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Boston College Economics Programs Economist Market Economists

Boston College. Annual Economics Newsletters, 1978-2020

 

While preparing the previous post, I stumbled across an old departmental newsletter for Boston College archived at the website of Boston College’s economics department. A little more digging revealed that all departmental newsletters since 1978, when the first newsletter was prepared, can be downloaded from the Wayback Machine internet archive of web.archive.org. Forty-three years’ worth of newsletters provides us a treasure chest of detail. A link to an archived webpage with all the Boston College graduate economics placements from 2002-2019 has been appended to this post.

The inaugural doctoral programs in economics, education and history at Boston College were established in the academic year 1952—1953.

_____________________

Economic Newsletters of Boston College’s Department of Economics

1978 1979a
1979b
1980a
1980b
1981a
1981b
1982a
1982b
1983a
1983b
1984a
1984b

1985

1986

1987 1988 1989 1990
1991 1992 1993 1994

1995

1996

1997 1998 1999 2000
2001 2002 2003 2004

2005

2006

2007 2008 2009 2010
2011 2012 2013 2014

2015

2016

2017 2018 2019

2020

_____________________

Other stuff

Archived News from the Department of Economics.  From Dec 29, 2002 to September 13, 2007.

Boston College Economics Graduate Placements 2002-2019.

Categories
Columbia Economics Programs Economists Graduate Student Support

Columbia. List of 26 strong candidates applying for fellowships or scholarships, 1954

The following transcribed memo from 1954 was written to the President of Columbia University by Carter Goodrich. It appears to have been sent as evidence of what Goodrich had deemed “the fellowship problem”, i.e. “the inadequacy of our provisions for graduate aid”  resulting in no graduate applicants from the top U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities (excluding Columbia) except for one from Princeton and another from Bryn Mawr. The strongest applicants were “largely foreigners or refugees”. A list of the twenty-six top applicants was provided, with Peter Bain Kenen perhaps the one who was to cast the longest shadow going forward (and who incidentally went to Harvard and not Columbia for his graduate work). Leon Smolinski did obtain his Ph.D. in economics at Columbia and went on to teach at Boston College for thirty years. (A Boston College obituary for Smolinski).

________________________

Columbia University
in the City of New York

[New York 27, N.Y.]
Faculty of Political Science

March 8, 1954

President Grayson Kirk
Low Memorial Library

Dear Grayson:

I am taking the liberty of sending you this note to continue our chance conversation of the other day on the fellowship problem.

After looking over the nearly eighty applications for fellowships or scholarships in Economics, we realized that there was not a single applicant from Swarthmore, Haverford, Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Yale, Stanford, McGill, Toronto, Smith, Wellesley, Mt. Holyoke, or from the undergraduate schools of Harvard or the Universities of California and Chicago. There is one from Princeton and one (French by nationality) from Bryn Mawr.

There are, nevertheless, a number of strong candidates, but largely foreigners or refugees. I am enclosing a copy of a list which I have submitted to the Executive Officer of the Department indicating the origins of the leading twenty-six candidates.

The failure to attract applicants from the institutions from which we might expect the best American and Canadian training appears to me a very serious matter. Part, at least, of the cause must lie in the inadequacy of our provisions for graduate aid.

Sincerely yours,
[signed: “Carter”]
Carter Goodrich

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

NAME

PLACE OF BIRTH

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

1. Joseph Raymond Barse Chicago, Illinois Northwestern University
Columbia University
2. Donald Van Twisk Bear New York City Princeton University
3. Robert Classon New York City Brooklyn College
4. Joan E. Belenken Brooklyn, N.Y. Barnard College
Cornell University
5. Narciso Asperin Ferrer Manila Ateneo de Manila (Law School and Graduate School)
6. William Smith Gemmell Schenectady, N.Y. Union College
7. Michele Guerard Le Havre, France Lycee de Seures,
Lycee de Fontaine,
Bryn Mawr College
8. Iran Banu Mohamed Ali Hassani Hyderabad Deccan, India Osmania University (Hyderabad Deccan, India)
Syracuse University
9. Peter Bain Kenen Cleveland, Ohio Columbia College
10. Jerzy Feliks Karcz Grudziadz, Poland Batory Liceum, Warsaw, Poland
Alliance College
Kent State University
Columbia University
11. Gregor Lazarcik Horna-Streda, Czechoslovakia State College of Kosice (Czechoslovakia)
Agricultural University
(Brno, Czech.)
School of Social Studies
(Paris, France)
Institute of International Studies (Paris, France)
Faculty of Law, University of Paris (France)
University Centre for European Studies (Strasbourg, France)
12. Michael Ernst Levy Mainz, Germany Hebrew University (Jerusalem)
13. Ira South Lowry Laredo, Texas University of Texas
14. Samir Anis Makdisi Beirut, Lebanon American University of Beirut
15. Yaroslav Nowak Kieve, Russia J. W. Goethe University (Frankfurt, Germany)
Columbia University
16. Algimantes Petrenas Kaunas, Lithuania Hamburg University
(Hamburg, Germany)
Baltic University
(Hamburg, Germany)
Columbia University
17. Guy A. Schick Aurora, Illinois Purdue University
18. Leon Smolinski Kalisz, Poland School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland
University of Freiburg (Germany)
University of Cincinnati
Columbia University
19. Werner Alfred Stange Berlin, Germany University of Kiel
(Kiel, Germany)
University of Bonn
(Bonn, Germany)
University of Maryland
20. Koji Taira Miyako, Ryukyus (near Okinawa) University of New Mexico
University of Wisconsin
21. Jaskaran Singh Teja Jhingran, Punjab, India Agricultural College (Punjab, India)
University of California
Harvard University
22. Marcel Tenenbaum Paris, France Queens College (Flushing, N.Y.)
23. Nestor Eugenius Terleckyj Boryslaw, Ukraine University of Erlangen (Erlangen, Germany)
Seton Hall University
Columbia University
24. John Jacob Vogel Irvington, N.J. Middlebury College
Columbia University
25. Ludwig Anton Wagner Vienna, Austria University of Vienna (Austria)
Columbia University
26. Theodore Raymond Wilson Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins University
University of Paris (France)

 

Source: Columbia University Archives, Central Files 1890-, Box 406, Folder “Goodrich, Carter 9/1953-5/1959”.

Image Source: Low Memorial Library, Columbia University from the Tichnor Brothers Collection, New York Postcards, at the Boston Public Library, Print Department.

Categories
Economics Programs M.I.T.

M.I.T. Minutes of the Visiting Committee of Department of Economics and Social Science, 1958

 

From a cover letter, dated March 25, 1959, written by R. T. Haslam, Chairman of the Visiting Committee for the Department of Economics and Social and Science at M.I.T., it appears that the mimeographed document  transcribed below was described as “the full transcript of the Meeting” sent by the Department of Economics for the report to be submitted by the visiting committee to the M.I.T. Corporation. At that time the department of economics and social studies included sections for economics, industrial relations, psychology, and political science together with a center for international studies. 

_______________________

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Meeting of the Visiting Committee
October 7, 1958

Present: Visiting Committee

Robert T. Haslam, Chairman
Consultant and Director, W. R. Grace and Company

James A. Lyles
Senior Vice President, Frist Boston Corporation
Robert L. Moore
Chairman of the Board, Sheraton Corporation of America

Robert V. Roosa
Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Willard L. Thorp
Professor, Merrill Center for Economics, Amherst College

Max L. Waterman
Vice President and Director, Singer Manufacturing Company

Clarence Wynd
Eastman Kodak Company

 

M.I.T.

John E. Burchard
Dean, School of Humanities and Social Studies

Robert L. Bishop
Professor of Economics; Head, Department of Economics and Social Science

Ralph E. Freeman
Professor of Economics; former Head, Department of Economics and Social Science

E. Cary Brown
Professor of Economics; in Charge of the Undergraduate Program

Roger W. Brown
Associate Professor of Psychology

Davis H. Howes
Assistant Professor of Psychology

Norman J. Padelford
Professor of Political Science; Director, Political Science Section

Ithiel deS. Pool
Professor of Political Science

Charles A. Myers
Professor of Industrial Relations; Director, Industrial Relations Section

Max F. Millikan
Professor of Economics; Director, Center for International Studies

Charles P. Kindleberger
Professor of Economics; in Charge of the Graduate Program

 

As the membership of the Committee is entirely new to the Department of Economics, Professor Bishop opened the meeting by giving a brief resume of its present organization and activities.

Teaching and research cover four main fields: Economics, Industrial Relations, Political Science, and Psychology. In one or more of these four fields, the Department teaches at least five distinguishable types of students: (1) undergraduates who elect one or more of the Department’s four fields as a part of their Humanities and Social Science program; (2) undergraduates who major in Course XIV, in (a) Economics or Political Science and (b) Science or Engineering; (3) graduate students in Course XIV, who are mostly Ph.D. candidates in either Industrial Economics or Political Science; (4) regular graduate students in the School of Industrial Management; and (5) members of the two Executive Development programs administered by the School of Industrial Management, including both Sloan Fellows (who are here for twelve months) and Senior Executives (who are here for ten weeks in either the Fall or Spring).

(1) Until the 1940’s, all juniors at the Institute took two terms of Economic Principles; and this was the substance of the Department’s contribution to the Humanities and Social Science program. Subsequently, we have added the fields of Industrial Relations, Political Science, and Psychology. As a result, the Department now offers four of the ten fields from which all students select their Humanities and Social Science subjects in their junior and senior years. (The attached Tables I and II [only a Table II was present in the departmental records. It is transcribed below] show total enrollments during 1956-57 and 1957-58 in the Department’s four fields and in the individual subjects within those fields. Most of the undergraduate enrollment represents students in the general Humanities and Social Science program). In 1957-58, as Table II shows, total undergraduate enrollments were: Economics 1206, Labor Relations 242, Political Science 378, and Psychology 519.)

(2) For eleven years the Department has had its own undergraduate major in Economics (Course XIV). At first this was just Economics and Engineering; later the option of Economics and Science was added. More recently there has been added an option in Political Science, which is an alternative to Economics but is also joined with Science or Engineering. In the future, Psychology might become a similar option; but Psychology is not now a major subject for undergraduates.

(3) The program for a Ph.D. degree in Economics, now one of the largest in this country, was in operation for some years before the Department had an undergraduate major in Economics. This year for the first time we are offering a program for a Ph.D. in Political Science. Our S.M. program is relatively small, and it is limited to Economics and Engineering (or Science). Unlike the Ph.D. program, it is open only to students who have studied Science or Engineering at the undergraduate level, as in our own undergraduate Course XIV.

(4) The Department offers several special subjects for the regular graduate students in the School of Industrial Management, who are all S.M. candidates. In addition, these students sometimes enroll in the same classes with our own graduate students in Economics; and, indeed, this has increased the size of some of our graduate subjects substantially during the past year or two. Furthermore, a small but increasing number of Industrial Management graduate students are becoming interested in going on to a Ph.D. in a combination of Economics and Industrial Management. Our colleagues in the School of Industrial Management have also been considering the addition of a Ph.D. program of their own. If this should materialize, it is likely that our Department will continue to participate substantially on the Economics side of such a program.

(5) The other teaching activity carried on in cooperation with the School of Industrial Management is in their two executive development programs. The older of these is the Sloan Fellowship program, for which executives in the 32- to 36- year age bracket spend a full calendar year at M.I.T. The other, shorter executive development program in which the Department teaches is aimed at a higher executive level. Our department handles about one-quarter of both of these programs.

Dean Burchard stated what he considers to be the present problems of the Department of Economics.

(1) To have the undergraduate program in Course XIV better known to secondary schools so that students will come to M.I.T. specifically for these combinations of humanities and sciences.

(2) To organize our offering in Psychology. A number of years ago a committee recommended that a Department of Psychology be established in the School of Science; but the latter was not prepared to take on such a department. Although there are courses in Psychology given in other Schools at M.I.T., the largest amount of teaching in Psychology comes under the School of Humanities. Therefore the development and improvement of the Psychology Section within the Department of Economics and Social Science is our responsibility.

(3) The new Political Science Section is fairly well organized; yet it still faces the problem of integration with the work of the Center for International Studies, particularly on research projects.

 

Undergraduate Program

Professor E. Cary Brown, chairman of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program, reported on his committee’s consideration of possible revisions in the curriculum in Course XIV. Normally the M.I.T. student can spend 80 per cent of his time in Science and Engineering, with the remaining 20 per cent in Humanities or Social Science. In Course XIV, the student spends the equivalent of a year in Economics or Political Science, instead of taking the more advanced or specialized subjects in his field of Science or Engineering.

After reviewing the experience of the past ten years on the Economics side—looking over thesis topics, the electives chosen by our majors, and finally the jobs that our graduates have held—it seems clear that we are dealing mostly with students who become engineers first of all, with social science skills on the side. For these students, we shall continue to offer our option in General Economics. We have also recommended, however, the addition of two other options in Economics. One will be in Industrial Economics, including Industrial Relations. The other will be in Quantitative Economics and Methods.

The program in Industrial Economics will be aimed at the range of problems confronting business firms on an industry-wide basis. We shall aim to turn out students in this option who will be industry analysts in the broadest sense.

The Quantitative Economics option will be even more professional in orientation. Emphasis will be on technical training in analytical methods, with primary attention to statistics, econometrics, and programming and decision theory, including “operations research,” for which there is a rapidly growing demand.

At present, too many of our basic Economics subjects are not taken until the senior year; so we have recommended changes that will allow our majors to take these subjects earlier. We have also recommended several new subjects, including a research seminar as thesis preparation in the first term of the senior year.

There followed a discussion of a variety of departmental problems. One concerns the fact that, in the Economics wing, we have relatively many young full professors, in their early forties, with relatively few associate and assistant professors. The demands of our graduate program and our undergraduate major are such that relatively few senior members of the staff participate at any one time in the elementary subjects, 14.01 and 14.02. There also was discussion of the assistance that can be given by the older members of the Department to graduate students who are carrying out their first teaching assignment in the sections of elementary Economics. As Mr. Haslam pointed out, these are the first instructors that the student meets in the Department of Economics, and a favorable impact is very important.

 

The Psychology Section (reported by Professors Roger W. Brown and Davis Howes)

At present Psychology teaching is limited to the Humanities program; but within the next year or two we hope to set up a Psychology option in Course XIV. The decision that we have to make with the administrative authorities is whether to be content with a purely routine service in teaching elementary Psychology or whether to have a Psychology Section composed of persons with significant research activities who will develop a broader teaching program.

There are other psychologists at the Institute in both the School of Industrial Management and in the new Communications Center. These people are concerned with a limited set of rather specialized applications of Psychology. Collaboration with these other psychologists would be very fruitful if a graduate program of training Ph.D.’s in Psychology could be set up, and some of them occasionally teach Psychology subjects in the Humanities program; but, for the time being, the responsibility for manning and administering that program rests wholly on the Psychology Section in our Department.

There is a remarkable opportunity at M.I.T. for collaboration between psychologists and other scientists—in computers, to name one example, and also in such fields as electronics and the chemical effects of drugs on human behavior. These potential opportunities will always draw able young research-oriented psychologists to M.I.T.; but they will not stay beyond about three years unless there is more chance for growth and development of the psychology program than at present. Now there is no senior member of the Psychology group; the four psychologists of faculty rank consist of one associate professor and three assistant professors. It was agreed that a constructive step would be the appointment of a full professor of psychology.

 

The Political Science Section (reported by Professors Norman J. Padelford and Ithiel de S. Pool)

Political Science has gone through some of the problems that Psychology is now facing. Immediately after the war we started out as a purely service group, offering as part of the Humanities program undergraduate courses which have averaged from 350 to 400 students. Three years ago we came to feel, as the psychologists do now, that a mere service function would not satisfy us professionally. As the first step to broaden our base we set up an undergraduate course combining Political Science with Science and Engineering. After this course was launched and operating satisfactorily, there were discussions about a Ph.D. program in Political Science. The same arguments that were used for Economics and for Psychology came up—namely, that the ablest men cannot be recruited and retained unless they have good graduate students around them. We have had to go to Harvard and to Fletcher School for young teachers in our undergraduate courses.

A program for a Ph.D. in Political Science was launched this Fall. We have 13 mature and talented graduate students whose interests are focused on policy problems. We put these students to work on research projects. This is possible with a small group only slightly outnumbered by staff; for each student can work as assistant to a staff member.

As far as our group is concerned, we see no point in simply duplicating what is done at other institution. Our range of interests covers the following major topics:

(1) We are concerned with the growth and evolution of political communities from an elementary stage to maturity, whether in such places as Burma or at the international level, where we have been studying the process by which a group of nations in the so-called Atlantic community can become knitted together.

(2) We have a strong interest in the role of communications in the political process between men and between groups in the political process. This is an important topic, which has been inadequately stressed elsewhere.

(3) The touchstone of our approach is a study of the place of government and the role of public policy against the background of changes in science and technology.

One final word about our needs as we look ahead. We have set up six fields of study: (1) International Relations and Foreign Policy, (2) Political Communications, (3) Defense Policy, (4) Government and Science, (5) Political and Economic Development, and (6) Political Theory and Comparative Politics. In the areas of Defense Policy and Government and Science, we are not provided with faculty as we should be. We need to find individuals for each of these fields and also the wherewithal to support them at the faculty level. Our second need—and the most urgent at the moment—is for fellowships and scholarships. We are encouraging our graduate students to take loans for their education, paying them back afterwards rather than depending on scholarship money.

 

The Industrial Relations Section (reported by Professor Charles A. Myers)

The Industrial Relations Section is the oldest of the sections in the Department of Economics. Last November we had a 20th Anniversary Conference in which we reviewed what we have been trying to do. Originally we set up our teaching program solely at the undergraduate level; but we have expanded to include participation in the doctoral program of the Department. Today M.I.T. has more students working for doctor’s degrees in Economics with emphasis on Industrial Relations than has any other university in this country. Our activities include courses for management, both in the programs of the School of Industrial management and in the new Greater Boston program for executive development. As we have no staff of our own but share our teachers with the Department of Economics, we confine our activities to certain areas such as the Scanlon Plan—a union-management cooperation plan, which has annual conferences attracting about 200 participants from all over the country. In addition, we have held conferences on research administration; some trade unions have come here for conferences under our auspices; and we hold each year a one-day workshop in connection with the Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Professor Pigors has pioneered in a method of management training and development called the incident process, which is now used by 800 companies. We think it offers more challenge to students than the case method. The case method presents a problem with all the material supplied; the incident process gives the student only an incident, leaving him to seek out the pertinent facts by questioning the discussion leader. As a teaching device it has had wide impact outside of M.I.T.

Some of our recent research has been on comparative international studies. As we learned more about economic development, we saw its close connection with problems of industrial relations. We obtained a Ford Foundation grant; and my two trips to India and a book have come out of that. We plan to cover India, Mexico, Japan, Western Germany, Indonesia, Sweden, England, France, and Italy in our studies of management in industrial societies.

 

The Center for International Studies (reported by Professor Max F. Millikan)

Although the CIS has a Visiting Committee of its own, its work is so closely connected with that of the Department of Economics and Social Science that they share each other’s problems. There are two ways in which the Center’s activities are important to the Department of Economics. First, there is a considerable overlap of staff members who conduct research in the Center and teach in the Department; so the Center and the Department have a joint interest in recruiting an outstanding and stable staff. Second, The Center’s research program provides opportunities for graduate students in the Department to undertake thesis work in the international field.

Briefly, the Center was founded in 1951, growing out of a contract which M.I.T. undertook on behalf of the State Department to explore a defense against jamming the Voice of America. Growing out of this study appeared the need for a research organization on problems related to American foreign relationships, as there are many ways in which technology and science have become involved in foreign policy and international relations. The Center then removed itself from government affiliation and became a permanent member of the M.I.T. family.

Since 1952, with the support of the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie Funds, it has carried on projects in four different fields: (1) relations between the United States and the Soviet bloc, especially in the area of Soviet scientific publications and the administrative handling of research and development in the Soviet Union; (2) economic and political development of the underdeveloped countries—especially the process of economic growth in Indonesia, India and Southern Italy; (3) international communications—especially the pattern of information-flow in foreign countries and its effect upon attitudes and decisions of significant political groups; (4) Professor Rostow, who was responsible for the studies on the Soviet Union and on China which we have published, has now turned his attention to the features in American society which influence our attitude toward foreign policy.

Our principal problem for the future is to provide some stability for our research staff. We have drawn key people to M.I.T. who have made a substantial contribution through their research; but many members of our staff are listed as visiting professors because M.I.T. cannot provide tenure positions for them. What we need is a continuing corps to devote half time to research in the Center and the other half to teaching.

The Center is in a position to offer to graduate students research opportunities second to none in this country. In the future we look toward using the Center’s resources at the undergraduate level. In these new areas it is normal for development to begin at the graduate level and work down.

 

The Graduate Economics Program (reported by Professor Charles P. Kindleberger)

In the first place, our graduate program aims primarily at a Ph.D. degree; we do not offer a Master’s degree except in a combination of Economics with Science or Engineering (mostly as a fifth year for our own Course XIV graduates). In the Ph.D. program we limit ourselves to a small group of high-quality candidates—about 20 to 25 new students each year.

Admission of Graduate Students. These 20 to 25 new students are chosen from a group of about 120 applicants, who have various reasons for wanting to study at M.I.T. Some are attracted by the men on our teaching staff and some by the prestige of M.I.T. in general. We should also face the fact, however, that competitive fellowship offers also play a prominent role in applicants’ decisions to come here or go elsewhere. On the other side of the picture, some would-be applicants are scared away if they are not highly skilled in mathematics, even though only a minority of our graduate students specialize in areas of economics where high-powered mathematical techniques are used.

Financing Graduate Students. There are various ways in which a graduate student can pay his way here: he may get a fellowship from an outside source to be used at any university of his choice—National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Woodrow Wilson Fellowship support comes this way; also, we have some privately endowed “name” fellowships in our department—Goodyear, Westinghouse, and Hicks; and we have some departmental and Institute funds to offer; lastly, a student may pay his own way. Sometimes students who do not qualify for financial assistance at first, but who come on their own, turn out to be very good. We hire no teachers from the group of first-year graduate students, so this source of earning is not open until at least the second year of graduate study, and usually not until the third.

Ph.D. Curriculum. At the end of the second year, the graduate student takes his general examinations—four written and four oral. After this comes his thesis. We are very much interested in the process of writing a thesis, as we believe that it is here that the student acquires professional maturity. We do not go along with the movement to cut down on the time of the Ph.D. degree by reducing the thesis to the proportions of an article.

Post-Doctoral Students. More and more M.I.T. is attracting post-doctoral scholars from abroad—last year a Swede, a Norwegian, a Dutchman, and a Turk; this year two Germans, a Swede, an Italian, a Belgian and a Frenchman. These people add to the scholarly atmosphere; and we need mature students for training at a post-doctoral level. This, however, requires more money; and we have already applied to the Ford Foundation for funds for this purpose.

*  *  *  *  *  *

            In the general discussion of pressing problems Professor Bishop mentioned the following:

The Economics Library Budget. The state of our Dewey Library budget can be held over for discussion at the next meeting of this committee. If we have not been successful in our drive for funds, we shall need to ask the assistance of the committee.

Ours is very much of a library department, as we have no laboratory. Although our library budget is high compared with that of some engineering departments, it is low compared with that of other leading departments in Economics. For example, our library budget stands at $4,000 annually, compared with $6,000 for that of Johns Hopkins. Ours is possibly the best industrial relations library in the country; but it is a second-class economics library. I should like to see the budget figure raised by $2,000.

(Mr. Maslam offered to approach Mr. Bradley Dewy for a donation for this purpose.)

Age Distribution of Department Members. It happens that our department has an unusual age distribution in the field of Economics. There is a great gap between the full professors and the instructors. The former are all in their early forties; and there are few runners-up at the associate professor and assistant professor level. This is a problem of major importance.

*  *  *  *  *  *

            Professor Thorp suggested this kind of Committee report to the Corporation: that the Committee has met; that all its members are new; that they therefore need time to get acquainted with what is going on in the Department; that they find no problems requiring immediate action; and that they are looking forward to a meeting next year. There was also agreement in recommending that there be somewhat more continuity of membership on the Visiting Committee than in the past.

*  *  *  *  *  *

TABLE II
Comparative Numbers of Students Completing Individual Subjects in the Department of Economics and Social Science, 1956-57 and 1957-58
[Note: Course titles provided after Table II]

1956-57

1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total

Net Change

Economics—Undergraduate

14.01

466 292 758 460 316 776 +18
14.02 58 117 175 94 143 237

+62

14.03

26 26 26 18 44 +18
14.04 14 14 8 8

-6

14.09

27 28 55 25 19 44 -11
14.20 23 23

-23

14.30

25 25 -25
14.32 20 20 17 17

-3

14.33

18 18 16 21 37 +19
14.40 20 20 20 20

14.43

11 11 13 13 +2
14.54 11 11 10 10

-1

Totals

1156 1206

+50

 

 

1956-57

1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total

Net Change

Economics—Graduate

14.101

11 11 14 14 +3
14.102 5 5 8 8

+3

14.115

34 34 36 36 +2
14.116 34 34 36 36

+2

14.117

18 24 42 15 20 35 -7
14.121 32 32 31 31

-1

14.122

30 30 31 31 +1
14.132 6 6

-6

14.151

6 6 11 11 +5
14.161 15 15 15 15

14.162

12 12 16 16 +4
14.171 11 11 8 8

-3

14.172

6 6 9 9 +3
14.174 5 5 14 14

+9

14.192

5 5 1 1 -4
14.195 10 10 1 1

-9

14.196

11 11 5 5 -6
14.271 11 11 7 7

-4

14.272

7 7 7 7
14.281 13 13 15 15

+2

14.282

18 18 +18
14.292 7 7 10 10

+3

14.371

34 34 35 35 +1
14.372 15 15 16 16

+1

14.381

56 56 27 27 -29
14.382 1 1

+1

14.451

23 23 24 24 +1
14.461 8 8 8 8

14.471

15 15 12 12 -3
14.481 9 9 6 6

-3

14.581

20 20 23 23 +3
14.582 16 16 17 17

+3

Totals

509

497

-12

Totals—Economics

1665

1703

+38

 

*  *  *  *  *  *

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Industrial Relations—Undergraduate
14.61 12 12 -12
14.63 86 75 161 80 75 155 -6
14.64 47 75 122 36 51 87 -35
Totals 295 242 -53

 

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Industrial Relations—Graduate
14.671 6 6 7      7 +1
14.672 10 10 -10
14.673 18 18 +18
14.674 10 10 +10
14.681 17 17 18 18 +1
14.682 19 19 10 10 -9
14.694 16      16 +16
Totals 52 79 +27
Totals—Industrial Relations 347 321 -26

 

*  *  *  *  *  *

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Political Science—Undergraduate
14.51 50 93 143 73 72 145 +2
14.52 29 25 54 31 25 56 +2
14.53 7 7 25 25 +18
14.90 17 13 30 14 11 25 -5
14.91 25 36 61 26 23 49 -12
14.92 18 18 42 42 +24
14.93 7 11 18 26 26 +8
14.95 22 22 -22
14.96 14 14 14
14.97 6 6 3 3 -3
14.98 3 3 +3
14.99 4 4 +4
Totals 373 378 +5

 

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Political Science—Graduate
14.521 6 6 -6
14.523 4 4 +4
14.524 2 2 +2
14.531 15 15 3 3 -12
14.533 18 18 12 12 -6
14.571 34 34 36 36 +2
14.941 8 8 +8
14.953 10 10 7 7 -3
14.954 1 1 5 5 +4
14.956 5 5 8 8 +3
14.957 6 6 7 7 +1
14.958 6 6 +6
Totals 95 98 +3
Totals—Political Science 468 476 +8

 

*  *  *  *  *  *

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Psychology—Undergraduate
14.70 112 175 287 83 126 209 -78
14.73 83 73 156 32 35 67 -89
14.77 47 47 27 16 43 -4
14.79 42 42 8 29 37 -5
14.81 14 14 9 9 -5
14.82 11 43 54 +54
14.84 35 35 +35
14.85 32 32 +32
14.86 18 32 50 +30
14.88 3 3 +3
Totals 546 519 -27

 

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Psychology—Graduate
14.771 32 32 -32
14.772 6 6 +6
14.774 12 12 5 5 -7
14.791 5 5 8 8 +3
14.792 11 11 2 2 -9
Totals 60 21 -39
Totals—Psychology 606 540 -66

 

1956-57 1957-58
Subject Fall Spring Total Fall Spring Total Net Change
Grand Totals for the Department 3086 3040 -46

Source: M.I.T. Archives. MIT Department of Economics Records, Box 4, Folder “V.C. [19]47-64”.

________________________

Course numbers, names and instructors
1957-58*

ECONOMICS (UNDERGRADUATE)
14.01 Economic Principles I (Bishop)
14.02 Economic Principles II (E. C. Brown)
14.03 Prices and Production (A. Williams)
14.04 Industrial Organization and Public Policy
14.09 Economic Problems Seminar (Bishop)
14.20 Building Economics (Maclaurin)
14.30 Elementary Statistics (Ando)
14.32 Statistical Quality Control (H. A. Freeman)
14.33 Elementary Statistics (Ando)
14.40 Money and Income (R.E. Freeman)
14.43 Public Finance (E.C. Brown)
14.54 International Trade (Kindleberger)
ECONOMICS (GRADUATE)
14.101 Mathematics for Economists (H. A. Freeman)
14.102 Mathematics for Economists (H. A. Freeman)
14.115 Economics and Finance: Principles and Policies II (Kindleberger, R.E. Freeman)
14.116 Economics and Finance: Principles and Policies III (Kindleberger)
14.117 Economics and Industrial Management (Solow, E.C. Brown)
14.121 Economic Analysis (Bishop)
14.122 Economic Analysis (Samuelson)
14.132 Schools of Economic Thought (Bishop)
14.151 Mathematical Approach to Economics (Samuelson)
14.161 Economic History (W. W. Rostow)
14.162 Economic History (W. W. Rostow)
14.171 Theory of Economic Growth (Rosenstein-Rodan)
14.172 Research Seminar in Economic Development (Millikan)
14.174 Non-Economic Factors in Economic Growth (Hagen)
14.192 Economics Seminar
14.195 Reading Seminar in Economics
14.196 Reading Seminar in Economics
14.271 Problems n Industrial Economics (Bishop)
14.272 Government Regulation of Industry (N.N.)
14.281 Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development (Maclaurin)
14.282 Economics of Innovation Seminar (Maclaurin)
14.292 Industrial Economic Seminar
14.371 Statistical Theory (H. A. Freeman)
14.372 Statistical Theory (H. A. Freeman)
14.381 Statistical Method (Houthakker, Durand)
14.382 Economic Statistics (Houthakker)
14.451 National Income (Millikan)
14.461 Monetary and Banking Problems (Higgins)
14.471 Fiscal Policy? (E. C. Brown)
14.481 Business Cycles (Houthakker)
14.581 International Economics (Kindleberger)
14.582 International Economics (Kindleberger)
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (UNDERGRADUATE)
14.61 Industrial Relations (D. V. Brown)
14.63 Labor Relations (Siegel)
14.64 Labor Economics and Public Policy (A. R. Weber)
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (GRADUATE)
14.671 Problems in Labor Economics (Miernyk)
14.672 Public Policy on Labor Relations (Myers)
14.673 Labor-Management Relations and Public Policy (D. V. Brown, Myers)
14.674 The Labor Movement: Theories and Histories (Siegel)
14.681 Seminar in Personnel Administration (Pigors)
14.682 Seminar in Personnel Administration (Pigors)
14.694 Seminar in Union-Management Cooperation (N.N.)
POLITICAL SCIENCE (UNDERGRADUATE)
14.51 International Relations (Padelford)
14.52 Principles and Problems of American Diplomacy (Pye)
14.53 Seminar in International Politics (Schilling)
14.90 Government, Politics and Technology (R. C. Wood)
14.91 The American Political System (Tillman)
14.92 Comparative Political and Economic Systems (L. W. Martin)
14.93 Seminar: Issues in Contemporary American Politics
14.95 Politics, Society, and Policy Making (Pool)
14.96 Influences on Policy Decisions (N.N.)
14.97 Political Science Seminar (Padelford)
14.98 Political Science Seminar (Padelford)
14.99 International Political Communication (Davison)
POLITICAL SCIENCE (GRADUATE)
14.521 Strategic and Political Geography (N.N.)
14.523 National Security and Military Technology (McCormack, Schilling)
14.524 Politics and National Defense Policy (Schilling)
14.531 Asian Politics and United States Foreign Policy (Pye)
14.533 Social Science and U. S. Foreign Policy (Millikan)
14.571 Major Problems in Untied States Foreign Policy (Padelford)
14.941 Government and Public Administration (R. C. Wood)
14.953 Mass Media and Communication Systems (Lerner)
14.954 Methods of Communication Research (Lerner)
14.956 Public Opinion and Propaganda (Davison)
14.957 Research Seminar in International Communications (Davison)
14.958 Research Seminar in International Communications (Davison)
PSYCHOLOGY (UNDERGRADUATE)
14.70 Introductory Psychology (Swets)
14.73 Organization and Communication in Groups (Swets, Gleicher)
14.77 Psychology of Language and Communication (N.N.)
14.79 Learning (Howes)
14.81 Psychology of Perception (Swets in 1958-59)
14.82 Psychology of Motivation (N.N. in 1958-59)
14.84 Theories of Personality (R. W. Brown in 1958-59)
14.85 Social Psychology (R. W. Brown in 1958-59)
14.86 Behavior in Groups (M. E. Shaw in 1958-59)
14.88 Advanced Psychology Seminar (Staff in 1958-59)
PSYCHOLOGY (GRADUATE)
14.771 Interpersonal Relations Seminar (N.N.)
14.772 Industrial Sociology Seminar (N.N.)
14.774 Social Psychology Seminar (R. W. Brown)
14.791 Reading Seminar in Social Science
14.792 Reading Seminar in Social Science

 

SourceThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, General Catalogue Issue 1957-58. Chapter 10, Descriptions of Subjects, 14. Economics and Social Science, pp. 233-238.

*For 14.81/14.82/14.84/14.85/14.86/14.88 information from the General Catalogue Issue 1958-59 pp. 237-8.

Image Source:  From Technique (1949), M.I.T. Yearbook cover.

Categories
Bibliography Economics Programs Economist Market Economists Indiana Sociology

Oberlin. Sociology bibliography by John R. Commons, 1891-1892

 

The core of this post is a twelve printed page bibliography of sociology prepared by the institutional economist, John R. Commons (1862-1945), during the one year he taught at his alma mater, Oberlin College in 1891-92. I have been able to provide links to close to 100% of the items he has listed. From the Oberlin College catalogue for that year I have transcribed the course offerings and their brief descriptions. A brief chronology of Commons’ education and professional career was put together from his very readable autobiography, Myself (1934) for this post.

_____________________

John Rogers Commons
Education and Professional Career

John R. Commons graduated from Oberlin College with an A.B. in 1888; A.M. (honorary) awarded in 1890.

1888-1890. Two trustees of Oberlin College lent Commons a total of $1,000 to finance his first two years of graduate work at Johns Hopkins University.

“Within a year and a half came my usual fate. I failed completely on a history examination. This ruined my hopes of a fellowship to carry me through the third year. So I had only two years of graduate work and never reached the degree of Ph.D., the sign manual of a scholar.” Myself, p. 42.

1890-91. Taught at Wesleyan ($1000 salary). Commons’ contract was not renewed, he was considered a poor teacher.

“Three months before the year was ended President Raymond notified me that I would not be needed the next year, because I was a failure as a teacher. My students were not interested.” Myself, p. 45.

1891-92. Associate Professor of Political Economy at Oberlin. The salary at Oberlin $1,200 “would not pay expenses, to say nothing of debts”.  Sociology bibliography from that time transcribed below.

1892-95. Indiana University. Increase in salary of $800 to $2,000 was his reason to leave Oberlin to move to Bloomington, Indiana. There he received a job offer for $2,500 at Syracuse in 1895 and went to the president of Indiana, hoping to negotiate a counter-offer. “Evidently he [the President] was loaded, for he immediately pulled the trigger: ‘Accept the offer at once.’”

1895-99. Syracuse University. Mr. Huyler of “Huyler Candy” fame established a chair in sociology at Syracuse.

“Afterwards, when sociology was separated from political economy in university teaching, charity was transferred to sociology. I never could reconcile myself to this separation. I taught “sociology” at Syracuse University and got out a book in 1895 on machine politics, which was to be cured, I thought, by proportional representation.” Myself, p. 43.

“I taught ethnology, anthropology, criminology, charity organization, taxation, political economy, municipal government, and other things, all under the name of sociology.” Myself, p. 53.

The chair for sociology was abolished after the university was confronted with serious resistance from donors who wanted Commons fired for having taken a public stand both against professional baseball with ticketed admission on Sundays and for the right of workers to play baseball on their day off, i.e. Sunday.

1899-1904. Odd jobbing.

Set up a Bureau of Economic Research in New York. Published the first weekly index of wholesale prices. Commons’ sponsor, George Shipley, did not like the fact that the index number stopped showing  a decline in prices and cancelled Commons’ contract with him in September 1900. The index number project was discontinued but within a few weeks a former student, E. Dana Durand, hired Commons to finish a report on immigration for the Industrial Commission.

“It was a comparison of ten to fifteen races of immigrants from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, where they knew only dictatorship, in two great American industries to which they had come for what they thought was liberty. In one of these industries, clothing, they knew, at that time, only the cycle of revolution and dissolution. In the other, coal mining, they were learning fidelity to contracts—their trade agreements—in forming which they themselves had participated through representative government. It was their first lesson in Americanization, the union of Liberty and Order. Afterwards I wrote a series of articles for the Chautauqua Magazine and revised them at Madison for a book on Races and Immigrants in America, which was the title of one of my first courses of lectures at the University.” Myself, pp. 73-74.

Commons participated  as immigration and labor expert in the writing of the Final Report of the Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX (1902).

Move back to New York, hired as an assistant to the secretary of the National Civic Federation, Ralph M. Easley. Worked on taxation and labor conciliation.

“It was here that I first learned to distrust the ‘intellectuals’ as leaders in labor movements. I have known scores of them since then and have found other scores in my long study of the history of labor movements. Gompers, the clearest and most outspoken of all trade unionists, denounced them as the ‘fool friends’ of labor. I always look for them and try to clear them out from all negotiations between capital and labor, and from the councils of labor. My friends, the economists, often deplored this antagonism of American labor organizations toward the intellectuals. But they simply did not know the kind of intellectuals that come to leadership in labor movements. The kind is not the studious economist and statistician who cannot make an oratorical public speech, and who takes a broad social point of view which neither capitalists nor laborers understand. Such an intellectual is discarded and overwhelmed by the passions and cheers for a speaker who can hold a great audience. I have tried it and know. Such intellectuals are ‘class conscious’ instead of ‘wage conscious,’ to use the distinction proposed by my friend Selig Perlman. But the studious economist is nearly always ‘social conscious.’” Myself, p. 87.

1904-33. University of Wisconsin.

This period is worth its own post, sometime.

Source: John R. Commons, Myself, New York: Macmillan, 1934.

____________________

Course Offerings at Oberlin 1891-1892

Political Science and Sociology.

  1. Political Economy.—Ely’s Introduction to Political Economy, and monographs on special topics. Professor Commons.
    Spring Term. Mo., Tu., Th., Fr., Sa. 55 hours.
    Elective for Sophomores.

This course is mainly historical and descriptive, showing the development of modern industrial conditions and the significance of modern problems. It serves as a necessary introduction to the courses in sociology and economics.

  1. Sociology.—Lectures and Recitations on assigned readings. Professor Commons.
    Through the year. We., Fr. 71 hours.
    Elective for Juniors and Seniors who have taken Political Science 1.

This course is introductory to Courses 4 and 5 of the Senior year. In the Fall term primitive society is studied with reference to beliefs, the institutions of the family, clan and tribe, and the origins of property and social classes. In the Winter and Spring terms social classes and institutions are traced through English history from the Saxon invasion to the present time. In the latter part of the Spring term the same line of study is followed in the American field. The aim is to show the evolution of modern social classes, and the development of poor laws and class legislation. Students will be examined upon the outlines of English history. It is expected that those who elect the course will continue it through the year.

  1. American Institutional History.—Fiske’s Civil Government in the United States. Professor Commons.
    Spring Term. We., Fr. 22 hours.
    Elective for Juniors who have taken Political Science 2.

The work is a continuation of the political side of Sociology into American History. Students are examined upon the outlines of American History.

  1. General Sociology.—Lectures, Readings, and Recitations. Professor Commons.
    Fall Term. Tu., Th., Sa. 38 hours.
    Elective for Seniors who have taken Political Science 1 and 2.

The attempt is here made to formulate the general principles of social organization and evolution. Attention is given to the history of social and political theories, and the works of the principal sociologists are studied and compared.

  1. Social Problems.—Lectures and Recitations. Professor Commons.
    Winter Term. Tu., Th., Sa. 35 hours.
    Elective for Seniors who have taken Political Science 1, 2, and 4.

The study of Charities, Pauperism, Intemperance, Penology, Education, Immigration, Race Problems, the Family, and Plans for social reform. Reports are made by students on assigned readings and investigations.

  1. Finance.—Ely’s Taxation in American States and Cities. Adams’ Public Debts, with lectures. Professor Commons.
    Fall and Winter Terms. Tu., Th., Sa. 73 hours.
    Elective for Juniors and Seniors who have taken Political Science 1.

Attention is given to the history and practice of taxation, to Public Debts and Public Industries. Students are required to consult public documents and to make reports on assigned topics. Those who elect the course are required to continue it through both terms.

  1. Corporations and Railways.—Lectures, Readings, and Reports. Professor Commons.
    Fall Term. Tu., Th., Sa. 38 hours.
    Omitted in 1892-93.
    Elective for Juniors and Seniors.

The history of corporation laws is studied, and the laws of the United States are compared with those of other countries. Railways are then studied in the same manner.

  1. Financial History of the United States.—Lectures, Readings, and Reports. Professor Commons.
    Winter Term. Tu., Th., Sa.
    Omitted in 1892-93.
    Elective for Juniors and Seniors.

Historical investigations are made of the different sources of income of the National Government, of the public debt and paper money.

  1. Economic Investigations.—Two hours per week through the year, counting as a three hours’ course. Professor Commons.
    Elective for Seniors who have shown proficiency in economic studies and are able to read German.

The investigations of students are guided by the instructor. Reports on the progress of work are made, and informal discussions and lectures are conducted by both instructor and students. The College libraries are well supplied with material for original study. In 1892-93, the investigations are concerned with economic theories and the distribution of wealth.
Students electing this course are required to continue it through the year.

  1. Advanced Political Economy.—Lectures with discussions. Professor Monroe.
    Original papers by the class.
    Spring Term. Tu., We., Th., Fr., Sa. 54 hours.
  2. English Constitution and Government.—The English and American governmental institutions compared. Lectures. Professor Monroe.
    Winter Term. Tu., We., Th., Fr., Sa. 58 hours.

Source: Catalogue of Oberlin College for the year 1891-1892, pp. 79-81.

____________________

A POPULAR BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOCIOLOGY
JOHN R. COMMONS,
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,
OBERLIN COLLEGE.

OBERLIN, OHIO: THE OBERLIN NEWS PRESSES, 1892.

 

A POPULAR BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOCIOLOGY.

The aim in compiling this Bibliography has been to furnish the general reader, especially the Christian minister and worker, a list of the best available books on important Sociological problems. Specialists, or those who desire to carry their studies further, can find extensive references in many of the books here mentioned to works in English and other languages. A more complete bibliography is the “Readers’ Guide in Economic, Social, and Political Science,” published by the Society for Political Education, New York.

Useful suggestions have been received from Gen. R. Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio; Rev. Samuel W. Dike, LL. D., secretary of the National Divorce Reform League; Prof. Richard T. Ely, of Johns Hopkins University; Mr. W. B. Shaw, of the State Library, Albany, N. Y.; A. G. Warner, Ph. D., Superintendent of Charities of the District of Columbia.

The prices given are the publishers’ retail prices. Re ductions can usually be secured from any bookseller.

This is the first of a series of bulletins which the library of Oberlin College hopes to publish from time to time. It can be obtained free of charge on application to A. S. Root, Librarian of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

GENERAL SOCIOLOGY.

Ely, Professor Richard T. Social Aspects of Christianity. N. Y., T. Y. Crowell & Co. 132 pages, price 90 cents.

This is the first book recommended for study by the Christian Social Union. It is a reprint of essays given at different times and places. It gives a forcible statement of the present attitude of the church toward social problems, and suggests principles and plans for social reform. It is well suited to arouse interest in, and show the importance of, Christian Sociology.

Ely, Professor Richard T. An Introduction to Political Economy. N. Y., Chautauqua Press, Hunt & Eaton, 1889. 358 pages, price $1.

A solid basis for studies in Sociology can be obtained only by beginning with that branch of Sociology which has reached most scientific development — Political Economy. This book is historical and descriptive, and furnishes an admirable introduction to Sociology. It contains selected bibliographies.

Ward, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology. N. Y., D. Appleton & Co., 1883. 2 vols., price $5. [Volume I; Volume II]

The ablest systematic treatise in English on Sociology. Superior to Comte or Spencer. The author, however, is biassed by grossly materialistic views of Christianity. He should be read with constant reference to works like those of Fremantle and Westcott, mentioned below.

Fremantle, Canon W. H. The World as the Subject of Redemption. N. Y., 1885. 443 pages, price $3.50. A cheaper edition is announced to appear soon by Longmans, Green & Co., N. Y.

“A magnificent description of the purpose of Christianity.” — Professor Ely. It should be in the hands of every minister of the gospel. The author discusses admirably the fundamental principles involved in the practical application of Christianity to Sociology.

Westcott, Canon B. F. Social Aspects of Christianity. London and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1887. 202 pages, price $1.50.

Sermons delivered at Westminster in 1886. Many good points.

Crooker, J. H. Problems in American Society. Boston, G. H. Ellis & Co. 293 pages, price $1.25.

Contains chapters on education, scientific charity, temperance, politics, religion. Good.

Social Science Library of the best authors. Edited by Rev. W. D. P. Bliss. N. Y., Humboldt Publishing Co. There have been issued seven numbers, as follows: (1) Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages; (2) the Socialism of John Stuart Mill; (3) and (4) The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle [Volume I; Volume II]; (5) William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist; (6) The Fabian Essays; (7) The Economics of Herbert Spencer. Price, paper cover, 25 cents each, or $2.50 a year for twelve numbers. Cloth extra, 75 cents each, or $7.50 a year for twelve numbers.

Public Opinion. Washington, D. C., Public Opinion Co. Weekly, price $3 per year.

Contains well-selected extracts from representative periodicals, giving all sides of current social and economic discussions. Sample copies may be obtained free on application.

Economic Review. Published quarterly for the Oxford University Branch of the Christian Social Union. First number, January, 1891. American agents, James Pott & Co., N Y. Subscription $2.50, single copies 75 cents.

The Christian Social Union is an organization inside the Established Church for the study of social questions. The Economic Review has been also adopted as the organ of the American Branch of the Union.

 

THE STATE.

Bluntschli, J. K. Theory of the Modern State. Translated from the sixth German edition. London and N. Y., Macmillan, 1885. 518 pages, price $ 3. 25.

This book is for the Modern State what Aristotle’s Politics is for the Ancient. It cannot be too highly praised, both for its historical and its philosophical insight. It presents the State as the outcome of social and economic forces, and in this regard its discussion of social classes is especially able and important.

Wilson, Woodrow. The State. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1890. 686 pages, price $ 2.

A condensed description of the origin and growth of political institutions, and comparisons of Ancient and Modern States. Able chapters on law and the functions of government.

Adams, Henry C. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action. Baltimore, American Economic Association, 1888. 85 pages, price $1. (Vol. I, No. 6 of its “Publications.”).

An able presentation of fundamental principles regarding the industrial activities of the State.

Bryce, James. The American Commonwealth. [Volume I; Volume II, 3rd ed., 1897)] N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1891. 2d edition, price $ 2.

 

THE FAMILY.

Westermarck, E. The History of Human Marriage. London, Macmillan, 1891. 664 pages, price 145.

“The best single book on the history of the Institution.” — Dr. Dike.

Starcke, C. N. The Primitive Family. Translated. N. Y., D. Appleton & Co., 1889. 315 pages, price $ 1. 75.

A valuable collection of facts and review of theories.

The English Bible for the family in Hebrew life.

Coulanges, Fustel de. The Ancient City. Translated from the French by Willard Small. Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1874. 529 pages.

Best for the family in Greco-Roman life.

Report of the United States Commissioner of Labor on Marriage and Divorce. Washington, 1889. 1074 pages.

The most complete source of information regarding the law and statistics of Marriage and Divorce in the United States and Europe. A second edition is already nearly exhausted.

Reports of the National Divorce Reform League contain useful discussions and references to literature. Published annually, 1886 to date. Rev. Samuel W. Dike, LL. D., corresponding secretary, Auburndale. Mass.

Reference should be made to chapters in other works. To writers on Social Ethics: Lotze, Practical Philosophy, translated and edited by Prof. G. T. Ladd, Ginn & Co. Hegel, edited by Prof. S. P. Morris. Wuttke, Christian Ethics, [Volume 1 History of Ethics; Volume II Pure Ethics] American edition. Writers on Political Science: Mulford, The Nation; Bluntschli, The Theory of the State; Woolsey, Political Science [Volume I; Volume II]. Writers on Law and Social Institutions: Sir Henry Maine’ s works, Gomme, Village Communities, Seebohm, The English Village Community. Law Books: Gray, Husband and Wife; Franklin, Marriage and Divorce.

 

LABOR.

Besides the following, there are also books mentioned under the heading “Remedies,” which describe the history and present conditions of the working classes.

Ely, Richard T. The Labor Movement in America. N. Y., T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1886. 383 pages, price $1.50.

A historical account of Labor organizations and communistic and socialistic movements in the United States. An Appendix gives platforms of Labor organizations and illustrative extracts from labor literature. The best.

Rogers, J. E. Thorold. Work and Wages. N. Y., Putnam. 591 pages, price $3. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Abridged edition, 206 pages, price 25. 6d. Also abridged edition edited by Rev. W. D. P. Bliss, Humboldt Publishing Co., New York. Price, cloth 75 cents, paper 25 cents.

A history of English labor during the past six centuries, condensed by the author from his original investigations. A standard work.

Toynbee, Arnold. Industrial Revolution in England. London, Rivington, 1884. N. Y., Humboldt Publishing Co., 1890. Paper 60 cents, cloth $1.

Contributes admirably to a clear understanding of the rise and causes of present industrial problems.

Booth, C., ed. Labour and Life of the People. London, Williams & Norgate, 1889-’91. 2 vols. Vol. 1, East London, 10s. 6d; vol. 2, London, 215.

By far the most comprehensive and scientific investigation yet made into the actual conditions of a city’ s working population. No student of social science can dispense with it.

Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives. N. Y., Scribner, 1889. 304 pages, price $ 2.50.

The best description of New York tenements.

Campbell, Helen. Prisoners of Poverty. Boston, Roberts Bros., 1887. 257 pages, price $1.

A startling revelation of the life of women wage -workers in New York city, “based upon the minutest personal research.”

Campbell, Helen. Prisoners of Poverty Abroad. Boston, Roberts Bros., 1890. 248 pages, price $1.

A useful book.

Willoughby, W. F., and Graffenried, Miss Clare de. Child Labor. American Economic Association, 1890. 149 pages, price 75 cents. (Publications of the Am. Econ. Ass’n, vol. 5, No. 2.)

Two prize essays. The first is historical, and deals with general principles. The second gives the results of personal observations. The best.

Smith, R. M. Emigration and Immigration. N. Y., Scribner, 1890. 316 pages, price $1.40.

The best work on an important subject. Contains extensive bibliography.

Howell, George. The Conflicts of Capital and Labour. London and N. Y., Macmillan. 2d edition, revised, 1890, 536 pages, price $2.50.

The best description of trade-unions. Written by a trade-unionist and labor representative in Parliament. The author is not in sympathy with the “new trades unions” and the socialistic movements.

McNeill, Geo. E., ed. The Labor Movement, the Problem of To-day. Boston, A. M. Bridgman & Co., 1886. 650 pages, price $3.75

A co-operative work. Professor E. J. James contributes three chapters on the history of labor and labor legislation in Europe. The editor gives the history of labor in the United States. Leading representatives of labor organizations describe the growth of their own organizations. There are also chapters on arbitration, co -operation, industrial education, the land question and “army of the unemployed.” An important work.

Lloyd, H. D. Strike of Millionaires against Miners, the story of Spring Valley. N. Y., Belford, Clarke & Co., 1890. 264 pages, price $ 1; paper, 50 cents.

A good instance of evasion of responsibility on the part of stockholders for corporate management.

Burnett, John and others. The Claims of Labour. Edinburgh, Co-operative Printing Co., 1886. 275 pages, price 1s.

Contains an able chapter on “Irregularity of Employment and Fluctuations of Prices,” by H. S. Foxwell, professor of economics, University College, London.

Clark, J. B. The Philosophy of Wealth. Boston, Ginn & Co., 1889. 239 pages, price $1.10.

A thoughtful work. Treats of the functions of the church.

Gunton, G. Wealth and Progress. N. Y., Appleton, 1887. 382 pages, price $1; paper, 50 cents.

A discussion of the law of wages and an argument for eight -hour legislation.

Journal of the Knights of Labor. 841 North Broad street, Philadelphia. Price $1 per year.

The best of the labor press. Indispensable for the student of current labor problems.

Reports of Labor Bureaus, especially Massachusetts and the United States Department of Labor. Valuable reprints from Massachusetts reports can be obtained on payment of postage. Reports of the United States Department of Labor are free. Write to the Commissioner of Labor, Washington, D. C., and to the Chiefs of the Bureaus of Labor Statistics of the States, at the State Capitals.

Reports of Factory Inspectors of Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Can be obtained on payment of postage by writing to the Factory Inspectors at the Capitals of the States.

 

PAUPERISM. CHARITIES.

Dugdale, R. L. The Jukes; a story in Crime, Pauperism and Heredity. N. Y., G. P. Putnam, 1888, 4th edition. 121 pages price $1.

A wonderful book. Well worth careful study. Shows by personal investigations of a single pauper tribe, traced back a hundred and fifty years, the relations of heredity and crime.

McCulloch, Rev. Oscar C. The Tribe of Ishmael; a story of Social Degradation. With diagram. Indianapolis, Ind., Charity Organization Society. 8 pages, price 50 cents.

A striking summary of investigations into two hundred and fifty related pauper families, extending through five generations. Based on personal investigations and the records of the Charity Organization Society, of Indianapolis.

Loch, C. S. Charity Organization. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1890. 106 pages, price 2s. 6d.

The best description of the principles and methods of organized charity.

Lowell, Josephine Shaw. Public Relief and Private Charity. N. Y., G. P. Putnam, 1884. 111 pages; price, paper, 40 cents.

An excellent little manual.

Fields, Mrs. James T. How to Help the Poor. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1883. Price 60 cents; paper, 20 cents net.

Describes the work of the Boston Associated Charities. Practical and Helpful.

Peek, F. Social Wreckage; Laws of England as they Affect the Poor. London, Isbister, 1889. Price 3s. 6d.

A short work, but valuable.

Hill, Florence Davenport. Children of the State. Edited by Fanny Fowke. N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1889. 2d edition. Price $1.75.

Treats of the important subject of the care of dependent and delinquent children. Gives experience in different countries. Opposes “institutions.”

Reports of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, Mrs. I. C. Barrows, ed., 141 Franklin street, Boston, Mass. Published annually, 1876 to date. The earlier numbers are out of print. Price $1.50; paper, $1.25 each.

“Its sixteen volumes constitute a library upon these subjects of more practical value than all others combined.’—Gen. Brinkerhoff.

Reports of the Boards of State Charities, especially of Ohio, Illinois and New York, which should be secured from the beginning, and Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. These reports can be obtained by asking for them of the secretaries of the boards, at the State Capitals.

Charities Review, A Journal of Practical Sociology. Published for the Charity Organization Society, of the City of New York. The Critic Co. First number, November, 1891. Price $1 per year.

Contains contributions from the ablest specialists in sociological work and study.

 

CRIME AND PRISONS.

Baker, T. B. L. War with Crime. London and New York, Longman’s, 1890. 300 pages, price $4.

This book is a posthumous edition made up of papers and pamphlets published during the lifetime of the writer, and does not present a digested system, but it is a mine of gold. No other man in England in this generation is the peer of Baker. — Gen. Brinkerhoff.

Winter, Alexander. The New York State Reformatory at Elmira. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891. 172 pages, price $1.

This reformatory has done more than any other institution in the world for the solution of the problem of the proper treatment of criminals. Eighty-three per cent. of its commitments are cured. This book well describes the institution and its methods.

Ellis, Havelock. The Criminal. New York, Scribner & Welford, 1890. 337 pages, price $1.

An able summary of recent investigations in criminal anthropology. The best in English.

Morrison, W. D. Crime and Its Causes. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1890. Price 2s. 6d.

A work of special value. The author antagonizes some of the current opinions. He has had an experience of fourteen years in connection with H. M. Prison at Wandsworth, England.

Wines, E. C. The State of Prisons and Child-Saving Institutions. Cambridge, Mass., J. Wilson & Son., 1880. 919 pages, price $5.

The most comprehensive and exhaustive work extant. Indispensable for a wide knowledge of the subject.

Du Cane, Sir Edmund F. The Punishment and Prevention of Crime. English Citizen Series. London and New York, Macmillan, 1885. 255 pages, price $1.

The writer for years past has had the charge of the entire prison system of England.

Tallack, W. Penological and Preventive Principles. London, Howard Association, Wertheimer, Lea & Co., 1889. 414 pages, price 8s.

A standard work on prison management, yet lagging behind in some lines of progress and to be accepted with allowance.

Rylands, L. G. Crime, Its Causes and Remedy. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1889. 264 pages, price 6s.

An interesting work. There is a chapter on the prevention of drunkenness. The writer lays special emphasis on the care of children.

Brace, Charles Loring. The Dangerous Classes of New York and Twenty Years Work Among Them. Third edition. New York, Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, 1880. 468 pages, price $1.25.

Mr. Brace was founder of the New York Childrens’ Aid Society. This book, though written in 1872, is still valuable in many points. It deals especially with juvenile delinquents.

Round, W. M. F. Our Criminals and Christianity. New York, Funk & Wagnalls, 1888. 16 pages; price, paper, 15 cents.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Ninth edition. Also American Supplement.

The articles on “Prison Discipline” and “Reformatories” give the best birds-eye view of the whole subject.

Reports of the National Prison Association. W. M. F. Round, secretary, 35 E. 15th street, New York. Published annually, 1885 to date. Price $1.25 each. [Index to the Reports of the national Prison Association, 1870, 1873, 1874, 1883-1904. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1906.]

Lalor’s Cyclopedia of Political Science.

Contains a valuable article on “Prisons and Prison Discipline,” by F. H. Wines.

 

INTEMPERANCE.

This subject has received indifferent scientific treatment. The best attempts are here given.

Mitchell, Kate, M. D. The Drink Question. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891. Price 25. 6d.

A useful discussion.

Richardson, B, W., M. D. Ten Lectures on Alcohol. N. Y., National Temperance Society, 1883. 190 pages, price $1; paper, 50 cents.

Describes the physiological effects of alcohol.

Kerr, Norman, M. D. Inebriety; Its Etiology, Pathology, Treatment and Jurisprudence. London, H. K. Lewis, 1888. 415 pages, price 12s. 6d.

Clum, Franklin D., M. D. Inebriety; Its causes, Its Results, Its Remedy. Philadelphia, Lippincott Company, 1888. 248 pages, price $1.25.

A careful discussion of the causes of intemperance, and interesting suggestions for its cure.

 

REMEDIES.

Price, L. L. F. R. Industrial Peace; its advantages, methods and difficulties. N. Y., Macmillan, 1887. 127 pages, price $1.50.

Describes the practical workings of arbitration.

Weeks, Joseph D. Labor Differences and their Settlement. N. Y., Society for Political Education. Price 25 cents.

Favors arbitration.

Gilman, N. P. Profit Sharing Between Employer and Employee. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1889. 460 pages, price $1.75.

The standard work on this subject.

History of Co-operation in the United States. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, vol. 6, 1888. 540 pages, price $3.

A comprehensive work. The best covering the entire field in the United States.

Dexter, Seymour. Co-operative and Loan Associations. N. Y., D. Appleton & Co., 1889. 299 pages price $1.25.

The best treatise on Building and Loan Associations. Explains their advantages and workings, tells how to organize them, and gives the laws of several states.

Schaeffle, A. Quintessence of Socialism. Translated from the German, London, Sonnenschein & Co. 1891. 127 pages, price 25. 6d. N. Y., The Humboldt Publishing Co., paper, 15 cents.

“The clearest account of Socialism that can be obtained in anything like the same compass.” — The translator.

Kirkup, T. Inquiry into Socialism. London and New York, Longmans, 1887. 188 pages, price $1.50.

The best presentation of a reasonable and moderate kind of Socialism.

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward, 2000. 1887. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price $1; paper, 50 cents.

Has had greater influence in propagating socialistic views among English-speaking people than any other book.

Hyndman, H. M. Historical Basis of Socialism in England. London, Kegan Paul, 1883. 492 pages, price 8s. 6d.

A summary of the works of Karl Marx and Rodbertus. The best introduction to the theories of Socialism.

Gronlund, Laurence. The Co-operative Commonwealth; an Exposition of Modern Socialism. Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1884. Price $1. Also N. Y., G. W. Lovell & Co., paper, 30 cents; London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 2s. 6d.

An explanation of Socialism as applied to the United States.

Laveleye, Emil de. The Socialism of To-day. Translated by G. H. Orpen. London, Field & Tuer, 1885. 331 pages, price 6s.

A valuable history of European Socialism, and a lucid statement of Socialistic doctrines.

Marx, Karl. Capital. Translated from the third German edition by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling. N. Y., Appleton & Co., 1889. Price $3.

The “Bible of Socialism.” Very difficult reading, except in the historical parts. Marx’s arguments are summarized by other writers, especially Hyndman.

Barnett, Rev. and Mrs. Samuel A. Practicable Socialism; essays on social reform. London and New York, Longmans, Green & Co., 1888. 212 pages, price $1.

Reprints of magazine articles which appeared during the years 1879 to 1887. The authors are devoted workers in Whitechapel, London. The book gives a vivid picture of their life and work among the poor.

George, H. Progress and Poverty, an inquiry into the causes of industrial depressions, and of the increase of want with the increase of wealth. N. Y., Henry George & Co., 1888. 250 [sic] pages, price $1; paper, 35 cents.

A remarkable extension of the older economic theory, and a proposition to impose a “single tax” on land -values in order to appropriate for the public the “unearned increment.”

Ely, Professor R. T. Taxation in American States and Cities. N. Y., T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1888. 544 pages, price $1.75

Contains descriptions of the present systems and suggestions for better equalization of taxes.

Ely, R. T. Problems of To-day. N. Y., T. Y. Crowell & Co., 2d edition, 1890. Price $1.50.

Reprint of newspaper and magazine articles on protection and natural monopolies. Contains suggestions for reform.

U. S. Department of State. Consular Report No. 117, June, 1890, contains a valuable description, with illustration, of the municipal artisan’s dwellings of Liverpool. The report of October, 1888, No. 98, contains “Homes of the German Working People.” Washington, D. C., Department of State. Free on application.

Woodward, C. M. The Manual Training School. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1887. Price $2.

The best. Contains exposition of the methods and scope of manual training, and discusses its educational, social and economic bearings.

Abel, Mary Hinman. Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking, adapted to persons of moderate and small means. Rochester, N. Y., American Public Health Association. 182 pages, price 40 cents; paper, 35 cents.

Contains analyses of foods showing nutritive value, and suggestions for varying the diet at small expense.

Booth, General W. In Darkest England and the Way Out. N. Y., Funk & Wagnalls, 1890. 300 pages, price $1; paper 50 cents.

A notable scheme for rescuing the “submerged tenth” of England by means of city refuges, farm colonies, colonies over the sea, and other agencies, to be administered by the Salvation Army.

Loomis, S. L. Modern Cities and their Religious Problems. Introduction by J. Strong. New York, Baker & Taylor, 1887. 219 pages, price $1.

The results of personal study and experience. A useful book.

Gladden, Rev. W. Applied Christianity; moral aspects of social questions. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & Co, 1886. 320 pages, price $1.25.

Sensible chapters on the relations of Christianity to the problems of the distribution of wealth.

Gladden, Rev. W., ed. Parish Problems. N. Y., The Century Co., 1887. 479 pages, price $2.

An useful hand-book for Christian workers. Valuable chapters by eminent writers on the relations of pastor and people to the community.

Reports of the Convention of Christian Workers of the United States and Canada. Rev. John C. Collins, secretary, New Haven, Conn., price $1. Published annually since 1886.

Valuable reports and discussions on methods of Christian work.

Reports of the Evangelical Alliance, especially the report of the meeting at Washington in 1887, published under the title “National Perils and Opportunities.” Price $ 1.50, paper $1. Parts of this report have been printed in two separate volumes by The Baker & Taylor Co., N. Y., the first entitled “Problems of American Civilization,” the second, “Co-operation in Christian Work.” Price 60 cents each, paper 30 cents. The Report for the meeting at Boston in 1890, entitled “National Needs and Remedies.” Same publishers and prices.

Leaflets of the Christian Social Union in the United States. Professor Richard T. Ely, secretary, Baltimore, Md. Free on application.

 

Source: Oberlin College Library Bulletin. January, 1892. Volume I, No. 1. Oberlin, Ohio: The Oberlin News Presses, 1892.

Image Source: John R. Commons in the Oberlin College yearbook Hi-oh-hi, 1892 (page 43).

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs Economist Market Economists

Chicago. Memos discussing guests to teach during summer quarter, 1927

 

 

Apparently the 1926 summer quarter course planning at the Chicago department of political economy in 1926 was so wild that the head of the department, Leon C. Marshall, decided to start the discussion for 1927 on the second day of Summer, 1926. Four of the seven colleagues responded with quite a few suggestions.

This post provides the first+middle names where needed in square brackets. Also links to webpages with further information about the suggested guests have been added.

______________________

Copy of memo from
Leon Carroll Marshall

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Department of Economics

Memorandum from L. C. Marshall. June 22, 1926

To: C. W. Wright, J. A. Field, H. A. Millis, J. Viner, L. W. Mints, P. H. Douglas, W. H. Spencer

We really must break through the morass we are in with respect to our summer quarter. Partly because of delayed action and partly because of an interminable debating society in such matters we finally get a patched up program which is not as attractive as it should be.

I shall proceed on the basis of the homely philosophy that the way to do something is to do something. I shall try to secure from every member of the group a statement of his best judgment concerning the appropriate course of action for the summer of 1927 and then move at once toward rounding out a program.

Won’t you be good enough to turn in to E57 within the next few days your suggestions and comments with respect to the following issues.

  1. Do you yourself expect to be in residence the summer quarter of 1927?
  2. If you do, what courses do you prefer to teach? Please list more than two courses placing all of the courses in your order of preference. In answering this question, please keep in mind the problem of guiding research. Should you offer a research course?
  3. What are your preferences with respect to hours? Please state them rather fully and give some alternatives so that a schedule may be pieced together.
  4. What courses or subject matter should we be certain to include in the summer of 1927?
  5. What men from outside do you recommend for these courses which we should be certain to include? Please rank them in the order of your preference.
  6. Quite aside from the subject matter which you have recommended above, what persons from the outside ought we try to make contact with if our funds permit? This gives an opportunity to aid in making up the personnel of the summer quarter in all fields.
  7. Please give any other comments or suggestions which occur to you.

Yours very sincerely,

LCM:G

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Jacob Viner

The University of Chicago
Department of Political Economy

July 1, 1926

Dear Mr. Marshall

I will want to offer 301 (Neo-class Ec.) & 353 (Int Ec. Pol) as usual next summer, though if we have a good outside theorist to give 301, I would like to give a course on Theory of Int Trade in addition to 353. I think we need someone especially in Banking, next in theory. Beyond these we should offer work in some of the following, if we can get first rankers: statistics, private finance, transportation, economic history of Europe & ec. Hist. of U.S.

I suggest the following from which selections could be made:

Banking

Theory Statistics Transportation

Ec. Hist.

[Eugene E.]
Agger

 

[Benjamin Haggott] Beckhart

 

[Allyn Abbott]
A.A. Young

 

[Chester Arthur]
C. A. Phillips

 

[Oliver Mitchell Wentworth]
Sprague

 

[James Harvey] Rogers

 

[Ernest Minor] E.M. Patterson

[Allyn Abbott]
Young

 

[Jacob Harry]
Hollander[Frank Hyneman] Knight

 

[Albert Benedict] Wolfe

 

[Herbert Joseph] Davenport

[Henry Roscoe] Trumbower

 

[Homer Bews] Vanderblue

[Melvin Moses] M.M. Knight

 

[Abbott Payson] A.P. Usher

As other possibilities I suggest [George Ernest] Barnett, [James Cummings] Bonbright, [Edward Dana] Durand, [Edwin Griswold] Nourse, [Sumner Huber] Slichter, John D. [Donald] Black, Holbrook Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen.

[signed]
J Viner

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Paul Howard Douglas

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

June 29, 1926

Professor L. C. Marshall
Faculty Exchange

Dear Mr. Marshall:

You have hit the nail on the head in your proposal to get under way for next summer, and I am very much pleased at your action. Answering your questions specifically may I say—

  1. That I do not expect to be in residence for the summer quarter of 1927.
  2. &3. Since I shall not be in residence no answers to these questions are, I take it, necessary.

 

  1. We should, I think, be certain to include adequate work in the following fields (a) Economic theory, (b) Monetary and banking theory, (c) Labor problems, (d) Statistics and quantitative economics, (e) Taxation and Public finance, (f) Economic history.
  2. As regards men from outside, I would recommend the following in each field: (a) Economic theory—[Herbert Joseph] H. J. Davenport, [John Rogers] J. R. Commons, [Frank Hyneman] F. H. Knight; (b) Monetary and banking theory—[Allyn Abbott] A. A. Young, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] O.M.W. Sprague, [James Waterhouse] James W. Angell; (c) Labor problems—Selig Perlman, Alvin [Harvey] H. Hansen; (d) Statistics and quantitative economics—[Frederick Cecil] F. C. Mills, [Robert Emmet] R. E. Chaddock, [William Leonard] W. L. Crum; (e) Taxation and public finance—[Harley Leist] H. L. Lutz, [William John] William J. Shultz; (f) Economic history—[Norbert Scott Brien] N. S. B. Gras.
  3. As people from outside to try for, might it not be possible to secure some one from England, such as [John Atkinson] John A. Hobson, Henry Clay, or [Dennis Holme] D. H. Robertson? Might it not also be possible to get Charles Rist from France or [Werner] Sombart from Germany?

Faithfully yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Douglas

P.S. The news that [Henry] Schultz and [Melchior] Palyi are to be with us next year is certainly welcome. Should we not let everyone know that they are coming, and should not a news note to this effect be sent on to the American Economic Review? [Handwritten note here: “Mr. Wright doing this”]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Lloyd Wynn Mints

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration

July 16, 1926

Memorandum to L. C. Marshall from L. W. Mints, concerning the work of the summer quarter, 1927.

  1. It is my present intention not to be in residence during the summer quarter, 1927, although I will be in the city, I suppose.
  2. It appears to me that we should attempt to get men from the outside who would represent some of the newer points of view rather than the orthodox fields. I should suppose that it would be desirable to have a man in statistics and, if he could be found, somebody to do something with quantitative economics. For the statistics I would suggest [William Leonard] Crum, [Frederick Cecil] Mills, [Frederick Robertson] Macaulay, [Willford Isbell] King, [Bruce D.] Mudgett, [Robert] Riegel. I am ignorant of the particular bents of some of the statistical men, but I should suppose that in quantitative economics [Holbrook] Working, [Alvin Harvey] Hansen, or [William Leonard] Crum might do something. Perhaps [Edmund Ezra] Day should be added to the men in Statistics.
    In economic history, as I remember it, we have had no outside help for a long time. I should like to see either [Noman Scott Brien] Gras or Max [Sylvius] Handman give some work here in the summer.
    Particular men who represent somewhat new points of view, and who might be had for the summer, I would suggest as follows: [Lionel Danforth] Edie, [Oswald Fred] Boucke, [Morris Albert] Copeland, [Sumner Huber] Slichter.
    In addition I should like very much to see either [Edwin Robert Anderson] Seligman or [John Rogers] Commons here for a summer.

[signed]
L.W.M.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Harry Alvin Millis

Answers to questions re Summer Teaching, 1927

  1. Yes, I feel that I must teach next summer unless that plan you have been interested in goes through.
  2. 342 [The State in Relation to Labor] and 440 [Research].
  3. 342 at 8; 440 hour to be arranged.
  4. 5. 6.: Should get a better rounded program than we have had. Should have an outstanding man in economic theory and another in Finance. For the former I would mention [John] Maurice Clark, [John Rogers] Commons, and [Frank Hyneman] Knight—in order named. For the latter I would mention [Allyn Abbott] Young, [James Harvey] Rogers. If we can get the money I should like to see [George Ernest] Barnett brought on for statistics and a trade union course.

 

  1. Would it be possible to have a seminar which would bring together the outside men and some of the inside men and our mature graduate students—these hand-picked? It might be made very stimulating.

[Signed]
H. A. Millis

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
Chester Whitney Wright

The University of Chicago
The Department of Political Economy

Memorandum to Marshall from Wright

Summer 1927
First term some aspects of economic history
1:30 or 2:30
May have to teach the whole summer but hope I can confine it to first term.
Can teach any phases of subjects in any fields suitable for term.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
James Alfred Field

[No written answer in the folder: however L. C. Marshall noted that Field would not be teaching in the summer term of 1927]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Response from
William Homer Spencer

The University of Chicago
The School of Commerce and Administration
Office of the Dean

July 12, 1926

Mr. L. C. Marshall
The Department of Political Economy

My dear Mr. Marshall:

As Mr. [Garfield Vestal] Cox does not wish to teach during the Summer Quarter of 1927, I wish the Department of Political Economy would try to get Mr. [Edmund Ezra] Day of Wisconsin [sic, Michigan is correct] who could give both a course in statistics and a course in forecasting. Forecasting is not given this summer and unless we get someone from the outside to give it, I presume it will not be given next summer.

Why does not the Department of Political Economy for the coming summer get someone like Mr. [Leverett Samuel] Lyon to give an advanced course in economics of the market for graduate students? The Department of Political Economy could handle half of his time and I perhaps could handle the other half for market management

Now that it appears that the Department of Political Economy cannot get any promising young men in the Field of Finance, why do you not try for [Chester Arthur] Phillips of Iowa? He will give good courses and will draw a great many students from the middle west to the University.

So far as my own program is concerned, I have not made much progress. I tried to get [Roy Bernard] Kester of Columbia, but he turned me down. I am placing a similar proposition before [William Andrew] Paton of Michigan. In the Field of Marketing, I am trying for [Frederic Arthur] Russell of the University of Illinois to give a course in salesmanship primarily for teachers in secondary schools. Otherwise I have made no progress in getting outside men for next summer.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
W. H. Spencer

WHS:DD

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records. Box 22, Folder 7.

Categories
Computing Economics Programs Faculty Regulations Fields Harvard

Harvard. Discussed at Faculty Meeting. Computer Access and “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” as Optional Field, 1959

 

Notes from a faculty meeting in my experience are more often a list of items, resolutions, motions, and votes than a narrative of the actual discussion. The transcribed notes in this post come from a 1959 Harvard economics faculty meeting that had two items on the agenda. The first was John R. Meyer’s report on how to manage graduate student computing needs if the department were to lose access to IBM-650 services. The second discussion was a continuation of a debate in the department whether a new Ph.D. oral examination field “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” should be introduced (plot spoiler: the resolution was tabled, at least for the time being).

_____________________

Economics Faculty Meeting Minutes
December 8, 1959

The Department of Economics met on Tuesday evening, December 8 [1959] at the Faculty Club. Those present: Messrs. Bergson, Chamberlin, Dorfman, Dunlop, Gerschenkron, Leontief, Mason, J. R. Meyer, Smithies (Chairman), Taylor, Black, McKie, Artle, Erbe, Daniere, Gill, Lefeber, Anderson, Baer, Gustafson, Hughes, Jones, Kauffman, Wilkinson, Mrs. Gilboy, and Miss Berman.

Abandonment of IBM-650

Professor John Meyer explained that with cheaper time available on newer computers within and outside the University the market for IBM-650 services is waning. A deficit on operations can be expected within a few months, and it will, therefore, be impossible to retain the machine. The problem the Department now faces is that of making available to students a computer training device comparable to the 650. The Harvard Univac can serve this purpose well although it is likely to disappear in the near future through the competition of better machines.

Professor Smithies called the attention of the meeting to two further effects of withdrawing the IBM-650:

(a) Students without outside financing will not, as in the past, be able to solve their problems by making use of free 650 time.

(b) It will no longer be possible to handle problems requiring a succession for short programs with some elements of trial and error; every program will have to be handed to an operator and the results, good or bad, will not be available until days later.

Both Professor Dorfman and Meyer vouched that, even under these impediments, the cost of most computations would be far lower through such a machine as the 704 than with the 650.

With respect to student training and student problem financing, Professor Leontief expressed the opinion that if scientific departments at Harvard can receive funds for the purchase of materials and equipment needed in the training of their students the Administration should certainly be ready to offer similar help in the social sciences. After hearing from Professor Meyer that the Dean’s offices had not been particularly responsive to this suggestion, Professor Leontief suggested than an arrangement could be entered with IBM by which we could contract at a discount for a large block of 705 time at their Cambridge Street laboratory with the understanding that we would sell some of the time to financially able Harvard users and utilize the remainder for training and computing students’ problems.

Professor Meyer agreed that this might become feasible in the near future when, with the appearance of an IBM-709 at the Smithsonian Institute and other 704’s in the neighborhood, IBM may face a buyers’ market. His proposal for the time being was to turn to Univac while it is still on our premises and to divert some of the departmental contributions now going to the support of the Littauer Laboratory to subsidize student training and to some extent student problems on the 704.

 

Introduction of a field labeled “Mathematical Economics and Econometrics” as an optional field for the oral Ph.D. examination

Professor Dorfman reintroduced his motion that “a field called ‘Mathematical Economics and Econometrics’ be one of the optional fields for the Ph.D. examination.” He recalled his previous arguments, i.e., that both Mathematical Economics and Econometrics become legitimate specialties in the general field of economics with a literature sufficiently abundant and specialized that a student well versed in economic theory and statistics will not generally know the former fields and that no student can become thoroughly familiar with them in his two years of graduate work unless his load is otherwise reduced. The substance of the proposed examination would be the literature in which relatively advanced methods of mathematical analysis are applied to economic theory and advanced methods of statistical analysis are applied to the processing of data relevant to economic problems.

The discussion centered around two objections: (1) to the extent that proficiency in economic theory is a prerequisite to mathematical economics and that an advance knowledge of statistics is required in econometrics, students who are examined in both the new field and one or both of the older fields of theory and statistics will obtain double credit for what is a single specialization and (2) an essential requirement of our Ph.D. is breadth of preparation in economics. As it is, nothing under the motion would prevent a student from presenting the following five fields: theory, statistics, mathematical economics and econometrics, mathematics and history. This clearly represents a narrow preparation and cannot be acceptable under our standards. The second objection, voiced most effectively by Professor Dunlop, was immediately recognized as valid, and Professor Dorfman amended his motion to include the condition that mathematics could not be presented jointly with the new field. He insisted, however, that students offering mathematical economics and econometrics are of such a type that, even without the amendment, they would not have taken advantage of the mathematics loophole. Their insistence on a mathematics examination is based entirely on the recognition that they cannot become proficient in their specialty while carrying in addition the same load as their colleagues.

Three different suggestions were offered as alternatives to the proposed motion.

(1) Professor Dunlop accepted the introduction of the new field as long as examinations in any or all of the three fields of theory, statistics, and mathematical economics and econometrics would not count toward more than two of the five fields required.

(2) Professor Chamberlin did not change the present field listing but proposed that a student could by previous arrangement ask to be examined in theory with emphasis on mathematical analysis, the requirements be correspondingly milder with respect to traditional theory and history of thought.

(3) Professor Bergson offered a variation of Professor Chamberlin’s proposal pointing out that, even without the introduction of mathematical analysis, economic theory is now a broad and somewhat ill-defined field so that, in order to better test the students’ analytical scale, fields of concentration should perhaps be agreed upon before the Ph.D. examination. He also emphasized that students do not after all stop learning after their oral examination and that since a student proficient in mathematics can be expected to make use of mathematical techniques in his thesis work the special examination might be the best time to test him on his ability in this field.

Professor Leontief injected a fatalistic note indicating that the problem will solve itself in the future as more and more students join the graduate school with a mathematical preparation such that the theory courses can make use of mathematical tools. For the present it would be unfortunate to have students neglect economic theory for the purpose of acquiring mathematical proficiency. We should, however, provide adequate training facilities for those who because of superior ability or previous preparation can benefit from courses in mathematical economics and, to the extent that recognition may be helpful, include a mention of their special skill in their records.

In view of the lack of agreement evidenced by the meeting, Professor Dunlop asked that the motion be tabled. All were in favor.

Andre Daniere
Secretary

Dictated 12/14/59

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics Correspondence and Papers, 1930-1961 and some earlier. (UAV349.11), Box 13.

Image Source: Harvard Faculty Club from JDeQ’s August 2, 2013  blog entry “Dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club“.

Categories
Economics Programs Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Political Economy course enrollments and final exams, 1884-1885

 

Six of eight courses listed in Political Economy were taught during the 1884-85 year at Harvard. This post provides the enrollment information as well as the June final examinations for all of those courses. Mid-year examinations are not included with one exception.

 

Note to self: only the mid-year examination for Taussig’s Political Economy 6 is included below, the others still need to be located.

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Political Economy 1.
Profs. Dunbar and Laughlin.

3 hours per week.

Laughlin’s Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on the Financial Legislation of the United States

Total: 166:  18 Seniors, 75 Juniors, 61 Sophomores, 4 Law, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. If a farmer had the alternative of spending a sum of money either for manures, or for the services of useless servants, in which way would he give the greater employment to the laboring class by his expenditure? Explain your answer.
  2. (a) Discuss the causes affecting the efficiency of production; and (b) point out the relation of an increase in production to cost of labor.
  3. Is it strictly true that high wages do not make high prices? What would be the effect on real wages of a considerable increase of money in the community?
  4. Make it clear that, even if the state should take possession of all the land and charge no rent, bread would not be cheapened.
  5. What is the usual relation of a low cost of production in the manufacturing industry to prices? What is the relation of a low cost of production to wages in the same industry? From your two conclusions what inference would you draw as to the effect of high wages in the United States on the ability of Americans to compete with foreigners in a common market?
  6. Give an example illustrating the working of reciprocal demand and supply, and point out its relations to cost of production.
  7. What made the coinage act of 1834 necessary?
  8. On whom does a house-tax fall?
  9. Explain the refunding operations in 1881, and state what has since been done with the bonds in question.
  10. Give the reasons which obliged the banks to suspend specie payments in 1861. In doing so, point out the necessary relation between the items in their accounts which led them to this step.
  11. Describe the two great financial successes of the war period, explain the character of the obligations offered by the Treasury, and state why success was gained.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 9-10.

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Political Economy 2.
Prof. Dunbar.

3 hours per week.

History of Economic Theory. — Selections from Leading Writers

Total: 21:  10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. Comment on the following:—

“Do the facts of history bear out the theory [of Ricardo]? If they do we shall find (1) that in any given area the amount of the produce of the land obtained in earlier times is greater in proportion to the number of laborers; (2) that of two countries, or two districts in the same country, if other things be equal, the one that is poorest in people is the one in which the average degree of personal wealth and comfort is the highest; (3) that the share that falls to the landlord increases, and that which falls to the laborer diminishes, as more land is brought under cultivation.” (Thompson’s Social Science, p. 93.)

  1. George says:—

“It is not necessary to the production [even] of things that cannot be used as subsistence, or cannot be immediately utilized, that there should have been a previous production of the wealth required for the maintenance of the laborers while the production is going on. It is only necessary that there should be, somewhere within the circle of exchange, a contemporaneous production of sufficient subsistence for the laborers, and a willingness to exchange this subsistence for the thing on which the labor is being bestowed.”
Is the necessity of previously produced subsistence avoided by the fact of “contemporaneous production,” etc.?

  1. George presents the current statement of the laws of distribution in this form:—

Rent depends on the margin of cultivation, rising as it falls and falling as it rises.
Wages depend upon the ratio between the number of laborers and the amount of capital devoted to their employment.
Interest depends upon the equation between the supply of and demand for capital; or, as is stated of profits, upon wages (or the cost of labor), rising as wages fall, and falling as wages rise.

“In the current statement the laws of distribution have no common centre, no mutual relation; they are not correlating divisions of a whole, but measures of different qualities.”
Can you rewrite this “current statement” so as to present the correlation which Mr. George misses?

  1. Is there in rent any force of its own, enabling it to encroach upon wages and profits, or does it merely fill the space opened before it by other forces? What limit is there to this encroachment or expansion?
  2. Criticise the following as a statement of the Wages Fund theory:—
    “The means of purchase and the motives acting upon the minds of employers jointly determine the effective demand for labor, as the means of purchase and the play of motives determine the effective demand for a commodity.”
  3. Crocker says, p. 7:—
    “Our wealthy classes, wishing to accumulate still greater wealth, sought to use a large portion of their control or power over labor in creating profitable investments for themselves….Comparatively little harm would have been done if the new investments had simply turned out to be unprofitable, and the old ones had continued to supply the rich their accustomed dividends, and to the poor their accustomed wages. The mischief has been that the new investments have, by competition, ruined for the time being the old ones; dividends and wages have stopped, and the income of all, both rich and poor, being cut down, their demands upon labor have been greatly diminished, and the laborer has been left in idleness and without the means of procuring the necessaries of life.”
    Aside from all questions of fact,— what is the flaw in the above if the reasoning is bad, and what is the remedy for the evil if the reasoning is good?
  4. What is Mr. Carey’s theory as to the tendency (1) to decline in the value of commodities, and (2) to rise in the value of land; and how is this reconciled with his principle that the law of value is universal, embracing everything, “whether land, labor, or their products”?
  5. “With every increase in the facility of reproduction, there is a decline in the value of all existing things of a similar kind, attended by a diminution in the price paid for their use. The charge for the use of the existing money tends, therefore, to decline as man acquires control over the great forces provided by the Creator for his service; as is shown by the gradual diminution of the rate of interest in every advancing country.”
    What is the difficulty in this reasoning as to the rate of interest, and how would the reasoning apply in the case of a currency of inconvertible paper?
  6. How far can apparent resulting harmonies in the general working of society (as g. in Carey’s and Bastiat’s law of distribution between capital and labor) be accepted as a test of the truth of an economic proposition?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 10-12.

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Political Economy 3.
Prof. Laughlin.

2 hours per week.
[Consent of instructor required]

Lectures and Discussion [of Practical Economic Questions]. Subjects: Money, Precious Metals, Bimetallism, American Shipping, History of Note-issues by Government and Banks. — One Thesis by each student on some practical question of the day, intended as an exercise in investigation

Total: 18:  10 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. Explain the proper theory of a subsidiary coinage. How far was this followed by Congress in first establishing our coinage?
  2. Discuss the bearing which by its advocates bimetallism is supposed to have on the stability of a standard of payments. What connection has the theory of a Multiple Standard to this discussion?
  3. How far can you safely reason from comparative tables of prices as to changes in the value of gold or silver?
  4. Discuss the efficacy of a bimetallic league of states in regulating the value of silver relatively to that of gold.
  5. Explain the causes which led to the remarkable fall of silver in 1876.
  6. State the causes which, in your opinion, led to the growth of American shipping to 1856.
  7. How far do you regard it true that the decline in American shipping was due to the consequences arising from the use of steam and iron in ships engaged in the foreign trade?
  8. What measures, if any, would you propose in order to reestablish our shipping?
  9. What is meant by an “elastic currency”? Compare, in this respect, the notes of the National Banks with the legal tender notes of the United States.
  10. Give (a) the reasons for the general adoption of the features of the New York Banking Act of 1838; and (b) the reasons which actually led to the establishment of the National Banking System in 1864.
  11. Discuss carefully some measure for giving security to National Bank notes when United States bonds shall be no longer obtainable for that purpose.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 12-13.

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Political Economy 4.
Prof. Dunbar.

3 hours per week.

Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures

Total: 152:  61 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 37 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 2 Law, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

Omit two questions
  1. Why was the repeal of the corn laws decisive as to the adoption of free trade by England?
  2. How did the French and Indian currencies tend to prevent the fall of gold after 1850 from being still heavier?
  3. How important a place among the causes of the decline of American shipping belongs to the civil war?
  4. The effects of the civil war on the system of landholding in the South and its probable ultimate effects on Southern industry.
  5. The steps by which the war determined the subsequent tariff policy of the United States.
  6. The causes of the suddenly increased importance of our trade in breadstuffs in the last ten years.
  7. Why did the payment of the French indemnity of 1871 seriously affect England, Austria and the United States?
  8. The real loss or gain of France and Germany respectively by the payment of the indemnity.
  9. What were the heavy demands for gold from 1871 to 1883, and why did they fail to produce serious financial disturbance?
  10. The difference in the development of city and of country banks respectively, in the United States and in England, and the inference to be drawn as to the future development of the banking systems.
  11. Why is a “triangular trade” between nations convenient and why is England the great centre for such trade?
  12. As the English government does not own nor tax the coal mines, why should fear of increasing cost of extracting coal lead Mr. Gladstone to favor an energetic reduction of the national debt.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, p. 13.

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Political Economy 5.
Prof. Laughlin.

1 hour per week.
[Consent of instructor required]

Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany

Omitted in 1884-85.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

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Political Economy 6.
Dr. Taussig.

1 hour per week.
[Consent of instructor required]

History of Tariff Legislation in the United States, with discussion of principles. — Lectures

Total: 40:  1 Graduate, 26 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[Mid-Year Examination, 1885]

(Omit either question 3 or question 4.)
  1. Comment briefly on the following:—
    “There is not a single great branch of domestic manufactures which had not been established in some form in this country long before a protective tariff had been or could have been imposed. The manufacture of iron is nearly as old as the history of every colony or territory in which there is any iron ore. The manufacture of woolens is as old as the country itself, and was more truly a domestic manufacture when our ancestors were clothed with homespun than now. The manufacture of cotton is almost as old as the production of the fibre on our territory.”
  2. Compare the tariff act of 1816 with that of 1824, noting difference in (1) the general range of duties, (2) the circumstances under which they were passed, (3) the action taken in regard to them by the representatives of New England, the Middle States, and the South. It has been said that “the tariff of 1816 marks the beginning of protection in this country,” and that “the tariff of 1824 was our first tariff worthy of the name of protection.” Which of these statements is true, if either?
  3. Comment on the following:—
    “No protective duty was ever levied on a single article, the home manufacture of which grew to large proportions under that duty, without the price to the consumer growing cheaper, the duty thus being a boon instead of a tax.”
    “A duty on an imported article is invariably added to its price, at the cost of the buyer, and added also to the price of like articles made here.”
  4. State carefully the argument for the protection of young industries and mention the conditions, if any, which might justify the application of such protection.
  5. Give a brief critical statement of the views expressed by Hamilton, Gallatin, Clay, and Webster on the protective controversy.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935. [Scrapbook of] Prof F. W. Taussig (HUC 7882).

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. State as nearly as you can the duties on the following articles from 1846 to 1884: pig-iron, steel-rails, wool, woollen cloths, silks, coffee, copper.
    Take any one of the following articles: pig-iron, wool, woollen cloths, silks, copper; and say something as to the economic effect of the duties on that one between 1860 and 1884.
  2. Give an account of the tariff act of 1864. Compare the tariff policy adopted in the United States after the close of the civil war, and with the policy of France after 1815.
  3. What has been the practice in our tariff acts since 1842 as regards the imposition of specific and ad valorem duties? Comment on the following: “It is an economic truth that the ad valorem system is the only equitable rule for assessing duties. With the whole power of a great government behind, there is no reason why the laws of the country should not be enforced. The outcry of undervaluation is simply a trick to blind the people, as it would be impossible to enact a law imposing duties of 80, 100, even 200 per cent. in the plain unvarnished form of ad valorem duties.”
  4. Comment briefly on two of the following:—
    (1)”The fairest and most satisfactory test of the effect of the tariff on prices is to compare prices of the same article under high and low tariffs. The average gold price of pig-iron before 1860 was $28.50 per ton; in recent years it has been $33.70. The average is higher by $5.20 under a high tariff than during the period of low duties.”
    (2) “Nothing can be more false than the claim of free trade advocates than that a duty is a tax that comes out of the farmers and artisans of this country. By far the greater part of the revenue collected on importations is the toll paid by people of other countries for the admission of their goods…I was assured by a score of manufacturers in England that the recent increase in the French tariff came out of their pockets, and not from the consumers in France; that they were compelled to sell their goods in France at the same price as before the increase of duty.”
    (3) “A conclusive answer to the assertion that the protective policy secures high wages to the laborers of this country, is found in the fact that wages are higher in the United States—absolutely and in comparison with the old world rates—in those industries which do not have, or confessedly do not need, protection.”
  5. Compare the grounds on which a policy of protection has been advocated in recent years with the grounds put forward in 1820-30, and give any reasons that may occur to you for changes in the arguments.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 14-15.

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Political Economy 7.
Prof. Dunbar.

1 hour per week.
[Consent of instructor required]

Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the United States

Omitted in 1884-85.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

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Political Economy 8.
Prof. Dunbar.

1 hour per week.
[Consent of instructor required]

History of Financial Legislation in the United States.

Total: 39:  1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 8
[Final Examination, June 1885]

[Omit two questions.]
  1. State the circumstances which led to the adoption of the Independent Treasury and hard money as the policy of the Democratic party.
  2. How close an approach had been made to the issue of a government currency, prior to the Act of July 17, 1861?
  3. What has been the legislation since 1861 on the taxation of United States bonds,
    (1) by national authority,
    (2) by State authority,
    and the reasons therefor?
  4. The causes of the failure of the movements for resumption from 1865-70.
  5. The reasons for and against the claim of authority, under which Mr. Richardson increased the outstanding legal tender notes from $356,000,000 to $382,000,000.
  6. Trace the origin of the present three percents of the United States.
  7. Criticise the following extract from Mr Boutwell’s Finance Report of 1872:—
    “As the circulation of a bank is a source of profit, and as the managers are usually disposed to oblige their patrons by loans and accommodations, it can never be wise to allow banks or parties who have pecuniary interests at stake to increase or diminish the volume of currency in the country at their pleasure. Nor do I find in the condition of things a law or rule on which we can safely rely. Upon these views I form the conclusion that the circulation of the banks should be fixed and limited, and that the power to change the volume of paper in circulation, within limits established by law, should remain in the Treasury Department….
    “The problem is to find a way of increasing the currency for moving the crops and diminishing it at once when that work is done. This is a necessary work, and, inasmuch as it cannot be confided to the banks, where, but in the Treasury Department, can the power be reposed?”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, p. 15.

Images Source:  Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Charles F. Dunbar (left) and James Laurence Laughlin (middle) and Frank W. Taussig (right).

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Activities of department of political economy, 1935-1936

 

Annual reports by university presidents often include chapters submitted by individual faculties, schools, and/or departments about their instructional, research, and outreach activities. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is as good a place as any to serve as a digital depository of such dispersed material that can document time-lines for individual economics departments and economists. It would be boring for both the curator and subscribers to be subject to a long continuous stream of such material from any one department, so from time to time, I’ll just add additional years and gradually complete the time-series of reports.

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1935-1936
POLITICAL ECONOMY
[at Johns Hopkins University]

The instruction in Political Economy was directed by Professor Hollander, who met students daily in seminary organization for formal study and for cooperative research. The courses were designed to afford systematic instruction in general economic principles, intimate acquaintance with special fields of economic activity, and, most important of all, knowledge of and ability to employ sound methods of economic research. Dr. George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics; Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. George H. Evans, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Howard E. Cooper, Associate in Political Economy; and Dr. Roy J. Bullock, Associate in Political Economy, assisted in the conduct of the work.

ECONOMIC SEMINARY

The papers and reports presented to the Seminary were as follows: Gregory King, the Political Arithmetician, by Professor Barnett; The History of British Preference Shares, by Dr. Evans; The Baltimore Wholesale, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market, by Mr. Deupree; Tench Coxe and the Federal Constitution, by Mr. Hutcheson; Hamilton’s Early Financial Papers, by Dr. Mitchell; Constitutional Restrictions on Economic Liberty, by Dr. Kahn; The Historical Development of the Massachusetts Municipal List, by Mr. Hickman; Food Marketing and Public Policy, by Dr. Bullock; The Baltimore Clearing House Association, by Mr. Hales; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Maryland, by Miss Wolman; The Trade Acceptance in America, by Mr. Wilcox; The Banking Principle and the Currency Principle, by Dr. Weyforth; The Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, by Mr. Douglas; The Literary and Economic Influences upon Alexander Hamilton, by Mr. Rappeport; Tench Coxe’s Plea for a National Economy, by Mr. Hutcheson; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Baltimore, by Miss Wolman; Administrative Control of Labor Relations, by Mr. Ziskind; The Fiduciary Nature of the Savings Bank, by Mr. Hickman; The Street Railway Industry, by Mr. Saks; The History of Marsh Market, by Mr. Deupree; The Origin of the Baltimore Clearing House, by Mr. Hales; Industrial Corporate Surplus, by Dr. Cooper; The Concept of Self Interest in Adam Smith and Related Writers, by Mr. Lovenstein; The Growth of Municipal Indebtedness in the United States, by Mr. Shattuck; Investment Affiliates in Recent American Banking, by Mr. Peach; Small Scale Enterprise in the Anthracite Coal Fields, by Mr. Lanyon.

Appreciable progress has been made by members of the Seminary in the study of special aspects of the several questions chosen for investigation. The income of the Lessing Rosenthal Fund for Economic Research has been of aid in connection with Mr. W. Braddock Hickman’s study of “The Legal Control of Savings Bank Investments in Massachusetts” and with Mr. Harold Hutcheson’s study of “Tench Coxe.” The Fund was also drawn upon for temporary advances toward defraying the cost of publication by the Johns Hopkins Press of Dr. Evans’ “British Corporation Finance,” of Dr. Wyckoff’s “Tobacco Regulation in Colonial Maryland,” and also a second impression of five numbers of the Economic Tracts, out of print.

The Hutzler Collection has continued to add to its works disclosing the development of American economic thought and American economic history. During the present session we have also acquired an admirable copy of the rare first edition of Graunt’s “Bills of Mortality,” and photostat copies of important writings of Gregory King and Charles Davenant for use in the forthcoming series of Economic Tracts. The recataloguing and the rearrangement of the collection, in progress for the past two years, will be completed in the coming months.

Professor Hollander lectured one hour a week on the Development of Economic Theory and one hour a week on Theory and Practice of Public Expenditure.

Professor Barnett lectured one hour a week throughout the year on American Trade Unionism.

Associate Professor Weyforth lectured one hour a week throughout the year on Industrial Fluctuations.

Associate Professor Mitchell lectured one hour a week throughout the year on The Slave South.

Associate Professor Evans lectured one hour a week during the first half-year on Index Numbers.

Dr. Cooper gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on The Interpretation of Financial Statements.

Dr. Bullock gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on Marketing of Consumers’ Goods by Manufacturers.

Members of the staff were called upon for public service in various capacities. Professor Barnett continued his service as a representative of the American Economic Association on the Advisory Committee of the Census. He was also appointed chairman of the Nominating Committee of the American Economic Association and Vice-President of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Weyforth was reappointed to the Maryland State Board of Examiners of Public Accountants. Dr. Mitchell served as consultant to the Director, Division of Review of the N. R. A. from November 1935 to March 1936. He was elected for the second time to membership on the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association.

The following undergraduate courses were given:

1. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth, Associate Professor Mitchell, and Associate Professor Evans.

2. Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Evans.

3. Money and Banking. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth.

6. Corporation Finance and Investments. Three hours weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

11. Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

12. Economic History. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Mitchell.

14. Advanced Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

16. The Money Market. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Hollander.

18. Wages and Employment. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

20. Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

21. Advanced Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

22. Commercial Law. Two hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Howell.

23. Mathematics of Finance and Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Richeson.

 

EVENING COURSES IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

During the past twenty years The Johns Hopkins University has offered a series of Evening Courses in Business Economics under the general direction of the Department of Political Economy. Such instruction is made available at hours and under conditions designed to meet the convenience of those likely to make use thereof. While designed in the main to offer instruction to young men and women actually engaged in or contemplating entrance into business, industry and commerce, the courses are planned to meet the needs also of those who have a more general interest in the subjects. The following courses were offered during the year:

Current Economic Problems, Professor Hollander; Investments, Professor Barnett; Money and Banking, Associate Professor Weyforth; Political Economy, American Economic History, Associate Professor Mitchell; Business Statistics, Corporation Finance, Associate Professor Evans; Corporation Accounting, Dr. Cooper; Elements of Business Administration, Marketing, Dr. Bullock; Elementary Accounting, Dr. Bryan; Mercantile Credit, Mr. Clautice; Auditing Principles and Practice, Federal and State Tax Accounting, Mr. Baker; Advanced Commercial Law, Dr. Watkins; Salesmanship and Salesmanagement, Mr. Ramsen; Advanced Auditing and Accountant’s Working Papers, Mr. Stegman; Applications of Psychology to Business, Dr. Bentley; Advanced Accounting Problems, Mr. McCord; Principles of Advertising, Mr. Corner; Commercial Law, Mr. Thomsen; Specialized Accounting, Cost Accounting, Mr. Smith; Business English, Public Speaking, Dr. Lyons.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

The academic year 1935-36 marked the fourteenth year of operation of the School of Business Economics. The School was established to take care of the increasing need of specialized academic training for men contemplating a business career. In planning the curriculum of the School of Business Economics there was kept in mind the need for an adequate training in certain fundamental subjects, as well as for specialized instruction in economics and business subjects. Accordingly, during the first two years the studies are rather closely prescribed and are selected so as to furnish an essential background for a career in any field of business. In these years the curriculum is very similar to that which would be taken in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the third year greater latitude is allowed the student in the selection of subjects, and in the fourth year nearly all the subjects are elective. During these last two years it is intended that there should be intensive specialization in studies in business economics.

Students in the School of Business Economics are called upon, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics, to submit in the last year of residence an essay dealing with some business or economic subject. A wide range of choice is permitted to students in the selection of subjects. A suggested list of topics is submitted to them, but they are not restricted to such topics. It is believed that one of the principal benefits that a student may derive from the writing of such an essay is the experience obtained in the independent gathering and organization of material; and the industry and zeal of the student is likely to be enhanced if the subject on which he is working is one of special interest to him. The subjects on which essays were written in the year 1935-36 included the following: Interest as a Cost to Manufacture; The Chain Store Movement in Men’s Wear Merchandising; Control and Planning of Department Store Merchandising; Accounting Presentation for the Executive; Production Indexes; Should Public Utility Holding Companies be Eliminated?; Advertising Agencies in the United States; Investment Value of Low, Medium, and High Priced Common Stocks; Public Policy Toward Chain Stores; The Federal Securities Act of 1933 and Its Amendments; Revaluation of Fixed Assets; The American Paper Industry; The Baltimore Consumer Market. Several students wrote on the Analysis of Financial Statements, each one selecting a different corporation as the basis of his study.

In 1936, 17 students were graduated. These students were awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics.

PUBLICATIONS

George E. Barnett.

Review of History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932, volumes III and IV, in American Economic Review, June 1936, pp. 339-342.

George Heberton Evans, Jr.

British Corporation Finance 1775-1850; A Study of Preference Shares. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press), pp. 208.

Jacob H. Hollander.

Two Letters on the Measure of Value by John Stuart Mill, 1822 (Editor). Fourth number of fourth series of Reprint of Economic Tracts. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1936), pp. 24.

Broadus Mitchell.

American Radicals Nobody Knows, in South Atlantic Quarterly, October 1935, pp. 394-401.

Economists and the Depression, in Social Frontier, April 1936, pp. 215-217.

Articles in Dictionary of American Biography, as follows: vol. XV—Enoch Pratt, pp. 171-172; John Rae, pp. 321-322; vol. XVI—Edward Van Dyke Robinson, pp. 42-43; Jacob Schoenhof, pp. 450-451; XVII—Stephen Simpson, pp. 183-184; Lysander Spooner, pp. 466-467; XVIII—Philip Evan Thomas, pp. 442-443; Robert Ellis Thompson, pp. 469-470; Daniel Augustus Tompkins, pp. 581-583.

—and reviews as follows:

Parmelee, Farewell to Poverty, in Social Frontier, January 1936, p. 122.

Lawrence, Stumbling into Socialism, in The Annals, January 1936, pp. 281-282.

Ely and Bohn, The Great Change, in The Annals, November 1935, pp. 191-192.

Douglas, Controlling Depressions, and Fledderus and van Kleeck, On Economic Planning, in New Republic, August 28, 1935, p. 81.

Harvey, Samuel Gompers, in Journal of Political Economy, February 1936, pp. 106-107.

Baker, Concerning Government Benefits, in The Survey, June 1936, p. 188.

Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, in Virginia Quarterly Review, July 1936, pp. 453-457.

William O. Weyforth.

Review of A New Monetary System of the United States (Related Studies), in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, November 1935, pp. 308-309.

Jacob H. Hollander,
Abram G. Hutzler Professor of Political Economy.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. University Circular. Annual Report of the President, 1935-1936, Vol. 481, (November 1936), pp. 99-103.

Categories
Economics Programs M.I.T.

M.I.T. Economics and Political Science, excerpt from President’s Report, 1961

 

M.I.T.’s department of economics has done historically well in attracting graduate students who have received third-party funding, e.g. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships. Besides offering a top-down report of the position of the economics department at M.I.T., the excerpt from the President’s 1961 Centennial Year Report transcribed below offers the factual nugget: “This year, too, M.I.T. was selected as first choice by more Woodrow Wilson Fellows in economics — eighteen out of eighty — than any other school in the country”.

_____________________

Also from 1961

M.I.T. Graduate Economics Brochure of 1961.

General Examinations in Economic Theory at M.I.T. from 1961: Microeconomics; Macroeconomics.

Fun antique video. Round table discussion with Jerome Wiesner, Jerrold Zacharias, and John Burchard of MIT with Raymond Aron of the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Isidor Rabi of Columbia University, and Sir Eric Ashby of Cambridge University was filmed as part of the Tomorrow television series produced by CBS Television Network for MIT on occasion of MIT’s Centennial in 1961.

_____________________

From the President’s Report 1961, M.I.T.

The Social Sciences In the light of the concerns of the Centennial for the larger influences of science upon society, I think it appropriate to review this year the state of the social sciences at the Institute. That we should have become occupied with these areas was inevitable, and the Institute has a clear obligation to cultivate especially those that relate most directly to modern developments in engineering, science, and mathematics. M.I.T. has recognized this responsibility and has responded with strong and growing support to work in the social sciences in the School of Humanities and Social Science and elsewhere. These activities are giving to the Institute an entirely new dimension that few not associated intimately with M.I.T. yet appreciate.

It is a simple truth that the interests of the great physical and social sciences were never more interwoven than today. The overriding practical problems of our time — defense; disarmament; the economics of change; the politics of peace; the relationships among industry, science, and government — require joint technical and social analysis. The very progress of science is influenced by the broader social context, and the advances of engineering affect all our human institutions.

In our decision to encourage the growth of certain key social sciences at M.I.T., we determined not only to build on strength, but also to exploit particularly those that have special relevance to our central concerns with science and engineering. We hope to create more points of contact between the social and physical sciences and to foster more fruitful collaboration between them. In this way, in spite of enormous pressures for growth, we can delimit the domain of our interests and the way in which we allocate our resources to them.

We have given special attention to those fields in which mathematics and statistical techniques are playing an increasingly important role. This is, of course, completely compatible with our M.I.T. style, with our desire to be governed in our approach to problems by a sense of the quantitative, the analytical, the mathematical. But by no means are we seeking to build our social sciences in the image of the physical. We recognize full well the many differences in set and attitude that distinguish them. An exaggerated insistence on emphases that are too narrow or criteria that are too rigid will only defeat our long-range objective of making the social sciences an integral part of the modern scientific university. Each field must be free to develop in its own way, to follow with complete freedom its own professional instincts.

From this point of view, the flowering of the social sciences at M.I.T. represents a new experience for us. Accustomed as we are to the demonstrable factual data of the physical sciences, we must accept the larger subjective element of judgment that enters into the social sciences in their present state. Since developments in many of these areas are open to a variety of interpretations, we must foster, within the limits of our aims and resources, a range of views and interests. The ultimate safeguard, however, lies not in seeking an impossible balance among modes of thought, but in recruiting a faculty of the highest intellectual power and integrity. This we have done.

In my report of a year ago I touched on a faculty survey of the social sciences which gave highest priority for development to fields of economics and economic history, political science, and psychology. I want now to comment briefly on the current status of these fields at the Institute and to examine in passing our commitments and our hopes in these areas.

ECONOMICS The oldest social science at M.I.T., economics is still by a sizable margin the largest. The teaching of economics goes back to 1881 and Francis Amasa Walker. General Walker, the Institute’s third president and one of its great builders, was an authority on political economy — as economics was then called — and his understanding of the processes in American industrial development notably influenced his views on the education of engineers. He gave an outstanding lecture course on political economy and was the author of a distinguished text in the field. He also brought other economists to the Institute.

Yet, until well into the modern era of M.I.T., economics remained largely a service department for the School of Engineering. Only since World War II has the department matured and assumed a truly professional character. Today it is universally conceded to be among the most distinguished. Indeed, by any of the usual measures — the stature of its teachers, the quality of its research, the achievements of its graduates — it ranks in the small handful of leaders. This year the president of the American Economic Association [Paul Samuelson] and the presidents-elect of the Econometric Society [Franco Modigliani] and of the Industrial Relations Research Association [Charles A. Myers] are members of this department. This year, too, M.I.T. was selected as first choice by more Woodrow Wilson Fellows in economics — eighteen out of eighty — than any other school in the country. The strengths which have won this kind of recognition within the profession are substantial indeed. They were achieved, essentially, by encouraging economics at M.I.T. to chart its own professional course; by the development of a distinguished graduate curriculum and of a major research program; and by insistence on the same standards of excellence we demand of our scientific and engineering departments. As a consequence, we have accomplished in economics the same kind of comprehensive renovation of purpose that Karl Compton undertook at an earlier date for the School of Science.

Economics at M.I.T. is also an important resource for other areas of teaching and research, and for the School of Industrial Management in particular. Management education at M.I.T. grew out of our teaching in economics, and today the teaching and research of the Department and the School reinforce one another more strongly than ever. Much of the research of the Department bears directly on the interests of the School — research on the economics of particular technologies; on the problems of measurement of productivity and output; on the contribution of technical progress to economic growth; on the origin and growth of new enterprises. Through this close relationship between the Department and the School, we also enjoy a fruitful interchange of theoretical and practical points of view.

The history and current role of economics at M.I.T. is the model for our development of other social sciences. We have now established sections of political science and of psychology within the Department of Economics and Social Science. Both are fields in which student and faculty interest is keen and in which we have unusual opportunities to make important contributions.

POLITICAL SCIENCE Because of the interweaving of technology with all the affairs of the modern world, and especially with those of government, we have set high priority on the development of political science. It is an area in which we have been moving rapidly ahead. This June we awarded our first Ph.D. degrees in this field, and there are now about thirty doctoral candidates within the Section. In addition, some five hundred undergraduates take elective courses in political science each year.

The Section now offers courses in six fields of political science, all of which are related to other interests of the Institute: international relations and foreign policy, political communication, defense policy, government and science, political and economic development, and political theory and comparative politics. Besides providing opportunities for combining work in political science with a scientific or engineering field, the faculty of the Section maintain close ties with their colleagues in economics, psychology, industrial management, and city and regional planning.

In the past two years, we have developed superlative strength in the field of comparative politics of developing areas, and through the association of the Section with the Center for International Studies we probably have as strong a faculty as is to be found anywhere in the politics of development. In support of this work, the Institute received two notable gifts this year. One, the donation of $500,000 from Dr. Arthur W. Sloan and Dr. Ruth C. Sloan of Washington, D.C., establishes a professorship in political science with emphasis on African studies. Not only does this gift provide an important new endowed professorship, but it also recognizes in a most dramatic way the growing stature of political science at the Institute.

The second grant is one of $475,000 from the Carnegie Corporation for research in training on the politics of transitional societies. The grant will make possible expansion of our research on the problems of nation-building in transition countries such as the newly emerged African and Asian nations. It, too, gives substantial recognition to the quality of our program. The Carnegie grant, among other benefits, establishes graduate fellowships both for course work at M.I.T. and for field work towards the doctoral thesis. We are enthusiastic about the values to be derived from this aspect of the grant which will permit us to send our students overseas for on-the-spot research in developing areas.

We have enjoyed magnificent opportunities for field studies in other areas of our political science activities through the generous support of the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Ford Foundation has also underwritten much of our work on government and science, and the Rockefeller Foundation this year supported a new seminar on arms control. This seminar brought together some thirty individuals in the Cambridge academic community with strong interests in both the technological and political aspects of this subject. We very much hope that this may prove to be the beginning of a substantial new research program on defense policy.

This brief sampling of our progress in political science is intended only to suggest the vitality of this field at the Institute. It has grown quickly, but without over- stretching itself. It has set high standards in research, and it has developed both its undergraduate and graduate courses in a most creative and constructive spirit. This new venture for M.I.T., in sum, has met with outstanding success.

[Reports on Psychology and Linguistics complete this  section of the President’s Report]

 

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The President’s Report 1961. pp. 11-16.

Image Source: The M.I.T. mascot beaver on the cover of its yearbook, Technique 1949.

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United States. Courses of Study of Political Economy. 1876 and 1892-93.

 

The first article in the inaugural issue of The Journal of Political Economy, “Courses of Study in Political Economy in the United States in 1876 and in 1892-93,” was written by the founding head of the University of Chicago’s department of political economy, J. Laurence Laughlin. This post provides Laughlin’s appendix that provided information about economics courses taught in 65 colleges/universities in the United States during the last quarter of the 19th century. The bottom line of the table is that “aggregate hours of instruction in 1892-3 [were] more than six times the hours of instruction given in 1876”.

__________________________

How little Political Economy and Finance were taught only fifteen years ago, as compared with the teaching of to-day, must be surprising even to those who have lived and taught in the subject during that period…. At the close of the war courses of economic study had practically no existence in the university curriculum; in short, the studious pursuit of economics in our universities is scarcely twenty years old. These considerations alone might be reasons why economic teaching has not yet been able to color the thinking of our more than sixty millions of people. But about the close of the first century of our national existence it may be said that the study of Political Economy entered upon a new and striking development. This is certainly the marked characteristic of the study of Political Economy in the last fifteen years. How great this has been may be seen from the tables giving the courses of study, respectively, in about 60 institutions in the year 1876 and in 1892-3. (See Appendix I.) The aggregate hours of instruction in 1892-3 are more than six times the hours of instruction given in 1876.” [Laughlin, p. 4]

__________________________

Courses of Study in Political Economy in the United States in 1876 and in 1892-93.

Note: Returns could not be obtained from Johns Hopkins University, Amherst College, and some other institutions.

Institution.

Description of Courses.

1876.

1892-3.

No. hours per week.

No. weeks in year. No. hours per week.

No. weeks in year.

University of Alabama.

Text Book and Lectures, Senior Year

Finance and Taxation

4

2

36

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 216
Boston University. Principles of Political Economy 3 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

Elementary (Required)

Advanced (Elective)

5

14

4

4

12

10

[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 88
Brown University, Providence, R. I.

Elementary

History of Econ. Thought

Advanced Course

[2nd] Advanced Course

Seminary of History, Pol. Sci., and Pol. Econ.

16-17

3

3

3

3

2

33-34

11-12

11

11

23

[Total hours of instruction per year] 40-42½ 242-250
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 1.     Introductory Political Economy

2.     Descriptive Political Economy

3.     Advanced Political Economy

4.     Industrial and Economic History

5.     Scope and Method

6.     History of Political Economy

7.     Unsettled Problems

8.     Socialism

9.     Social Economics

10.   Practical Economics

11.   Statistics

12.   Railway Transportation

13.   Tariff History of U.S.

14.   Financial History of U.S.

15.   Taxation

16.   Public Debts

17.   Seminary

5

4

5

4

4

5

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

12

12

12

24

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 996
Colby University, Waterville, Maine.

Elementary [1st]

Elementary [2nd]

Theoretical

Historical

5

7

2

2

4

4

13

10

13

10

[Total hours of instruction per year] 35 138
Columbia College (School of Political Science, New York City. 1.     Principles of Political Economy (Element.)

2.     Historical Practical Political Economy (Advanced)

3.     History of Economic Theory (Advanced)

4.     Public Finance (Adv.)

5.     Railroad Problems (Adv.)

6.     Finan. History of U.S. (Adv.)

7.     Tariff History of U.S. (Adv.)

8.     Science of Statistics (Adv.)

9.     Communism and Socialism (Adv.)

10.   Taxation and Distribution (Adv.)

11.   Seminarium in Political Economy (Element.)

12.   Seminarium in Public Finance and Economy (Adv.)

13.   Law of Taxation (Adv.)

3 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9
given in alternate years.

2

 

 

 

17

 

 

 

2

 

3

2

 

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

 

 

2

2

17

 

34

34

 

34

25

34

17

34

34

17

34

 

34

17

[Total hours of instruction per year] 34 764
Columbian University, Washington, D.C. Elements of Political Economy 5 8
[Total hours of instruction per year] 40
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 1.     Elementary Political Economy

2.     Advanced Political Economy

3.     Finance

4.     Financial History

5.     Railroad Problems

6.     Currency and Banking

7.     Economic History

8.     Statistics

2

11

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

34

34

34

13

11

10

34

34

[Total hours of instruction per year] 22 408
Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3.     Advanced Finance and Tariff

6

6

6

6

6

6 2/3

4 1/6

3 1/3

[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 85
University of Denver, Col. 1.     Ely’s Introduction

2.     Ingram’s History

3.     Gilman’s Profit-Sharing

4.     Ely, Labor Movement in America

5.     Kirkup’s and Rae’s Socialism

6.     Finance and Taxation

7.     International Commerce

2

1

1

2

2

4

2

15

5

5

5

5

5

5

[Total hours of instruction per year] 90
DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.

Economics (Elementary)

Seminarium (Advanced)

4

12

4

2

18

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 144
Drury College, Springfield, Mo. Elementary Course 5 6 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 60
Emory College, Oxford, Ga. Jevons’ Text, and Lectures. 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60
Franklin and Marshall College. Political Economy, (Walker’s) 2 15 2 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 40
Georgetown College, Ky. 1.     General Economics

2.     Special Topics

5

15

3

3

20

20

[Total hours of instruction per year] 75 120
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1.     Introductory

2.     Theory (Advanced)

3.     Economic History from 1763

4.     Railway Transportation

5.     Tariff History of U.S.

6.     Taxation and Public Debts

7.     Financial Hist. of U.S.

8.     Condition of Workingmen

9.     Economic Hist. to 1763

10.   History of Theory to Adam Smith

Seminary

3

3

30

30

3

3

3

3

2

3

2

3

3

2

2

30

30

30

15

15

30

15

30

30

15

30

[Total hours of instruction per year] 180 735
Haverford College, Pa. Economic Theory 2 40
[Total hours of instruction per year] 80
Howard University, Washington, D. C. Elementary 5 10 5 10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 50 50
Illinois College and Whipple Academy, Jacksonville, Ill. Newcomb’s Polit. Economy, Seniors 5 15
[Total hours of instruction per year] 75
University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill. Senior Class 5 11 5 11
[Total hours of instruction per year] 55 55
Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa.

Political Economy

Taxation

Railroad Problems

Socialism

5

10

3

3

3

3

37

14

12

11

[Total hours of instruction per year] 50 222
State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

Elements of Economics

Currency and Banking

Industrial Revolutions of 18th Century

Recent Econ. History and Theory

Railroads, Pub. Regulation of

Seminary in Polit. Econ.

5

 

14

 

5

5

2

 

2

2

1

14

11

14

 

11

10

35

[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 230
Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kan. Elementary, 4th year 5 8 5 11
[Total hours of instruction per year] 40 55
Kansas State University, Lawrence, Kansas. 1.     Elements of Political Economy

2.     Applied Economics

3.     Statistics

4.     Land Tenures

5.     Finance

5

19

5

3

2

2

2

19

19

19

19

19

[Total hours of instruction per year] 95 266
Lake Forest University, Lake Forest, Ill. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3

11

3

3

16

13

[Total hours of instruction per year] 33 87
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. 1.     Political Economy, Elem., Junior Year

2.     Financial Hist. of U.S., Jun. and Sen. Year

3.     Taxation, Junior and Senior Year

4.     History of Commerce

5.     History of Industry, Junior and Senior Year.

6.     Socialism, etc. (Option), Jun. and Sen. Year

7.     History of Economic Theory (Opt.), Senior

8.     Statistics and Graphic Methods, Junior

9.     Statistics and Sociology (Option) Senior

2

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

3

3

 

3

3

 

3

2

 

2

3

15

15

 

15

15

 

15

15

 

15

15

[Total hours of instruction per year] 30 375
Michigan Agricultural College. Primary Course 5 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1.     Elements of Political Economy

2.     Elements of Political Economy

3.     Hist. Devel. of Industr. Society

4.     Finance

5.     Problems in Pol. Econ

6.     Transportation Problem

7.     Land Tenure and Agrarian Movements

8.     Socialism and Communism

9.     Currency and Banking

10.   Tariff History of U.S.

11.   Indust. and Comm. Develop. of U.S.

12.   History of Pol. Econ.

13.   Statistics

15.   Economic Thought

16.   Labor and Monopoly Problems

17.   Seminary in Finance

18.   Seminary in Economics

20.   Social Philosophy with Economic Relations

21.   Current Econ. Legislation and Literature

 

18

 

3

4

3

4

4

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

2

1

 

2

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

 

18

[Total hours of instruction per year] 45 756
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. 1.     Elementary (Junior Class)

2.     Advanced (Senior Class)

3.     Finance (Senior Class)

4.     Seminary

4

4

10

10

3

2

2

1

35

21

14

21

[Total hours of instruction per year] 80 196
University of Minnesota. 1.     Elementary

2.     Advanced

3.     Am. Pub. Economy

4.     Undergraduate Seminary

5.     Graduate Seminary

5

13

4

4

4

2

1

13

13

10

23

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 65 226
University of Mississippi, University, Miss. Advanced 5 30
[Total hours of instruction per year] 150
Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.

Polit. Econ. (General)

Polit. Econ. Seminary

4

2

12

12

[Total hours of instruction per year] 72
College of New Jersey at Princeton.

Pol. Econ. (Elem., Elective)

Pol. Econ. (Elem., Required)

Finance (Elective)

Historics—Econ. Semin.

2

13

2

2

2

16

16

15

[Total hours of instruction per year] 26 94
College of the City of New York. 16
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48*
New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Hanover, N. H. Elementary—Perry or Walker 4 10-12 5 10
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 50
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 1.     Elementary Polit. Econ.

2.     Advanced Polit. Econ.

3.     Finance

4.     History Econ. Thought

5.     Economic and Social Problems

6.     “Money,” etc.

5

12

5

5

3

3

3

2

11

12

25

13

12

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 60 337
Ohio State University.

Elementary

Advanced

Finance

Seminary (Indust. History)

2

2

2

2

38

26

12

38

[Total hours of instruction per year] 228
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. 4 12 4 12
[Total hours of instruction per year] 48 48
Penn. Military Academy, Chester, Penn. Elementary 5 13
[Total hours of instruction per year] 65
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton, School of Finance and Economy, Philadelphia, Penn. 1.     Grad. Course in Finance

2.     Grad. Course in Theoretical Polit. Econ.

3.     Grad. Course in Statistics

4.     Elem. Course in Finance

5.     Elem. Course in Theoret. Polit. Econ.

6.     Elem. Course in Statistics

7.     Elem. Course in Practical Polit. Econ.

8.     Course in Money

9.     Course in Banking

10.   Advanced Course in Political Economy

11.   Economic History of Europe

12.   Grad. Course in Practical Polit. Econ.

13.   Econ. and Fin. History of U.S.

14.   Grad. Econ. History of the U.S.

15.   Grad. English Econ. History from 13th to 17th century

16.   Modern Econ. History.

 

 

1

2

3

3

2

2

2

2

1

2

3

2

2

4

 

3

3

30

30

30

30

30

15

15

15

30

30

30

30

30

30

 

30

30

[Total hours of instruction per year] 1020
Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Elementary Course 3 19
[Total hours of instruction per year] 57
Randolph Macon College, Ashland, Va. Elementary 2 32 2 32
[Total hours of instruction per year] 64 64
University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.

Elementary

Econ. Polit. History U.S.

5

14

5

1

14

20

[Total hours of instruction per year] 70 90
Rutger’s College. Polit. Econ. (Elementary) 3 12 4 22
[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 88
Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

Elementary Course

Adv. Course in Theory

Seminarium

Practical Studies

3

12

3

3

2

2

14

14

10

12

[Total hours of instruction per year] 36 128
South Carolina College, Columbia, S.C.

Polit. Econ. Senior Class

Applied Polit. Econ.

2

2

40

20

[Total hours of instruction per year] 120
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penn.

Polit. Econ. (Walker)

Finance

Protection and Free Trade

Money and Banking

History of Econ. Theories

4

4

4

4

4

20

10

10

10

10

[Total hours of instruction per year] 240
Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

Elementary

Finance

Industrial Development since 1850

Seminary

3

2

2

2

14

10

12

38

[Total hours of instruction per year] 162
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

Elementary

Advanced (Post-Graduate)

3

2

20

Varies

[Total hours of instruction per year] 100?
University of Texas, Austin, Texas. General 3 36
[Total hours of instruction per year] 108
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

Elementary

Advanced

Finance

4

13

3

4

2

17

17

17

[Total hours of instruction per year] 52 153
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Political Economy, Elementary

Political Economy, Advanced

3

36

3

3

36

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 108 216
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.

Principles of Economics

Economic History

Railroads, Trusts, and Relation of State to Monopolies

Labor Problem and Socialism

Seminary

 

 

3

3

2

 

2

2

18

18

18

 

18

18

[Total hours of instruction per year] 216
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont.

Elementary

Advanced

3

2

20

20

[Total hours of instruction per year] 100
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Theory of Economics

Science of Society

3

26

3

16

16

[Total hours of instruction per year] 78 88
Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa. Political Economy 3 11 3 16
[Total hours of instruction per year] 33 48
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Elementary

Advanced

3

3

14

26

[Total hours of instruction per year] 120
Washington University, St. Louis. Prescribed Course 3 20 3 20
[Total hours of instruction per year] 60 60
Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

Industrial History

Economic Theory

Statistics (Seminary)

Socialism (Seminary)

3

3

3

3

18

18

18

18

[Total hours of instruction per year] 216
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.

General Introductory (Sen.)

General Introductory (Jun.)

Economic Problems

36

2

3

2

36

18

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 54 198
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Elementary Pol. Economy

Advanced Pol. Economy

2

2

14

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 100
Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Political Economy 6 14 3 15
[Total hours of instruction per year] 84 45
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Econ. Seminary

Distribution of Wealth

History of Pol. Econ.

Money

Public Finance

Statistics

Recent Econ. Theories

Synoptical Lectures

Outlines of Economics

2

5

5

5

3

3

3

1

4

37

14½

12

10½

37

12

14½

15

37

[Total hours of instruction per year] 612½
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Pol. Econ.**—Elem. (2)

Pol. Econ.—Adv. (3)

Economic History (2)

Finance, Public (2)

Finance, Corporate (2)

Mathematical Theory (1)

Seminary Instruction (2)

3

2

 

36

36

36

4

3

4

2

3

1

1

36

36

36

36

36

36

36

[Total hours of instruction per year] 180 648

* [College of the City of New York] A few hours additional are given in the work of the Department of Philosophy; the whole number amounting to some 52 or 53.

** [Yale University] Figures in brackets represent numbers of courses under each head.

SourceAppendix I to “The Study of Political Economy in the United States” by J. Laurence Laughlin, The Journal of Political Economy, vol. 1, no. 1 (December, 1892), pp. 143-151.

Image Source:  J. Laurence Laughlin drawn in the University of Chicago yearbook Cap and Gown (1907), p. 208.