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Columbia Courses Economists Harvard Transcript

Columbia. Search Committee Report. 1950

This report is fascinating for a couple of reasons. The search committee understood its task to identify “the names of the most promising young economists, wherever trained and wherever located” from which a short list of three names for the replacement of Louis M. Hacker in Columbia College was selected. Organizationally, Columbia College is where undergraduate economics has been taught so that teaching excellence, including participation in Columbia College’s legendary Contemporary Civilization course sequence, was being sought as well as was potential for significant scholarship. Appendix C provides important information on James Tobin’s graduate economics education. In a later posting, I’ll provide information on others in the long-list of seventeen economists identified by the search committee.

___________________

January 9, 1950

 

Professor James W. Angell, Chairman
Department of Economics
Columbia University

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Committee appointed by you to canvass possible candidates for the post in Columbia College that is made available by the designation of Professor Louis M. Hacker as Director of the School of General Studies submits herewith its report.

As originally constituted, this committee was made up of Professors Taylor, Barger, Hart and Haig (chairman). At an early stage the membership was expanded to include Professor Stigler and from the beginning the committee had the advantage of the constant assistance of the chairman of the department.

In accordance with the suggestions made at the budget meeting in November, the committee has conducted a broad inquiry, designed to raise for consideration the names of the most promising young economists, wherever trained and wherever located. In addition to the men known personally to the members of the committee, suggestions were solicited from the authorities at other institutions, including Harvard, Chicago, California and Leland Stanford. By mid December, scrutiny of the records and publications by the committee to the following seventeen:

 

Name Suggested by
Alchian, Armen A. Haley
Bronfenbrenner, Martin Friedman
Brownlee, O. H. Friedman
Christ, Carl L. Angell
Dewey, D. J. Friedman
Du[e]senberry, [James] Stigler
Goodwin, Richard M. Burbank
Harberger, J. H. Friedman
Ho[s]elitz, Bert Friedman
Lewis, H. Gregg Hart
Machlup, Fritz Stigler
Nicholls, William H. Stigler
Nutter, J. W. Friedman
Pancoast, Omar Taylor
Schelling, Thomas Burbank
Tobin, James Burbank
Vandermeulen, D. C. Ellis

[p. 2]

The meeting of the American Economic Association in New York during the Christmas holidays offered an opportunity to meet many of the men on the above list and to make inquiries regarding them. As a consequence, it has been possible for your committee to make rapid progress with its appraisals. Although the committee is continuing to gather information and data, it is prepared at this time to make a series of definite recommendations, with a high degree of confidence that these recommendations are not likely to be greatly disturbed by its further inquiries.

It is the unanimous opinion of the members of your committee that the most eligible and promising candidate on our list is Martin Bronfenbrenner, associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin, at present on leave for special service in Tokyo.

Should Bronfenbrenner prove to be unavailable the committee urges consideration of D. J. Dewey, at present holding a special fellowship at the University of Chicago, on leave from his teaching post at Iowa. As a third name, the committee suggests James Tobin, at present studying at Cambridge, England, on a special fellowship from Harvard.

Detailed information regarding the records of these three men will be found in appendices to this report.

Bronfenbrenner, the first choice of the committee, is 35 years old. He received his undergraduate degree from Washington University at the age of 20 and his Ph.D. from Chicago at 25. During his war service, he acquired a good command of the Japanese language. He taught at Roosevelt College, Chicago, before going to Wisconsin and undergraduate reports of his teaching are as enthusiastic as those of the authorities at Chicago. He happens to be personally well known to two of the members of your committee (Hart and Stigler) and to at last two other member of the department (Shoup and Vickrey), all four of whom commend him in high terms.

The following statement from Hart, dated December 6, 1929, was prepared after a conference with Friedman of Chicago:

“Bronfenbrenner is undoubtedly one of the really powerful original thinkers in the age group between thirty and thirty-five. He has always very much enjoyed teaching; my impression is that his effectiveness has been with the upper half of the student body at Roosevelt College and at Wisconsin. He is primarily a theorist but has a wide range of interest and a great deal of adaptability so it would not be much of a problem to fit him in somewhere [p. 3] in terms of specialization. He would do a good deal to keep professional discussion stirring in the University. My impression is that he tends to be underrated by the market, and that a chance at Columbia College might well be his best opportunity for some time ahead. The difficulty is, of course, that there is no chance of arranging an interview; though Shoup and Vickrey, of course, both saw him last summer.”

In a letter dated December 15, Shoup wrote as follows:

“I have a high regard for Martin Bronfenbrenner’s intellectual capacities, and I think he would fit in well in the Columbia scene. He has an excellent mind and a great intellectual independence. In his writings he sometimes tends to sharp, almost extreme statements, but in my opinion, they almost always have a solid foundation, and in conversation he is always ready to explore all sides of the question. When we had to select someone to take over the tax program in Japan, after the report had been formulated, and oversee the implementation of the program by the Japanese government, it was upon my recommendation that Bronfenbrenner was selected. He arrived in Japan in the middle of August and his work there since that time has confirmed me in my expectations that he would be an excellent selection for the job, even though he did not have very much technical background in taxation. I rank him as one of the most promising economists in his age group in this country, and I should not be surprised if he made one or more major contributions of permanent value in the coming years.

“He has gone to Japan on a two year appointment, after having obtained a two year leave of absence from the University of Wisconsin. My understanding is that on such an appointment he could come back to the United States at the end of one year, provided he paid his own passage back. It might be possible that even this requirement would be waived, but I have no specific grounds for thinking so. I believe the major part of his work with respect to implementing the tax program will have been completed by next September. If the committee finds itself definitely interested in the possibility of Bronfenbrenner’s coming to Columbia, I should not let the two year appointment stand in the way of making inquiries.”

The breadth and rang of his interests recommend Bronfenbrenner as a person who would probably be highly [p.4] valuable in the general course in contemporary civilization and the quality of his written work suggests high promise as a productive scholar in one or more specialized fields.

Your committee considers that the appropriate rank would be that of associate professor.

Respectfully submitted,

[signed]

Robert M. Haig

 

______________________________

Appendix A – Martin Bronfenbrenner

The following data regarding Bronfenbrenner are taken chiefly from the 1948 Directory of the American Economic Assoication:

Born: 1914

Education and Degrees:

A.B. Washington University, 1934
Ph.D. University of Chicago 1939
1940-42, George Washington School of Law

Fields: Theory, mathematical economics, statistical methods, econometrics

Doctoral dissertation: Monetary theory and general equilibrium

Publications:

“Consumption function controversy”, Southern Economic Journal, January, 1948
“Price control under imperfect competition”, American Economic Review, March, 1947
“Dilemma of Liberal Economics,” Journal of Political Economy, August, 1946

Additional publications:

“Post-War Political Economy: The President’s Reports”, Journal of Political Economy, October, 1948
Various book reviews including one on W. I. King’s The Keys to Prosperity, Journal of Political Economy, December, 1948, and A. H. Hansen’s Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, Annals

Additions to list of publications circulated, January 9, 1950

“The Economics of Collective Bargaining”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1939.
(with Paul Douglas) “Cross-Section Studies in the Cobb-Douglas Function”, Journal of Political Economy, 1939.
“Applications of the Discontinuous Oligopoly Demand Curve”, Journal of Political Economy, 1940.
“Diminishing Returns in Federal Taxation” Journal of Political Economy, 1942.
“The Role of Money in Equilibrium Capital Theory”, Econometrica (1943).

______________________________

Appendix B – D. J. Dewey

On leave from Iowa.

In 1948 studied at Cambridge, England.
1949-50, at Chicago on special fellowship.

Bibliography:

Notes on the Analysis of Socialism as a Vocational Problem, Manchester School, September, 1948.
Occupational Choice in a Collectivist Economy, Journal of Political Economy, December, 1948.

Friedman and Schultz are highly enthusiastic.

Statement by Hart, dated December 6, 1949:

“Friedman regards Dewey as first rate and points to an article on ‘Proposal for Allocating the Labor Force in a Planned Economy’ (Journal of Political Economy, as far as I remember in July 1949) for which the J.P.E. gave a prize as the best article of the year. I read the article, rather too quickly, a few weeks ago and it is definitely an imaginative and powerful piece of work. How the conclusions would look after a thorough-going seminar discussion, I am not clear; but the layout of questions is fascinating.”

______________________________

Appendix [C] – James Tobin

Statement by Burbank of Harvard, dated December 14, 1949:

“We have known Tobin a good many years. He came to us as a National Scholar, completed his work for the A.B. before the war and had advanced his graduate work very well before he went into the service. He received his Ph.D. in 1947. Since 1947 he has been a Junior Fellow. He was a teaching fellow from 1945 to 1947. He is now in Cambridge, England, and will, I believe, begin his professional work by next fall. Since Tobin has been exposed to Harvard for a very long time I believe that he feels that for his own intellectual good he should go elsewhere. I doubt if we could make a stronger recommendation than Tobin nor one in which there will be greater unanimity of opinion. Certainly he is one of the top men we have had here in the last dozen years. He is now intellectually mature. He should become one of the handful of really outstanding scholars of his generation. His interests are mainly in the area of money but he is also interested in theory and is competent to teach at any level.”

Data supplied by Harvard:

Address:    Department of Applied Economics, Cambridge University, England

Married:   Yes, one child

Born:          1918, U.S.

Degrees:

A. B. Harvard, 1939 (Summa cum laude)
A.M. Harvard, 1940
Ph.D. Harvard, 1947

Fields of Study: Theory, Ec. History, Money and Banking, Political Theory: write-off, Statistics

Special Field: Business Cycles

Thesis Topic: A Theoretical and Statistical Analysis of Consumer Saving

Experience:

1942-45 U.S. Navy
1945-47 Teaching Fellow, Harvard University
1947- Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows

[p. 2 of Appendix C]

Courses:           1939-40

Ec. 21a (Stat.)                  A
Ec. 121b (Adv. St.)          A
Ec. 133 (Ec. Hist)            A
Ec. 147a (M&B Sem)      A
Ec. 145b (Cycles)             A
Ec. 113b (Hist. Ec.)       Exc.
Gov. 121a (Pol.Th.)         A

1940-1941

Ec. 121a (Stat.)                A
Ec. 164 (Ind. Org.)          A
Ec. 20 (Thesis)                A
Ec. 118b (App. St.)          A
Math 21                             A
Ec. 104b (Math Ec.)       A

1946-47 Library and Guidance

Generals:       Passed May 22, 1940 with grade of Good Plus
Specials:         Passed May 9, 1947 with grade of Excellent.

 

Data from 1948 Directory of American Economic Association:

Harvard University, Junior Fellow

Born:                1918

Degrees:           A. B., Harvard, 1939; Ph.D., Harvard, 1947j

Fields: Business fluctuations, econometrics, economic theory, and mathematical economics

Dissertation: A theoretical and statistical analysis of consumer saving.

Publications:

“Note on Money Wage Problem”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1941.
“Money Wage Rates and Employment”, in New Economics (Knopf, 1947).
“Liquidity Preference and monetary Policy”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1947.
[pencil addition] Article in Harris (ed.), The New Economics, 1947.

______________________________

Source: Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Department of Economics Collection, Box 6, Folder “Columbia College”

Image Source: The beyondbrics blog of the Financial Times.

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Econ 7b. Single Tax, Socialism, Anarchism. Readings. Carver. 1919-20

According to the Harvard Annual President’s Report (p. 90), this course was taught by Thomas Nixon Carver in the second semester of the academic year 1919-20. Attending the course were 10 graduate students; 13 seniors, 29 juniors, 11 Sophomores, 1 Freshman; 14 students from other departments/divisions.

Course final examination questions are available here.

____________________________________

 

In the Official Register of Harvard University (Vol. XVI, October 30, 1919, No. 45) Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1919-20 (Second Edition, p. 64): The official course title was “The Single Tax, Socialism, Anarchism” and met Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays at 10 a.m.

Economics 7b: “A critical study of the theories which underlie some of the more radical programmes of social reform. An examination also of the social utility of private property in its various forms; also some attention to the concept of justice in economic relations; the concept of progress; the significance of conservatism and radicalism.”

 

____________________________________

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder: 1919-1920.

 

ECONOMICS 7b
SOCIALISM

Starred references are required

GENERAL WORKS, HISTORICAL

  1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
  2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
  3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
  4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
  5. William Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
  6. Jessica B. Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.
  7. B. Guthrie. Socialism Before the French Revolution.
  8. Hillquit. History of Socialism in the United States.
  9. Jessie W. Hughan. American Socialism of the Present Day.

 

GENERAL WORKS, EXPOSITORY AND CRITICAL

  1. *O. D. Skelton. Socialism, A Critical Analysis.
  2. E. Le Rossignol. Orthodox Socialism.
  3. Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
  4. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
  5. T. Ely. Socialism: an Examination of its Nature, Strength and Weakness.
  6. James Mackaye. The Economy of Happiness.
  7. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
  8. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
  9. Werner Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
  10. Émile Vandervelde. Collectivism.
  11. Flint. Socialism.
  12. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
  13. Jessie W. Hughan. The Facts of Socialism.
  14. de Laveleye. The Socialism of Today.
  15. Böhm-Bawerk. Karl Marx—The End of his System.
  16. E. Walling. The Larger Aspects of Socialism.
  17. P. Orth. Socialism and Democracy in Europe.
  18. John Spargo. Socialism.

 

TYPES OF SOCIALISTIC PROPAGANDA

I. IDEALISTIC. The appeal is made to all classes on the ground of piety, a sense of justice, or of sympathy for the laboring classes.

A. Religious. The religious motive is invoked in behalf of human brotherhood.

  1. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
  2. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
  3. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
  4. Josiah Strong. The New Era.

B. Fulminations. A thundering discontent with things as they are, with no very definite program for improvement.

  1. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of Morris.
  2. John Ruskin, the Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
  3. Thomas Carlyle, The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s Various Works.

Socialism and everything resembling it were even more abhorrent to Carlyle than the present system.

   C. Utopian. Pictures of ideal Commonwealths.

  1. Plato’s Republic.
  2. Sir Thomas More. Utopia.
  3. Francis Bacon. New Atlantis.
  4. Tommaso Campanella. The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealth.)
  5. Etienne Cabot. Voyage en Icarie.
  6. William Morris. News from Nowhere.
  7. Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward.
  8. Laurence Gronlund. The Cooperative Commonwealth.
  9. H. G. Wells. A Modern Utopia.

 

D. Experimental.

There were men and women who had so much confidence in socialism as to believe that it was only necessary to start it to insure its success. They believed that if the world could be given an example of socialism in operation, it would be led to adopt it.

  1. Charles Nordhoff. The Communistic Societies of the United States.
  2. Karl Kautsky. Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
  3. *W. A. Hinds. American Communities.
  4. H. Noyes. History of American Socialisms.
  5. T. Codman. Brook Farm Memoirs.
  6. Albert Shaw. Icaria.
  7. B. Landis. The Separatists of Zoar.
  8. O. Randall. History of the Zoar Society.

E. Opportunist.

  1. *Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
  2. The Fabian Tracts.
  3. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
  4. Sidney and Beatrice Web. Problems of Modern Industry.
  5. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
  6. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
  7. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch. Marxism versus Socialism.
  8. Ramsay Macdonald. Socialism.
  9. Sidney A. Reeve. The Cost of Competition.
  10. Edward Bernstein. Evolutionary Socialism.
  11. H. G. Wells. New Worlds for Old.

 

II.  MARXIAN. Believing that every man will work for his own material interests, and that in any capitalistic society, the laboring classes must sooner or later outnumber all others, the appeal is made, not to idealistic sentiments, but to the conscious self interest of the laboring classes. In their own interest they are to overthrow the present economic system and so up a socialistic system.

A. Theoretical

  1. Karl Marx. Capital.
  2. Frederic Engels. Socialism, Utopian and Scientific.
  3. Labriola. Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History.

 B.  Propagandist

(a) Political. Reliance is placed upon the voting power of the masses.

  1. Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. The Manifest of the Communist Party.
  2. Karl Kautsky. The Social Revolution.

(b) Militant. Reliance is placed upon the physical power of the masses. Ignore the state! The ballot is too slow!

(1) Bolshevist.

  1. Austin Lewis. The Militant Proletariat.
  2. Beatty, B. Red heart of Russia. Century, 1918.
  3. Bryant, L. Six red monthsin Russia. Doran, 1918.
  4. Petrunkevich, A. I. et al. Russian Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1918,
  5. Radzwill, C. Rasputin and the Russian revolution. Lane, 1918.
  6. Russell, C. E. Unchained Russia. Appleton, 1918.
  7. Sack, A. J. Birth of the Russian Democracy. Russian Information Bureau, 233 Broadway, N. Y.
  8. Trotzky, Leon (Bronshtein, L. D.). The Bolsheviki and World Peace, N. Y., 1918.
  9. Trotzky, Leon (Bronshtein, L. D.). Our Revolution; Essays on Working Class and International Revolution, N.Y., 1918.

(2) Syndicalist.

  1. Challange, Felicien. Syndicalisme revolutionaire et Syndicalisme reformiste. Paris. F. Alcan. 1909. 156 pp.
  2. Delivet, Emile. Les employées et leurs corporations. Paris. River. 1909.
  3. Dufor, ——-—-. Le syndicalisme et la prochaine revolution. Paris. M. Rivier. 1913.
  4. Estey, J. Revolutionary syndicalism; an exposition and a criticism. London. P. S. King. 1913.
  5. Garriguet, L. L’Évolution actuelle de socialisme en France. Paris. 1912.
  6. Harley, John H. Syndicalism. London & N. Y. Dodge Pub. 1912. 94pp.
  7. Kirkaldy, Adam W. Economics and syndicalism. University Press. Cambridge. 1914. 140 pp.
  8. MacDonald, James R. Syndicalism, a critical examination. 1913. Chicago. Open Court Pub. 74 pp.
  9. Pataud, Emile. Syndicalism and the cooperating commonwealth. Preface by Kropotkin. Oxford. 1913. 240 pp.
  10. Snowden, Philip. Socialism and Syndicalism. London. 1913. 262 pp.
  11. Spargo, John. Syndicalism, industrial unionism and socialism. N. Y. Huebsch. 1913. 243 pp.
  12. Ware, Fabian. The worker and his country. London. 1912. 288 pp.

(3) The I. W. W.

  1. Brissenden, Paul F. The launching of the Industrial Workers of the World. University of California Press. 1913. 82 pp. contains bibliography.
  2. *Brooks, John G. American synclicalismn. N. Y. Macmillan. 1913. 264 pp.
  3. De Leon, Daniel. Preamble of the I. W. W. address at Union Temple, Minneapolis. July 10, 1905. N. Y. Labor News Co. 48 pp.
  4. Trautman, William E. Direct. action and sabotage. Pittsburg Socialist News Co. 1912. 43 pp.

 

ANARCHISM

I. PHILOSOPHICAL. A more or less reasoned belief that the abolition of government, especially of government by force, would remove most of the ills of society. Clear in its perception that all government rests upon force; unclear in its reasoning to the conclusion that the use of force is wrong; divided in opinion as to the results of abolishing government.

A. Anarchist Communism. Seeing that property rights are the creation of government, it is concluded that the abolition of government would automatically abolish property and restore communism, and that the masses would pounce upon and destroy anyone who thereafter dared to call anything his own.

  1. J. Proudhon. What is Property?
  2. William Godwin. Political Justice.
  3. Peter Kropotkin. Memoirs of a. Revolutionist.
  4. Peter Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 218.
  5. Elisée Reclus. Evolution et revolution.
  6. William M. Salter. Anarchy or goveminent? An inquiry in fundamental government.
  7. H. Van Ornum. Why Government at all?
  8. Ernst V. Zenker. Anarchism; a criticism and history of the anarchist theory.
  9. Paul Boilley – Les Trois Socialismes; Anarchisme, Collectivism. Reformisme.
  10. Peter Kropotkin. La Science moderne et L’Anarchie.
  11. Peter Kropotkin. The Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22: 149.
  12. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
  13. Elissee Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review. 14: 627.
  14. Josiah Warren. Equitable Commerce.
  15. Josiah Warren. True Civilization as Immediate Necessity.

 

B. Exaggerated Individualism. There should he no restraint either moral or legal, upon the strong whose “ right ’ to govern and exploit the weak is the only natural or divine right there is. Nature abhors weakness and it is the mission of the strong to exterminate the weak, to the end that weakness may cease to exist and that strength alone may survive. Moral and legal codes are the inventions of the weak to protect themselves from the strong in order that weakness may fill the world with its own spawn.

  1. *Max Stirner (pseudonym for Kaskar Schmidt). Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum.
  2. Friederich Nietzsche. Also sprach Zarathustra.
  3. Friederich Nietzsche. Jenseits von Gut and Böse.
  4. James G. Huneker. Egoists: A Book of Supermen.

 

II. EMOTIONAL. A mere explosive protest against all forms of authority, particularly against the police power and other visible manifestations of authority.

  1. Mikhail Bakunin. Dieu et l’Etat.
  2. Emma Goldman. Anarchism and other Essays.
  3. Paul Eltzbacher. Anarchism.
  4. Hunter and R. Wiles. Violence and the Labor Movement.
  5. Krouse. The Anarchist Constitution.
  6. John H. Mackay. The Anarchists; a picture of civilization at the close of the 19th century.
  7. R. Parsons. Anarchism; its philosophy and scientific basis as defined by some of its apostles.
  8. R. Tucker. Anarchism; the attitude of anarchism toward industrial combinations.
  9. United States Department of Justice. Transmission through the Mails of Anarchistic publications. Message from the President. Washington. 1908.

 

THE SINGLE TAX

All public revenues shall be raised from a single tax on land values.

  1. *Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
  2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
  3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.
  4. Thomas G. Shearman. Natural Taxation.
  5. Louis F. Post. The Single Tax.
  6. B. Fillebrown. A Single Tax Catechism.
Categories
Chicago Columbia Cornell Courses Economists Harvard Johns Hopkins Michigan Pennsylvania Yale

Graduate Economics Courses. 23 US Universities. 1898-99

In this posting we have a compilation of virtually all the graduate courses in economics (and sociology) offered at the major graduate schools in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century. Source 

Barnard
Brown
BrynMawr
California
Chicago
Columbia
Cornell
Harvard
Hopkins
Stanford
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
NYU
Northwestern
Pennsylvania
Princeton
Radcliffe
Vanderbilt
Wellesley
WesternReserve
Wisconsin
Yale

____________________

EXPLANATORY

“ To state the numbers of Graduate Students who have taken courses in each department during 1897-8, thus giving an indication of the amount of graduate work actually going on. A Graduate Student often takes courses in two or more departments; such student counts once in each of those departments….

…The number of hours per week is put in small Roman, the number of weeks in Arabic numerals. A dash, followed by a mark of interrogation, calls attention to the absence of specific information. Unless months are given, a course usually extends from September or October to May or June (inclusive). The abbreviations for the names of the months are as follows: Ja., F., Mar., Ap., My., Jun., Jul., Au., S., O., N., D.

…[Enclosed] in brackets all courses not to be given in 1898-9. Bracketed courses usually may be expected in 1899-1900.

…[Marked] with the asterisk all courses “not designed primarily for Graduate Students.” It should be borne in mind that “Graduate work” in each institution is conditioned by local plans of administration, as well as by the previous preparation of Graduate Students. The marking of a course with an asterisk simply means that (under the conditions prevailing in his institution) the instructor does not offer the course with a primary purpose of meeting the needs of Graduate Students. But the inclusion of the course in these lists indicates that it is often useful to such students.” [p. liii]

 

 

 

  1. ECONOMICS, SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND ETHNOLOGY. 

(Including Finance and Statistics. See also 9 and 11.)

 

BARNARD.
16 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

[All Graduate Courses in Columbia under 10 open to Barnard Graduate Students.]

 

BROWN.
8 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Henry B. Gardner, Assoc. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Brown, ’84, and A.M., ’87; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’90;
Instr. in Pol. Econ., Brown, ’88-’90.

Hist. of Economic Thought.* iii, 12, S.-D.
Economic Policy. iii, 12, S.-D.
Money and Banking.* iii, 11, Ja.-Mar.
Public Finance.* iii, 10, Ap.-Jun.
Practical Economic Questions.* iii, 12, S.-D.
Economic Theory (adv.) iii, 11, Ja.-Mar.

 

George G. Wilson, Prof. of Social and Pol. Science.
A.B., Brown, ’86, A.M., and Ph.D., ’89;
Assoc. Prof. of Social and Pol. Science, ’91-5.

Princ. of Sociol.* iii, 12, S.-D.
Social Conditions and Probs.* iii, 21, Ja.-Jun.
Current Social Theory and Practice. i, 33.
Sociology. Seminary. Fort.

 

James Q. Dealey, Asst. Prof. of Social and Pol. Science.
A.B. Brown, ’90, A.M., ’92, and Ph.D., ’95.

Devel. of Social Theory. iii, 12, S.-D.
Social Philos. iii, 11, Ja.-Mar.
[Segregation of Population. iii, 10, Ap.-Jun.]

 

Alpheus S. Packard, Prof. of Zool. and Geol.
Ph.D., Bowdoin;
Libr. and Custodian, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., ’65; Lect., Mass. Agricult. Col. ’69-’77; Maine Agricult. Col., ’71; Bowdoin, ‘73-6.

Anthropology.* iii, 10, Ap.-Jun.

 

 

BRYN MAWR.

3 Graduate Students, 1897-8.
1 Fel. $525 in Hist. of Political Science.

 

Lindley M. Keasbey, Assoc. Prof. of Pol. Sci.
A.B., Harv., ’88; Ph.D., Columbia, ’90;
Asst. in Econ., Columbia, and Lect. on Pol. Sci., Barnard, ’92; R.P.D., Strassburg, ’92; Prof. of Hist., Econ., and Pol. Sci., State Univ. of Col., ’92-4.

Economic Institutions. i, 30.
Am. Primitive Society. i, 30.
Am. Commerce. i, 30.
Descriptive Sociology.* iii, 30.
Theoretical Sociology.* ii, 30.

 

 

CALIFORNIA.

1 Graduate Student, 1897-8.

 

Bernard Moses, Prof. of Hist. and Pol. Econ.
Ph.D., Heidelberg.

Economic Theory.* iv, 16, Ja.-My.
[Econ. Condition of Laborers in Eng. ii, 16, Au.-D.]

 

Carl C. Plehn, Assoc. Prof. of Hist. and Pol. Science.
A.B., Brown; Ph.D., Gottingen.

[Federal Expenditures, Revenues and Debts. ii, 32.]
Industrial and Commercial Hist. of U. S. ii, 32.
[Currency and Banking. ii, 32.]
Finance and Taxation.* iv. 16, Ja.-My.
Statistics. Hist., Theory, and Method, as applied to Econ. Investigation.* ii, 16, Au.-D
Local Govt. and Admin. —?

 

CHICAGO.

 40 Graduate Students, 1897-8; and 40 in Summer Quarter, ‘97, in Political Economy;55 Graduate Students, 1897-8; and 95 in Summer Quarter, ’97, in Sociology. Pol. Econ., Club and Social Science Club fortnightly. Dept. libs. of Pol. Econ., Sociol. and Anthropol. have leading magazines and 6,000 vols. In Anthropol. Dept. of Walker Museum, coll. of 3,000 pieces on Archaeol. of Mexico,valuable colls. on Cliff and Cave Dwellings, and Japan and Aleutian Islands; also complete anthropometrical apparatus. Access to the Fieid Columbian Museum. 6 Fels. in Pol. Econ. 4 in Sociol. 1 Fel. in Anthropol.

 

J. Laurence Laughlin, Head Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Harv., ’73; A.M., and Ph.D., ’76;
Instr. in Pol. Econ., same, ’83-8; Prof. Pol. Econ. and Finance, Cornell, ’90-2.

Money and Banking. iv, 12, Jul.-S.
Seminar. ii, 12, O.-D.
Money. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Seminar. ii, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Unsettled Problems. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Seminar. ii, 12, Ap.-Jun.

 

Bernard Moses, Prof. of History and Political Economy, Univ. of Cal.
Ph.B., Univ. of Mich., ’70; Ph.D., Heidelberg, ‘73;
Prof. of History and Engl. Lit., Albion Col. ’75; Prof. of Hist. Univ. Cal. ’75-6; Prof. Hist. and Pol. Econ. Univ. Cal. ’76.

Practical Economics.* iv, 12, Jul.-S., and O.-D.
Advanced Course on Theory. iv, 12, Jul.-S., and O.-D.

 

Adolph C. Miller, Prof. of Finance.
A.B., California, ‘87 A.M., Harv., ‘88;
Instr., in Pol. Econ., Harv., ’89-’00; Lect. on Pol. Econ., California, ’90-1, and Asst. Prof.-elect of Hist. and Pol. Sci., same, ’91; Assoc. Prof. Pol. Econ. and Finance, Cornell, ’91-2; Assoc. Prof. Pol. Econ., Chicago, ’92-3.

[Public Finance. iv, 12, O.-D.]
[Economic and Social Hist. iv, 24, Ja.-Jun.]
Public Finance.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Financial Hist.* U. S. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
[Pol. Econ (adv).* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.]
[Taxation. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.]
Seminar in Finance. ii, 12, Ja.-Mar.

 

William Hill, Asst. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Kansas, ’90; A.B., Harv., ’91, and A.M., ’92;
Fellow, Harv., ‘91-3; Instr. Pol. Econ., same, ’93; Tutor Pol. Econ., Chicago, ’93-4; Instr., same, ’94-7.

Tariff Hist.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Railway Transportation.* iv, 12, O.-D.
Oral Debates.* ii, 24, O.-Mar. (With Messrs. Damon and Lovett.)
Comparative Railway Legislation.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Banking.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Money and Banking. iv, 12, O.-D.

 

Thorstein B. Veblen, Instr. in Pol. Econ.
A.B., Carleton, ‘80; Ph.D., Yale, ‘84;
Fellow in Economics and Finance, Cornell, ’91-2; Fellow, Chicago, ’92-3; Reader in Pol. Econ., same, ’93-4; Tutor, same, ’94-6.

Hist. of Pol. Econ.* iv, 12, O.-D.
Scope and Method of Pol. Econ.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Socialism. iv, 24, Ja.-Jun.
American Agriculture. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Economic Factors of Civilization. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.

 

Henry Rand Hatfield, Instr. in Pol. Econ.
A.B., Northwestern, ’92; Ph.D., Chicago, ’97;
Prof. of Pol. Econ. Washington Univ., ’95-7.

Railway Accounts, Exchanges, etc.* iv, 12, O.-D.
Processes of Leading Industries. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Coöperation.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.

 

A.W. Small, Head Prof. of Sociol.
A.B., Colby, ’76, and A.M.’79; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’89;
Prof. Hist. and Pol. Econ., Colby, ’81-8; Reader in Hist., Johns Hopkins, ’88-9; Pres., Colby, ’89-’92.

Social Teleology. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Sociol. Methodology. viii, 6, Jul.-Au., and iv, 12, O.-D.
[Philos. of Soc. iv. 12, O.-D. State and Govt., Ja.-Mar. Socialism, Ap.-Jun. Social Functions U.S. Govt. iv, 6, Jul.-Au. Contemp. Soc, Jul.-Au.]
[Sem. Probs. in Social Teleology. ii, 36, O.-Jun.]
Social Dynamics. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
[Historical Sociology. iv, 12, Ja.- Mar.]
[Outlines of Constructive Social Philos. Philos. of Society. iv, 12, O.-D. The Social Problem. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar. Philos. of State and Govt. iv, 12, Ap.-S.]
[Seminar. Problems of Social Dynamics. ii, 36, O.-Jun.]
Seminar. Problems in Methodology and Classification. ii, 36, O.-Jun.
[Am. Experience with State Control of Social Action. iv, Ja.-Mar.]
Controlling Ideas of Modern Society. iv, 12. Ap.-Jun., and iv, 6, Jul.-Au.
[Some Pending Problems in Sociology. iv, 6, Jul.-Au.]
[The Sociological Method of Stating the Social Problem and of Arranging Evidence, Applied to a Selected Hist. Period. iv, 6, Jul.-Au.]
[Comparative Study of Social Forces in Am. and French Democracy. iv, 6, O.-D.]

 

C. R. Henderson, Assoc. Prof. of Sociol.
A.B., Old Univ. of Chicago, ’70, and A.M., ‘73; D.B. Baptist Union Theol. Sem., ’73; D.D., same, ’83;
Assist. Prof. Sociol., Chicago, ’92-4.

Methods of Social Amelioration. Sem. ii, 36, O.-Jun.
[The Domestic Inst. iv, 12, O.-D.]
Associations for Sociability and Culture. iv, 12, O.-D.
[Social Reform. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.]
[Beneficent Forces of Cities. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.]
Social Inst. of Organized Christianity. iv, 12, O.-D.
Social Treatment of Crime. iv, 6, Au.-S.
[Bibl. and Eccles. Social Theories. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.]
[Field Work in Local Institutions of Charity and Correction. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.]
The Family.* iv, 12, O.-D.
The Labor Movement.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Amelioration of Rural Life. iv, 6, Jul.-Au.
Modern Cities. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Contemporary Charities. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Philanthropy. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.

 

Marion Talbot, Assoc. Prof. of Sanitary Science.
A.B., Boston Univ.’80, and A.M., ’82; B.S., Mass. Inst. of Technology, ’88;
Instr. Domestic Science, Wellesley, ’90-2.

General Hygiene.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Seminar. Sanitary Science.* iv, 36, O.-Jun.
House Sanitation.* iv, 12, O.-D.
Economy of Living. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Sanitary Aspects of Water, Food, and Clothing. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.

 

Charles Zueblin, Assoc. Prof. of Sociol.
Ph.B., Northwestern, ’87; D.B., Yale, ’89.

Social Philos. of Eng. People in the Victorian Era. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun. and Jul.-S.
Structure of Eng. Society.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun. and Jul.-S.

 

G. E. Vincent, Asst. Prof. of Sociology.
A.B., Yale, ’85; Ph.D., Chicago, ’96;
Vice-Principal, Chautauqua System, ‘88-pr; Fellow in Sociology, Chicago, ’92-4.

Course in Statistics.
[Province of Sociol. iv, 12, O.-D.]
[Social Structure. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.]
The Social Mind and Education. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Contemporary Society in the U. S.* iv, 12, O.-D.
Am. City Life.* iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Introd. to Study of Society.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Introd. to Sociology,* iv, 12, O.-D.
The Theory of the Social Mind. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.

 

W. I. Thomas, Asst. Prof. of Sociol.

A.B., Univ. of Tenn., ’84; A.M., ’85; Ph.D., Chicago, ’96;
Prof. of English, Oberlin, ’89—’93; Fellow in Sociol., Chicago, ’93-4; Instr. in Folk-psychology, Chicago, ’95-6.

Folk-psychol. iv, 12, O.-D., and Ap.-Jun.
[Primitive Social Control. iv, 12, O.-D. Seminar.]
[Art and Amusement in Folk-psychol. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar. Sex. Ap.-Jun.]
[Analogy and Suggestion in Folk-psychol. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar. The Child. Ap.-Jun.]
[Intro. to Study of Soc.* iv, 12, Jul.-S.]
Ethnological Æsthetic. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
The Primitive Social Mind. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
Sex in Folk-psychology. iv, 12, Ja.-Mar.
[Hungarian and South Slavonian Ethnology and Folk-psychol. iv, 12, O.-D.]
Primitive Social Control. iv, 12, O.-D.

 

Lester F. Ward, Professorial Lecturer in Sociol., Smithsonian Institution.
A.B., Columbia, ‘69; LL.B., same, ‘71; A.M., ’73; LL.D., ’97.

Dynamic Sociology. iv, 4, Au.-S.
Social Mechanics. vi, 4, Au.-S.

 

Henry W. Thurston, Instr. in Econ. and Civics, Hyde Park High School.
A.B., Dartmouth, ’86.

A Method of Applying Sociological Pedagogy to the Teaching of Economics in Secondary Schools. iv, 6, Jul.-Au.

 

Frederick Starr, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology.
S.B., Lafayette, ‘82; S.M. and Ph.D., ’85;
Prof. Biological Sciences, Coe Col., ‘84-8; in charge Dept. Ethnology, Am. Mus. of Natural Hist., ‘89-’91.

Lab. Work in Anthropology. iv, 36, O.-Jun.
Physical Anthropol. Lab. iv, 36, O.-Jun.
[Physical Anthropol. iv, 12, O.-D.]
Mexico Archaeology, Ethnology. iv, 12, Jul.-S.
General Anthropol.* iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.
Ethnology American Race. iv, 12, Jul.-S.
Prehistoric Archaeology. American. iv, 12, O.-D.
[Field Work in Anthropol. Mexico. Jul.-S.]
Prehistoric Archaeol. European. iv, 12, O.-D.
General Ethnology.* v, 12, Jul.-S.
General Anthropology.* iv, 6, Jul.-Au.
Ethnology American Race. iv, 6, O.-N.
Mexico. Archaeology, Ethnology. iv, 6, Au.-S.
[Comparative Technology. iv, 36, O.-Jun.]

 

Merton Leland Miller, Lecturer in Anthropology.

A.B., Colby Univ., ’90; Ph.D., Chicago. ’97.
Instr. Eureka Acad., ’92; Grad. Stud. at Chicago, ’92-7; Asst. In Anthropol. Mus., ‘94-7;

The Peoples of Europe. iv, 6. O.-N.
Physical Anthropology. Laboratory Work. iv, 36, O.-Jun.

 

J. H. Breasted, Asst. Prof. of Egyptology and Semitic Langs.; Asst. Dir. of Haskell Museum.
A.B., Northwestern, ’88;A.M., Yale, ‘92; A.M. and Ph.D., Berlin, ’94;
non-res. Fellow, Chicago, ’92-4; Asst. in Egyptology.

Chicago-Egyptian Life and Antiquities. iv, 12, Ap.-Jun.

 

C. H. Hastings.
A.B., Bowdoin, ’91.

Bibliography of Sociology. iv, 6, Au.-S.

 

 

COLUMBIA.

63 Graduate Students, 1897-8.
[All graduate courses under 10 open to Barnard Graduate Students.]

 

Richmond Mayo-Smith, Prof. of Pol. Econ. and Social Science.
Ph.D. (hon.), Amherst.

Pol. Econ. (el).* iii, 14, F.-Jun. (With Mr. Day.)
Pract. Pol. Econ:
(a) Problems of Mod. Industry. iii, 16, O.-F.
(b) Problems of Exchange. iii, 14, F.-Jun.
(c) Problems of Distribution. iii, 14, F.-Jun
(d) Readings in Marshall’s “Prin. of Econ.” i, 30.
Statistics and Sociology. ii, 16, O.-F.
Statistics and Economics. ii, 14, F.- Jun.
Theory, Technique, and Hist. of Statis. Sci. ii, 14, F.-Jun.
Seminar. Statistics. i, 30.
Seminar. Pract. Econ. i, 30.

 

Edwin R. A. Seligman, Prof. of Pol. Econ. and Finance.
LL.B., Ph.D., Columbia, ’84.

Econ. Hist. of Europe and America. ii, 16, O.-F. (With Mr. Day.)
Sci. of Finance. ii, 30.
Fiscal and Indus. Hist. of U. S. ii, 16, O.-F.
Hist. of Economics. ii, 30.
Railroad Problems. ii, 14, F.-Jun.
[Hist. of Pol. Econ. ii, 30.]
Seminar. Pol. Econ. and Finance. i, 30.

 

John B. Clark, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
Ph.D., Amherst, ’75;
Prof. Hist. and Pol. Econ., Carleton, ’77-’82; Prof. of same, Smith, ’82-’93; Lect. Johns Hopkins, ‘92-5; Prof. Pol. Econ., Amherst, ’92-5.

Econ. Theory. Statics. ii, 16, O.-F.
Dynamics. ii, 14, F.-Jun.
Communistic and Socialistic Theories. ii, 16, O.-F.
Theories of Social Reform. ii, 14. F.-Jun.
Seminar. Pol. Econ. i, 30.

 

Franklin H. Giddings, Prof. of Sociology.
A.M., Union.

General Sociology. ii, 16, O.-F.
Progress and Democracy. ii, 14, F.-Jun.
Pauperism, Poor Laws, and Charities. ii, 16, O.-F.
Crime and Penology ii, 14, F.-Jun.
Seminar. Sociology. i, 30.

 

William Z. Ripley, Lect. on Anthropology.
B.S., Mass. Inst. of Tech , ’90; A.M., Columbia, ’92; Ph.D., Columbia, ’93;
Assoc. Prof. Pol. Econ. and Sociol., Mass. Inst. of Tech., 94-7; Lect., Hartford School of Sociology, ’95-6.

Physical Geog. Anthropol. and Ethnology. ii, 16, O.-F.

 

Livingston Farrand, Instr. in Physiolog. Psychol.
A.M., Princeton, ’91; M.D., Columbia, ’91.

General Anthropology. ii, 14, F.-Jun.
Anthropology. Primitive Culture. ii, 30.

 

Franz Boaz, Inst. in Anthropol.
Ph.D., Kiehl, ’81.

Phys. Anthropol. ii, 30.
Applica. of Statistical Methods to Biolog. Problems (adv). iii, 30.
North Am. Langs. Seminar. ii, 30.

 

George J. Bayles.
Ph.D., Columbia, ’95.

Civil Aspects of Ecclesiastical Organizations. i, 30.

 

 

CORNELL.
14 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

J. W. Jenks, Prof. of Pol. Econ. and Civil and Social Instit.
A.B., Michigan, ’78, and A.M., ’79; Ph.D., Halle, ’85;
Prof. Pol. Econ., Knox, and Indiana State Univ.; Prof. of Polit., Municipal, and Social Institutions, ’91-2.

Economic Legislation.* ii, 32.
Economics and Politics.*

 

Charles H. Hull, Asst. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
Ph.B.. Cornell, ’86; Ph.B., Halle, ’92;
Instr. in Pol. and Sociol. Institutions, Cornell. ’92-3.

Money, Credit, and Banking*. iii, 32.
Railroad Transportation.* iii, 9, Ap.- Jun.
Finance, Taxation, Admin.* Public Debts. ii, 32.
Recent Econ. Theory. Am., Eng., Continental.* ii, 32.
Earlier Econ. Theory (Prior to J. S. Mill).* ii, 32.
Economic and Commercial Geography. ii, 23, O.-Mar.
Seminary. ii. 32.

 

Chas. J. Bullock, Instr. in Economics.
A.B., Boston, ’89; Ph.D., Wisconsin, ’95.

Industrial Hist., Eng. and Am.* ii, 32.
Internat. Trade and Tariff Hist. U. S.* ii, 32.
Labor Question.* ii, 12, S.-D.
Hist. Trades Unions.* ii, ll, Ja.-Mar.
Socialism.* ii, 9, Ap.-Jun.

 

Walter F. Willcox, Prof. of Social Science and Statistics.
A.B., Amherst; Ph.D., Columbia;
Instr. in Philos., Cornell, ’91-2; Asst. Prof. Social Science and Pol. Econ., ’92-4.

Social Science (el).* ii, 32.
Social Statistics.* ii, 32.
[Theoretical Social Science (adv).* ii, 32.]
Practical Social Science (adv).* ii, 32.
[Anthropology.* ii, 32.]
Philos. and Pol. Econ.* ii, 32.
Seminary. ii, 32.

 

Wm. E. Baldwin, Pres. Long Island R. R.
A.B., Harvard, ’85.

Pract. Railroad Management. Lects. i-ii, Ja.-Mar.

 

Charlton T. Lewis, Counsel Mutual Life Ins. Co.

Principles of Insurance. Lects. i, 15,
—?

B. F. Fernow, Director of Col. of Forestry.
Grad. State Col. of Forestry, Münden, Prussia;
Chief of Dir. of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agric, ’86-’92, LL.D., Wisconsin.

Forestry: Econ and Pol. Aspects. ii, 21, Ja.-Jun.

 

 

HARVARD.
21 Graduate Students, 1897-8.
(Courses marked [R] are open to Radcliffe Graduate Students.)

Fel. in Pol. Econ., $450; in Soc. Sci., $500; in Archaeol. and Ethnol., $500 and $1,050, and Schol. of $200. Prize of $150 for Essay in Pol. Sci., two of $100 each for essays on social questions. Peabody Mus., Am. Archaeol., and Ethnol., with Lib., is intended for research.

 

Charles F. Dunbar, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Harv., ’51; LL.D., same, ’91.

Financial Legislation of U. S.* ii, 15, F.-Jun.
[Financial Admin. and Pub. Debts. iii, 15, F.-Jun.]
Money and Banking. v, 15, O.-Ja.
Seminary. Economics. i, 30. (With Prof. Taussig and Asst. Prof. Cummings.)

 

Frank W. Taussig, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Harv., ’79; Ph.D., ’83, and LL.B., ’86.

Econ. Theory in the 19th Cent.* iii, 30. (With Prof. MacVane.)
[Theory and Methods of Taxation. Special ref. to U. S. Local Taxation.* ii-iii, 15, O.-Ja.]
Scope and Method of Economic Theory and Investigation.* ii-iii, 30.

 

William J. Ashley, Prof. of Econ. Hist.
A.B., Oxford, ’81, and A.M., ’85; Fel., Lincoln Col., and Lect. on Hist., Lincoln and Corpus Christi Col., Oxford, ’85-8; Prof. Pol. Econ. and Const. Hist., Toronto, ’88-, ‘92.

[Mediaeval Economic Hist. of Europe.* ii-iii, 30.]
[Hist. and Lit. of Economics to close of 18th Cent.* ii-iii, 30.]

 

Edward Cummings, Asst. Prof. of Sociology.
A.B., Harv., ’83; A.M., same, ’85.

Princ. of Sociology. Devel. of Modern State.* ii-iii, 30.
Socialism and Communism.* ii-iii, 30.
Labor Question in Europe and U. S.* iii, 30. (With Dr. John Cummings.)

 

John Cummings, Instr. in Pol. Econ.
A.B., Harv., 91; Ph.D., Chicago, ’94.

Theory and Methods of Statistics*. iii, 30.

 

H. R. Meyer, Instr. in Pol. Econ.
A.B., Harv. ’92; A.M., ’94.

Public Works, Railways, etc., under Corporate and Pub. Management.* iii, 15, F.-Jun.

 

G. S. Callender, Instr. in Pol. Econ.
A.B., Oberlin Col., ’91; A.B., Harv., ’93; A.M., ’94; Ph.D., ’97.

Economic Hist. of the U. S.*
Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th Cents.* ii-iii, 15, F.-Jun.
Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects.* ii-iii, 15, F.-Jun.

 

Francis G. Peabody, Prof. of Christian Morals.
A.B., Harv., ’69; A.M. and S.T.B., ’72; S.T.D., Yale, ‘87.

[Ethics of Social Questions.* iii, 30. (With Dr. Rand.)]
[Sociolog. Sem. Christian Doct. of the Social Order. ii, 30.]

 

Frederick W. Putnam, Prof, of Archaeology and Ethnology, and Curator of Peabody Museum.
A.M. (hon,), Williams, ’68; S.D.(hon.), Univ. of Pa., ’94;
Curator Dept. Anthropol., Am. Mus., Central Park, N. Y.

Primitive Religion. iii, 30. (With Mr. Dixon.)

[R] Am. Archaeol. and Ethnol. Research.

 

F. Russell, Asst. in Anthropology.
S.B., Univ., of Iowa, ’92, and S.M., ’95; Asst., same, ’94-5.

Gen. Anthropology, Archaeology, Ethnology.* iii, 30. (With an Asst.)
[R] Somatology. iii, 15, F.-Jun.
[R] Somatology (adv). Research—?

 

 

JOHNS HOPKINS.
9 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Sidney Sherwood, Assoc. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’91.

Legal Aspects of Economics. ii, 15, O.-F.
Corporations and Economics. ii, 15, F.-My.
Econ. Conference. ii, 30.
Economic Theory. ii. 30.
Economics (adv).* ii, 15, O.-F.

 

Jacob H. Hollander, Assoc. in Economics.
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’94.

Development of Economic Theories. ii, 15, O.-F.
Financial Hist. of U. S. ii, 15, F.-My.
Economics (adv)*. ii, 15, F.-My.
Current Congressional Happenings.* i, 30.

 

 

LELAND STANFORD, JR.
2 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

Hopkins Railway Library, about 10,000 vols.; Transportation, Railway History, Economics, and Law.

 

Amos G. Warner, Prof, of Applied Economics.
B.L., Nebraska, ’85; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’88;
Prof,of Pol. Econ., Nebraska, ’87-’91.

[Corporate Industry.* iii, 15, S.-D.]
[Personal Economics.* ii, 15, S.-D.]
Seminary. (With Ross and Durand.) ii, 32.

 

Edward A. Ross, Prof. of Sociology.
A.B., Coe Col., ’86; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’91;
Prof. of Econ. and Social Science, Indiana, ’91-2; Assoc. Prof. of Pol. Econ, and Finance, Cornell, ’92-3.

[Economic Theory (adv). ii, 15, S.- D.]
[Sociology.* iii, 32.]

 

Mary R. Smith, Asst. Prof. of Social Sci.
Ph.B., Cornell, ’80, and M.S., ’82; Ph.D., Stanford, ‘96;
Instr. in Hist. and Econ., Wellesley, ’86- ’90.

[Statistics and Sociology.* iii, 17, Ja.-My.]

 

Edward D. Durand, Asst. Prof. of Finance and Administration.
A.B., Oberlin, ’93; Ph.D., Cornell, ’96;
Legislative Librarian, N. Y. State Library, ’96-7; Student, Berlin, ’97.

Practical Economic Questions.* iii, 17, Ja.-My.

 

 

MICHIGAN.
10 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Henry C. Adams, Prof, of Pol. Econ. and Finance.
A.B., Iowa Col., ’74; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’78;
Lect., Johns Hopkins, and Cornell; Statistician to Interstate Commerce Commission: Special Expert Agent on Transportation, 11th Cens.; Director of Economics, School of Applied Ethics.

[Devel. and Significance of Eng. Pol. Econ. iii, 6, O.-N.]
Devel. and Significance of Hist. School of Econ. iii, 6, O.-N.
[Devel. and Significance of Austrian School of Econ. iii, 6, O.-N.]
Relations of the State to Industrial Action. iii, 6, F.-Mar.
[Labor Organizations and Corporations as Factors in Industrial Organization. iii, 6, F.-Mar.]
History of Industrial Society.* ii, 17, O.-F.
Transportation Problems. iii, 17, F.- Jun.
Sem. Economics. ii, 17, O.-F.

 

F. M. Taylor, Junior Prof. of Pol. Econ. and Finance.
A.B., Northwestern, ’76, and A.M., ‘79; Ph.D., Mich., ’88;
Prof. of Hist. and Politics, Albion, ’79-’92.

Hist. and Theory of Money and Banking.* ii, 17. O.-F.
Hist. of Pol. Econ. ii, 17, F.-Jun.
Principles of Finance.* ii, 17, F.-Jun.
Sem. Economics. ii, 17, F.-Jun.
Socialism.* ii, 17; F.-Jun.
[The Value of Money, Theory, and Statistics. iii, 6, O.-N.]
[The Standard of Value. iii, 6, N.-D.]
Paper Money. iii, 6, O.-N.
[Social Philos., with spec. ref. to Econ. Probs. iii, 6, F.-Mar.]
[Credit as a factor in Production. iii, 6, Mar.-Ap.]
The Agricult. Problem. iii, 6, Mar.-Ap.

 

C. H. Cooley, Instr. in Sociology.
A.B., Mich., ’87; Ph.D., same, ’94.

Principles of Sociology.* iii, 17, O.-F. Problems, F.-Jun.
Sociology (adv).* ii, 17, F.-Jun.
Histor. Devel. of Sociolog. Thought. iii, 6, Ja.-F.
Nature and Process of Social Change. iii, 6, My.-Jun.
[Aims and Methods in Study of Society. iii, 6, Ja.-F.]
Social Psychology. iii, 6, My.-Jun.
[Current Changes in Social Organization of U. S. iii, 6, My.-Jun.]
[Theory of Population. iii, 6, Ja.-F.]
Theory of Statistics.* i, 34.
Special Studies in Statistics.* ii, 17, F.-Jun.

 

 

MINNESOTA.
26 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

William W. Folwell, Prof. of Pol. Science.
A.B.,Hobart, ’57; A.M., ’60; LL.D., ’80;
Prof. Math., Hobart, ’59-’61; Prof. Math. and Engineering, Kenyon Col., ‘69; Pres., Univ. of Minn., ’69-’84.

Pol. Sci. Sem. i, 36.
Individual Research. ii, 36.

 

Frank L. McVey, Instr. in Economics.
A.B., Ohio Wesleyan, ‘93; Ph.D., Yale, ‘95;
Instr. in Hist. Teachers’ College, N. Y., ’96.

Comparative Econ. Doctrine. ii, 36.
Economics.* iv, 13, S.-N.
Modern Industrialism.* iv, 12, Mar.-Jun.

 

Samuel G. Smith, Lecturer on Sociology.
A.B., Cornell Col., ’72; A.M.. and Ph.D., Syracuse, ’84; D.D., Upper Iowa Univ., ’86.

Social Sci.* iii, 12, Mar.-Jun.
Indiv. Research. i, 36.

 

 

MISSOURI.
3 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

F. C. Hicks, Prof, of Hist. and of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Univ. of Mich., ’86; Ph.D., same, ’90.

Economic History.* iii, 36.
Problems in Economics.* iii, 36.
Modern Financial Systems.* ii, 36.
Seminar. ii, 36

 

 

NEW YORK.
21 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Frank M. Colby, Prof. of Economics.
A.B., Columbia, ’88, and A.M., ’89.

Practical Economics. ii, 24.
Economic Theory. ii, 24.
Hist. of Indust. Devel. ii, 30.

 

I. F. Russell, Prof. of Sociology, and of Law in N. Y. U. Law School.

A.M., N. Y. U., ‘78; LL.M., Yale, ‘79; D.C.L., Yale, ‘80; LL.D., Dickinson, ‘93;
Prof. Econ., and Const. Law, N. Y. U., ’80-’93.

[Intro. to Sociology. ii, 30.]
Principles of Sociology. ii, 30.

 

 

NORTHWESTERN.
6 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

John H. Gray, Prof. of Political and Social Science.
A.B., Harv., ‘87; Ph.D., Halle, ‘92;
Instr. in Econ., Harv., ’87-9.

Administration. ii, 36.
[Finance.* ii, 36.]
Seminary.* ii, 36.

 

William Caldwell, Prof. of Moral and Social Philosophy.
A.M., Pass Degree, Edinburgh, ’84; A.M., and Honors of First Class, same, ’86;
Asst. Prof. of Philos., same, ’88-’90; Instr., Cornell, ’90-1; Instr., Chicago, ’92-4; Fellow, Edinburgh, ’86-’93, and Sc.D., ’93.

Seminary. Ethical Philos.* ii, 36.
Seminary. Sociology.* iii, 36.

 

 

PENNSYLVANIA.
12 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

Colwell Lib. of Pol. Econ., 7,000 vols. Carey Lib., valuable for economic history, including 3,000 Eng. pams. 1 Fel. $500 + tui; 1 Schol. in Hist. and Economics, $100 + tui.

 

Simon N. Patten, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
Ph.D., Halle.

Hist. of Pol. Econ. ii, 15, O.-F.
Recent Devel. of Pol. Econ. ii, 15, F.-My.
Relat. of Eng. Philos. to Econ. in 18th Cent. ii, 15, O.-F.
[Scope and Method of Pol. Econ. ii, 15, F.-My.]
[Pract. Applications of Econ. Theory. ii, 12, O.-F.]
Problems of Sociol. ii, 15, F.-My.
Special Topics. ii, 30.

 

Henry R. Seager, Asst. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
Ph.B., Mich., ‘90; Ph.D.. Univ. of Pa., ’94;
Instr. in Pol. Econ., same, ’94-6.

Econ. Conference. ii, 30.
Adv. Reading in Ger. and Fr. Economics. ii, 30.
Eng. Indust. Hist. and Devel. of Econ. Theory, 1750-1870. ii, 15, F.-My.

 

Emory R. Johnson, Asst. Prof. of Transportation and Commerce.
B.L., Univ. of Wis., ‘88; M.L., same, ’91; Fel. in Econ., Univ. of Pa., ’92-3; Ph.D., same, ‘93;
Lect. on Transporta., same, ’93-4; Instr., same, ’94-6; Instr. in Econ., Haverford, ’93-6.

Theory of Transportation. i, 30.
[Am. Railway Transportation. ii, 30. ]
Transportation Systems of the United Kingdom and Germany. i, 30.
Hist. of Commerce since 1500. 1, 30.

 

Roland P. Falkner, Assoc. Prof. of Statistics.
Ph.B., Univ. of Pa.. ’85; Ph.D., Halle, ‘88;
Instr. in Statistics, ’88-’91.

Intro. to Statistics. ii, 15, O.-F.
Statistics of Econ. Problems. ii, 15, F.-My.
Hist. and Theory of Statistics. ii, 15, O.-F.
Statistical Organization. ii, 15, F.-My.

 

Samuel McC. Lindsay, Asst. Prof. of Sociol.
Ph.B., Univ. of Pa., ’89; Ph.D., Halle, ’92.

Theory of Sociol. (2 yr. course). ii, 30.
Social-Debtor Classes. ii, 30.
Sociol. Field Work. ii, 30.
Seminary. ii, 30.

 

 

PRINCETON.
5 Graduate Students, 1887-8.
1 Fellowship, $500.

 

Winthrop M. Daniels, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Princeton, ’88, and A.M., ’90;
Instr. Wesleyan, ’91-2.

Public Finance.* ii, 18, S.-Ja.
Hist. of Pol. Econ.* ii, 18, F.-My.

 

W. A. Wyckoff, Lect. on Sociology.
A.B., Princeton, ’88, and A.M., ’91.

Sociology.* ii, 18, F.-My.

 

 

RADCLIFFE.
4 Graduate Students, 1897-8.
[See Harvard Courses marked “[R]”.]

Seminary in Econ. (With Prof. Taussig and Asst. Prof. Cummings.)

 

W. J. Ashley.

[Med. Econ. Hist. of Europe.* iii,30.]

 

Dr. Cunningham, Trinity Col., Cam. Eng.

Industrial Revolution in Eng. in 18th and 19th Cents.* iii, 15, F.-Jun.

 

G. S. Callender.

Econ. Hist. of U. S.*

 

Edward Cummings.

Princ. of Sociol.* iii, 30.

 

Edward Cummings and John Cummings.

Soc. and Econ. Conditions of Workingmen.* iii, 30.

 

John Cummings.

Statistics, Theory, Methods, Practice.*

(Of last three courses, two only will be given in 1898-9.)

 

F. Russell.

Gen. Anthropol.* —?

 

 

VANDERBILT.
2 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Frederick W. Moore, Adj. Prof. of Hist. and Econ.
A.B., Yale, ’86, and Ph.D., ’90

 

Chas. F. Emerick, Asst. in Economics.
A.B., Wittenberg, ’89; Ph.M., Mich., ’95; Ph.D., Columbia, ’97.

Theory of Pol. Econ. Growth of Corporate Industry. iii, 32.
A Study of Socialism.* iii, 16.

 

 

WELLESLEY.
o Graduate Students, 1897-8.

 

Katharine Coman, Prof. of Hist. and Pol. Econ.
Ph.B., Mich., ’80.

Indust. Hist. of U. S.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
[Indust. Hist. of Eng.* iii, 17, S.-Ja.]
Statistical Study of Problems in the U.S. iii, 17, S.-Ja.

 

Emily Greene Balch, Instr. in Economics.
A.B., Bryn Mawr.

Socialism.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
Evolution and Present Conditions of Wage Labor.* iii, 17, S.-Ja.
Social Economics.* iii, 17, S.-Ja.; also F.-Jun.

 

 

WESTERN RESERVE.
4 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

S. F. Weston, Assoc. Prof. of Pol. and Soc. Sci.
A.B., Antioch, ’79, and A.M., ’85; Asst. in Economics, Columbia, ’92-4.

Social Theories.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
Pauperism and Charities.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
Money and Banking.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
U.S. Tariff and Revenue System. iii, 17, F.-Jun.
Economic History of England.* iii, 16, S.-Ja.
Economic History of United States.* iii, 16, S.-Ja.
The State.* iii, 16, S.-Ja.
Civil Government.* iii, 16, S.-Ja.
Social Problems.* iii, 17, F.-Jun.
Economic Theories. iii, 36.

 

 

WISCONSIN.
24 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

Location at State capital gives special facilities for studying the State’s activities and methods of administration. Field work in charitable and correctional institutions in Madison and Chicago. Opportunity for continuous practical work during summer months.

 

Richard T. Ely, Prof. of Pol. Econ. and Director of the Sch. of Econ., Pol. Science and Hist.
A.B., Columbia, ’76; Ph.D., Heidelberg, ‘79; LL.D., Hobart, ’92;
Chair of Pol. Econ., Johns Hopkins, ’81-’92.

Distribution of Wealth. iii, 72, S.-Jun. (This course is to run through ’98- ’99, and ’99-1900.)
Public Finance. iii, 18, S.-F.
Taxation and Am. Public Finance. iii, 18, F.-Jun.
[Social Ethics. ii, 18, S.-F.]
[Socialism. ii, 18, S.-F.
Economic Seminary. Recent Devel. of Econ. Theory. ii, 36. (With Prof. Scott and Dr. Jones.)

 

William A. Scott, Prof. of Econ. Hist. and Theory.
A.B., Rochester, ‘86; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, ’92.
Prof. Hist. and Pol. Econ., Univ. So. Dak., ’87-’90; Instr. in Hist., Johns Hopkins, ’91-2;

[Theories of Value. ii, 18, S.-F.]
Theories of Rent, Wages, Profits, and Interest. ii, 36, S.-F.
[Theories of Production and Consumption. ii, 18, F.-Jun.]
Classical Economists. iii, 18, F.-Jun.

 

Edward D. Jones, Instr. in Econ. and Statistics.
B.S., Ohio Wesleyan Univ., ’92; Halle and Berlin, ’93-4; Ph.D., Univ. of Wisconsin, ’95.

Economic Geography. ii, 18, S.-F.
Statistics. iii, 18, F.-Jun.
Charity and Crime. iii, 18, S.-F.

 

Balthasar H. Meyer, Instr. in Sociol. and Transportation.
B.L., Univ. of Wis., ’94; Berlin, ’94-5; Fel. Univ. of Wis., ’95-7; Ph.D., Univ. of Wis., ’97.

Elements of Sociology.* iii, 18, S.-F.
Psychological Sociologists.* ii, 18, S.-F.
Modern Sociological Thought. iii, 18, F.-Jun.
Transportation. ii, 18, F.-Jun.

 

Frank C. Sharp, Asst. Prof. of Philos.
A.B., Amherst, ’87; Ph.D., Berlin, ’92.

Social Ethics. ii, 18, F.-Jun.
Readings in Ger. Social Philos. ii, 18, S.-F.

 

 

YALE.
43 Graduate Students, 1897-8.

Pol. Science Club meets fortnightly. Club Room with Library for Graduate Students.

 

W. G. Sumner, Prof. of Pol. and Soc. Sci.
A.B., Yale, ’63; LL.D., Tenn., ’84.

Anthropology. ii, 32.
Systematic Societology. ii, 32.
[Indust. Rev. Renaissance Period. ii,32.]
[Begin. of Indust. Organization. ii,32.]
Science of Society.* (German.) ii, 32.

 

H. W. Farnam, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Yale, ’74; R.P.D., Strassburg, ’78.

[Pauperism. ii, O.-D.]
Modern Organiza. of Labor. ii, 20, Ja.-Jun.]
Princs. Pub. Finance. ii, 32.

 

A. T. Hadley, Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B., Yale, 76, and A.M., ’87.

Econ. Problems of Corporations. i, 32.
Relat. between Econ. and Ethics. ii, 32.
Railroad Transportation.* ii, 32.

 

A. T. Hadley and Irving Fisher.

Economics (gen. course).* iii, 32.

 

W. F. Blackman, Prof. of Christian Ethics.
A.B., Oberlin, ’77; D.B., Yale, ’80; Ph.D., Cornell, ’93.

Social Science. ii, 32.
Lit. of Social. ii, 12, O.-D.
Soc. Study of Family. i, 12, O.-D.
Soc. Teach. and Influence of Christianity. i, 32.

 

J. C. Schwab, Asst. Prof. of Pol. Science.
A.B., Yale, ’86, and A.M., ’88; Ph. D., Göttingen, ’89.

Finance. ii, 32.
U.S. Indust. Hist. ii, 32.
U.S. Financial Hist. i, 32.
Finances of Confed. States, 1861-65. i, 32.

 

Irving Fisher, Asst. Prof. of Pol. Econ.
A.B. Yale, ’88, and Ph.D., ’91.

Principles of Economics (adv). ii, 32.
Statistics. ii, 20, Ja.-Jun.
Vital Statistics and Life Insurance. ii, 12, O.-D.

____________________

Source:  Graduate Courses 1898-99: A Handbook for Graduate Students. (6th edition). (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1899), pp. 80-90.

Categories
Chicago Columbia Courses Harvard

Comparison of Course Offerings. Chicago, Columbia, Harvard ca. 1893-94

Compilations of graduate courses in all fields were published by a Committee of the Graduate Club of Harvard in cooperation with committees of similar clubs at other universities for the last six academic years of the 19th century:

1893-94 edition
1894-95 edition
1895-96 edition
1896-97 edition
1897-98 edition
1898-99 edition

After the sixth edition for 1898-99, the “The publication of the compendium of graduate courses has, for the present at least, been abandoned. This decision was made by the convention after hearing the report of a very careful investigation of the subject by a special committee appointed at the convention of 1897. It was shown that the very
limited number of copies of the Handbook sold did not warrant the continuance of such an expensive publication.” 1899-1900 edition, pp. 3-4.

Here I have selected the course listings from the 1893-94 edition, pp. 47-49. I’ve checked the course listings for Chicago and found they correspond to the course offerings for 1892-93, hence I put “ca.” in the title to this posting. I have rearranged the order to approximate matching course content across the universities.

The cells in the table provide the following information:

  • Instructor
  • Course title
  • Hours per week, Weeks per course, Usual months offered.

An asterisk means the course in question was also open to undergraduates.

Chicago

 Columbia

Harvard
A. C. Miller
Princip. pol econ.
5, 24, Jul.-D.		 Richmond Mayo-Smith
Histor. and pract. pol. econ.
3, 30		 F. W. Taussig
Econom. theory from Adam Smith till present.
3, 31.
A. C. Miller
Adv. pol. econ.
5, 12, Ja.-Mr.
William Caldwell
Descrip. pol. econ.
4, 12, Ja.-Mr.
J. Laurence Laughlin
Hist. pol. econ.
4, 12, A.-Ju.		 W. J. Ashley
El. econm. opinion, down to Adam Smith*
William Caldwell
Hist. pol. econ.
4, 24, Ja.-Ju.
William Caldwell
Scope and method pol. econ.
4, 12, A.-Ju.
Laughlin
Money and pract. Economics.
4, 24, O.-Mr.		 C. F. Dunbar
Banking and hist. of B.*
3, 15, F.-My.
Dr. G. E. Hill
Banking.
4, 12.		 C. F. Dunbar
Internat. paymts. and flow of precious metals.*
3, 16, O.-Ja.
A. C. Miller
Finance.
4, 12, O.-D.		 E. R. A. Seligman
Science of finance.
2, 30.
A. C. Miller
Financ. hist. U.S.
4, 12, A.-Ju.		 E. R. A. Seligman
Financ. hist. U.S.
2, 14, F.-My.		 C. F. Dunbar
Hist. finance legis. in U.S.*
3, 16, O.-Ja.
Dr. G. E. Hill
Railway transportation.
4, 24, O.-Mr.		 E. R. A. Seligman
Railroad probs.
2, 16, O.-Ja.		 F. W. Taussig
Railway transport.
3, 16, O.-Ja.
Dr. G. E. Hill
Indust. and econ. hist.
4, 24, Ja.-Ju.		 W. J. Ashley
Dev. of land-tenures, agrarian condition in Europe.*
1, 31.
William Caldwell
Econ. factors in civilize.
4, 12.		 C. B. Spahr
Distrib. Am. Wealth.
1, 30.
Edward Cummings
Principles of social.; Dev. of mod. state and its soc. functs.*
2,31.
Dr. G. E. Hill
Tariff hist. U.S.
4, 12, A. –Ju.		 F. W. Taussig
Hist. tariff legis. U.S.
2-3, 15, F.-My.
E. W. Bemis
Social economics.
4, 12, A.-Ju.		 F. H. Giddings
Sociology.
2, 16, O.-Ja.		 Edward Cummings
Soc. and econom. cond. of working-men.*
3, 31.
William Caldwell
Social econ., soc. reforms.
4, 12, Jul.-S.		 F. H. Giddings
Origins of family, clan, tribe.
2, 14, O.-Ja.
F. H. Giddings
Crime and penology.
2, 14, F.-My.
T. B. Veblen
Socialism.
4, 24, Ja.-Ju.		 Richmond Mayo-Smith
Communistic and socialist. Theories
2,30.		 Edward Cummings
Ideal soc. reconstr. from Plato to pres.*
1-2, 31.
T. B. Veblen
Am. agriculture.
4, 12, O.-D.
Dr. J. A. Hourwich
Statistics (el.).
4, 12, O.-D.
Dr. J. A. Hourwich
Statistics (adv.).
4, 12, Ja-Mr.		 Richmond Mayo-Smith
Statistical sci.
2, 30.
Laughlin
Econom. sem.
4, 30, O.-Ju.		 Richmond Mayo-Smith
Sem. in pol. econ. and soc. sci.		 All instructors
Seminary in economics.
1,31.
A. C. Miller
Sem. in finance.
4, 36, O.-Ju.

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Readings for Taussig’s Economics 11, Theory. 1923-24.

 

 

From assignments and suggested readings as found in the notes taken by Frank W. Fetter (obituary), son of the economist Frank Albert Fetter. Frank W. Fetter received an A.M. in economics from Harvard. Most of the items below are written at the start of his notes for the class-days Fetter attended. Approximately 110 pages of class/reading notes are in this folder. I have merely extracted the course readings and specific bibliographic references made by Taussig for this posting.

New addition: Mid-year and final examination questions for this course.

________________________

Readings for Economic Theory (Taussig)

Economics 11
MWF 2pm
1923-24
from notes taken by Frank Whitson Fetter

Fall Term

Sept. 26

Sept. 28

Oct. 1

Oct. 3

Oct. 5

Oct. 8

Oct. 10

Oct. 15

Oct. 17

Oct. 19

Oct. 22

Oct. 24

Oct. 26

Oct. 29

Oct. 31

Nov. 2

Nov. 5

Nov. 7

Nov. 9

Nov. 12

Nov. 14 Discusses Ricardo’s biography

Nov. 16 (no class)

Nov. 19

Nov. 26

Nov. 28

Nov. 30 Lecture by Taussig on Mill

Dec. 3. No class

Dec. 5. Class in charge of Prof. Crum.

Dec. 7

Dec. 10

Dec. 12

  • Marshall 8th p. 335, (abbreviation unclear, looks like: V:12; paragraph 3…need to check)

Dec. 14

Dec. 17

Dec. 19

Dec. 21

Jan 4

Jan 7

Jan 9

Jan 11.

Jan 14 “increasing returns” (internal and external economies)

Jan 16

Jan 18

Jan 21

Jan 23 Discussion of cases given by Marshall in diagrams on pp. 464-469.

 

 

 

Spring Term

Feb. 11

  • Ultimate analysis of cost of production chapter.
  • Marshall Book VI, ch 4,5, also p. 339
  • Mill, p. 440
  • Marshall, Fortnightly Review, vol 25, p. 598

Feb. 13

Feb. 15

Feb. 18

Feb 20

Feb 25

  • Discussion of main idea of Book II, chapter 7 (probably Marshall)

Feb 27

Feb 29

March 3

March 5

March 7

March 10

March 12

March 14

March 17 no class

March 19

March 21

March 24

March 26 pp. 325-327

March 28

March 31

April 2

April 4

April 7

April 9

April 11 Absent.

April 21

April 23

April 25 absent

April 28

April 30

May 2

May 5

May 7

May 9

May 12    Class in charge of Crum

May 14

May 16

May 19

No class May 21 or May 26.

May 23

May 28

 

Source:  Duke University. Rubenstein Library.
Frank Whitson Fetter Papers, 1902-1992.  Box 49.
Folder: Student Papers, Graduate Course (Harvard University) Transportation Exams, readings, notes, 1923-1924.

Categories
Courses Economists Harvard

Harvard Economics. Hansen and Williams Fiscal Seminar 1937-1944

Motivation
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1937-38
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1938-39
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1939-40
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1940-41
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1941-42
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1942-43
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1943-44
Fiscal Policy Seminar 1944-45

Cf. Robert J. Bigg’s convenient table, with a longer run of seminars: Early Harvard Fiscal Policy Seminar Sessions: A Partial Reconstruction

___________________________

 

From the first annual report of the Graduate School of Public Administration by Dean John H. Williams for 1937-1938

[p. 298] Concerning the seminars which constitute our program of work little further comment seems necessary. A statement of last year’s program and that being followed this year is given in the appendix, where we have sought to describe in detail the content of the seminars and our methods of conducting them. Since properly qualified students carrying on graduate study in other schools and departments of the University may also participate in our seminars the program of the School embraces a student body many times larger than the number of fellows formally registered in the School. Thus at the present time there is a total enrollment of one hundred and eighty-eight students in the various seminars of the School. We began last year with five seminars and have expanded the program this year to eleven, of which five are full-year and six half-year seminars. In selecting the subjects we have been guided in large measure by our own interests and competence, but within these limits we have sought for subjects presenting problems of large public importance, problems both of policy and of procedure, requiring the combined efforts of different disciplines within the social sciences and permitting of effective cooperation between the University and the public service. Especially we have sought to find subjects that are at the research stage, and to put the emphasis upon investigation rather than upon formal instruction. Our interest is quite as much in learning for ourselves as in attempting to teach others…

[p. 314]

Fiscal Policy.
Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

This seminar is concerned with public finance in relation to economic, political, and social institutions and systems. It deals with the monetary aspects of expenditures and revenues, with public finance as a compensatory mechanism in the business cycle, and with the social and political implications of government spending.

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1937-1938

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVI February 28, 1939, No. 4.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1937-38, pp. 307-310.

The Fiscal Policy Seminar in 1937-1938 was conducted on two planes: (1) a general meeting which included active members of the seminar as well as others in the University, both graduate students and faculty members, who had a special interest in one or more of the fields covered at these meetings; (2) a meeting restricted to the working members of the seminar.

The general seminar session met each week on Friday from four to six and was addressed by a visiting consultant of the School. The afternoon session was followed by dinner with the visiting guest attended mainly by selected members from the working seminar who were especially interested in the particular topic under discussion, the dinner in turn being followed by an extended discussion, lasting frequently until 10 or 10:30 o’clock. The visiting speakers were for the most part government officials, but there were also included various officials in the Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve Board in Washington, Social Security Board, Works Progress Administration and the Federal Housing Administration….

The general seminar session with visiting consultants proved extremely valuable from various standpoints. It proved a means by which government officials on their part came into closer contact with the Faculty and students of the Graduate School of Public Administration and accordingly acquired a personal interest in its problems, and on the other side a means of presenting to the School in a more vital way the problems confronting the government. This type of close contact, moreover, is believed to be a useful means of developing placement openings for the graduates of the School in Washington. The discussions with the visiting consultants in the Friday sessions, moreover, proved extremely stimulating as a background for the research work done by the working members of the restricted seminar group.

The working seminar met each week on Monday from four to six. At these sessions papers were presented by various members of the seminar. Out of these papers a number of articles were prepared for submission for publication in various economic journals. It appears that out of the year’s work perhaps some four or five articles in leading journals are likely to materialize. Some have already been accepted.

The combined work of these two seminar meetings forms the background of a research project in Fiscal Policy, which it is planned will eventuate in a volume exploring the problem in a general way and raising important problems for further research.

Program of Friday Meetings

October 15. F. J. BAILEY — “The Work of the Federal Bureau of the Budget.”

October 22. CARL SHOUP — “General Over-All View of the American Tax System.”

October 29. EUSTACE SELIGMAN — “The Effect of the Capital Gains Tax on the Investment Market.”

November 12. GEORGE C. HAAS, JOSEPH S. ZUCKER, L. H. SELTZER and A. F. O’DONNELL — “The Federal Tax Structure.”

November 26. LAWRENCE SELTZER — “The Undistributed Profits Tax.”

December 3. GERHARD COLM — “Economic Consequences of Recent American Tax-Policy.”

December 10. GEORGE O. MAY — “The 1936 Federal Tax Legislation.”

December 17. JACOB VINER — “The General Relations between Fiscal Policy and the Business Cycle.”

February 11. DANIEL W. BELL — “Treasury Financing”; W. R. BURGESS – “Relations of the Reserve Banks and the Treasury.”

February 18. E. A. GOLDENWEISER — “Relations of Deficit Financing to the Banking System.”

February 25. WOODLIEF THOMAS — “Fiscal Policy and the Money Market.”

March 4. LAUCHLIN CURRIE — “Federal Income -Creating Expenditures.”

March 18. A. J. ALTMEYER and WILBUR J. COHEN — “Old Age Insurance and Old Age Assistance: Current and Future Prospects.”

March 25. MERRILL G. MURRAY and JOHN J. CORSON — “The Social Security Taxes.”

April 1. ERNEST M. FISHER — “The Federal Housing Administration.”

April 15. ARTHUR R. GAYER — “Compensatory Spending.”

April 22. CORRINGTON GILL — “Administrative and Fiscal Problems of the Relief Administration.”

April 29. LEWIS DOUGLAS — “Government Fiscal Policy.”

May 6. GUNNAR MYRDAL — “Fiscal Policy in Sweden.”

Program of Monday Meetings

October 18. R. A. MUSGRAVE — “The Twentieth Century Fund Report on Facing the Tax Problem.”

October 25. G. G. JOHNSON — “The Capital Gains Tax.”

November 1. R. V. GILBERT — “The Price of Common Stock as an Element in the Interest Price Structure.”

November 8. EMILE DESPRES — “The Effect of the Capital Gains Tax upon Capital Formation.”

November 15. Dr. HEINRICH BRUENING — “Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Germany during the Depression.”

November 22. WALTER SALANT — “The Effect of Securities Market Regulations upon Capital Formation.”

November 29. K. E. POOLE — “Tax Remission as a Compensatory Device.”

December 6. E. P. HERRING — “Administrative Problems in the Formulation and Execution of Fiscal Policy.”

December 13. E. N. GRISWOLD — “Legal Aspects of the Undistributed Profits Tax.”

February 14. ROBERT FRASE — “Economic Effects of Social Insurance Reserves, with particular reference to Unemployment Insurance Reserves.”

February 21. D. W. LUSHER — “The Relation of the Structure of Interest Rates to Investment.”

February 28. R. A. MUSGRAVE — “Limits in Public Debt and Taxation.”

March 7. WALTER SALANT — “Effects of Fiscal Policy on Business Stability.”

March 14. HERMAN M. SOMERS — “Future Fiscal Burdens Arising from the Social Security Program.”

March 21. MARTIN KROST — “Tax Variability as a Compensatory Stabilizing Device.”

March 28. NORTON LONG — “Some Aspects of Fiscal Planning under Democratic Government.”

April 11. S. J. DENNIS — “The Relation of the Undistributed Profits Tax and the Soldiers’ Bonus to the 1937 Depression.”

April 25. EMILE DESPRES — “Ezekiel’s Proposal to Secure Full Employment.”

May 2. G. G. JOHNSON — “The Trend Toward Treasury Control of Credit in the United States.”

May 9. GUNNAR MYRDAL — “Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Sweden.”

 

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1938-1939.
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII March 30, 1940, No. 12.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1938-39, pp. 342-345.

The Fiscal Policy Seminar was conducted in 1938-1939 on substantially the same plan as in 1937-1938; that is, the general seminar sessions, which met on Fridays from four to six, were addressed by a visiting consultant and were attended by the active members of the seminar, as well as by faculty members and graduate students who were especially interested in the topics under discussion. Smaller meetings were held on Monday afternoons from four to six and were attended only by students engaged in research in the field of fiscal policy.

The general sessions were held less frequently than last year – usually twice a month – and on two occasions were conducted jointly with the Administrative Process Seminar. These joint meetings were on the subjects of the capital budget and federal grants to states, in which both seminars had an interest.

At the three December meetings, “previews” were held of round table discussions which were conducted later in the month at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association. The round tables covered the topics “The Role of Public Investment and Consumer Capital Formation,” “Divergencies in the Development of Recovery in Various Countries,” and “The Workability of Compensatory Devices.” In each case three guest speakers presented papers covering different aspects of the problem and providing the basis for general discussion….

As last year, dinners attended by the visiting guest and a small group of students followed the Friday afternoon session, and in the evening informal meetings were held for further discussion.

At each Monday session, a paper was presented by a member of the group doing active research in fiscal policy. The paper was discussed by the other members of the seminar. These papers and discussions formed the basis for theses which were submitted at the close of the year by students who were taking the seminar for academic credit.

The research project begun last year has resulted in a preliminary manuscript on “Fiscal Policy in Relation to the Business Cycle and Chronic Unemployment.” During the coming year, it will be revised and expanded with a view to publication.

The following is a list of the Monday meetings of the seminar:

October 3.            An Over-all View of the Current United States Tax System: Federal, State and Local.

October 10.          An Over-all View of Governmental Expenditures, 1913-1938: Federal, State and Local.

        An Over-all View of the Rise of Public Debt, 1913-1938: Federal, State and Local.

October 17.          The 1938 Revenue Act.

October 24.          Issues Raised by the Colm-Lehmann Pamphlets.

October 31.          The Economic Consequences of Retirement of the Public Debt.

November 14.      The Theoretical and Practical Implications of Separating the Investment Budget from the Current Budget.

November 21.      New York City’s Experience.

November 28.     A Re-examination of the Stabilization of Consumer Income.

December 5.        A Program for the Cyclical Stabilization of Investment and Current Expenditures.

December 12.      Public Investment: History and Program for Future.

December 19.      An Analysis of Governmental Expenditures with a View to Showing the Effects of the Volume and Types of Different Expenditures on Consumption, Saving and Investment.

February 6.          Canadian Fiscal Relations.

February 13.        Japanese Monetary and Fiscal Recovery Policies.

February 20.       The Development of Budgetary Organization.

February 27.        Balkan Credit and Fiscal Policy.

March 6.               The Economic Implications of a Rising Public Debt.

March 13.             Consumption, Saving and Investment and Relief and Social Security.

March 20.            A Re-examination of the Stabilization of Consumer Income.

March 27.            Deficit Financing and the Banking System.

April 10.              Government Loans and Subsidies as a Stimulus to Private Investment.

April 17.               The Economic Effects of the Income Tax.

April 24.              Federal Aid to the States.

May 1.                   Some Attempts at the Statistical Determination of the Multiplier and the Propensity to Consume.

The non-resident consultants and the meetings which they attended were as follows:

October 7.            J. ROY BLOUGH, Director of Tax Research, Division of Tax Research, United States Treasury Department. Tax Policy in the United States Today.

October 28.         LAWRENCE H. SELTZER, Assistant Director, Division of Research and Statistics, United States Treasury Department. Tax Policy with Reference to Capital Accumulation.

November 7.       FRITZ LEHMANN, New School for Social Research. The German Situation.

November 18.     CHARLES W. ELIOT, 2nd., Executive Officer, National Resources Committee. Current and Capital Budgets.
GUNNAR MYRDAL, University of Stockholm. Swedish Budgetary Procedure.
This was a joint meeting with the Administrative Process Seminar.

November 25.     ROSWELL MAGILL, former Under Secretary of the Treasury. The Formulation of a Revenue Bill.

December 2.        Preview of American Economic Association Round Table on The Role of Public Investment and Consumer Capital Formation.

GERHARD COLM, New School for Social Research. The Government as Investor.

BENJAMIN W. LEWIS, Oberlin College. The Government as Competitor.

GRIFFITH JOHNSON, United States Treasury Department. The Effect of the Social Security Taxes on Consumption and Investment.

December 9.        Preview of American Economic Association Round Table on Divergencies in the Development of Recovery in Various Countries.

GOTTFRIED HABERLER, Harvard University. Recovery Policies in Democratic Countries.

GEORGE N. HALM, Tufts College. Recovery Policies in Totalitarian States.

EMIL LEDERER, New School for Social Research. Is There a World-wide Drift Toward Regimented Control of Industry?

December 16.      Preview of American Economic Association Round Table on the Workability of Compensatory Devices.

PAUL T. ELLSWORTH, University of Cincinnati. The Efficacy of Central Bank Policy.

PAUL A. SAMUELSON, Junior Fellow, Harvard University. The Theory of Pump-Priming Re-examined.

EMILE DESPRES, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D. C. The Proposal to Tax Hoarding.

February 17.        LAUCHLIN CURRIE, Assistant Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Problem of the Multiplier and the Propensities to Save and Consume and the Outlook for Capital Expenditures.

March 10.             GARDINER MEANS, Director, Industrial Section, National ResourcesCommittee. Discussion of preliminary edition of “Patterns of Resource Use” by the National Resources Committee.

March 17.             E. A. GOLDENWEISER, Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Problems of the Quantity and Quality of Money from the Point of View of Monetary Regulation.

April 14.               EWAN CLAGUE, Director, Bureau of Research and Statistics, Social Security Board. Federal Grants to States.

April 21.                J. DOUGLAS BROWN, Princeton University. A Survey of the Social Security Program in the United States.

April 28.               MARRINER ECCLES, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Financial and Fiscal Problems Faced by Capitalistic Democracies Today.

 

___________________________

 

THE FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1939-1940
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVIII April 10, 1941, No. 20.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1939-40, pp. 324-326.

 

The Fiscal Policy Seminar continued its plan of holding meetings on Mondays from four to six, at which students actively engaged in research in the field of fiscal policy presented papers for discussion, and on occasional Fridays, when visiting consultants addressed the group. The Friday meetings, held usually twice a month, were attended by interested faculty members and graduate students as well as by the active members of the seminar. …Following the more formal afternoon presentation on Fridays, a part of the seminar usually met with the speaker in the evening for further informal discussion of the topic.

On October 20, the seminar met with the Administrative Process Seminar to hear Mr. Robert H. Rawson, a former Littauer Fellow, speak on the work of the Federal Bureau of the Budget. Two meetings were held jointly with the Price Policies Seminar – one in November at which Mr. Leon Henderson discussed price rigidities in our economy, and one in February at which Mr. Richard V. Gilbert, Chief of the Industrial Economics Division of the Department of Commerce, spoke on “War Inventories and the Current Economic Outlook.”

Discussion at the first five Monday meetings was based on the manuscript Fiscal Policy in Relation to the Business Cycle, a research project which has grown out of the meetings during the past two years. The subsequent Monday sessions were devoted to the presentation of papers by members of the group. These papers were discussed by the seminar and presented as theses at the end of the year by those receiving academic credit for the course.

The program of Monday meetings was as follows:

Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN

The Consumption Function.

Current Trends in Economic Theory with Special Reference to the Business Cycle.

Secular Trends in Investment and Saving.

Professor JOHN H. WILLIAMS.

Shifts in Control of Depressions.

Theories of Compensatory Spending.

Budgeting and Fiscal Policy.

The Marginal Propensity to Import.

The Australian Multiplier.

Investment in the American Economy, 1850-1940.

Fiscal Aspects of Ireland’s Economic Nationalism.

The Power of the Federal Reserve System to Restrict Expansion.

Wartime Corporation Finance.

Wartime Finance in Great Britain.

Unemployment Insurance Funds.

The Effect of Deficit Financing on the Banking System.

Public Health.

The Capital Budget.

The Implications of the Growth of Life Insurance for Full Employment.

Taxation in the Business Cycle.

Public Investment.

Redistribution of Income as a Result of Federal Expenditures.

The following is a list of the non-resident consultants and the topics which they discussed:

October 6.     ISADOR LUBIN, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor.

Subject: The Position of Labor Relations and Labor Costs in the Current Situation.

October 20.  HARRY D. WHITE, Director, Division of Monetary Research, United States Treasury Department.

Subject: Gold and Foreign Exchange.

October 30.  ROBERT H. RAWSON, Junior Administrative Analyst, Bureau of the Budget.

Subject: Organization and Methods of the Federal Bureau of the Budget.
(Joint meeting with the Administrative Process Seminar.)

November 13.LEON HENDERSON, Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission, and member of the Temporary National Economic Committee.

Subject: Price Rigidities in the American Economy.
(Joint meeting with the Price Policies Seminar.)

December 8. RAYMOND W. GOLDSMITH, Assistant Director, Research and Statistical Section, Securities and Exchange Commission.

Subject: The Volume and Components of Saving in the United States.

February 26. RICHARD V. GILBERT, Chief, Industrial Economics Division, United States Department of Commerce.

Subject: War Inventories and the Current Economic Outlook.

March 1.        WARD SHEPARD, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture.

Subject: A Proposed Forest Policy for the United States.

March 8.       EMILE DESPRES, Senior Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Subject: Internal Expansion and the International Position of the United States.

March 29.     GARDINER MEANS, Economic Adviser, National Resources Planning Board.

Subject: The Structure of the American Economy.

April 12.        M. A. HEILPERIN, Institute for Higher International Studies, Geneva.

Subject: The International Monetary System and the Business Cycle.

May 3.           GERHARD COLM, Economist, Division of Industrial Economics, United States Department of Commerce.

Subject: Some Problems of Long-Run Tax Policy.

 

___________________________

 

THE FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1940-1941.
Professors Williams and Hansen 

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXIX February 25, 1942, No. 5.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of Departments for 1940-41, pp. 323-326.

The Fiscal Policy Seminar continued its established practice of including in its program meetings at which visiting consultants discussed various topics of interest to the group, and sessions devoted to the presentation of student reports. The reports were presented in the second semester and were discussed at length by the other members of the seminar….

Seven of the meetings were held jointly with other seminars – four with the International Economic Relations Seminar and three with the Agricultural, Forestry, and Land Policy Seminar.

 

The program of meetings was as follows:

September 30. Professor HANSEN.

October 7.      Professor WILLIAMS.

October 11.   SVEND LAURSEN, Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.

Subject: International Trade and the Multiplier.
(Joint meeting with International Economic Relations Seminar.)

October 21. Professor HANSEN and Professor WILLIAMS.

October 25. MARTIN KROST, Senior Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Subject: The Excess Profits Tax.

October 28. RICHARD A. MUSGRAVE, Instructor, Department of Economics, Harvard University.

Subject: Report of the Canadian Royal Commission on Dominion Provincial Fiscal Relations.

November 4. Professor HANSEN.

November 8. GEORGE TERBORGH, Senior Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Subject: Prospective Accumulated Backlog in Capital Goods and Durable Consumers’ Goods Industries in the Post-Defense Period.

November 18. ELIZABETH B. SCHUMPETER.

Subject: Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Japan.

November 25. BENJAMIN H. HIGGINS and RICHARD A. MUSGRAVE, Instructors, Department of Economics, Harvard University.

Subject: The Savings-Investment Problem Re-examined.

December 2. Professor HANSEN.

December 9. DAN T. SMITH, Associate Professor of Finance and Taxation, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.

Subject: The Role of Borrowing in the Defense Program.

December 16. Professor HANSEN.

December 20. GUY GREER, Federal Housing Administration.

Subject: The Organization of the Federal Housing Program.

February 3.   Student Report.

Subject: National Income and Military Effort.

February 10. Student Report.

Subject: United States Housing Program During and After the Defense Program.

February 17. ERIC ENGLUND, Assistant Chief, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture.

Subject: Alternatives in Financing of the Agricultural Programs.

(Joint meeting with Agricultural, Forestry and Land Seminar.)

February 21. HARRY D. WHITE, Director, Division of Monetary Research, United States Treasury Department.

Subject: Blocked Balances.

(Joint meeting with International Economic Relations Seminar.)

February 24. J. KEITH BUTTERS, Instructor, Department of Economics, Harvard University.

Subject: Discriminatory Features in Federal Corporation Income Taxes.

March 3. J. KENNETH GALBRAITH, National Defense Advisory Commission.

Subject: The Farm Credit Administration and Related Farm Credit Problems.

(Joint meeting with Agricultural, Forestry, and Land Policy Seminar.)

March 10. Student report.

Subject: Trends in the Fiscal Incapacity of State and Local Governments and Their Impact on Defense and Post-Defense Policy.

March 17. Student Report.

Subject: The Effect of the Tax Structures on Economic Activity in the United States and Great Britain, 1929-1937.

March 21. RICHARD V. GILBERT, National Defense Advisory Commission.

Subject: The American Defense Program.

(Joint meeting with International Economic Relations Seminar.)

March 24. Student Report.

Subject: Essays on Fiscal Policy and the Building Cycle.

I.  Transport Development and Building Cycles.
II. Monetary Control of the Building Cycle.

April 7. Student Report.

Subject: The Monetary Powers of Some Federal Agencies outside the Federal Reserve System.

April 14. Student Report.

Subject: Incentive Taxation.

April 18. Student Reports.

Subjects: The Use of Credit as an Instrument of Social Amelioration in Agriculture. Credit for a Solvent Agriculture.

(Joint meeting with Agricultural, Forestry, and Land Policy Seminar.)

April 25. CARL SHOUP, Professor of Economics, Columbia University.

Subject: Defense Financing.

April 28. Student Report.

Subject: The Economic Development of a War Economy.

May 2. GUSTAV STOLPER, Financial Adviser.

Subject: Financing the American Defense Program.

(Joint meeting with International Economic Relations Seminar.)

 

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1941-1942
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XLI, September 26, 1944, No. 23.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1941-42, pp. 340-343.

 

Fiscal problems arising out of the war and plans for the post-war period were of dominant interest in the Fiscal Policy Seminar program during 1941-42. With regard to post-war problems particular attention was paid to the question of federal-state-local fiscal relations, and a special section of the seminar library was devoted to books and pamphlets on this topic.

Meetings were held on Mondays and Fridays, the latter being given over mainly to visiting consultants, with reports and discussions by student and faculty members of the seminar concentrated on Mondays. As in previous years, several meetings were held jointly with other Seminars, eight with the International Economic Relations Seminar, and two with the Agricultural, Forestry, and Land Use Policy Seminar….

The program of meetings was as follows:

September 29. The Development of Fiscal Policy.

October 6.     Defense Financing.

October 17.   The Relation Between Fiscal Policy and Inflation.

October 20.  The Problem of Federal, State and Local Relationships.

HARVEY S. PERLOFF, Associate Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

October 24.  The United States Housing Authority.

NATHAN STRAUS, Administration, United States Housing Authority.

October 27.  Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles.

October 31.   Urban Redevelopment.

GUY GREER, Senior Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

November 3. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles.

November 10. The Present State of Fiscal Policy.

November 17. The Multiplier.

November 21. The Federal Advisory Council.

WALTER LICHTENSTEIN, Vice-President, First National Bank of Chicago.

November 24. The Multiplier.

PAUL SAMUELSON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Professor HABERLER.

November 28. Economic Warfare.

NOEL HALL, British Embassy.

December 1. The Multiplier.

PAUL SAMUELSON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

December 5. International Economic Relations with Special Reference to the Post-War Situation.

ROBERT BRYCE, Department of Finance, Canada.

December 8. Post-War Problems.

Professors HABERLER and HARRIS as well as Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

December 12. The Revenue Act of 1941.

J. KEITH BUTTERS, Department of Economics, Harvard University.

December 15. The Theory of Public Investment.

Professor HARRIS.

December 19. The 1942 Revenue Act.

ROY BLOUGH, Director of Tax Research, Treasury Department.

January 26. The Problem of Post-War Reconstruction.

PER JACOBSSEN, Economist, Bank for International Settlements.

February 2.  Economic Philosophy and Post-War Fiscal Policy.

ALEJANDRO SHAW, Argentina.

February 9.   Equalization Grants and Their Role in Fiscal Policy (student report).

February 13. Monopolistic Trading and International Relations.

JACOB VINER, Chicago University.

February 16. War Finance and Inflation (student report).

February 20. The Effect of Federalism on Fiscal Policy.

LUTHER GULICK, National Resources Planning Board.

March 2.       Agriculture in the Post-War Period.

LEONARD ELMHIRST, Elmhirst Foundation.

March 9.       War Finance and Direct Taxation (student report).

March 13.     Post-War Domestic and International Investments.

RICHARD M. BISSELL, Department of Commerce.

March 16.     Monetary Implications of Fiscal Policy.

March 20.     The Present Fiscal Situation.

ALBERT GAYLORD HART, Iowa State College.

March 23.     Problems of Monetary Control.

ROBERT V. ROSA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and

PETER L. BERNSTEIN, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

March 27.     The Public Work Reserve.

BENJAMIN H. HIGGINS, Economic Consultant, Public Work Reserve.

April 6.          A High-Consumption vs. a High-Savings Economy (student report).

April 10.        Post-War Surpluses and Shortages in Plant and Equipment.

GEORGE TERBORGH, Senior Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

April 13.        Private Industry Post-War Planning.

DAVID C. PRINCE, Vice-President, General Electric Company.

April 17.        Commodity Taxation in a Progressive Tax System (student report).

April 24.       Government Lending Agencies.

ROBERT V. ROSA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and

PETER L. BERNSTEIN, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

April 27.        The Impact of War Expenditures on State and Local Government (student report).

May 1.            The Inflationary Gap.

WALTER SALANT, Chief, Price and Economic Policy Section, Division of Research, Office of Price Administration.

May 21.         The Problem of Britain’s Food Supply.

E. M. H. LLOYD, Chairman, British Food Mission.

 

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1942-43
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XLI, September 28, 1944, No. 25.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1942-43, pp. 243-245.

 

War and post-war fiscal problems were the main consideration in the Fiscal Policy Seminar in 1942-43. This included national aspects of inflationary and tax problems and post-war tax adjustments, as well as federal-state-local fiscal relations.

Meetings were held on Mondays and Fridays, the latter being given over mainly to visiting consultants, with reports and discussions by student and faculty members of the seminar concentrated on Mondays. As formerly, several meetings Were held jointly with other seminars….

The program of meetings was as follows:

October 5.     Professor HANSEN.

Subject: A Survey of the Fiscal.War Picture.

October 9.    MILTON GILBERT, Director of National Income Division, Department of Commerce.

Subject: Concepts of National Income and Its Statistical Measurement.

October 19.   Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: The Present Status of Fiscal Policy.

October 23.  Professor PAUL SAMUELSON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Subject: Consumption Function.

October 26. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: Changes in the Banking System.

October 30.  Professor LAWRENCE H. SELTZER, Wayne University.

Subject: Possible Techniques for the Working of the PostWar Economic System.

November 2. Professor A. P. LERNER, Amherst College.

Subject: Rate of Interest.

November 9. Professor HANSEN.

Subject: War Financing in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

November 13. Professor FRITZ MACHLUP, Buffalo University. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: National Income, Employment and International Relations.

November 16. Professor HANSEN.

Subject: Federal, State, Local Fiscal Relations.

November 20. DAVID E. LILIENTHAL, Director, Tennessee Valley Authority.

Subject: The Tennessee Valley Authority.

November 23. Dr. JOHN KEITH BUTTERS, Harvard University.

Subject: Revenue Act of 1942.

November 27. Hon. GRAHAM F. TOWERS, Governor, Bank of Canada. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: Canadian War Economic Measures.

November 30. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: Basic Issues of Fiscal Policy.

December 4. LYNN R. EDMINSTER, Vice-Chairman, U. S. Tariff Commission.

(Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: The Reconstruction of World Trade After War.

December 7. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: Basic Issues of Fiscal Policy.

December 1. Professor SEYMOUR E. HARRIS. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: War Problems of International Trade.

December 14. Professor HANSEN.

Subject: The Beveridge Report.

February 1.  Honorable HAROLD STASSEN, Governor of Minnesota.

Subject: Decentralized Government.

February 8.  HARVEY S. PERLOFF, Federal Reserve Board, Washington.

Subject: State-Local Fiscal Relations.

February 12. THOMAS MC KITTRICK, President of the Bank for International Settlements.

Subject: The Bank for International Settlements.

February 15. Professor HANSEN.

Subject: The Beveridge Plan and a Post-War Minimum Budget.

February 24. Dr. LEO PASVOLSKY, State Department. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: Post-War Problems in International Trade.

March 1.        Dr. HANS STAEHLE, Harvard University.

Subject: Consumption and National Income in Post-War.

March 12.     Dr. RICHARD MUSGRAVE, Federal Reserve Board, Washington.

Subject: Revenue Bill-1943.

March 26.     Dr. PAUL STUDENSKI, Professor of Economics, New York University.

Subject: State-Local Fiscal Policies in New York in War-Time.

April 12.        EMILE DESPRES, Office of Strategic Services, Washington. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: The Transfer Problem and the Over-Saving Problem in the Pre-War and Post-War Worlds.

April 16.        Dr. ALBERT HAHN. (Joint meeting with International Economic Relations seminar.)

Subject: Planned or Adjusted Post-War Economy.

May 8.           GUY GREER, Editor of Fortune Magazine.

Subject: Urban Redevelopment.

 

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1943-44
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XLIV, July 7, 1947, No. 20.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1943-4, pp. 269-270.

 

Fiscal problems of the war and in the postwar period were the general topics under discussion in the Fiscal Policy Seminar in I943-44. More specifically this included national aspects of consumption and saving, taxation, budgeting, and the public debt. Emphasis was also placed on the international financial and monetary problems. Several of the meetings were devoted to discussion of the special fiscal and monetary problems in a number of Latin American countries.

Meetings were held on Mondays and Fridays and consisted of reports by student and faculty members of the seminar and of discussions led by outside consultants and by Dean Williams and Professor Hansen. As in other years, a number of meetings were held jointly with other seminars….

The program of meetings was as follows:

November 8. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: General Survey of Fiscal Policy.

November 15. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: General Survey of Fiscal Policy (cont.).

November 19. Dr. J. ROY BLOUGH, Director of Tax Research, Treasury Department.

Subject: Some Administrative Aspects of Taxation.

November 22. G. NEIL PERRY, Director, Bureau of Economics and Statistics, British Columbia.

Subject: Fiscal Policy and the Canadian Economy.

November 29. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: Problems of International Monetary Stabilization.

December 6. HANS ADLER.

Subject: Population Growth and Fiscal Policy.

December 13. Professor WILLIAMS.

Subject: Problems of International Monetary Stabilization.

December 17. Dr. HARRY WHITE, Director of Monetary Research, Treasury Department.

Subject: Problems of International Stabilization.

December 20. Professor HANSEN.

Subject: Consumption and Saving during the War.

January 3.    Professor HANSEN.

Subject: Consumption and Saving in the Postwar.

January 10.  Professor GOTTFRIED HABERLER.

Subject: Reparations.

January 14.  Dr. N. NESS, Member of Mexican-U. S. Economic Committee.

Subject: Mexico.

January 17.  Dr. BEARDSLEY RUML, Federal Reserve Bank, New York.

Subject: Economic Budget and Fiscal Budget.

January 21.  Dr. P. T. ELLSWORTH, Economic Studies Division, Department of State.

Subject: Chile.

January 24.  Dr. DON HUMPHREY, Special Adviser on Price Control to Haitian Government.

Subject: Haiti.

January 31.  Dr. ROBERT TRIFFIN, Member of U. S. Economic Commission to Paraguay.

Subject: Money, Banking, and Foreign Exchanges in Latin America.

February 4.  Dr. MIRON BURGIN, Office of Coördinator of Inter-American Affairs.

Subject: Argentina.

March 31.     Mr. HENRY WALLICH.

Subject: Fiscal Policy and International Equilibrium.

April 14.        Mr. EVSEY DOMAR, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Limitation of Public Debt in Relation to National Income.

May 5.           Dr. J. KEITH BUTTERS and Dr. CHARLES ABBOTT, Harvard Business School.

Subject: Business Taxes.

May 19.         Mr. GUY GREER, Board of Editors, Fortune.

Subject: Urban Redevelopment.

 

___________________________

 

FISCAL POLICY SEMINAR, 1944-45
Professors Williams and Hansen

Source:
Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XLV, December 1, 1948, No. 30.
Issue containing the report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments for 1944-45, pp. 282-284.

 

Fiscal problems of the war and in the postwar period were the general topics under discussion in the Fiscal Policy Seminar in 1944-1945. More specifically this included national aspects of consumption and saving, taxation, budgeting, and the public debt. Emphasis was also placed on the international financial and monetary problems. Several of the meetings were devoted to discussion of the special fiscal and monetary problems in a number of Latin American countries.

Meetings were held on Mondays and Fridays and consisted of reports by student and faculty members of the seminar and of discussions led by outside consultants and by Dean Williams and Professor Hansen. As in other years, a number of meetings were held jointly with other seminars….

Three of the papers presented at these meetings were subsequently published in economic journals. The program of meetings was as follows:

*Sept. 11.       J. W. BEYEN, former president of the International Bank at Basle, Chairman of Netherlands Delegation at Bretton Woods.

Subject: Bretton Woods Conference.

*Sept. 18.      RAGNAR NURKSE of Economic and Financial Section of League of Nations.

Subject: Bretton Woods Conference.

*October 30. Professor DOUGLAS COPLAND, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Subject: Australian Problems in the Transition from War to Peace.

*The dates in September and October, while part of the Summer Term, were integrated in the year’s program.

November 6. Professor JOHN H. WILLIAMS.

Subject: Estimates of Postwar National Income and Employment.

November 13. Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN.

Subject: Wartime Fiscal Problems.

November 15. RANDOLPH PAUL, formerly with the U.S. Treasury.

Subject: Postwar Federal Taxation.

November 20. Dr. FREDERICK LUTZ, Princeton University.

Subject: Corporate Cash Balances, I914-1943.

December 4. Professor JOHN H. WILLIAMS.

Subject: The Bretton Woods Agreements.

December 11. EDWARD M. BERNSTEIN, Assistant Director, Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department.

Subject: The Scarcity of Dollars. (Published in The Journal of Political Economy, March I945.)

December 15. Dr. FRANCIS MC INTYRE, Representative of the Foreign Economic Exchange on Requirements Board of the War Production Board.

Subject: International Distribution of Supplies in Wartime.

January 8.    DAVID E. LILIENTHAL, Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Subject: Tennessee Valley Authority.

January 15. Dr. OLIVER M. W. SPRAGUE (Professor Emeritus).

Subject: Postwar Corporate Taxation.

January 22. Dr. WALTER GARDNER, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Some Aspects of the Bretton Woods Program.

January 26. Dr. WILLIAM FELLNER, University of California.

Subject: Types of Expansionary Policies and the Rate of Interest.

January 29. Professor WALTER F. BOGNER, Dr. CHARLES R. CHERINGTON, Professors CARL J FRIEDRICH, SEYMOUR E HARRIS, TALCOTT PARSONS, ALFRED D. SIMPSON, AND Mr. GEORGE B. WALKER.

Subject: The Boston Urban Development Plan.

March 5.       Dr. ROBERT TRIFFIN, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: International Economic Problems of South America.

March 9.       Dr. PAUL J. RAVER, Bonneville Power Administration.

Subject: Bonneville Power Administration.

March 12.     Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN.

Subject: Murray Employment Bill.

March 16.     H. L. SELIGMAN.

Subject: Bank Earnings and Taxation of Bank Profits.

March 19.     Dr. LOUIS RASMINSKY, Foreign Exchange Control Board, Ottawa, Canada.

Subject: British-American Trade Problems from the Canadian Point of View. (Published in the British Economic Journal, September 1945.)

March 26.    Dr. HERBERT FURTH, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Monetary and Financial Problems of the Liberated Countries.

April 2.         Dr. LLOYD METZLER, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Postwar Economic Policies of the United Kingdom. (An article based on this paper and written in collaboration with Dr. RANDALL HINSHAW was published in The Review of Economic Statistics, November 1945.)

April 13.        s. s. PU [sic]

Subject: Fiscal Policies and Income Generation.

April 16.        Professor EDWARD S. MASON, State Department, Washington.

Subject: Commodity Agreements.

April 20.       HECTOR TASSARA.

Subject: The Role of the Central Bank in the Argentine Economy.

April 23.       Dr. ABBA P. LERNER, New School for Social Research, N. Y.

Subject: Postwar Policies.

April 27.       Professor JOHN VAN SICKLE, Vanderbilt University.

Subject: Wages and Employment: A Regional Approach.

April 30.       Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN.

Subject: Postwar Wage Policy.

May 14.         Dr. E. M. H. LLOYD, United Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, British Treasury.

Subject: Inflation in Europe.

May 21.         AXEL IVEROTH, Swedish Legation, Washington.

Subject: Postwar Plans in Sweden.

May 28.         Professor LEON DUPRIEZ, University of Louvain, Belgium.

Subject: Problem of Full Employment in View of Recent European Experience.

May 29.        Professor SEYMOUR E. HARRIS, Professor WASSILY W. LEONTIEF, Professor GOTTFRIED HABERLER, Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN.

Subject: The Shorter Work Week and Full Employment.

Categories
Harvard

Harvard Economics. Harry Rudolph Tosdal. Ph.D. 1915

  1. Tosdal, Harry Rudolph. The cartell movement in the German iron and potash industries. Pub. in part as ” The Kartell movement in the German potash industry,” in Quart. Journ. Econ., 1913, 28: 140-190; “The German steel syndicate,” ibid., 1917, 31: 259-306.

Source: Harvard University. Doctors of Philosophy and Doctors of Science who have received their Degree in Course From Harvard University, 1873-1926.

________________________

Biographical Note:

Harry R. Tosdal was born in Estherville, Iowa in August 1889. He received his BA from St. Olaf’s College in 1909. He then studied abroad at universities in Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. He eventually earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1915. He received an L.L.D.from St. Olaf’s in 1940.
Before joining Harvard Business School, Tosdal taught at MIT, Harvard University and Boston University. In 1920, he came to Harvard Business School as Director of Student Research and Assistant Professor of Marketing. He became Professor of Marketing in 1922 and Professor of Business Administration after 1942. Tosdal was also the first editor of the Harvard Business Review. He retired from the Business School in 1956. After retiring, he taught in the Advanced Management Program at the University of Hawaii and the Institut pour de Etude des Methodes de Direction de l’Enterprise (IMEDE) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
He was the author of many articles and books, including Selling in Our Economy (1957) and Introduction to Sales Management (1933).
Tosdal served as a consultant to numerous corporations and organizations, such as General Electric, Gulf Oil, McGraw-Hill, Boston (MA) Chamber of Commerce, Cambridge (MA) Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Salary Stabilization Board. He also belonged to several professional societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Association of Marketing Teachers.
He died on April 4, 1978 in Belmont, MA.

Source: Harvard Business School, Harry R. Tosdal Papers, 1921-1945: A Finding Aid

________________________

Categories
Courses Economists Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics. Economics 101. Econ Theory. Chamberlin, 1938-9

Since first posting this course syllabus I have found a copy of the examination questions for the final exam given at the end of the second term in June 1939.

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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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[Economic Theory. Instructor: Edward Hastings Chamberlin]

Economics 101

1938-9

First Semester

I.     Mill – Principles, Book II, chapter 4; Book III, chapters 1, 2.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.

Mill – Principles, Book III, chapters 3, 5, 6.

Marshall – Principles, pp. 348-50; p. 806 note.

Mill – Principles, Book III, chapter 4.

Suggested Reading:

Introduction to the Ashley ed. of Mill, or

Mill’s Autobiography

Ricardo – Political Economy (Gonner edition), chapter 1.

II.   Boehm-Bawerk – Positive Theory of Capital, Books III, IV.

Marshall – Principles, Appendix I.

Davenport – Economics of Enterprise, chapter 6.

Suggested Reading:

Jevons – Theory of Political Economy, chapters 3, 4.

III.  Marshall – Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; Book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12; Appendix H.

Taussig, F. W., “Price Fixing as Seen by a Price Fixer”, Q.J.E., Vol. 33, p. 205.

Knight, F. H. – “Cost of Production and Price over Long and Short Periods”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 29, p. 304 (1921). (Reprinted in Knight, The Ethics of Competition and Other Essays, Chapter 8).

Suggested Reading: Additional reading in Marshall.

Keynes – “Alfred Marshall” – Economic Journal, September 1924. (Also in Keynes, Essays in Biography.)

IV.  Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapter 3.

Abramovitz – “Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy”, Q.J.E., Vol. 52, p. 191 (1938).

Suggested Reading:

Zeuthen – Problems of Monopoly, chapter 2.

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix A.

V.    Robinson – Imperfect Competition, Introduction, and chapters 1,2,3.

Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5; Appendices D, E.

Chamberlin – “Monopolistic or Imperfect Competition?”, Q.J.E., August, 1937.

Sweezy, P.M. – “On the Definition of Monopoly”, Q.J.E., Vol. 51, p. 362 (1937)

Cassels, J.M. – “Excess Capacity and Monopolistic Competition”, Q.J.E., Vol. 51, p. 426. (1937)

Suggested Reading:

Kaldor – “Professor Chamberlin on Monopolistic and Imperfect Competition”, Q.J.E., May, 1938: and Reply.

Robinson – Imperfect Competition, chapters 4,5,6, 7.

VI.  Viner – “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

Suggested Reading:

Sraffa, P., “The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions”, Economic Journal, Vol. 36, p. 535 (1926).

VII. Monopolistic Competition, chapters 6,7.

Braithwaite, Dorothea – “The Economic Effects of Advertisement”, Economic Journal, Vol. 38, p. 16 (1928). (Reprinted as Chapter VII in Braithwaite and Dobbs, The Distribution of Consumable Goods).

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix C.

Alsberg, C.L. – “Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation”, Q.J.E., Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

Suggested Reading:

Hotelling, H. “Stability in Competition”, Economic Journal, Vol. 39, p. 41 (1929)

Lerner, A. P. and Singer, H.W. – “Some Notes on Duopoly and Spatial Competition”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, p. 145 (1937)

Burns, A.R. – The Decline of Competition, chapter VIII, “Non-Price Competition”.

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Economics 101

1938-9

Second Semester

I.    Discrimination:

Pigou – Economics of Welfare, Part II. Chapter on Discriminating Monopoly.

Robinson, J. – Imperfect Competition, Chapters 15, 16.

Suggested: Pigou – Chapter on the Special Problem of Railway Rates

Clark, J.M. – Overhead Costs, Chapter 20.

II.   Distribution – General:

Marshall – Principles, Book VI, Chapters 1-5.

Knight – Risk, Uncertainty and Profits, Chapter 4.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 8.

Suggested Reading: Garver & Hansen – Principles, Chapter 5.

Kahn – “Some Notes on Ideal Output” (last half) Economic Journal.

III. Wages:

Hicks – Theory of Wages, Chapters 1-7; 9; 10, section 1; 11, section 5.

Taussig – Principles, Chapter 47.

Suggested Reading: Robertson –Economic Fragments, Chapter on “Wage Grumbles.”

Machlup – “The Common Sense of Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. II, Page 202.

Cairnes – Leading Principles, Chapter 3.

IV.  Interest:

Böhm – Bawerk – Positive Theory, Book I, chapter 2; Book II; Book V; Book VI, chapters 5,6,7; Book VII, chapters 1,2,3.

Marshall – Principles, Book IV, chapter 7; Book VI, chapter 1, sections 8, 9, 10, chapter 2, section 4, chapter 6.

Wicksell – Lectures, Vol. I, pages 144-171,185-195, 207-218.

Clark, J. B. – Distribution of Wealth, chapters 9, 20.

Schumpeter – Theory of Economic Development, chapters 1 – 5.

V.    Rent:

Ricardo – Chapter 2.

Marshall – Book V, chapters 8, 9,10,11.

Robinson – Imperfect Competition, chapters 8, 9.

VI.   Profits:

Marshall – Book VI, chapter 5, section 7; chapters 7, 8.

Taussig – Principles, Vol. II, chapter 50, section 1.

Henderson –Supply & Demand, chapter 7.

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapter 5, section 6; chapter 7, section 6; Appendices D, E.

Schumpeter – (see under Interest)

Berle & Means – The Modern Corporation, Book IV.

Gordon, R.A. – “Enterprise, Profits and the Modern Corporation,” in “Explorations in Economics,” p. 306.

Knight – The Ethics of Competition, Essay No. 11: “Economic Theory and Nationalism.”

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Source:  Harvard University Archives

HUC 8522.2.1

Box 2 of 10

Syllabi, course outlines and

Reading lists in Economics,

1895-2003

Folder: Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1938-39

Categories
Harvard

E.B. Wilson Lecture USDA Graduate School 1930

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
GRADUATE SCHOOL
SPECIAL LECTURES ON ECONOMICS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
FEBRUARY – MARCH 1930
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1930

 

Contents: The following lectures were delivered before the students of the Graduate School in February and March 1930, and are issued in this form for present and former students of the school.

 

Scientific Method in Economic Research                                                                1

by Dr. E. B. Wilson, President, Social Science Research Council.

o[p. 1]

SCIENTIFIC -METHOD IN ECONOMIC RESEARCH

By Dr. E. B. Wilson, President, Social Science Research Council.

It is a real embarrassment to me to come here announced to speak upon a topic, Economic Research, of which I have never known much, and today know less than I have at times in the past. The awkwardness is not alleviated by my appreciation of the fact that there are several in the audience who could talk about the subject better than I, and with that increased assurance and authority which comes of a wider experience and greater personal accomplishment in the field. Furthermore, the title of my lecture contains the cryptic words “Scientific Method” which slide smoothly from the tongues of many persons dealing with relatively inchoate research fields, but are apt to stick in the crop of those whose major experience is in well developed branches of science. I could, for instance, hardly imagine a group at the Bureau of Standards asking me or any other for a lecture on scientific method in physical research. Indeed, I should not be astonished to hear physicists say there was no such thing as scientific method, that there was an infinite variety of techniques, theoretical and experimental, available to the physicist from which each individual must select for a particular problem those which may be applicable to that problem, but that as to scientific method in general there was little which could be stated other than something very general with respect to the scientific attitude of mind, patient and unbiassed searching for facts, earnestness in seeking for corroboration by others wherever personal bias may have influenced the array of facts or the conclusions drawn from them, and a persistent effort to improve techniques so that facts may become more objective and precise. There would probably be some who boldly would affirm that method was for the other fellow and not for. themselves, meaning by this that each individual investigator, and especially those of any real genius, pursued his own studies without conscious dominance by any notion of scientific method until he came to the somewhat unwelcome task of writing up his work for communication to others, when perforce he must consider what method of presentation would most effectively convey his findings and their justification or validity to that particular group of fellow scientists whose good opinion he would most value.

I might state as a generalization that the interest in scientific method on the part of investigators in any scientific field varies inversely as their interest in that field of science. But this statement is much too striking to be scientific; in the first place there are always exceptions and it would have to be understood as applying on the average, and in the second place there is no way known to me to evaluate quantitatively either the interest in method or the interest in the field which would justify so precise a statement as that the one interest varied inversely as the other.

I do not, however, propose entirely to cheat you of all discussion of the topic of my lecture. I will enumerate some methods.

[p. 2]

(l) The method of definition. The choice of a suitable definition if often the touchstone of scientific advance. Scientifically definitions need not be explicit, they may be implicit; they need not be quantitative, they may be first qualitative. There are numerous illustrations which could be given from the economic field, but we may all get forward faster if we take an example from physics. Let us define force. And let us go back to Newton. In his first law of motion he stated that a body at rest remained at rest and a body in notion remained in motion in a straight line at uniform velocity unless acted on by some force. Now this cleared the way. It eliminated once for all the notion that bodies stopped of themselves – they had to be stopped or started, accelerated or decelerated by applied force. There is here a qualitative and implicit notion of force which can furnish a sound basis for the quantitative definition of force as equal (or proportional) to the rate of change of motion. As a matter of fact a single definition cannot well exist by itself, it can only be part of a system of definitions – force, mass and acceleration are tied together. At any particular time in the advance of a science some new term may seem to be defined absolutely alone and the complex of definitions to which it belongs may not be perceived because this complex lies in the general background of our accepted thinking whereas the newly defined element emerges.

From such experience as I have in teaching and in research, particularly in emergent fields, I should say that most pupils and colleagues were so thoroughly oblivious to the necessity for and significance of definitions in science as to be almost impatient of them. In this they are far from scientific. Science is a congeries of definitions. We are seeking agreement in science and one of the most effective ways of seeking it is by agreement on the meaning of our words. Take such words as “wealth”, “income”, and others which are basic in economic research. How can one expect agreement between two persons who are tacitly using different though perhaps unformulated definitions for these or similar words? Of course, I do not wish to over-emphasize the necessity for precision in definitions – there is no such thing as absolute precision apart from the construction of complete logical systems such as mathematicians have constructed for arithmetic, geometry and algebra of several types. We have at any stage of science to deal with a relative precision of definition. And it may not be amiss for me to point out that the absolute precision of the completely defined mathematical discipline exists only for that intellectual discipline and breaks down immediately when that system of thought is applied to nature, by virtue of the fact that there do not exist in nature any objects precisely corresponding to the exact intellectual concepts precisely defined.

Let us consider the question of “level”, “rolling”, or “hilly” agricultural land. It would doubtless be possible to construct mathematical definitions of level, rolling, and hilly in such form that a surveyor equipped with the proper instruments could classify land under these three categories with great scientific precision, by which we mean that specifications for the classification could be so drawn as to make certain that different surveyors equipped with similar instruments would make the same classifications with only the fewest disagreements in certain very doubtful intermediate cases. Such a precise definition with its accompanying exact classification would be costly in time and in money and thus of

[p. 3]

limited practical utility. Very little land could be so classified. On the other hand, it would be possible to set up rough and ready descriptive definitions of level, rolling, and hilly intended to be used for classifications by mere inspection which would be utilizable at comparatively slight expense in money and time. Now different observers would undoubtedly differ considerably in their allotments of parcels of an intermediate character to one or the other of the adjacent categories, and in this allotment there might be bias, so that even on the average the classifications by different observers would have different percentages of the three sorts. The reliability of the method would certainly be less, its utility, even its scientific utility, might be far greater because of its greater feasibility.

The essential element in precision is not so much absolute precision as a sound estimate of what degree of precision has been attained. It is really reliability in the sense of reproducibility or agreement which is the scientific item and if the reliability is sufficient for the purposes in hand and if the conclusions drawn from the work limit themselves to what is justified by the reliability attained, that is all we can really ask. Thus two treatises on economics neither of which explicitly defines wealth or some other term but both of which develop their analysis upon tolerably similar implicit definitions may well not come into actual conflict even though if each pushed its analysis far enough they could hardly fail to come into some conflict resoluble only through rendering the definitions more precise. Much medical work, particularly of the clinical variety, could not proceed at all if a high degree of precision were required. So to define broncho-pneumonia or dementia precox as to result in a high degree of reliability in diagnosis may actually be impossible in the present state of our technique. I do not mean that definitions could not be given but that such definitions would not be those of what should be called broncho-pneumonia or dementia precox – they would be artificial and illusory definitions. What we need at the moment is not such definitions so much as a recognition by scientific clinicians of their need for the concept of reliability, their need to have a feeling for what the true precision is; because it is only upon the basis of such recognition that one is likely fruitfully to improve the definitions. The situation may well be the same in respect to a large number of economic concepts.

(2) The method of mathematical analysis. Beginning rather clearly with Cournot, there has been a great development of mathematical analysis in economics. I do not refer to arithmetically quantitative analysis but to the type of mathematics which is logical and qualitative in the sense in which J. C. Cobb has discriminated between qualitative and quantitative (Econ. Jour. England, March 1928, p. 72). Now, as we were speaking of definitions, it may be well for me to point out that the adjective quantitative is perhaps used in a different sense by some economists from that implied here. Some might consider Pareto’s work almost wholly quantitative because of his insistence on sharply defined concepts and his use of mathematical equations and transformations, including differential equations and integrals, etc. The notion of marginal utility is in a sense quantitative, and so is the concept of the curve of indifference which Pareto was inclined to make basic. Yet this must be said: That his whole treatise goes very little way, and the whole spirit of it is not conceived in the manner to go far toward the determination of the numerical values which should be inserted in the place of the variables in his equations to arrive at a check on the analysis. Indeed, as I conceive it, he was not interested greatly in that sort of check: his interest lay in the logical analysis of the sorts of situations which could arise. In a sense that is qualitative rather than quantitative, and at any rate I want to make it clear that I used qualitative to cover what others might prefer to call quantitative.

Mathematical analysis depends on conventions. If the convention is adopted that the price of a commodity depends on the amount of that commodity one has the system of Walras, and the mathematics is relatively simple. If one allows that the price of each commodity may depend on the amounts of all commodities one has a more complicated convention leading to more complicated analysis. This latter form of analysis is surely so highly involved that one could scarcely carry it on without the mathematical method. If then commodities are really so interlocked that many important economic events can only be understood by taking into consideration the possibilities that arise through the interlocking and would not arise if there were no interlocking, there is no escape from a consideration of the complex situation and no escape from the use of a good deal of mathematical thinking with no small amount of mathematical symbolism. It is perhaps true that many serious students of economics are today being developed without any considerably training in mathematics. Maybe they can so choose their work throughout their life as to avoid problems which require a knowledge of mathematics, and maybe they will learn their mathematics in later life as W. G. Sumner did, according to his personal testimony to me.

I may say that it has been maintained that man’s essential characteristic lies in his effort to cover not space alone but duration of time (Korzybski). It may be that prices do not depend merely on quantities of commodities in existence but on those and quantities that may come into existence. In recent months we have been told that what was important in the price of a stock was what it was going to sell for. Very likely. There is certainly speculative adjustment of prices. If that complex of phenomena which arise from man’s time-binding propensities is of relatively little economic significance, it may be neglected, but if it be of considerable significance, economists will arise to treat it and they will probably be forced to use much more complicated mathematical thinking than Pareto used – there may be integral equations and integro-differential equations. It is not impossible that they cannot even state adequately the essential logical interconnections of the conceptual situation which arises in time-binding economics and cannot formulate the proper conceptual complex without appeal to a type of mathematics so advanced as to make it necessary for some mathematicians themselves to become economists. Indeed, Pareto started as an engineer, I believe a railroad engineer; Irving Fisher as a mathematician, and so more recently Roos. The mathematical method is not yet through in economics; indeed, it may be just beginning, but it is likely largely to remain the work of a small fraction of students of economics.

(3) The statistical method. Although the statistical method is highly valuable in dealing with classifications of data not yet reduced to quantitative form, presumably the chief interest of the economist in

[p. 5]

statistics is quantitative. There is of course no such thing as the statistical method. Statistics is a complex of techniques. Take, for example, the sampling technique, the sampling error, and the question of the fairness of a sample – this whole group of ideas which is of great importance in social studies and in experimental biology may be of little interest to the economist working in some such line as the theory of the business cycle. If we allow an average duration of 40 months, we have in 40 years some twelve cycles. Of what can those twelve be regarded as a sample? Of course they may be regarded as a sample of the universe defined by themselves, which does not get us ahead very far. Indeed 40 years takes us back to 1890, before Bryan, before the U. S. Steel Corporation, before the war, and before the “New Era” of 1929. In many ways the economic situation has so changed that there may be no sense in asking the question as to what universe the sample comes from. Yet how talk of sampling errors without samples or of samples without their appropriate universe? I do not wish to imply that there are not opportunities to use sampling methods in economics; there are many such, but. on the other hand we have many problems where the opportunity is lacking.

Then there is the regression technique. What a regression equation does is to give us the mean value of the dependent variable in terms of assumed values of the independent variables. A regression equation may not be solved for one of the independent variables to get the new regression equation. This is a limitation on the use of regression equations for mathematical analysis. Indeed the mathematical theory of economics assumes that the variables occurring in the equations are like those occurring in thermodynamics or other fields to which analysis is applied in that they have values, not that all the independent variables have values and the dependent variables only a mean value. This is a real difficulty in coordinating the mathematical and the statistical methods so that the latter furnishes concrete and practical illustrations of the theoretical developments of the former. It is a difficulty which must persist so long as inherent variability due to lack of complete control is present. Thus one of the chief techniques of the mathematical economics is that of counting the number of variables and the number of equations to verify that these numbers are equal and that the problem is therefore determinate, whereas statistical procedures are applied in just those cases in which there still remains indetermination, that is, where the number of equations is fewer than the number of variables and it becomes necessary to treat the dependent variable as an assemblage of values and take the mean or median or some other special value as representing the group of undetermined values.

The analysis of time series is a technique which has remained rather specially that of economic statistics. It is employed very slightly in other applications of the statistical method. Time series are treacherous, but I do not see how their treatment can be ignored. Also it is not easy to see how the treatment can be made scientifically satisfactory; in the nature of the case we may have to be content with exploratory methods. Of course we can apply the method of the periodogram and the resolution into trignometric series. Such analyses work well on observations of the magnitudes of some classes of variable stars for which there are presumptively true periodicities in the background of the observed time series. When however the method is applied to meteorological or economic phenomena somewhat bizarre results are often obtained, results which do not always,

[p. 6]

perhaps do not usually, serve as a satisfactory basis either for forecasting the future or for representing the past except for the limited portion of it which has been used in the analysis. Indeed at the present time I should say that the evidence that there are cycles does not justify one in assuming that there are periods in the sense required for sound
periodogram analysis.
One of the chief aids to the advance of scientific knowledge is the existence of artificial or natural repetition in the sequence of phenomena. The extreme regularity of the real motion of the planets and the moon enabled the ancients very considerably to unsnarl the obvious irregularities of the apparent motions and to construct calendars of a high degree of prevision, to forecast eclipses with considerable success, and in general to develop the science of astronomy. The periods involved were not all short compared with human life, but the basic regularity allowed observations to accumulate. In the laboratory we may repeat experiments as often as we please without serious danger that conditions have seriously changed, – indeed the first and basic type of control is repetition. In the economic field the situation is quite different; so far as is yet known we do not have highly regular basic periods nor do we have conditions that may be repeated without serious changes, and we are very much handicapped thereby in scientific advance. It is true that the rapidity of change in conditions varies greatly at different times. The younger generation of economists have seen tremendous apparent changes within their own relatively short lives. It may be that a prolonged period of relative stagnation might help toward the discovery of some economic laws by making it easier to ignore the trees and concentrate on the forest; such a period would however have compensating disadvantages through the temptation to a feeling of security with its inevitable resulting dogmatism.

After all, it is perhaps remarkable not that so little but that so much has been accomplished in selecting from the mixed, complex, and variable economic field some items which have been reduced to method, by definition, by mathematics and by statistics sufficiently to merit the application of the term economic science. Whether the proportion of economic instruction in our universities which can be rated as scientific is today larger than it was a generation ago may be difficult to determine – there is much more economics taught, much more that is descriptive, illusory and unscientific, also much more that is sound and scientific. In the governmental, banking and business activities of our country there is also an increase in the amount of economics in use and very likely an increase in the proportion of scientific economics. The scientific economist may look at the future with caution as to what economic events may occur, but he may look at it also with confidence that the scientific method will continue to conquer new worlds for him as for his scientific confreres in other scientific fields.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture Graduate School. Special Lectures on Economics, Delivered Before the Graduate School February-March 1930, pp. 1-6.

 

Categories
Courses Economists Harvard Syllabus

Harvard Economics 2. Carver, 1900-01

Note: Economics 2, “Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century,” was taught by Assistant Professor Thomas Nixon Carver in 1900-01, his first year at Harvard

___________________________

Enrollment Economics 2
1900-01

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 2. Asst. Professor Carver.— Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 45: 6 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1900-01, p. 64.

 

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ECONOMICS 2.

Topics and references for first half-year. Starred references are prescribed.

I. VALUE.

1.    Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Chs. 5, 6, and 7.

2.    Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 1 and 4.

3.    Mill.          “        “     Book III. Chs. 1-6.

4.    Cairnes     “        “     Part I.

5.     Jevons. Theory of Pol. Econ. Chs. 2-4.

6.     Sidgwick. Pol. Econ. Book II. Ch. 2.

7*.   Wieser. Natural Value.

8.     Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital. Book III.

9.     Clark. Philosophy of Wealth. Ch. 5

10*. Marshall. Principles of Economics. Books III and V.

 

II. DIMINISHING RETURNS.

1.     Senior. Pol. Econ. Pp. 81-86.

2.    Marshall. Principles of Economics. Book III. Ch. 3

3*.  Commons. The Distribution of Wealth. Ch. 3.

 

III. RENT.

1.     Adam Smith. Wealth of Nation. Book I. Ch. 2. Pts. 1-3.

2.    Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 2 and 3.

3.    Sidgwick. “     “       Book II. Ch. 7.

4.    Walker.     “     “       Pt. IV. Ch. 2.

5.    Walker. Land and its Rent.

6*.  Marshall. Principles of Economics Book VI. Ch. 9.

7*.   Hyde. The Concept of Price Determining Rent. Jour. Pol. Econ. V.6. p. 368.

 

IV. CAPITAL

1.     Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book II.

2.    Senior. Pol. Econ. P. 58-81.

3.    Mill.        “       “       Book I. Ch. 4-6.

4.    Roscher. “      “       Book I. Ch. 1. Secs. 42-45.

5*.  Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital. Books I and II.

6.    Cannan. Production and Distribution. Ch. 4.

7.    Jevons. Theory of Political Economy Ch. 7.

8*.  Fisher. What is Capital? Economic Journal. Vol. VI. P. 509.

9*.  Taussig. Wages and Capital. Ch. 2.

10.  Clark. The Distribution of Wealth.

 

V. INTEREST.

1.     Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 9.

2.    Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 6.

3.    Sidgwick.  “     “        Book II. Ch. 6.

4*.  Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital. Books V, VI, and VII.

5.    Marshall. Principles of Economics. Book VI. Ch. 6.

6.    Clark. Distribution of Wealth.

7*.   Abstinence and the Theory of Interest. Quarterly Journal Ec., Vol. VIII. P. 40.

8.    The Theory of Saver’s Rent. Quarterly Journal Ec. Vol. XIII. P. 345.

 

VI. WAGES.

1.     Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 8.

2.    Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 5.

3.    Senior.       “       “      Pp. 141-180 and 200-216.

4.    Senior. Lectures. Pp. 1-62.

5.    Mill. Pol. Econ. Book II. Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14.

6.    Cairnes. Pol. Econ. Part II. Chs. 1 and 2.

7.    Sidgwick.  “       “      Book II. Ch. 8.

8*.  Walker.     “       “      Part IV. Ch. 5.

9*.  Hadley. Economics. Ch. 10.

10*. Taussig. Wages and Capital. (Entire.)

11*.  Wages and the Theory of Value. Quart. Jour. Econ. Vol. VIII, P. 377.

 

VII. PROFITS.

1*.    Walker. Pol. Econ. Part IV. Ch. 4.

2*.    Hobson. The Law of the Three Rents. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. V. P. 263.

3.      Clark. Insurance and Business Profits. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 40.

4*.    Hawley, F. B. in Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 459.

5.      MacVane, in           “         “       “,  Vol. II. P. 1.

6.      Haynes, in               “     “       “     Vol. IX, P. 409.

 

 

Clark’s Distribution of Wealth and parts of Böhm-Bawerk’s Positive Theory of Capital will be read during the second half-year.

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Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 1 of 10 (Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003). Folder: 1900-1901.