Category: Exam Questions

 

This post adds to the growing stock of course materials for the money and banking field taught in the Harvard economics department.

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Course materials for graduate money and banking taught by John Williams and Alvin Hansen for other years posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

• Williams and Hansen 1946-47: Fall term 1946; Spring term 1947; General course bibliography.
• Williams and Hansen 1947-48. Reading lists and exams.
• Williams and Hansen 1949-50. Reading lists and exam.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 141. Professors Williams and Hansen.—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 37: 24 Graduates, 7 School of Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1941-42, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 141
Principles of Money and Banking
1941-1942

1. Pre-requisite reading. (For those who have not had advanced undergraduate course in Money and Banking.)

1. 1. Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System: Banking Studies — 1941
   2. Escher, Franklin: Modern Foreign Exchange — Macmillan, 1935

2. Minimum required Reading (It is recommended to begin with Robertson’s book on Money, and then the chapters indicated in Wicksell’s Interest and Prices and Hawtrey’s A Century of Bank Rate. This may be followed by the chapters required in Keynes’ A Treatise on Money.)

1. Books:

1. 1. Angell, James W.: Investment and Business Cycles — McGraw-Hill, 1941
   2. Haberler, Gottfried:  Prosperity and Depression — League of Nations, 1939), Chapter 8.
   3. Hansen, Alvin H.: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles — Norton, 1941
   4. Hansen, Alvin H.: Full Recovery or Stagnation? — Norton, 1938
   5. Hansen, Alvin H.: Business Cycle Theory — Ginn 1927. Chapter IV.
   6. Hawtrey, R.G.: A Century of Bank Rate — Longmans, 1938
   7. Hayek, F. A.: Prices and Production — Routledge, 1935 (rev. ed.)
   8. Keynes, J. M.: Treatise on Money — Harcourt, Brace, 1930. Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 30.
   9. Keynes, J. M.: General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money — Harcourt, Brace, 1936.
   10. Lindahl, Erik: Studies in the Theory of Money and Capital — Allen and Unwin, 1939. Part II. Chapters III, IV, V, VI.
   11. Myrdal, G.: Monetary Equilibrium — Hodge, 1939. Chapters I, II, III
   12. Robertson, D. H.: Money — Harcourt, Brace, 1929. (2^nd ed.)
   13. Robertson, D. H.: Essays in Monetary Theory — King, 1940
   14. Schumpeter, J. A.: Business Cycles — McGraw-Hill, 1939. Chapters 14, 15
   15. Wicksell, K.: Interest and Prices — Macmillan, 1936. Introduction by Bertil Ohlin, Author’s Preface, and Chapters 5, 7, 8, 11

2. Articles:

See articles marked * in general reference list below.

3. General reference reading

Angell, J.W.: Behavior of Money — McGraw-Hill, 1935

Armstrong, W.E.: Saving and Investment — Routledge, 1936

Beach, W.E.: British International Gold Movements and Banking Policy — Harvard U. Press, 1935

Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System: Twenty-Fifth Annual Report

Bresciani-Turroni, C.: The Economics of Inflation — Allen & Unwin, 1937

Brookings Institution: The Recovery Problem in the United States — 1936

Burgess, W.R.: The Reserve Banks and the Money Market — Harpers, 1936

Cassel, G.: The Downfall of the Gold Standard — Clarendon Press, 1936

Cassel, G.: On Quantitative Thinking in Economics — Clarendon Press, 1935.

Cassel, G.: Money and Foreign Exchange after 1914 — Macmillan, 1923.

Chandler, L.V.: An Introduction to Monetary Theory — Harper, 1940

Clark, Colin: National Income and Outlay — Macmillan, 1938

Clark, J.M.: Economics of Planning Public Works — Gov’t .Printing Office, 1935

Clark, J.M.: Strategic Factors in the Business Cycle — National Bureau of Economic Research, 1934

Cole, G.D.H.: What Everybody Wants to Know about Money — Knopf, 1933

Committee on Finance and Industry: Macmillan Report — H.M.S.O., 1931

Copland, Douglas: Australia in the World Crisis, 1929-1933 — Macmillan, 1934

Coulborn, W, A. L.: An Introduction to Money — Longmans, 1938

Crowther, G.: An Outline of Money — Nelson, 1941

Currie, L.: Supply and Control of Money in the United States — Harvard U. Press, 1934

Durbin, E.F.M.: Purchasing Power and Trade Depressions — Cape, 1933

Durbin, E.F.M.: The Problem of Credit Policy — Van Nostrand, 1935

Economic Essays in Honour of Gustav Cassel — Allen & Unwin, 1933

Economic Reconstruction — Report of Columbia Commission, Columbia U. Press, 1934

Einzig, Paul: World Finance, 1939-40 — Kegan, Paul, 1940

Ellis, H.S.: German Monetary Theory — Harvard U. Press, 1934

Ellsworth, P.T.: International Economics — Macmillan, 1938

Fisher, Irving: Purchasing Power of Money — Macmillan, 1911

Fisher, Irving: Booms and Depressions — Adelphi, 1932

Fisher, Irving. 100 Per Cent Money — Adelphi, 1935

Foster and Catchings: Money — Houghton, Mifflin, 1930

Foster and Catchings: Profits — Houghton, Mifflin, 1925

Gayer, A.D.: Monetary Policy and Economic Stabilization — Macmillan, 1935

Gayer, A.D.: Public Works in Prosperity and Depression — N.B.E.R., 1935

Gilbert, Milton: Currency Depreciation and Monetary Policy — U. of Penn. Press, 1939

Graham, F.D.: Exchange, Prices and Production in Hyper-Inflation: Germany, 1920-1923 — Princeton U. Press, 1930

Graham, F.D. and Whittlesey, C.R.: Golden Avalanche — Princeton U. Press, 1939

Gregory, T.E.: The Gold Standard and its Future — Dutton, 1935

Greidanus, T.: The Development of Keynes’ Economic Theories — King, 1939

Hall, N.F.: The Exchange Equalization Account — Macmillan, 1935

Hamilton, E.J.: American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain — Harvard U. Press, 1934

Hansen, Alvin H.: Economic Stabilization in an Unbalanced World — Harcourt, Brace, 1932

Hansen, Alvin H.: International Economic Relations, Part III — Hutchins Commission, U. of Minnesota Press, 1934.

Hardy, C.O. Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System — Brookings, 1932

Hardy, C.O. Is There Enough Gold? — Brookings, 1936

Harris Institute Lectures: Gold and Monetary Stabilization — U. of Chicago Press, 1932

Harris, S.E.: Assignats — Harvard U. Press, 1930

Harris, S.E.: Monetary Problems of the British Empire-Macmillan, 1931

Harris, S.E.: Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy — Harvard U. Press, 1933

Harris, S.E.: Exchange Depreciation — Harvard U. Press, 1936.

Harris, S.E.: Economics of the American Defense Program — Norton, 1941

Harrod, R. F.: The Trade Cycle — Clarendon Press, 1936.

Harrod, R. F.: International Economics — Nisbet, 1939.

Hawtrey, R.G.: Currency and Credit — Longmans, 1928

Hawtrey, R.G.: Art of Central Banking — Longmans, 1932

Hawtrey, R.G.: A Century of Bank Rate — Longmans, 1939

Hayek, F.A.: Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle — Harcourt, Brace, 1933

Hayek, F.A.: Beiträge zur Geldtheorie — Springer, 1933

Hayek, F.A.: Monetary Nationalism and International Stability — Longmans, 1937

Hayek, F.A.: Profits, Interest and Investment — Routledge, 1939

Hayek, F.A.: The Pure Theory of Capital — Macmillan, 1941

Heilperin, M.A.: International Monetary Economics — Longmans, 1939

Hicks, J.R.: Value and Capital — Oxford U. Press, 1939

Iversen, Carl: International Capital Movements — Oxford U. Press, 1936

Johnson, G.G.: The Treasury and Monetary Policy, 1933-38 — Harvard U. Press, 1939

Kalecki, M.: The Theory of Economic Fluctuations — Farrar and Rinehart, 1939

Kemmerer, E.W.: The A B C of the Federal Reserve System — Princeton U. Press, 1938

Kemmerer, E.W.: The Gold Standard — its Nature and Future — Economists Nat’l Com. On Monetary Policy, 1940

Keynes, J.M.: A Tract on Monetary Reform — Macmillan, 1923

Keynes, J.M.: Unemployment as a World Problem — U. of Chicago, 1931 (pp. 1-42)

Keynes, J.M.: Means to Prosperity — Harcourt, Brace, 1933

Keynes, J.M.: How to Pay for the War — Harcourt, Brace, 1940

King, W.T.C.: History of the London Discount Market — Routledge, 1936

Knight, A.W.: What is Wrong with the Economic System — Longmans, 1939

Kuznets, S.S.: National Income and Capital Formation, 1919-1935 — Nat’l Bureau of Econ. Research, 1937

League of Nations: Final Report on Gold–1932

League of Nations: World Economic Survey (Annual)

League of Nations: Money and Banking; Monetary Review, Commercial and Central Banks (Vols. I and II) Annual

Lester, R.A.: Monetary Experiments — Princeton U. Press, 1939

Lundberg, E.: Economic Expansion — King, 1937

Machlup, Fritz: The Stock Market, Credit, and Capital Formation — Hodge, 1940

Madden, J.R. and Nadler, M.: International Money Markets — Prentice-Hall, 1935

Marget, A.W.: The Theory of Prices — Prentice-Hall, 1938

Marshall: Money, Credit, and Commerce — Macmillan, 1923

Marshall: Official Papers — Macmillan, 1926

Meade, J.E.: An Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy — Oxford U. Press, 1938

Meade, J.E.: Consumers’ Credits and Unemployment — Oxford U. Press, 1938

Mises, L.: The Theory of Money and Credit — Harcourt, Brace, 1935

Moulton, H.G.: The Formation of Capital — Brookings, 1935

Moulton, H.G.: Income and Economic Progress — Brookings, 1935

Moulton, H.G.: Financial Organization and the Economic System — McGraw-Hill, 1938

Myers, Margaret G.: Paris as a Financial Centre — Columbia U. Press, 1936

National Industrial Conference Board: The Availability of Bank Credit, 1933-38 — 1939

Northrup, Mildred B.: Control Policies of the Reichsbank — Columbia U. Press, 1938

Ohlin, B.: Penningpolitik, Offentliga Arbeiten, etc., — Nordstedt, 1934

Ohlin, B.: Interregional and International Trade — Harvard U. Press, 1933

Ohlin, B.: Editor of issue of The Annals, May 1938 on Some Problems and Policies in Sweden

Paris, J.D.: Monetary Policies of the U.S., 1932-38 — Columbia U. Press, 1938

Phillips, C.A.; McManus, T.F. and Nelson, R.W.: Banking and the Business Cycle — Macmillan, 1939

Pigou, A.C.: The Theory of Unemployment — Macmillan, 1933

Pigou, A.C.: Employment and Equilibrium — Macmillan, 1941

Plumptre, A.F.W.: Central Banking in the British Dominions — U. of Toronto Press, 1940

Prather, C.L.: Money and Banking — Irwin, 1940

Riefler, W.W.: Money Rates and the Money Market — Harper, 1930

Robbins, Lionel: The Great Depression — Macmillan, 1934

Robinson, Joan: Introduction to the Theory of Employment — Macmillan, 1937

Roll, Erich: About Money — Faber and Faber, 1934

Saulnier, R.J.: Contemporary Monetary Theory — Columbia U. Press, 1938

Sayers, R.S.: Modern Banking — Oxford U. Press, 1937

Schumpeter, J.A.: The Theory of Economic Development — Harvard U. Press, 1934

Shackle, G.L.S.: Expectations, Investment and Income — Oxford U. Press, 1938

Shepherd, Henry L.: The Monetary Experience of Belgium, 1914-1936 — Princeton U. Press, 1936

Spahr, Walter E.: The Case for the Gold Standard — Economists’ Nat’l Com. On Monetary Policy, 1940

Thornton, Henry: An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802) — Farrar and Rinehart, 1939 (Introduction by Hayek)

Thorp, Willard L.: Economic Problems in a Changing World — Farrar and Rinehart, 1939

Timoshenko, V.: World Agriculture and the Depression — U. of Michigan, Bureau of Business Research, 1933

Turner, R.C.: Member-Bank Borrowing — Ohio State U., 1938

Veblen, T.: Theory of Business Enterprise — Scribner’s, 1904

Veblen, T.: The Engineers and the Price System — Huebsch, 1921

Villard, H.H.: Deficit Spending and the National Income — Farrar and Rinehart, 1941

Vineberg, P.F.: The French Franc and the Gold Standard — McGill U., 1938

Viner, Jacob: Studies in the Theory of International Trade — Harper, 1937

Warren and Pearson: Gold and Prices — Chapman and Hall, 1935

Warren and Pearson: World Prices and the Building Industry — Wiley, 1937

Westerfield, R.B.: Our Silver Debacle — Ronald Press, 1936

Westerfield, R.B.: Money, Credit and Banking — Ronald Press, 1938

Whitaker, A.C.: Foreign Exchange — Appleton-Century, 2^nd ed., 1933

White, Horace: Money and Banking — Ginn, 1936 (revised edition by Tippetts and Froman)

Whittlesey, C.R.: International Monetary Issues — McGraw-Hill, 1937

Wicksell, K.: Lectures on Political Economy, Money — Macmillan, 1935

Williams, J.H.: Argentine Trade under Inconvertible Paper — Harvard U. Press, 1920.

Willis, H.P., and Beckhart, B.H.: Foreign Banking System — Holt, 1929

Wood, Elmer: English Theories of Central Banking Control, 1819-1858 — Harvard U. Press, 1939

Articles

Angell, J.W.: “The 100% Reserve Plan” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1935

Angell, J.W.: “Foreign Exchange” Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Volume 6

Beveridge, W. H.: “Unemployment in the Trade Cycle”, Economic Journal, March, 1939.

Clark, Colin: “The Determination of the Multiplier from National Income Statistics”, Economic Journal, September, 1938.

Currie, L.: “The Failure of Monetary Policy to Prevent the Depression of 1929-32”, Journal of Political Economy, April 1934.

Curtis, Myra: “Is Money Saving Equal to Investment?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1937

Duncan, A.J., and Gilboy, E.W.: “Propensity to Consume” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1939

Eddy, George A.: “The Present Status of New Security Issues”, Review of Economic Statistics, August 1939.

Ellis, Howard: “Some Fundamentals in the Theory of Velocity”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1939.

Ellis, Howard: “Notes on Recent Business-Cycle Literature”, Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1938.

Ellis, Howard: “Exchange Control in Austria and Hungary” Quarterly Journal of Economics November 1939. Part II.

Graham, F.D.: “100% Reserves: comment”, American Economic Review, June, 1941.

Haberler, G.: “Mr. Kahn’s Review of ‘Prosperity and Depression’”, with rejoinder by R.F.Kahn, Economic Journal, June 1938

Hansen, Alvin H.: “Progress and Declining Population” American Economic Review, March 1939

Hansen*, Alvin H.: “Gold in a Warring World,” Yale Review, Summer, 1940

Hansen*, Alvin H.: “Monetary and Fiscal Controls in War Time” Yale Review, Winter, 1940

Hansen, Alvin H.: “Income, Consumption, and National Defense” Yale Review, Winter, 1940

Harris*, S.E.: “American Gold Policy and Allied War Economics”, Economic Journal, September, 1940.

Harrod R.F.: “An Essay in Dynamic Theory”, Economic Journal, March, 1939.

Hicks*, J.R.: “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of Employment”, Economic Journal, June, 1936.

Hicks*, J.R.: “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’”: a Suggested Interpretation” Econometrica, April 1937

Hicks*, J.R.: “Mr. Hawtrey on Bank Rate and the Long-Term Rate of Interest,” The Manchester School, Vol. X, no. 1, 1939

Holden, G.R.: “Rationing and Exchange Control in British War Finance” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1940

Horsefield, J.K.: “Currency Devaluation and Public Finance, 1929-37” Economica, August 1939

Kaldor, Nicholas: “Capital Intensity and the Trade Cycle”, Economica, February, 1939.

Kaldor*, Nicholas: “Stability and Full Employment”, Economic Journal, December, 1938.

Kalecki, M.: “The Short-Term Rate of Interest and Velocity of Cash Circulation”, Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1941.

Keynes*, J.M.: “Alternative Theories of the Rate of Interest”, Economic Journal, June, 1937.

Keynes*, J.M.: “Relative Movements in Real Wages and Output” Economic Journal, March 1939

Kondratieff, M.D.: “The Long Waves in Economic Life”, Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1935.

Lange*, Oscar: “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume”, Economica, February 1938

Langum, J.K.: “The Statement of Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds”, Review of Economics Statistics, August, 1939.

Lehmann, Fritz: “One Hundred Per Cent Money”, Social Research, February, 1936.

Lerner*, A.P.: “Mr. Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”, International Labour Review, October 1936 and November 1937.

Lerner, A.P.: “Saving Equals Investment”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1938.

Lerner, A.P.: Alternative Formulations of the Theory of Interest,” Economic Journal, June, 1938.

Lerner*, Lange, Curtis, Lutz: “Saving and Investment”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1939.

Long, C.D.: “Long Cycles in the Building Industry, 1856-1935”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1939.

Lutz, F.A.: “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1938.

Lutz, F.A.: “Velocity Analysis and the Theory of the Creation of Deposits”, Economica, May 1939.

Machlup*, F.: “Period Analysis and the Multiplier Theory”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1939.

Machlup, F.: “The Theory of Foreign Exchanges”, Economica, November, 1939.

Marget, A.W.: “The Monetary Aspects of the Walrasian System”, Journal of Political Economy, April 1935.

Marget, A.W.: “Leon Walras and the ‘Cash-Balance’ Approach to the Problem of the Value of Money”, Journal of Political Economy, October, 1931.

Morgenstern, O.: “Professor Hicks on Value and Capital” Journal of Political Economy, June 1941

Ohlin, Robertson, Hawtrey: “Alternative Theories of the Rate of Interest: Three Rejoinders”, Economic Journal, September, 1937.

Ohlin*, B.: Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Savings and Investment”, Economic Journal, March 1937, June, 1937.

Ohlin, B.: “Mechanism and Objectives of Exchange Control”, Supplement to American Economic Review, March 1937.

Pigou, A.C.: “Mr. J.M. Keynes’ ‘General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money” Economica, May 1936

Plumptre, A. F. W.: “Interest Rates and Bank Credit in the British Dominions”, Economic Journal, June, 1939.

Poole, K.H.: “Tax Remission as a Means of Influencing Cyclical Fluctuations” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1939

Robinson*, Joan: The Concept of Hoarding”, Economic Journal, June, 1938.

Samuelson*, P.: “Interactions between the Multiplier Analysis and the Principle of Acceleration”, Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1939.

Samuelson, P.: “The Rate of Interest under Ideal Conditions”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1939.

Schumpeter, J. A.: “An Analysis of Economic Change”, Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1935.

Shirras, G. F.: “The Position and Prospects of Gold,” Economic Journal, June-September, 1940.

Simmons*, E. C.: “Treasury Deposits and Excess Reserves”, Journal of Political Economy, June, 1940.

Simons, H. C.: “Rules versus Authority in Monetary Policy”, Journal of Political Economy, February, 1936.

Somers, H. M.: “Monetary Policy and the Theory of Interest”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1941.

Viner, Jacob: “Mr. Keynes on the Causes of Unemployment: A Review” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1936.

Watkins, L. L.: “The Expansion Power of the English Banking System,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1938.

Williams, J.H.: “The Adequacy of Existing Mechanisms under Varying Circumstances” Supplement to American Economic Review, March, 1937.

Williams*, John H.: “Fiscal Policy and Preparedness”, Proceedings, Academy of Political Science, May, 1939.

Williams, John H.: “Economic and Monetary Aspects of the Defense Program”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, February, 1941.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

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1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141
Principles of Money and Banking
Mid-Year Examination

(Three hours)

1. Choose any three from questions I-IV.
   1. Compare the formulations of (a) Robertson and (b) Keynes (Treatise and General Theory) with respect to the following:
      Equality or inequality of Saving and Investment (give equations and define terms).
      2. The role of investment as a determinant of income and employment.
   2. Develop Keynes’ theory of interest and compare with the theories (a) of the classicals and (b) of Wicksell and others belonging to his school.
      2. What is the role of the rate of interest as a determinant of income and employment?
   3. “The validity of the multiplier theory rests upon the stability of the consumption function.” Explain and evaluate this statement.
   4. Give a compact summary statement describing the most significant monetary events of the two decades 1920-1940, and indicate the lessons to be learned from each.

2. Choose one from questions V and VI.
   5. According to Angell: (1) what are the inter-relations of (a) anticipations, (b) investment, and (c) income, and what are the determinants of each; (2) what are the determinants and the role of (a) market rates of interest, (b) the money supply, an (c) money hoards?
   6. Critically state and evaluate the central thesis in Hayek’s Prices and Production.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-term Examinations, 1852-1943, Box 15. Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1942.

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1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141
Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination

(Three hours)

Discuss THREE topics.

1. The relation of consumption to income and its significance for fiscal policy.
2. The implications of fiscal policy for monetary policy and the banking system.
3. The ideas of Foster and Catchings and of Hayek regarding the “paradox of savings.”
4. Fellner’s analysis of the “technological argument of the stagnation thesis.”
5. Milton Gilbert’s analysis of war expenditures and national production.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Box 6, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1942.

Images Source:  Hansen and Williams from Harvard Classbook 1942.