Category: Harvard

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Economists Harvard

Harvard. Life and works of political economy and philosophy professor Francis Bowen (1811-1890).

 

This post is dedicated to the life and works of Harvard professor Francis Bowen who taught political economy courses when not teaching philosophy and constitutional law courses decades before economics became an established department of its own. The biography comes from a reference work published at the turn of the 20th century “Universities and their Sons”. I managed to add links to all of the works by Bowen cited in the biographical article transcribed below. 

Here a less than flattering description of Francis Bowen’s pedagogical style with respect to political economy written by Harvard President Charles W. Eliot looking back to the start of his election in 1869.

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Exams for courses of Francis Bowen
transcribed at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror

1867-68

Seniors, Political Economy, January 1868

1868-69

Seniors, Political Economy, June 1869

1869-70

Seniors, First-term. Political Economy, December 1869.

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BOWEN, Francis, 1811-1890.

Born in Charlestown, Mass., 1811; graduate of Harvard, 1833; Instructor in Intellectual Philosophy and Political Economy at the same Institution, 1835-1839; Editor and Proprietor of the North American Review; delivered Lowell Institute Lectures in Boston; succeeded Dr. Walker in the Alford Professorship at Harvard; and “Emeritus” Professor at the time of his death, (1890).

FRANCIS BOWEN, LL.D., Alford Professor at Harvard, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, September 8, 1811. He was graduated at Harvard in 1833, two years later becoming Instructor in Natural Philosophy and Political Economy. While studying in Europe (1839-1841) he formed the acquaintance of such noted scholars as Sismondi and De Gerando. Returning to Cambridge, he, in 1843, took charge of the North American Review, as Editor and proprietor, and conducted that magazine for nearly eleven years. During the years 1848-1849 he lectured before the Lowell Institute, Boston, on the application of Metaphysical and Ethical Science to the Evidences of Religion. On account of his having taken the unpopular side in the Review on the “Hungarian Question,” the Board of Overseers of Harvard would not concur with the Corporation in appointing him to the McLean Professorship of History in 1850. In the winter of that year he again lectured before the Lowell Institute on Political Economy, and in 1852 his subjects were the Origin and Development of the English and American Constitutions. Upon the election of Dr. Walker to the Presidency of Harvard (1853), Mr. Bowen received almost unanimous confirmation by the Overseers as Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity, holding that Chair continuously until 1888, when he became Professor “Emeritus.” He was also for some time the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Phillips-Exeter Academy. His subsequent Lowell Institute lectures were devoted to the English metaphysicians and philosophers from Bacon to Sir William Hamilton. Professor Bowen died in 1890. He was a fellow of the American Academy and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. His published works consist of: Virgil, with English notes; Critical Essays on the History and Present Condition of Speculative Philosophy; Lowell Lectures; an abridged edition of Dugald Stewart’s Philosophy of the Human Mind; Documents of the Constitution of England and America, from Magna Charta to the Federal Constitution of 1789; the lives of Steuben, Otis, and Benjamin Lincoln, in Sparks’ American Biography; Principles of Political Economy Applied to the Condition, Resources and Institutions of the American People; a revised edition of Reeve’s translation of de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America; a Treatise on Logic; American Political Economy, with remarks on the finances since the beginning of the Civil War; Modern Philosophy, from Descartes to Schopenhauer and Hartmann; Gleanings from a Literary Life, 1838-1880; and A Layman’s Study of the English Bible, considered in its Literary and Secular Aspect.

Source: “Francis Bowen” in Universities and their sons. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, ed. Vol. 2 (Boston: R. Herndon Company, 1900), pp. 144-145.

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Links to Bowen’s Work Cited

Virgil, with English Notes (Boston: David H. Williams, 1842).

Critical Essays on the History and Present Condition of Speculative Philosophy (Boston: H.B. Williams, 1842).

Lowell Lectures on the Application of Metaphysical and Ethical Science to the Evidences of Religion. Lectures at the Lowell Institute, Winters of 1848-49. (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1849).

Abridged edition of Dugald Stewart’s [Elements of the] Philosophy of the Human Mind (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1859).

Documents of the Constitution of England and America, from Magna Charta to the Federal Constitution of 1789(Cambridge, MA: John Bartlett, 1854).

The lives of Baron Steuben (Vol. 9), Sir William Phips, (Vol. 7), James Otis (Vol. 2), and Benjamin Lincoln, (Second Series, Vol. 13) in Jared Sparks, ed. The Library of American Biography.

The Principles of Political Economy applied to the Condition, the Resources, and the Institutions of the American People (2ndedition, 1859).

Revised edition of Reeve’s translation of de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Volume I (2nd ed., 1863); Volume II (2nd ed., 1863). Cambridge: Sever and Francis.

A Treatise on Logic. (Cambridge, MA: Sever and Francis, 1864)

American Political Economy; including Strictures of the Currency and the Finances since 1861 ((New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1870). 

Modern Philosophy, from Descartes to Schopenhauer and Hartmann (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1877).

Gleanings from a Literary Life, 1838-1880 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1880), in which are reprinted:

A minority Report on the Silver Question. Presented to the Senate of the United States, in April, 1877

The Perpetuity of National Debt. A suppressed Chapter of Political Economy, read before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in March, 1868

The Financial Conduct of the War. A Lecture delivered before the Lowell Institute, in Boston, in November, 1865.

The Utility and the Limitations of the Science of Political Economy. From the Christian Examiner for March, 1838.

A Layman’s Study of the English Bible, considered in its Literary and Secular Aspect (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1885).

 

Image Source: “Francis Bowen” in Universities and their sons. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, ed. Vol. 2 (Boston: R. Herndon Company, 1900), p. 144.

 

 

 

 

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for “The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S.” Edward Cummings, 1894

 

Edward Cummings, the father of the poet E. E. Cummings, covered the social economics course offerings at Harvard at the end of the 19th century. These included courses in labor economics and social reform movements (esp. “socialism and communism”). The exams for his comparative labor course from 1893-94 mostly consisted of specific unidentified quotations, with students asked to provide explanations or comments. The text-search functions at hathitrust.org, archive.org and google located a dozen of the quotations used by Cummings and links to the texts have been provided below.

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Course Description
(from 1896-97)

The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings and Dr. John Cummings.    (VIII)

Course 9 is a comparative study of the condition and environments of workingmen in the United States and European countries. It is chiefly concerned with problems growing out of the relations of labor and capital. There is careful study of the voluntarily organizations of labor, — trade unions, friendly societies, and the various forms of cooperation; of profit-sharing, sliding scales, and joint standing committees for the settlement of disputes ; of factory legislation, employers’ liability, the legal status of laborers and labor organizations, state courts of arbitration, and compulsory government insurance against the exigencies of sickness, accident, and old age. All these expedients, together with the phenomena of international migration, the questions of a shorter working day and convict labor, are discussed in the light of experience and of economic theory, with a view to determining the merits, defects, and possibilities of existing movements.

The descriptive and theoretical aspects of the course are supplemented by statistical evidence in regard to wages, prices, standards of living, and the social condition of labor in different countries.

Topics will be assigned for special investigation, and students will be expected to participate in the discussion of selections from authors recommended for a systematic course of reading.

The course is open not only for students who have taken Course 1, but to Juniors and Seniors of good rank who are taking Course 1.

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 36-37.

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Course Enrollment
1893-94

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 43: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

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Mid-year Examination
ECONOMICS 9
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.)

  1. “It becomes my duty, therefore, in undertaking to interpret the social movement of our own times, to disclose, first, those changes in industrial methods by which harmony in industries has been disturbed, and then to trace the influence of such changes into the structure of society.” State carefully what these changes have been; and trace their influence.
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 33]
  2. Discuss the effect upon wages of machinery, — (a) as a substitute for labor (b) as auxiliary to labor; (c) as affecting division of labor; (d) as concentrating labor and capital; (e) as affecting the nobility[sic, “mobility”] of labor and capital.
  3. “In my opinion, combination among workingmen is a necessary step in the re-crystallization of industrial rights and duties.” State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion. What forms of combination do you include?
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 45]
  4. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America….” In what respects stronger? Why? Contrast briefly the history and present tendencies of the trade-union movement in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy.
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. XIII. §18, p. 404]
  5. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America; and wages have been higher in England than on the Continent, but lower than in America.” “Again, those occupations in which wages have risen most in England happen to be those in which there are no unions.” How far do such facts impeach the effectiveness of trade-unions as a means of raising wages and improving the condition of workingmen? What do you conceive to be the economic limits and the proper sphere of trade-union action?
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. §18, pp. 404-405.]
  6. “We saw at the beginning that in comparatively recent years the difficulties of keeping up a purely offensive and defensive organization had brought many of the unions back nearer their old allies, the friendly societies, and emphasized the friendly benefits in proportion as the expenditure for trade disputes seemed less important.” Explain carefully this earlier and later relation of trade-unions and Friendly Societies in England.
    [Edward Cummings, The English Trades-Unions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. III (July, 1889), p. 432.]
  7. “This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and its disadvantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and we must repeat that up to the present day it still exhibits defects.” Explain and illustrate the progress of the reform and the nature of existing defects. Does English self-help experience suggest the desirability or undesirability of imitating German methods of compulsory insurance?
  8. “Countless[sic, “Doubtless” in original] boards of arbitration and conciliation, the establishment of certain rules of procedure, agreements covering definite periods of time, may aid somewhat in averting causes of dispute or in adjusting disputes as they arise; but if we have these alone to look to, strife will be the rule rather than the exception.” Explain the various methods adopted and the results obtained. What have you to say of “compulsory arbitration?”
    [Francis A. Walker. “What Shall We Tell the Working Classes?” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 2, 1887.  Reprinted in Discussions in Economics and Statistics, edited by Davis R. Dewey. Vol. II. 315-316.]
  9. “The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, that what is desirable is not so much to put a stop to sub-contracting as to put a stop to ‘sweating,’ whether the man who treats the workman in the oppressive manner which the word ‘sweating’ denotes be a sub-contractor, a piece-master, or a contractor.” Indicate briefly some of the principal forms of industrial remuneration, — giving the special merits and defects of each.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 140.]
  10. “Now that I am on piece-work, I am making about double what I used to make when on day-work. I know I am doing wrong. I am taking away the work of another man.” State and criticize the theory involved in this view of production.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 43-44.]

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

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Year-End Examination
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Take the first three questions and four others.)

  1. “As soon, however, as the factory system was established, the inequality of women and children in their struggle with employers attracted the attention of even the most careless observers; and, attention once drawn to this circumstance, it was not long before the inequality of adult men was also brought into prominence.” How far is this true (a) of England, (b) of the United States? Trace briefly the legislative consequences for children and for adults in the two countries.
    [Arnold Toynbee. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century in England (The Humboldt Library of Popular Science Literature, Vol. 13. New York: Humboldt Publishing Co.), p. 17.]
  2. “It will be necessary, in the first place, to distinguish clearly between the failure of Industrial Coöperation and the failure of the coöperative method—a method, as we have seen, adopted, even partially, by only a very small fraction of Industrial Coöperation.” Explain carefully, discussing especially the evidence furnished by France and England.
  3. “These four concerns—the Maison Leclaire, the Godin Foundry, the Coöperative Paper Works of Angoulême and the Bon Marché—are virtually coöperative; certainly they secure to the employers and stockholders the substantial benefits of purely coöperative productive enterprises, while they are still, logically, profit-sharing establishments.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Indicate briefly the characteristic features of each enterprise.
  4. “What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing statistics? Unmistakably this, that the higher daily wages in America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor cost to the manufacturer. But why so?” Discuss the character of available evidence in regard to the United States, Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 41-2.]
  5. “The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-economic status of workmen of different nationalities in the country of their birth and the land of their adoption furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we are able to learn the social effect of economic betterment.” Explain. How do the facts in question affect your attitude toward recent changes in the character and volume of our immigration?
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 35-6.]
  6. “The Senate Finance Committee issued some time ago a comparative exhibit of prices and wages for fifty-two years, from which the conclusion is generally drawn that the condition of the wage earner is better to-day than it was thirty or forty years ago. A conclusion of this kind reveals the weakness of even the best statistics. No one can doubt that the work of the Finance Committee is work of high excellence, but for comparing the economic condition of workers it is of little value.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Indicate briefly the character of the evidence.
  7. What are the principle organizations which may be said to represent the “Labor Movement” in the United States at the present time? How far are they helpful and how far hostile to one another?
  8. “In a preceding chapter I have said that as a moral force and as a system the factory system of industry is superior to the domestic system, which it supplanted.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
    [Carroll D. Wright. Factory Legislation from Vol. II, Tenth Census of the United States, reprinted in First Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York (Albany, 1887), p. 41.]
  9. Contrast the English and the German policy in regard to Government Workingmen’s Insurance.
  10. “Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias towards individualism.” What are they?
  11. Give an imaginary family budget for American, English and German operatives in one of the following industries, — coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, glass, indicating roughly characteristic differences in such items as throw most light on the social condition of labor.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95.pp. 39-41.

Image Source: University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 155-156.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings, midterm and final exams for economic growth course. Kuznets, 1960-61

 

Simon Kuznets (b. 1901; d. 1985) left Johns Hopkins University to join the Harvard economics faculty beginning with the 1960-61 academic year. This post provides the reading list and exams for Kuznets’ signature course on economic growth from his first year as a Harvard professor. 

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 203 Economic Growth and Comparative Economic Structures. Professor Kuznets. Full course.

(F) Total 23: 12 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Radcliffe, 7 Other Graduate.

(S) Total 22: 12 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Radcliffe, 6 Other Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-1961, p. 77.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 203

Long Term Changes and International Differences—National Income and its Components

GENERAL

  1. Simon Kuznets, “National Income and Industrial Structure,” in Economic Change, Chapter 6, 145-192.
  2. Simon Kuznets, “International Differences in Income Levels,” ibid., pp. 216-252.
  3. Colin Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, 3rd Edition 1957 or any of the earlier editions (for browsing).
  4. M. Gilbert and I.B. Kravis, An International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies, Paris, O.E.E.C., 1954.
    or (Comparative National Products and Price Levels, 1958)

RATES OF GROWTH

  1. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. V, no. 1, October 1956.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, Free Press, 1959, pp. 13-41.

INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE

  1. A.G.B. Fisher, The Class of Progress and Security, London 1935.
  2. E.M. Ojala, Agriculture and Economic Progress, Oxford University Press, 1952.
  3. T.W. Schultz, The Economic Organization of Agriculture, N.Y. 1953, part I.
  4. Hollis B. Chenery, “Patterns of Industrial Growth,” American Economic Review, September 1960, pp. 624-654.
  5. P.T. Bauer and B.S. Yamey, Economic Journal, December 1951, pp. 741-755.
  6. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, (a) Supplement to No. 4, Vol. V, July 1957; (b) Part 2, Vol. VI, July 1958, also Six Lectures on Economic Growth, pp. 43-67.

FACTOR SHARES

  1. R. M. Solow, “The Constancy of Relative Shares,” American Economic Review, September 1952, pp. 618-30.
  2. I. B. Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” American Economic Review, December 1959, pp. 917-947.
  3. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. III, No. 3, Part 2, April 1959.

CAPITAL FORMATION

  1. M. Abramovitz, ed., Capital Formation and Economic Growth, Princeton 1955. Papers by Kuznets, Goldsmith, Usher, MacLaurin, and Rostow.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change,
    (a) Vol. VIII, no. 4, Part II, July 1960.
    (b) Vol. IX, no. 3, Part II, April 1961

CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

  1. M. K. Bennett, “International Disparities in Consumption Levels,” American Economic Review, September 1951, pp. 632-649.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Regional Economic Trends and Levels of Living,” in P.M. Hauser, Population and World Politics, Free Press 1958.
  3. International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Income and Wealth Series II, Chapter VI, particularly pp. 167-177. (1953)

INCOME DISTRIBUTION BY SIZE

  1. I. B. Kravis, “International Differences in the Distribution of Income,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1960, pp. 402-416.
  2. Simon Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review, March 1955, pp. 1-28.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (2 of 2)”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 203
Midyear Examination
January 1961

Choose 6 out of the 8 questions, omitting one out of group 2-5 and one out of group 6-8.

Please write clearly and concisely. An outline of the answer rather than a full presentation is also acceptable, provided the outline is sufficiently detailed and informative.

  1. Outline the time pattern of rates of natural increase of population in the transition from the pre-modern period to modern growth, distinguishing movements of birth rates and death rates, separately for the older (European) and younger (overseas) countries. Comment briefly on probable causes.
  2. State the connection between Malthus’ population theory, the theory of differential rent, the law of diminishing returns, the iron law of wages, and the theory of long-term trends in distribution of national product and of the approach to the stationary state.
  3. Outline the types of evidence claimed in support of Pearl’s “law of population growth” and comment on their validity.
  4. What is the general structure of assumptions underlying an empirical projection of population growth? Distinguish the theory of the model from the theory of deviations and comment briefly on each.
  5. Indicate the reasons adduced by Alvin Hansen to demonstrate the depressive effects on economic growth of retardation in the growth of population, and evaluate them.
  6. Outline the major features of trans-ocean trade in the centuries immediately prior to the industrial revolution, and the various contributions made by it to the emergence of modern capitalism.
  7. Why was the industrial revolution concentrated primarily in cotton, iron, steel, and steam power?
  8. Discuss the slackening in the rate of technical change in the cotton textile industry after the mid-nineteenth century, as well as in the economic effects of technical change in the industry. Indicate both the ways of measuring the changes, and the reasons for slackening in the rate of their occurrence.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences, Final Examinations. Vol. 131. January 1961. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. January 1961.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 203
Final Examination
June 6, 1961

Answer at least 4 questions, choosing at least one from each of the four Roman numeral groups. You may answer more if you wish. A detailed outline of an answer, instead of a complete text, is acceptable.

Group I

  1. In what sense is the association between technical changes and scientific discoveries, illustrated by the history of the radio industry, different from that characterizing the inventions of the Industrial Revolution? Discuss.
  2. Outline (and discuss) factors making for a retardation in the rate of growth, observable in most specific industries in the Western European countries and in the United States.

Group II

  1. Indicate properties of national income or product estimates as measures of economic growth. Consider particularly limitations arising out of difficulties as to scope, netness, and valuation.
  2. What are the implications of the rates of growth in per capita product, observed for the past half century or longer for the developed countries, as to the comparative levels of per capita product in underdeveloped countries today and in the presently developed countries just prior to their industrialization? Discuss.

Group III

  1. Discuss the factors involved in the long-term decline, in the process of modern economic growth, in the share of agriculture in national product? In labor force? Distinguish clearly between the trends in the share in product and in the share in labor force.
  2. How do you explain the rise in the shares of labor force attached to the service industries in the course of economic growth? Define the service industries before answering the question.

Group IV

  1. Define various types of proportion of capital formation to aggregate product (gross-net, domestic-national, etc.) that can be calculated; the corresponding types of capital-output ratios; and discuss their possible use in the analysis of economic growth.
  2. Discuss factors that might have made for a rising trend in the proportion of capital formation to national product observed in many (if not all) countries. Distinguish between gross and net capital formation proportions; and between domestic and national.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences, Final Examinations. Vol. 134. June 1961. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. June 1961.

Image Source: National Academy of Sciences. 2001. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 79. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, p. 202.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for European and U.S. Economic History. Gay and Klein, 1910-1911

This post adds  final examinations for the 1910-11 academic year to previous posts dedicated to two economic history courses taught by Edwin F. Gay during the second decades of the twentieth century at Harvard. 

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Instructors: Edwin F. Gay, Julius Klein

Biographical information

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Reading list: First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Final exam. First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

[European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century]

  1. (a) “The essence of the industrial revolution is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth….Competition came to be believed in as a gospel.” (Toynbee.)
    Give illustrations of the substitution of competition, and state why, in your opinion, the good rather than the evil of competition was emphasized at this period.
    (b) Toynbee said: “The effects of the industrial revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.” A Boston reformer, speaking of the advent of machinery, says, “The profits from the machine were absorbed by capital,” so that the people did not have their share. Does the economic history of the nineteenth century support these views?
  2. (a) Trace concisely the influence of agricultural interests upon the tariff history of England, France and Germany in the nineteenth century.
    (b) Has England been more affected by the agricultural depression of the last thirty years than other European countries? Why has it not been more influenced by the “protectionist reaction?”
  3. How has the French railroad policy differed from that of Prussia? Which has been the more beneficial? Give reasons.
  4. Do the actual conditions warrant the assertions concerning “the ominous situation of British trade?” Give reasons.
  5. State succinctly the chief facts concerning:—
    (a) Assignats.
    (b) British shipping subsidies.
    (c) Crisis of 1857.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, Mid-years (HUC 7000.55). Box 8, Examination Papers, Mid-years, 1910-11.

cf. Final exam. First term, 1914-15.
Economics 2a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

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Reading list: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

Economic and Financial History of the United States.

 

Final exam: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

[Economic and Financial History of the United States]

  1. Outline fully the topics you would discuss if you were to write a thesis on the history of the iron and steel industry in the United States.
  2. Comment on the following:—
    1. “We import annually millions of dollars’ worth of tropical products that could be grown in the United States.” (Report of Secretary of Agriculture for 1901.)
    2. “The sum paid by American producers and manufacturers to these foreign bottoms during the past year was $500,000,000, a sum sufficient to dig the Panama Canal and operate it for twenty years. Remember that all this good American money has gone into the pockets of foreigners.” (Admiral Evans in a recent magazine article.)
  3. (a) Outline our tariff history since 1890.
    (b) Comment on Senator Aldrich’s statement: “I do not believe there are any duties levied in this bill [the tariff act of 1909] that are excessive or are prohibitory.”
    (c) The American experience with reciprocity. Are you in favor of the reciprocity treaty with Canada? State your reasons.
  4. Rhodes in his history of the United States says: “This tendency [the accumulation of large fortunes and the development of abject poverty] had begun before the War and has been the result rather of the constantly deteriorating character of the European immigration than of industrial changes on our own soil.”
    Do you agree with this view? Give your reasons.
  5. Comment on the following: “The year 1896 was in fact one of those periods rare in the history of any country of which it could be said that a given chapter had definitely closed and that another was about to open.”
  6. Compare briefly the conditions before and after the Civil War in respect to
    1. The defects of our banking system;
    2. The public land policy;
    3. Governmental assistance to and control of transportation enterprise.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

cf. Final Exam. Second term, 1914-15.

Economics 2b
Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Image Source: Edwin Francis Gay and Julius Klein, respectively, from The World’s Work, Vol. XXVII, No. 5 (March 1914) and Harvard Album 1920.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Readings and Final Exam for Normative Aspects of Economic Policy. Bergson, 1960

 

The reading list and final exam questions from 1959 for Abram Bergson‘s Harvard undergraduate course “Normative Aspects of Economic Policy” have been posted earlier. This post provides material for the same course taught in the spring term of 1960. The reading lists are completely identical, but this time I have gone to the trouble of providing links to most of the course readings.  The exam questions for the 1960 do indeed differ from those of 1959 while covering broadly the same material.

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Enrollment

[Economics] 111a. Normative Aspects of Economic Policy. Professor Bergson. Half course. (Spring)

Total 36: 3 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1959-1960, p. 82.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Normative Aspects of Economic Policy
Spring Term: 1959-60

  1. The concept of economic efficiency.

Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chicago, 1951, Chapter I.

  1. Consumers’ goods distribution and labor recruitment: the efficiency of perfect competition: other forms of market organization.

Scitovsky, Chapters II-V, XVI (pp. 338-41), XVIII, XX (pp. 423-427).
A. P. Lerner, Economics of Control, New York, 1946, Chapter 2.

  1. Conditions for efficiency in production.

Scitovsky, Chapters VI-VIII.
Lerner, Chapter 5.

  1. Production efficiency under perfect competition; monopolistic markets.

See the readings under topic 3.
Scitovsky, Chapter X, XI, XII, XV, XVI (pp. 341-363), XVII, XX (pp. 428-439).
Lerner, Chapters 6, 7.

  1. The optimum rate of investment.

Scitovsky, Chapter IX (pp. 216-228).
A. C. Pigou, Economics of Welfare, fourth ed., London, 1948, pp. 23-30.”Wa

  1. Price policy for a public enterprise.

Lerner, Chapter 15.
I. M. D. Little, A Critique of Welfare Economics, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1957, Chapter XI.
O. Eckstein, Water Resource Development, Cambridge, 1958, pp. 47-70, pp. 81-109.

  1. Socialist economic calculation.

O. Lange, On the Economic Theory of Socialism, Minn., 1938, pp. 55-141.
F. Hayek, Socialist Calculation: Economica, May 1940
A. Bergson, Socialist Economics, in H. Ellis, ed., A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Philadelphia, 1948.
M. Dobb, Economic Theory and Socialism, New York, 1955, pp. 41-92.

  1. Economic calculation in underdeveloped countries.

A. Datta, Welfare versus Growth Economics, Indian Economic Journal, October 1956.
T. Scitovsky, Two Concepts of External Economics, Journal of Political Economy, April 1954.
J. Tinbergen, The Design of Development, Balto., Md., 1958.

  1. The concept of social welfare.

The writings of Bergson and Dobb under topic 7.
Pigou, Economics of Welfare, Chapters I, VIII.
Lerner, Chapter 3.
J. R. Hicks, Foundations of Welfare Economics, Economic Journal, December 1939.
Arthur Smithies, Economic Welfare and Policy, in A. Smithies et al., Economics and Public Policy, Washington, 1955.

 

Other References on the Concept of Social Welfare and Optimum Conditions

M. W. Reder, Studies in the Theory of Welfare Economics, New York 1947.

P. A. Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, Cambridge, 1947, Chapter VIII.

K. Boulding, Welfare Economics, in B. Haley, A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Homewood, Illinois, 1952.

H. Myint, Theories of Welfare Economics, Cambridge, Mass., 1948.

J. A. Hobson, Work and Wealth, London, 1933.

J. M. Clark, Guideposts in Time of Change, New York, 1949.

J. de V. Graaf, Theoretical Welfare Economics, Cambridge, 1957.

F. M. Bator, The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization, American Economic Review, March 1957.

A. Bergson, A Reformulation [of Certain Aspects] of Welfare Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1938.

P. A. Samuelson, Evaluation of Real National Income, Oxford Economic Papers, January 1950.

A. C. Pigou, Some Aspects of Welfare Economics, American Economic Review, June 1951.

T. Scitovsky, The State of Welfare Economics, American Economic Review, June 1951.

J. E. Meade, Trade and Welfare, New York, 1955, Part I.

[Note: no additional assignment for the reading period]

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1959-60”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Final Examination

June 2, 1960

Answer four and only four of the following six questions.

  1. Explain the “price-consumption” curve for a single household in a perfectly competitive consumers’ goods market. What determines the shape of the curve? By use of this curve, show how the household’s consumption might be affected by a percentage sales tax on one commodity. What determines the total taxes paid by the household?
  2. In an economy which otherwise is perfectly competitive, a trade union arbitrarily limits entry of workers into a single industry. In equilibrium, what conditions for an economic optimum are violated?
  3. “Under ‘free’ competition it is true that individual firms have monopoly power and hence charge prices above marginal costs. But since there is free entry, there hardly can be any serious economic waste on this account, for prices cannot long exceed average cost.” Discuss.
  4. For purposes of fixing prices for a public enterprise, what arguments might be advanced for and against acceptance of each of the following theoretic principles:
    1. Maximization of profits;
    2. Pricing at average cost, including a “normal” competitive return on invested capital;
    3. Pricing at marginal cost;
    4. Pricing at minimum average costs.
  5. Explain briefly:
    1. Parametric function of prices;
    2. “Technological” versus “pecuniary” external economies;
    3. “Accounting prices” in economics of development;
    4. “Defective telescopic faculty.”
  6. Discuss the different approaches employed in welfare economics to the problem of income distribution.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Naval Science, Air Science. June 1960. In Social Sciences, Final Examinations, June 1960 (HUC 2000.28, No. 128).

Portrait of Abram Bergson. See Paul A. Samuelson, “Abram Bergson, 1914-2003: A Biographical Memoir”, in National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, Volume 84 (Washington, D.C.: 2004).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam Questions. International Monetary Economics. Meyer and Sprague, 1900-1901.

Oliver Sprague

Having just returned from nearly three weeks of travel to visit family in the U.S., I can continue the work of transcribing and posting of artifacts for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. During my trip I was even able to sneak in a few days of work in the Harvard University archive. My first priority now is to supplement earlier posts with complementary material from this last archival visit.

Very recently I posted “Harvard. Final exams for international payments and specie flows. Dunbar and Meyer, 1894,1901“. That post included the mid-year examination for the course taught by Hugo Richard Meyer (International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals) in 1900-1901. This post is able to include the final examination for the second semester course taught by Oliver M. Sprague (Banking and the history of the leading Banking Systems). It does not appear that the courses were conceived as a sequence, but the common course number does reflect the shared substantive content of international payments and finance. 

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About the instructors

Hugo Richard Meyer (b. 1866, d. 1923). Biographical information.

Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague (b. 1873, d. 1953). Biographical Information.

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Enrollments
1900-01

[Economics] 12a1 . Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.

Total 16: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Other.

[Economics 122 hf. Dr. Sprague. — Banking and the History of the Leading Banking Systems.

Total 128: 4 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 14 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 12a1.
Mid-Year Examination. 1901.

Observe strictly the order in which the questions are arranged.

  1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
  2. What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
  3. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered), what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.), page 139.]
  4. The conditions which led to the flow of gold to the United States in the fiscal years 1880 and 1881?
  5. What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point both in domestic and in international finance?

Alternative:

The reasons for the return flow from Europe of American securities in the years 1890-1900?

  1. What sort of wealth did France actually sacrifice in paying the indemnity? What was the process?
  2. Is Mr. Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall”?
  3. Why is it that certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments which have to be made in one direction?

Alternative:

Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

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ECONOMICS 122
Final Examination.

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all the questions under A and two of those under B

A

  1. Explain in detail and under different circumstances the effect of an advance of the rate of discount by the Bank of England upon the money market of London and upon the foreign exchanges.
  2. Taking the separate items of a bank account point out how those of the Bank of Amsterdam differed from those of a modern bank.
  3. Define and explain:—
    1. Bill broker.
    2. Banking Principle.
    3. The State Bank of Indiana.
    4. The banking law of Louisiana.
    5. Clearing House Certificates.
  4. The extent and banking consequences of government control of the Bank of France and the Reichsbank.
  5. How do government receipts and expenditures affect the money market (a) of London, (b) of New York?
  6. Explain with illustrations from the crises of 1857 and 1893 the nature of the demand for cash in time of crisis, and consider how far that demand may be met under a flexible system of note issue.

B

  1. (a) How far and with what qualifications may banking experience in the United States before 1860 be appealed to in the discussion of changes in our banking system? (b) How far, similarly, may Canadian experience be applied?
  2. “Why compel banks to send home for redemption a multitude of notes which can as well be used in payments and are sure to be reissued at once? Why impede the free use of its power of circulation by any enterprising bank by requiring the early redemption of notes which the holder does not in fact care or need to have redeemed?”
    Explain from past experience what regulations may be expected to bring about these results, and give the reasons for demanding them.
  3. Discuss the question of branch banking with reference to the United States, including in your discussion considerations of safety and economy. Would branch banking be more desirable than at present if notes were issued against general banking assets.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, June, 1901 , pp. 33-35.

Image Source: Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague in Harvard Business School Yearbook, 1930-31, p. 18.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate core economic theory, Syllabus and Exams. Chamberlin, 1941-42.

 

Reading assignments in the first year core economic theory course taught by Edward Chamberlin at Harvard University in 1941-42 included some of the golden ‘oldies of David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, John Elliott Cairnes, John Bates Clark, and Alfred Marshall. Works by Joan Robinson, John Hicks and, of course, Chamberlin himself provided modern accents to the economic theory taught in the course.

Edward Chamberlin’s syllabus and final year-end exam for his 1938-39 version of core economic theory were posted earlier as have been the syllabus and both semester final exams for 1946-47.

___________________________

Economic Theory.
Edward Hastings Chamberlin

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 101. Professor Chamberlin. – Economic Theory.

Total 53: 9 Graduates, 7 Radcliffe, 8 School of Public Administration.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1941-42, p. 63.

___________________________

Course Description

[Economics] 101. – Economic Theory.

This course aims to provide a general background in economic theory. Leading problems in value and distribution will be discussed with some reference to particular writers and schools of thought, but with the main objective of training the student in economic analysis. Active participation in the class discussions is expected.

Source: Identical descriptions in the Division of History, Government, and Economics announcements for 1940-41 and 1942-43.

___________________________

Economics 101

1941-42

First Semester

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

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.

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

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

Mill – Principles, Book III, chapter 4.

Suggested Reading:

Introduction to the Ashley ed. of Mill, or

Mill’s Autobiography

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

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

Marshall – Principles, Appendix I.

Wicksell – Lectures on Political Economy, chapter 1.

Suggested Reading:

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

Phelps-Brown– The Framework of the Pricing System, chapter 2.

III.  Hicks – Value and Capital, chapters 1, 2.

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

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

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

Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

Suggested Reading:

Additional reading in Marshall.

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

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

Taussig, F. W. –  “Price Fixing as Seen by a Price Fixer,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 33, p. 205.

V.  Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, chapter 3.

Abramovitz – “Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 52, p. 191 (1938).

Suggested Reading:

Zeuthen – Problems of Monopoly, chapter 2.

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix A.Problems of Monopoly and Economic Warfare

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

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

Chamberlin – “Monopolistic or Imperfect Competition?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1937.

Sweezy, P. M. – “On the Definition of Monopoly”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51, p. 362 (1937)

Cassels, J. M. – “Excess Capacity and Monopolistic Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51, p. 426. (1937)

Suggested Reading:

Kaldor – “Professor Chamberlin on Monopolistic and Imperfect Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1938: and Reply.

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

VII. Chamberlin – Monopolistic Competition, Appendix C.

Alsberg, C. L. – “Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

Suggested Reading:

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

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

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

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and ReadingLists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder, “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1941-42.”

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1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101
Mid-year examination, 1942.

Answer question 2 and any five of the others (six in all).

  1. What parts of Mill’s theory of value would be acceptable and what parts not acceptable to economic theory today?
  2. Answer either (a) or (b).
    1. What does utility theory contribute to our understanding of the economic process, and how useful do you think it is to the economist of 1942? Answer the same question for the indifference curve analysis.
    2. Discuss the following proposition: “An individual will maximize his total satisfaction or utility, if the marginal utilities of all commodities are equalized.”
  3. Distinguish between a supply curve and a cost curve. Under what conditions is it possible for either or both to fall from left to right? What are the consequences of such a phenomenon?
  4. Write a critical appraisal of Professor Viner’s article “Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” confining yourself to the subjects which seem to you most important. Compare his views where possible with those of other writers and with your own.
  5. What types of industries, if any, would you expect to find operating under conditions of increasing cost? Constant cost? Decreasing cost? Compare your own views with those of other writers with whom you are familiar.
  6. Discuss the difficulties involved in constructing a demand curve for the product of an individual firm where oligopolistic influences are important.
  7. What has monopolistic competition in common with pure competition? With monopoly? Discuss fully.
  8. Answer either (a) or (b).
    1. Discuss any aspect of the experimental market problem worked out in class which you think interesting or important.
    2. “With respect to quality there appears to be a sort of ‘Gresham’s Law’ for commodities: the inferior products tend to drive the better ones from the market.” Discuss.

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

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Economics 101

1941-42

Second Semester

I.    Selling Costs:

Monopolistic Competition, Chapters 6, 7.

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

II.   Distribution – General:

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

Clark, J. B., Distribution of Wealth, Chapter 8.

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Chapter 4.

Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 8.

Suggested Reading:

Garver & Hansen, Principles, Chapter 5.

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

III. Wages:

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

Taussig, Principles, 3rd revised edition Chapter 47.

Robertson, Economic Fragments, Chapter on “Wage Grumbles.”

Suggested Reading:

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

Cairnes, Leading Principles, Chapter 3.

IV.  Interest:

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

Fisher, Theory of Interest, pp. 473-85.

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

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

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

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

V.    Rent:

Ricardo, Chapter 2.

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

Robinson, Imperfect Competition, chapters 8, 9.

VI.   Profits:

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

Taussig, Principles, 3rd revised edition, Vol. II, chapter 50, section 1.

Henderson, Supply & Demand, chapter 7.

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

Schumpeter, (see under Interest)

Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation, Book IV.

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

Suggested Reading:

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit.

VII. General:

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

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder, “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1941-42.”

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1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101
Final examination, 1942.

Write on FIVE questions altogether, four from Part A and one from Part B. Be careful to divide your time about evenly between the questions.

A
Write on FOUR questions from this group.

  1. What conflicts and harmonies of interest do you find between labor and the rest of society in the matter of wages, technical progress and efficiency? Discuss the issues involved with some reference to the economic theory of the subject.
  2. Describe and contrast the several most important types of interest theory which you have found in your reading, identifying them where possible with particular writers. State and defend your own theory of interest.
  3. The rent of land has been variously described as a scarcity return, a differential return, a surplus and a monopoly income. Discuss the issues presented by each of these terms and give your own conclusions.
  4. To what extent, if at all, do you believe it possible to explain profits in terms of the marginal productivity of the entrepreneurial factor? Discuss with some reference to issues raised in your reading on the subject of profits.
  5. What various meanings have been or may be given to the concept of “marginal productivity,” and under what conditions would each meaning be relevant? Discuss the circumstances under which all factors may be remunerated according to their marginal products without deficit or surplus.

B
Write on FOUR questions from this group.

  1. “Both prices and monopoly profits are necessarily increased by the presence of advertising.” Do you agree? Discuss critically.
  2. “From this it will appear that the law of increasing or decreasing economy of large-scale production, while sufficiently distinct from that of increasing or diminishing returns to warrant a difference of name, is yet very much like it.” (From Carver’s Distribution of Wealth) Discuss, giving your own conclusions on this set of issues.
  3. Discuss critically Knight’s essay on “Economic Theory and Nationalism” or any part or phase of it which interested you in particular.

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

Image Source: Edward Chamberlin in Harvard Class Album, 1939.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Commercial crises and trade cycles, final exams. Andrew, 1903-1908

 

 

A course on commercial and financial crises has been offered at Harvard nearly every year during the first half of the 20th century. The course was first offered by A. Piatt Andrew (Harvard Ph.D., 1900) who taught at Harvard until 1908. He went on to National Monetary Commission fame and later served in the U.S. Congress during the last fifteen years of his life.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has a biographical page for A. Piatt Andrew. Also available is the reading list for A. Piatt Andrew’s money course, Economics 8, from 1901-02.

_______________________

Warren Samuels reported on the 1905-06 course “Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade” (Economics 12b):

Samuels, Warren J.  The Teaching of Business Cycles in 1905-6: Insight into the Development of Macroeconomic Theory. History of Political Economy, vol. 4 (Spring 1972), pp. 140-62.   Based on 177 pages of notes by Harvard senior Robert Lee Hale.

_______________________

Pro-tip: student lecture notes for Andrew’s financial crises course, 1905

Robert Lee Hale Papers at Columbia University Archives.

According to finding aid, the notes are in Box 5, Folder 67 “Lecture notes, Economics 12b, fall 1905”.

_______________________

1902-03

Course as Coming Attraction

It is expected that Professor Taussig will conduct his courses in economics next year. The subject mater of course 8 has been divided into three parts: 8a. on money by Dr. Andrew; 8b on banking by Dr. Sprague; and 12a on international trade and payments by Dr. Sprague. A new half-course has been added on the history and theory of commercial crises by Dr. Andrew. Courses 10 and 11 which were formerly given by Professor Ashley as full courses in alternate years will both be given in 1902-03 as half-courses by Mr. Gay. Course 5 on railways etc. will be given as a half-course. Economics 14 on methods of Social reform will be made a full course; 9 and 9a are combined into a full course on labor and industrial organization and will be given by Professor Ripley who has recently been appointed a full professor in the department.

Source: The Harvard Crimson. Changes in Courses for 1902-03. May 24, 1902.

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

Course Enrollment, 1902-03

[Economics] 12b 2hf. Dr. Andrew.— History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 37: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1902-03, p. 68.

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Course Announcement and Description, 1902-03

[Economics] 12b2 hf. History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 9. Dr. Andrew.

Course 12b will be devoted to the study of the more important crises of the past two hundred years. The phenomena of these crises will be described, and the record of events before and after will be examined with the object of disentangling their contributory causes and their consequences. The influence upon commercial fluctuations of the present organization of industry, of government finance, of foreign trade, of the money supply, of speculation, of banking methods, and of other credit institutions will be considered, as well as questions with regard to periodicity, over-production and over-investment. In connection with these subjects attention will be given to the methods actually employed in dealing with crises, and to proposed reforms designed to prevent or relieve them.

Subjects will be assigned for special reports, and these reports will be presented for discussion in class.

Course 12b is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University. University Publications, New Series, No. 55. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03, pp. 48-49.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Final Examination. 1903.

Omit one question.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasingly subject.”
    Give your opinion of these statements.
  2. In what respects was the English crisis of 1866 peculiar?
  3. “Commercial crises of the earlier type now belong only to history in England.”
    Discuss this statement and explain the situation to which it refers.
  4. Compare the American crises of 1884 and 1893 as regards antecedent conditions, course of events and consequences.
  5. Describe in their mututal connections the fluctuations in exports and imports of commodities, in gold shipments, and in prices which occur in a normal trade cycle.
    Discuss DeLaveleye’s theory of crises.
  6. (a) How far did Jeveons succeed in proving a relation between crises and agricultural conditions?
    (b) To what extent can a connection be traced in the United States between trade cycles and crop conditions?
    (c) In the case of which crop is the connection closest?
  7. Explain and discuss Professor Laughlin’s theory as to the relations between “normal” and “abnormal” credit and price movements.
  8. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  9. Explain and discuss Professor Carver’s theory of industrial depressions.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6: Bound volume for 1902-03, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,… (June 1903), p. 30.

_______________________

1903-04

Course Enrollment, 1903-04

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 39: 5 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1903-04, p. 67.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Examination. 1904.

Omit one question.

  1. Discuss the merits and limitations of each of the following sorts of statistics as measures of industrial prosperity:—

Bank clearings, wages, cotton, copper, chemicals, iron and steel, railway net earnings, railway gross earnings.

  1. Explain the usual relation during a trade cycle,—
    1. between the number of failures and their liabilities.
    2. between banking and commercial failures.
  2. Explain and show the significance of any general differences between the price fluctuations,
    1. of raw and finished commodities.
    2. of securities and commodities.
  3. Compare industrial, political, and financial conditions in the United States in 1903 with those of 1873, 1883, and 1893.
  4. In what respects have the trade cycles of England differed from those of the United States during the past thirty years?
    What is your opinion is the explanation?
  5. Explain what the British government did to restore confidence in 1793, 1825, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1890?
  6. Upon what occasions within the past twenty years, and by what means, has the American Secretary of the treasury helped to relieve a stringency in the financial centres?
  7. The following are abstracted statements of the New York City clearing house banks.

 

Aug. 5 ‘93
(1)		 Feb. 3, ‘94
(2)		 May 20, ‘99
(3)		 May 23, ‘03
(4)
Loans 409 420 763 923
Deposits 373 552 902 914
Capital 129 133 134 224
Circulation 6 13 16 44
Reserve 79 250 260 238

Compare 1 with 2, and 3 with 4, explaining in each case the change in the relations (a) between loans and deposits (b) between deposits and reserve.

  1. Explain what in your opinion are remediable defects in the American banking regulations, and the best remedies therefor.
  2. To what extent in your opinion is there periodicity in trade reactions, and to what conditions is it attributable?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1903-04. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

_______________________

1904-05

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 41: 2 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1904-05, p. 75.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Exam. 1905.

Omit one question.

  1. State briefly the geographical range of the various crises of the 19th
  2. Compare industrial and financial conditions in the United States in 1903 with those of 1873, 1883, and 1893.
  3. Explain Juglar’s theory as to the movements of bank loans and reserve, and state how far it is confirmed by American experience.
  4. What reasons are there for believing that a rise in the value of money will check the production of wealth? And what reasons for believing that it will not do so?
  5. How far in your opinion are trade conditions likely to be affected
    1. by the trust movement,
    2. by stock-exchange regulations like the German bourse law,
    3. by better facilities for storing staple products,
    4. by the maintenance of a large army and navy?
  6. How far in your opinion are trade reactions due to
    1. the waste or destruction of capital,
    2. the excessive creation of capital?
  7. “There are reasons, other than psychological, why an investor’s market must be more unstable than a consumer’s market.” What are they?
  8. Discuss three different methods of making our currency system more responsive to trade needs.
  9. What groups in a community are injured by a crisis? What groups are benefitted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1904-05. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

_______________________

1905-06

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 55: 9 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1905-06, p. 72.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Mid-Year Exam. 1906.

  1. Compare as regards recent cycles of trade,—
    1. the number and liabilities of failed firms.
    2. banking and commercial failures.
    3. railway and commercial failures.
  2. To what extent have changes in the clearings of the New York banks registered changes in general business?
  3. Explain Juglar’s theory as to the movements of bank loans and reserves, and state how far it is confirmed by American experience.
  4. Explain what was done by the Bank of England to relieve apprehension in 1825, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1890.
  5. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  6. Upon what occasions within the past thirty-five years and by what means, have the American Secretaries of the Treasury helped to relieve a stringency in the financial centres?
  7. In what ways is business affected by the condition of the crops? Within what limitations? In the case of which crops is the connection closest?
  8. What part does “credit” play in the explanation of crises,—
    1. according to Laughlin,
    2. according to Chevalier,
    3. in your own opinion?
  9. In what ways and to what extent are trade conditions apt to be affected,—
    1. by the increasing gold supply,
    2. by the trust movement,
    3. by increasing armies and navies,
    4. by the present agricultural situation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1905-06. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

_______________________

1906-07

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 26: 4 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1906-07, p. 71.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12
Mid-Year Exam. 1907.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasingly subject.” How far does your study confirm this statement?
  2. Name any occasions in the nineteenth century when crises have occurred either in England or America without occurring in both countries. Explain the variation in conditions as between the two countries in each case.
  3. What seem to you the main causes of the American crisis of 1893? In what respects did the movement which culminated in that year differ from the movement before the panic of 1884?
  4. Show briefly in what respects conditions in America in 1857 and in the years just preceding resembled those of 1907 and the years through which we have just passed? Show also the contrasting conditions.
  5. To what causes were crises attributed by (a) De Laveleye, (b) Rodbertus, (c) Jevons? Explain and criticize their theories.
  6. What contributions to the explanation of crises have you found in reading (a) Walker, (b) Selden, (c) Carver?
  7. What reasons are there for believing that an appreciating standard of value will hamper industry? And what reasons for believing that it will not do so?
  8. Under what circumstances and by what means have the following Secretaries of the Treasury helped to relieve disturbances in the New York money market? (a) Richardson, (b) Fairchild, (c) Gage, (d) Shaw.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1906-07. (HUC 70000.55). Box 7.

_______________________

1907-08

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b 1hf. Ass’t. Professor Andrew. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 62: 1 Graduate, 17 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1907-08, p. 67.

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

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12
Mid-Year Exam. 1908.

  1. When did stock speculation begin in England? Name the principal crises in England of the 18th century.
  2. To what extent have banks in this country suspended payment in successive panics since 1800? To what extent in England? To what extent in France?
  3. Describe the methods of relief pursued by Secretary Cobb in the panic of 1857? By Secretary Boutwell in the panic of 1873? By Secretary Shaw in the stringencies of 1902, 1903, and 1906? By Secretary Cortelyou in the panic of 1907?
  4. In your opinion does the emergence of loans above deposits in the New York banks necessarily betoken a condition of danger? Has it always done so in the past? Why, or why not?
  5. In what ways do crop conditions affect business in the United States? Are any recent changes in their influence to be noted?
  6. Enumerate briefly as many points of resemblance and of contrast as possible between the panics of 1893 and 1907 and their antecedent conditions.
  7. “The farther removed the producer’s goods are from some consumable product and the more remotely their value is derived from that of some consumable product, the more violent the fluctuations in value tend to be?”
    Explain and criticize this statement in its relation to the theory of crises.
  8. Suppose everybody resolved to consume productively only, what would be the result?
  9. What explanations of crises were offered by J. S. Mill? By de Laveleye? By F. A. Walker?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1907-08. (HUC 70000.55). Box 8. Copy also available at Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), p. 36.

Image Source: A. Piatt Andrew at Red Roof, his home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1910.  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of A. Piatt Andrew.(Box 47, folder 9).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for international payments and specie flows. Dunbar and Meyer, 1894,1901

 

At Harvard around the turn of the twentieth century, international economics was taught as a sequence of two semester courses—one on the subject of trade and tariffs and one on payments and international financial flows, especially specie flows. This post provides enrollment data and final exam questions for the international payments course taught, respectively, by Charles Dunbar and later by Hugo Richard Meyer.

 

______________________

Course enrollments

1893-94

[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-1894, p. 62.

[Not offered 1894-95; 1895-96]

1896-97

[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar and Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. Hf. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 20: 9 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1896-1897, p. 66.

[Not offered 1897-1898; 1898-1899; 1899-1900]

1900-01

[Economics] 12a1 hf. Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.

Total 16: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 64.

______________________

1893-94
ECONOMICS 122.

  1. Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
  2. Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
  3. What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
  4. Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
  5. Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
  6. Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
    Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000.
  7. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
  8. State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
  9. Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
  10. Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
    La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.

    1. What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
    2. What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
    3. What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

  1. On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
    1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
    2. The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
    3. The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
    4. The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
    5. The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46.

______________________

1900-01
ECONOMICS 12a1.
Mid-Year. 1901.

Observe strictly the order in which the questions are arranged.

  1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
  2. What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
  3. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered), what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.), page 139.]
  4. The conditions which led to the flow of gold to the United States in the fiscal years 1880 and 1881?
  5. What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point both in domestic and in international finance?

Alternative:

The reasons for the return flow from Europe of American securities in the years 1890-1900?

  1. What sort of wealth did France actually sacrifice in paying the indemnity? What was the process?
  2. Is Mr. Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall”?
  3. Why is it that certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments which have to be made in one direction?

Alternative:

Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years: 1900-1901 (HUC 7000.55).

Image source: Harvard Gate, ca. 1899. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540.

Categories
Economists Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus and final exam for National Income and its Distribution. Conrad, 1958

 

 

For this post I have transcribed the syllabus with reading assignments together with the final exam questions for Alfred H. Conrad’s undergraduate semester course, “National Income and its Distribution,” taught at Harvard during the 1958-59 academic year. As utterly important as the national income accounts have proven themselves to be, the data from these accounts are generally just taken for granted by the overwhelming majority of economists and woe be the instructor who tries to introduce such material in more than one or two sessions in their macroeconomics course. But I have always liked the stuff and so this course enters the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror collection.

While I can recall having heard of his pioneering econometric work on American slavery with John R. Meyer in an American economic history course I took many decades ago at Yale, I really knew nothing about Conrad’s career, other work, or his personal life. The biographical data from the members’ survey of the American Economic Association are undoubtedly the truth, but not the whole truth, which is why I have provided the link to his New York Times obituary and a story about his wife, the poet Adrienne Rich. Suicide sadly cut his career short but I am happy to enter these few artifacts into the historical record in his memory.

_______________

On Alfred H. Conrad and his wife, poet, Adrienne Rich

New York Times obituary for Alfred H. Conrad: October 20, 1970.

The Guardian article “Poet and Pioneer” by John O’Mahoney (15 June 2002) that provides a review of the work of Conrad’s wife, the poet Adrienne Rich, with a dozen paragraphs about their lives together.

_______________

American Economic Association
Member Biographic Entry, 1969

CONRAD, Alfred Haskell, academic; b. New York City, 1924; A.B., Harvard, 1947, M.A., 1949, Ph,D., 1954.

DOC. DIS. The Redistribution of Income and the Matrix Multiplier, 1953.

FIELDS 2ab, 3ab, Ic.

PUB. The Economics of Slavery and other studies in econometric history (with John R. Meyer), 1964; The Impact of Education and Research on Efficiency in CES Production Relations (with Murray Brown), 1967; Econometric Models and Development Planning, 1968.

RES. The Diffusion of Technological Innovations.

Asst. prof., Northwestern, 1955-56; asst. prof. econ., Harvard, high, 1956-59, mem. sr. research staff, Econ. Research Project, 1952-59, lectr. bus. adm., 1959-61, asso. prof. bus. adm., Grad. Sch., 1962-66; vis. prof., Netherlands Sch. Econ., 1961-62; prof. econs., City Coll., City U. of New York since 1966, exec. officer of Grad. Program since 1969.

Source: American Economic Association. Biographical Listings of Members. The American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 6, 1969. Handbook of the American Economic Association (Jan., 1970), p. 84.

_______________

Course Description

Economics 124. National Income and its Distribution

Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 10. Assistant Professor Conrad.

Measurement of national income and income inequality; theories of distribution among factors and individuals; factor-shares and inequality in a general equilibrium explanation; inequality and growth in mature and in underdeveloped economies; government redistribution; testing the hypotheses.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LV, No. 24 (November 28, 1958), General Catalogue Issue, 1958-1959, p. 123.

_______________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 124. National Income and its Distribution. Assistant Professor Conrad. Half course (Fall).

Total, 12: 3 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1958-59. Page 71.

_______________

Economics 124
NATIONAL INCOME AND ITS DISTRIBUTION
Fall, 1958

  1. National Income and Social Accounting.
    1. Introduction; conceptual framework for income accounting.

The definition and measurement of national income. Income inequality, growth, and ethical norms. The production accounts of the firm and the income accounts of the economy.

Readings:

Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, Kuznets, “National Income,” pp. 3-33.
Ruggles and Ruggles, National Income Accounts and Income Analysis, Chs. 1-4, pp. 3-68.
Hicks, Hart, and Ford, Social Framework of the American Economy, Chs. 16, 17, pp. 209-234.

    1. The construction of the national income accounts.

The problems of valuation and aggregation.

Readings:

Ruggles and Ruggles, Chs. 5-8, pp. 69-186.
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Income, 1954 Edition, pp. 30-60, 160-165.
Hicks, Hart, and Ford, Ch. 15, pp. 198-208.

    1. Two special problems.

Maintaining capital intact.
The product of government.

Readings:

Hicks, Hart, and Ford, Ch. 10 and Appendix Note C, pp. 117-130, 296-300, and Ch. 13, pp. 173-185.

Reference:

Income and Wealth, Series I, ed. E. Lundberg, “Government Product and National Income” (Kuznets), pp. 178-245.

    1. A review of aggregate income trends and analysis.

Readings:

Ruggles and Ruggles, Chs. 10-12, pp. 213-303.
Income and Wealth, Series II, ed. S. Kuznets, “Long-Term Changes in the National Income of the United States Since 1870” (Kuznets), pp. 29-241. This study should be read by the time we reach section 8, below—not later than November 14.

  1. The Theory of Income Distribution.
    1. Introduction; income distribution in economic analysis.

Readings:

Readings, J. M. Clark, “Distribution,” pp. 58-71.
M. A. Copeland, “Social and Economic Determinants of the Distribution of Income,” AER, March 1947, pp. 56-75.

    1. The distribution of the product among the factors of production.

The classical descriptions and Marx.
The marginalists.
Market position and monopoly; the effectiveness of unions.
General equilibrium and employment theories.

Readings:

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, Chs. 4, 5, 6, pp. 88-127 (Sraffa edition).
Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. 4, 5, pp. 56-95.
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Chs. 1-5, pp. 1-111.
The Impact of the Union (ed. Wright), Samuelson, Ch. 15, pp. 312-342, and Friedman, Ch. 10, pp. 204-234.
Readings, R.A. Gordon, “Enterprise, Profits, and the Modern Corporation,” pp. 558-570.
L. C. Reynolds, “Impact of Collective Bargaining on Wage Structure,” Theory of Wage Determination, ed. J. T. Dunlop, pp. 194-221.

Reference:

Dalton, The Inequality of Incomes, esp. Parts II and III.
Douglas, Theory of Wages, esp. Part I and Ch. 8.
Wootton, The Social Foundations of Wage Policy.
Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

    1. The distribution of income among individuals.

The possession of skills and property.
Normal curves, Pareto’s Law, and chance.

Readings:

Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume XV, Garvy, “Inequality of Income; Causes and Measurement,” pp. 25-47.
A. D. Roy, “The Distribution of Earnings and of Individual Output,” Econ Journal, Sept. 1950, pp. 489-505.
A. D. Roy, “Some Thoughts on the Distribution of Earnings,” Oxford Econ Papers, 1951, pp. 135-

Reference:

Dalton, Part IV.

    1. The data on functional and personal distribution of income in the U.S.

Readings:

D. G. Johnson, “Functional Distribution of Income in the U.S.,” RES, May 1954, pp. 175-183.
G. H. Moore, “Secular Changes in the Distribution of Income,” AER, Papers and Proceedings, May 1952, pp. 527-544.
E. F. Denison, “Income Types and the Size Distribution,” AER, Papers and Proceedings, May 1954, pp. 254-269.
S. Goldsmith, et al, “Size Distribution of Income since the Mid-Thirties,” RES, February 1954, pp. 1-32.
H. Miller, Income of the American People, Chs. 3, 8, 9, pp. 16-33, 97-123.

References:

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Income Distribution in the United States, Washington, 1953.
Kuznets, Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings.
M. J. Bowman, “A Graphical Analysis of Personal Income Distribution in the United States,” Readings, pp. 72-99.

III. [No section title]

    1. Income Inequality and Growth

Income, consumption and investment.
Technical change, capital formation, and income shares.
Income shares and industrial structure.

Readings:

Baumol, Economic Dynamics, Chs. 2, 3, pp. 11-35.
Duesenberry, “Income-Consumption Relations and their Implications,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy, pp. 54-81.
Kurihara, “Distribution, Employment, and Secular Growth,” in Post-Keynesian Economics, Ch. 10, pp 251-273.
Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” AER, March 1955, pp. 1-28.
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Ch. 6, pp. 112-135.
E. H. Phelps-Brown, “The Long-Term Movement of Real Wages,” in Theory of Wage Determination, ed. J. T. Dunlop, pp. 48-65.

Reference:

F. A. Hanna, “Contribution of Manufacturing Wages to Regional Differences in Per-Capita Income,” RES, February 1951.

    1. Inflation and Income Inequality.

Readings:

Keynes, “Social Consequences of Changes in the Value of Money,” Essays in Persuasion, pp. 80-104.
Bach and Ando, “Redistributional Effects of Inflation,” RES, February 1957, pp. 1-13.

Reference:

D. Seers, Changes in the Cost of Living and the Distribution of Income, Oxford, 1949.
Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Low-Income Families and Economic Stability, 1949.

    1. The State and the Distribution.

Who pays the taxes?
Redistribution through public expenditures.

Readings:

Conrad, “Redistribution through Government Budgets in the U.S.,” in Income Redistribution and Public Policy, pp. 178-267.
Conrad, “On the Calculation of Tax Burdens,” Economica, November 1955, pp. 342-348.

    1. Conclusion.

Readings:

Kuznets, in Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume XV, pp. 203-213.
Tinbergen, “Welfare Economics and Income Distribution,” AER, Papers and Proceedings, May 1957, pp. 490-503.

Reference:

Lampman, “Recent Thoughts on Egalitarianism,” QJE, May 1957, pp. 234-266.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7. Folder “Economics, 1958-1959 (1 of 2)”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 124
FINAL EXAMINATION
January 16, 1959

Answer Question 1 and any four others.

  1. (a) or (b):

(a) The Council of Economic Advisers, in their report to the President in January, 1953, stated:

“…the preferable general formula—once wages, prices and profits are in a workable relationship—is for money wages to increase with productivity trends in the whole economy.”

Discuss this suggestion in the light of your reading period assignment, bringing in relevant recent data on the effect of inflation upon factor shares to illustrate your argument.

(b) Describe briefly the law of proportional effect and discuss its application to the income generating process. Be careful to consider the economic relevance of the conditions and results of the statistical model.

  1. Describe the tendencies toward a falling rate of profit in (1) the “classical”, (2) the Marxian, and (3) neo-classical description of capital accumulation. How would the possibility of technological change affect this tendency?
  2. Who are the poor in the post-World War II United States?
  3. You are hired as a technical expert on national income accounts to advise a country in which economists, among other basic resources, are in short supply. In detail, discuss the statistics you will need to answer the following questions: (1) who saves? (2) what has been the trend the savings/income ratio?
  4. “One might thus assume a long swing in the inequality characterizing the secular income structure: widening in the early phases of economic growth when the transition from the pre-industrial to the industrial civilization was most rapid; becoming stabilized for awhile; and then narrowing in the later phases.” Write a concise explanation, in outline form if you like, for the declining inequality suggested here.
  5. How would you reconcile the marginal productivity theory of wages (as presented, say, by Hicks) with the collective bargaining explanation of Lloyd Reynolds or the inertia-displacement theory of Phelps Brown? You may include in your argument any other readings that seem to be relevant.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences. Final Examinations, January 1959. (HUC7000.28, 122 of 284). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, Government, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. January, 1959.

Image Source: Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Fellows page for Alfred Haskell Conrad.