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Harvard. Survey of High Honors Students in Economics, 1925-1955. Harris, 1956

The following memo summarizes the results of a survey of “high magna” or summa A.B. economics concentrators who graduated from Harvard between 1925 and 1954. The 211 respondents accounted for 84% of the alumni/ae contacted. The chairman of the department of economics who initiated the survey, Seymour E. Harris, was interested in the career paths chosen by the top undergraduates of the economics program and obtaining feedback from them about what they thought was good and not-so-good about the content and ways they were taught at Harvard.

About the same time a similar report was written about the experiences and opinions of 193 economics PhD graduates from 1950-54.

___________________________

Harvard High Honors Students

Seymour E. Harris, ’20
Chairman of the Economics Department

As Chairman of the Economics Department, I sent out a questionnaire to 252 Harvard College graduates who had received a high magna or summa in economics in the last 30 years. This group accounted for 6 per cent of the seniors in economics in these years. The objective primarily was to find out what had happened to these men (and women) after they received their A.B.’s and, with the intent of throwing light on our current educational practices, to obtain and analyze their views concerning their Harvard education. This is the only study of high honors students at college that has come to my attention.

Replies

Since we received 211 replies, or 84 per cent, the response was most satisfactory. Exclusive of those who could not be located (one was deceased), the responses were 87 per cent of the total sent out.

As might be expected, the number of questionnaires returned varies inversely with age: with classes before 1929, 18 out of 31 responses were received, or 58 per cent; in the last 6 classes, 57 out of 63 replied, or 90 per cent. The differences are relevant in that since the older classes responded in smaller numbers, it may be assumed that incomes are biased downwards, that is, average income is higher than is revealed in the results to be given later.

Occupations of High Honors Graduates

Professions 114
     Lawyers 43
     Teachers 31
     Government Employees 20
     Research Economists 12
     Physicians 4
     Writers & Editors 4
Executive, Managerial, etc. 56
     Executives 27
     Employed in Finance 17
     Employed in Nonfinance 12
Military Service 13
Students 18
Housewives 4
Other 6
211

[p. 2]

The professions, it will be noted, accounted for 54 per cent of these graduates of the last 30 years. For 1947, according to another study based on a sample of 9,000 graduates in the nation, 50 per cent of the male graduates (the females in our sample are a relatively small percentage of the total) were in the professions. When allowance is made for those in our sample still students (excluded in the national sample) and the younger average years out of college of our respondents (a weighted average gives but 13 years out of college), then the number in the professions of these high honors graduates is substantially larger than in the national sample of male college graduates. The attractiveness of the professions for our sample is much greater than is suggested by our figures; for the forties and fifties, years in which our sample is relatively heavily concentrated, were also years when the pull of business was especially great. Thus, as I showed in my Market for College Graduates (p. 89), the proportion of all male graduates in business rose from 37 to 49 per cent from 1940 to 1947-48 and of the professions declined from 63 to 44 per cent.

Graduate Degrees

Of these 211, 151 earned at least 1 graduate degree; 43, 2 or more; and 5 earned 3 graduate degrees. More than 70 per cent obtained graduate degrees. As might be expected, this percentage is much higher than for students generally. For example, in a corresponding period only about one quarter of all recipients of undergraduate degrees obtained a graduate degree.[1]

[1]This figure is obtained by comparing all undergraduate and graduate degrees for the average year in which the graduates in our 211 sample took a graduate degree. Basic figures will be found in HEW, Statistics of Higher Education, 1951-52, p. 37, and the Commission on Financing Higher Education, Financing Higher Education in the United States, 1953 (Millett Volume), p. 32. The weighted average of our sample should receive a Ph.D. in the middle forties.

The largest number of degrees of the Harvard sample were in law (38 per cent); next the M.A. (35 per cent) and the Ph.D. (30 per cent). When one compares these percentages with the national figures, one can see that the able undergraduate disproportion-

[p. 3]

ately seeks higher degrees in Arts and Sciences and especially the Ph.D. The Harvard sample reveals 6-8 times as many Ph.D.’s proportionately to all graduate degrees as the national sample.

Percentage of M.A. to all graduate degrees, national (1939-40)—25 (1949-50)—17
Ibid. Harvard sample (For 30 year period) (35)
Percentage of all Ph.D.’s to all graduate degrees, national (1939-40)—5 (1949-50)—4
Ibid. Harvard sample (For 30 year period) (30)

Source: Ibid., and my calculations.

These high honors Harvard graduates especially seek graduate degrees in the Harvard Graduate Schools (80 per cent at Harvard; 5 per cent, Columbia; and 3 per cent, Chicago). Percentage of graduate degrees at Harvard of the total were as follows:

All 76 per cent
LL.B 77 per cent
M.A. 74 per cent
Ph.D. 74 per cent
M.B.A. 91 per cent
M.D. 100 per cent
Other 40 per cent

Degrees and University Awarding Them

Degree Total Harvard Columbia Chicago Yale Oxford Minnesota Other
LL.B 58 45 4 1 2 0 1 5
M.A. 54 40 4 1 0 0 1 8
Ph.D. 46 34 2 3 0 1 1 5
M.B.A. 22 20 0 1 0 0 0 1
M.P.A. 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
M.D. 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other 10 4 0 0 1 2 0 3
TOTAL 200 153 10 6 3 3 3 22

Of the 200 degrees, 98 were in economics (inclusive of 4 joint degrees), suggesting that high honors concentrators tend to remain in their undergraduate field of concentration (49 M.A.’s, 38 Ph.D.’s, 5 M.P.A.’s). In addition there were 22 business degrees. In view of the large relative number of M.A.’s and Ph.D.’s

[p. 4]

given by Harvard to our high honors group, it is clear that these distinction men provide much of the raw material for our Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The only other large outlet was law (59).

Income Distribution

Incomes of the high honors graduates of the last 30 years are high. The median (the value midway from low to high) with students, housewives, and soldiers eliminated is $11,227, and the arithmetic mean (in total divided by the number of income recipients), $14,664. This is a surprisingly high figure, especially in view of the fact that these men are out of college (weighted mean) only 13 years; that the proportion in the professions, with relatively low incomes compared to business, is large; and that their education has in a large proportion of instances been delayed by the war. The median of $11,227 may be compared with the following:

Median income of males, 14 years and over, 1954 $2,300
Median income of males in professions, 1954 $4,905
Median income of males, managers, officials and proprietors, except farmers, 1954 $5,234
Median income of population, 1947 $2,200
Median income of male college graduates, 1947 $4,689
Median income of HYP graduates, 1947 $7,365
Median income of HYP graduates, adjusted for rise of income since 1947 $10,000

Source: They Went to College, pp. 26, 179; U.S. Census Income of Persons in the U.S., 1954.

Income Distribution

 

Annual Income Frequency Frequency, excluding students, housewives, and soldiers
$0 16 0
1-5,000 27 15
5,001-10,000 66 62
10,001-15,000 44 44
15,001-20,000 14 14
20,001-30,000 24 24
30,001-40,000 4 4
40,001-50,000 3 3
50,001-75,000 4 4
75,001-100,000 0 0
100,001 and over 1 1
TOTAL 203 171
Not given 8
Mean (all reporting) $12,648 Mean (excluding those named above) $14,664
Median (all reporting) $9,470 Median (same as above) $11,227

[p. 5]

When allowance is made for the low age of our group as against the national sample (and the disproportionate failures to reply of the older graduates in our sample), then the relatively high income of our group stands out. In the sample of 9,000 college graduates, the median income for male college graduates aged 35 years was $4,618; for those aged 40-49, $6,152; and for those aged 50 and over, $6,244. The 1950 Census shows that whereas the 30-34 year group with 4 or more years of college had 5.1 per cent in the $10,000 or over group, the averages for those aged 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 were 13.3, 19.2, and 18.1 per cent, respectively.[2] (The 30-34 year group comes nearest to representing our sample.) Since our graduates correspond only to age 34 (and even lower when allowance is made for the disproportionate loss of time in graduate work and military service[3]), the median figure of our group should be raised by a substantial percentage to make the figure comparable with the national sample.

[2]Calculated from U.S. Population Census: Education, Special Report PE No.5B, pp. 108-9.

[3]Disproportionate because our sample is a young sample, especially subject to military service, and years spent in the service and graduate work are a disproportionate part of working life.

An honors record at college seems to pay. The above statistics underline this conclusion. In They Went to College, the following is said of a 9,000 national sample (median income):

Greasy Grinds $5,149
All Around Students $4,775
Big Men on Campus $4,648
Those who Just Sat There $4,300

(Ibid., p. 164)

Students with high grades earn larger incomes according to this national male sample. In business 20 per cent more A than B and C students had incomes of $7,500 or over. Among doctors, lawyers, dentists and scientists, the corresponding advantage for A students was 35 per cent; among teachers, clergymen and artists, 175 per cent; and among public servants, 167 per cent. (Ibid., p. 160.)

[p. 6]

The larger number in the professions pulls down the average income of our group. Thus for the 114 in the professions, the mean income is $11,567 and the median, $9,663; for the 57 others (business executives and the like), the respective figures are $21,557 and $17,142, or about twice as high as in the professions. Also relevant is the fact that the percentage of those in executive and business jobs tends to rise with age. Hence our sample with an average adjusted age of 30-35 yields a lower income because the older age groups include larger percentages in this group. In ages 25-29, 30-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64, the percentages of males in the executive-business group were 6½, 10, 12, 15, and 14 per cent, respectively.[4]

[4]U.S. Census, op. cit., pp. 88-89.

Attitudes Towards Harvard Education

Of 211 respondents, 144 or 68 per cent wrote that they would concentrate in economics again if they were starting all over. But 58 of the 211 or 28 per cent believed that they concentrated too much.

In reply to the question, would they go to Harvard in 1956 were they at the appropriate age, the replies were most satisfying. Of 211, 196 (14 with qualifications), or 93 per cent, would do it all over again and 3 per cent were undecided. But 6 (3 per cent) would not; and 2 inclined towards seeking an education elsewhere.

In reply to a question, what do you consider yielded the largest returns from your years at college, the responses were as follows. Note that the average respondent included 2-3 factors. Course work received the largest number of votes and tutorial next.

Largest Contribution to Education

Item No. of times mentioned Item No. of times mentioned
Course work 120 Extra-curricular activities 39
Tutorial 95 Thesis 32
Informal association with other students 50 General academic atmosphere and intellectual freedom 29
Reading on one’s own 45 Intellectual awakening 20
Contacts with faculty members 40 No answer or undecided 10
480

[p. 7]

In their replies much emphasis was put on the advantages of the smaller and more personalized courses; on the new general education program; the quality of the faculty and the importance of personal contacts with the faculty.

For tutorial, 92 expressed favorable views; 13 favorable with qualifications; 15 favorable in relation to thesis; and 18 unfavorable. Hence the vast majority believed that tutorial made an important contribution. In view of the fact that tutorial presumably counted over the years for about 1/7[5] of the total education, its large returns are evident (120 votes for courses and 95 for tutorial). Tutorial was especially important in the first 20 years of this survey. In the last 10 years, the need of economy weakened tutorial. Among the graduates of the first 20 years (1925-44) 88 commented on tutorial, all favorably (3 with qualifications); in the years 1944-54, 49 commented. The percentage of favorable comment for these years was 55 per cent; favorable with qualifications, 20 per cent; unfavorable, 24 per cent. The responses clearly reflected a deterioration of tutorial in the last 10 years.

[5]3 courses out of 16-17 classroom courses plus 3 equivalent to tutorial.

“Suggest any ways in which your education might have been improved.” The analysis of replies follows. A more balanced program, more and better mathematics and statistics, more and better tutorial, smaller classes, and more personal contact with faculty stand out.

[p. 8]

Improvement of Education

Item No. of times mentioned Item No. of times mentioned
More balanced program 43 Better training in writing through more papers 17
More and better courses in mathematics and statistics (particularly Math.), possibly required for honors candidates 29 Emphasis on analysis of problems and on original thought 8
More and better tutorial, perhaps even extending into other fields than Economics 23 Better personal guidance for freshmen and others 8
Smaller classes and more discussions in them 24 A better and earlier theory course 5
Greater personal contact with faculty members 22 Less pressure; less emphasis on grades 5
More “practical” courses 19 Teachers who possess teaching rather than research ability 5
Other 26
No suggestions, or inapplicable to others than respondent 46
280

These replies should be considered in the light of the fact that the respondents cover a 30-year period which witnessed the rise and some decline in tutorial, the opening of the Houses, and the introduction of General Education. The criticisms and proposals apply to the education of these men (and women) at the time they were in college. The weighted mean (as suggested earlier) is 13 years out of college.

Replies to an invitation to make general comments cannot easily be classified. A large number of those commenting want more “practical” courses which would give the undergraduate concentrator a more intimate acquaintance with current economic events and issues and with the problems and actual practices of the business community. In general, while praising the courses offered at Harvard, this large group seems to feel that the average economics concentrator should be prepared more adequately than at present for business school and/or a business or legal career.

[p. 9]

But a much smaller group insists that an economics major ought not to provide such preparation, that students should not major in economics because they plan to go into business, and that the Department should continue to emphasize economic theory and history.

A second major point that was made was that study at Harvard and concentration in Economics are most important insofar as they develop a mode of thinking, a clearness of mind, and a power of analysis in the individual. Somewhat in line with this, several respondents again emphasized the need they felt for a faculty with high teaching ability rather than intellectual eminence alone. The more interested the faculty is in teaching, and the more concerned its members are with their students, both formally and informally in contacts in and out of class, the more rewarding will a Harvard education in Economics be.

Finally, several respondents reiterated the need for a balanced program and praised the General Education program, while another group worried that concentration and distribution requirements might seriously limit the freedom of choice of the undergraduate as to studies. The intelligent enthusiast, this group felt, should be allowed to “overconcentrate” if he so desires, while the normal student should be allowed to gather a more liberal education. However, there were several other respondents who stressed strongly the need for abler and more personal guidance in the choice of courses both in and out of the department.

Harvard Education and Income

Finally, our high honors concentrators were asked to explain the fact that a college graduate seems to earn a lifetime income of $100,000 in excess of the non-college graduate and the Harvard graduate receives $200,000-$300,000 more than the non-college graduate. Our objective in including this question was not so much to get an adequate explanation of these differentials but to classify the explanations of an unusually able group of college graduates.

[p. 10]

Differences in Income

Variations in ability 121
Connections 93
Better education 84
Higher income background of Harvard men 37
Harvard’s prestige and name 31
No reply or don’t know 40
406

Many stressed the point that Harvard’s high quality education attracts able students, and these in turn attract better teachers who provide a better education. The high quality of undergraduate instruction stimulates many to enter graduate schools, it was held by many. Though connections were emphasized as factors in attaining employment, education and ability, it was emphasized, were the factors that enabled men to hold their jobs.

Some Quotes

Comments by High Honors Men on Harvard Education:

Two high government officials, out of college about 25 and 15 years, respectively, write:

“Briefly stated, I suppose the greatest returns were intangible in form, involving no particular factual knowledge nor any specific know-how. It was the development of a feeling of confidence and dignity — the lifting of horizons yielding perspective together with some degree of understanding. From formal course work I gained background and acquaintanceship with basic material; tutorial work developed thinking in terms of relationships; and reading on my own stimulated reflection and yielded appreciation. Extra-curricular activity such as varsity athletics, particularly intramural participation, was helpful in maintaining a feeling of physical well-being.”

“On the whole, I would guess that particular courses taken by students and the particular educational techniques used are much less important than the intellectual stimulation and the perspectives provided by the individual faculty members. While I took a large number of economics courses as an undergraduate, I don’t regret this overemphasis because they were on the whole stimulating courses given by very good men. At the same time I feel heavily indebted and remember very fondly an English literature course, given by the late Ted Spencer, and I would be hard put to judge the relative value of that course for my later professional work relative to any of the economics courses.”

[p. 11]

By a bank official, out less than 10 years, the following appraisal is made.

“Association with students in many other fields in the House system (Leverett House in my case) was in my opinion worth more than several courses. We had an informal Seminar in Practically Everything each evening in which everyone contributed something from his particular field of interest.

“The reading period before exams was valuable for pulling a course together and relating it to others. I found that I missed it very much at Chicago where the quarter system did not provide time for relief from being lectured at.”

A member of the faculty of the Harvard School of Medicine, out of college more than 15 years, says:

“I’m not sure when my education really took hold but somewhere between 1936 and 1940 I developed certain habits of thinking, reading, wondering which have served me in good stead. I can’t say whether it was course work, tutorial, exposure to a fine faculty, exposure to some very able classmates. I don’t doubt its value, however, and I’d certainly do it again.”

An outstanding economist, out about 10 years, now on the staff of one of the major universities, has something to say for the lecture system and overconcentration and higher standards.

“If anything, I would argue that I didn’t concentrate enough on economics. I began with a broad interest in other social sciences, and while I don’t for a minute think of those courses as wasted, I think the scales should be tipped in favor of more rather than less concentration.

“It’s a firm belief of mine that in most ways there’s nothing like a good lecture course. I learned a lot in tutorial, but looking back it’s clear to me that there wasn’t enough of it. A little bit of tutorial makes only a little bit of sense. For tutorial to be really valuable to the good student it would have to take more of his (and of the tutor’s) time, say at least the equivalent of one course, and probably more. And there should be more writing.

“I should have been required to study mathematics along with elementary economics, instead of having to discover it myself, much later. The absence of a decent course in statistics in the department also cost me time later on. I have the strong feeling that undergraduate courses in economics are much too easy for honors candidates. Much of what is taught at the graduate level could be pushed down to the junior year. For the serious undergraduates anyway. This would free graduate courses for really advanced work; much too often every graduate course feels obliged to begin at the beginning. Sometimes I have the distinct feeling of never having learned anything in a specifically undergraduate course.

“As I compare the present undergraduate curriculum at Harvard with that of my own day, I am filled with nostalgia for the almost free elective system under which I was a student. As I recall, we had to have one course each in Natural Science, Social Science, and Humanities, and after that it was all gravy. No doubt General Education has some

[p. 12]

advantages for many students. But it would be a shame if the occasional enthusiast who wants to study nothing but economics (or mathematics, or physics, or Slavic Languages and Literature) should be prevented from so doing.”

A business executive, out 7 years, urges tying theory to the problems of the day, earlier concentration in economics, and more careful choice of tutors.

“The Department fails to show its students sufficiently that economics is primarily a disciplined way of looking at our environment and analysing it, rather than merely a set of facts and theories. Only a small minority of students — even Harvard students — have strong theoretic abilities and interests. This does not mean that Harvard should not strive to give its students rigorous theoretic training. But it does mean that the theory must be tied to practical applications in an obvious, meaningful and continuous manner.

“My second observation is that too many students concentrate in economics for the wrong reasons or by mistake. It would be a tremendous help if all students who had any thought of concentrating in economics were strongly encouraged to take Economics 1 in their freshman year. This would give them a basis for deciding whether they wanted to go on with the subject a full year before they have to make their final decision as to a field of concentration. I have heard it argued that Ec.1 is too advanced a course for freshmen. If that is true, then the course is badly designed. But I doubt that it is true; if the freshman can take Physics 1 or Math 1, he can certainly cope with the theory of marginal adjustments and basic national income theory.

“I feel strongly that the Department was lax in providing guidance to its Ec. 1 instructors and tutors last year. Tutorial tends to become a reflection of the varied interests of the individual tutors and not an expression of a thought-out educational scheme. Tutorial therefore tends to be successful for the bright student accidentally matched with the proper tutor. It is much less successful — and less successful than it could be — for the average student.”

In the view of a top economist, out about 25 years, connections are important. He also opposes excessive concentration.

“My guess is that the Harvard pass student turns into a better earner than the honors student — suggesting that connections are a big part of the explanation. I reckon that as taxes press more heavily on income and inheritance there’s an increasing tendency to transmute capital into the kind of power that can hand over income to relatives and favorites in guise of their ‘earnings’.

“Harvard training does seem to be among the best in making sure that a young man can take hold effectively in graduate school. (The glamor of Swarthmore, Reed, etc. rests partly on their really having only honors students; if we omitted from the Harvard number those who never aspired to honors, the percentage making scientists, etc. would jump.)

“A student who thinks he has chosen his field might ideally minimize more duplication and improve basic training by devoting almost all his undergraduate time to other fields. But he needs to find out enough about the field to validate his choice; and he is entitled to the sense of (relative) mastery he gets by exercising his talents. I think a…recommendation of a minimum-scale economics major for intending graduate students is optimal, balancing these questions. Also has merit in terms of working conditions for teachers at undergraduate centers.”

[p. 13]

A successful Southern business executive, out about 15 years, looks back to his education at Harvard with much satisfaction. Concentration in his view mirrors the interests of the contemporary society.

“I do not regret the extra work. I think the years at Harvard were useful, fruitful, and I know, pleasant. I am egotistical enough to believe the result was good. I believe it was economically valuable, and I know it contributed much to making life more endurable, or more happy, depending on my state of mind.

“A great deal of the value, I am certain, was derived from living in a climate of high average intelligence. A man could not be as ordinary as his inclination might lead him to be. There was too much behind him, in the traditions of the university, before him in the faculty, and on all sides of him in his classmates. I am sure this climate of intelligence forced many of us to greater achievements than we would have made ordinarily.

“I believe, however, that the direction of education in any responsible university tends to mirror the concerns of the society from which the undergraduates come. Why then, in the late 30’s and early 40’s, should there be any surprise that an undergraduate would over-concentrate in economics or in government? The whole concern of society was directed largely toward the understanding of the economic bases of society, and the mitigation of some of the allegedly inherent evils. I believe that today’s view of economics as simply another useful tool is more accurate, more valuable, and far less dangerous.

“In the same way, the overconcern with science has naturally reacted and caused an equally great concern that the undergraduate is being made into a machine, with brain but without soul. I shall be greatly surprised if overdiversification does not result and if the undergraduate of today does not say twenty years from now in answer to a like questionnaire, that he wishes he had specialized more. However, I doubt that harm will be done in either case so long as Harvard maintains her great climate of intelligence, a truly open mind, and a refusal to be pushed down any alleys of education, politics, or economics, simply because others are going that way.”

A banker-economist wants Harvard staffed by men with outstanding analytical minds.

“In staffing the Economics Department, great emphasis should be given to obtaining men with outstandingly good analytical minds, men who are interested in teaching their students the fundamental principles and the proper use of tools of analysis. The institutional and ‘practical’ knowledge can be acquired later, provided that the student is made to realize that he leaves Harvard with a good foundation but that he must build the superstructure himself as he acquires experience in the use of what he learned in school.”

A view expressed more than once is that economics is not necessarily the best preparation for business.

“I do not believe that economics, at least in 1947-50 and on the undergraduate level, provides any better preparation for business than many other academic disciplines. (But I understand some other schools are managing to combine academic and business courses.) For this reason I think general courses, or a diversification is much better than concentration in economics. It might even be that concentration in economics, government, or the sciences should not be permitted in undergraduate work. Everyone

[p. 14]

has to specialize after college, and college should be the time establishing a broad base of general education.”

A well known government and academic economist, out 25 years:

“If I knew I was going to become a professional economist, I would not concentrate in economics as an undergraduate but would leave the instruction in economics to graduate school.”

A lawyer out about 15 years:

“My training in economics has been of great value to me in the law. We represent a number of business corporations and the approaches I learned to the economic aspects of society have served me in good stead on a number of occasions. When in school I often bemoaned the lack of more ‘practical’ subjects in economics. I was wrong — adhere to the theory and the history.”

More case work is the proposal of a lawyer out 10 years:

“I think that at least in the social sciences there could have been a substantial improvement through an increased use of individual project work resulting in written reports or other papers. The ability to do research, make studies, draw conclusions, and report them lucidly, is one which comes only from practice and experience and the college years could and should make a substantial contribution to that experience.”

More details about the current financial scene are suggested by a Radcliffe Magna and P.B.K., out about 10 years:

“I think my Economics background (specialized in Money and Banking) could have been improved through a little more stress and detail in recent and current fiscal and monetary developments; e.g., level and trend of the government bond market; actual current Treasury financing and its actual effect on the bond market (using bond prices and yields); consumer credit trends; weekly Federal Reserve policy (in open market operations) through financial page in N.Y. Times, for example. In other words, while I received a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in Economics, when I actually went to work I knew next to nothing about banking figures — level of long-term government bond interest rates, etc. The theory was all there, but actual working knowledge was practically nil.”

An able economist, out 20 years, proposes seminars for honors students and more and better Mathematics and Statistics:

“I think there might be increased opportunity for outstanding honors candidates in economics to learn from each other by meeting as a group. Perhaps this could best be done by providing a special course required of honors candidates (or better, some more highly selected group), perhaps in some other way. It may be that this need is met by the present Economics 101.

“The glaring deficiencies of the undergraduate economics program of my day, considered as pre-professional training for those going on in economics, were that it failed to provide the student with two of the basic tools: mathematics and statistics. (What is far more serious, the same statement applied to the graduate program of that period.) This comment, however, poses a serious problem as to the

[p. 15]

purpose of the undergraduate program. It cannot be assumed that the majority of undergraduate concentrators will, or should, go on in economics. Nor can it be assumed that those who do go on will make the decision much before they graduate. For those who go, say, to law school or into business, the tools referred to, though useful, are not essential. Thus my comment, while applicable to my own education, cannot be taken as a criticism of the undergraduate program in general. The graduate program, however, was seriously deficient.”

Conclusion

It is clear that the high honors graduates in economics have done well in later life. They disproportionately enter the professions and go to Harvard Graduate Schools. Their success can, of course, be associated with the high quality of the men, the circles in which they move, and, we hope, their Harvard education. Clearly most of them believe that Harvard has helped them greatly. The association in graduate courses is helpful; but they emphasize also tutorial and small classes; and they would like to have closer association with faculty. The Houses clearly make a contribution here. But in the writer’s opinion tutorial (tied to the Houses) and smaller classes and perhaps a somewhat greater emphasis on undergraduate vis-a-vis graduate instruction would also help.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers, 1930-1961 and some earlier. Box 16, Folder “Honors-Highest (Harvard)”.

___________________________ 

The Harvard Crimson reports…

Survey Joins Honors Work, High Incomes
Honors Status Pays Off, Harris Asserts

May 21, 1956

An honors record at College seems to pay.

That is one of the conclusions of a survey report now being circulated among selected members of the Faculty and graduate students in economics by Seymour E. Harris ’20, professor of Economics. The report summarizes the answers to a questionnaire filled out by 211 high magna or summa graduates in Harris’ field of economics, and represents an attempt to find out what happens to “our best undergraduates.”

The survey shows that: “Incomes of the high honors graduates of the last 30 years are high. The median with students, housewives, and soldiers eliminated, is $11,227, and the arithmetic mean (income total divided by the number of income recipients), $14,664.”

Harris calls this figure “surprisingly high” considering that the graduates questioned are out of college (weighted mean) only 13 years, and that the proportion in the professions, where incomes are relatively low compared to business, is large.

Professions Lower

“The larger number in the professions pulls down the average income of our group,” Harris continues. “Thus, for the 114 in the professions the mean income is $11,567 and the median, $9,663; for the 57 others (business executives and the like), the respective figures are $21,557 and $17,142, or about twice as high as in the professions.”

Probing graduates’ attitudes toward their college education, Harris found that most felt they received the largest returns from their course work. Among various items contributing to the graduates’ education, course work was mentioned 120 times, and tutorial, in second place, was mentioned 95 times.

“In their replies,” Harris states, “much emphasis was put on the advantages of the smaller and more personalized courses; on the new general education program; the quality of the faculty and the importance of personal contacts with the faculty.”

He felt that responses “clearly reflected a deterioration of tutorial in the last ten years.” He noted that tutorial was considered especially important in the first 20 years of his survey, while in the last ten years “the need of economy weakened tutorial.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, May 21, 1956.

Image Source: Seymour E. Harris in The Harvard Class Album, 1957.

 

Categories
Accounting Exam Questions Harvard

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

Luca Pacioli

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

________________________

Principles of Accounting
pre-1911/12

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

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William M. Cole
His Textbook

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

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

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Meet the Course Teaching Assistants

Robert Mann Johnson

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

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

Surviving are two daughters, Marjorie Elizabeth and Hollis Ann.

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

Clarence Birch Stoner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1910-11. University Scholarship, Harvard Business School.

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

1911-12. Teaching Assistant for Professor Cole.

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

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

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

1928. Appointed secretary and treasurer of the Statler Hotels.

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

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

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Course Description
1911-12

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

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 18
Mid-year Examination
1911-12

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

Where did the increase in Merchandise come from?

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 18
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

One question may be omitted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Show the complete income sheet for the year 1911.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Earlier Accounting Exams at Harvard

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

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

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

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Earlier Advanced Public Finance

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

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Course Description
1911-12

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

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

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

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

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

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

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

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Earlier Advanced Public Finance Courses

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

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

Screenshot

 

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

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History of economics courses
pre-1911/12

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

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Course Description
1911-12

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

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

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

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

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

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

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

Total 6: 6 Graduates.

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

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

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

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

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Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Economic Reform Schemes. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Carver, 1911-1912

1986 East Berlin

 

Something that might surprise contemporary economists is that in 1911-12 Karl Marx and Henry George were each allocated 30% of the final exam questions for Harvard’s course on Methods of Social Reform. Also worth mulling over for a moment is that socialism was identified as the polar opposite of individualism (as opposed to “capitalism”) in a one-dimensional political spectrum.

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Earlier Course Material

Links to earlier course material for Methods of Social Reform (Socialism/Communism at Harvard, 1893-94 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

A study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

This course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 14a.

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

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 14b 2hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 65: 5 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 25 Juniors, 9 Sophomore, 4 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

  1. To what extent does Marx’s definition of value approach the current definition, and wherein does it differ?
  2. How does Marx bring the wages of skilled labor under his theory of value, and how does he dispose of labor which produces something of no use, or of very little use?
  3. Discuss Marx’s use of the formulae C–M–C and M–C–M.
  4. Just how would you distinguish between a socialist and an individualist?
  5. In what respects does socialism resemble anarchism and in what respects does it differ?
  6. Describe one communistic society and state what light, if any, it throws on the subject of socialism.
  7. “The advocates of the single tax love to base their arguments on the ground of justice. In this they are certainly wise; for even though all other arguments were in its favor, if the justice of the single tax could be successfully impugned, it would be foredoomed to failure.” Do you fully agree with this? Give reasons for your agreement or disagreement.
  8. Do you believe the single tax to be just? Give your reasons.
  9. How would the single tax probably affect building enterprises in a city like Boston?
  10. Do you consider it possible to attain something approximating to equality of incomes under the competitive system, with private capital, private enterprise, and freedom of contract? If so, how; if not, why not?

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

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Earlier Course Materials

Pre-Carver
Carver’s courses

 

Categories
Distribution Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Wealth Distribution. Course description, enrollment, and final exam. Carver, 1911-1912

In preparing this post I found myself pursuing the c.v. of Thomas Nixon Carver’s teaching assistant in 1911-12, Arnold Warburton Lahee. Turns out that Lahee switched careers at age fifty, becoming a landscape painter en plein air. His path to the completion of the requirements for the economics PhD at Harvard was long (about 22 years between his A.B. and PhD) due to work-(PhD) life balance issues.

Carver’s course content can be gleaned from the final examination questions at the end of the post. 

Links to previous Harvard exams on distribution
1904-05 to 1910-11.

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Meet the Course Teaching Assistant
Arnold Warburton Lahee (1888-1976)

Arnold Warburton Lahee.
General Examination Passed, February 1914

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, February 25, 1914.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Taussig, Gay, Ripley, Anderson, and R. B. Perry.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1907-11; Harvard Graduate School, 1911-12, 1913—. A.B., Harvard, 1911; A.M. ibid., 1912. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1911-12; Professor of Economics, University of Vermont, 1912-13.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology. 4. Statistics. 5. Public Finance. 6. Philosophy.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: “Municipal Expenditures in Massachusetts.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1913-14”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ARNOLD WARBURTON LAHEE
From the 10th year report Class of 1911.

Born at Hingham, Mass., May 7, 1888.
Parents: Henry Charles Lahee, Selina Ida Mary Long.
School: Cambridge Latin School, Cambridge, Mass.
Degrees: A.Β. 1911; Μ.Α. 1912.
Married: Gladys Hughes Livermore, Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 21, 1914.
Child: Katharine Livermore, Dec. 11, 1915.
Occupation: Economist.
Address: (Home) 28 Hamilton Road, Glen Ridge, N. J. (Bus.) Mechanics & Metals Nat’l Bank, 20 Nassau St., New York, N.Y.

THE first four years after graduation I spent in study and teaching: 1911-1912, I obtained my M.A. at Harvard; 1912-1913, I taught at the University of Vermont; 1912-1913, passed my general examinations for Ph.D. (February) and started to prepare for finals, specializing in public finance; and 1914-1915, taught at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh. I then turned to active economic investigation, spending two years in the New York Bureau of Municipal Research. During this time I was employed in connection with the New York City Central Purchasing Commission, the New York State Senate Committee investigation of the Civil Service, and a study of the New York City Budget system under the Mitchell administration.

When the United States entered the War, I found that, in spite of Plattsburgh training (summer of 1916), deficient eye-sight disqualified me for active service. After joining for a while in the promotion of the Patriotic Service League in New York and Boston, and spending three or four months with the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, I seized the first opportunity to go to Washington, with the U.S. Tariff Commission. Shortly after my arrival, however, the War Trade Board requested my services and I entered the Bureau of Research as special economist on the Central Powers. After the Armistice, the State Department persuaded me to continue my work in the office of the Foreign Trade Advisor, but in June 1919 I accepted an attractive offer of the Mechanics and Metals National Bank, where I am now located in charge of its Department of Foreign Trade Extension.

Everyone has his pet regret. Mine is that in college I worked my way through on scholarship instead of being satisfied with Bs and Cs, spending more time in college activities, and earning my way through drudgery and hard knocks — but real experience (e.g., canvassing, etc.). Better to take more time, perhaps, but build up a broad foundation of practical experience and valuable friendships. Scholarship is only one factor out of several in the secret of success.

Source: Decennial Report of the Secretary of the Harvard Class of 1911 (1921), pp. 241-242.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Lahee’s Book

Arnold W. Lahee. Consultant on Foreign Markets; Former Head of the Department of Foreign Trade Extension of the Mechanics and Metals, National Bank of New York. Our Competitors and Markets: An Introduction to Foreign Trade. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1924.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

From Charles H. Haskins 1 Apr 1924 letter to Frank W. Taussig: “Lahee’s first thesis on the New York City Budget was turned down [by Bullock, Day and Munro] some years ago [1917], and this work [Note: his book Our Competitors and Markets (1924)] has been done more or less commercially without the supervision of any member of the Department.”

The thesis was approved by Young, Williams and Copeland in April 1924. He failed his Special Examination on June 4, 1924. He passed his second try on October 11, 1932 (Examined by Taussig, Williams and Harris). Frank W. Taussig was the committee chairman for both examinations.

Source: Harvard University Archives. PhD Candidates Receiving Degrees in 1933 A-Z. Box 13. Folder “A. W. Lahee”.

Lahee Submitted his Book for his PhD Thesis

ARNOLD WARBURTON LAHEE, A.B. 1911, A.M. 1912. Subject, Economics. Special Field, International Relations. Thesis, “Our Competitors and Markets.” 72 High Street, Glen Ridge, N.J. [Degree awarded in February 1933]

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1932-1933, p. 127.

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Lahee Becomes a Painter

The Times-Argus. Barre-Montpelier, Vt. (July 23, 1969), p. 23.

Agile And Artistic At 81
Dr. Lahee Bound To Climb The Hump

By STEVE McLEOD

NORTHFIELD — Dr. Arnold Lahee of Winch View Road, Northfield, is 81 but he doesn’t believe it. He will admit that climbing Camel’s Hump with art equipment on his back is becoming difficult now, but in the same breath he vows “I’m going to get to the top of Camel’s Hump this year or bust.”

Dr. Lahee combines a knowledge and appreciation of the outdoors with considerable artistic talent and an unusual painting style to produce some excellent landscape paintings.

His paintings have been exhibited in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., in Europe and in several art museums around the United States. Currently he has a revolving exhibit at the Northfield Savings Bank and a thirty-six painting exhibit at the Chittenden Trust Co. in Burlington. The State Capitol dining room and Vermont Technical College are among other Vermont locations where his work has been exhibited.

Dr. Lahee, an economist by profession, has received several awards in connection with his artistic ventures, including most recently the Tercentennial Medallion from the A.A.P.L. when he retired as president “for the promotion of American Art during his administration.”

He did not begin painting until he was 50 and he began then only through “pure chance and three lucky circumstances.”

An underexposed picture provided the spark for his preliminary artistic ambition. His first paintings were on photos. This practice is frowned upon in artistic circles, but Dr. Lahee is glad he started in that fashion.

The second lucky circumstance occurred when he found some oil paints in the home of his deceased aunt.

After he produced a number of paintings with the oil paints, he became acquainted with an art photographer when — not saying that the photographer was an expert — he offered to show him how to take better pictures. The photographer belonged to an art club of some kind, and invited Dr. Lahee to display his paintings to the club where they were well-received.

Finally, the Wagner Act “threw me [Dr. Lahee] out of a job and I went to art class.” The class sealed the marriage between Dr. Lahee and painting. Once he had begun painting, Dr. Lahee wished that he had started years earlier.

He said that he did pretty well in grammar school art other than that; he had never noticed that he had any artistic talent until after he returned to painting.

The only other time Dr. Lahee thought of taking up painting before he was 50 was when he briefly considered entering the field of illustrated advertising.

“I started with the idea that portrait painting required more skill than landscape painting,” said Dr. Lahee, “and I was going into painting portraits but a few bad experiences switched me to landscape painting.”

The bad experiences involved people who requested portraits and later tried to keep them without paying Dr. Lahee.

“I still have those paintings in the cellar,” chuckled the hearty Northfield resident.

“Incidents like those sicken me so and I love nature and camping so I turned away from doing people,” explained Dr. Lahee.

Dr. Lahee still etches portraits occasionally, but the majority of his work is of the landscape variety.

He admires all aspects of nature. Recently, he has been fascinated by the beauty of clouds and is intent on capturing that beauty on his easel soon as possible.

“I’m frustrated up here because there are so many chores,” he says. “I keep vowing that I’m going to make a painting of the clouds but by the time I get my paints out the formations have moved.”

Dr. Lahee has rigged up a knapsack in such a way that his art equipment, easel and all fits in it.

Thus, he paints many of his landscapes from unusual vantage points from deep within nature’s kingdom, instead of painting them as a detached observer. His painting acquires a rugged naturalness through the use of these vantage points.

Would you believe Dr. Lahee is a radical? In the art world, he is anyway. Instead of using a brush for his landscapes, he uses a knife.

“With a brush you can paint every twig and leaf,” he explains. “With a pallet knife you just slap it on. It gives you a freedom and a thrill, I don’t know many who do that but that doesn’t matter.”

When asked if he considered himself a commercial painter, Dr. Lahee chuckled, “I paint mostly for my own pleasure. I’d starve if I had to rely on painting for my livelihood.”

He added that he also enjoys activities that complement painting, such as art demonstrations for ladies’ clubs and the like.

However, he has sold several paintings. Selling a painting which he deeply admires gives him mixed feelings.

“Sometimes it hurts me that they’re gone,” he says. “I painted one with a lot of memory and people wanted to purchase it so I let it go and have been kicking myself ever since. Later I had another that was saturated with memory and I turned down an offer for that one.

“At the same time it gives me a kick to get offers for my favorite paintings, though, because then I know people like what I like.”

Dr. Lahee can’t choose a standout painting from his collection.

“Oh I like some better than others,” he reminisced, “but I like several for different reasons. Almost every painting I make relates to an incident in my life and each evokes its own beautiful memories. And I don’t think I could judge the quality of my individual paintings any way.”

Dr. Lahee lives with his wife, Gladys, in a ranch home nestled among several trees high above the Northfield valley. Their only child, Katherine, lives next door.

“We’ve been married only about 51 years,” says Dr. Lahee, “or maybe it’s more, I don’t know. It could be 54 years.”

When you’re climbing mountains, camping and painting at age 81, a few years don’t make much difference.

 

____________________________

Course Description
1911-12

14a1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver. (XIV)

This course begins with an analysis of the theory of value. The attempt is then made to formulate a positive theory of distribution helpful in explaining the actual incomes of the various classes of producers. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered. This course is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1.

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

____________________________

Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. A. W. Lahee. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 94: 6 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 4 Others.

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

____________________________

ECONOMICS 14a
Mid-year Final Examination
1911-12

Read all the questions carefully before beginning to answer any of them.

  1. Is there any reason to expect that the means of satisfying human desires should always exist in just the right proportions to satisfy those desires? What bearing does your answer to the above question have upon the problem of value?
  2. Is there any reason to expect that the supply of the various kinds of human talent should always be proportionate to the need for them? What bearing does your answer to this question have upon the problem of wages?
  3. Is there any reason to expect that the supply of other factors of production should always be proportionate to the need for them? What bearing does your answer to this question have upon the problem of rent and interest?
  4. Why does the value of a consumable article tend, other things equal, to fall as its supply increases?
  5. Why does the value of a productive agent tend, other things equal, to fall as its supply increases?
  6. What is the effect on the value of a given productive agent when the supply of other productive agents increases, other things equal? Why?
  7. Is there any connection between such terms as “non-competing groups” “supplementary goods,” and “wages fund”?
  8. How would you distinguish between diminishing returns from land and the economy of large scale production?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 57.

__________________________

From earlier semesters

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10
1910-11

’The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

Image Source: 1964 painting by Arnold W. Lahee (Harvard PhD, 1933).

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Advanced modern European economic history. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Gay, 1911-1912

Vue d'un port avec le Capitole by Claude Lorrain (Gellée) (1636)

This is listed as a full-course (i.e. both semesters). However to date I have only been able to find a copy of the final exam from the end of the second semester.

__________________________

Earlier Harvard courses
on European economic history

Links to earlier course material for European Economic History from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1910-11.

__________________________

Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Gay and Dr. [Howard Levi] Gray. [Note that Gray was not reported as co-teaching this course in the Harvard President’s Annual Report]

At the outset a survey will be made of economic and social conditions in the chief European countries at the close of the Middle Ages. The history of agriculture, industry, and commerce in the succeeding periods down to the beginning of the nineteenth century will then be treated in some detail. England will receive the emphasis due to its increasing importance during this period.

Course 11 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Economics 1 or History 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). p. 62.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 11. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 4: 3 Graduates, 1 Freshman.

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

__________________________

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Final Exam
1911-12

  1. State the chief provisions and significance of (a) the Statute of Artificers, (b) the Navigation Act, and (c) the Corn Law of 1688.
  2. Trace the development of banking in Europe before 1760.
  3. What were the chief forms of company organization? Give examples.
  4. Describe in general the price movement of the sixteenth century and indicate its causes and results.
  5. “With a country almost naturally defenceless, engaged by position and religion in conflicts far beyond their real national strength, the Dutch at length became exhausted by the pressure of the taxes they paid.” Does this explain the economic decline of Holland?
  6. Discuss taxation in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 56-57.

Image Source: Wikipedia Commons.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Ripley, 1911-1912

Harper's Weekly. October 20, 1888

The “so-called trust problem” was the principal topic for William Z. Ripley’s course on the Economics of Corporations. Big Business and Organized Labor were the objects of his research interests as well.

________________________

Earlier Harvard courses
on Corporations

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Corporations taught at Harvard, 1902-1903 through 1909-10.

__________________________

Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 9b 2hf. Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not from their legal but from their purely economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn.

The course is open to those students only who have passed in Economics 1. Systematic reading and report work will be assigned from time to time.

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

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.— Economics of Corporations.

Total 140: 9 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 72 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 2 Others.

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

__________________________

ECONOMICS 9b
Final Examination
Year-end, 1911-12

Answer in order.

  1. State in topical form, omitting everything except the briefest outline, all you can recall concerning preferred stocks of industrial corporations. Just such headings as would make paragraphs in an essay on the subject. Name examples under each where possible.
  2. What was the purpose of the valorization of coffee scheme? How has it worked?
  3. Two objections to the price policy of the “trusts” have been advanced. One is the special cutting of prices in local markets; the other is “dumping” abroad at reduced prices. Are the two really different in essence; and if so, in what respect? Discuss fully.
  4. Sketch the argument and conclusions in the recent Standard Oil case in the Supreme Court. What particular logical difficulty had to be overcome?
  5. What is meant by “over capitalization”? What its effect upon: (a) earning power; (b) the market price of securities?
  6. Compare the organization of the “Powder Trust,” with the Standard Oil Co. How does the dissolution of the two bring up different problems in each case?
  7. In what respect is English company law in advance of ours?
  8. Compare Federal incorporation and Federal licences as remedies for some of our industrial ills.
  9. What industrial factors favor the inauguration of a policy of integration in production? Illustrate.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 56.

________________________

Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1906-07 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1907-08 (with Stuart Daggett)

Economics of Corporations, 1908-09 (with Edmund Thornton Miller)

Economics of Corporations, 1909-10 (with Goepper and Whipple)

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

Image Source: “A Trustworthy Beast” by W. A. Rogers in Harper’s Weekly (October 20, 1888), p. 803.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Problems of labor. Course description, enrollment, final examination. Ripley, 1911-1912

Cartoon by Arthur Young

 

William Z. Ripley’s course on problems of labor was an institutional survey of trade unionism and labor legislation. Economics 9a and 9b were dedicated to market power of organized labor and organized capital, respectively. 

His assistant was the magna cum laude, prize-winning undergraduate Roscoe Russell Hess who had a QJE publication before leaving for the Harvard Law School.

Links to previous Harvard labor exams 1892-93 to 1910-11.

________________________

Labor Bibliographies
Prepared by Ripley

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

___________________________

Meet the Teaching Assistant:
Roscoe Russell Hess
(1887-1979)

Harvard Class of 1911, First Report  (April 1912)

1909-10. Bowdoin Prize. Second prize of $100 for the essay “A Short History and Analysis of the English Submarine Telegraph Company.”

1910-11. Bowdoin Prize. First prize of $250 for the essay “The Paper Industry in its Relation to Conservation and the Tariff.” [Published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1911.]

1911. A.B. magna cum laude

1912. Address:  1722 West 58th St., Seattle, Wash.; is tutoring; his present address is care of Mrs. Hugo R. Johnstone, ” Brackenide,” Hamilton.

Harvard Class of 1911 Decennial Report (1922),
pp. 193-194

Roscoe Russell Hess

Born at Plymouth, Ind., Oct. 17, 1887.
Parents: Joseph William Hess, Nellie Josephine Tibbets.
School: Seattle High School, Seattle, Wash.
Degrees: A. B. 1911; LL. B. 1916.
War Service: Enlisted Aug. 3, 1917, Pvt.; Discharged Jan. 15, 1919, 2nd Lt. F. A. 144th F. A. and others.
Occupation: Lawyer.
Address: ( Home ) Overland Club, Pasadena, Calif. ( Bus. ) 503 H. W. Hellman Bldg., Los Angeles, Calif.

 

For two years after graduation I was tutor for two sons of Hugo R. Johnstone, ’92, wintering in California. The next three years were in the Law School, wherein I received the ” gentleman’s mark, ” but I did an unbelievable amount of type- writing for other fellows in the Law School. The summer of 1916 I spent as secretary for Sir Edgar Speyer, London banker, and the next year was in California, getting admitted to the bar. Then came seventeen months in the Field Artillery and never got across, but landed as far as Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and was discharged Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery. The last two years I have spent in the office of F. G. Cruickshank, best probate lawyer in Pasadena, but at this present writing I am spending time in Los Angeles, preparing income tax returns for people who cannot understand the intricacies of the thing. After March 15 I hope to open an office of my own in Los Angeles.

As to the service, I can only speak of it with regret – a most poignant bitterness, because I enlisted in August 1917 with an outfit that I hoped had the pull to get overseas orders and I made the mistake of my life in not going back to Boston at that time and trying to tie up with an eastern outfit that would have had a better chance of seeing the real stuff.

Member: Overland Club, Pasadena; Sons of the Revolution, California Society, Los Angeles.

___________________________

Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 9a1hf. Problems of Labor. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. ——

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed, with especial reference to legislation. Among the topics included will be: collective bargaining; labor organizations; factory legislation in the United States and Europe; strikes, strike legislation and legal decisions; conciliation and arbitration; employers’ liability and compulsory compensation; compulsory insurance with particular reference to European experience; the problem of the unemployed; apprenticeship, and trade and technical education.

Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice. This course is open to students who hare passed in Economics 1 and to Juniors and Seniors of good standing who are taking Economics 1 at the same time.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). pp. 64-65.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Hess. — Problems of Labor.

Total 70: 3 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 35 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Other.

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

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ECONOMICS 9a
Final Exam
Mid-year 1911-12

  1. Economically speaking, that is to say regardless of legal obstacles, why should not the state regulate conditions of labor for adult men, as well as for women and children? Would this accord with trade union ideals?
  2. What details in the Baldwin Locomotive Works’ plan of apprenticeship would insure or forfeit its approval by a thoroughgoing trades unionist?
  3. What are some of the defects, according to Webb, in the Victorian Minimum Wage legislation?
  4. State any economic differences between American and Australian conditions which might affect the success of such legislation in Massachusetts.
  5. Name, specifically, four labor and social laws in England, which are more advanced than most of our state regulation in America.
  6. Having regard to its original uses, to what occurrences might injunctions be applied in connection with labor disputes? To what others has it been applied in later usage?
  7. Cite as many instances as you can, of different labor laws, held to be unconstitutional by the Courts.
  8. Discuss the present longshoremen’s strike in Boston.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 55.

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Previous Labor Courses at Harvard

1892-93. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1893-94. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1894-95. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1895-96. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the U.S. and in Other Countries (E. Cummings)
1896-97. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1897-98. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (J. and E. Cummings)
1898-99. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E. Cummings)
1899-1900. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (Omitted)
1900-01. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (W.F. Willoughby)
1901-02. The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S. (E.D. Durand)
1902-03. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1903-04. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1904-05. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1905-06. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1906-07. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1907-08. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1908-09. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1909-10. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)
1910-11. Problems of Labor (W.Z. Ripley)

Image Source: Arthur Young cartoon illustration for “The Industrial Revolt at Lawrence” by Richard Washburn Child in Collier’s The National Weekly, Vol. 48, Issue 25 (March 9, 1912), p. 14.

Categories
Business Cycles Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Money, Banking, and Crises. Description, Enrollment, and Year-end Exam. Day, 1911-1912

I don’t know why the department of economics felt a need to merge two semester courses into a single two semester sequence,  but in 1911-12 Edmund Ezra Day’s two distinct courses were joined into a single sequence covering money, banking and crises. Maybe it was really a desire to reduce three semester courses (1) money (2) banking and foreign exchange (3) and commercial crises into two semesters.

The mid-year exam for the first term of the two-semester course on money, banking, and crises was not found with the other exams of the 1911-12 academic year in the Harvard archives. One has to make do with what one’s got.

Professor Edmund Ezra Day’s biographical timeline was posted earlier.

________________________

Banking, Foreign Exchange and Crises pre-1911/12

Links to earlier course material for Banking, Foreign Exchange, and Crises from Harvard, 1902-03 through 1910-11.

________________________

Meet the Course Teaching Assistant

Thomas York (1883–1941)

Dec. 22, 1883 — Born, Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, son of Walenty (“Valentine”) and Anna York, Polish immigrants.

1900 — Graduates Mount Carmel High School.

1903 — Enters Phillips Exeter Academy in preparation for Harvard; matriculates at Harvard College, 1903.

1903–06 — In residence at Harvard College.

1907 — Receives A.B., summa cum laude, with the Class of 1907 (having completed the course in three years).

1907–1910 (c.) — Teaches Latin and Greek at the Morristown School, a boys’ boarding school in Morristown, N.J.

1910 — Returns to Harvard, entering the Graduate School to study economics.

1911 — Receives A.M.

1911–1913 — Serves as Assistant in Economics, Harvard University, under Professor  Day, including work on Economics 8 (Money, Banking and Crises).

1913 (c.) — Leaves Harvard without pursuing the Ph.D.; joins the staff of the Wall Street Journal.

Sept. 4, 1918 — Marries Isabel Smith of Mount Carmel, in New York City (Mount Carmel Item, Sept. 6, 1918).

Sept. 12, 1918 — WWI draft registration; listed as reporter, Wall Street Journal; residence 609 West 127th Street, New York, with wife Isabel.

1920 — Publishes Foreign Exchange: Theory and Practice.

1920 (c.) — Leaves the Wall Street Journal after seven years on its staff (having risen to Foreign Exchange Editor); joins the Ronald Press Company, New York, publishers of business and financial books.

1920–1922 — Prepares an enlarged edition of his foreign-exchange book.

1923 — Publishes International Exchange, Normal and Abnormal; favorably reviewed in the New York Times (Apr. 8, 1923) and celebrated in his hometown paper, the Mount Carmel Item (Apr. 9, 1923).

1920–1941 — Serves twenty years on the editorial board of the Ronald Press Company, supervising numerous finance and business titles; contributes to financial periodicals and lectures at financial conventions; frequently consulted by banking and brokerage houses.

(undated, pre-1941) — Works on an unpublished manuscript on banking, accounting, and corporation law, left incomplete at his death.

Jan. 12, 1941 — Dies suddenly of a heart attack at his home, 5 West 65th Street, New York City, age 57.

Jan. 13–14, 1941 — Death reported in the Mount Carmel Item and the New York Times.

(after 1941) — Widow Isabel Smith York donates his unpublished manuscript to Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School.

Sources: Harvard College Class of 1907, Secretary’s First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth (Quindecennial) Reports; Cambridge, Mass. city directories (1912–13); Mount Carmel Item (Sept. 6, 1918; Apr. 9, 1923; Jan. 13, 1941); New York Times (Apr. 8, 1923; Jan. 14, 1941); WWI draft registration card (Sept. 12, 1918); Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School, finding aid (bak01111).

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THOMAS YORK [as of 1922]

BORN at Mt. Carmel, Pa., Dec. 22, 1883.
SON OF: Walter, Anna York.
PREPARED AT: Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.
YEARS IN COLLEGE: 1903-06.
DEGREES: A.B. 1907, Α.Μ. 1911.
MARRIED: Isabel Smith, September 1918, Mt. Carmel, Pa.
OCCUPATION: Publisher.
ADDRESS: c/o Ronald Press Co., 20 Vesey St., New York, N.Y.

                  I HAVE been engaged in sundry occupations since leaving College. For three years I taught Latin and Greek at the Morristown School, a private institution for boys at Morristown, N.J. The classics, however, offered little opportunity for my rising ambition, and I, therefore, decided to turn to matters of more up-to-date interest. So in the fourth year of graduation I came back to Harvard to enter the Graduate School, and there I spent three diligent years delving into the dismal science, otherwise known as economics. I still had teaching in view, but at the close of my graduate course I definitely abandoned the idea. I hasten to add, lest there be some misunderstanding, that I am not the possessor of the Ph.D. A constitutional dislike of the grind that is the condition precedent of obtaining that degree turned me away from pursuit of it.

                  Having accumulated a modicum of knowledge about banking and finance during my Graduate School days, I decided to try my fortune in financial journalism. So I am next found on the staff of the Wall Street Journal. Here I had a varied experience, marketwise and otherwise. I made valiant attempts during my first years in the Street to find the proverbial pot of gold. Not meeting with success I turned to less distracted, though more laborious, pursuits, visible evidence of which is furnished by a book on foreign exchange. Not satisfied with this maiden effort at authorship, I undertook to get out an enlarged edition of the book, and this has engaged my spare time for the last two years. I have in the meantime also been contributing to some financial periodicals.

                  I left the Wall Street Journal two years ago, after serving seven years on its staff. Since then I have been associated with the Ronald Press Company, 20 Vesey Street, New York, publishers of business and financial books.

                  In September of 1918 I joined the ranks of the benedicts. My wife was Miss Isabel Smith of my home town, Mt. Carmel, Pa.

Source: Secretary’s Fifth Report. Harvard College Class of 1907 (June, 1922), pp. 596-597.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 8. Money, Banking, and Crises. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 1.30. Dr. Day.

This course aims to analyze the principal problems of money and credit. An examination is first made of the more important existing monetary systems. This is followed by a careful review of the more instructive chapters in the monetary history of England, Germany, France, the United States, Austria, British India, Mexico, and the Philippines.

The nature, origin, and early growth of commercial banking are considered. A thorough investigation of present banking practice in England, France, Germany, and Canada is followed by a study of banking history and present banking problems in the United States. In this connection foreign exchange and the money markets of London, Paris, Berlin, and New York are examined.

Finally attention is turned to those problems of money and credit which appear most prominently in connection with economic crises. Though emphasis is thrown upon the financial aspects of the trade cycle, the investigation covers the more fundamental factors causing commercial and industrial fluctuations.

Short papers upon assigned topics will be required of all students. The course is open to those only who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 64.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 8. Dr. E. E. Day, assisted by Mr. York. — Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.

Total 120: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 70 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 1 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 8
Year-end Final Examination
1911-12

  1. Give (in not more than 100 words, using tabular form if you wish) the history of the silver dollar in the United States. What is its present position? Is it a source of weakness in our monetary system? If so, why? If not, why not?
  2. Describe the monetary experience of India from 1893 to 1901. What were the immediate and ultimate standards of value in India in (1) 1895, (2) 1899, (3) 1901?
  3. Compare the bank note issues of Germany and Canada with reference to (1) elasticity; (2) limitations upon the aggregate circulation; (3) ultimate security. Which system seems to you preferable for the United States? Why?
  4. Define discount market. Describe the English discount market. How has the absence of such a market affected banking in the United States? What provisions of the Aldrich Bill are designed to establish a discount market in this country?
  5. To what degree does the rate of discount vary in different parts of (1) Canada, (2) the United States? How in each case is the absence of perfect uniformity to be accounted for? If the Aldrich Plan were adopted, could the Reserve Association probably control the rate of discount in the United States? If so, how? If not, why not?
  6. Describe briefly the following phenomena in the crisis of 1907: (a) currency premium; (b) hoarding; (c) the domestic exchanges; (d) substitutes for cash.
  7. State concisely the theory of crises advanced by Professor Fisher in “The Purchasing Power of Money.” Discuss the theory critically.
  8. Indicate fully the significance of the following “indices” in an analysis of general business conditions:

(1) Value of the corn crop;
(2) Railway net earnings;
(3) Business failures;
(4) Gold exports.

In each case explain why the “index” has or has not significance.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 54-55.

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Exams from earlier years

1902/03-1907/08. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles (A.P. Andrew)
1906/07. Banking and Foreign Exchange (A.P. Andrew)
1907/08. Banking and Foreign Exchange (A.P. Andrew)
1908/09. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles (Wesley Clair Mitchell)
1908/09. Banking and Foreign Exchange (W.C. Mitchell)
1909/10. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles [Not offered].
1909/10. Banking and Foreign Exchange (O.M.W. Sprague)
1910/11. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade (E.E. Day)
1910/11. Banking and Foreign Exchange (E.E. Day)

Source: Edmund Ezra Day (colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror) in the Harvard Class Album 1915.