In the U.S. Library of Congress I came across a collection of the Cambridge University Economics Tripos examinations for 1931-1933. In an earlier post I provided transcriptions of the 1931 exams. This post provides the 21 examinations for 1932. For a later post I’ll transcribe the 1933 exams.

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PART I.

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES I.

1. Bring out clearly the economic principles which determine the relative values of a bushel of wheat and a pair of boots.
2. Define the following and consider the relations between them: wealth, capital, land.
3. What do you understand by (a) saving; (b) investment? Explain the process by which savings are converted into capital.
4. A tenant farmer is cultivating a dairy farm in the West of England and paying a rent of £200 per annum. The landlord dies and the farm is put up for sale and offered for £4000 to the tenant, in the first instance. What various economic factors should influence the farmer in deciding whether to buy or not?
5. What forces tend to remove and what forces tend to perpetuate inequalities in wage rates (a) in the same industry in different parts of the country; (b) in different industries in the same country?
6. Bring out the importance for the theory of value of (a) marginal utility; (b) the principle of substitution.
7. How do you account fort he observed tendency for the prices of foodstuffs and raw materials to fluctuate much more widely than the prices of most manufactured articles?
8. Under what circumstances is it likely that unrestricted competition will lead to the formation of a monopoly?
9. On what does the marginal net product of labour depend?
10. Trace the stages by which a sudden but enduring fall of 50 per cent. in the demand schedule for an article will react upon (a) the supply of that article; (b) its price.
11. Analyse profits on capital and discuss the tendency of each element to rise or fall.
12. “To use the phrase ‘negative quasi-rent’ is to misconceive the nature of Marshall’s doctrine of ‘quasi-rent.’” Comment on this statement.

 

Monday, May 30, 19932. 1½ — 4½.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

1. What do you understand by (a) primary poverty, (b) secondary poverty? Are there in your view any immediate means of removing the causes or remedying the effects of primary poverty?
2. Which is the more suitable body for applying the “means test” to applicants for unemployment benefit, the Ministry of Labour or the Public Assistance authority? Is the test desirable as a permanent feature of the unemployment insurance system?
3. In which industries is unemployment most severe at the present time? In the event of a general revival of trade in England in the near future, in which industries would you expect employment to increase most rapidly?
4. Compare with reference to the course of events since the War the relative efficacy of (a) “direct action,” and (b) political pressure for increasing taxation and social services, as methods of improving the welfare of the working classes.
5. There has recently been a widespread substitution of piece-work for time-work in Russia, leading to large increases of output. Would you regard this as evidence in favour of extending piece-work in other countries?
6. Consider the arguments for and against the extension of unemployment insurance to cover agricultural workers.
7. What evidence is there that the population of Great Britain will begin to decline within twenty years? Would a declining population solve (a) the housing problem, (b) unemployment?
8. Would you favour the use of a Government housing subsidy to provide rent rebates varying according to the size of the family housed?
9. Under what conditions will the general introduction of the automatic loom in Lancashire aggravate unemployment? Is it desirable to introduce labour-saving machinery during depression?
10. How would you account for the growing tendency in recent years for the formation of Industrial Unions rather than Craft Unions?
11. “It is a direct corollary of the ‘marginal productivity’ theory of wages that high wages cause unemployment.” Discuss.
12. Why are the representatives of organized labour as well as of employers in this country opposed to compulsory arbitration as a method of settling trade disputes?

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 9 — 12.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES II.

A.

1. How is elasticity of demand measured? Under what conditions is the demand for some product likely to be very elastic?
2. What evidence would you require in order to discover whether this country is over-populated?
3. “Price is equal to marginal cost.” Explain the meaning of the word “marginal” in Economics. What is the relation of marginal to average cost?
4. What are the chief assumptions made in the construction of the competitive theory of value? Are they closely related to the actual conditions of modern economic life?
5. Show, with a diagram if possible, how a publisher would determine the price that he should charge for a new book.
6. “Owing to the falling off of sales in 1931, and the consequent increase of overhead cost per unit of output, it has proved necessary for us to advance the prices of our products.” Examine the validity of this argument as applied to a short period.

B.

7. By what means can a central bank control the level of prices in a country?
8. What effect on prices would you expect (a) if the practice of paying wages by cheque became more common, (b) if wages were paid monthly instead of weekly?
9. What is meant by the “purchasing power parity” theory of exchanges? How far do you consider it possible to calculate the present equilibrium rate of exchange between the pound and the dollar?
10. Can two countries both gain by the existence of a trade between them?
11. Explain in detail how a Bill of Exchange serves to make payments between persons in different countries.
12. Give some account of the legal enactments at present governing the issue of paper money in this country, and of the more important changes which have been made in the last hundred years.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
ESSAY SUBJECTS.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

1. Mr MacQuedy: “Then, sir, I presume you set no value on the right principles of rent, profit, wages and currency?”
   The Rev. Dr. Folliott: “My principles, sir, in these things are, to take as much as I can get, and to pay no more than I can help. These are every man’s principles, whether they be the right principles or not. There, sir, is political economy in a nutshell.”
   (T. L. Peacock: Crotchet Castle.)
2. The future of party government.
3. The British Empire as an economic unit.
4. High Finance.
5. Sweepstakes.

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY

1. Give some account of the “old colonial system” and estimate its importance in the economic development of England from 1660 to 1776.
2. Examine the causes and the principal consequences of the enclosure movement of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
3. “So far from originating cruelty to children, the factory system called attention to the evil by concentrating it where all could see.” Discuss this view.
4. Compare the outlook and objectives of the Chartists with those of the advocates of the Repeal of the Corn Laws.
5. What were the principal reasons for the industrial leadership of Great Britain in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties of last century?
6. “All through the nineteenth century the railways have been the great factor making for the extension of the sphere of State action and the abandonment of the idea of free competition.” Discuss.
7. Outline the development of direct taxation from Pitt to Gladstone.
8. Describe and account for the main changes that took place in the general level of gold prices between 1850 and 1914.
9. What were the principal changes in agricultural organization and policy from the acute depression of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties to the outbreak of the World War?
10. Give some account of the growth of Trade Unionism and the Labour Movement between 1867 and 1913.
11. Why did the Protectionist campaign of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain fail, and that of Mr Neville Chamberlain succeed?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE

1. Give some account of the technical advantages of large scale production in any one industry with whose conditions you are acquainted.
2. What is meant by “the external economies” of an industry? What difficulties are involved in this conception?
3. How would you account for the fact that some industries are much more localized than others? In what ways do you consider it likely that the development of the cheaper transmission of electricity will alter the location of British Industries?
4. Give some account of the objects and methods of Scientific Management.
5. If in any firm the most efficient technical size of several processes were too large for efficient management, how could the organization be adjusted to minimize this loss of efficiency?
6. What are the proper functions of advertisement? Do you consider that the total expenditure on advertising in this country is excessive?
7. How would you explain the fact that in many districts almost every firm turns out more than one product, instead of specializing on a single product?
8. Describe the more important channels whereby saving is placed at the disposal of industry. What suggestions would you make for their improvement?
9. Which of the various arguments used to justify the imposition of tariffs at the present moment do you consider valid?
10. Give an account of the monopoly organisations in any one important British Industry. What factors limit the power of the monopolist to raise prices in the case that you are considering?
11. Describe the methods employed for the marketing of either cotton or wool at each stage from the raw material to the finished product. Explain why each particular method is adopted, and consider whether any change in the method is desirable.

 

PART II.

Monday, May 30, 19932. 1½ — 4½.
SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Thrift.
2. The Future of the Party System.
3. Sky-writing.
4. The Scope and Method of Realistic Economics.
5. Disarmament as a Practical Problem.
6. Man in the Machine Age.

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
MONEY, CREDIT AND PRICES.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

1. Do you consider that the legal regulation of the Central Bank’s minimum gold reserve serves a useful purpose in a gold standard country? What form of regulation, if any, do you recommend?
2. Are there good reasons for holding that the “rate of saving” and “rate of investment” should appear as terms in the equation used to demonstrate the principal factors which govern the value of money?
3. Explain the working of a forward foreign exchange market. How far can it obviate the inconveniences which arise when there is no fixed par of exchange between currencies?
4. If it had been decided to stabilize the purchasing power of the national standard of value in terms of an index number of prices, what main categories of goods and/or services would you include in the index number?
5. What considerations have to be taken into account in analyzing the causes which determine the velocity of circulation of money?
6. If the principal nations of the world decide to adhere to a gold standard in future, would you consider that the impeding gold shortage gives ground for alarm? State your reasons.
7. In what respects, if any, do you conceive that the policy of the Federal Reserve System has been open to criticism in the period from 1926 to the present day?
8. “The resistance of wage earners to reductions in money wages has been of value in saving us from the worst excesses of deflation.” Examine this contention.
9. On what lines should the Indian currency system be developed?
10. Do you agree with the view that public works designed to stimulate employment in a slump “are a mere piece of ritual, achieving nothing which could not equally well be achieved b the banking system acting alone, through a sufficiently great alteration in tis terms of lending”?
11. Would the formation of a large “sterling area” be of advantage or disadvantage to this country, in your opinion, if she were endeavouring to maintain a stable currency divorced from gold?

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9—12.
POLITICAL THEORY.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

 

1. “The State may be defined as a juridically organized nation.” Discuss this definition.
2. Would you agree that political obligation is equally binding on the citizen whether he lives in a democracy or under a dictatorship?
3. Dicey contended that democracy and “collectivism” were inconsistent. Do you accept his contention?
4. Would you consider that the conception of a right of property as belonging to the individual has permanent value, or would you regard it as only characteristic of a particular phase of social development?
5. In what sense can we speak of law as being “enacted,” and what are the organs of such enactment in the modern State?
6. How would you analyse the conception of “public opinion,” and by what methods would you suggest that such opinion should be brought to bear on political government?
7. On what principles, and by what methods, would you impose limits (if any) on liberty of the expression of thought?
8. Discuss the prison as one of the institutions of political life, with reference to (a) the purpose which it should serve, and (b) the methods which it should employ.
9. It has been said that “the process of discovering the Sovereign is in all modern States the same.” By what process would you seek to discover the Sovereign in the modern State?
10. “The State properly intervenes not to conduct the economic business of the country, but to uphold social standards.” Discuss the value of the distinction here suggested.
11. ”The problem of our days is not the Man versus the State, as it was when Herbert Spencer wrote in 1884, but the State versus the Group.” Comment on this statement, explaining the sense which you would attach to the term “Group.”

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932.  1½ — 4½.
DISTRIBUTION AND LABOUR.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

1. “Every factor of production tends to be remunerated at a rate equivalent to its marginal net product of commodities in general.” Does this statement need any modifications or qualifications when it is applied to land which are not equally necessary when it is applied to the other factors? Give your reasons.
2. “The Dole has kept up wages above their proper level.” What are the arguments in support of this view? Discuss their soundness. What changes in public policy, if any, do your conclusions suggest as desirable?
3. What principal factors determine the magnitude of the change which a fall in the general level of commodity prices occasions in the proportion of the national income accruing to the owners of fixed-interest bearing investments?
4. With the object of creating employment, a grant is made by the exchequer to a local authority for a road-widening scheme. The local authority sets about doing the work as efficiently as possible with the aid of steam navies and other labour-saving machinery. Ought the Exchequer to challenge this actions? Argue the case for and against.
5. “The money now paid in unemployment benefits should be used to provide employment.” Suggest possible schemes and discuss their soundness.
6. Compare the relative levels of wages in skilled and unskilled occupations in this country to-day and before the War. Discuss the bearing of any changes upon (a) the supply of skilled workers, (b) industrial contentment, (c) labour organization and policy.
7. What are the principal differences between the English and German provisions for State action in the regulation of wages and the settlement of industrial disputes? Discuss whether England could with advantage follow the German example in these matters more closely.
8. Discuss the relative merits of systems under which wage-rates vary with (a) the market price of the product, (b) a cost of living index, (c) a wholesale price index, (d) the profit of the undertaking.
9. Explain and discuss the place and function of the Trades Union Congress and the General Council of the Trades Union Congress in labour organization.
10. If you had to measure the change in the general level of money wages in this country since 1900, what difficulties, theoretical and practical, would you encounter?
11. If a British lace manufacturer proposed to run his establishment continuously on a three-shift system, what procedure would he have to adopt (a) to conform with legal requirements and (b) to meet possible opposition from any quarter?
12. What are the functions of the Public Assistance Committees? Do you consider that any of them should be transferred to other authorities or modified in any way? State your reasons.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
STRUCTURE AND METHODS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE MODERN WORLD.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

1. Discuss the powers of the Supreme Court, under the American system of government, in disallowing legislation. Would it, in your view, be possible or desirable to institute a judicial body with similar powers in a nonfederal State?
2. Discuss the methods by which the House of Commons controls finance. Would you regard those methods as adequate, at the present time, for the purpose of regulating the distribution of expenditure or of enforcing general economy?
3. Describe the effect of the main changes which have taken place in the relations of the component parts of the British Commonwealth between the outbreak of war in 1914 and the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.
4. Describe the position and powers of committees of the legislature under the French system of parliamentary government. In what ways do they differentiate that system from the system in Great Britain?
5. What contrast would you draw between the British party system and that of Germany in regard to (a) their influence on the electorate, and (b) their effects on general working of the Constitution?
6. How far has England developed the French system of “administrative justice” during the present century? What are the defects of administrative jurisdiction as it exists in England to-day?
7. What would you regard as the main reforms effected in English local government since 1902, and what further reforms would you advocate in regard to the areas or functions of local authorities?
8. Describe in general terms the composition and functions of the National Economic Council of Germany, and discuss the tendencies in Great Britain towards the development of a similar system since 1918.
9. Give some account either of the merits and disadvantages of the system of “indirect rule” in the British Colonial Empire or of the varieties and the working of the system of British Mandated Territories.
10. Would you agree that there is an increasing recognition in Great Britain of the part which the “Expert” should play in the work of government?
11. Compare the position of the American Senate with that of the German Reichsrath. How would you account for the comparative weakness of the latter?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRY.
(OLD REGULATIONS.)

1. “The entrepreneur has passed away with the Victorian era. His place has been taken by a combination of financier and salaried manager.” Discuss the truth of this contention.
2. Discuss the possibility of defining “an industry” so as to make it a useful conception in the analysis of economic structure without doing violence to its popular meaning.
3. Are there any special circumstances in England to-day that make the rational planning of each industry of more importance than in the past? Illustrate what is included under planning from your knowledge of any one industry.
4. Explain the nature and causes of any differences that occur in the marketing of (a) producers’ goods, (b) consumers’ goods, and the effect of these differences upon the location of the plants making these two types of goods.
5. How far can statistical proof be adduced for the contention that some manufacturing industries are subject to the law of increasing returns?
6. What precisely are the supposed defects in a system of private enterprise that have led to schemes for the public control of such activities as transport, generation of electricity and the supply of water?
7. “Co-operative societies in agriculture are nothing more nor less than cartels, and threaten the consumer with the same sort of exploitation.” Comment.
8. What forms of integration and combination seem to you to best calculated to reduce the risks of industrial fluctuations, and why?
9. Discuss the effect on national and international localization of industry of the modern and the possible future development of (a) the telephone, (b) road transport, (c) commercial aviation.
10. Are we bound to expect a contraction in British industries manufacturing for export? What statistical sources and methods would you use to estimate the extent of such contraction, and to indicate industries and services to which investment might advantageously be directed or transferred?
11. Discuss any differences between British and foreign systems of education and training in respect of their effect upon the costs of industrial leadership at home and abroad.

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 9 — 12.
ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Use “the famous fiction of the ‘stationary State’” to illustrate the uses and abuses of abstraction in the treatment of economic problems.
2. Analyse, and illustrate by examples, the various ways in which a change in the supply of one commodity may affect the demand for others.
3. “Under conditions of simple competition in a perfect market, the price of a commodity must, in the long run, be equal both to the marginal and to the average cost of producing it in a representative firm.”
   Explain precisely, what you take this statement to mean, and briefly discuss its validity.
4. What effect might a substantial tax upon imports of wheat and wheaten flour be expected to have, in this country, upon (a) the price of bread, (b) farming profits, (c) agricultural rents? Give reasons for your answer.
5. What functions does a company promoter perform, and how are his earnings determined? Frame your answer so as to show how it fits into your general theory of distribution.
6. In a country like Great Britain, how would an increase in the supply of capital affect the earnings of labour? What do you understand by “an increase in the supply of capital”?
7. In what circumstances will a monopolist charge different customers different prices for the same product?
8. How would you proceed if you were required to decide whether profits in any given industry were ‘normal”?
9. For what reasons may a country permanently import part of its supply of a commodity and produce part at home; and what determines, in such a case, the proportion of the total supply which is imported?
10. When several different things are produced by the same firm, on what economic principle, if any, is it possible to assign a separate cost of production to each of them?
11. If the habit of keeping a banking account were to spread among wage-earners in this country, how would the general level of prices be affected?

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
INTERNATIONAL LAW.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Discuss the modern theories of the basis of obligation in International Law.
2. What is the present position in International Law of the right of navigation of international rivers?
3. What are the sanctions provided by the Covenant of the League of Nations for its enforcement? They have been termed “Pseudo-Sanctions”; do you consider there is any justification for this?
4. Under what circumstances is a war-ship justified in interfering with a merchant ship of another State on the high seas in time of peace?
5. What is the connection between the Permanent Court of International Justice and the League of Nations?
   What is implied by signing the “Optional Clause”?
6. Explain the circumstances under which a State may (a) sue, (b) be sued in a foreign Court of Law.
7. Article 21 of the Covenant of the League of Nations speaks of “regional undertakings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace.”
   Comment on this.
8. Give the provisions of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928. What methods exist for the pacific settlement of international disputes?
9. What is the position of
   (a) Sea-borne Mails,
   (b) Submarine Cables,
   in time of war?
10. What were the methods employed by the Allied Powers in the restriction of enemy commerce during the war of 1914-18? Discuss their legality under the rules of International Law

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
PUBLIC FINANCE.
(OLD AND NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. What considerations of equity are involved by the action of a Government which reduces rewards to its employees either (a) as a measure to repair a national deficit, or (b) as an example to other employers?
2. Consider whether there are any grounds for believing that taxation should be progressive if it is to impose equal sacrifice.
3. “Twenty-five years ago differential taxation was first levied on unearned as against earned income. The time has now come to differentiate between unearned income from fixed-interest securities and that from fluctuating sources.” Is this proposed differentiation (a) desirable (b) feasible?
4. In what sense, if any can (a) the Income Tax, and 8b) Local Rates be said to enter into the cost of production of goods?
5. Discuss the possibility of devising a scheme for the taxation of incremental site values which does not place an unfair burden on existing landowners as a class compared with other property owners.
6. Examine the view that Family Endowment has a good claim to be made a charge on the Exchequer.
7. If a Board, having a monopoly of the import and export trade of a country and able to buy and sell at current prices at home and abroad, were instructed to maximize its profits, would the effect be more or less advantageous to the country than the flow of trade in free trade conditions?
8. Compare the economic effects of devaluating the currency of a country by x% in terms of all foreign currencies, with those of imposing an x% ad valorem tariff on all her imports together with an x% ad valorem bounty on all her exports.
9. What fiscal policy would you adopt if your sole object were to secure the reduction of foreign import duties affecting British exports?
10. Compare the proper policy of the central authority with that of local authorities with regard to the expansion or contraction in the volume of their outstanding indebtedness.
11. On what principles should a municipality owning a tramway system proceed in computing the fares to be charged to its passengers?

 

Thursday, June 2, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

1. Down to 1860 the economic relations of Great Britain and the United states were complementary rather than rival: after 1870 they were sharply rival.” Comment.
2. Give examples of the influence of English thought and practice upon the labour movements of America in the early part of the nineteenth century.
3. Why did the American Mercantile Marine fall away after the Civil War?
4. Can it be argued that the North and South went to war over any other issue than slavery?
5. How far was the Tariff responsible for the growth of Trusts? Test your conclusion by reference to particular Trusts.
6. Distinguish between the “Old” and the “New” Immigration, in respect of (a) its origin, (b) its contribution to American economic life.
7. Discuss the effect of the disappearance of free land on the economic and social structure of the United States.
8. Show the significance of the concept of an economic metropolis in an examination of the distribution and range of American industry and commerce.
9. Indicate, by a sketch map if possible, the regional specialization of American agriculture.
10. Compare the experience of the United States under the paper dollar of 1862-79 with the experience of England under the paper pound of 1797-1821.

 

Monday, May 30, 1932. 9 — 12.
MONEY.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Do you consider that the effects of Peel’s Bank Act were salutary?
2. Are there good reasons for holding that the “rate of saving” and “rate of investment” should appear as terms in the equation used to demonstrate the principal factors which govern the value of money?
3. Explain the working of a forward foreign exchange market. How far can it obviate the inconveniences which arise when there is no fixed par of exchange between currencies?
4. If it had been decided to stabilize the purchasing power of the national standard of value in terms of an index number of prices, what main categories of goods and/or services would you include in the index number?
5. What considerations have to be taken into account in analyzing the causes which determine the velocity of circulation of money?
6. Would you have been a mono-metalist or a bi-metalist in the year 1886? State your reasons.
7. In what respects, if any, do you conceive that the policy of the Federal Reserve System has been open to criticism in the period from 1926 to the present day?
8. “The resistance of wage earners to reductions in money wages has been of value in saving us from the worst excesses of deflation.” Examine this contention.
9. “A series of accidents gave India a more satisfactory standard of value than England had in the period from 1873 to 1923.” Discuss.
10. Do you agree with the view that public works designed to stimulate employment in a slump “are a mere piece of ritual, achieving nothing which could not equally well be achieved by the banking system acting alone, through a sufficiently great alteration in its terms of lending”?
11. Would the formation of a large “sterling area” be of advantage or disadvantage to this country, in your opinion, if she were endeavouring to maintain a stable currency divorced from gold?

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
LABOUR.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Sketch in outline the course followed by real wages in this country during the second half of the nineteenth century, and give some account of the principal causes which brought the changes about.
2. “The Dole has kept up wages above their proper level.” What are the arguments in support of this view? Discuss their soundness. What changes in public policy, if any, do you conclusions suggest as desirable?
3. What principal factors determine the magnitude of the change which a fall in the general level of commodity prices occasions in the proportion of the national income accruing to the owners of fixed-interest bearing investments?
4. With the object of creating employment, a grant is made by the Exchequer to a local authority for a road-widening scheme. The local authority sets about doing the work as efficiently as possible with the aid of steam navies and other labour-saving machinery. Ought the Exchequer to challenge this action? Argue the case for and against.
5. “The money now paid in unemployment benefit should be used to provide employment.” Suggest possible schemes and discuss their soundness.
6. Compare the relative levels of wages in skilled and unskilled occupations in this country to-day and before the War. Discuss the bearing of any changes upon (a) the supply of skilled workers, (b) industrial contentment, (c) labour organization and policy.
7. What are the principal differences between the English and German provisions for State action in the regulation of wages and the settlement of industrial disputes? Discuss whether England could with advantage follow the German example in these matters more closely.
8. Discuss the relative merits of systems under which wage-rates vary with (a) the market price of the product, (b) a cost of living index, (c) a wholesale price index (d) the profit of the undertaking.
9. Trace the history of the “One Big Union” idea and movement in this country since 1800.
10. If you had to measure the change in the general level of money wages in this country since 1900, what difficulties, theoretical and practical, would you encounter?
11. What were the principal influences determining the development of factory legislation in this country between 1825 and 1878?
12. What are the functions of the Public Assistance Committees? Do you consider that any of them should be transferred to other authorities or modified in any way? State your reasons.

 

Wednesday, June 1, 1932. 9 — 12.
INDUSTRY.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. “The entrepreneur has passed away with the Victorian era. His place has been taken by a combination of financier and salaried manager.” Discuss the truth of this contention.
2. Discuss the possibility of defining “an industry” so as to make it a useful conception in the analysis of economic structure without doing violence to its popular meaning.
3. Are there any special circumstances in England to-day that make the rational planning of each industry of more importance than in the past? Illustrate what is included under planning from your knowledge of any one industry.
4. Explain the nature and causes of any differences that occur in the marketing of (a) producers’ goods, (b) consumers’ goods, and the effect of these differences upon the location of the plants making these two types of goods.
5. How far can statistical proof be adduced for the contention that some manufacturing industries are subject to the law of increasing returns?
6. Consider the reasons for the introduction and development of municipal trading during the nineteenth century.
7. How far is it true that since the days of Malthus science and invention have entirely offset any tendency to diminishing returns in the various branches of agriculture?
8. What forms of integration and combination seem to you to best calculated to reduce the risks of industrial fluctuations, and why?
9. Discuss the effect on national and international localization of industry of the modern and the possible future development of (a) the telephone, (b) road transport, (c) commercial aviation.
10. Are we bound to expect a contraction in British industries manufacturing for export? What statistical sources and methods would you use to estimate the extent of such contraction, and to indicate industries and services to which investment might advantageously be directed or transferred?
11. Discuss any differences between British and foreign systems of education and training in respect of their effect upon the costs of industrial leadership at home and abroad.

 

Thursday, June 2, 1932. 9 — 12.
THEORY OF STATISTICS (OLD REGULATIONS.)
STATISTICS. (NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Give an account of the principal properties of the association table, and tests for or measures of association,. Use Table A to illustrate your remark.

TABLE A.
	Nervous Symptoms
Women engaged in	None or slight	Marked	Total
Factory work	53	30	83
Clerical work	31	7	38
Total	84	37	121

2. Explain what is meant by a “frequency distribution” and state how, given the data, you would proceed to compile the distribution, directing attention to common faults of presentation. You can use Table B as an illustration. Comment on the dictum “Think in terms of frequency distributions, not of averages.”

TABLE B.
Salaries per day of 10 hours: workers on the French railways, 1896.
Salary	Number of workers per 10000
0.25—0.75	10
0.76—1.25	53
1.26—1.75	46
1.76—2.25	145
2.26—2.75	1010
2.76—3.50	3545
3.51—4.25	1921
4.26—5.50	2009
5.51—6.50	702
6.51—7.50	353
7.51—9.00	150
9.10—11.00	37
11.10—15.00	15
15.10—20.00	4
Total	10000

Find some form of average and measure of dispersion for Table B, giving reasons for your choice.

3. Prove the formula

where σ is the standard deviation, s is the root-mean-square deviation when deviations are measured from an arbitrary origin, and d is the difference of the mean from the arbitrary origin.
Find the standard deviation of the data in Table C, and check your own work by any method you consider most effective.

TABLE C.
Deaths from Glanders, persons England and Wales.
1882	3	1892	5
1883	2	1893	6
1884	2	1894	2
1885	5	1895	3
1886	5	1896	1
1887	6	1897	6
1888	2	1898	4
1889	8	1899	5
1890	3	1900	2
1891	4	1901	4

4. Table D shows the correlation between the class obtained in Part I and the class obtained in Part II by 500 candidates who sat for both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1922-30. Find the correlation, and the regression equation for class in Part II on class in Part I, and check the fit of the line of regression. The following are the means and standard deviations: suffix 1 refers to Part I and 2 to Part II.

M1= 1.66	σ12 = 0.4337	σ1 = 0.659
M2= 1.93	σ22 = 0.5445	σ2 = 0.738.

 

TABLE D.
	Class in Part II
Class in Part II	1	2	3	Total
1	121	35	—	156
2	92	117	16	225
3	11	72	36	119
Total	224	224	52	500

5. Explain what is meant by a “weighted” mean, giving illustrations of its use in connection with index numbers of prices.
   Show that ,
   
   where M_w is the weighted mean of X, M the arithmetic mean of X, σ_x the standard deviation of X, σ_w the standard deviation of the weights w, the mean of the weights and r the correlation between X and w. In the light of this formula comment on the statement “Weighting usually has little effect.”
6. What is meant by the “standard error” of a statistical constant? State carefully the conditions assumed, and explain how these limit the value of the standard error as a general measure of “trustworthiness.”
   Prove the formula for the standard error of the arithmetic mean, and find the standard error of the difference between the means M₁, M₂ below, σ₁ and σ₂ being the respective standard deviations and N₁, N₂ the numbers of observations.

M1= 41.3	σ1= 3.8	N1= 100
M2= 38.9	σ2= 3.2	N2= 64.

 

7. (1) Test the significance of the association in Table A.
   (2) Test whether the data of Table C show anything but mere fluctuations of sampling.
8. Table E shows the numbers of married women in England and Wales at ages between 15 and 45, reduced to a total of 1000. By some method of interpolation break up the two final decennial groups into quinquennial groups.

TABLE E
Age	Married Women per 1000
15—	7
20—	100
25—	431
35—45	462
	1000

9. Table F shows the beginning of a life-table for Females (no. 7, 1901-10). Explain the meaning of the columns and calculate the figures that should be inserted in the spaces numbered (1), (2) etc. to (9).
   Find also the life-table death-rate and explain why this greatly exceeds the mean crude death-rate for Females 1901-10, viz. 14.4. What light does this phenomenon throw on the probable future course of the crude death-rate?

TABLE F
Age								Age
x	lx	dx	px	qx	Lx	Tx	e°x	X
0	1000	1174	.8826	.1174	9163	523820	(7)	0
1	8826	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(8)	1
2	8494	—	—	—	—	(6)	(9)	2

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1932. 1½ — 4½.
PRINCIPLES OF POPULATION.
(NEW REGULATIONS.)

1. Discuss the main features of Hegel’s conception of “economic” or “bourgeois” Society (die bürgerliche Gesellschaft). How far can that conception be regarded as the basis of Marxian theory?
2. “The expansion of England…was an expansion of Society, and not of the State” (Unwin). Examine the part played by social co-operation, as distinct from political organization, in the development of modern England.
3. What is the value, and what are the dangers, of the application of biological metaphors (e.g. “the body politic” or “the social organism”) to the study of political theory?
4. “A true conception of personality and its claims is the first necessity of political theory.” Discuss this statement.
5. “Liberty is rightly preferred to equality, when the two are in conflict.” Would you agree with this proposition?
6. What, in your view, is the final basis of the authority of law?
7. How far does the idea of a “social contract” afford a satisfactory answer to the problem of political obligation?
8. Does the conception of “the sovereignty of the national State” necessarily involve the unlimited supremacy of such a State?
9. How far is the conception of “natural rights” a necessary condition of legal progress?
10. Is the preservation of a distinction between the different “functions” or “powers” of government essential to the liberty of the subject?
11. What are the political principles implied in the development of “social services” in England during the present century? What limits would you assign on grounds of principle, to the further extension of such services?
12. “Democracy is not a particular form of State, but the necessary mode of action of all forms of State.” How far would you accept, or on what grounds would you criticize, this proposition?

 

Source:  Cambridge University. Economics Tripos Papers 1931-1933. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1933, pp. 28-52.

Image Source: Cambridge University, St. John’s Library from website Vintage Postcards.