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Accounting Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Corporation Finance. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Dewing, 1911-1912

Arthur Stone Dewing was reborn as an economics instructor in 1911 according to his own account. He went on to become a finance professor at the Harvard Business School. A busy, full and complete life, successful by any metric, and yet the sort of academic that requires a professional historian of economics to go deep into the weeds just to seek an interesting trace of a lasting contribution. His Boston Globe obit credits him with the introduction of the case method into the Harvard Business School program. Worth checking if in fact a true claim.

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From Dewing’s Entry in the 1922 Report of the Harvard Class of 1902

ARTHUR STONE DEWING

BORN at Boston, Mass., April 16, 1880.
PARENTS: Charles Hamlet, Eliza Williams Stone (Paine) Dewing.
SCHOOL: Cambridge High School, Cambridge, Mass.

DEGREES: A.Β. 1902; A.M. 1903; Ph.D. 1905.

MARRIED: Frances Hall Rousmaniere, Boston, Mass., June 3, 1910.
CHILDREN: Mary Stone, March 18, 1911; Abigail Starr, June 1, 1912; Ruth Rousmaniere, Aug. 31, 1915.

OCCUPATION: Assistant Professor of Economics.

ADDRESS: (home) 469 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass.; (business) Upper Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

THE proper preface to an account of this kind is the altogether prosaic comment that my biography is of little interest; it is quite uninteresting and adventureless. After graduation I spent a year in the Graduate School, and later a year in Germany studying philosophy. I tutored awhile and taught science in a private school to keep the pot boiling, meanwhile serving as an assistant in philosophy courses at Harvard. For a while I taught philosophy at Simmons, and then spent some time in Europe. The outstanding feature of this period was a delightful trip through Greece. In 1911 I decided to teach economics instead of philosophy, and somewhat later was appointed instructor at Harvard. I was at Yale for a couple of years, and saw the “bowl” properly baptized by the victorious Harvard eleven. Not having absorbed enough of that subtly elusive Yale spirit I was told to return whence I had come, a wiser but not a sadder man. Incompatibility of temperament, ran the decree. For three years I lived quietly in Belmont doing some writing and some private work and teaching. I had devoted quite a little study to the Sherman Act of 1890 and its judicial interpretation; and a considerable task at this time was the preparation of the appellant’s brief of the facts for a larger industrial consolidation in its appeal to the United States Supreme Court from a decree of dissolution. In 1920 I was appointed Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard. Since that time I have also taught in the Business School. Needless to say I am especially interested in the ideals of the Business School as interpreted by the present Dean. As I understand them they are the inculcation in college graduates, likely to become business executives, of the economic and social foundations of modern industry; and with this goes the belief that the morale of business can be put on a new and lighter level by developing a professional spirit among business executives.

My hobbies are few and simple. I am as interested as ever in mountain climbing and the woods. I don’t play golf, nor belong to a country club. I’m a director of a number of public utilities. I’m cursed with the collectors’ bacillus, — at present it’s old colonial furniture, and if any of you gentlemen know of any old chairs made here in New England before 1620, please send word.

PUBLICATIONS: Chemistry laboratory note book, L. E. Knott, Boston; Biology laboratory note book, L. E. Knott, Boston; Introduction to the History of Modern Philosophy, 1903, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia; Life as Reality, 1910, Longman’s, New York. In National Cordage Company, 1913, Harvard University Press, Cambridge; Corporate Promotions and Reorganizations, 1914, Harvard University Press, Cambridge; The Financial Policy of Corporations, 5 volumes, 1920, The Ronald Press, New York. Have also published numerous magazine articles.

MEMBER: American Economic Association; New England Historical Geneological society; Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Source:  Secretary’s Sixth Report, Harvard College Class of 1902 (June, 1922), pp. 134-135.

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Obituary
Arthur Stone Dewing
(b. 16 Apr 1880 in Boston;
d. 29 Jan 1971 in Cambridge)

Arthur Stone Dewing, 90, of 8 Willard st., Cambridge, noted author, philosopher, professor and businessman, died yesterday afternoon at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mr. Dewing, once referred to as the “best loved professor at Harvard,” was still active in business and various other interests until he entered MGH in the first week of December.

He was born in Boston April 16, 1880, to Charles Hamlet and Eliza Williams Stone and spent most of his life in this area.

Mr. Dewing received an A.B. degree in 1902, an A.M. in 1903, and a Ph D in philosophy in 1905, all from Harvard University. He also did graduate work at the University of Munich in Germany.

In 1910, he married the late Frances Hall Rousmaniere, by whom he had three daughters, all of whom survive.

Mr. Dewing served in the Harvard faculty as an assistant in philosophy between 1902 and 1911, when he became an instructor in economics for a year before resigning his time solely to business.

He rejoined the Harvard faculty in 1919 as an assistant professor of economics and served as an associate professor of finance from 1922 until 1927, when he was made a full professor.

Mr. Dewing, who was considered an international authority in the field of corporation practice, was one to the professors who founded the Harvard University School of Business.

He resigned his position of professor of finance at the school in 1933 because of what he termed attempts by Dean Wallace B. Donham to direct by dictation his teaching methods and private affairs.

Dr. Dewing was considered an innovator while at Harvard and formulated the case study method, which is still in use. In 1951, Business Week magazine referred to him as “the best loved professor at Harvard.”

Among the companies he headed were: the Portland, Chatham, Hazardville and Jewett City water companies; the Illinois Gas Co.; Pinetum, Inc.; Wetmore Gas Producing Co.; and the Granite State Gas and Electric Co.

He was also on the board of directors of the Manchester (N.H.) Gas Co.; Edward Durant Investment Co.; Fall River Gas Co.; and the Keene (NH.), Sentinel Publishing Co. He was chairman of the board of the Old Colony R.R. Bondholders Protective Committee.

Dr. Dewing was a member of the Numismatic Society and Royal Numismatic Society, and his extensive collection of Greek coins is presently on loan at the Fogg Art Museum.

He was a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was a member of the board of visitors to the classical art department of the Boston Museum of Science.

His other memberships included the American Friends of Greece, Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities (past president), and the Archeological Institution of America.

He had a life-long interest in wild animals and was vice president of the Ross Allen Reptile Institute in Florida.

Among the many books he authored were Corporate Promotions and Reorganization, published in 1914, which is considered a classic. It was reprinted in American Life and Culture in 1969.

He also wrote Life as Reality (1910) Financial Policy of Corporations (1920) The Corporation — A Study of Its Financial Structure (1934), two books on philosophy, and one each on chemistry and biology.

Mr. Dewing leaves three daughters, Mrs. Lloyd L. Morain of San Francisco; Mrs. Stuart B. Avery Jr. of Lincoln; and Mrs. James D. Ewing of Keene, N.H. He also leaves eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Arrangements for a memorial service are being made.

Source: The Boston Globe, January 21, 1971, Page 47.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 30 1hf. The Financial Aspects of Combinations. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.

The course considers the financial aspects of combinations in the United States, giving attention, however, to the economic rather than to the business or legal problems involved. Examples of financial history and policy will be considered in some detail. The psychological as well as the economic conditions that determine the market price of railroad and industrial securities will be described with the purpose of formulating general principles. Each student will select a typical episode in the history of some combination and some general subject, such as promotion, minority rights, effect on prices, and will present reports at conferences which will sometimes replace the lectures of the course. This course is open only to those who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), pp. 65-66.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 301 hf. Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing. — The Financial Aspects of Industrial Combinations.

Total 19: 1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 30
CORPORATION FINANCE
Mid-year Final Exam
1911-12

Be concise.

THEORY. (¾ hour.)

  1. Does the law of diminishing returns usually operate in the investment of capital in (a) new steam railroads in an undeveloped country; (b) four tracking of steam railroad in a thickly settled region; (c) extensions to an electric lighting system; (d) a large cotton mill; (e) the “Westinghouse Company” (see Haskins & Sells report to receivers)?
  2. (a) What is pure interest? (b) Compensation for risk? (c) How do you determine what proportion of any given dividend return belongs to each? (d) Are there other factors included in the ordinary returns on capital? If so state the relation to (a) and (b).
  3. State briefly the most universal circumstance that has led to the necessity of re-organization in those industrial corporations which you have studied?

FINANCE

The following questions are to be answered directly from the Corporation reports PLACED IN YOUR HANDS. (1¼ hours.)

  1. See U. P. Reports for 1909–10, page 29. The capital liability on June 30, 1910 is less than on June 30, 1909. Explain.
  2. See “Western Maryland Railroad Co.’s” report June 30, 1907, page 2. Note decrease of surplus for year. Show from statistics in other parts of the report, whether or not this decrease foretells impending disaster.
  3. See U. S. Steel Report, 1910. Consolidated balance sheet (between pages 32 and 33). The last entry of liabilities calls for $33,704,439.32. Explain the significance of this entry. Should it be used as a basis for the declaration of dividends? Could a similar entry appear in a railroad report? Why?
  4. See Massachusetts Electric Company’s Report, 1910. Explain the presence of the two balance sheets, pages 10, 12 and 13. From an examination of these balance sheets what would you consider the weakest point, from an investment point of view, of the stocks of Massachusetts Electric Companies?
  5. Amalgamated Copper Company’s Report, 1911, p. 10.

Assets. Is “investment in securities” a good basis for estimating the assets of a mining corporation? Why? Suggest, if you can, a better basis?

INVESTMENTS.  (1 hour.)

  1. A trust estate purchased two underlying bonds of the “Illinois Central” of approximately the same security and both maturing the same year (1951); one bears interest at 3% and is bought at 75; the other bears interest at 5% and is bought at 115. State how you would think it just to deal with the interest and principal in both cases.
  2. The following securities all pay 8% on par value. They are all non-taxable in Massachusetts. Which one should you select for a trustee to invest in, provided the trust already held none of them?
    Arrange the others in the order of their intrinsic merit. Give basis for your judgment.
  1. New York, New Haven, & Hartford Stock, market price 140. (For financial condition see your reports.)
  2. Arlington Mills. (Lawrence, Mass.)

Dividends, 1877–1903, 6%; 1903, to date, 8%; market price, 124; 63,000 cotton spindles, 202,804 worsted spindles.

Assets

1910 1909 1908 1907
Real Estate & Machinery $4,750,000 $3,500,000 $3,500,000 $3,500,000
Merchandise & in Process 7,884,672 8,630,718 6,729,446 5,784,449
Cash & Debts Receivable 2,550,891 2,213,565 1,810,229 2,650,131
Miscellaneous 257,741 207,457 179,934 163,865
$15,443,304 $14,551,740 $12,219,609 $12,098,445

Liabilities

1910 1909 1908 1907
Capital stock $8,000,000 $6,000,000 $6,000,000 $6,000,000
New Cap. stock pay Acc’t. 1,434,530
Debts payable 4,924,911 4,292,901 4,499,662 4,187,708
Surplus 2,518,393 2,824,309 1,719,947 1,910,737
$15,443,304 $14,551,740 $12,219,609 $12,098,445
    1. American Glue Company—Preferred Stock, market price 152.

Assets

1910 1909 1908
Real Estate & Machinery $477,412 $508,701 $520,597
Stock in Process 1,015,578 941,247 1,361,245
Cash & Debts Receivable 1,551,164 1,394,607 830,917
Other items — (largely securities) 1,439,520 1,503,032 1,489,616
$4,483,674 $4,347,587 $4,202,375

Liabilities

1910 1909 1908
Capital Stock Preferred $1,600,000 $1,600,000 $1,364,300
Capital Stock Common 800,000 800,000 800,000
Account Payable 1,120,165 1,054,290 1,257,714
Surplus 963,509 893,297 780,361
$4,483,674 $4,347,587 $4,202,375
    1. American Telephone & Telegraph Company Stock, market price, 139.

Assets

Stocks & Bonds of Associates Co.’s $393,712,837.53
Telephones, Real Estate & Lines 59,702,088.10
Cash & Short Term Notes 13,736,806.84
Special Demand Notes 16,970,229.34
Accounts Receivable 6,093,415.42
Treasury Bonds 17,300,000.00
$507,515,377.23

Liabilities

Capital Stock $263,335,600.00
Bonds, etc. 146,618,000.00
Dividend, Interest, and Taxes accrued but not due 8,027,025.26
Depreciation Reserve 37,425,080.08
Surplus 52,109,671.89
$507,515,377.23

 

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF EARNINGS AND EXPENSES FOR 1909–1910

Earnings

1909 1910
Dividends $15,949,213.73 $19,205,494.35
Interest and other revenue from Ass. Co.’s 10,661,431.03 10,838,442.84
Telephone Traffic (net) 4,360,104.94 4,893,513.39
Real Estate 95,723.97 95,119.69
Other sources 1,694,867.76 325,758.44
Total $32,761,341.43 $35,358,328.71
Expenses 2,570,575.57 3,425,114.22
Net Earnings $30,190,765.86 $31,933,214.49
Deduct Interest 7,095,377.34 5,077,321.33
Balance $23,095,388.52 $26,855,893.16
Dividends Paid 17,036,275.64 20,776,822.12
Balance $6,059,112.88 $6,079,071.04
Carried to Reserves 3,000,000.00 3,000,000.00
Carried to Surplus 3,059,112.88 3,079,071.04
$6,059,112.88 $6,079,071.04
  1. Examine carefully the following investment list. The current rates of dividend for stocks can be ascertained from your reports. (a) Arrange the securities by letters (not repeating the titles), in the order of their merit, bearing in mind both security and return. (b) If the list were to be taken over by a trust, the beneficiary of which was a widow of middle age, what securities, if any, should be sold? . . . Briefly indicate the basis for your judgment. Suggest other securities which it would be desirable to purchase in place of those sold.

The principal is about evenly divided among the following:—

    1. Union Pacific stock at 166.
    2. Chicago & Alton 1950 Prior lien 3½’s at 67.
    3. N. Y. Westchester & Boston 1st M. 1946 4½’s at 98. (N. Y. New Haven & Hartford guarantor.)
    4. Brooklyn Rapid Transit stock at 74.
    5. Westinghouse Electric & Manuf. Co. stock at 73%.
    6. U. S. Steel Preferred stock at 111.
    7. New York Central Lines Equipment 1925 4½’s at 102.
    8. Detroit Edison Convertible 6’s 1920 at 115.
    9. Southern Pacific stock at 110.
    10. Erie Ry. (N. Y. & Erie 1st M. 4’s 1947) at 100.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 66-70.

Image Source: The Harvard Business School Yearbook 1924-25, p. 14.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Agricultural economics. Description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1911-1912

In 1911 Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver published a textbook Principles of Rural Economics  that undoubtedly encompassed the content of his course on agricutural economics first taught in 1903-04. Somewhat unusually his book is prefaced with an eight page bibliography.

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Carver’s Earlier Courses
on Agricultural Economics

Links to earlier course material for agricultural economics at Harvard, 1903-04 through 1908-09.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 23 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30. Professor Carver.

A study of the relation of agriculture to the whole industrial system, the relative importance of rural and urban economics, the conditions of rural life in different parts of the United States, the forms of land tenure and methods of rent payment, the comparative merits of large and small holdings, the status and wages of farm labor, the influence of farm machinery, farmers’ organizations, the marketing and distribution of farm products, agricultural credit, the policy of the government toward agriculture, and the probable future of American agriculture.

This course is open to students who have passed in Economics 1, and, with the consent of the instructor, to Juniors and Seniors of good standing who are taking Economics 1 at the same time.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 65.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 23 2hf. Professor Carver. — Economics of Agriculture. With special reference to American conditions.

Total 95: 4 Graduates, 36 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 23
Year-end Final Exam
1911-12

  1. Why is agriculture growing less rapidly than other industries in the United States?
  2. What new agricultural products did the American continent contribute to the commerce of the world?
  3. For what is American agriculture indebted to the following countries: England, Holland, France?
  4. What determines the migrations of rural and of urban people?
  5. Why does an excessive economy of land sometimes result in a waste of labor?
  6. How, in general, do the problems of the producer of staple crops differ from those of the producer of agricultural specialities?
  7. What are the functions of the middleman, and what are the advantages of co-operation?
  8. What are some of the social results of absentee landlordism?
  9. Outline the chief stages in the development of the public land policy of the United States.
  10. What is meant by non-competing crops?
  11. Is tenancy increasing or decreasing in the United States? Why?
  12. Does the landowner as such perform any useful functions? Give your reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 65

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Earlier material

ca. 1904 Problem set
1903-04 Final exam
1905-06 Final exam
1908-09 Description, enrollment, final exam
1910-11 Description, enrollment, final exam

 

Image Source: Ruddy Harvest Oil, the farmer’s friend (ca. 1870-1900). 19th Century American Trade Cards collection of the Boston Public Library.

Categories
Exam Questions France Germany Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. German and French Economics. Description, enrollment, final exam. Gay, 1911-1912

Gustav (von) Schmoller

An interesting difference between the final exams for this course is that all the earlier exams included a translate-from-German question or two. This time around the presumed “moderate reading knowledge” was not put to the test.

This picture of the young Gustav Schmoller with his hairless chin reveals what would appear to have been an incel long before it was fashionable.

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Gay’s Earlier Courses
on French and German Economists

Links to earlier course material for 19th century French and German Economists at Harvard, 1902-03 through 1908-09.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 22. German and French Economists of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evening hours per week, to be arranged with the instructor. Professor Gay.

In this course selections from the works of a number of the more important German and French economists will be read and informally discussed. The influence of the English classical school will be traced, together with the criticism directed against this school by the socialists and the historical economists. Attention will also be given to the question of methods in economic investigation.

A moderate reading knowledge of German and French will of course be necessary.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 60.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 22. Professor Gay. — French and German Economists of the Nineteenth Century

Total 5: 5 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 22

  1. Discuss the value theories of Hermann, Cournot, Marx, and von Wieser.
  2. Trace the development of the theory of business profits.
  3. The views of Bastiat, List, Schmoller and Wagner on a protective tariff policy.
  4. Compare the English classical school and the German historical school as to motives, methods, and results.
  5. Assuming that you are writing a text-book on economics, how would you outline the chapters on capital and interest?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 64.

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Previously offered

1902-03. Exam for 19th century German Economic Thought

1904-05. No exam found for 19th century French and German Economics.

1906-07. Exam for 19th century French and German Economics

1908-09. Enrollment, description, final exam for 19th century French and German Economists.

Image Source: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. Webpage “Gustav (von) Schmoller” of the Universitätsarchiv.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Socialism and Social Movement in Europe. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Rappard, 1911-1912

 

Biographical information for this socialism course’s instructor, William Emmanuel Rappard, and the final exam for his course on the labor movement in Europe (1912-13) have been posted earlier. Worth noting is that Karl Marx is explicitly mentioned in over half of the questions on the final examination. So Marxian socialism moves from one of many to leader of the pack.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 29 1hf. Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [William Emmanuel] Rappard.

A careful examination is made of the theories of the chief social reformers and of the leading socialists, both “Utopian” and “scientific.” There follows a study of those revolutionary outbursts of the nineteenth century which were primarily economic in their origin and social in their aims. The course concludes with a summary of the positive political and institutional achievements of the social movement of the nineteenth century.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). p. 59.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 29 1hf. Dr. [William Emmanuel] Rappard.— Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe.

Total 41: 3 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 63.

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ECONOMICS 29
Mid-year Final Exam
1911-12

  1. State briefly the socialist elements contained in the doctrines of any two pre-revolutionary French authors.
  2. State briefly the historical and logical relations existing between the Industrial Revolution and modern socialism.
  3. Give a very brief outline of the lives and works of any three of the following men: Godwin, Owen, Sismondi, Saint Simon, Fourier, Cabet, Louis Blanc, Weitling, Proudhon.
  4. Can Chartism be called a socialist movement? Why or why not?
  5. Compare Thompson’s and Marx’s theories of value with special reference to non-improved land.
  6. Discuss briefly the theory of wages involved in the Communist Manifesto.
  7. State and discuss briefly the “apparent contradiction” between the first and the third volume of Marx’s Capital.
  8. Fill out the blanks in the following table, according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
Constant capital Variable capital Rate of surplus value Capital consumed Individual rate of profit Value of commodities produced Cost price of commodities produced Average rate of profit Price of commodities Deviation of price from value
80 20 75% 20 _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
70 30 75% 10 _______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
  1. Discuss the nature of Marx’s originality.
  2. What have the socialists of the present day, as you know them, retained of the Marxian teachings?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 65-66.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Law and Economics

Harvard. Law of Competition and Combination. Description, enrollment, final exam. Wyman, 1911-1912

Law professor Bruce Wyman offered a regular course covering aspects of business law that together with William M. Cole’s Principles of Accounting helped to serve the demand of many students for some vocational training to help prepare themselves for life after Harvard.

Bruce Wyman resigned his professorship of law in December 1913 when it came out that he was drawing $833 per month from the New Haven and the Boston & Maine (railroads)…

“…for delivering lectures favorable to the roads without the fact being known that he was a paid employe. He admitted that, while employed as their consulting counsel he helped Gov. Foss to frame the Public Utilities bill, which was designed to give the State better control of the railroad situation.”

Source: New York Times, December 21, 1913, p. 30.

 

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Business Law for Economics Students
pre-1911/12

Links to earlier course material for Wymans’s course offering for the Harvard economics department 1900-01 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

*211hf. The Law of Competition and Combination. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. Professor Wyman, assisted by Mr. —— . (V)

Course 21 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work, and is only open to those who have passed in Economics 1.

The course considers certain rules of the law governing the course of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. As the course deals with adjudication and legislation on questions of first importance in the economic development of modern times, it is of advantage to all those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of issues having both legal and economic aspects. In 1911-12 four principal topics will be discussed: competition; combination; association; consolidation, — some very briefly, some with more detail. The conduct of the course will be by the reading and discussion of cases from the law reports, which are contained in an edited series of case books.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 67.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 21 1hf. Professor Wyman, assisted by Messrs. Hughes and [R. M.] Johnson. — The Law of Competition and Combination.

Total 156: 3 Graduates, 107 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 21¹
Mid-year Examination, 1911-12

Give your reasons fully but briefly.

  1. The X oil company, selling oil at wholesale to grocers in a certain state, finds that the Y oil company is getting away part of its customers. The X company thereupon sends out retail wagons, selling oil at a 33⅓% discount, letting the grocers know that this retailing at this price will be continued so long as the grocers buy from the Y company. The grocers soon withdraw their patronage from the Y company, which thereupon sues the X company. What result?
  2. The union employes in a certain mill vote a strike, ostensibly for higher wages, but in reality to get the non-union men thrown out of employment by the closing of the mills. As soon as the mills shut down, they offer to pay the expenses of the non-union men to other towns where they can get work. The employers take the union men back as a body at higher wages. Afterwards learning of the facts, they sue the officers of the unions for damages. What result?
  3. There is a water company in a certain city which refuses to sell its works to the city at the price offered. Thereupon the city installs a sewerage system and a water works of its own, charging $10 a year for sewerage service to all persons except those who take water from the city works, such takers not being charged anything for sewerage service. Has the water company any legal complaint?
  4. A wall paper jobber having on hand a lot of wall paper which he has bought from the Wall Paper Trust under the agreement that he will not sell it below certain prices, a rival of the wall paper trust offers him better prices for its own goods if he will throw the trust paper on the market below the price restriction and thereby make other jobbers throughout the country uneasy. Can the Wall Paper Trust sue its rival for damages?
  5. All the shop-keepers but one in a certain village sign an agreement that they will no longer give trading stamps to their customers and that they will not sell any goods to any person who buys of the shop-keeper who has refused to sign. One of the signers announces the next day that he is going to give trading stamps again. Can he be enjoined?
  6. An association of dealers in plumbers supplies makes a list of those who owe any member, which is regularly circulated among the members. A certain plumber, who has not paid one of his bills because of a dispute as to its accuracy, finds that he cannot get any more supplies on credit. What remedy has he?
  7. A corporation in which X owns all the stock is owed $5000 by A, due January 1, 1912. X owes A $5000 due on the same day. X wants to know whether if A sues him he (X) can set off what he (A) owes the corporation.
  8. A corporation organized to make padlocks buys on credit, at a certain price, some brass which, unknown to the seller, it intends to make into candle sticks. What can the seller sue it for?
  9. A corporation, 51% of the stock in which is held by the Sugar Trust, sells sugar on credit to jobbers with the proviso that no sugar shall be sold by them to retailers who handle a rival brand. What can the trust sue the jobbers for?
  10. A corporation having control of 60% of the match business contracts with the owners of 51% of the shares of a rival match company for the purchase of its property at a certain number of its shares or a fair cash option to the dissenting holders. Can it get specific performance of this contract?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 63-64.

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Earlier Law Courses taught at the Harvard Economics Department

1901-02. Autobiographical note, enrollment, course description, syllabus, exams.

1902-03. Obituary, enrollment, course description, exams.

1903-04. Enrollment and exams.

1904-05. Enrollment, course description, exams.

1905-06. Enrollment, paper assignments, exams.

1906-07. Enrollment, paper topics, exams.

1908-09. Enrollment and exams.

1909-10. Enrollment and exam.

1910. About Wyman’s reputation as a soft-grader (a “snapper problem”) and the scandal that led to the resignation of his Harvard law professorship in 1913.

1910-11. Description, enrollment and exam.

Image Source: Professor of Law Bruce Wyman. The Harvard Classbook 1913.

Categories
Accounting Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Description, enrollment, year-end final exam. Cole, 1911-1912

Luca Pacioli

The first semester final exam (a.k.a. mid-year examination) for William M. Cole’s two semester Principles of Accounting has been filed in a loose-leaf collection of mid-year exams for 1911-12. This makes the post complete (for now). I am always on the lookout for homework exercises, lecture notes etc. 

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Principles of Accounting
pre-1911/12

Links to earlier course material for Principles of Accounting from Harvard, 1900-01 through 1910-11.

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William M. Cole
His Textbook

Accounts. Their Construction and Interpretation for Business Men and Students of Affairs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908.

“The first issue of this book was brought out at a time when no general, non-technical, non-professional treatise on accounting had been published . The author had then been giving for eight years a course of instruction to seniors in Harvard College on the principles of accounting, and believed that many business men and students of affairs would be interested to see briefly but comprehensively how accounts are constructed and interpreted.”
Revised and enlarged edition, 1915.

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Meet the Course Teaching Assistants

Robert Mann Johnson

   Robert Mann Johnson of 58 Lynwood Road, Scarsdale, N.Y., a lawyer with the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Hadley, died of a heart attack yesterday as he enetered his firm’s office building at 15 Broad Street. His age was 60.

Born in North Weymouth, Mass., he was graduated from Boston Latin School in 1905, Harvard College in 1908 and Harvard Law School in 1911. Mr. Johnson practiced in Massachusetts before coming to New York and being admitted to the New York bar in 1921. He was with the firm of Masten & Nichols from 1928 until 1931 when he became associated with the Milbank company.

Surviving are two daughters, Marjorie Elizabeth and Hollis Ann.

Source: The New York Times, July 30, 1948, p. 18.

Clarence Birch Stoner

1873. Born on October 7 near Sulphur Grove, Montgomery county, Ohio

1896. A.B. from Otterbein University (Westerville, Ohio).

Taught school on the Old Troy pike (near Dayton, Ohio).

1898-1900. Superintendent of Schools at Schanck, Ohio.

1900-04. Superintendent of Schools at Ashley, Ohio.

1904-09. Superintendent of Schools at Mt. Gilead, Ohio.

1909-10. Auditor of the Women’s Educational & Industrial Union.

Work as statistician in Harvard’s bureau of business research [year(s) uncertain, within 1909-1912]

1910-11. University Scholarship, Harvard Business School.

1911. M.B.A. from Harvard University. Thesis “Y.M.C.A. Accounts”.

1911-12. Teaching Assistant for Professor Cole.

1912-1915. Assistant Professor at Carnegie Institute of Technology. Developed new course in commercial engineering.

1915. Starting August, appointed general auditor for Hotels Statler Co., Inc. (Buffalo, N.Y.).

Move to New York City, located in the Hotel Pennsylvania, serving as treasurer.

1928. Appointed secretary and treasurer of the Statler Hotels.

Executive of the Hotels Statler Co., Inc. at time of his death from heart disease in Short Hills, NJ on April 9, 1937.

Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 24 September 1912; Buffalo Courier, 14 August 1915; Obituary published in The Dayton Daily News, 10 April 1937 and The Item of Millburn and Short Hills, 16 April 1937.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 18. Principles of Accounting. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Asst. Professor Cole and assistants.

This course is designed to show the processes by which the earnings and values of business properties are computed. It is not intended primarily to afford practice in book-keeping; but since intelligent construction and interpretation of accounts is impossible without a knowledge of certain main types of book-keeping, practice sufficient to give the student familiarity with elementary technique will form an important part of the work of the course. The chief work, however, will be a study of the principles that underlie the determination of profit, cost, and valuation. These will be considered as they appear in several types of business enterprise. Published accounts of corporations will be examined, and practice in interpretation will be afforded. The instruction will be chiefly by assigned readings, discussions, and written work.

Course 18 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work. For men completing their work at the end of the first half-year, it will be counted as a half-course. It is regularly open only to Seniors and to Graduates who have passed in Economics 1. Students intending to enter the Graduate School of Business Administration are expected to take this course in preparation for the advanced courses in accounting.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 67.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 18. Asst. Professor Cole, assisted by Messrs. [Clarence Birch] Stoner and [R. M.] Johnson. — Principles of Accounting.

Total 261: 60 Graduates, 129 Seniors, 68 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 18
Mid-year Examination
1911-12

As far as possible, arrange your answers in tabular form. Follow the order of the questions.

  1. Assume all the books and records of a business to be correct and complete. If you desired full information about the condition of the business and could have access to one book only, what book should you choose? Why?

Show how the record of the following transaction would appear in that book: the business has for some time owed $4500 to David Copperfield, and the credit to him is already on the books, but as it cannot conveniently pay on demand it gives him a note for $4700, payable March 1, in satisfaction of both principal and interest on the debt.

  1. Supposing a controlling account to be required for creditors, show the cash-book page, in the form that you would recommend, to record cash payments for the following: —
Creditor A, $7000 on account. Freight, $42.
Stationery, $45. Lighting, $15.
Express, $2. Wages, $100.
Freight, $28. Creditor C, $1,500.
Wages, $125. Creditor D, $2,200.
Creditor B, $3,000 on account. Freight, $23.
Wages, $75. Creditor E, $3,000.
Your own note, $2,000.
  1. What expense and income accounts should you recommend (if possible, give titles that suggest the items to be carried to each account, or indicate the items in brackets) for a business operating as follows: —

Owning its own store building.
Doing its own heating, lighting, elevator service, from its own power plant.
Buying all its goods in its own town.
Doing its own hauling and delivering.
Paying the clerks regular salaries and bonuses for large sales.
Advertising by electric displays, window displays, newspapers, and circulars.
Conducting rest and recreation rooms for employees.
Allowing interest on undrawn salaries.
Investing its surplus in loans to local enterprises.
Selling goods for cash, for credit, and on the installment plan (in the latter case charging higher prices and sending out collectors).

  1. Below is a trial balance taken before the books were closed, an income sheet, and a balance sheet. Show (a) the ledger as it looked before closing [totals or balances only], (b) the closing items, and (c) the ledger as it looked after closing. [One ledger form will do for all unless you are unable to do (b).]
Proprietor $140,000
Bills Payable $20,000 30,000
Accounts Payable 310,000 328,000
Merchandise 450,000 350,000
Accounts Receivable 375,000 353,000
Fixtures 4,000
Cash 6,700
Wages 20,000
Insurance 400
Taxes 2,000
Rent 5,000
Interest 800 100
General Expense 7,200     
$1,201,100 $1,201,100

 

Mdse. sales 350,000
Mdse. inventory, 1911 $150,000
Mdse. purchases 300,000
Mdse. handled 450,000
Mdse. inventory, 1912 140,000
Mdse. cost of sales 310,000
Gross profit $40,000
Wages $20,000
Insurance 200
Taxes 2,000
Rent 5,000
Interest 600
General Expense 7,200 35,000
Net income $5,000

 

Merchandise $140,000 Proprietor $145,000
Accounts Rec. 22,000 Bills Payable 10,000
Fixtures 4,000 Accounts Pay. 18,000
Cash 6,700
Prepaid insurance 200
Prepaid interest 100      
$173,000 $173,000
  1. For the business whose statements were given in Question 4, the income sheet showed for the subsequent year a net income of $10,000 (the increase resulted from reducing expenses), and the balance sheet was as follows: —
Merchandise $152,000 Proprietor $155,000
Accounts Rec. 21,000 Bills Payable 15,000
Fixtures 4,000 Accounts Pay. 13,000
Cash 5,700
Prepaid insurance 200
Prepaid interest 100     
$183,000 $183,000

Where did the increase in Merchandise come from?

  1. Suppose the business shown in Question 4 had been converted into a corporation immediately after the balance sheet was made out, and stock had been issued for the proprietor’s credit balance. Suppose the good will had been estimated and entered on the books at $15,000, but no stock had been issued for it. If the business done in the next year had been identical with that indicated in Question 5, and no dividends had been declared, what would have been the items of the new balance sheet?
  2. We have three pieces of property, each valued at $10,000, subject to the same rate of natural depreciation, but we use a distinct method of treating depreciation for each. Our entries to express these methods might be expressed briefly as follows: —
Property A. — Maintenance $1,000
                    To Cash $1,000

 

Property B. — Replacement Fund $1,000
                    Depreciation $1,000
                    To Cash $1,000
                    Property B $1,000

 

Property C. — Depreciation $1,000
                    To Property C $1,000

What is our policy of treatment for each property?
How does each policy affect the income sheet?
How do the second and third policies differ from the first in their effect on the balance sheet?

  1. In June, 1912, we take a lease of a building for $10,000 a year for 10 years, to begin on Jan. 1, 1913, and therefore expiring Jan. 1, 1923. We buy of the present occupant of the premises his last half-year’s occupancy-right under a lease expiring Jan. 1, 1913, so that we may take possession on July 1, 1912. We pay him $1,000 outright for the privilege, under agreement that we shall pay the rent for the half year. To what account shall we charge the $1,000?
    Is it a capital or a revenue charge? Why?
    Suppose his lease had been for a term three years longer, at $8,000 a year, and therefore our lease could not become effective until January 1, 1916, and that we should have been willing to pay for the building the equivalent of $10,000 a year (for 13½ years, i. e., until January 1, 1926), for immediate occupancy. How much more than before should we have been willing to pay for his lease, supposing money to be worth 5%
    Should we charge the amount to revenue or to capital?
    How should we treat it a year later?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Folder “Mid-year Examinations, 1911-12″.

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ECONOMICS 18
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

One question may be omitted.

  1. State clearly the relation of the journal, the sales book, the cash book, the sales ledger, and the general ledger; and illustrate your statement by telling what would be shown on each book for the following series of transactions. (Neither the illustration without the statement nor the statement without the illustration will be deemed a satisfactory answer.)

You sell John Doe, one of your many customers, goods for $1600; Doe gives you a draft on Richard Roe, which Roe accepts, for $1000; Doe later pays you $600 in cash, and Roe’s acceptance is paid in full.

  1. What is the effect on the balance sheet and on the income sheet of the following circumstances regarding depreciation?
    1. The property has been maintained at a cost of $5000.
    2. It has been in part maintained at a cost of $3000, a fund has been set aside for replacement of the parts not maintained amounting to $2000, and in a second year the fund has been used for replacement. (Show the two years separately.)
    3. Replacement has done more than maintain the property, by $2000.
    4. The property has been maintained out of a replacement fund, created from product, but owing to a fall in prices the fund is more than adequate for replacement and a balance of $2000 remains.
  2. The balance sheet of a business on Jan. 1, 1911 was as follows:
Fixtures $4,000 Proprietor $60,000
Accounts receivable 60,000 Bills payable 20,000
Merchandise 43,000 Accounts payable 30,000
Cash 3,000
$110,000 $110,000

The trial balance, taken before the books were closed, on Dec. 31, 1911, was as follows: —

Proprietor $60,000
Fixtures $4,000
Bills payable 22,000
Accounts receivable 82,000
Accounts payable 27,000
Merchandise inventory, Jan. 1 43,000
Cash 3,000
Purchases 263,000
Sales 318,850
Wages and salaries 18,000
Office expenses 5,000
Advertising 800
Rent, etc. 9,000
Losses, bad debts 1,000
Insurance 400
Taxes 750
Discounts taken 8,100
Discounts given 6,000
$435,950 $435,950

The balance sheet on Jan. 1, 1912 was as follows: —

Fixtures $3,000 Proprietor $62,000
Accounts receivable 82,000 Bills payable 22,000
Merchandise 24,000 Accounts payable 27,000
Cash 3,000 Allow. for bad debts 1,000
$112,000 $112,000

Show the complete income sheet for the year 1911.

  1. Tell what transactions not disclosed by the income sheet of 1911 were carried on in that year by the business for which figures were given in Question 3.

Was the condition of the business on Jan. 1, 1912, better or worse than it was a year earlier? Explain the grounds of your judgment.

  1. The following is an incomplete balance sheet of a national bank. All figures shown are correct. Tell what are the most probable omitted items, naming a reasonable figure (consistent with the rest of the sheet), and tell on what assumptions you determined the omissions.

Then show the complete balance sheet as it would be if your assumptions were correct.

Loans and discounts $1,200,000 Capital Stock $200,000
National bank notes on hand 7,000 Due to other banks 260,000
Legal tender currency 98,000 Individual deposits 1,300,000
Coin 95,000 Bank note circulation 20,000
Certified checks 8,000
Certificates of deposit 5,000
Cashier’s checks 3,000
$1,848,000 $1,848,000
  1. Suppose that you are the publisher of a book for which there has been for years a steady demand, that the demand is not likely to decline, and that your copyright has five years to run. Suppose the estimated profit over the cost of manufacture of this book is approximately $500 a year while the copyright endures, and that your “courtesy-right” in the book will probably be worth $200 a year for five years more. How should you find the value of the copyright?

Should your right in the book appear on your books of account, and should it affect your annual statements? If so, how and where?

  1. You deem two corporations to be entitled to equally good credit. Both have outstanding 5% bonds, with interest payable semi-annually. The bonds of corporation A run twelve years, and those of corporation B run ten years. Standard bond tables give the value of twelve-year 5% bonds, on a 4½% basis — which you deem fair — as $1045.97, and of ten-year bonds as $1039.91. On March 1, you have offered to you a bond of the issue of corporation A for $1057.50, or one of the issue of corporation B for $1051.25. Which is the better offer? Show the figuring to support your answer.
  2. What is the significance of the items starred on the following life-insurance balance sheet?
Bonds *Reserve $51,000,000
Stocks $30,000,000 *Present worth of future
Real Estate 3,000,000 instalments on matured
Loans on Mortgages 2,000,000 policies 250,000
*Loans on Policies 12,000,000 Accrued liabilities 2,500,000
*Premium Notes 7,000,000 *Reserve for equalization
Cash 1,000,000 of mortality 250,000
Accrued assets 1,000,000 Surplus 4,000,000
2,000,000
$58,000,000 $58,000,000

What is the difference between the two reserves? Between them and the surplus? Are the two starred assets presumably good or are they more or less doubtful than the other assets?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 60-63.

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Earlier Accounting Exams at Harvard

1900-01
1901-02
1902-03
1903-04
1904-05
1905-06
1906-07
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10
1910-11

Image Source: Woodcut of Luca Pacioli, “Father of accounting and bookkeeping” from his Summa de arithmetic, geometria. Proportioni et proportionalita (Venice, 1494). For more about Luca Pacioli.

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Microeconomics

Chicago. Price Theory Prelim Exam. Summer Quarter, 1968

by Roger Vaughan (Chicago PhD 1977)

 

Links to previously posted Chicago prelim exams.

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CORE EXAMINATION

Price Theory
Summer, 1968

Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. Degree

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

Answer all questions.  Time: 3 hours.  [Handwritten: Return question sheets with blue books.]

  1. (70 points) Indicate whether each of the following statements is true, false, or uncertain, and explain briefly
    1. The competitive demand for an input to a production process is never more elastic than the demand for the product of the production process.
    2. An ad valorem tax on the sale of gasoline for highway use would produce a more stable flow of revenue for the state than does the (existing) specific tax.
    3. If the growers of oranges increase their own consumption of oranges more than they increase the total output of oranges when orange prices rise, oranges must be an inferior good.
    4. Because a monopolist has no supply curve, one cannot predict the effect of, say, a ten per cent tax on his output.
    5. In designing an investment project, the firm should attempt to maximize the internal rate of return.
    6. It is inconsistent to explain the rise in the price of a security by “heavier buying” and a fall by “heavier selling.”
    7. For an individual, the sum of the income elasticities of demand for all commodities is unity, and similarly, the sum of their price elasticities is zero.
    8. Within a crop season, September to September, it is impossible for the actual June price to be below the actual March price of wheat because of storage costs.
    9. One would expect the price elasticity of demand for food to be lower in poorer countries than in rich ones simply because food accounts for a larger fraction of the budget in the former.
    10. If the marginal product of labor depends only upon the ratio of labor to capital, and similarly with capital, the competitive firm will have constant returns to scale.
    11. No product can have an elasticity of demand of unity throughout its entire range because no one can pay the nearly infinite price for extremely small quantities.
    12. In order that the amount of food marketed by the agricultural sector be inversely related to price, it is required that the income elasticity of demand for non-food items in that sector be increasing with income.
    13. An excise tax collected from the buyer can never differ in its effect from the same tax collected from the seller.
    14. If production occurs under conditions of constant returns to scale, the marginal product of an input always declines as the relative quantity of that input increases, hence short-run marginal cost always increases with increases in output.
  2. Essay Questions [Handwritten: “Part II. Answer all questions.”]
    1. (25 points)
      Ronald Coase has argued, in an important article on “The Problem of Social Cost” that in the absence of transaction costs, there would be no external economies: every one affected by an action would enter a contract to alter the action. Monopoly behavior has external diseconomies: the costs are borne by the customers but the benefits accrue to the monopolist. How, in the absence of transaction costs, would the monopolists and their customers behave?
    2. (30 points)
      Recent federal legislation authorizes a regulatory body to require various changes in automobiles to increase safety. The cost of the requirements for 1967-68 model cars is estimated at $50 to $100 per car, or $500 million to $1 billion in the aggregate.

      1. How will these regulations affect the prices of used automobiles?
      2. Assuming buyers of automobiles act “rationally” and with full information, are there any safety devices that are in the social interest that will not be installed in response to consumer demand?
      3. If automobile producers were made liable for all damages to occupants of automobiles in accidents, would the socially optimum amount of safety be built into automobiles?
    3. (25 points)
      Suppose that the armed forces wishes to recruit a given number of men. One alternative would be to set a wage such that the number of volunteers equaled the number desired. Another way would be to set a lower wage and to draft a number of men equal to the difference between the number wanted and the number volunteering. In the latter case, assume that each person receiving a draft call would be permitted to hire a substitute for himself or to sell himself as a substitute for some other person. Compare these two schemes in terms of the number of personnel secured, the total pay received by the men, and the sources of this pay. Do not concern yourself with either the existing scheme or probable changes therein.
    4. (30 points)
      The English are much concerned about a “brain drain,” that is, the emigration of highly educated workers. Answer the following questions, assuming constant returns to scale.

      1. Is there any difference, in the effects on the per capita income of those remaining behind, between the emigration of a professional worker and the emigration of a non-professional worker who takes an equivalent amount of capital with him?
      2. Suppose one unskilled worker emigrates with £100 (his per capita share of England’s capital). Will the per capita effects be different–on those who remain–than if one-third of the English labor force migrates?
      3. Reverting to the “brain drain,” will it make any difference–to those who remain–whether the education of the skilled emigrants was paid for by themselves or subsidized by the state?
      4. How will the immigration of these workers into the United States affect U.S. skilled and unskilled workers?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 130, Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1965-1968.”

Image Source: “The School of Chicago 1972” by Robert Vaughan at theHarvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 129. Folder “Posters, ca. 1960s-1970s”.

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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 Public Finance

Harvard. Advanced Public Finance. Description, enrollment and final examination. Bullock, 1911-1912

As has been noted in other posts for the 1911-12 academic year at Harvard, the archival collection of final exams is incomplete with respect to the first semester of two semester courses such as Economics 16 “Public Finance (advanced course)” taught by Charles J. Bullock. The 1910-11 year post (linked below) gives the mid-year and year-end final exams for the course. Other than warning to “Mind the gap”, there is little to be done other that to hope that a copy of the mid-year exam pops up in some other archival location.

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Earlier Advanced Public Finance

Links to earlier course material for advanced course in public finance from Harvard, 1905-06 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] *16. Public Finance (advanced course). Mon., Wed., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor Bullock.

The course is deroted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance. Ability to read French or German is presupposed. Undergraduates are admitted only by consent of the instructor.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 66.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 16. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 13: 11 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

  1. Discuss the present status of the benefit theory of taxation.
  2. Discuss the present status of the theory of progressive taxation.
  3. Discuss the various reasons advanced to explain the failure of the general property tax in the United States. What light does Swiss experience throw on this problem?
  4. Discuss the principal methods proposed for remedying the defects of the general property tax in the United States.
  5. Discuss the incidence of taxes on wages and interest, also of taxes on regulated public service corporations.
  6. Discuss the present status of excise taxation in France, Great Britain, and the United States.
  7. Compare the views of Adam Smith and Bastable concerning the economic effects of public debts.
  8. Compare the history of the British debt with that of the French debt during the nineteenth century.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 59.

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Earlier Advanced Public Finance Courses

1905-06. Public Finance (advanced course).
1908-09. Public Finance (advanced course).
1910-11. Public Finance (advanced course).

Image Source: Charles Jesse Bullock in the Harvard Class Album 1915. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. History of economics through Smith. Description, enrollment, final exam. Bullock, 1911-1912

Screenshot

 

This year course also would have had a mid-year exam covering economic thought from the ancient Greeks through medieval writers. That exam has not (yet) been found, the 1911-12 materials are incomplete. Bullock’s course was well-established by 1911–12 so one can sample the earlier exams to plug the gap.

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History of economics courses
pre-1911/12

Links to earlier course material for History of Economics at Harvard, 1883-84 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 15. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Professor Bullock. (IV)

The purpose of this course is to trace the development of economic thought from classical antiquity to the middle of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed upon the relation of economics to philosophical and political theories, as well as to political and industrial conditions.

A considerable amount of reading of prominent writers will be assigned, and opportunity given for the preparation of theses. Much of the instruction is necessarily given by means of lectures.

No undergraduates will be admitted to the course who are not candidates for distinction in economics.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 60.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 15. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 6: 6 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

  1. In the economic thought of the sixteenth century what evidence do you find of continuity with previous economic thought? What new elements do you find?
  2. Discuss the economic opinions of Bodin, and his influence on later writers.
  3. Discuss the writings of Serra, Montchrétien, and Misselden.
  4. What claims have the following works to be considered scientific economic treatises: Mun’s “England’s Treasure,” Cantillon’s “Essai,” and Turgot’s “Reflexions”?
  5. Discuss English theories concerning the nature of capital and the rate of interest in the eighteenth century.
  6. Discuss the condition of economic thought in Europe at the middle of the eighteenth century.
  7. Compare Adam Smith’s views of capital with earlier views.
  8. Compare Smith’s theory of rent with earlier theories.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 58-59.

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Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

1899-1900. The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. [William James Ashley]

1901-02. History and Literature of Economics, to the opening of the Nineteenth Century. [Charles Whitney Mixter]

1903-04. History and Literature of Economics to the opening of the Nineteenth Century [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1904-05. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1905-06. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1906-07. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1907-08. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1908-09. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1909-10. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

1910-11. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848
Charles Jesse Bullock]

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Theory

Chicago. Economic Theory Prelim Exam. Summer Quarter, 1958

Element from Social Science Research Bldg at U of Chicago

 

Links to previously posted Chicago prelim exams.

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ECONOMIC THEORY PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

SUMMER, 1958
AUGUST 1, 1958

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS

The true-false-uncertain questions, as a group, and the essay questions, as a group, are to be given equal weight in grading the examination.

GROUP I

Indicate in the space provided the correct answer–True (T), False (F), or Uncertain (U). Explain your answer in the space provided on the pages following. Do not write more than can be included in the space provided. [Note: four T-F-U questions fit on a single page]

True (T), False (F), Uncertain (U)

  1. _____ A negative income elasticity of demand implies a positive price elasticity.
  2. _____ The demand curve for leisure is upward sloping.
  3. _____ Steel prices and output usually move together during business cycles. This means that the income effect of a rise in price is greater than the substitution effect.
  4. _____ If the price elasticity of demand is -1.0 each for commodities A and B separately, then the price elasticity of A and B taken together, the price elasticity of the joint demand for A and B, can be higher than -1.0 in absolute value.
  5. _____ When average costs are increasing, marginal costs are also increasing.
  6. _____ Prices that change only rarely constitute evidence of monopoly power.
  7. _____ A proportional income tax will have no effect on occupational choice, while a progressive income tax (same total revenue) does have an effect.
  8. _____ The price elasticity of demand for an input depends mainly upon the elasticity of demand for the final product and the relative share of total costs represented by payments for the specific input.
  9. _____ Inputs A and B are used in the production of the same product. An increase in the price of A (due to a shift in the supply function for A) will result in a decline in the price of B.
  10. _____ If the rate of interest is stable over time, firms may change the ratio of machines to labor.
  11. _____ When the borrowing and lending rates facing a firm differ, a firm may make the appropriate investment decision by maximizing the present value of the firm.
  12. _____ If the amount of capital which a firm can invest is fixed, it will choose the same investment whether it maximizes the average internal rate of return or the present value of the investment.
  13. _____ The long-run elasticity of supply of labor per person (supply measured in hours of work per lifetime) cannot exceed unity numerically.
  14. _____ The white persons who gain the most by market discrimination against Negroes are those with the greatest tastes for discrimination against Negroes.
  15. _____ If a union succeeds in raising wages, it will cause the ratio of the costs of the union labor to total costs to rise.
  16. _____ An effective minimum wage law will tend to cause labor to move out of employments having relatively great net non-pecuniary advantages.
  17. _____ Since the marginal productivity of labor rises as the ratio of capital to labor rises, wages will be higher in industries with high capital-labor ratios than in industries with low capital-labor ratios.
  18. _____ Long-run marginal cost cannot exceed short-run marginal cost.
  19. _____ If the price of wheat in market A is $2.00 per bushel and the cost of transporting a bushel of wheat from market A to market B is $0.10, the price of wheat in market B is $2.10.
  20. _____ If equal percentage changes in labor and land lead to the same percentage change in the output of wheat, and if labor yields increasing average products, the world’s wheat could be grown in a flower pot, if the pot were small enough.

GROUP II

  1. Describe briefly the major contributions of the following economists:

(1) W.S. Jevons
(2) A.A. Cournot
(3) V. Pareto
(4) Irving Fisher

  1. —
    1. The demand function for a product is P = 115-Q. The total cost of producing Q units in one plant is given by
      TC = 40Q – 10Q² + Q³. Only one-plant firms are allowed.

      1. What is the long run competitive solution (price and quantity)? [Handwritten margin note: “…and the number of firms in the industry”]
      2. What would be the approximate price charged and the quantity produced if there was only one one-plant firm and it maximized its profits. (Work only with round figures.) How much profit would it make?
    2. Assume now that a firm may have more than one plant. What is the monopoly solution? [Handwritten addition: “How much profit will it make?”]
  1. The C.E. Company, a mining company, currently operates a commissary at which employees of the company may obtain free of charge a variety of food and clothing items. The amount of each item that an employee may obtain per week may not exceed a specified amount (ration), the same for all employees. The company proposes to close the commissary next month and simultaneously to give the employees an increase in weekly wages equal to half the market value of the ration. The company, learning that you are an economist, has asked you whether the putting into effect of their proposal would increase, decrease, or leave unchanged the real weekly wages of its employees.
    1. Could you give them a definite answer without additional information? Explain.
    2. If your answer to (A) is “no”, what additional information, if any, would enable you to be certain that their proposal would decrease real weekly wages? Would increase real weekly wages? Would leave real weekly wages unchanged? Explain your answers.
  2. A study of the relationship between changes in employment by industry groups and changes in wage rates for the period from 1929 to date in the United States does not reveal a significant positive relationship between the two variables, i.e., larger changes in employment were not associated with larger changes in wage rates.
    Comment on this result in terms of the degree of competition in labor markets and the effect of wage differentials in inducing labor transfers.
    What would have been the implications if there had been a positive correlation between the variables? If there had been a negative relationship?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 130, Folder “Preliminary Examinations, 1957-1965.”

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07449, Hanna Holborn Gray 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.