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Harvard. Intro to Mathematical Economics. Schumpeter, Leontief 1935-42

Graduate classes in Mathematical Economics (Econ 13b in 1934-35, Econ 104b in later years) were taught every second year by Edwin Biddle Wilson (1934-35, 1936-37, 1938-39, 1940-41, 1942-43). An introduction for undergraduates and graduates was offered by Joseph Schumpeter in 1934-35 (Econ 8a), but the course was taken over and offered for nearly a decade by Wassily Leontief (new course number beginning 1936-37, Econ 4a). In this posting you will find different scraps from the Schumpeter/Leontief course over the years.

 

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[Schumpeter’s exam questions (1934-35)]

[Note these exam questions are in the Ec11 Folder. Instructor: Schumpeter according to course catalogue]
[Introduction to the Mathematical Treatment of Economic Theory, 1934/35 academic year]

 

Ec 8a
Midyear Exam Febr 4th 1935

Answer at least three of the following questions:

  1. Define elasticity of demand, and deduce that demand function, which corresponds to a constant coefficient of elasticity.
  2. Let D be quantity demanded, p price, and D = a – bp the demand function. Assume there are no costs of production. Then the price p0 which will maximize monopoly-revenue is equal to one half of that price p1, at which D would vanish. Prove.
  3. A product P is being produced by two factors of production L and C. The production-function is P = bLkC1-k , b and k being constants. Calculate the marginal degrees of productivity of L and C, and show that remuneration of factors according to the marginal productivity principle will in this case just exhaust the product.
  4. In perfect competition equilibrium price is equal to marginal costs. Prove this proposition and work it out for the special case of the total cost function
    y = a + bx, y being total cost, x quantity produced, and a and b
  5. If y be the satisfaction which a person derives from an income x, and if we assume (following Bernoulli) that the increase of satisfaction which he derives from an addition of one per cent to his income, is the same whatever the amount of the income, we have dy/dx = constant/x.
    Find y. Should an income tax be proportional to income, or progressive or regressive, if Bernoulli’s hypothesis is assumed to be correct, and if the tax is to inflict equal sacrifice on everyone?

[Following derivation added in pencil]
{{p}_{1}}=\frac{a}{b}

\frac{dp}{dD}=-\frac{1}{b}

\frac{d\,\,Dp}{dp}=D+p\frac{dD}{dp}=

=a-bp-bp=a-2bp

\therefore p=\frac{a}{2b}

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Lecture Notes HUC(FP)–4.62, Box 9, Folder: “Ec 11 Fall 1935”.

 

Transcription of Schumpeter’s official typed version of the Economic 8a, 1934-35.

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[1935-36]

*Economics 8a 2hf. Introduction to the Mathematical Treatment of Economics
Half-course (second half-year). Mon. 4 to 6. Assistant Professor Leontief. [Course may be taken by either undergraduates or graduates for credit.]

Economics A [Principles of Economics] and Mathematics A, or their equivalents, are prerequisites for this course.

 

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1935-36 (2nd edition), p. 138.

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[Excerpt from undated lecture notes, in Folder “Introduction mathematical economics 1937”]

Intr. to Math. Ec.

Introduction

Math. Ec. Economics & Mathematics

I. The subject of m.e. and Economic Theory is the same.

MathEconVennDiagram

  1. Parts of Economics – non-quantitative in character.
  2. Parts of Economics—quantitative but can be handled without math symbols. (marg. cost [unclear word].
  3. Quantitative—of such complexity that it hardly can be handled without math. symbols (f. ex. general equilibrium distribution etc.)

Fundamental difference only in the method of handling.

Non-math economists “are mathematicians without knowing it”

 

II. Two application of math. in economics.

a) theory b) statistics

Difference in application of math to economic theory and f.ex. to physics: More general type of argument Instead of definite interrelation we have knowledge only of some characteristics.

Math economics is not imitation of physics.

 

III. Fundamental problem of math. ec.:

Translation of economic problems into mathematical terms and back. Math. economist must know economics and mathematics.

In math. econ. To formulate a problem means to solve it.

IV. The aim of this course is to

  1. teach you to apply math. to the analysis of theor. ec. problem.

Mostly we will dwell in “region 2” although some time we will advance into the “region 3”.

Main subjects.

Theory of value.

Theory of production.

  1. Procedure:

a) lecture on fundamental problem

b) Discussion of special applications

c) Solution of problems out of class.

3. Knowledge of math:

a) elementary algebra

b) elementary calculus

c) partial derivatives

Knowledge of ec.

Ec A [Principles of Economics].

4. Graphic analysis vs. calculus.

Graphic analysis is a summary which helps us to talk of.

 

V.  Literature

  1. Antoine A. Cournot (1801-1877).
    “Researches into the mathematical principles of the theory of wealth” (1838)

Léon Walras (1834-1910).
“Elements of pure political economy” (1874-1877)

Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)
“Cours d’Economie Politique” (1896)
“Manuale d’economiea politica” (1906)

  1. Irving Fisher
    “Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of value and prices” (1892)
    F. Y. Edgeworth (1845-1926)
    Alfred Marshall (1842-1924)  “Appendix to the Principles”

Italian School
“Econometrica”
“Review of Economic Studies”
etc.

  1. No good textbook

A. L. Bowley
“The Mathematical Groundwork of Economics”, 1924.

Evans
“Introduction into mathematical economics”.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Wassily Leontief Papers. HUG 4517.30, Box 5, Folder “Introduction to Mathematical Economics (notes)”.

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[Reading Period assignment: 1936, Leontief ]

Economics 8a: Evans, G. C., Mathematical Introduction to Economics, Chs. I and II.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 2, Folder “1935-1936”.

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[Course Final Exam 1936, Leontief]

[carbon copy]

1935-36

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 8a2

 

Answer THE FIRST and at least THREE of the subsequent questions:

  1. Discuss the relation between the cost function and the production function of a single enterprise.
  2. Prove that in the point where the average unit costs are the smallest, they are equal to the marginal costs.
  3. Given a total revenue curve, R = Aq –Bq2, and a total cost curve, C= K + Lq, find the monopoly output, the monopoly price and the net revenue of monopolist. (A, B, K, and L are constants.)
  4. Discuss Cournot’s analysis of competition between two monopolies (duopoly).
  5. Given the production function Z = x½ y½ find out whether the two factors x and y are complementary or competing.
  6. Derive the relation between factor prices and marginal productivities under conditions of free competition (fixed prices).

Final   1936

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Wassily Leontief Papers. Box 5, Folder “(notes Introduction to Mathematical Economics”

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[Reading Period assignment: 1937, Leontief ]

 Economics 4a:

A. Cournot, Researches into Mathematical Economics.

Ch. IV, pp. 44-55;
Ch. V, pp. 56-61.
Ch. IX, pp. 99-107.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 2, Folder “1936-1937”.

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[Reading Period assignment: 1938, 1939, 1940, Leontief]

Economics 4a: Read the following

  1. Cournot, Researches into Mathematical Economics. Chs. IV, V, VII, VIII, IX.
  2. Evans, Mathematical Introduction to Economics, Ch. II.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 2, Folders “1937-1938”, “1938-39”, “1939-40”.

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[Course Outline, Leontief]

Economics 4a
1939-40
Introduction to the Mathematical Treatment of Economic Theory

 

Introductory remarks. The profit function and the profit tax. The cost function; total, fixed, variable, marginal and average costs. Minimum average total and minimum average variable costs. General properties and the cost function. Aggregate cost function of a multiple plant enterprise.

The revenue function, the demand function and the price. Marginal revenue and elasticity concept. Principle of dimensional transformation. Conditions for the existence of an individual supply function.

Introduction into the theory of the markets. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of market supply and market supply functions. Competition and monopoly. Theory of discrimination.

Introduction into the study of the production function. Marginal productivity, increasing and diminishing returns. Complementary and competing factors. Principle of minimum costs. Cost function and production function.

Introduction into the theory of consumers behavior: Concept of the indifference varieties.

Introduction into the analysis of dynamic economies. The cobweb problem and basic equilibrium concepts.

Introduction into the theory of general interdependence. Data and variables, basic equations and unknowns.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 2, Folder “1939-1940”.

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[Course Outline, Leontief]

Economics 4a
1941-42 [also for 1942-43]

 

  1. Introductory remarks.
    The profit function.
    Maximizing profits.
  2. The cost functions: Total costs, fixed costs, variable costs, average costs, marginal costs, increasing and decreasing marginal costs.
    Minimizing average total and average variable costs.
  3. The revenue function.
    Price and marginal revenue.
    Demand function
    Elasticity and flexibility.
  4. Maximizing the net revenue (profits).
    Monopolistic maximum.
    Competitive maximum.
    Supply function.
  5. Joint costs and accounting methods of cost imputation.
    Multiple plants.
    Price discrimination.
  6. Production function.
    Marginal productivity.
    Increasing and decreasing productivity.
    Homogeneous and non-homogeneous production functions.
  7. Maximizing net revenue, second method.
    Minimizing costs for a fixed output.
    Marginal costs and marginal productivity.
  8. Introduction into the theory of consumers’ behavior.
    Indifference curves and the utility function.
  9. Introduction to the theory of the market.
    Concept of market equilibrium.
    Duopoly, bilateral monopoly.
    Pure competition.
  10. Cobweb problem.
  11. Introduction into the theory of general equilibrium.

 

Reading: R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists.

Evans, Introduction into Mathematical Economics.

Antoine Cournot, Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth.

Weekly problems.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 3, Folders “1941-1942”. “1942-1943 (1 of 2)”.

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[Reading Period assignment: 1942, Leontief]

 

Evans, Introduction into Mathematical Economics. Ch’s I, II, III

Antoine Cournot, Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth. pp. 44-55, 56-66, 99-107.

Econ. 4.[a]

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 3, Folder “1941-1942”.

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory, Schumpeter, 1941-42

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have already assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment below….

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According to the Presidential Report of Harvard University, in 1941-42 nine graduate students were enrolled in Joseph Schumpeter’s full-year course, Economics 103, Advanced Economic Theory. Reading lists and exam questions are provided here for both semesters.

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[Course Announcements 1941-42]

For Undergraduates and Graduates

The Courses for Undergraduates and Graduates, unless otherwise stated, are open only to students who have passed in Course A [Principles of Economics]

[…]

*Economics 1. Economic Theory

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructors) Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, Dr. O. H. Taylor, and Associate Professor Leontief.

This course will be conducted mainly by discussion. It is open only to candidates for the degree with honors.

[…]

*Economics 103. Advanced Economic Theory

Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Schumpeter.

Economics 1, or an equivalent training, is a prerequisite for this course. It may be taken as a half-course in either half-year.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 38, No. 11 (March 19, 1941). Provisional Announcement of the the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1941-42, pp. 56-59.

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ECONOMICS 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42

This course is to serve the two purposes, first, of a critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory as improved by later work on the same lines; second, of an introduction into modern “dynamics” and into the problems arising out of the necessity of fitting theory to time-series material. The first purpose will be dominating in the work of the first, the second in the work of the second semester.

First Semester

 

I. Preliminaries. The nature of economic variables and equilibria. Various meanings of Stability. Structural and confluent relations. Statics and Dynamics vs. stationary and evolutionary states. Comparative Statics. One to two weeks.

No reading assignments.

II. Monetary and “real” processes. Aggregative Models. One to two weeks.

Keynes, General Theory.

Lange, “The rate of interest and the optimum propensity to consume,” Economica, February 1938.

III. The (traditional) theory of the individual household and the individual firm.

Rest of semester.

The background of this theory is Marshallian. Marshall’s Principles and Wicksell’s Lectures, Vol. I, should be thoroughly familiar to, and frequently referred to, by every student. No specific references will hence be made to them in what follows. In addition, general reference is here made to:

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
E. H. Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.

A. Walras’ static equilibrium relations. One week.

No additional reading (but refer to Wicksell and Hicks).

B. Statics of the family budget. Indifference maps. Engels curves. Two weeks.

Hicks, first part.
Frisch, New Methods of Measuring Marginal Utility (1932).
Suggestion: Allen and Bowley, Family Expenditure, 1935.

C. Statics of the individual firm. Production functions and isoquants. Cost calculation. Depreciation. The Marshallian supply curves. Two weeks.

Kaldor, “The Equilibrium of the Firm,” Economic Journal, 1934.
Machlup, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, 1935.
Sraffa, “The Laws of Return under Competitive Conditions,” Economic Journal, 1926.
Robinson, “Imperfect Competition and Falling Supply Price,” Economic Journal, 1932.
Robinson, “What Is Perfect Competition?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.
Viner, “Cost and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Kahn, “Some Notes on Ideal Output,” Economic Journal, 1935.

D. Problems of monopolistic and oligopolistic price policy. Oligopoly and bilateral monopoly. Discrimination. Two weeks.

Hicks, “The Theory of Monopoly,” Econometrica, 1935.
Lerner, “The Concept and Measurement of Monopoly Power,” Review of Economic Studies, 1934.
Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Books II, IV, V.
Leontief, “The Theory of Limited and Unlimited Discrimination,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.

E. Locational Problems. One week.

Hotelling, “Stability in Competition,” Economic Journal, 1929.
Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Harvard Economic Studies, No. LV.

Reading Period Suggestion:

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

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1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

Three questions may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Define the nature of economic equilibria. Give examples of the various types of them. Distinguish between equilibrium, determinateness, and stability.
  2. Explain the difference between Dynamics and Comparative Statics. In what respects do you consider the first approach to be superior to the second?
  3. Keynes’ General Theory, as thrown into a system of equations by Oscar Lange, purports to give a model of the economic process. So does the system of equations written by Walras. What are the principal differences between the two and what do you think of their relative merits a) in general, b) with respect to particular set of problems?
  4. We have replaced the old concept of marginal utility by the concept of marginal rate of substitution. What were the reasons for this and what have we gained thereby?
  5. Define the surface of consumption and discuss the three curves which are traced out by the sections of that surface by planes perpendicular to the three axes.
  6. What is meant by elasticity of substitution? And what are the principal uses for this concept?
  7. Explain the nature of a linear production function that is homogeneous of the first degree and state the reasons why many economists are so partial to it. Should we, or should we not, make that particular assumption about the form of our production functions?
  8. In what sense is it time to say that, in framing a rational price policy, firms should take no account of overhead but only of marginal cost?

Mid-Year, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, Sp & Fall 41-42”.

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Economics 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42
Second Semester

I

The work of this semester is, first, to complete the critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory begun in the first semester; and to deal with modern “dynamics” and some of the problems arising out of the fact that economic theory is under the necessity of using time-series material. The general background will be supplied, as it has been in the first semester, by the following treatises to which no further reference will be made in this Reading List:

Alfred Marshall, Principles.
Knut Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I.
Edward H. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

II

Not assigned, nor necessary in order to fulfill course requirements, but suggested are the following works (this suggestion also covering the usual Reading Period assignments):

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.
Erik Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic expansion, Stockholm Economic Studies, 1936).
J. Tinbergen, Statistic Testing of Business-Cycle Theories, II, Business Cycles in the United States of America: 1919-1932, League of Nations, Geneva, 1939. (This work, which may seem to be far removed from the field of pure theory, nevertheless constitutes a most important contributions to it.)

III

(1) Distinction between Dynamics and the Theory of Economic Development. Disturbances, Transitional States, and the Long-Run Normal. Economic Hysteresis and Walras Reaction. Microdynamic and Macrodynamic Models.

No reading assignments.

(2) Lagged Reaction. The Hog-Cycle Case. (Cobweb). Buyers reacting to current price, sellers reacting to a previous price. The case of durable goods; the shipbuilding cycle.

(Tinbergen: Ein Schiffbauzyklus? Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, July, 1931, not assigned.)

(3) Other “dynamising” factors: reaction to current rate of change of price; reaction to weighted average of past prices. Friction. The Theory of Expectations.

N. Kaldor, “Speculation and Economic Stability,” Review of Economic Studies, October, 1939.
L. M. Lachmann, “Uncertainty and Liquidity Preference, “ Economica, August, 1937.
F. A. von Hayek, “Economics and Knowledge,” Economica, February, 1937.
F. Lavington, “An Approach to the Theory of Business Risks,” Economic Journal, June, 1925.

(4) Statistical Demand and Cost Curves.

Henry Schultz, Statistical Laws of Demand and Supply, 1928. (This will stand instead of the much more significant, but also much more difficult work of the same author: Theory and Measurement of Demand, 1940.
Joel Dean, The Relations of Cost to Output (National Bureau of Economic Research, Technical Paper No. 2, 19).

(5) Problems of Price Policy.

(See First-Semester Reading List, III/D.)

(6) Some Aspects of the Theory of Capital and interest.

G. Mackenroth, “Period of Production, Durability and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1930.
F. H. Knight, “Capital, Time, and the Interest Rate,” Economica, August, 1934.
F. Machlup, “Professor Knight and the Period of Production,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1935.
John B. Canning, The Economics of Accountancy, 1929. (Chapter on Depreciation.)
Irving Fisher, The Theory of Interest, 1916.

(7) Some Macrodynamic Models

F. R. Harrod, “An Essay in Dynamic Theory,” Economic Journal, March, 1939.
N. Kaldor, “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, March 1940.
M. Kalecki, “A Theory of the Business Cycle,” Review of Economic Studies, February, 1937. (Reprinted in Essays on the Theory of Economic Fluctuations.)
(R. Frisch, “Impulses and Propagation Waves,” Essays in Honor of Gustaf Cassel; technically difficult.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

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1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

Three questions may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Consider the micro-dynamic model which is usually referred to as the “cobweb” pattern. Explain the commonsense of the underlying theory. Discuss its value in interpreting reality.
  2. A dynamic model may yield damped, stationary or anti-damped (explosive) solutions. Should we exclude the anti-damped ones on the ground that they are unrealistic because as a matter of fact economic patterns do not explode?
  3. In what sense can it be said that increasing returns are incompatible with perfect (pure) competition?
  4. Assume that the only purpose of the Practice of Depreciation is to allocate the costs of durable instruments of production among the periods of account (“years”) covered by the service life of those instruments. Given that purpose, what is the correct principle of figuring out the amount of depreciation?
  5. State the classical (Marshallian) theory of the influence of commodity speculation (trade in futures) on the time-shape of values (fluctuations in prices and in quantities sold). How does modern theory differ from that picture? What is your own opinion about the influence of speculation?
  6. Let a statistical demand curve be derived by plotting the prices of a commodity, divided by a wholesale price index, against the corresponding amounts of its per capita consumption. What do you think of such a procedure and how would you judge such a demand curve?
  7. If a firm owns several plants, how will it distribute a given amount of output among them?
  8. Show that, in the absence of further information, price is indeterminate in the case of Bilateral Monopoly.

Final, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, sp & Fall 41-42”.

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Sociology Exam. First Semester, Carver 1922-23.

In the previous post we have a syllabus with links to the assigned readings for the full-year course Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, taught at Harvard by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver. This copy of the printed exam questions for the first term of the academic year 1922-23 was found in the papers of Vernon Orval Watts in the Hoover Institution archives.  The examination questions for the final examination for the second semester has been posted as well.

Watts’ own notes for the course are for following academic year. A brief c.v. for Watts and his obituary from the Los Angeles Times provide some biographic detail for Vernon Orval Watts. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 in economics for the dissertation “The development of the technological concept of production in Anglo-American Thought.” His autobiography Recollections of an Unplanned Life is available to read on-line at hathitrust.org.

From Watts’ course notes we can see the following major differences between the 1917-18 syllabus and what was taught in 1923-24.

  • More chapters in Lucius Moody Bristol’s Social Adaptation were discussed in the lectures (Watts’ papers included his notes on Chapters 1-13);
  • Added were the published Sigma Xi Lectures delivered at Yale University, 1921-22 (George Alfred Baitsell, ed., The Evolution of Man. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1922);
  • Added for the second term was the newly published textbook by Frederick A. Bushee, Principles of Sociology. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1924.

Watts’ course notes also show that Carver still assigned the vast bulk of his book of readings in sociology (Sociology and Social Progress, 1905) as well as a collection of his essays published in 1915. Indeed it appears to me that reading the first 13 chapters of Bristol and these two Carver books would have been quite sufficient for a student to get a good grade in the course.

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1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 8

  1. Would you call sociology a branch of economics or economics a branch of sociology? Explain why.
  2. How would you determine whether a given social change is progressive or not?
  3. Do men work together in groups because they are socially minded, or do they become socially minded because it pays economically to work together in groups?
  4. What are the chief eugenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  5. What are the chief dysgenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  6. To which group of factors, the moral or the intellectual, does Buckle attach the greater importance in the promotion of civilization? Why?
  7. What are meant by “self-appraisal,” “consciousness of kind,” sympathy, and imitation, and how is each related to the process of socialization?
  8. How are “self-appraisal” and “consciousness of kind” related to what is known as the race problem?
  9. How does Ross dispose of the “economic interpretation of history”?
  10. Discuss the question: Are human instincts the primary social factors?

Mid-Year. 1923.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box No. 8. Folder: “Harvard Univ. 1922-23 Notes on readings”.

 

 

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Courses Curriculum Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard Courses in Political Economy, 1874-75

Excerpts from the Harvard Catalogue for 1874-75 with principal texts and examination questions for political economy together with some information about the A.B. distinction between “prescribed” and “elective” studies.

Incidentally, one finds that annual fees for a full course load at Harvard ran $120/year and a copy of John Stuart Mill’s Principles cost $2.50. Cf. today’s Amazon.com price for N. Gregory Mankiw’s Economics which is $284.16. If tuition relative to the price of textbooks had remained unchanged (and the quality change of the Mankiw textbook relative to Mill’s textbook(!) were equal to the quality change of the Harvard undergraduate education today compared to that of 1874-75(!!)), Harvard tuition would only be about $13,600/year today instead of $45,278. Just saying.

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HARVARD COURSES OF INSTRUCTION 1874-75

COURSE OF STUDY
FOR THE DEGREE OF A.B.

The course of study to be pursued by a candidate for the Bachelor’s degree is made up in part of studies which are prescribed, and pursued by all students alike, and in part of studies selected by the student himself out of the various courses of instruction which are given in the College.

PRESCRIBED STUDIES.

The prescribed studies occupy the whole of the Freshman year and about one-third of the Sophomore and Junior years. In the Senior year only certain written exercises are prescribed.

Anticipation of Prescribed Studies.

The prescribed studies of the Sophomore and Junior years being of an elementary character, students who wish to be relieved from attendance at College exercises in one or more of them will be excused from such attendance, if they pass a satisfactory examination in such study or studies at the beginning of the year in which they would regularly pursue the study or studies in College, or at the time of their examination for admission to College. Studies which are pursued only in the second half-year may also be anticipated in the same way in the middle of the year. No such examination will be deemed satisfactory unless the student shall succeed in obtaining at least one-half of the maximum mark. The mark obtained when the examination is successful will be credited to the student as his mark on the Annual Scale of the study which forms the subject of the examination. Preparation for these examinations can often be made while the student is preparing for College or in the long vacation, and time may be thus gained for higher courses of study. Students who intend to present themselves for such examination in any required study for 1875-76 must give notice to the Dean in writing before September 1, 1875.

Information concerning the requirements for passing the examination in any study can be obtained from the instructor in that study.

ELECTIVE STUDIES.

In addition to the prescribed studies, each Sophomore is required to pursue courses, chosen by himself from the elective studies, [ftnt: The prescribed Philosophy of the Junior year may be taken as an elective by Sophomores.] amounting to eight exercises a week for the year; each Junior, courses amounting to eleven exercises a week; and each Senior, courses amounting to twelve exercises a week. Students are at liberty to attend the instruction in as many other subjects as they may have time and taste for pursuing. In choosing his electives, the student must satisfy his instructors that he is qualified by his previous training to pursue those which he selects. With this limitation, all the courses given in the College are open to him in making his choice; but he is strongly recommended to make his choice with great care, under the best advice, and in such a manner that his elective courses from first to last may form a rationally connected whole.

Undergraduates who intend to study Engineering are recommended by the Scientific Faculty to take, as extras, the courses of Drawing and Surveying in the Scientific School; and those who intend to study Medicine are advised by the Medical Faculty to pay special attention to the study of Natural History, Chemistry, Physics, and the French and German languages, while in College.

It will be seen that students who prefer a course like the usual prescribed course of American colleges can perfectly secure it, under this system, by a corresponding choice of studies; while others, who have decided tastes, or think it wiser to concentrate their study on a few subjects, obtain every facility for doing so, and still secure in the briefer prescribed course an acquaintance with the elements of the leading branches of knowledge.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, pp. 46-47

_________________________________

IV. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar

Sophomore Year.

Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners.—Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).

Two hours a week. Second half-year.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 54.

_________________________________

III. PHILOSOPHY

ELECTIVES
Senior Studies

[…]

Philosophy 7. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — Fawcett’s Manual of Political Economy. — Blanqui’s Histoire de l’Économie Politique en Europe. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street.

Three hours a week. 19 Seniors, 14 Juniors.

 

Philosophy 8. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Subjects in Currency and Taxation.

Three hours a week. 65 Seniors, 33 Juniors.

 

Courses 7 and 8 are parallel Courses, Course 7 being preferable for students of History.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 56.

_________________________________

III. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar and Mr. Howland.

Elements of Political Economy.—Constitution of the United States.

Two hours a week. Second half-year. Sophomores and Juniors.*

*In 1873 the prescribed Study of Political Economy was transferred from the Junior to the Sophomore Year, and was pursued during the year 1873-74 by both classes.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 215.

_________________________________

PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Political Economy.

Those who are also to pass in the Constitution may omit questions marked *.

  1. Define (a)wealth; (b) value; (c)price; (d) capital; (e) money.
  2. What are the qualities which make gold and silver suitable materials for a currency? What are the objections to a double standard of value?
  3. Explain the action of demand and supply upon the prices (a) of raw materials; (b) of manufactured articles.
  4. Show how rents would be affected by suddenly doubling the productiveness of all lands under cultivation. Prove that rent does not enter into the price of agricultural produce.
  5. State and illustrate the causes which produce a difference in the rate of wages in different employments.
  6. Suppose the amount of the (gold) currency of a country to he suddenly doubled, what would be the effect upon (a) values; (b) prices; (c) exports and imports?
  7. Define direct and indirect taxation. What are the objections to an import duty on raw materials? What is the incidence of a tax levied on the rent of land and paid by the tenant?
  8. [*] Define productive and unproductive consumption. If the latter were to cease altogether, what would be the ultimate effect upon production?
  9. [*] Show how the cost of labor is affected, (a) if the efficiency of labor is increased; (b) if the margin of cultivation sinks.
  10. [*] What are the elements of which profits are composed? Why does the rate of profits vary (a) in different employments; (b) in different countries?
  11. [*] Explain the several ways in which credit promotes production. What are the disadvantages of an irredeemable paper currency?
  12. [*] Explain the use of bills of exchange. What is meant by an unfavorable balance of exchange?
  13. [*] Discuss the question, whether temporary and permanent incomes should be taxed alike.

 

Constitution of the United States.

Those who are also to pass in Political Economy may omit questions marked *.

  1. [*] When and by whom was the Constitution framed, and what were the principal steps leading to its formation and adoption?
  2. Define citizenship.
  3. What changes have the abolition of slavery and the consequent amendments of the Constitution made in the system of representation?
  4. State the method of electing the President, and the difference between the present method and that at first adopted.
  5. [*] By whom are questions settled which affect the validity of elections (a) of representatives, (b) of senators, (c) of President?
  6. [*] What provision does the Constitution make for the removal, death, resignation, or inability to serve of the President or Vice-President, or for a failure to elect either officer or both?
  7. [*] What powers over the militia are given to Congress or to the President?
  8. What are the provisions of the Constitution affecting the subject of currency
  9. What are the provisions relating to taxation, and what are direct taxes under the Constitution?
  10. [*] What are the provisions relating to impeachment?
  11. Under what provision did Congress claim and exercise the power of prohibiting slavery in the territories
  12. What is the extent of the judicial power of the United States, and where is it vested? What is the provision for amending the Constitution?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 218-9.

_________________________________

ELECTIVES.

[…]

  1. Political Economy.—Prof. Dunbar.

J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.—Bagehot’s Lombard Street.—Sumner’s History of American Currency.

Three hours a week. 70 Seniors, 1 Junior.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 220.

 

_________________________________

 

FEES AND BONDS.

The fees to be paid by Bachelors of Arts or Science who receive instruction as candidates for the Degree of Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, or Doctor of Science, or who attend lectures or recitations without being members of either professional school, are as follows : —

For not more than three hours of instruction a week $50.00 a year.
For more than three, but not more than six hours of instruction a week $90.00 a year.

 
For more than six hours of instruction a week $120.00 a year.
For a year’s instruction in any of the laboratories or in

the Museum of Comparative Zoology

 $150.00
The fees to be paid for examination are as follows :—
For the examination for the Degree of Master of Arts $30.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy $60.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Science $60.00

 

There is no additional charge for the right to use the Library. The fees for instruction, but not those for examination, will be remitted to meritorious students who need such help.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 137.

_________________________________

[Advertisement of Macmillan & Company’s Books]

Logic. Professor Stanley Jevons’s Elementary Lessons in Logic, Deductive and Inductive. 18mo, cloth $1.25.

Political Economy for Beginners. By Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 18mo. $1.00.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 317.

_________________________________

[Advertisement of Lee and Shepard Books]

POLITICAL ECONOMY. Principles of Political Economy. By John Stuart Mill. New and revised edition. Lee and Shepard, Publishers. Boston. Complete in 1 vol. Crown 8vo.   $2.50

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 336.

 

Categories
Chicago Courses Exam Questions

Chicago. Modern Tendencies in Economics. Viner. 1933

The following list of readings and examination questions come from the Milton Friedman papers. Only the examination questions are from a typed copy, the list of reading assignments has been transcribed from Friedman’s handwritten notes from when he took the course with Jacob Viner. Links have been added whenever found.  Anything within square brackets has been added by me, otherwise I have left the text for the most part as I found it.

____________________________

From Courses of Instruction 1932-33.

303. Modern Tendencies in Economics.–A critical study of controversial questions in the general body of orthodox theory, and of some modern departures from orthodox theory. The discussion covers questions as to the selection of problems in economic theory, methods, tools of thought, assumptions, laws and standards of validity appropriate to the central body of economic though under present conditions. Prerequisite: Economics 301 or its equivalent. Spring, Viner.

Source: Announcements,Arts, Literature and Science, vol. XXXII, February, 1932, no. 12 (for the sessions 1932-33), p. 354.

____________________________

Economics 303 [Spring Quarter 1933]
Modern Economic Tendencies
Jacob Viner

 Assignments

J. S. Mill—System of Logic

Bk III, chs 8, 10, 11
Bk VI, chs 1,3,7,8,9

Some Unsettled Questions, Essay V

W. H. Hamilton—The Place of Value Theory in Economics. J.P.E. March-May [sic], 1918

[Part I, March; Part II, April]

Lionel Robbins: Essay on the Nature etc of Economics ch 1 & 2

Wesley Michel [Mitchell] Role of Money in Ec[onomic] Theory Am Ec Rev Supplement March 1916

Fetter, Price Ecs vs Welfare Ecs. Am Ec Rev. Sept, ‘20

Marshall. Consumer’s Surplus & Max satisfaction

Bk II ch VI
Bk V ch XIII, 94-97
Math App. Cost & ¶ of note XIII

J.A. Hobson, Work & Wealth. Ch 1-5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 22.

[J. A. Hobson] Free Thought & the Social Sciences pp. 131-145

Viner. Utility Concept Aug 1925, J.P.E.

Robbins: Essay on the Nature etc of Economics ch 6

Pigou Ec’s of Welfare—3rd ed only

Part I ch 1-2
Part II ch 1-5, 9, 11
Appendix III pp. 787-815
[last two items “minimum”]

[4th edition, The principal changes made in this edition affect Chapter IV. and Chapter VI. §§ 12-13 in Part I.; Chapter XI. § 2 and Chapter XV. in Part II.; and Chapter IX. §§ 2-3 and Chapter XIV. § 1 in Part III.]

Veblen: “Why is Econ not an Econ Science? Place of Science pp. 56ff or Q. J. E. July 1898

Instinct of Workmanship. Chs 5 & 6

Theory of the Leisure Class. chs 1-5

Prof. Clark’s Ec’s [Economics]: Place of Science 180 ff.

Homan. Ch. VIII in Odum Am[erican] Masters of Soc[ial] Science or in Contemporary Ec[onomic] Thought pp. 105-192.

[Homan, Paul T. (1927) ‘Thorstein Veblen’, in Odum, Howard W. (ed.) American Masters of Social Science (New York: Holt), pp. 231-70.
Homan, Paul T. (1928). Contemporary Economic Thought, Harper & Bros.]

 

Institutionalism

W. C. Mitchell Prospects of Ec[onomic]’s in Tugwell. Trends pp. 1-34.

[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.]

Hamilton The Institutional Approach. Amer. Ec. Rev. Suppl. IV, 309-324.

[Walton H. Hamilton. The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory
The American Economic Review. Vol. 9, No. 1, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-First Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (Mar., 1919), pp. 309-318.]

Hamilton. Control of Wages ch 10, 11, 12

[Walton Hamilton and Stacy May. The Control of Wages. New York: George H. Doran, 1923).]

A. A. Young pp. 249-260 in Ec. Problems, New & Old [sic]

[Allyn Abbott Young. Economic Problems: New and Old. Houghton Mifflin Comp, 1927]

[A. A. Young] English Pol. Ec. Economica, [illegible word(s)]

[Allyn A. Young. English Political Economy. Economica. No. 22 (Mar., 1928), pp. 1-15]

 

Suggestion:

Albion Small [1924] “Origins of Sociology” ch. 11 [The Attempt to Reconstruct Classical Economic Theory on the Basis of Comparative Economic History, 1850], 14 [Later Phases of the Conflict Between the Historical and the Austrian Schools].

[Albion W. Small, Origins of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1924.
This book was first published serially in the American Journal of Sociology, January, 1923-November, 1924, with the title Some Contributions to the History of Sociology (Section XI and XIV). The corresponding articles are found at Vol. 29, No. 4 (Jan., 1924), pp. 443-454 and Vol. 29, No. 5 (Mar., 1924), pp. 571-598.]

Cliff. Leslie [T. E. Cliffe Leslie] “Philos. Essays” Essay 14

[cf. First edition (1879, Essay XIV “On the Philosophical Method of Political Economy”) with Second edition (1888, Essay XIV Economic Science and Statistics). Essay XVI “Political Economy and Sociology” of the second edition appears to me the reading that best fits to the sociology theme at this point in the reading list..]

Parsons “Summary of …” J. P. E. Dec. 1928, Feb. 1929

[Talcott Parsons. “Capitalism” In Recent German Literature: Sombart and Weber. Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 36, No. 6 (Dec., 1928), pp. 641-661; Vol. 37, No. 1 (Feb., 1929), pp. 31-51.]

Mitchell “On Sombart” Feb ‘29

[Wesley C. Mitchell. Sombart’s Hochkapitalismus. The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1929), pp. 303-323]

Rogin “On Sombart” Apr. ‘33

[Leo Rogin. Werner Sombart and the “Natural Science Method” in Economics. Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 41, No. 2 (Apr., 1933), pp. 222-236]

Sombart “Die Drei Nationalökonomien”

[Werner Sombart. Die drei Nationalökonomien : Geschichte und System der Lehre von der Wirtschaft. München [u.a.] : Duncker & Humblot, 1930]

F. C. Mills in Tugwell, Trends “On Imp[?] Methd[?]”

[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.]

Mitchell Nov[sic] 1925. Proceedings of Am. Ec. Assoc.

[Wesley C. Mitchell. Quantitative Analysis in Economic Theory. The American Economic Review. Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 1925), pp. 1-12]

[Mitchell] Mar 1929 pp. 28… (A.E.R)

[Frederick C. Mills , Jacob H. Hollander , Jacob Viner , E. B. Wilson , Wesley C. Mitchell , F. W. Taussig , T. S. Adams , John D. Black and John Candler Cobb in “The Present Status and Future Prospects of Quantitative Economics”. The American Economic Review. Vol. 18, No. 1, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (Mar., 1928), pp. 28-45]

Viner. Q. J. E. Feb ’29—Rev. of Millis on prices.

[Jacob Viner. Review of Behavior of Prices by Frederick Mills. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Vol. 43, No. 2 (Feb., 1929), pp. 337-352]

Spann “ Types of Econ Theories[“] Preface, ch. 4, 12.

[Othmar Spann. Types of Economic Theory. 1929 English translation of the 19th edition of Die Haupttheorien der Vokswirtschaftslehre,  17th edition in German]

 

Schultz assignments

Chp 3, Manuel of Pareto

[Vilfredo Pareto. Manuel d’Économie Politique. Paris: V. Giard & E. Brière, 1909]

Pareto, Traité de Sociologie Général, look in index under Dependance Mutuel, & Equilibrium

[Cf. George C. Homans and Charles P. Curtis, Jr. An Introduction Pareto: His Sociology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934.]

Zawadzki, W. Les mathématiques appliqués à l’économie politique. [Paris, Rivière, 1914].

 

On In[stitutional] Ec’s [Economics]

Mitchell’s essays[sic] in Trends[sic] in Ec’s[Economics] by Tugwell & paper by Mills and Mitchell’s Pres. Address to Am. St. Ass. in 1927 volume. [?]

[The Trend of Economics, Rexford Guy Tugwell (ed.) (1930). The Prospects Of Economics, By W. C. Mitchell; On Measurement In Economics, By F. C. Mills; The Socializing Of Theoretical Economics, By J. M. Clark; Communities Of Economic Interest And The Price System, By M. A. Copeland; The Reality Of Noncommercial Incentives In Economic Life, By P. H. Douglas; Economic Theory And The Statesman, By R. L. Hale; The Limitations Of Scientific Methods In Economics, By F. H. Knight; Some Recent Developments Of Economic Theory, By R. T. Bye; The Organization And Control Of Economic Activity, By S. H. Slichter; Economics Science And Art, By G. Soule; Experimental Economics, By R. G. Tugwell; Regional Comparison And Economic Progress, By W. E. Weld; Functional Economics, By A. B. Wolfe.
Wesley C. Mitchell. Statistics and Government. Publications of the American Statistical Association. Vol. 16, No. 125 (Mar., 1919), pp. 223-235]

Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 120. Handwritten notes for Economics 303,Modern Economic Tendencies, Jacob Viner.

­­­­­­­­­­____________________________

 

[signature: Milton Friedman]

Economics 303
1st Examination—1 hour

  1. What was J. S. Mill’s position with respect to:

(a) the scope for induction in the social sciences;

(b) the use of the “geometric method” in political economy; in the social sciences;

(c) the “economic man.”

 

  1. Explain and appraise Marshall’s technique of “maximum satisfaction” analysis.

(a) What were Veblen’s principal contributions to economic methodology?

(b) What are the differences and what the resemblances between the content of what Hobson calls “human values” and what ordinary utility theorists call “utility” or “satisfaction” or “economic welfare”?

(c) In what manner and degree does Pigou’s technique of welfare analysis overcome the difficulties in the way of accepting price as the measure of welfare.

Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 115, Folder 13. “Biographical: Class Exams circa 1932-1938”.

­­­­­­­­­­____________________________

[signature: Milton Friedman]

Economics 303
2nd Examination—1 hour

  1. Explain, with reference to exponents of these types of economics, any five of the following:

(a) institutional economics; [✓]

(b) genetic economics; [✓]

(c) historical economics; [✓]

(d)“verstehende” economics; [✓]

(e) functional economics; [✓]

(f) experimental economics; [✓]

(g) social economics;

(h) romantic economics[✓]

2.    (a) List all of the empirical (historical) laws of economics which have been allegedly discovered by quantitative methods, and indicate for each very briefly whether you are inclined to accept it as a law, and if so on what grounds.

(b) State as briefly as possible the nature of the difficulties in the way of the discovery of genuine empirical laws of a quantitative nature in the field of economic phenomena.

  1. Write on either:

(a) Give the equations of the general equilibrium of exchange and production indicating the underlying assumptions, and the economic meaning of each equation. Compare the general equilibrium approach with that of Marshall.

or

(b) Explain the way in which pure theory has been used to determine one of the following:

(1) the concrete, statistical curve of the marginal utility of money.

(2) statistical demand curves, with special reference to the demand for related (completing or competing) goods.

(3) theoretical “cycles” of production and prices.

Point out the underlying assumptions and critically appraise the results obtained.

 

Source: Hoover Institution. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 115, Folder 13. “Biographical: Class Exams circa 1932-1938”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08488, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. The photograph is dated 14 June 1944.

Categories
Chicago Courses Exam Questions Uncategorized

Chicago. Money and Banking. Economics 330 Exam. Autumn 1932

Here we have the exam questions and Milton Friedman’s choices together with his notes for one of the answers to Lloyd Mints’ graduate course (first in a sequence of the two quarter courses.) on Money and Banking in 1932.

_____________________________

[Univ. of Chicago]

[Milton Friedman (MF signature)]

 

ECONOMICS 330
Autumn, 1932

Write on any four questions.

  1. [✓] “The banks could either keep the demand for real capital within the limits set by the supply of savings or keep the price level steady; but they cannot perform both functions at once.” (Hayek) Discuss this statement critically.
  2. “Only the purely static quantity theory needs no index number, for its comparisons assume relative prices to be unchanged inter se. The objections to Professor Fisher’s Equation of Exchange arise mainly from the faults of the price index implied in it.” (Hawtrey) Explain and evaluate this statement.
  3. [✓] The criticism is sometimes made of the quantity theory that it assumes other things to be equal, whereas in fact they are not. Discuss this criticism. What “other things” are referred to?
  4. Discuss the relation between the k of Keynes’ earlier equation and the velocity of circulation.
    b. Discuss the statement that changes in the velocity of circulation of goods cannot bring about changes in the price level because of the fact that they necessarily bring about compensating changes in the velocity of circulation of money.
  5. [✓] According to Keynes’ analysis what would it be necessary to do in order to eliminate the business cycle? State and support your opinion of Keynes’ conclusion.

_____________________________

[Milton Friedman’s right margin notes for Question 4:]

n=pk
p=\frac{n}{k}
\frac{n}{k}=\frac{MV}{T}\text{ (MF then cancels }n\text{ with }M\text{)}
\frac{1}{k}=\frac{V}{T}
k=\frac{T}{V}=\frac{1}{V}

Source: Hoover Institution Archives, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 115, Folder  13 (Biographical. Class exams, ca 1932-38).

_____________________________

Cf. Keynes: Tract on Monetary Reform (1923), p. 76-77

“We can measure this definite amount of purchasing power in terms of a unit made up of a collection of specified quantities of their standard articles of consumption or other objects of expenditure….Let us call such a unit a ‘consumption unit’ and assume that the public require to hold an amount of money having a purchasing power over k consumption units. Let there be n currency notes or other forms of cash in circulation with the public, and let p be the prices of each consumption unit (i.e., p is the index number of the cost of living), then it follows from the above that n = pk. This is the famous Quantity Theory of Money.”

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Research Tip

Harvard. Course. Money, Banking, Commercial Crises, 1937-38

 

The Harvard course, Economics 41 “Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises,” was a full-year course that James Tobin took as an undergraduate in 1937-38. Professor John H. Williams lectured during the first term and the vast bulk of lectures for the second term were held by Dr. Richard Vincent Gilbert (A.B., Harvard, 1923; Ph.D., Harvard, 1930. Dissertation: The theory of international payments). Associate Professor Seymour Harris does not appear anywhere in Tobin’s notes, so we can presume for now that Harris was substituted for by Williams and Gilbert and that the official enrollment report (see below) was the victim of a copy-paste error.

It appears from Tobin’s notes that Gilbert had been the section leader during the first term and was succeeded in the second term by the economics graduate student Kenyon Edward Poole (A.B., Harvard, 1929; A.M., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy 1934) whose doctoral dissertation “German recovery policies, 1932-1937” was accepted in 1938., A.B., Harvard 1929. Tobin wrote in a marginal note to his own student notes (dated 1992) that the section that met February 16, 1938 “was Gilbert’s last section.” Thus presumably, the earlier sections must have been Gilbert’s doing.

Course enrollment, 1937-38
Course readings, first term
January Reading Period list
Mid-year examination
Course readings, second term
May Reading Period list
Final exam
Research tip

___________________________ 

Official Course Announcement
for Economics 41, 1937-38

For Undergraduates and Graduates.

Economics 41 (formerly 3). Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises
Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 2. Professor Williams and Associate Professor Harris.

 

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXIV, No. 44. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1937-38. Second edition. October 1, 1937.

Copy in Harvard University Archives. HUC 8500.16. Box 5 “Courses of Instruction”, Folder “1937-38”, p. 149.

 

___________________________

Enrollment in Economics 41,
1937-38 by class

[Economics] 41.        (formerly 3). Professor Williams and Associate Professor Harris.—Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.

Registered total: 205, of which 3 Graduates, 49 Seniors, 121 Juniors, 30 Sophomores, 2 “Candidates for the Bachelor’s Degree out-of-course”.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1937-38, p. 85.

 

___________________________

Economics 41, 1937-38:
First Term Reading List

Economics 41
Readings: First Term [Handwritten note: “Excluding Reading Period”]

  1. The nature and function of banking
    Dunbar: Theory and History of Banking, Chs. 1,2,3,4. [pp. 1-60]
    White, Money and Banking, Ch. 16 [pp. 349-372]
  2. Creation of Deposits
    Phillips, Bank Credit, Ch. 3. [pp. 32-77]
    Currie, Supply and Control of Money, Chs. 5-7. [pp. pp. 46-83]
  3. Note Issue
    Dunbar, Ch. 5. [pp. 50-81]
    Currie, Ch. 10 [pp. 110-115]
  4. Commercial Loan Theory
    Robertson, Money, Ch. 5 [pp. 92-117|; Currie, Ch. 4. [pp. 34-46]
  5. U.S. Banking history
    White, Chs. 18-23 [pp. 387-529]
  6. The Federal Reserve System
    Dunbar, Ch. 6 [pp. 81-110]
    Burgess, Federal Reserve Banks and the Money Market [pp. 1-327],
    entire Federal Reserve Bulletin, July 1935, Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds. [pp. 419-428]
    Currie, Chs. 8,9. [pp. 83-110]
    Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System, Chs. 3-11. [pp. 34-243]
  7. Recent Banking Changes
    White, Chs. 29, 30. [pp. 670-738]
  8. Foreign Banking Systems
    Dunbar, Chs. 8-10 [pp. 139-235]

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 10, Folder “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1937-1938”.

 

Note: The page numbers were added to the 1937-38 readings in pencil for many items. In 1938-39, the identical titles plus pages were given for the same list of readings. The same information was copied by James Tobin into his course notes for 1937-38 (apparently correcting the page numbers listed for White under VII. to 679-738.)

 

___________________________

Economics 41, 1937-38:
Reading Period, January 1938

 

Economics 41: Read one of the following:

Hardy, Federal Reserve Policy.
Hawtrey, Art of Central Banking, pp. 116-303.
Keynes, Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Book VII.

 

Note: The Midyear Reading Period list for January 1938 was not found in the Course material folder archives, however for January 1936 and January 1939 the same three books were listed which we can presume constituted the choice of readings for January 1938. From Tobin’s notes for the course, he apparently chose the Hawtrey book.

 

___________________________

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 41
MONEY AND BANKING
Mid-year Examination 1938.

Answer questions 1, 2 and three others.

  1. (One hour.) Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds.

(in millions of dollars.)

From
Dec. 1923 to July 1924

From
July 1924 to July 1925
Bills discounted

-430

+224
Bills bought

-332

+184
U.S. government securities

+389

-194
Other Reserve Bank credit

+9

+4
Monetary gold stock

+267

-144
Treasury and national bank currency

+9

-28
Money in circulation

-288

+36
Treasury cash and deposits with Federal Reserve banks

+18

-43
Non-member bank deposits

+9

-8
Other Federal Reserve accounts

-20

+7
Member bank reserve balances

+193

+54
    1. What is the meaning of each of the above items?
    2. Account for the changes in member bank reserve balances (or in bills discounted) in the two periods.
    3. What conclusions do you draw regarding the nature and instruments of Federal Reserve policy?
  1. Outline:
    1. Keynes’ views on the effectiveness of central banking control in England and the United States.
      (or)
    2. Hawtrey’s treatment of the development of central banking in England.
  2. “From the first, the banking system in this country has given expression to the American ideal of individuality and freedom.” Discuss
  3. Discuss the conflicting views of the role of banks in the creation of credit.
  4. Do banks create capital?
  5. Discuss the nature, purpose and wisdom of the provisions of the Federal Reserve Act concerning the issue of notes by the Federal Reserve banks.
  6. Discuss the merits of requiring the holding of reserves equal to a fixed percentage of deposits in the case of (a) central banks and (b) other banks.
  7. Discuss the relative effectiveness of open market operations and the rediscount rate as central bank instruments of control.
  8. What should be the central bank’s attitude towards the stock market?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 13: Mid-year Examinations, 1938. Papers printed for Mid-year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,…,Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science, January-February, 1938.

 

___________________________

Economics 41, 1937-38:
Second Term Reading List

[The following list of readings has been put together from Tobin’s class and reading notes for the course.]

Arthur D. Gayer—Monetary Policy and Economic Stabilization: A Study of the Gold Standard. 1935.
Fisher. Purchasing Power of Money, pp. 1-74 and 149-181.
Hawtrey. Currency and Credit, new ed. Chs 3-4.
Keynes. Treatise. Vol I, chs. 4,5,6 (Section 1), 7.
Hawtrey. Trade Depression and the Way Out
Foster and Catchings. Profits, Part 5
Haberler. Prosperity and Depression. Review of Theories.
Optional Keynes, ch 14 and ch on theory of inex numbers.
Taussig: International Trade: ch. 21. Adjustment on inconvertible paper.

 

Source: Yale University Library. Manuscripts Collections. James Tobin Papers. Group No. 1746, Box No. 6. Notes for Economics 41, 1937-38.

 

___________________________

Economics 41, 1937-38:
Reading Period, May 1938

Economics 41: Read one of the following:

  1. Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Future of Monetary Policy.
  2. International Chamber of Commerce, International Economic Reconstruction. Either Volume I or Volume II.
  3. Robbins, The Great Depression.
  4. Ohlin, Course and Phases of the World Depression, (League of Nations Study)
  5. Hansen, Economic Stabilization in an Unbalanced World.

 

Note: Tobin presumably chose this last item by Hansen since it is the last set of reading notes he included for the course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 10, Folder “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1937-1938”.

 

___________________________

Economics 41, 1937-38:
Final Exam, June 1938

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 41

  1. Discuss either (a) or (b).
    1. “Freedom of the exchange rates insulates the national economy against cyclical disturbances or monetary instability of foreign origin.”
    2. “A country which becomes a member of an international currency system, such as the gold standard provides, surrenders a part of its freedom of action, and assumes, along with the right to such benefits as it affords, certain very stern responsibilities.”
  2. Answer either (a) or (b).
    1. “Before 1914, changes in the value of gold were largely governed by the accident of gold discoveries or inventions bearing on methods of gold production.” Does the evidence support this view?
    2. Outline and criticize Fisher’s analysis of the factors determining the value of money.
  3. Discuss either (a) or (b).
    1. The underconsumption theories of the business cycle
    2. The investment theories of the business cycle.
  4. “One’s evaluation of a policy of flexible public works as an agency of economic stabilization depends upon the theory one holds of the fundamental nature of the business cycle.” Do you favor a policy of flexible public works? If so, on what grounds? If not, why not?
  5. Answer one of the following questions.
    1. Robbins’ views on the causes of the great depression.
    2. The Royal Institute of International Affairs’ analysis of the powers and limitations of the monetary authority.
    3. Hansen’s analysis of the breakdown of the international system in 1930-35.
    4. Gregory’s views on the major influences antagonistic to currency stabilization.
    5. Ohlin’s analysis of the causes of the great depression.
    6. Write a review of the book you read during the reading period.

Final. 1938.

 

Source: Yale University Library. Manuscripts Collections. James Tobin Papers. Group No. 1746, Box No. 6. Notes for Economics 41, 1937-38.

 

___________________________

Research Tip:

While at the Harvard Archives I came across Suggested Topics for Theses in Economics 41, 1938-39, HUC 8938.121.2. In it are listed 137 topics, each topic having between one to more than a dozen suggested references, running to 31 pages that includes twelve additional thesis subjects.

___________________________

Image: My photo taken of a box of James Tobin’s notes as a student at Harvard. Not only are they bound, they have been cleanly copied in pen and are legible at the 99.9% confidence level.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Course. Graduate Theory. Schumpeter. Spring 1935

The second semester of Economics 11 for the academic year 1934-35  was taught by Joseph Schumpeter after Frank W. Taussig taught the first semester.

Wolfgang Stolper’s notes for the course (Box 19, Notebook “Taussig Ec 11 Theory. 1934-35”) taken during the Spring Semester 1935 follow the printed reading lists given below that are undated in the folder marked “Ec11 Fall 1935” in Schumpeter’s papers.

_____________________

Economics 11

The following is a brief outline of what will be covered in the first four to six weeks of the second semester.

I. Welfare and the National Dividend. Approximately two weeks. The discussion will turn around the following chapters from “The Economics of Welfare” by A.C. Pigou (3rd or 4th edition): Part I, Chapters 1,2,3,5,6,7,8; Part IV, Chapter 2; and Part II, Chapters 1,2,3,4,11. In the second edition the corresponding chapters from Part I are 1-7 inclusive and from Part II, 1,2,3,4,10. Chap. 10 Part II is completely revised in the third edition (where it appears as Chap. 11, Part II) and should if possible be read in the third. The material from Part II leads to the second main topic, namely,

II. The Laws of Cost and Returns. Probably three or four weeks. It is proposed to deal fully with the so-called “cost controversy”, a series of more or less closely connected articles which appeared in the Economic Journal from 1922 to 1932. The following is a list of the articles in the order of their appearance. Students will not be held responsible for those included in brackets, some of which are connected only remotely with the main controversy. 1) “On Empty Economic Boxes”, J. H. Clapham, Sept. 1922; “Empty Economic Boxes: a Reply”, A.C. Pigou, Dec. 1922; “Those Empty Boxes”, D. H. Robertson, March, 1924; “The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions”, P. Sraffa, Dec. 1926; [“The Laws of Diminishing and Increasing Costs”, A.C. Pigou, June 1927]; [“An Analysis of Supply”, A. C. Pigou; June 1928]; “Varying Costs and Marginal Net Products”, G. F. Shove, June 1928; [“The Instability of Capitalism”, J.A. Schumpeter, Sept. 1928;] [“The Representative Firm”, L.C. Robbins, Sept. 1928]; “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress”, A.A. Young, Dec. 1928; “Increasing Returns and the Representative Firm: a Symposium”, D.H. Robertson, G.F. Shove, and P. Sraffa, March 1930. The following two articles by R.F. Harrod are in effect a continuation of the “cost controversy”, but they will be considered later in connection with the discussion of imperfect competition: “Notes on Supply”, June 1930; and “The Law of Decreasing Cost”, Dec. 1931.

_____________________

[There is a gap in reading lists between the laws of costs and production above and the discussion of imperfect competition and monopolistic competition below. The following three topics and readings are taken from the second term of the academic year 1935-36. According to Stolper’s notes (both from class and his reading notes), the topics and material were at least touched upon in the second term of the academic year 1934-35. Cf. the final exam questions below.]

 

  1. Marginal Productivity and the Theory of Wages
    1. Marshall, Bk. VI, especially Ch. I.
    2. Hicks, J. R., “The Theory of Wages”, Chs. I and VI.
    3. ——-, Marginal Productivity and the Principle of Variation,” Economica, Feb., 1932.
    4. Schultz, Henry and Hicks, J. R., “Marginal Productivity and the Lausanne School: A Reply” and “A Rejoinder”, Economica, Aug., 1932.
    5. Clark, J. B., “The Distribution of Wealth”, Ch. VIII.
    6. Robertson, D. H., “Wage Grumbles” in the volume of essays entitled Economic Fragments.
  2. Elasticity of Substitution
    1. Hicks, Ch. VI (Cf. above).
      (mathematical treatment in Appendix for those who prefer)
    2. Machlup, Fritz, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution”, Review of Economic Studies, June, 1935.
    3. Also notes and articles on substitution in Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I, nos. 1 and 2, though not required reading, may be consulted.
  3. Opportunity Costs.
    1. Green, D.I., “Pain Cost and Opportunity Cost”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1894.
    2. Davenport, H.J. , “Economics of Enterprise”, Ch. VI.
    3. Knight, F.H., “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of the General Theory of Price”, Journal of Political Economy, 1928.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUC (FP) – 4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Lecture Notes, Box 9, Folder “Ec11 1935-36”.

_____________________

Economics 11

Following is a list of some of the most important works in English dealing with problems outside the range of perfect competition. They are not all assigned, but assigned reading is taken altogether from this list.

Pigou, A. C., Economics of Welfare, 3rd Edition.
Chamberlin, E. H., The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
Chamberlin, E. H., On Imperfect Competition, in the March, 1934 Supplement of The American Economic Review, pp. 23-27.
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition.
Robinson, Joan, What is Perfect Competition, Q. J. E., Nov. 1934.
Zeuthen, F., Problems of Monopoly and Economic Warfare.
Cournot, A. A., Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth.
Edgeworth, F. Y., The Pure Theory of Monopoly (Papers, Vol. I)
Hotelling, Harold, Stability in Competition, E. J., March 1929.
Shove, G. F., The Imperfection of the Market, E. J., March 1933.
Harrod, R. F., Doctrines of Imperfect Competition, Q. J. E., May 1934.
Hicks, J. R., The Theory of Monopoly, Econometrica, Jan. 1935.

The subjects, in the order in which they will be taken up, together with the assigned reading, are given below.

I. The Technique and the Background.Pigou, Part II, Ch. XIV.
Robinson, Chs. 1, 2.
Chamberlin, Chs. 1, 2.		 V. Monopolistic CompetitionChamberlin, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7.
Robinson, Ch. 7. Q.J.E., Nov. ‘34
Shove, E.J., March ’33.
Harrod, Q.J.E., May ’34.
II. Simple Monopoly.Pigou, Part II, Ch. XVI.
Robinson, Chs. 3, 4, 5.		 VI. Discrimination.Pigou, Chs. XVII, XVIII (Part II).
Robinson, Chs. 15, 16.
III. Duopoly and OligopolyPigou, Part II, Ch. XV.
Chamberlin, Ch. 3.		 VII. Imperfect Competition and the Theory of Distribution.Chamberlin, in March ’34 A.E.R. Supplement.
IV. Bilateral Monopoly.(To be discussed in class)  

_____________________

1934-35
Harvard University
ECONOMICS 11

Two questions may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. State the principle of Pigou’s method of measuring the National Dividend, and explain the relation of variations in the National Dividend, as thus measured, to “Welfare.”
  2. “What the production of any commodity costs to society or any individual, is the satisfaction which could have been derived from producing something else with the same means of production.” What do you think of this proposition?
  3. Explain briefly what is meant by
    (a) Elasticity of demand,
    (b) Elasticity of substitution,
    (c) Marginal revenue,
    (d) Bilateral monopoly,
    (e) Perfect competition.
  4. State the three theorems, which together constitute the “theory of marginal productivity” and show what, if anything, corresponds to each of them in the case of imperfect competition.
  5. “Monopolistic competition implies oligopoly and could not exist without it.” Do you agree?
  6. Define discrimination, and formulate the condition which must be fulfilled in order to maximize the discriminating monopolists profit. Do you think that the monopolists output will be greater or less than it would be without discrimination?

Final. 1935.

No. 55

_____________________

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC (FP)–4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Lecture Notes, Box 6. Folder “Ec 11, Fall 1935”.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Course. Graduate Economic Theory. Taussig. 1934-5

Frank W. Taussig’s last time teaching the graduate theory course, Economics 11, was  in the Fall Semester of 1934. Joseph Schumpeter took over the second half of the course for the Spring Semester of 1935. In Schumpeter’s papers are 3 pages of Taussig’s handwritten notes and carbon copies of reading lists. Note: the folder where the material is found is labelled “Ec 11 Fall 1935” but material from 1934-35 is in it as well.

 

ECONOMICS 11, FALL SEMESTER 1934

_________________

[handwritten notes by F. W. Taussig, cf. initials in letter June 9, 1914 to Hunnewell in Lowell Papers, Box 14 Folder 403]

Economics 11 — 1934-35

Topics taken up by F.W.T. [Taussig], in order

  1. Ricardo, Mill—Theory of Value + Distribution
  2. “Labor Theory” as modified by non-competing Groups + Social Stratification
  3. Temporary Equil of S. + D.—inflow of goods to market from an existing stock
  4. Equil. of S. + D. for longer period.
    a) Marshall 2nd period—inflow from existing plant
    b)      “           3rd period—inflow from changing plant
  5. External + Internal Economies—M’s [Marshall’s] 4th period
  6. Quasi-Rent
    Agricultural + Urban Rent
  7. Profits
  8. Clark—B.B. [Böhm-Bawerk]
  9. Consumer’s Surplus.

Topics not taken up

Theory of Monopoly Price
Austrian Theory of Value

_________________

[handwritten notes by F. W. Taussig]

(1

Ec 11 — ‘34-35

I

Ricardo, chs I Value (omitting the discussion of Adam Smith)

“    II Rent,   III Rent of Mines
“    IV
“    V Wages
“    VI Profits

Mill, Bk III chs I, III[,] IV

(Value, omitting ch II, which was considered later in connection with Marshall)

Mill   Bk II, ch. XVI ; Bk I, ch. XII (Rent)

“      Bk II, ch XI ; XIII, §§3-4 Wages
“      Bk II, ch XV ;   Profits
“      Bk IV, chs IV[,] V, VI ; Profits to a minimum

_________________

[handwritten notes by F. W. Taussig]

(2

Reading List—Econ 11 — 1934-35

Non-competing Groups + Labor Theory of Value

Cairnes[,] Leading Principles.  P+I, ch. III

Mill[,] Bk II, ch XIV (Differences of wages), cf. Adam Smith, Bk I, ch. X

Taussig, Principles, ch 47, 48

Marshall, Book VI chs IV, V;  Book IV, ch 6

Cf. Marshall second edition,  Bk VI, ch I, §3 (p. 557-558)

_________________

[handwritten addition] 3)

[Typed table of readings that is nearly identical to Wolfgang Stolper’s hand-written reading list in his course notes from the Fall Semester 1934. Cf. Duke University, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Notebook: Taussig Ec 11 Theory, 1934-35]

Economics 11
1934-35

Demand,
Market
Value		 Mill, Book III, chs. 1, 2.
Marshall, Book III, ch. 3; Book V, chs. 1, 2.
Taussig, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1921
Normal
Value		 Mill, Book III, chs. 3, 4.
Marshall, Book V, chs. 3, 4, 5.
Viner, Zeitschrift f. Nationaloekonomie, Sept. 1931, vol. I
Taussig, Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1919.
Marshall, Appendix H
Quasi
Rent		 Marshall, Book V, ch. 8; Book V, ch. 9.
Fetter, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1901 (vol. 15).
Increasing
Returns		 Marshall, Book V, ch. 12; Book IV, ch. 9, §7; ch. 10, 13.
Agricultural
Rent,
Urban Rent		 Marshall, Book IV, chs. 2, 3; Book V, ch. 10, (omit §§4, 5); Book VI, ch. 9; Book V, ch. 11.
Ely, Outlines, 5th ed., ch. 22.
Profits Mill, Book II, ch. 15.
Marshall, Book IV, chs. 12, 13; Book VI, chs. 7, 8.
Knight, “Risk, Uncertainty and Profits”, chs. 9, 10.
Ely, Outlines, ch. 24.L.
Robbins, The Representative Firm, Economic Journal (1928)
[handwritten addition] Marshall Bk V, ch. 10 §2 (settlers in a new country); Bk VI, ch V, §7 (rare natural abilities)
[handwritten addition] Schumpeter—Theory of Ec. Development ch. IV

_________________

[Typed carbon list]

[handwritten addition] 4)

Economics 11
1934-35
Reading

I

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Book II, chs. 1, 2, 4, 6
Book V, chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Book VI, chs. 1 (pp. 285-286), 2, 4, 5, 6
Book VII, chs. 1, 2, 5

II

Clark, Distribution of Wealth

chs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 20
chs. 11, 12, 13, 21

Marshall, Book IV, ch. 7 (“The Growth of Wealth”—Capital, Saving etc); Book VI, chs. 1, 2

_________________

[Final Exam Economics 11, Fall Semester 1934]

1934-35
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. “Suppose that society is divided into a number of horizontal grades, each of which is recruited from the children of its own members; and each of which has its own standard of comfort, and increases in numbers rapidly when the earnings to be got in it rise above, and shrinks rapidly when they fall below that standard. Suppose, then, that parents can bring up their children to any trade in their own grade, but cannot easily raise them above it and will not consent to sink them below it….”

Suppose also that there is free competition as regards the earnings of capital.

On these suppositions what would be the relation between

(a) the values of commodities and their “real cost”
(b) the values of commodities and their money costs;
(c) the values of commodities and their supply prices?

  1. “Internal economies of large-scale production are primarily a long-run phenomenon, dependent upon appropriate adjustment of scale of plant to each successive output. They should not be confused with the economies resulting from ‘spreading of overhead.’” Why or why not to be thus confused?

“Internal economies of large-scale production are independent of the size of output of the industry as a whole, and may be accruing to a particular concern whose output is increasing at the same time that the output of the industry as a whole is undergoing a decline.” Why or why not?

  1. Does quasi-rent have the same meaning in the following passages?

(a) “The quasi-rent of farm-buildings.”
(b) “When the artisan or professional man has once obtained the skill required for his work, a part of his earnings are for the future really a quasi-rent of the capital and labor invested in fitting him for his work, in obtaining his start in life, his business connections, and generally his opportunity for turning his faculties to good account; and only the remainder of his income is true earnings of effort. But this remainder is generally a large part of the whole. And here lies the contrast. For when a similar analysis is made of the profits of the business man, the proportions are found to be different; in his case the greater part is quasi-rent.”
(c) “In relation to normal value the earnings of high ability are to one regarded as a quasi-rent rather than as a rent proper.”

  1. Is it fatal to the conception of consumers’ surplus to admit:

(a) that differences in income make it impossible to measure satisfactions;
(b) that each unit of a homogeneous supply yields ipso facto the same satisfaction as every other unit;
(c) that the satisfaction indicated by the high price paid for an article having “prestige value” will disappear when the article becomes cheap

  1. Does “capital,” as distinguished from “capital goods,” serve to synchronize the effort of labor with the reward for labor? If so, how? If not, why not?
  1. Explain the distinctions

(a) between the intensive and the extensive margins of cultivation for land;
(b) the intensive and the extensive zones of indifference in the application of labor;
(c) the marginal product of labor and the product of marginal labor.

State summarily your opinion of the usefulness of the distinctions as tools of analysis.

Mid-Year. 1935.

No. 37

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. HUC (FP) – 4.62
Box 9 (Lecture Notes), Folder “Ec11 Fall 1935”.

Categories
Chicago Courses Economists Exam Questions Syllabus

Chicago. Course Notes. Theory of Income and Employment. Marschak. 1948.

The Cowles Commission Archive at Yale provides a copy of Income, Employment, and the Price Level: Notes on Lectures Given at the University of Chicago Autumn 1948 and 1949 by Jacob Marschak. Notes edited by David Fand and Harry Markowitz, 1951. Problems, course examination (Fall 1949) and reading list are included.

See the biographical memoir for Jacob Marschak (1898-1977) written by Kenneth Arrow to appreciate the enormous debt modern economics owes to Marschak.

From the Course Announcements this would have been Economics 335, The Theory of Income and Employment offered in Autumn and Spring quarters.  The notes explicitly refer to only the Autumn Quarters of 1948 and 1949. Oswald H. Brownlee was listed  in the Announcements for the course for the Spring Quarter in 1949.

In the Evsey D. Domar Papers at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library, Box 16 c.1, folder “Final Exams: Johns Hopkins, Stanford, U. of Michigan”, there is a one page mimeographed page of final exam questions for “Economics 335, June 17, 1948” which is the time Domar had an joint appointment Cowles Commission/Department of Economics at the University of Chicago and corresponds to the precise end of the Spring quarter. Thus I consider it highly likely to most probable that Domar taught the Spring term, 1948 of Economics 335.

Image Source: Carl F. Christ. History of the Cowles Commission, 1932-1952.