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Chicago Exam Questions Theory

Chicago. Graduate preliminary examination in economic theory, incomplete. Winter, 1956

 

Artifacts displayed in museums, especially ancient artifacts, are perhaps more often as not, flawed. So too with the documentary record. Sometimes we have gaps. Rather than mourn the missing documents, we celebrate what we have gotten our hands and eyes on. And so this post gives us the True-False-Uncertains questions of the winter quarter 1956 economic theory prelim exam from the department of economics at the University of Chicago.

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Links to previously posted Chicago prelim exams.

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ECONOMIC THEORY
Preliminary Examination
Winter Quarter 1956
(incomplete)

Write your number, and not your name, on your examination paper.
Answer all questions.
Time: 4 hours.

  1. (40 points) True, False or Uncertain. Explain your answer.
    1. Since the costs of finding oil are virtually constant over the relevant range of exploration now going on, the depletion allowance which amounts to a subsidy to companies which extract the oil they find is purely a device which increases the profits of the oil companies at the expense of the taxpayer.
    2. A minimum wage law may reduce the demand for labor by some firms and may have no effect on the demand by other firms, but will never increase it.
    3. The sum of the income elasticities of demand for all commodities (by a single consumer) is unity, while the sum of their price elasticities is zero.
    4. If the marginal utility of each commodity diminishes with increases in the rate of consumption, then no commodity will be an inferior commodity.
    5. The fact that new commodities are typically introduced into a consumer’s budget when his income rises implies that the marginal utility of the commodities he was already consuming must have been falling.
    6. Although the demand schedule for a productive service by a firm buying competitively must have a negative slope, the demand schedule for a productive service by a monopsonistic firm may have either a positive or negative slope.
    7. The futures price of a commodity equals the current spot price plus the cost of storing the commodity for the length of the futures contract.
    8. The existence of effective rent control on old dwellings decreases the demand for new dwellings.
    9. Family size has declined in the United States from 1900 to 1950; yet per capita income has increased. If there were no change in tastes, this would imply that children are an inferior commodity.
    10. The existence of firms of different sizes in the same industry implies that there is a horizontal marginal cost curve for firms in the industry.
    11. Immigration to the United States of a million unskilled laborers from abroad would increase the average per capita income of everyone previously living in the United States.
    12. The fact that managers of many large corporations in the United States own a small fraction of the common stock of these corporations implies that the policies of these corporations are often not in the best interests of the stockholders.
    13. The figures for national income show that during the 20th century, per capita national income has grown at a faster rate in the United States than in India. This implies that Indians have been saving a smaller fraction of their incomes.
    14. If we replaced the income tax in the United States by a sales tax, the change would induce persons to shift away from occupations that have large nonpecuniary advantages.
    15. The competitive firm attempts to equalize marginal cost, average cost and price.
    16. When a firm’s average cost is decreasing, its marginal cost is decreasing and is less than average cost.
    17. Between 1951, and 1956 farm product prices (relative to prices paid by farmers) fell by about 20 percent; farm output increased by about 9 percent. This implies that the supply function for farm products is backward bending.
    18. If all firms paid each factor the value of its marginal product and if all product prices were equal to their respective marginal costs, it would not be possible to increase the output of one product without decreasing the output of some other product.
    19. Two products are produced in fixed proportions. An increase in the demand for one of the products would result in a fall in the price of the other product and, all other things constant, the fall in the price of the second product will be the greater, the greater the relative importance of the second product in the total receipts derived from producing the two joint products.
    20. The existence of overtime pay at premium rates proves that the supply of labor is backward bending.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129. Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1955-1957”.

Image Source: Coat of arms of the University of Chicago.

The University Coat of Arms, a shield displaying the phoenix below and the book and motto above, was adopted by the Board of Trustees on August 16, 1910. The University motto Crescat scientia; vita excolatur was adopted by the Board on January 17, 1911 and added to the Coat of Arms on the pages of the open book.
The Coat of Arms was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, a heraldic specialist in Boston working under contract to the Board of Trustees. No surviving documents make clear precisely why the phoenix was adopted as the central element on the Coat of Arms, but the most probable assumption is that the phoenix can be seen as a symbol of the city of Chicago, which was seriously damaged by the great Chicago Fire of 1871 and then was successfully rebuilt, or reborn, within just a few years.

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Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

Note: The chronological ordering of quarters at the University of Chicago during a calendar year goes Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. For this reason the following is arranged chronologically.

Categories
Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Distribution Theories and Distributive Justice. Description, enrollment, exams. Carver, 1912-1913

J. S. Pughe: The socialists' theory, and how it would work out

As was the case for Charles Jesse Bullock’s two semester sequence of public finance and taxation courses being merged into a single two semester course, two of Thomas Nixon Carvers’s semester courses were merged into a single one year course starting in the academic year 1912-13.

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Links to previous Harvard exams on distribution and
schemes for distributive justice
1904-05 to 1911-12.

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ECONOMICS 7
Course Description
1912-13

[Economics] 7 (formerly 14a and 14b). Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. ——.

Course 7 undertakes an analysis of the laws of value, as applied to consumable goods and to agents of production, and an examination of the relation of the laws of value to the problem of social adjustment; also a critical reading of various works on the distribution of wealth, on socialism, on the single tax, and other special schemes for attaining the ideals of economic justice.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, p. 62.

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ECONOMICS 7
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 7. (formerly 14a and 14b). Professor Carver. Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice.

Total 25: 3 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

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ECONOMICS 7
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

Consider the questions very carefully. Make your answers accurate and complete. Beware of omitting important points.

  1. Define goods, utility, economy, scarcity, productivity, capital, property, wealth.
  2. Why are prices determined by the law of demand and supply, (a) in the case of consumers’ goods; (b) in the case of producers’ goods.
  3. What, precisely, is self interest? How would you describe a benevolent as contrasted with a selfish person?
  4. Why are wages high in some occupations and low in others?
  5. Compare the Ricardian law of rent with the theory that the rent of a given piece of land is equal to its specific productivity.
  6. Why does a piece of capital normally return to its owner more than enough to repay the cost of producing it?

Source: Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1912-13.

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ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination
1912-13

  1. Explain and illustrate the principle of marginal utility and its relation to the value of consumers’ goods.
  2. Explain and illustrate the law of variable proportions and its relation to the value of the factors of production.
  3. Discuss the various criteria of justice in the distribution of wealth.
  4. Explain and illustrate exactly what you understand by self-interest.
  5. How would the single tax probably affect the demand for labor? Would its effect probably be stronger on unskilled than on skilled labor? On skilled labor than on business talent?
  6. How do mechanical inventions affect the demand for capital and for different grades of labor?
  7. Describe one communistic society, giving some account of its origin, the causes of its success if it succeeded and of its failure if it failed.
  8. Outline a program for raising the wages of all the lower grades of labor.

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), p. 47.

Image Source: J. S. Pughe, The socialists’ theory, and how it would work out. Centerfold in Puck, vol. 45, No. 1162 (14 June 1899). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Uncle Sam, on the left, giving a bag of money to a man labeled “Socialist” and a bag of money to a man labeled “Businessman”, he tells them “Gentlemen, I have divided the wealth of the country equally among all the people. Here are your shares, now go ahead and be happy!” At center, “The Start”, the two men part ways with the socialist taking the path “To Idleness and Extravagance” and the businessman taking the path “To Industry and Thrift”. On the right, at “The Finish”, the two men again stand before Uncle Sam, this time the businessman is holding two bags of money and the dejected socialist is showing that his pockets are now empty.

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From Earlier Income Distribution Courses

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10
1910-11
1911-12

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

From  Earlier Social Reform Courses

Pre-Carver
Carver’s courses
Categories
Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. The Economics Tripos, 1924

Coats of Arms. Cambridge University

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

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Economics Tripos Papers
Previously posted

1921
1922
1923
1931
1932
1933

Also of interest, 

Guide to Moral Sciences Tripos 1891

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

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1924 Economics Tripos Papers

Part I

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

Part II

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

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[p. 58]

PART I

ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY.

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

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[pp. 59-60]

INDUSTRY AND LABOUR.

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

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[pp. 60-61]

ECONOMIC THEORY
(VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION).

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

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[p. 61]

SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  1.30—4.30.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

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

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[pp. 62-63]

TRADE AND FINANCE.

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

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[pp. 63-64]

RECENT ECONOMIC AND GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE.

WEDNESDAY, June 4, 1924.  1.30—4.30.

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

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[pp. 64-65]

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

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

 

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PART II

[pp. 66-67]

PUBLIC FINANCE.

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

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[pp. 67-68]

ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.

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

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[p. 68]

SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

TUESDAY, June 3, 1924.  9—12.

Write an Essay on one of the following subjects:

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

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[pp. 68-69]

STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS OF MODERN INDUSTRY.

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

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[pp. 69-70]

STRUCTURE AND METHODS OF GOVERNMENT
IN THE MODERN WORLD.

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

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[pp. 70-71]

DISTRIBUTION AND LABOUR.

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

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[p. 72]

POLITICAL THEORY.

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

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[p. 73]

MONEY, CREDIT AND PRICES.

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

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[pp. 74-75]

INTERNATIONAL LAW.

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

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[p. 75]

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

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

____________________________

[pp. 75-77]

THE THEORY OF STATISTICS.

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

G = M (1 – ½v²),

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

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

X = index-number for wages of unskilled labour,

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

Mx = 83·1,        σx = 11·55,

My = 59·7,        σy = 11·86,

rxy = + 0·46.

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

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

Age

Number

Age

Number

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

344
282
305
281
289
284
280
255
280
252

40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

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

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Principles of Sociology. Course description, enrollment, final exams. Carver, 1912-1913

Mary Boyle O'Reilly. Not Carver's type of sociology.

I confess to being rather tired of re-using portraits of Professor Thomas Nixon Carver so I decided to look for another face of sociology for this post. The portrait above is one of the Boston social reformer and later journalist, Mary Boyle O’Reilly, identified as a “writer, lecturer on sociology” by the Library of Congress prints and photographs division. For my money, she led a more interesting life than Carver…but I digress…

________________________

About the course teaching assistant, Lucius Moody Bristol (Harvard PhD 1913).

Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

In 1905 Carver published a book of 35 readings: Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology.

________________________

Previously taught
courses in sociology

Links to earlier course material for principles of sociology at Harvard, 1892-93 through 1911-12.

_________________________

Economics 8
Course Description
1912-13

[Economics] 8 (formerly 3). Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. ——.

An analytical study of social life and of the factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The leading social institutions will also be studied with a view to finding out their relation to social well-being and progress.

The reading will be selected from various writers who have treated the problems of human progress and social adjustment.

Course 8 is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, pp.62-63.

_______________________

Economics 8
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 8. Principles of Sociology. Professor Carver.

Total 147: 10 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 74 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 4 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 8
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

  1. Describe the four leading forms of adaptation.
  2. What is the relation of economic scarcity to the problems of adaptation?
  3. Have modern developments of biological theory tended to increase or to decrease the importance of selection as a factor in race improvement? Explain.
  4. Discuss warfare as a means of selection.
  5. Discuss charity as a factor in selection.
  6. What is the distinction between economic competition and the primordial struggle for existence? Where does the latter show itself in human affairs?
  7. What is meant by the statement that morality and religion are as truly weapons for waging the struggle for existence as are teeth and claws, horns and hoofs?
  8. Discuss the economic test of fitness for survival (a) as to its validity, (b) as to its practicability.
  9. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the importance of religion as a factor in social progress.
  10. How, according to Fiske, does the prolongation of infancy affect the character and stability of the family?
  11. How do variation and selection show themselves as factors in the improvement of morals? Is there any parallelism between the processes of moral and biological evolution?
  12. “The mores are always right.” What is meant by the word ” right” in this quotation?

Source: Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1912-13.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 8
Year-end Examination
1912-13

  1. What, in your opinion, is the ultimate test of progress? Give your reasons.
  2. Compare the views of Buckle and Peschel as to the influence of geographical surroundings on religion.
  3. What is the relation between the institution of the family and the institution of property?
  4. What place has the genius in social progress? Give your own opinion and state the views on this question of authors whom you have read.
  5. Outline the leading forms of waste labor and of waste land, giving briefly the reasons why each form of waste exists at the present time.
  6. Compare the views of Mill and Ross as to the limits of social control.
  7. What, according to Ross, is the relation of resentment to social order?
  8. What are the reasons for the existence of the ballot? How far would these reasons justify the extension of the ballot?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), pp. 47-48.

Image Source: Mary Boyle O’Reilly, writer, lecturer on sociology (1913). From the Harris & Ewing photograph collection  at the ibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

________________________

Sociology exams from earlier years.

1892-93 (taught by E. Cummings)
1893-94 (taught by E. Cummings)
1894-95 (taught by E. Cummings)
1895-96 (taught by E. Cummings)
1896-97 (taught by E. Cummings)
1897-98 (taught by E. Cummings)
1898-99 (taught by E. Cummings)
1899-1900 (taught by E. Cummings)
1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)
1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.
1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)
1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)
1909-10 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. S. Davis)
1910-11 (taught by T. N. Carver and L. M. Bristol)
1911-12 (taught by T. N. Carver and L. M. Bristol)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Public finance. Description, enrollment and final exams. Bullock, 1912-1913

"The Free American Citizen." Republic Tariff Taxes Make his "Freedom" a Mockery.

 

The two half-courses in public finance were merged into a two semester sequence at Harvard in 1912-13. Still at the helm, Charles Jesse Bullock.

________________________

Public Finance pre-1912/13

Links to earlier course material for Public Finance from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1911-12.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 5
Course Description
1912-13

[Economics] 5 (formerly 7a and 7b). Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course covers the entire field of public finance, but emphasizes the subject of taxation. After a brief survey of the history of finance, attention is given to public expenditures, commercial revenues, administrative revenues, and taxation, with consideration both of theory and of the practice of various countries. Public credit is then studied, and financial legislation and administration are briefly treated.

Systematic reading is prescribed, and most of the exercises are conducted by the method of informal discussion. Candidates for distinction will be given an opportunity to write theses.

Graduate students are advised to elect Economics 31.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, p. 61.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 5
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 5. Professor Bullock. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 25: 6 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 5
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

  1. In two countries the total public expenditure is, respectively, $18 and $16 per capita. In the former the local expenditure is one-third of the total, in the latter it is one half. The composition of the revenues, national and local, is assumed to be practically the same in the two countries. What conclusions do these data justify concerning the comparative pressure exerted by public expenditures in the two countries, and what further data would be necessary for a complete estimate of such pressure?
  2. What methods can you suggest for reducing public expenditures in any or all of their branches?
  3. Compare the views of Smith, Rau, and Bastable concerning revenue from domains.
  4. Discuss the proposition that income is the normal source of taxation.
  5. Discuss fully the proportion [sic] that public expenditure is unproductive.
  6. Discuss fully the incidence of customs duties.
  7. Discuss fully the incidence of a general tax on interest.
  8. To what extent is the weight of national or local taxation in the United States likely to be reduced by revenue from other sources.

Source: Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1912-13.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 5
Year-end Examination
1912-13

  1. Explain and discuss critically the methods employed in the taxation of land in Germany, France, Great Britain, Australia, and the United States.
  2. Compare the general property tax with the general income tax, considering both the theory and the practical operation of these taxes.
  3. Compare the French, Prussian, and British systems of direct taxation.
  4. Compare the British system of indirect taxation with those of France and the United States.
  5. Discuss the taxation of mortgages in the United States.
  6. What changes in the taxation of personal property have recently occurred in the United States?
  7. Compare the British, Prussian, and Italian income taxes.
  8. Outline what you consider a satisfactory theory of the just apportionment of public charges.

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), p. 44.

Image Source: J. Norman Lynd’s “The Free American Citizen” on the cover of Puck, v. 72, no. 1856 (1912 September 25). Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Illustration shows an American citizen sitting at a table, eating a meal; every item on the table and almost every item in the dining room and kitchen in the background, has a tag on it indicating at what percent that item has been taxed, for instance, the tag on the salt and pepper shakers states “Tax 33 per cent”, the tag on a potato or the fork he is using to eat it with states “Tax 40 per cent”, the tag on the table cloth states “Tax 45 per cent”, the tag on a teapot on the stove in the kitchen states “Tax 45 per cent”, and an insert shows a tombstone with a tag that states “Tax 50 per cent”.

________________________

Earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1883-84. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the financial systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. Taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1884-85. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. [Omitted 1884-85].

1884-85. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1885-86. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1886-87. Political Economy 7. Public finance and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1886-87. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Exams not (yet) found]

1887-88. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1887-88. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1888-89. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1888-89. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1889-90. Political Economy 7. Public Finance and Banking. Omitted.

1889-90. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Adolph Caspar Miller

1890-91. Political Economy 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1890-91. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by William Morse Cole.

1891-92. Political Economy 71. Theory and methods of taxation  taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Mid-year examination not found]

1891-92. Political Economy 8. History of fnancial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1892-93. Economics 71. Theory and methods of txation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1892-93. Economics 72. Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1893-94. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1894-95. Economics 7. Theory and methods of taxation (first semester) and financial administration and public debts (second semester) taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1895-96. Economics 7. Financial administration and public Debts taught by John Cummings.

1895-96. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by J. A. Hill.

1896-97. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1897-98. Economics 71. Theory and Methods of Taxation taught by Frank William Taussig, Readings, Exams.

1898-99. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1899-1900. Economics 7a. Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1899-1900. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.

1900-01. Economics 7a and 7b. Not offered.

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1902-03. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation with reference to local taxation [undergraduate] taught by Edward Dana Durand, Readings, Exam and Durand biography.

1902-03. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Prof Henry Brayton Gardner of Brown University.

1903-04. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1906-07 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1907-08 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1909-10 Economics 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Phillips Huse [biographical information included]

1909-10 Economics 16. American taxation [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock and Charles Phillips Huse.

1910-11 Economics 7 2hf. Public finance considered with special reference to the theory and methods of taxation. taught by Charles Phillips Huse, assisted by Wilfred] Eldred and Roscoe Russell Hess.

1910-11 Economics 16 Public finance (advanced course) taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.

1910-11 Economics 17 2hf.  Municipal finance taught by Charles Phillips Huse.

1911-12 Economics 7a 1hf. Introduction to Public Finance taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.

1911-12 Economics 7b 2hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.

1911-12 Economics 16. Public finance (advanced course) taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Theory

Chicago. Economic Theory Prelim. Parts I and II. Summer 1953

 

 

Links to previously posted Chicago prelim exams.

_____________________

Economic Theory, Part I

Written examination for the Ph. D. and A.M. Degrees,
Summer Quarter 1953

Answer all questions.  Time: 4 hours.

Question 1.

Each year large sums of public funds are spent to find and make known improvements in agricultural technology.  Most rationalizations for this practice picture it as “helping the farmer.”  To what extent and under what conditions can promotion of technical improvements –

(a) increase rent of land used for agriculture?
(b) increase net incomes of farmers who are tenants?
(c) increase gross receipts of farmers as a class?

Question 2.
    1. “If the purchase tax on new cars should be reduced in the coming budget, there will be a sharp drop in all second-hand prices to bring them into line with the reduced list prices of the new cars.”(Economist, March 21, 1953, p. 821.)  Discuss, including an analysis of the channels, if any, whereby the reduction in purchase tax (in our terminology, excise tax) would affect the prices of used cars.
    2. A monopolist is initially producing 1000 units of output which he sells for $30 per unit.Assume that conditions remain unchanged except for the government actions listed below.  What can you tell about the effects of each action on output, price paid by consumers, and the return (after tax) to the monopolist?  Consider the actions as separate alternatives, no two are in effect together.  If some answers depend on special assumptions make these explicit.
      1. A tax of $10 per unit is imposed on the first 500 units produced.
      2. A tax of $10 per unit is imposed on the first 1200 units produced.
      3. A subsidy of $10 per unit is granted on all units produced in excess of 500.
      4. A subsidy of $10 per unit is granted on all units produced in excess of 1000.
      5. The price is arbitrarily set at $28.  The government guarantees sale of the monopolist’s entire output.
Question 3.

The present value of a collection of assets equals the sum of discounted gross returns that the owner expects it to yield.  Explain the determination of the discount rate: how is it related to the owner’s tastes and opportunities and to the tastes and opportunities of other people?

Question 4.

Consider a firm using several factors of production and making several products.  “There is no reason why an equal proportional increase in all factors should not enable all products to be increased in the same proportion as the factors have been increased.”  But in this case “it is not possible for the price of one factor (or product) to change, there being no change in the prices of all other factors and products, without upsetting equilibrium altogether.  If the price of a product rises, output will become infinite; if the price of a factor rises, it will become zero…  Our analysis threatens to break down altogether.”  (Hicks).  Is this conclusion correct?  If so, show a) how it follows from the premises; b) how it can be reconciled with observed facts.  (Note: You may start with the case of one factor and one product.)

Question 5.

“The operatives are perfectly right in thinking that if all worked on Sunday, seven days’ work would have to be given for six days’ wages; but so long as the great mass of employments are suspended, the small number who for the enjoyment of others must still work, obtain a proportional increase of earnings; and they are not obliged to follow those occupations if they prefer leisure to emolument.”  (J. S. Mill, in “On Liberty.”)

      1. How would Mill have justified his conclusions in terms of the economic doctrines of his time? Indicate briefly the intellectual history of the relevant doctrines.
      2. Analyze his conclusions in light of current economic theory.
Question 6.

In economic theory, the indifference maps and opportunity (transformation) functions are stated to have certain properties. Which are these properties and how can they be inferred from factual evidence?

_____________________

Economic Theory, Part II

Written examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees,
Summer Quarter 1953

Answer all questions.  Time: 3 hours.

Question 1.

The income velocity of circulation appears to have been falling rather steadily in the United States over the past 100 years to about one-third its initial value.  What factors might in your view explain this secular decline?

Question 2.

Assuming continuing technological progress, suppose that the practice of negotiating for real rather than money wage rates spreads over all industries of the country.  What effect would this have upon price level, employment and the distribution of income, under various assumptions about monetary policy?

Question 3.

What are the principal “automatic stabilizers” of prices and business activity now operative?  In your view, what additional step is most needed to improve the prospect that automatic stabilization will work reasonably well? Explain.

Question 4.

Does it have any practical significance whether the maximum difference or the maximum ratio between the amount of currency in circulation and the Central Bank reserve (in metal or foreign exchange) is fixed?  Give historical examples of both kinds of rules.

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 76, Folder “76.10”.

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

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Preliminary and Field Exams from the economics graduate program of the University of Chicago

Note: The chronological ordering of quarters at the University of Chicago during a calendar year goes Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. For this reason the following is arranged chronologically.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Description, enrollment, final exam. Ripley, 1912-1913

An angry Uncle Sam holding up a lantern labeled “Congressional Legislation” to illuminate a rotund man wearing a crown labeled “Trusts” and a robe decorated with dollar signs, there is a ring with many keys hanging from a cord around his waist, and he is sitting on a stack of books that are labeled “Day Book, Ledger, Entry Book, Stock Book, [and] Cash Book”, he has his right hand on an open book. All the books are locked with padlocks.

 

Earlier Harvard courses
on Corporations

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Corporations taught at Harvard, 1902-1903 through 1911-12.

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ECONOMICS 4b
Course Description
1912-13

4b 2hf. (formerly 9b 2hf.). Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Ripley, assisted by ——.

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not in their legal but in their economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, p. 61.

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ECONOMICS 4b
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 4b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave. Economics of Corporations.

Total 130: 6 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 86 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

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ECONOMICS 4b
Year-end Examination
1912-13

  1. Why was the dissolution of the “Tobacco Trust” more difficult than that of the Standard Oil Company? Explain fully.
  2. Indicate certain differences in the eye of the law between monopolization and restraint of trade.
  3. Herewith are two balance sheets of companies A and B respectively. Comment upon them, contrasting one with the other. Which apparently denotes the greater financial stability?

Co. A

Assets

Liabilities
Plant

$3,500,000

 Preferred Stock

$5,000,000
Merchandise

1,800,000

 Common Stock

15,000,000
Bills Receivable

700,000

 Accounts Payable

600,000
Cash

1,400,000

Good-will and Patents

13,200,000

$20,600,000

$20,600,000
 

Co. B

Assets

Liabilities
Factories

$15,000,000

 Capital Stock

$65,000,000
Securities owned

18,000,000

 Debentures

15,000,000
Merchandise

20,000,000

 Surplus

3,000,001
Accounts Receivable

30,000,000
Franchises and Good-will

1

$83,000,001

$83,000,001
  1. Name, with briefest possible description in each case, and in order of seriousness, at least five distinct forms of unfair competition in trade.
  2. Do all the foregoing forms of unfair competition affect the general public as well as direct competitors? Does this factor apparently influence the attitude of the courts?
  3. What was the essence of the U. S. Steel Bond Conversion plan? What became of it?
  4. Contrast administrative and judicial forms of controlling monopoly, pointing out the merits of each.
  5. Outline the plan of reorganization of the National Cordage Company. Was it typical of industrial reorganizations in general?
  6. What are the three leading objections to the so-called “holding company “?
  7. Outline what most appeals to you as a feasible plan for dealing with the existing trust problem. State concisely in definite propositions covering all points at issue.

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), pp. 43-44.

Image Source: “The kind of anti-trust legislation that is needed” by  J.S. Pughe. From Puck, 1902 February 5.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1906-07 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1907-08 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1908-09 (with Edmund Thornton Miller)

Economics of Corporations, 1909-10 (with Goepper and Whipple)

Economics of Corporations 1911-12 (with Arthur Stone Dewing)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Trade unionism and allied problems. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Ripley, 1912-1913

The tournament of today: a set-to between labor and monopoly

With a decade’s worth of experience teaching his labor course, William Zebina Ripley established his problems of labor as a staple applied offering in the Harvard economics department going into the second decade of the twentieth century.

Links to previous Harvard labor exams 1892-93 to 1911-12.

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Labor Bibliographies
Prepared by Ripley

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

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Meet the Teaching Assistant:

Lloyd M. Crosgrave

BIRTH. 21 Apr 1887. Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, USA

DEATH. 19 Jun 1961 (aged 74). Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana, USA

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

LLOYD CROSGRAVE,
EX-UNIVERSITY PROF, DIES HERE

Lloyd M. Crosgrave, 74, 2320 S. Walnut St., died at home at 11:30 a.m. Monday after an extended illness. Crosgrave was born in Jamestown, N.Y., and moved to Muncie when he was five years old.

He attended Purdue University, received his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University and his master’s in economics at Harvard. He taught economics at Harvard, IU, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Pittsburgh.

He retired from teaching several years ago due to failing health. Since then he has owned and operated a greenhouse at his home where he grew house plants, specializing in the growing of African violets.

Crosgrave was a member of the Senior Citizens of Muncie.

He is survived by a sister, Miss Pearl G. Crosgrave, who resided at the same address.

Muncie Evening Press. Mon, Jun 19, 1961, p. 8

Source: Find-A-Grave webpage for Lloyd W. [sic] Crosgrave.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Course Description
1912-13

[Economics] 6a lhf. (formerly 9a lhf.). Trade Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. ——.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; employers’ liability and workmen’s compensation; efficiency management; unemployment.

Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or an important strike, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, p. 62.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 6a lhf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Crosgrave. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 72: 3 Graduates, 44 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

Answer the first five briefly

  1. What is sabotage?
  2. What is the “extended” closed shop?
  3. What is the principal practical difficulty in the “general strike”?
  4. Is it met by the adoption of any positive policy in France by the “syndicates”?
  5. In the syndicalist programme what is to be the unit in the reorganized state?
  6. Contrast collective bargaining under sanction of the law with its adoption by private arrangement; (a) from the point of view of advantage to the employer; (b) from that of the workman.
  7. What are the four main features of the New Zealand legislation. (Each in a sentence.)
  8. What is the principal demonstrated weakness in the above legislation?
  9. What are three disabilities of the individual workmen in negotiating a wage contract?
  10. Wages for women in domestic service and in manufactures seem out of line with one another. What main difference helps to explain this?
  11. What is the present condition of affairs respecting the closed shop in the United States? Outline the course of events for two decades.
  12. How does the law of conspiracy enter into the decision by courts in labor disputes? How has Great Britain settled it?

Source: Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1912-13.  Also in: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), p. 45.

Image Source: “The tournament of today — a set-to between labor and monopoly” by Friedrich Graetz. Centerfold illustration in Puck, v. 13, no. 334, (1883 August 1). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

A jousting tournament between an oversized knight riding horse-shaped armor labeled “Monopoly” over a locomotive, with a long plume labeled “Arrogance”, and carrying a shield labeled “Corruption of the Legislature” and a lance labeled “Subsidized Press”, and a barefoot man labeled “Labor” riding an emaciated horse labeled “Poverty”, and carrying a sledgehammer labeled “Strike”. On the left is seating “Reserved for Capitalists” where Cyrus W. Field, William H. Vanderbilt, John Roach, Jay Gould, and Russell Sage are sitting. On the right, behind the labor section, are telegraph lines flying monopoly banners that are labeled “Wall St., W.U.T. Co., [and] N.Y.C. RR”.

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Previous Labor Courses at Harvard

1892-93. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1893-94. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1894-95. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1895-96. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1896-97. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1897-98. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1898-99. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E. Cummings)
1899-1900. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (Omitted)
1900-01. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (W.F. Willoughby)
1901-02. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E.D. Durand)
1902-03. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1903-04. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1904-05. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1905-06. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1906-07. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1907-08. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1908-09. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1909-10. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1910-11. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1911-12. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)

Categories
Exam Questions Swarthmore Theory Undergraduate

Swarthmore. Honors Examination in Economic Theory. Coppock, 1947

Joseph David Coppock was an external examiner for the honors economic theory examination at Swarthmore. The economics department called on their alumnus (A.B., 1933 with a Columbia University Ph.D., 1940) at least three times in the 1940s. His January 1947 examination questions are transcribed for this post.

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Swarthmore Senior exams posted previously (with external examiner names)

Senior Comprehensive Examination (1931)

Broadus Mitchell (1934)

Lloyd Metzler (1943 to 1945)

Paul Samuelson (1943)

Richard Musgrave (1946)

Wolfgang Stolper (Seminar, ca. 1944)

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[Handwritten note: “Examiner: Coppock”]

Swarthmore College​
Honors Examination​
Economic Theory

January 29, 1947.

Answer 5 questions, including No. 1

  1.  —
    1. Using your own arithmetic assumptions, derive an individual buyer’s demand curve from a set of (consumer) indifference curves. Show both schedule and graph.
    2. Using your own arithmetic assumptions, derive an individual producer’s variable cost curve from a traditional “diminishing physical returns curve.” Show both schedule and graph.
  2. —
    1. How, under classical distribution theory, would an increase in national product be distributed among the customary claimants? Explain.
    2. To what extent does your answer in (a) apply to present-day circumstances in the U. S.?
  3. Write an explanatory and critical essay on the relation of the interest rate to the level of investment in the national economy (a) under any conditions you may wish to assume and (b) under present-day conditions in the U. S.
  4. Suppose you were David Ricardo and received from the review editor of an economic journal a copy of Chamberlin’s Theory of Monopolistic Competition with a request to review it. Write a review, comparing Chamberlin’s book with your own Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.
  5. The First Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisers states:

“It would be very simple indeed if we could rely on fiscal policy as a panacea (for unemployment). Broadly speaking, the shortcoming of this single-track doctrine….is that it does not face the complexity of our economic system.”
Develop the point.

  1. —
    1. What is economic progress?
    2. What are the conditions of it?
    3. What does a change in population have to do with it?
  2. —
    1. Point out some key differences between general equilibrium and particular [sic] equilibrium theory.
    2. How do these differences affect the application of economic theory to the real economic world?

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 22, Folder 1.

Image Source: Swarthmore College yearbook, Halcyon 1940, p. 11.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Transportation Economics. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Ripley, 1912-1913

 

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Transportation from Harvard, 1887-88 through 1911-12.

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About the Teaching Assistant

Lloyd Morgan Crosgrave [PUT in LINK TO 1912-13 PRINCIPLES PAGE #Crosgrave]

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 7, 1913.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Public Finance and Railroads. 5. Labor Problems, including Social Reforms. 6. History of American Institutions since 1789.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Ripley, Bullock, Fite, and Dr. Copeland.

Academic History: Indiana University, 1905-09; Harvard Graduate School, 1910-13. A.B., Indiana, 1909; A.M., Harvard, 1911. Teacher of History, Decatur High School, Ill., 1909-10; Instructor in Economics, Harvard, 1912-13.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: “The American Glass Industry.” (With Professor Taussig.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1912-13”.

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ECONOMICS 4a
Course Description
1912-13

4a 1hf. (formerly 5 1hf.). Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Ripley, assisted by ——.

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of rates and rate-making, finance, traffic operation, and legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, pp. 60-61.

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Monographs/Books on Transportation by W. Z. Ripley

Transportation. Chapter from the Final report of the U.S. Industrial Commission (Vol. XIX) and privately issued by the author for the use of his students and others. Washington, D.C., 1902.

Railway Problems, edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1907).

Railroads: Rates and Regulation (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912).

Railroads: Finance & Organization (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915).

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ECONOMICS 4a
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 4a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Lloyd Morgan] Crosgrave. Economics of Transportation.

Total 156: 6 Graduates, 2 G.B., 36 Seniors, 85 Juniors, 24 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

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ECONOMICS 4a
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

  1. Compare the lease with stock ownership as a means of combination, stating the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  2. Show how recent interpretation of the Federal law may conceivably affect the status of railway traffic agreements.
  3. State very briefly the point raised in the following cases: —

(a) Portland Gateway.
(b) Illinois Central car supply.
(c) Alabama Midland (Troy).
(d) Orange Routing.

  1. Have any of the above points been since corrected by legislation; if so in what manner?
  2. Give reasons for the following differences in net capitalization per mile of line:
Union Pacific

$65,000

 Reading

$170,000
Pennsylvania

$86,000

 Erie

$170,000
  1. What particular circumstance materially affects the success of Government ownership and operation:

(a) In Germany?
(b) In Italy?
(c) In Switzerland?

  1. What is the present attitude of the Federal courts toward the proper basis to be used in the determination of reasonable rates?
  2. How effective practically has been the “Commodity Clause” of the law of 1906?
  3. To whom properly belongs the surplus earnings of a railroad over and above a rate of return requisite to provide an adequate supply of new capital for future development? State your own view, but set forth your reasons fully.

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), pp. 42-43.

Image Source: Monopoly game card for the Reading Railroad.

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5,
Pol Econ 9
(Economics of Transportation/ Railroads)

1887-88 (James Laurence Laughlin)
1888-89 (John Henry Gray)
1889-90 [Omitted]
1890-91 (Frank William Taussig)
1891-92 (Frank William Taussig)
1892-93 (Frank William Taussig)
1893-94 (Frank William Taussig)
1894-95 (George Ole Virtue)
1895-96 (Frank William Taussig)
1896-97 (Frank William Taussig)
1897-98 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1898-99 (Hugo Richard Meyer
1899-1900 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1905-06 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1906-07 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett and Walter Wallace McLaren). Also with the Assignment of Reports.
1907-08 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)
1908-09 (Ripley with Edmund Thorton Miller)
1909-10 (Ripley with Eliot Jones)
1910-11 (Ripley with Ralph Cahoon Whitnack)
1911-12 (Ripley with Arthur Stone Dewing)

….etc.

1906-07. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)
1907-08. Ec 17. Railroad Practice (Dr. Stuart Daggett)