribution. Organize it carefully, as if it were designed for an article in the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Include discussions of alternative theories such as imputation theories, residual theories, surplus value theories, etc.
Group II.
  1. The following statements attempt to show that marginal productivity theory is inconsistent with factual observation. Accepting the stated facts as given, discuss whether they call for the rejection or major modification of the theory. If so, how? If not, why not?
    1. “In the most important industries in the United States wage rates are set by collective bargaining and are largely determined by the bargaining strength of the parties. Marginal productivity of labor is neither calculated nor mentioned in the process.”
    2. “In many industries competition among employers for workers is so limited that most firms are able to pay less than the marginal productivity of labor.”
    3. “Workers in some trades — say, carpenters or bricklayers — work essentially the same way as their predecessors did fifty years ago; yet their real wages have increased greatly, probably not less than in occupations where productivity has improved considerably over the years.”
  2. The determination of first-class and second-class passenger fares for transatlantic ocean transportation involves problems of (a) joint or related cost, (b) related demand, and (c) discriminatory pricing. Discuss first in what ways these three phenomena are involved here; then formulate a research project to obtain the factual information required for an evaluation of the cost relationships and demand relationships prevailing in the case of two-class passenger ships; and finally state the criteria for judging whether the actual rate differential implies conscious discrimination in favor of first-class passengers, conscious discrimination against first-class passengers, wrong calculation and faulty reasoning on the part of the shipping lines, or any other reason which you may propose.

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PART II
June 4, 1956, 2-5 p.m.

Answer three questions, at least one from each group.

Group I.
  1. There is a running debate on the question whether trade unions are labor monopolies. This debate obviously turns on the meaning of monopoly and on what effects union have had on their members’ wages, output, and conditions of work. Give both sides of the argument.
  2. Write an essay on the demand for labor.
  3. Write down everything you know about the incidence of unemployment among various classes of workers and about the fluctuations of unemployment over time. Discuss some of the problems of developing a workable concept of unemployment. Indicate whether the statistical behavior of unemployment throws any light on its causation.
Group II.
  1. What is a “public utility”? According to accepted regulatory principles, how are the “proper” net earnings of a utility company determined? And, finally, what factors are considered in setting an “appropriate” rate structure?
  2. What is the major purpose of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890? What are some of the more significant problems in determining what constitutes “restraint of trade”? What tests would you apply? Why?
  3. Analyze the economic effects of a corporate income tax. Be as comprehensive as you can.
  4. What are flexible agricultural price supports? Explain how they are determined and applied. Evaluate their use in the light of reasonable alternatives.

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PART III
June 5, 1956, 9-12 a.m.

Answer three questions, one from each group.

Group I.
  1. Describe briefly Schumpeter’s theory of economic development, and comment upon the possibility of testing it empirically.
  2. Describe briefly Keynes’ general theory of employment, interest and money; state its assumptions, structure, and conclusions; and evaluate it critically in the light of more recent theoretical and empirical findings.
Group II.
  1. What characteristics of economic cycles would you consider important in a statistical study of business cycles?
  2. In the study of long-term trends, what criteria would you use in constructing index numbers of production?
  3. What measures of economic growth of nations would you us? Consider carefully the various characteristics that you would deem indispensable in measurements of this sort.
Group III.
  1. Give a brief definition, explanation and illustration for each of the following:
    1. variance;
    2. confidence interval;
    3. coefficient of regression;
    4. coefficient of correlation;
    5. coefficient of determination;
    6. regression line.

[Note: Indicate where you have confined yourself to simple, linear correlation.]

  1. Write an essay on statistical inference by means of the following three techniques:
    1. chi square;
    2. analysis of variance;
    3. multiple regression.

Indicate the types of problem in which they are used, and how each type of problem is handled.

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PART IV
June 5, 1956, 2-5 p.m.

Answer four questions, one from each group.

Group I.
  1. Political arithmetic is a term that is applied to certain writings that appeared from roughly 1675 to 1800. What gave rise to such writings? What were the contributions of the different members of the “group”? Why should Political Arithmetic be given a terminal date?
  2. Discuss Quesnay’s Tableau Économique, Do you see in it anything of significance for the subsequent development of economic theory?
  3. Present arguments for the contention that J. B. Say was far more than “a mere disciple of Adam Smith”.
Group II.
  1. Discuss the relations between the English economic literature of the first half of the 19th century and the events, conditions, and general ideas of that time.
  2. Select three episodes in American economic history, and use your knowledge of economic theory to explain them.
Group III.
  1. Analyze the economic effects of a large Federal debt. Be as comprehensive as you can.
  2. At one time or another each of the following has been proposed as the proper objective or goal of monetary policy: (1) The stabilization of the quantity of money; (2) The maintenance of a constant level of prices; (3) The maintenance of full employment.
    Explain for each policy objective (a) what it means, that is, exactly what in “operational” terms might be maintained or stabilized; (b) how the objective could be achieved, that is, what techniques could be used to achieve it; and (a) the difficulties with or objections to the proposal.
  3. Irving Fisher and others have proposed that all bank be required to hold 100% reserves against their deposits. This was designed to prevent bank failures and, more important, to eliminate the perverse tendency of money to contract in recessions and expand in booms.
    Explain whether the proposal would have the effects claimed for it, and if so, why, and discuss what other effects it might have.
Group IV.
  1. Discuss the “law of comparative advantage” in international trade.
  2. Discuss “currency convertibility”.
  3. Discuss the “transfer problem”.
  4. Discuss the “optimum tariff”.
  5. Discuss the “foreign-trade multiplier”.
  6. Discuss alternative concepts of the “terms of trade”.
  7. Discuss the “effects of devaluation upon the balance of trade”.

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Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Series 5/6.  Box No. 6/1. Folder: “Comprehensive Exams for Ph.D. in Political Economy, 1947-1965”.

Image Source: Fritz Machlup in an economics seminar. Evsey Domar visible sitting third from the speaker on his right hand side. Johns Hopkins University Yearbook, Hullabaloo 1956, p. 15.

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Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Enrollment, description, final exam. Distribution of Wealth. Carver, 1904-1905

1904

 

In this course Harvard professor Thomas Nixon Carver was wearing his economic theorist cap. The first semester of the academic year 1904-05 was the first time he taught this one-semester course at Harvard. One notes (disapprovingly) that the course title apparently confounds income and wealth. On the other hand, strictly speaking, so did the title of Adam Smith’s magnum opus, Wealth of Nations.

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Course Enrollment
1904-05

 Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 52: 5 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 75.

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Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year) Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

This course begins with a review of the theory of value and the laws which govern the exchange of commodities. The study is then carried into the field of distribution, and the attempt is made to find out the laws which actually, under existing conditions, determine the shares in the products of industry, such as wages, interest, rent, and profits. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered.
The course will be conducted by means of lectures and classroom discussions.
This course is a necessary preliminary to 14b.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), pp. 45-46.

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ECONOMICS 14a
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

  1. What is the relation between the value of an article and the labor which produced it?
  2. Explain what is meant by the elasticity of demand.
  3. Explain and elaborate the following passage: “In a trade which uses very expensive plant, the prime cost of goods is but a small part of their total cost; and an order at much less than their normal price may leave a large surplus above their prime cost.” (Marshall, Principles of Economics, 4th ed, p. 447.)
  4. Fill out the blank columns in Table I and point out where the law of increasing returns stops and the law of diminishing returns begins.
    Table I, showing the amount of corn (in bushels) which could be produced on an assumed farm of 100 acres by varying numbers of laborers employed in its cultivation:—

No. of laborers.

 Total product. Average product per laborer. Marginal product. Total wages as based on marginal product. Total rent.

Rent per acre.

1

 1000
2 3000

3

 4000
4 4800

5

 5500
6 6000

7

 6300
8 6400

  1. Reverse Table I by filling out Table II.
    Table II, derived from Table I, showing the amount of corn which 8 laborers could produce on varying amounts of land:—

No. of acres.

 Total product. Average product per acre. Marginal product per acre. Total rent as based on marginal product of land. Total wages.

Wages per laborer.
  1. How would the withdrawal of a given piece of land from cultivation affect the total product of industry in the community.
  2. Can you apply the theory of joint demand to the problem of the relation of capital to wages?
  3. How does it happen that a piece of capital will normally produce more during its lifetime than it is worth at any one time? What bearing has your answer upon the problem of the source of interest?
  4. In what important particulars do interest and rent resemble one another, and in what do they differ?
  5. Is risk productive? Is there any relation between risk and profits?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), pp. 34-35.

Image Source: Harvard Square (1904) from the Brookline Public Library, Brookline Photograph Collection at the Digital Commonwealth website. This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND).
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