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Harvard. Report on the General Examination for an Economics PhD, 1970

 

 

What makes this report on the general examination in the economics PhD program at Harvard particularly valuable is its brief survey of the practice at eight other universities: Yale, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Rochester, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, and Chicago. 

_____________________

DRAFT

This draft is distributed in Professor Chenery’s absence to permit discussion at the next Department meeting, January 27, 1970.
Professor Chenery or other members of The Committee might wish to record further comments in preparation [of] a final report.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02135
January 16, 1970

To: The Department of Economics
From: Committee on Graduate Instruction

REPORT ON THE GENERAL EXAMINATION FOR THE PH.D.

In response to a number of requests from students and faculty, the Committee has reexamined at considerable length the requirements for the General Examination. This report summarizes our general assessment in section I and makes specific recommendations for changes in section II. Some related issues needing further consideration are listed in section III.

Although for the past several years graduate students have criticized various aspects of the generals, the main source of dissatisfaction seems to be with the rigidity of “the system” rather than with any particular aspect of it. We have taken advantage of the fact that the Committee now has three student members to try to understand some of the effects of our present procedures on students’ choices and incentives. We have also tried to strike a better balance between preparation for the general examination and other aspects of a student’s training in his first two years.

As a background for our discussion, the secretary of the Committee compiled a useful summary of the regulations in effect at other leading universities, which is attached.

 

ROLE OF THE GENERAL EXAMINATION

The primary functions [sic] of the General Examination is to evaluate the student’s formal preparation in economics before he proceeds to more advanced phases of teaching and thesis preparation. It also serves as a screening device to weed out weak candidates, as a basis for subsequent recommendations for employers, and as an indirect way of organizing the student’s course work in his first two years. These multiple functions produce much of the debate over requirements at Harvard and elsewhere, since a system that is ideal for one purpose has weaknesses for another.

One of the main criticisms of the existing Harvard system is its psychological impact on the student. The need to satisfy the requirements in all fields within a period of several months inhibits most students from exploring non-required topics until after they have passed the generals. On balance, we are impressed with the desirability of adopting a more flexible timing that will encourage the student to get most of his tool requirements out of the way in the first year and use the second year to explore the fields of his special interest and get some taste of actual research. We have tried to maintain the undoubted benefits of an overall examination, however, as compared to a set of course requirements.

Our survey of other departments shows a significant trend toward breaking down the requirements into separate parts and focusing less on the culminating oral examination. Most departments use the qualifying examination in theory as a device for screening first year students, which also reduces the burden of preparing all fields in the second year. In most departments the minimum proficiency in quantitative techniques and economic history is demonstrated by a satisfactory course grade rather than by inclusions in the general examination. Although we have made our own judgements on these questions, we recommend movement in these directions.

Another consideration which makes greater flexibility desirable is the growing proportion of students who are already well prepared in one or more required fields. For many students, the present system therefore encourages too much review of material they have already covered. We feel that those who are adequately prepared on one of the required fields (theory, quantitative method, history) should have an opportunity to satisfy this requirement in their first year in order to make better use of their time thereafter.

Our recommendations are directed toward achieving greater flexibility in the timing of courses and examinations to allow the student to make more effective use of his time. This should enable many students to get started earlier on their optional fields and to make a better choice of their field of specialization. We do not envision any reduction in the total work done in the first two years or any lowering of standards of performance.

 

SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS

General Principles

  1. The general examination should be separated into four component parts—theory, quantitative method, economic history, and special fields—each of which would be graded separately.
  2. The minimum requirement in quantitative method and economic history should be regarded as a “tool requirement” or “literacy test” as has become the practice in the quantitative field. Students wishing to specialize in these fields may offer them at a higher level as one of their special fields.
  3. The term “general examination” would apply to the oral examination on the special fields. (The question of a general grade on all parts as at present was left open.)
  4. There should be no prescribed timing of the four components, other than the stipulation that the required fields be either completed (or write-off courses in progress) at the time of the oral examination on the special fields. Qualified students would be encouraged to complete one or more requirements in the first year.
  5. Two write-offs should be allowed rather than one.
  6. A subcommittee would be set up for economic history (and retained in theory and quantitative method). The standards and ways of satisfying them in the three required fields should be proposed by the three subcommittees and ratified by the GIC and the Department.

The Theory Requirement

  1. The present coverage (roughly 201a, 201b, 202a) should be retained. The examination would continue to be written.
  2. The examination should be offered two or three times a year. (A straw vote by students showed a preference for June, September and January and a margin for September over January.) Most students would take the examination at the end of their first year—in June or September.

The Quantitative Requirement

  1. The present de facto standard of the written examination should be accepted as the “literacy test”.
  2. The requirement can be met either by the present type of written examination (given twice a year) or by a grade of B+ in 221b or 224a. (It is estimated that roughly 75% would be able to qualify by course examination.)

The Economic History Requirement

  1. The history requirement be made parallel to the quantitative requirement in that:
    1. It can be satisfied by course or special departmental examination.
    2. It can either be offered at a minimum level or at a higher level as a special field.
  2. The minimum requirement would be satisfied by a course grade that would allow a similar proportion to qualify in this way (B+ or A- pending further information).
  3. Alternatives to the present 233 sequence (if any) to be established by the history subcommittee.
  4. Minimum standards in both history and quantitative method could be demonstrated by course examination.

The Requirement in Special Fields

  1. Two special fields would be required as the basis for the oral examination, which would also cover general analytical ability.
  2. Advanced theory, econometrics and economic history would be eligible as special fields, but the first two could not both be included. (In the majority view, one applied field apart from history would be required in order to eliminate the possibility of a candidate offering only the three required fields.)
  3. The candidate would be encouraged (or required?) to submit a research paper to be made part of the subject matter and record of the general examination (He is now “expected” to have presented a paper to a working seminar by the end of his second year.)
  4. The general oral examination would normally be taken at the end of the second year, but could not be taken before the qualifying exams in theory, quantitative and history have been passed (or prospective write-offs are in progress.)

QUESTIONS OF GRADING

  1. Should all examinations be either pass-fail or on a more limited grading scale than at present?
  2. Should the passing standard for the course option in both quantitative methods and history be B+?
  3. Should the four requirements be graded separately or combined (as at present) into an overall grade on the General Examination? (The committee favors first the alternative, but would also require “distinguished” performance in at least one area.)

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Examination Requirements at Other Places

Below I summarize examination requirements at eight other places, including Yale, MIT, Hopkins, Rochester, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan and Chicago. The main findings of the survey are:

  1. It appears that the massive type of “generals” (where all fields and theory are combined in one session) has almost disappeared. With the exception of Hopkins, all of the above schools seem to settle the theory examination at the end of the first year, with special fields examined at the end of the second year.
  2. Among the schools surveyed, only Yale has a written examination in history. Hopkins, Stanford, Chicago and Berkeley require a course, with “satisfactory” grade. MIT and Rochester have no requirement.
  3. Only Yale gives a written in quantitative aspect of the generals. All the other schools have course requirements (satisfactory grade) only.
  4. Practices vary with regard to number of special fields and type of examination. MIT and Hopkins require three, the others two special fields. Examinations at Yale are oral, at the other places written, in some cases both written and oral. In most places the special field examinations must be taken together, but in some (Rochester, Chicago) they can be separated. Throughout, these special examinations seem to be given by the department, and not merely as course examination.
  5. Some provisions of special interest:
    1. Chicago and Rochester’s second year research paper as part of general examination
    2. Stanford’s requirement for distinction in at least one field.

 

I. Yale

Comprehensive Examination

  1. Written examination in theory and econometrics, usually August or September after first year.
  2. Written examination on economic history; usually late spring of second year.
  3. Oral examination in two applied fields, chosen from six and in general analytical ability; late spring of second year. Given by four examiners. Student excused from general examination in special field courses at end of second year. Oral examination in theory, history, quantitative or field outside economics may be substituted for one of the applied fields if candidate has done year’s course work in applied field “with sufficient distinction”.

History and Quantitative

  1. History—written, end of second year, and option to substitute for one special field.
  2. Quantitative—written, end of first year, and option to substitute for one special field.

Other requirements

  1. Has apparently been dropped.
  2. One course credit of explicit research training, second year.
  3. Dissertation to be completed in fourth year.

 

II. MIT

General examination

  1. General examination in theory consists of two written papers—micro and macro, given in final exam period of first year. May be substituted for final examinations in theory courses.
  2. General examination normally at end of second year. Consists of:
    1. written examinations on three of 12 special fields. These may include advanced theory, econometrics or economic history.
    2. oral examination in the three fields after written.
    3. a fourth field is required but may be written off by B grade in full year course.

History and Quantitative

  1. History—no requirement. May be a special field.
  2. Quantitative—no generals examination. May be a special field.

Other requirements

  1. Two languages

 

III. Johns Hopkins

First Year Oral Examination

A first year oral examination is given in the spring of the first year, covering the fields in which the student has worked during that year.

Comprehensive Examination

Normally taken in spring of second year. Consists of:

  1. Two written examinations in theory, micro and macro.
  2. Three written examinations in special fields, one of which may be outside economics.
  3. Oral examination: Covers theory, special fields, statistics.

History and Quantitative

  1. History—satisfactory work in course.
  2. Statistics—satisfactory work in course.

Other Requirements

  1. One language.
  2. In addition to the departmental special examination, an examination is given by the graduate board, which includes members of other departments.

 

IV. Rochester

Qualifying Examination

  1. Theory and econometrics courses are required but are not part of Qualifying Examination.
  2. Qualifying Examination taken in May of second year. Consists of
    1. Written examination in two fields. These may include mathematical economics and econometrics. Need not be taken simultaneously.
    2. A second year research paper which is to be presented to a departmental seminar at the end of second year.
    3. After (a) and (b) are met, an oral examination in the special fields.

History and Quantitative

  1. Econometrics and mathematical economics requirements (courses), extent depending on fields.
  2. No history requirement.

Other Requirements

  1. Certain distribution requirement.
  2. Language and mathematics.

 

V. Stanford

Comprehensive Examination

  1. Written in micro and macro theory at end of first year. Cover course materials.
  2. Selection of special fields under two plans:
    1. If no minor subject is taken, student chooses four out of ten fields. These may include history, econometrics, mathematical economics. One field may be outside economics.
    2. Student may choose a minor subject (in another department) and choose only one out of the ten special economics fields.

Comprehensive written examinations for each field scheduled annually, usually at close of course sequence. Must show distinction in at least one field.

History and Quantitative

  1. History—Include at least two courses from offerings in economic history, history of thought, comparative economics, development.
  2. Quantitative—Econometrics course required.

Other Requirements

  1. Language or particular quantitative skills.
  2. Two seminars and research papers.

 

VI. Berkeley

Departmental Examination in Theory

  1. Must be passed by end of first year. Students with strong background take it in November of first term, others in June (end of first year).
  2. Written qualifying examinations given in two out of thirteen special fields at end of second year. Examinations given twice a year, must be taken together.
  3. Within one year after written qualifying examinations are completed, student presents himself for oral, based on prospectus (and interim results) of his thesis. General assessment of competence.

History and Quantitative

  1. Course in economic history at 210 level.
  2. Course in statistics at 240 level.

Other Requirements

  1. No language.

 

VII. Michigan

Preliminary Examination

  1. At end of theory courses in micro and macro, an “augmented examination” is given which serves as preliminary examination in theory.
  2. Two fields of specialization are required. One field is satisfied by satisfactory grades in two courses. For the other field a written preliminary examination is required.
  3. After this, oral examination on research topic and surrounding area.

Economic History and Quantitative

  1. No history requirement.
  2. Course requirement in statistics and econometrics.

Other Requirements

  1. No general language requirement.

 

VIII. Chicago

Preliminary Examination

  1. A “course [sic, “core” probably intended] examination” covering micro and macro theory is given twice a year (separate from course examinations) and is usually taken at end of first or middle of second year.
  2. Two special fields are chosen. Written examinations in these fields, separate from course examinations. Need not be taken together.
  3. Student presents a thesis prospectus before thesis seminar, usually in third year. Must pass on this for candidacy.

History and Quantitative

  1. History course required as part of distribution requirements.
  2. Course work in statistics required.

Other Requirements

  1. Math, no languages.

 

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Papers. Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 526. Folder “Harvard University Department of Economics: General Correspondence, 1967-1974 (2 of 3)”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1946.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Locational Economics. Readings and Exams. Isard, 1952-53

Image Source:  Walter Isard, ca. 1960. From David Boyce presentation: Leon Moses and Walter Isard: Collaborators, Rivals or Antagonists.

___________________

Harvard Ph.D. (1943)

WALTER ISARD, A.B. (Temple Univ.) 1939, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1941.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economic Fluctuations and Forecasting.
Thesis, “The Economic Dynamics of Transport Technology.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, p. 105.

___________________

Tentative Schedule of Topics

Economics 235—Problems of Location of Economic Activities
Fall Term—M.W.F. at 9 A.M.

  1. Realistic Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. Transport Orientation
    3. Labor Orientation
    4. Other Orientation
    5. Agglomeration
    6. Competing Market and Supply Areas, Theory of Space Pricing (Basing Point included)
    7. Agricultural Location Theory (with reference to an aggregate)
    8. The General Equilibrium Framework (The Total Picture of a Space-Economy—The Interaction of the Industrial and Agricultural Sectors)
  2. Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Regional Development
    1. Case Studies
      1. Iron and Steel Industry
      2. Glass Industry
      3. Aluminum Industry
    2. Trends—Past and Near Future
      1. General Historical Background
      2. Changes in Resource Utilization and in the Pull of Materials, Markets, and Labor Locations
      3. Industrial Concentration and Dispersion
      4. Urban-Metropolitan Development Processes
      5. Regional Industrialization Processes
  3. The Far Future: Technique in Predictive Analysis
    1. Implications of Atomic Energy
    2. Implications of Aircraft and other Innovations

Summary

[Note:  A.1 through A.5 above—“With reference to the individual firm and the industry as well as to groups of industries]

*  * *  *  * *  *  * *  *  *

Economics 235a—Economics of Location and Regional Development: Principles

Fall Term—M.W.F. at 9 A.M.

Readings

  1. Introduction
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries (ed. by C. J. Friedrich), Introduction and Chap. I
    2. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 1

Supplementary reading

    1. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. I, II, V
    2. H. Schumacher, “Location of Industry,” Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, Vol. V, pp. 585-92
    3. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chaps. I, II
    4. F. M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chap. I

 

  1. Transport Orientation
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chaps. II, III
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chaps. I, II, and pp. 34-42
    3. William H. Dean, Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities (Selections), Chap. II
    4. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 4

Supplementary reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 6, 9, 10
    2. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. VI-IX, XII
    3. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chaps. 2, 3, 4 (for an elementary presentation)
    4. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Part I (for general theoretical reading)
    5. E. Niederhauser, Die Standortstheorie Alfred Webers (for general theoretical reading)
    6. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, secs. I and II
    7. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chap. III

 

  1. Labor and Other Orientation
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chap. IV
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chaps. IV, V
    3. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, section 10

Supplementary reading

    1. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chaps. V and VII (elementary presentation)
    2. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 7, 8, 11, 12, 13
    3. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. III
    4. H. Ritschl, “Reine und historische Dynamik des Standortes der Erzeugungszweige,” Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 51, 1927, secs. I-III
    5. S.R. Dennison, Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Chaps. IV, V
  1. Agglomeration
    Required reading

    1. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chaps. V, VI
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chap VI
    3. William H. Dean, Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities (Selections), Chap. V

Supplementary reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 14, 15, 16, 17
    2. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. IV.
    3. E.A.G. Robinson, The Structure of Competitive Industry

 

  1. Market and Supply Areas
    Required reading

    1. A. Lösch, “The Nature of Economic Regions,” Southern Economic Journal, Vol. V, 1938, pp. 71-78
    2. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, pp. 42-59
    3. C.D. and W.P. Hyson, “the Economic Law of Market Areas,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1950

Supplementary reading

    1. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Part II
    2. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chap. XIV
    3. H. Hotelling, “Stability in Competition,” Economic Journal, Vol. 39, March 1929, pp. 41-57
    4. E. Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, 3rded., especially Appendix C, “Pure Spatial Competition”
    5. A.P. Lerner and H.W. Singer, “Some Notes on Duopoly and Spatial Competition,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, 1937, pp. 145-86
    6. A. Robinson, “A Problem in the Theory of Industrial Location,” Economic Journal, Vol. 51, June-Sept. 1941, pp. 270-75
    7. E.M. Hoover, “Spatial Price Discrimination,” The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 182-91
    8. A. Smithies, “Monopolistic Price Policy in a Spatial Market,” Econometrica, Vol. 9, 1941, pp. 63-73
    9. _____, “Optimum Location in Spatial Competition,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 44, June 1941, pp. 423-39
    10. H. Moller, “Grundlagen einer Theorie der regionalen Preisdifferenzierung,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. 58, 1943, pp. 335-90
    11. G. Ackley, “Spatial Competition in a Discontinuous Market,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 56, Feb. 1942, pp. 212-30
    12. S. Enke, “Space and Value,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LVI, Aug. 1942, pp. 627-37
    13. T.N.E.C. Monograph No. 42
    14. F. Machlup, The Basing Point System, Chaps. 4, 5, 6, 7
    15. S. Enke, Equilibrium among Spatially Separated Markets: Solution by Electric Analogue,” Econometrica, January 1951

 

  1. Agricultural Location Theory
    Required reading

    1. Theodor Brinckmann’s Economics of the Farm Business, pp. 1-27, 61-63, 66, 73, 78-111, 142-63

Supplementary reading

    1. J.D. Black et al., Farm Management, Chap. XVI
    2. Theodor Brinckmann’s Economics of the Farm Business, pp. 27-61, 111-163
    3. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. III, IV
    4. A. Lösch, Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft, Chap. 5
    5. F. Aereboe, Allgemeine landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre, Parts III, V
    6. J.H. von Thünen, Der isolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und Nationalökonomie

 

  1. The General Equilibrium Framework
    Required reading

    1. A. Predöhl, “The Theory of Location in Relation to General Economics,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 36, June 1928
    2. B. Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade, Preface
    3. Alfred Weber’s Theory of Location of Industries, Chap. VII
    4. Isard, “The General Theory of Location and Space Economy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1949
    5. _____, “Distance Inputs and the Space-Economy: Part I, The Conceptual Framework; Part II, The Locational Equilibrium of the Firm,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May and August, 1951

Supplementary reading

    1. H. Weigmann, “Ideen zu einer Theorie der Raumwirtschaft,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol. 34, 1931, pp. 1-40
    2. ______, “Standortstheorie und Raumwirtschaft,” in Johann Heinrich von Thünen zum 150. Geburtstag (ed. By W. Seedorf and H. G. Seraphim)
    3. A. Predöhl, “Das Standortsproblem in der Wirtschaftstheorie,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. XXI, 1925
    4. B. Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade, Chaps. VIII-XII
    5. T. Palander, Beiträge zur Standortstheorie, Chaps. X and XI
    6. O. Englander, “Kritisches und Positives zu einer allgemeinen reinen Lehre vom Standort,” Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Sozialpolitik, Vol. V (New Series), 1926, sec. V-VIII
    7. L. Miksch, “Zur Theorie des räumlichen Gleichgewichts,” Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Bd. 66, 1951
    8. A. Predöhl, Aussenwirtschaft, 1949

 

  1. Regional and Interregional Input-Output Analysis
    Required reading

    1. W.W. Leontief, “Interregional Theory,” Littauer reading room
    2. Isard, “Some Empirical Results and Problems of Regional Input-Output Analysis,” Littauer reading room
    3. ________, “Interregional and Regional Input-Output Analysis: A Model of a Space-Economy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1951

Suggested reading

    1. W. Leontief, Structure of American Economy 1919-1929
    2. W. Leontief, “Output, Employment, Consumption and Investment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LVIII, February 1944
    3. W. Leontief, “Exports, Imports, Domestic Output, and Employment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LX, February 1946
    4. W. Leontief, “Wages, Profit and Prices,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LXI, November 1946
    5. Cornfield, Evans, and Hoffenberg, “Full Employment Patterns 1950,” Monthly Labor Review, February 1947
    6. Cornfield, Evans, and Hoffenberg, “Structure of the American Economy Under Full Employment Conditions,” Monthly Labor Review, March 1947
    7. M. Hoffenberg, “Employment Resulting from U.S. Exports,” Monthly Labor Review, December 1947
    8. W. Leontief et al., “Input-Output Analysis and its Use in Peace and War Economies,” Papers and Proceedings of the American Economic Association, May 1949

 

  1. Empirical Regularities and Distance
    Required reading

    1. John Q. Stewart, “Empirical Mathematical Rules Concerning the Distribution and Equilibrium of Population,” Geographical Review, July 1947
    2. John Q. Stewart, “Demographic Gravitation: Evidence and Applications,” Sociometry, February—May 1948
    3. G.K. Zipf, Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort, Chap. 9

Supplementary reading

    1. G.K. Zipf, National Unity and Disunity
    2. J.Q. Stewart, “Potential of Population and its Relationship to Marketing,” in Theory in Marketing, ed. by R. Cox and W. Alderson
    3. H.W. Singer, “The ‘Courbe des Populations’. A Parallel to Pareto’s Law,” Economic Journal, June 1936
    4. S.A. Stouffer, “Intervening Opportunities: A Theory Relating Mobility and Distance,” American Sociological Review, December 1940
    5. M.L. Bright and D.S. Thomas, “Interstate Migration and Intervening Opportunities,” American Sociological Review, December, 1941
    6. E.C. Isbell, “Internal Migration in Sweden and Intervening Opportunities,” American Sociological Review, December 1944

 

  1. Reading Period Assignment
    1. G.E. McLaughlin and S. Robock, Why Industry Moves South, pp. 1-102

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1952-1953 (2 of 2).

___________________

Final Examination January, 1953

1952-53
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 235a

Answer questions 1 and 2, and any two others.

  1. Define and briefly discuss the following concepts:

(a) locational weight
(b) rent surface
(c) demographic gravitation
(d) market orientation

  1. Design a regional input-output model. Discuss in full the limitations of such a model for projection purposes.
  2. Present Hoover’s analysis for determining the location of marketing and other intermediary establishments.
  3. Outline and evaluate Brinkmann’s theory of agricultural location.
  4. Discuss some ways in which linear programming (activity analysis) techniques may be useful in regional analysis.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences—January 1953 (HUC 7000.28), Vol. 96. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Sciences, Naval Science. January, 1953.

___________________

Harvard University
Department of Economics
Spring Term 1952-53

Economics 235b—Economics of Location and Regional Development: Problems

  1. Case Studies of Industries
    Required Reading

    1. Isard, “Some Locational Factors in the Iron and Steel Industry Since the Early Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 56, June 1948
    2. Isard and Cumberland, “New England as a Possible Location for an Integrated Iron and Steel Works,” Economic Geography, vol. 26, October 1950
    3. F. Machlup, The Basing-Point System, pp. 3-17, 25-30
    4. T.R. Smith, The Cotton Textile Industry of Fall River, Mass., Chs. II, III, IV.
    5. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chs. VII, VIII, IX and XVI

Supplementary Reading

    1. E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Chs. X-XIV
    2. Isard and Capron, “The Future Locational Pattern of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 57, March 1949
    3. U.S. Department of Commerce, Transportation Factors in the Location of the Cast Iron Pipe Industry, Economic Series, No. 63 (by J.C. Nelson and R.C. Smith)
    4. L. Dechesne, La Localisation des Diverses Productions
    5. E.W. Zimmerman, World Resources and Industries, Parts II, III
    6. C.S. Goodman, The Location of Fashion Industries, Michigan Business Studies, Vol. X, No. 2
    7. F. Machlup, The Basing-Point System, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7
    8. T.N.E.C. Monograph No. 42
    9. A.Smithies, “Aspects of the Basing-Point System,” American Economic Review, December 1942
    10. United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, World Iron Ore Resources and Their Utilization
    11. W.G. Cunningham, The Aircraft Industry: A Study in Industrial Location, Los Angeles, 1951
    12. J.V. Krutilla, The Structure of Costs and Regional Advantage in Primary Aluminum Production, Doctoral Dissertation, 1952, Harvard University Archives.
    13. J.H. Cumberland, The Locational Structure of the East Coast Steel Industry, Doctoral Dissertation, 1951, Harvard University Archives.

 

  1. Trends—Past and Near Future
    a. General Historical Background
    Required Reading

    1. W.H. Dean, The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities(Selections), Introduction and Ch. III
    2. Isard, “Transport Development and Building Cycles,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 52, November 1942

Supplementary Reading

    1. G. McLaughlin, Growth of American Manufacturing Areas, Part I
    2. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, Ch. II to end
    3. A. Weber, “Industrielle Standortstheorie,” Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Abt. VI, pp. 55-82.
    4. H. Ritschl, “Reine und historische Dynamik des Standortes der Erzeugungszweige,” Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 51, 1927, secs. IV and V
    5. E.M. Hoover, The Location of Economic Activity, Chs. 9 and 10
    6. R.G. Hawtrey, The Economic Problem, Chs. IX and X
    7. C. Goodrich, Migration and Economic Opportunity, Chs. VI, VIII
    8. A.P. Usher, “The Steam and Steel Complex and International Relations,” in Technology and International Relations (ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    9. P.E.P., Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chs. II and IV
    10. W.H. Dean, The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activities, Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University 1938, Chs. IV-VIII
    11. M.P. Fogarty, Prospects of the Industrial Areas of Great Britain, Ch. II
    12. R. Lester, “Trends in southern Wage Differentials Since 1890,” Southern Economic Journal, April 1945
    13. G. Ellis, “Why New Manufacturing Establishments Located in New England,” Monthly Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Volume 31, April 1949

 

  1. Industrial Concentration and Dispersion
    Required Reading

    1. S.P. Florence, Investment, Location and Size of Plant, Chs. III, IV, VI
    2. Shenfield and Florence, “The Economies and Diseconomies of Industrial Concentration: The Wartime Experience of Coventry,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XII, No. 32, 1944-45
    3. C. Goodrich, Migration and Economic Opportunity, pp. 314-92

Supplementary Reading

    1. S.P. Florence, Investment, Location and Size of Plant, Chs. I, II, V
    2. National Industrial Conference Board, Decentralization in Industry, Studies in Business Policy, No. 30
    3. J. Steindl, Small and Big Business, Oxford Institute of Statistics, Monograph No. 1
    4. D. Creamer, Is Industry Decentralizing
    5. National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Location and National Resources, Chaps. 4 and 5
    6. A.J. Wright, “Recent Changes in Concentration of Manufacturing,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 35, December 1945
    7. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Location of Manufactures, 1889-1929: A Study of the Tendencies Toward Concentration and Toward Dispersion.
    8. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Business Information Service, Concentration of Industry Report, December 1949
    9. Survey of Current Business, December 1949, “State Estimates of the Business Population.”

 

  1. Urban-Metropolitan Development Processes
    Required Reading

    1. A.E. Hawley, Human Ecology, pp. 80-91, 234-87, 348-432
    2. D.E. Bogue, The Structure of the Metropolitan Community, Part I
    3. R.E. Dickinson, City Region and Regionalism (Page through and observe figures carefully. Read text only when necessary to understand the implications of these figures).

Supplementary Reading

    1. W. Christaller, Die zentralen Orte in Süddeutschland
    2. E. Ullman “A Theory of Location for Cities” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 46, May 1941, pp. 853-64
    3. U.S. Federal Housing Administration, The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhoods in American Cities
    4. Isard and Whitney, “Metropolitan Site Selection,”Social Forces, Vol. 27, March 1949
    5. P.E.P., Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chap. VI
    6. R.D. McKenzie, The Metropolitan Community, Parts II, III,, IV
    7. N.S.B. Gras, “The Rise of the Metropolitan Community” in the Urban Community (ed. by E.W. Burgess)
    8. R. Park et al., The City, Chaps. I, II, III
    9. E. de S. Brunner and J.H. Kolb, Rural Social Trends, Chaps. IV, V, VI
    10. R.E. Dickinson, “The Scope and Status of Urban Geography: An Assessment,” Land Economics, Vol. XXIV, August 1948, pp. 221-38
    11. Griffith Taylor, Urban Geography
    12. D.E. Bogue, The Structure of the Metropolitan Community, Parts II and III
    13. P.K. Hatt and A.J. Reiss, Reader in Urban Sociology, Parts 1-4

 

  1. Regional Industrialization Processes
    Required Reading

    1. Pei-kang Chang, Agriculture and Industrialization, pp. 23-36, 46-55, 66-112
    2. A.W. Lewis, “The Industrialization of the British West Indies,” Caribbean Economic Review, Vol. II, No. 1, May 1950
    3. A.P. Usher, A Dynamic Analysis of the Location of Economic Activity, Sections 7, 8, and 9

Supplementary Reading

    1. Pei-kang Chang, Agriculture and Industrialization, Chaps. IV, V, VI
    2. K. Mandelbaum, The Industrialization of Backward Areas
    3. Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, Chaps. V-XV
    4. Colin Clark, The Economics of 1960
    5. League of Nations, Industrialization and Foreign Trade, Chaps. III and IV
    6. A.J. Brown, Industrialization and Trade
    7. S.R. Dennison, The Location of Industry and Depressed Areas, Part II
    8. G. McLaughlin, Growth of American Manufacturing Areas, Part II
    9. D.M. Phelps, Migration of Industry to South America
    10. P.E.P, Report on the Location of Industry in Great Britain, Chaps. I, V, VIII, IX, X
    11. B. Barfod, Local Economic Effects of a Large-Scale Industrial Undertaking
    12. Harold H. Hutcheson, “Problems of the Underdeveloped Countries,” (Parts I and II), Foreign Policy Reports, September 15 and October 1, 1948, Vol. XXIV, Nos. 9 and 10
    13. L.H. Bean, “International Industrialization and Per Capita Income,” Studies in Income and Wealth (National Bureau of Economic Research 1946), Vol. 8, pp. 119-44
    14. Ernst Pelzer, “Industrialization of Young Countries and the Change in the International Division of Labor,” Social Research, September 1940, pp. 299-325
    15. N.S. Buchanan, “Deliberate Industrialization for Higher Incomes,” Economic Journal Volume 56, December 1946
    16. E. Staley, World Economic Development (I.L.O.)
    17. Great Britain Ministry of Works and Planning, Report of the Committee on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas (Scott Report), Parts I, II
    18. Great Britain, Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, Report (Barlow Report)
    19. T.R. Sharma, Location of Industries in India (2nd Edition), Chaps. XI-XV
    20. H. Perloff, Puerto Rico’s Economic Future
    21. W.A. Lewis, “Industrial Development in Puerto Rico,” Caribbean Economic Review, Vol. I, No. 1, December 1949
    22. S.S. Balzak et al., Economic Geography of the U.S.S.R.
    23. E.M. Hoover & J.L. Fisher, “Research in Regional Economic Growth,” in Problems in the Study of Economic Growth, National Bureau of Economic Research
    24. P. Neff et al., Production Cost Trends in Selected Industrial Areas
    25. R. Vining, articles on regional cyclical behavior, Econometrica, July 1945, January 1946, and July 1946; and Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Review, May 1949
    26. Interstate Commerce Commission, Dockets Nos. 29885 and 29886, pp. 55-165, Testimony of R. Vining
    27. Survey Research Center, Industrial Mobility in Michigan
    28. Hildebrand and Mace, “The Employment Multiplier in an Expanding Industrial Market: Los Angeles County, 1940-47,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1950
    29. C. Clark, “The Distribution of Labour Between Industries and Between Locations,” Land Economics, May 1950

 

  1. Regional Implications of Aircraft and Atomic Power
    Required Reading and Reading Period Assignment

    1. Isard and Whitney, Atomic Power: An Economic and Social Analysis, entire book
    2. C. and W. Isard, “Some Economic Implications of Aircraft,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 59, February 1945

Supplementary Reading

    1. National Resources Planning Board, Technological Trends and National Policy, Parts I, II
    2. W. F. Ogburn, “The Process of Adjustment to New Inventions,” in Technology and International Relations (ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    3. H. Hart, “Technology and Growth of Political Areas,” in Technology and International Relations(ed. by W.F. Ogburn)
    4. A. J. Brown, Applied Economics, Chapter VII
    5. Isard and Lansing, “Comparisons of Power Cost for Atomic and Conventional Steam Stations,” Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. XXXI, August 1949
    6. Isard, “Some Economic Implications of Atomic Energy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LXII, February 1948
    7. W.F. Ogburn, Social Effects of Aviation, Parts I, II, III
    8. National Resources Planning Board, Transportation and National Policy, Part II, Section I, “Air Transport.”
    9. S. Schurr and J. Marschak, Economic Aspects of Atomic Power
    10. Isard and Whitney, “Atomic Power and Regional Development,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. VIII, April 1952

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1952-1953 (2 of 2).

___________________

Final Examination May, 1953

1952-53
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 235b

Answer question 1 and three others.

  1. Define and discuss briefly the following concepts:

(a) location quotient
(b) freight absorption
(c) income potential

  1. Evaluate the economic feasibility of a plan based on the concepts of “small man, small plant, and small town with diversified industry.”
  2. Discuss the thesis that the concept of a nodal or metropolitan region is increasing in significance for regional analysis.
  3. What are the various forces determining the location pattern of the iron and steel industry? How do they interact under several different sets of circumstances? Illustrate with diagrams.
  4. “If private enterprise is to engage in the production of both fissionable material and power for commercial use, the location in New England of a nuclear energy installation operated by private enterprise would tend to minimize the subsidy required of the federal government.” Evaluate this statement.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences—June 1953 (HUC 7000.28), Vol. 99. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Air Sciences, Naval Science. June, 1953.

Image Source:  Walter Isard, ca. 1960. From David Boyce presentation: Leon Moses and Walter Isard: Collaborators, Rivals or Antagonists.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Examinations for introductory economics. Taussig, Ashley, both Cummings, 1895-96.

 

This post follows up on the previous one that focused on the economic history module taught in Harvard’s introductory economics sequence by W. J. Ashley during the spring term of 1896. For the sake of convenience I have put together transcriptions of all the exams I was able to find for the jointly taught course “Outlines of Economics” (1895-96). The first exam below, the mid-year examination (final exam for the fall term of 1895), is most likely to be the work of Frank Taussig, with questions for the special topic modules covered in the second semester coming from Ashley, Edward Cummings and John Cummings (Chicago economics Ph.D., 1894).

_______________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, and Dr. John Cummings. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation.

Total 338: 3 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 91 Juniors, 161 Sophomores, 8 Freshmen, 40 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1895-96, p. 63.

_______________

1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[Mid-Year Examination]

  1. Is all wealth produced by labor?
  2. Compare the distinction between fixed and circulating capital with the distinction between auxiliary and remuneratory capital; and state why one or the other distinction is the more satisfactory.
  3. Are differences in profits from employment to employment similar in kind to differences in wages from occupation to occupation?
  4. In what way are differences of wages affected by the absence of effective competition between laborers? By its presence?
  5. What are the grounds for saying that rent is a return differing in kind from interest?
  6. Trace the effects of an issue of inconvertible paper money, less in quantity than the specie previously in use, on (1) the circulation of specie, (2) the foreign exchanges, (3) the relations of debtor to creditor.
  7. State Mill’s reasoning as to the mode in which, under a double standard, one metal is driven from circulation; and explain how the actual process differs from that analyzed by Mill.
  8. What are the grounds for saying that the gain of international trade does not come from the sale of surplus produce beyond the domestic demand?
  9. In what manner is the price of landed property affected by an increased quantity of money? by a rise in the rate of interest?
  10. Wherein does monopoly value present a case different from that of the usual operation of the laws of value?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations,  1852-1943(HUC 7000.55). Box 3, Examination Papers Mid-years, 1895-96.

_______________

1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[W.J.A., Hour Examination. March 13, 1896]

Please write on three questions only.

  1. Mill remarks in his Autobiography that the distinction between the laws of the production and those of the distribution of wealth was the most important contribution he made to Political Economy. Explain this.
  2. What does Jones mean by the division of Rents into Peasant and Farmer’s Rents?
  3. Give a brief account of the stages of industrial development.
  4. Draw a parallel between the town policy of the 15thcentury and the national policy of the 18th.
  5. Was Frederick the Great justified in his attempt to introduce the silk manufacture into Prussia?

_______________

1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[Final Examination]

[Answer ten questions. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Group I.
[At least one.]

  1. Explain the meaning of two of the following terms, — margin of cultivation; wages of superintendence; rapidity of circulation (as to money).
  2. Do profits constitute a return different from interest?
  3. Explain what is meant by the law, or equation, of demand and supply; and in what manner it applies to commodities susceptible of indefinite multiplication without increase of cost.
  4. In what manner does a country gain from the division of labor in its domestic trade? In what manner from international trade?

Group II.
[At least one.]

  1. Does it fall within the province of the economist to discuss the institution of private property?
  2. Show the connection between the industrial development of the present century, and the discussion among economists as to the functions of the entrepreneur.
  3. Consider in what manner prices, or rents, [choose one] are differently determined according as they are under the influence of custom or of competition.
  4. “The idea that economic life has ever been a progress mainly dependent on individual action is mistaken with regard to all stages of civilization, and in some respects it is more mistaken the farther we go back.” Explain and criticize.

Group III.
[At least one.]

  1. If cooperation were universally adopted, what would be left of the wages system?
  2. Is there anything in what you learned as to the laws governing wages, which the action of the English trade-unions in regard to wages has disregarded?
  3. Has the course of events justified Mill’s expectations in regard to the development of profit-sharing and of cooperation? Explain why, or why not.
  4. Describe the trade and benefit features of the English trade-unions.

Group IV.
[At least three.]

  1. Is the present position of the Treasury of the United States in any respect essentially similar to that of the Issue Department of the Bank of England? In any respect essentially dissimilar?
  2. What is the test of over-issue, as to inconvertible paper money? What light does the experience of the United States and of France throw on the probability of over-issue?
  3. Arrange in their proper order the following items in a bank account:—

Capital

100,000

 Bonds and Stocks 75,000
Specie

150,000

 Surplus 50,000

Notes

 100,000 Other Assets 50,000
Loans 400,000 Other Liabilities 60,000

Expenses

 25,000 Undivided Profits 40,000

Deposits

 350,000

Could this bank be a national bank of the United States? If such a bank, how would the account stand?

    1. Compare the policy of the Bank of England in times of financial crisis with the policy of the Associated Banks of New York; and give an opinion as to which is the more effective in allaying panic.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives.  Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935 [of] Prof F.W. Taussig (HUC 7882), p. 53.

Image Source:  Gore Hall (Library). Souvenir Guide Book of Harvard College and its Historical Vicinity, Cambridge, Massachusetts: F. A. Olsson, 1895.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus for Economic History Module in Principles Course. Ashley, 1896.

 

For several years at the end of the 19th century Harvard’s introductory course in economics consisted of a two semester sequence. The fall semester was dedicated to theoretical Principles of Economics à la John Stuart Mill followed by the spring semester that covered specific topics, e.g. economic history, social policy, monetary arrangements.

The economic history module was taught by Professor William J. Ashley and ran for five weeks. The material was tested once in a one-hour mid-term exam and then again in the course final examination (students were to answer at least one of four questions in Group II below).

I have only found a complete set of syllabus, reading assignments, and exam questions for Ashley’s module. In the next post, you will find all the course exams for 1895-96 that were pasted into Frank Taussig’s personal scrapbook of exams for all the courses he taught during his long Harvard career.

_________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, and Dr. John Cummings. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation.

Total 338: 3 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 91 Juniors, 161 Sophomores, 8 Freshmen, 40 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1895-96, p. 63.

_________________

Economic History Module
William J. Ashley

ECONOMICS 1.
LECTURES ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Weekly Syllabus 1.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 2-5. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapters 1 and 2, and Appendix pp. 169-182. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 1-13.

N.B. 1. The prescribed reading for the whole period covered by this set of lectures will deal with same general topics as will be considered in the lectures. But it will not be possible to make the reading of each week exactly parallel, in every case, with the lectures of that week.
2. There will be a question set every Friday, and 15 minutes allowed for answering it, on some subject suggested by the reading and lectures of that week.

  1. The Historical Movement of the 19th Century.
    Its causes:

    1. The “Romantic” Reaction against the 18th century “Enlightenment.”
    2. Evolutionary Philosophy—Hegel, Comte, Spencer.
    3. Evolutionary Biology—Darwin.
    4. Anthropology—Tylor.

Its intellectual effects:

    1. Interest in the Middle Ages.
    2. Sense of Continuity—“Uniformitarianism.”
    3. Sense of Relativity.
    4. Changed conception of the relation of the Present to the Past and the Future.
  1. Influence of the Historical Movement on other studies:
    1. On Law—Savigny, Maine.
    2. On Theology—“The Higher Criticism.”
    3. On Economics.
      The older and newer Historical Schools of Economists—Roscher, Schmoller.
  1. Value of Economic History:
    1. For its own sake.
    2. For a right estimate of modern economic theory.
    3. For insight into modern economic facts.

Provisional use of the conceptions of “Stages.”

Preliminary consideration of certain attempts to group all the phenonomena of economic history under a single formula:

    1. Friedrich List. The Five Stages in the development of the peoples of the temperate zone.
    2. Bruno Hildebrand. Naturalwirthschaft, Geldwirthschaft, Creditwirthschaft.

Weekly Syllabus 2.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 6-7. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapter 3, and Appendix pp. 183-190. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 13-43.

Preliminary consideration of current generalisations concerning the development of particular sides of economic life:

Agriculture—

Extensive:

    1. Shifting Tillage (Wildfeldgraswirtschaft)

Intensive:

    1. Open Field System (Three field system, Dreifelderwirthschaft).
    2. Convertible Husbandry (Feldgraswirthschaft).
    3. Rotation of Crops (Fruchtwechselwirtschaft).

Industry  (Manufacture)—

    1. The Family System (Familienindustrie, Hausfleiss).
    2. The Gild System (Handwerk).
      1. Wage-work.
      2. Work for sale.
    3. The Domestic System (Hausindustrie, Verlags-system.)
      1. Domestic system proper.
      2. Wage-work.
    4. The Factory System
      With and without machinery.

Weekly Syllabus 3.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 8-10. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapter 4, and Appendix pp. 190-207. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 43-57.

Preliminary consideration of current generalisations of the anthropologists concerning prehistoric development:

Property—

Tribal Ownership and Family Ownership.
Individual Ownership of Movables.
Individual Ownership of Land.

Theories of Early Agrarian Communism.—Recent Discussions.

Progress of the Arts of Subsistence(Morgan) —

Savagery —

Older period—Fruits and Roots.
Middle period—Fish and Fire.
Later period—Game and the Bow.

Barbarism —

Older period—Pottery.
Middle period—Pastoral Life.
Later period—Iron and Agriculture.

Civilisation —

Sketch of the Economic Development of the European Peoples since the Early Middle Ages.

Reasons for this limitation.

  1. Period of Village or Manorial Economy.
    1. Sketch of Manorial System:

Lord and Serfs.
Demesne and Land in Villenage.
Open Fields.
Week-work and Boon-Days.

  1. Economic Characteristics:

“Natural-economy.”
Self-sufficiency.
Stability.

Relative absence of conditions usually assumed by modern economists.

Weekly Syllabus 4.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Preliminary Remarks. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapters 5 and 6. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 57-91.

Interacting phenomena: (1) Commutation of Services, (2) The Rise of Markets.
Appearance of town life in the midst of conditions still predominantly agricultural.

  1. Period of Town Dominance.
    1. The Town Economy:

The Town Market: The Gild Merchant.
The Town Industry: The Craft Gilds.
Subordination of the Country Districts.

    1. The Beginnings of Modern Economic Conditions:

Wage-labor.
Capital.
Profit.

[Then followed in Germany a Period of Territorial Economy.
Its characteristics.
Question whether such a period is distinctly marked in France or England.]

 

  1. Period of National Economy.

Strong central governments.
The spirit of Nationality.
Mercantilism, its Origin, Purpose and Methods.

A. National Economy and Domestic Industries

    1. The new influence of Capital:

On Industry.
On Agriculture.

    1. The action of the State:

Control of Commerce.
Encouragement of Manufactures.
Industrial Legislation.

Weekly Syllabus 5.

Prescribed Reading for the previous month, to be revised: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Preliminary Remarks and Bk. II, chs. 1-10. R. Jones, Peasant Rents. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System.

  1. Period of National Economy.

B. National Economy and the Factory System.

    1. Necessary Characteristics of the Factory System.
    2. The World-Market, and Fluctuations of Trade.
    3. Break-up of the Old Industrial Organisation; due to (a) changed conditions, (b) the influence of ideas of natural liberty.
    4. The Age of Individualism, and Industrial Freedom.

Question whether the beginnings may be discerned of a Period of International or World Economy.

Note: The various recent movements towards the reconstruction of a stable industrial organization, and the solution thereby of the “Labor Question,” will be the subjects of the lectures during the following weeks by Professor Cummings.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 1, Folder “1895-1896”.

_________________

1895-96.

ECONOMICS 1.
[W.J.A., Hour Examination. March 13, 1896]

Please write on three questions only.

  1. Mill remarks in his Autobiographythat the distinction between the laws of the production and those of the distribution of wealth was the most important contribution he made to Political Economy. Explain this.
  2. What does Jones mean by the division of Rents into Peasant and Farmer’s Rents?
  3. Give a brief account of the stages of industrial
  4. Draw a parallel between the town policy of the 15thcentury and the national policy of the 18th.
  5. Was Frederick the Great justified in his attempt to introduce the silk manufacture into Prussia?

    _________________

1895-96.

ECONOMICS 1.
[Final Examination]

[Answer ten questions. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Group I.
[At least one.]

  1. Explain the meaning of two of the following terms, — margin of cultivation; wages of superintendence; rapidity of circulation (as to money).
  2. Do profits constitute a return different from interest?
  3. Explain what is meant by the law, or equation, of demand and supply; and in what manner it applies to commodities susceptible of indefinite multiplication without increase of cost.
  4. In what manner does a country gain from the division of labor in its domestic trade? In what manner from international trade?

Group II.
[At least one.]

  1. Does it fall within the province of the economist to discuss the institution of private property?
  2. Show the connection between the industrial development of the present century, and the discussion among economists as to the functions of the entrepreneur.
  3. Consider in what manner prices, or rents, [choose one] are differently determined according as they are under the influence of custom or of competition.
  4. “The idea that economic life has ever been a progress mainly dependent on individual action is mistaken with regard to all stages of civilization, and in some respects it is more mistaken the farther we go back.” Explain and criticize.

Group III.
[At least one.]

  1. If cooperation were universally adopted, what would be left of the wages system?
  2. Is there anything in what you learned as to the laws governing wages, which the action of the English trade-unions in regard to wages has disregarded?
  3. Has the course of events justified Mill’s expectations in regard to the development of profit-sharing and of cooperation? Explain why, or why not.
  4. Describe the trade and benefit features of the English trade-unions.

Group IV.
[At least three.]

  1. Is the present position of the Treasury of the United States in any respect essentially similar to that of the Issue Department of the Bank of England? In any respect essentially dissimilar?
  2. What is the test of over-issue, as to inconvertible paper money? What light does the experience of the United States and of France throw on the probability of over-issue?
  3. Arrange in their proper order the following items in a bank account:—
Capital 100,000 Bonds and Stocks 75,000
Specie 150,000 Surplus 50,000
Notes 100,000 Other Assets 50,000
Loans 400,000 Other Liabilities 60,000
Expenses 25,000 Undivided Profits 40,000
Deposits 350,000

Could this bank be a national bank of the United States? If such a bank, how would the account stand?

  1. Compare the policy of the Bank of England in times of financial crisis with the policy of the Associated Banks of New York; and give an opinion as to which is the more effective in allaying panic.

Source: Harvard University Archives.  Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935 [of] Prof F.W. Taussig (HUC 7882), p. 53.

 

Image Source: Entry for William James Ashley in 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), p. 595.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Sociology. Syllabus, reading assignments, final exam. Carver and Joslyn, 1927-28

 

This post has two functions: it adds to the syllabi for sociology taught at Harvard previously transcribed:  

Economics 3. Thomas Nixon Carver and William Z. Ripley, 1902
Economics 8. Thomas Nixon Carver, 1917-18.

It also serves as a meet an economics Ph.D. alumnus from Harvard post. The 1927-28 offering of Economics 8 was co-taught by Professor Carver and his sociology graduate student, Carl Smith Joslyn.

Carl Smith Joslyn (b. 20 Aug 1899 in Springfield, MA.; d. 23 Dec 1986 in Worthington, MA) went to Central High School in Springfield. At Harvard he received the Class of 1844 Scholarship (1919-1920). He went on to chair the sociology department at the University of Maryland, during which time he hired young C. Wright Mills.

________________

Carl Smith Joslyn
Harvard Ph.D. in Economics, 1930.

Carl Smith Joslyn, A.B. 1920
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Sociology. Thesis, “The Social Origins of American Business Leaders.” Instructor in Economics and Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, and Tutor in Sociology and Social Ethics, Harvard University.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1929-30. Page 120.

________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 8a1hf. Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver and Mr. [Carl Smith] Joslyn.— Principles of Sociology

Total 79: 7 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 36 Juniors, 2 Sophomores 11 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1927-28. Page 74.

________________

8. Principles of Sociology

[This is for 1928-29, virtually identical to 1924-25 description]

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12.
Professor Carver and Mr. Joslyn

A study of human adaptation. Progress defined as adaptation. In what does progress consist, how may it be verified, what are the factors that promote or hinder it? The biological as well as the psychological, moral, economic, and political factors are studied. Attention is given to problems of moral adjustment and readjustment, of active control of the environmental factors, of economizing human energy and of social control.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1928-29.  Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXV, No. 29 (May 26, 1928), p. 68.

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Economics 8

I.
Introduction

  1. The Nature, Scope, and Method of Sociology

A study of purposeful human association.
Relation to Linguistics, Psychology, Jurisprudence, Ethics, Politics, Economics.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 1-14; 65-79.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, ch. 1.

  1. The Evolutionary Concept in Sociology:
    (1) Continuity; (2) Change; (3) Differentiation; (4) Fixation.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Pt. I, ch. 1. Pt. II, chs. 1-4.
Bristol, Social Adaptation, pp. 29-40; 123-149.

  1. The Mechanism of Organic and Super-organic (Social) Evolution Compared.
    (1) Variation. (a) spontaneous or artificially produced; (b) minute or extreme.
    (2) Selection. (a) Natural. (b) social.

Bristol, Social Adaptation, pp. 55-79.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 276-299.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 42-56.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice, pp. 1-27.

  1. The Origin and Development of Human Society.
    Survival value of (a) associated effort; (b) social inclination.

Giddings, Principles of Sociology, pp. 199-229; 256-323.
Dealey and Ward, Textbook of Sociology, Ch. I.

  1. The Nature and Conditions of Social Progress. Progress considered as the adaptation of the organism, man, to his environment: the method of adaptation being (a) Passive, or (b) active; the character of the environment being (a) physical, or (b) social.

Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 19-41; 73-103.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 88-120.
Bristol, Social Adaptation, Preface and Introduction.

  1. The Limits of Social Progress: A mutual fitting together or balancebetween the passive and the active forms of adaptation.
    (1) on the physical side, (a) such modifications as will enable it to live healthfully in the modified physical environment, (b) such improvements of the physical environment as will so fit the modified human organism as to enable it to live healthfully.
    (2) on the moral side; (a) such modifications of the intellectual and moral nature of man as will cause individuals to react favorably to such stimuli as can be brought to bear upon them by an improved system of social control: (b) such improvements in the system of social control as will secure favorable responses from the improved intellectual and moral nature of man.

Bristol, Social Adaptation, pp. 221-304.

II.
A. Passive physical adaptation.

  1. Race and Environment as Factors in Social Progress.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 174-243; 498-500; 631-636.
Bristol, Social Adaptation, pp. 105-120.

  1. The Stability of the Racial Factor in Historic Time: the Inheritance of Acquired Characters.

Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 362-368.
Popenoe & Johnson, Applied Eugenics, pp. 25-74; 99-115; 402-423.

  1. The Displacement of Natural Selection by Social Selection and its Consequences:
    (a) the Differential Birth-rate; (b) Philanthropy; (c) The Punishment of Criminals; (d) Military Selection.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 392-409; 647-653; 676-696.
Popenoe and Johnson, Applied Eugenics, pp. 116-146.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 386-413.
Bristol, Social Adaptation, pp. 92-102.

  1. The Correlation of Ability and Social Status; Nature and Nurture in Social Stratification. Tests of Ability; (a) economic. (b) psychological.

Popenoe & Johnson, Applied Eugenics, pp. 1-24; 75-98.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 326-361; 369-385.

  1. The Qualitative Control of Population; Eugenic and Dysgenic Factors in Modern Society.

Popenoe and Johnson, Applied Eugenics, pp. 176-279.

  1. The Increase of Population in Modern Times:
    a) General, (b) local, (c) occupational.

East, Mankind at the Crossroads, pp. 45-109; 146-198.

  1. The Quantitative Control of Population; the Operation of Positive and Preventive Checks in Modern Society.
    The Redistribution of population to relieve congestion. (a) local; (b) occupational.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 133-173.
East, Mankind at the Crossroads, pp. 231-283.

  1. Marriage and the Family; Disintegrative Forces and their Control.

Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 252-273.
East, Mankind at the Crossroads, pp. 318-339.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 317-375; 674-675.

B. Passive Intellectual and Moral Adaptation.

  1. The Raw Material of Mental and Moral Development; Human Nature and its Re-Making

McDougall, Social Psychology, pp. 19-120.

  1. The Original Nature of Man; Instinct vs. Environment in Human Institutions.

McDougall, Social Psychology, pp. 121-227.

  1. The Psychology of the Crowd; Fundamental Processes of Social Behavior; the Nature of the “Group Mind”.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 503-521.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 417-444.
McDougall, Social Psychology, pp. 279-301, 322-351.

  1. Education as the Instrument of Intellectual Adaptation; a Sociological View of the Objective and the Methods in Education.

Spencer, Education, pp. 21-128.

  1. Religion as the Instrument of Moral Adaptation; an Appraisal of Current Tendencies in Religion and Ethics.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 481-497.
Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 529-549.
Carver, Religion Worth having, pp. 3-24; 93-140.

  1. The Problem of the Morally Unadapted; the Nature and Causes of Crime; a Program for Social Control.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 654-673.
Ferri, Criminal Sociology (to be assigned).
Parmelee, Criminology (to be assigned).

C. Active Physical Adaptation.

  1. Material Adaptation as the Productive Utilization of Human Energy; Prevalent Forms of Waste and their Elimination.

Carver, The Economy of Human Energy, pp. 140-181.
Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, pp. 35-101.

  1. The Problem of Material Mal-Adaptation; Poverty and its Causes; a Program for Social Reform.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice, pp. 349-383.
Warner, American Charities, pp. 36-90.

  1. The Nature and Justification of Property; Problems of Ownership and Control in Modern Industry.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice, pp. 304-323.
Tawney, The Acquisitive Society, pp. 1-83.

  1. Radical Programs of Social Reform; Socialism, Anarchism, Syndicalism, and their Variants.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice, pp. 232-263.
Taussig, Inventors and Money-makers, pp. 76-135.

  1. Liberty and Equality as Practicable and Compatible Ideals; the Peculiar Destiny of the American Nation.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice, pp. 264-280.
Carver, The Present Economic Revolution in the United States, pp. 15-65; 233-263.

D. Active Moral Adaptation, or Social Control in its Broader Aspects.

  1. The Place of the State in Human Adaptation. Physical Compulsion as a System of Social Control. Punishment. Voluntary Agreement. The Problem of the Reconciliation of Group Interests and Individual Interests.

Bushee, Principles of Sociology, pp. 176-205.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 750-763.
Mill, Essay on Liberty, chs. 1, 2, and 4.

  1. The Essential Nature of Democracy; Sensitivity and how it is achieved (a) in a coercive state, (b) in a non-coercive business.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Pt. V, Chs. XVII, XVIII and XIX.

  1. Problems of Modern Democracy; a Survey of the claims of Democracy as the “Ideally Best Polity”

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 764-787.
Mill, Essay on Representative Government, chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.

  1. The Possibility of Progress; a Recapitulation of Inorganic, Organic, and Social Evolutions and a Forecast of Future Developments.

(Reading to be assigned)

 

Reading Period

Ec 8a Professor Carver.

Sumner and Keller: Science of Society, Vol. I. Chs. I-X inclusive, Chs. XVIII, XIX.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1927-1928”.

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1927-28
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 8a1
Final Examination

Allow about one hour to each part of the examination.

I

  1. Below are given two contrasting views regarding: (a) the effects which an increase in numbers “in any given state of civilization” might be expected to have on the productive capacity of society; (b) the cause of want and misery in society. Which of these seems to you the more reasonable in each of these respects, and why? State in each case the considerations which, in your opinion, led the writer to take the particular view of the matter which he did.
    “A greater number of people cannot, in any given state of civilization, be collectively so well provided for as a smaller. The niggardliness of nature, not the injustice of society, is the cause of the penalty attached to over-population.”
    “I assert that in any given state of civilization a greater number of people can collectively be better provided for than a smaller. I assert that the injustice of society, not the niggardliness of nature, is the cause of the want and misery which the current theory attributes to over-population.”
  2. What is the attitude of Sumner and Keller on the question of “natural” rights? What is your own attitude? Would a man whose labor is absolutely superfluous to society have any right to a subsistence, in your opinion? Explain fully the grounds on which you base your judgment.

II

  1. Discuss the relation of sensitivity to democracy and point out the principal ways by which those who govern or manage are made sensitive to the interests of those who are governed or managed.
  2. What is meant by the vertical mobility of labor and what social institutions tend to decrease and what tend to increase it?
  3. Suppose that, from the beginning of human evolution, individual effort had been more effective than associated effort, do you think that men would have developed a social nature? Give reasons for your answer.

III

  1. Sumner and Keller have traced back all of our important social institutions to four primary interests in man. What are these interests and what are the institutions arising from each of them?
  2. Explain concisely each of the following terms, showing by your answer that you have a clear understanding of their several meanings:
    1. the man-land ratio;
    2. parallel induction;
    3. intellectual egalitarianism;
    4. maintenance-mores;
    5. ghost-fear;
    6. non-sustentative lethal selection;
    7. Marx’s theory of economic stratification;
    8. assortative mating
  3. Men are not sufficiently equipped with instincts to insure automatic behavior which has survival value in the complex life of modern society, neither are they sufficiently endowed with intelligence to secure rational behavior which has survival value. Between the limited field of behavior controlled by instinct and the equally limited field of behavior controlled by reason, there is apparently a wide gap. How is this gap filled?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers Mid-years, 1927-1928(HUC 7000.55). Papers printed for Mid-year Examinations: History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1928.

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JOSLYN AWARDED $6000
END PRIZE FALLS TO PENN. MAN

May 22, 1920

Carl Smith Joslyn ’20 of Springfield, now working his way through college, has won the Truxton Beale prize of $6000. This award was made as a result of the Walker Blaine Beale memorial contest for a Republican Platform suitable for use in the approaching campaign. The prize was offered by Truxton Beale for the purpose of stimulating political study among young people, and was to be won by a Republican not over 25 years of age.

His Platform Decisive and Complete

Mr. Joslyn’s platform is a well-built and well-reasoned document, embracing nearly a score of the outstanding questions of the day. His Republican convictions are set forth with incisive moderation, which lends emphasis to every statement. He deals expeditiously with the various international and socialistic delusions; sets forth a peace program as clear as it is decisive; makes a quick analysis of the league of nations and puts well defined limits to its powers. The greater part of his platform is, however, devoted to domestic problems, beginning with the high cost of living and following its economic and sociological ramifications through the relations of labor and industry, production and economy, taxation, railroads, foreign trade and merchant marine. ment. He ends with the following paragraphs:

“The Republican party appeals to the people for their support on the stand which it has taken against the abuse of the executive power and for the preservation of the sovereignty and independence of the United States. Its principles and policies are all formulated by a liberal and constructive statesmanship. Its creed is one of undivided Americanism; one faith, one loyalty, one devotion–and these in the service of upbuilding and strengthening the great United States of America, the country which gave the world the ideals of liberty and justice and which has dedicated its future to their perpetuation and advancement.”

Other Prizes Also Fall to College Men

The second prize of $3000 goes to Howard B. Wilson of Philadelphia, a student at the University of Pennsylvania and the third of $1000 to W. P. Smith, a student at the University of Michigan. The judges were President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, former United States Senator Beveridge and former United States Ambassador David Jayne Hill.

Source: Archive of the Harvard Crimson, May 22, 1960.

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History of U. Maryland’s Sociology Department

Although classes began on this campus in October 1859, the first sociology course was not taught until fall semester 1919.  The course was “Elementary Sociology.”  From the time of this first course until 1935, when a separate Department of Sociology was established, all sociology courses were offered by the Economics Department. During the 1970s, the Sociology Department was restructured and Anthropology and Criminology became separate programs.  Today, the Sociology Department houses the Center for Innovation, Program for Society and the Environment, Maryland Time Use Laboratory, Center for Research on Military Organizations, Group Processes Lab and is affiliated with the Maryland Population Research Center.

Over the years, the sociology faculty has included many nationally and internationally renowned scholars.  In the 1920s, sociology courses were taught by George Peter Murdock, who later created the Human Relations Area Files.  In 1938, Logan Wilson, who later became the President of the University of Texas, joined the faculty for a few years.  C. Wright Mills, the author of The Power Elite, White Collar, and The Sociological Imagination, was a member of the faculty from 1941-1945.  The most renowned scholar on the faculty during the last quarter-century was Morris Rosenberg, the world’s foremost student of how social forces shape the self-esteem.

Since its founding, the Department has had eleven leaders: Theodore B. Manny, Carl Joslyn, Edward Gregory, Harold Hoffsommer, Robert Ellis, Kenneth C. W. Kammeyer, Jerald Hage, William Falk, Lee Hamilton, Suzanne Bianchi, and Reeve Vanneman. The current chair is Patricio Korzeniewicz.

Among the many people who have earned a degree from this department and subsequently achieved considerable recognition are William Form, the first person to hold a Ph.D. (1944) from this department; Parren Mitchell, who became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives; Adele Stamp, for whom the Stamp Student Union is named, and Charles Wellford of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Source: University of Maryland, Department of Sociology. Webpage: “History of the Sociology Department”.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver (left) and Carl Smith Joslyn (right) from the faculty photos in the Harvard Class Album 1932.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Mid-year exam for economic theory course. Haberler, 1931-32.

Portr‰t des Haberler, Gottfried [1900-1995]

 

 

In 1931-32 thirty-one year old Gottfried Haberler taught as a visiting lecturer at Harvard. Later he was to return to Harvard where he was appointed to a professorship in 1936. He was a member of the Harvard faculty until his move to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. in 1971.

This post provides three items from his 1931-32 course “Problems in Economic Theory”.

(1) Enrollment data. From the annual presidential report we see that only six students (half of whom were Radcliffe women) were registered for the course.
(2)  Assignments for both semesters’ reading periods. Note that Frank Knight accounts for a good half of that required reading.
(3) The final examination questions for the first semester. 

____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 15. Dr. Haberler.—Problems in Economic Theory.

Total 6: 3 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-32. Page 72.

____________________

Reading Period
Jan 4-20, 1932

Economics 15

Knight, F.H.: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Chs. III, IV.

Wicksteed, P.H.: Common Sense of Political Economy, Pt. I, Chs. II, VI, XI; P. II, Ch. On Rent.

Knight, F.H.: A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of The General Theory of Price, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 36, No. 3, June, 1928.

Suggestions for further reading:

Böhm-Bawerk, E.V.: Positive Theorie des Kapitals, 3rd or 4th edition (not translated), Exkurs VII, “Zurechnung”.

Mayer, Hans: Artikel “Bedürfnis”, “Produktion”, “Zurechnung” in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 4. Auflage.

Reading Period
May 9-June 1, 1932

Economics 15

Benham: “Economic Welfare”, in the Economica, June 1930.

Pigou: Economics of Welfare, Part I, Chs. 1,2,3,4,5; Part II, Ch. VIII, Secs. 1 and 2, Ch. X.

Knight: “Some Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost”,Quarterly Journal of Economics for August 1924.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder: “Economics, 1931-32”

____________________

1931-32
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Economics 15
[Mid-year Examination]

Students may use any books or notes they wish.
Answer SIX of these questions.

  1. The problem of imputation and its relation to the theory of marginal productivity.
  2. Is it true that, if every factor is remunerated according to its marginal productivity, the whole product is exhausted? Under what conditions?
  3. Discuss the major differences between the (a) Marshallian, (b) Austrian, and (c) Walrasian theory of value and price.
  4. Discuss the mutual relation of utility, value and price and especially the proposition that there is a conformity of subjective value and the market price. Is it not circular reasoning to say that marginal utility determines the market prices because marginal utility itself depends partly, at last, on the price?
  5. Discuss the proposition that orthodox economics is individualistic and overlooks the fact that every individual is the product of social forces.
  6. What is the meaning of the “law of variation” of the factors of production? How or under what assumptions is it possible to derive from it a universal law of diminishing returns?
  7. What is the function of the concept of “want” or “need” in pure economic theory? State your opinion as to whether it can or should be eliminated and how it could be done.
  8. What do you think of Institutionalism and its criticism of orthodox economic theory?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 12. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1931-32.

Image Source: Link to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek record.

Categories
Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Welfare economics and policy. Readings and exam. Bergson, 1959

 

Before he began to be known as the (Western) Dean of Soviet Economic Studies, Abram Bergson’s greatest hit “A Reformulation of Certain Aspects of Welfare Economics” (QJE, 1938) earned him an honored place in the pantheon of welfare economics theorists. Thus it is not surprising that besides courses on socialist economics and the economics of the Soviet Union, he also taught the following course involving the application of welfare economics to policy. 

The reading list and final exam questions for the same course offered in the Spring term of 1960 has been posted later. The reading list didn’t change at all between the two years, but I have provided links to most of the readings in the later post as well as the new exam questions.

__________________

Course Enrollment

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

Total, 21: 1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1958-59, p. 70.

__________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Normative Aspects of Economic Policy
Spring Term: 1958-59

  1. The concept of economic efficiency.

T. 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, Chapters 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.

  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 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 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1958-1959 (1 of 2)”.

__________________

Harvard University
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Final Examination
June 1, 1959

Answer four and only four of the following six questions.

  1. Explain the “contract curve” that is employed in the analysis of the optimum allocation of different consumers’ goods between households. In what sense does the curve define an economic optimum?
  2. Under perfect competition how is the efficiency of resource allocation affected by:
    1. The levying of a sales tax on the output of a single industry;
    2. A government policy of making capital available to one industry at an interest charge that is less than the market rate.
  3. “As distinct from perfect competition, free competition tends in the long-run to cause the individual firm to make insufficient use of its fixed resources and to operate with excess capacity.” Discuss.
  4. How are the volume of investment and the rate of interest determined in the Competitive Solution of Socialist Planning? What arguments might be advanced for and against the policies and procedures involved?
  5. Explain briefly each of the following:
    1. Variation Cost
    2. Price-offer curve for labor
    3. Lerner’s Rule
  6. “When all is said and done, if there are very heavy overhead costs, public ownership may often make possible rational determination of the scale of output in an industry where this could not be achieved under any of the usual alternatives, such as competition, monopoly or even public rate regulation, if unaccompanied by ownership.” Discuss.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28). Box 37. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,.., Economics,…, Naval Science, Air Science (June, 1959).

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
Economists Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Topics for the Ricardo Prize Examination, 1916

 

In an earlier post, JACOB VINER BEATS PAUL DOUGLAS FOR RICARDO PRIZE SCHOLARSHIP, 1916, we learned of a head-to-head competition between two young men who were to go on to become colleagues at the University of Chicago. Rummaging through Harvard Economics Department’s Correspondence & Papers, I happened to find a copy of the Ricardo Prize Examination topics for that 1916 examination in a folder where one would not have expected it to be filed. Now the record is more complete.

____________________

Ricardo Prize Exam. Will be Held in Upper Dane Tomorrow

The Ricardo Prize Scholarship examination will be held in Upper Dane Hall tomorrow at 2 o’clock. The scholarship is valued at $350, and is open to anyone who is this year a member of the University, and who will next year be either 8 member of the Senior class or of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Each candidate will write in the examination room an essay on a topic chosen by himself from a list not previously announced, in economics and political science. In addition, statements of previous studies, and any written work, must be submitted by every candidate to the Chairman of the Department of Economics not later than the time of the examination. The man who wins the scholarship must devote the majority of his time next year to economics and political studies.

Source:  Harvard Crimson, April 4, 1916.

____________________

1915-16
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
RICARDO PRIZE EXAMINATION

  1. The Single Tax.
  2. Minimum Wage for Men, in the Light of Economic Theory.
  3. Some Phase of the Theory of Value and Price.
  4. Regulation of Railroads by the States.
  5. The War and the Rate of Interest.
  6. Agricultural Credit.
  7. The Regulation of Monopolies.
  8. Free Trade in England.
  9. The Banks and the Stock Exchange.
  10. Price Maintenance.

April 5, 1916.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23. Folder: “Course outlines, 1935-37-38-42”.

Image Source: Collage of details taken from photos apf1-08488 (Viner) and  apf1-05851 (Douglas) from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Berkeley Columbia Economist Market Economists Harvard M.I.T. Yale

Columbia. Instructors for Economics in Columbia College. Considering Okun et al., 1951

 

This following 1951 memo by the head of the economics department at Columbia, Jamew W. Angell, to his colleagues about the relatively mundane matter of identifying potential candidates for an instructor vacancy in the undergraduate economics program in Columbia College, caught my attention with a paragraph describing the up-and-coming graduate student Arthur Okun. Five current instructors were identified by name together with three ranked potential candidates. I figured this would be as good a time as any, to see what sort of career information I’d be able to gather on the other seven names that I did not recognize. 

I was least successful with Mr. George F. Dimmler whose Google traces would indicate that he had gone on to teach briefly at Wharton and then worked as an economist at  the Commercial Investment Trust (CIT) Financial Corporation. But for the other six economists (as well as Okun) it was relatively easy to find obituaries!

While Arthur Okun was clearly the leading candidate considered for the position, the instructorship instead went to the Fellner student from Berkeley, Jacob Weissman. As of this post I do not know whether this means that Okun was not offered the job, or had been offered the instructorship but had a better opportunity.

___________________

MEMO REGARDING POTENTIAL INSTRUCTORS FOR UNDERGRADUATE ECONOMICS AT COLUMBIA COLLEGE

CONFIDENTIAL

May 8, 1951

To Professors Bergson, Bonbright, A. F. Burns, A. R. Burns, Clark, Dorfman, Goodrich, Haig, Hart, Mills, Nurkse, Shoup, Stigler, Wolman

From James W. Angell

Because of the prospective shrinkage of the enrollment and the greater exercise of professional option by students of Columbia College, it will probably be necessary to reduce the number of appointments as Instructor of Economics in College from the present five to two for next year. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the College is adopting a general policy of not renewing appointments to instructor ships beyond a total term of five years. None of the present instructors will be dismissed, but all of them are being encouraged and helped to find new positions. Two of them, [George F.] Dimmler and [Daniel M.] Holland,  [see below]  have already made other arrangements for next year; and the other three, [Lawrence] Abbott [from Prabook], [Frank W.] Schiff [see below] and [Nian-Tzu] Wang [see below, have definite possibilities for other employment. It is improbable that we will lose all five of these men, but there is a definite possibility that one new instructor will be needed, and a rather remote possibility that we will need two.

Since definite action may not be required until the summer, when most of us will be away, I am now calling the situation to your attention. Horace Taylor, as Chairman of the Departmental Committee in the College, has proposed for consideration three men whom he regards as the most promising candidates known to him for appointment as Instructor, should a vacancy develop. I give below summaries of the records of these men, based largely or wholly on material which Taylor provided (entirely so in the case of Weissman). They are listed in Taylor’s order.

OKUN, Arthur. [Brookings Memorial] A. B. From Columbia College, 1949, with honors and special distinction in Economics; first in his class of over five hundred in the College; Green Memorial Prize; Phi Beta Kappa. Entered our Graduate Department in 1949, University Scholar, 1949-50, and University Fellow, 1950-51. Has A’s in all courses he took in the Graduate School. Passed the Qualifying Examination with A on the Essay, two A’s and 3 B’s on the Specific questions. Has passed language examinations in German and in Mathematics; certified in Statistics and in General Economic History. Will take the orals this spring, offering Economic Theory, Monetary Economics, Public Utility and Public Finance. Taylor writes: “He is regarded by everyone in the College staff as one of the most gifted students we ever have had, and I believe he is well known to members of the graduate faculty. My recollection is that he made the highest score ever made on the graduate record examination. Some of his teachers in graduate school have spoken of him as the ablest of the current group of students there. He has no teaching experience, but it is going to conduct some discussion sections of Robert Carey’s course in elementary economics next Summer Session. Okun was No. 1 man in his class of over 500 in Columbia College.”

WEISSMAN, Jacob. [see below] Taylor writes: “A more mature man than Okun. Has had business and industrial experience, in the sense that he was General Manager of a steel company in which his family is interested. He resigned this $20,000 job to take up graduate study of economics at the University of California. Messrs. Davisson, Fellner, and Gordon of of U. of C. have written letters recommending him in the highest terms. One or two of them even said that Weissman is the ablest graduate student of economics at the U. of C. in some years. He is now at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to be in touch with Mr. Fellner, who is directing Weissman’s dissertation. I had Weissman to lunch when he passed through New York last summer, and was greatly impressed with his good mind, excellent training, and modesty. He is eager for a job here.”

AHEARN, Daniel. [see below]  A.B. from Columbia College, 1949; Phi Beta Kappa; graduate fellowship from Columbia College for 1949-50. Entered our Graduate Department in 1949; Kazanjian Scholar, 1950-51; Master’s thesis on the business cycle fluctuation in 1932-34, now in process with Professor Hart. Passed Qualifying Examination in 1950, with a B average. Seven A’s and one B in graduate courses. Has passed the German examination and has certified in Statistics and American Economic History. Will take orals this spring, offering Economic Theory, Monetary Economics, Business Cycles and Industrial Organization. Taylor writes: “Now in graduate school, and probably well-known to most staff members. He was a classmate of Okun, and ranked third in the class in which Okun was first. A man of unusual ability, excellent personal qualities, is highly regarded by the College staff.”

There are doubtless also other men whom you would like to suggest for consideration. I shall greatly appreciate receiving such suggestions promptly, together with as much information about them as you can provide; and also your own judgment and comparative rating of the men discussed above.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Robert M. Haig Papers, Box 107, Folder: Haig Correspondence A, 1949-1952”.

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Jacob Weissman’s initial appointment, 1951-52.

He replaced Daniel M. Holland. Appointed July 1, 1951 for one year, annual salary $3600.

Source:  Columbia University Libraries Manuscript Collections. Columbiana. Department of Economics Collection, Box 4, Budget, 1945/1946-1954/1955, Folder “Budget 1951-52”.

___________________

Weissman appointment extended to a fifth year

Jacob Weissman will have served four years as instructor, but we seek his reappointment for a fifth year at his present salary [$3,800], and that permission for this be sought from the President of the University under section 60 of the Statutes. The ground for this request are that Weissman expects to submit his dissertation on “The Law of Oligopoly: A Study of the Relationship between Legal and Economic Theory” at the University of California in the Spring of 1955, when we expect to be in a better position to assess his worth. Also, Weissman has done and is doing much for the College, and it seems fair to him to let him get his degree before seeking a position elsewhere, if we have eventually to let him go.”

Source: Report of College Committee on Economics to the Executive Officer, Department of Economics (November 15, 1954) by Harold Barger, Chairman of the College Committee, Department of Economics”

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Jacob I. Weissman
Obituary
(July 13, 2006)

Jacob I. Weissman, a lawyer, inveterate storyteller and Phi Beta Kappa scholar who chaired the economics department at Hofstra University before retiring to Martha’s Vineyard, died peacefully July 11 at Henrietta Brewer House surrounded by family and friends. He was 92.

Professor Weissman would often tell friends that he disagreed with the general description of economics as a dismal science and that had coined his own term: the trivial science.

He explained: “Economists don’t deal sufficiently with aspirations, and ambitions of people or other variables.”

According to his wife, Nikki Langer Weissman, this quote summarized his world view. “Despite his considerable academic achievements,” she said, “Jacob was a man who never lost sight of the fact that human beings come before statistics and that human behavior defies predictive models.” Professor Weissman was born and raised in Detroit. In 1935, he graduated from the University of Michigan Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.

After graduation, he enrolled in the University of Michigan Law School, completing his J.D. degree and graduating first in class and was also editor of the Michigan Law Review. Following law school, he spent a year traveling to Japan, China, southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Prior to graduation from law school, he had been invited to work as clerk to the chief justice of the supreme court of Michigan. However, due to his father’s illness, he felt obliged to decline, as he was needed to run the family business, where he remained as president for 12 years.

After this detour, Professor Weissman decided to return to the world he loved – academia. In 1947, he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley for a Ph.D. in economics. While completing his dissertation, he taught at Columbia University in New York until 1956, when he received his doctorate in economics. He was hired by the University of Chicago as a research associate in law and economics at the law school and later associate professor of law and economics at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

He often attributed his love of academics to his teaching experience at Columbia “because the university used many of its faculty to teach not only in their own disciplines, but in a wonderful general education program.”

“I became very enriched by that teaching and my vision of an ideal academic life was fulfilled,” he once told a reporter. “An element of chance was involved in this path I chose, but it suited me well.”

In 1963, he was invited to join the faculty at Hofstra University in New York as professor of economics and chairman of the economics department. He also served as speaker of faculty, a post he held for two years. In 1982, he was appointed interim dean of Hofstra University’s School of Business.

At Hofstra, he met and married Shirley (Nikki) Langer, who was associate professor of psychology. They remained at Hofstra University until his retirement in 1983.

In 1969, impressed by the vitality and community spirit on the Vineyard, they became homeowners in Chilmark.Professor Weissman gave generously of his time and talents on the Vineyard.

He served on the board of directors of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and as chairman of its ethics committee. He was a board member and treasurer of Howes House (West Tisbury Council on Aging). He and his wife gave lessons at the various senior centers on creativity, aging and other topics.

His publications on law and economics were included in The American Economic Review, The Journal of Political Economy and The University of Chicago’s Journal of Business.

In addition to his wife, Nikki Langer Weissman of Chilmark; his son, Stephen Weissman of London; his sister, Helen Rosenman of San Francisco; his stepson, Kenneth Langer of Takoma Park, Md.; his stepdaughter, Elizabeth Langer of Washington, D.C.; six grandchildren, Max Weissman and Maisie Weissman, Ben Langer Chused, Sam Langer, Nora Langer and Amelia Langer; and two great-grandchildren, Kate and Toby Weissman.

Source: Vineyard Gazette, July 13, 2006.

___________________

Daniel S. Ahearn
Obituary
(April 6, 2016)

AHEARN, Daniel S., Ph.D. 90, of Winchester, March 30, 2016. Beloved husband of Louise (Freeman) Ahearn. Loving father of Barbara Ahearn of Arlington and the late Kathleen and JoAnne Ahearn. Born in New York City, Daniel was the son of the late Daniel and Margaret (Walter) Ahearn. A World War II veteran, he served in the 399th Infantry 100th Division from 1943 to 1946 in France and Germany. He received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College in 1949 and his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in 1961. His book “Federal Reserve Policy Reappraised 1951-1959” was based on his Ph.D. thesis. Daniel spent his roughly 65-year working life in positions involving economics, investments and monetary and fiscal policy. From 1961 to 1995, he was at Wellington Management Company with positions including senior vice president, partner and chairman of the investment policy group. In 1963 he left Wellington to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Debt Management until 1965. He also advised the Treasury Dept. for about 25 years as a member of the Government and Federal Agencies Securities Committee of the Public Securities Assoc. After leaving Wellington, Daniel formed Capital Markets Strategies where he continued advisory work. In Winchester, where he was a resident for 47 years, Daniel was an Investment Trustee of Winchester Hospital from 1974-2012. He is widely remembered for his reports on investments to the annual meeting of the Winchester Hospital board.

Source: Boston Globe obituary from Legacy.com.

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Frank W. Schiff
Obituary
(August 28, 2006)

Frank W. Schiff, 85, who served as vice president and chief economist of the Committee for Economic Development from 1969 to 1986, died Aug. 17 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital of complications from a back injury.

At the Committee for Economic Development, an independent organization of business executives and university administrators, Mr. Schiff coordinated statements and monographs on a wide range of national and international economic policy issues. His efforts involved tax reform, budget deficits, the federal budget process, energy independence, job training, public-private partnerships and the international monetary system.

He played a key role in the creation of local Private Industry Councils under the federal Job Training Partnership Act. He had a special interest in flexible work arrangements, such as greater use of “flexiplace” and work sharing as an alternative to layoffs or women leaving the workforce.

He said in 1983 that in situations where flexiplace — working at home or other places other than the office — had been tried, productivity improved in most cases 10 to 20 percent and sometimes substantially more.

Mr. Schiff was born in Greisswald, Germany, and fled the Nazis in 1936. He was 15 when he and his family arrived in New York, where he finished high school in New Rochelle and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University. He also did graduate work in economics at Columbia.

From 1943 to 1945, he served in the Army in the 35th Infantry Division in France. After the war, he was an economics instructor at Columbia.

Beginning in 1951, Mr. Schiff held several positions with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Among them was head of the Latin American unit and assistant vice president of research.

He went to Vietnam in the early 1960s to advise the government on creation of a central bank.

As senior staff economist with the Council of Economic Advisers from 1964 to 1968, Mr. Schiff had responsibility for international finance, coordination of international economic policies and domestic monetary policy. He regularly represented the council at international monetary policy meetings in Paris.

He served as deputy undersecretary of the Treasury for monetary affairs from 1968 to 1969 and was involved in domestic economic policy and international monetary policy formulation and negotiations, debt management and relations with the Federal Reserve.

Mr. Schiff lived in Washington from 1964 to 1983, when he moved to Alexandria. He retired in 1986.

He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Conference of Business Economists and served as president and chairman of the National Economists Club.

In 1990, Mr. Schiff returned to his childhood home in Germany on a trip with Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.). Vivid memories flooded his mind as he stood in the 1915 art deco apartment building where he grew up in what became a West Berlin residential area. “It was very pleasant here before the Hitler period,” he said.

Survivors include his wife, Erika Deussen Schiff, whom he married in 1974, of Alexandria; and a brother.

Source: Washington Post.August 28, 2006.

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Daniel M. Holland
Obituary
(January 8, 1992)

Daniel M. Holland, professor emeritus of finance at the Sloan School of Management and a widely known expert on taxation and public finance, died December 15 at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, while under treatment for a heart condition. Professor Holland, a Lexington resident, was 71.

A memorial service is being planned for some time in February at the MIT Chapel.

Professor Holland was an MIT faculty member from 1958 until his retirement in 1986, when he became an emeritus professor and senior lecturer. He also served as an assistant to the provost from 1986 to 1990.

He was a consultant over the years to government agencies, including the US Treasury, foreign governments and private companies.

He was editor of the National Tax Journal for more than 20 years, served as president of the National Tax Association in 1988-89, and was the author of several books on taxation and numerous articles both in professional journals and other publications. His books included Dividends Under the Income Tax and Private Pension Funds: Projected Growth, for which he received the Elizur Wright Award of the American Risk and Insurance Association.

Professor Abraham J. Siegel, former dean of the Sloan School, said, “Dan was a great colleague and friend, broadly gauged in his knowledge and interests. Those of us who have known him for over 30 years, as well as his younger colleagues, will miss him enormously.”

Professor Holland, who was born in New York City, received AB and PhD degrees from Columbia University, in 1941 and 1951, respectively.

He served three years in the Navy during World War II, mostly aboard a destroyer escort in the Pacific theater.

He was a member of the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research before becoming an associate professor of economics at New York University in 1957, the year before he came to MIT, also as an associate professor. He was promoted to full professor at MIT in 1962.

His professional groups included the American Economic Association, American Finance Association, Royal Economic Society, International Institute of Public Finance and the International Fiscal Association.

He leaves his wife, Jeanne A. (Ormont) Holland; two children, Andy of New York City, a scenic artist, and Laura Roeper of Amherst, Mass., a writer; two grandchildren and four nephews.

Source:  MIT News, January 8, 1992.

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Nian-Tzu Wang
Obituary
The New York Times (Aug. 29 to Aug. 30, 2004)

WANG-Nian-Tzu, N.T., of Larchmont, NY, died of cancer, on August 26, 2004. Loving husband of Mabel U, devoted father of June, Kay (Leighton Chen), Cynthia (Daniel Sedlis), Geraldine, and Newton, and proud grandfather of Christine, Stephanie and Lucy. In his autobiography, “My Nine Lives”, NT wrote of his lives as number one son, traditional scholar, foreign student, public servant, instructor, international servant, advisor, academician, and immigrant. NT was born in Shanghai on July 25, 1917. Initially trained to be a Confucian scholar, he received a classical education at home, where he was tutored in Chinese poetry, painting, the Classics and other literati skills. Math, science, and languages were introduced later by his father, Pai Yuan (PY) Wang, a sophisticated banker when he decided to school his four sons in Western ways when they were teenagers. In 1937, NT went abroad to study at the London School of Economics and Germany. He transferred to Columbia where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors in economics in 1941, and went on to receive an M.A. and PhD in economics from Harvard. NT will be remembered throughout the international community for his dedicated efforts in advising businesses and governments around the world on ecomonic development. He made many contributions to his homeland of China, the U.S., his home since 1939, and to countless countries which he helped through his work at the U.N. Economic and Social Council. After retiring from a 28 year career at the United Nations, as the Director of the Centre on Transnational Corporations, he returned to Columbia Univ. to teach at the School of Business and the School of International and Public Affairs. He thoroughly enjoyed his time with his students, organizing seminars, creating training programs for Chinese academic and business leaders, and working tirelessly as the Director of the China-International Business Project. In his final days, he was polishing his keynote speech as part of Columbia University’s 250th anniversary celebration. He was an honorary professor of ten universities, a fellow of the International Academy of Management, and a recipient of many awards, including the New York Governor’s Award for Outstanding Asian American. In addition to his many professional achievements, his passions included dancing with his life partner of 62 years, Mabel, and playing tennis. NT exhausted his daughter Kay playing two and a half hours of tennis after celebrating his 87th birthday just one month ago. Throughout his life, he took time to compose classical Chinese poems, which his family will compile as the tenth chapter in his life, ‘The Poet’. A memorial service will be announced later. Contributions may be made to Community Funds Inc. for the N.T. and Mabel Wang Charitable Fund, which will continue the mission of the China-International Business Project he established at Columbia University, c/o Community Funds Inc., 2 Park Avenue, NY, NY 10016.

Source: Legacy.com obituaries.

Image Source: Arthur Okun. Yale Memorial Webpage.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Examinations for Junior and Senior Political Economy. Dunbar, 1876-77

 

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s scribe-curator is now back in action to provide four examinations (two mid-year and two final exams) from the two political economy courses taught at Harvard by Charles F. Dunbar during the 1876-77 academic year.

It is really great to be back transcribing and curating!

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Political Economy Courses
Elective Studies, 1876-77.

Prof. Dunbar. Philosophy 5. Political Economy.

— J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Lectures on the Financial Legislation of the United States.

Number of students: 1 Graduate, 30 Seniors, 64 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 2 Unmatriculated.
Number of sections: 2
Exercises per week for students: 3
Exercises per week for instructors: 6

Prof. Dunbar. Philosophy 6. Advanced Political Economy.

— Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — McKean’s Condensation of Carey’s Social Science. — Lectures.

Number of students: 2 Graduates, 22 Seniors
Number of sections: 1
Exercises per week for students: 3
Exercises per week for instructors: 3

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1876-77, p. 49.

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PHILOSOPHY 5.
Mid-Year Examination
February, 1877

[In answering the questions do not change their order.]

  1. Why is the distinction between labor for the supply of productive and for the supply of unproductive consumption, more important than that between productive and unproductive labor?
  2. What is the ground for saying that “every increase of capital is capable of giving additional employment to industry, and this without assignable limit”?
  3. How does the existence of the banking system facilitate the equalization of profits in different employments?
  4. How far is the doctrine of rent, or of the value of land, affected, if it be shown that in the actual occupation of the earth the best lands are the last to be cultivated?
  5. What is the ground for saying that rent is not a part of the cost of production, the fact being that the farmer is obliged to take account of it as one of his expenses?
  6. On what does the cost of labor depend?
  7. Is there any commodity of which the change of supply must be actual as well as possible, in order that its value may be made to conform to its cost of production?
  8. Why does the durability of the precious metals give steadiness to their value?
  9. Criticise Mr. Mill’s statement that when there are successive emissions of inconvertible paper it will drive out the metallic money previously in circulation, “that is, if paper be issued of as low a denomination as the lowest coin; if not, as much will remain as convenience requires for the smallest payments.”
  10. How would a currency of convertible paper compare in steadiness of value with one of inconvertible paper which was of fixed amount?
  11. Explain the statement that it is “not general taxation but differential taxation,” that affects values and prices.
  12. Explain the disproportionate pressure on the Bank of England as compared with other banks, during a financial panic.
  13. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the “many-reserve” system, and how does American experience affect Mr. Bagehot’s reasoning on the matter?
  14. The following is the account of the Bank of England (given in millions and tenths of millions) for May 9, 1866: –

Issue Department.

Notes issued,

£27.3

 Gov’t debt and securities,

£15.0

____

 Coin and bullion,

£12.3

£27.3

£27.3

Banking Department.

Capital,

£14.5

 Government securities,

£10.9

Rest,

£  3.2

 Other securities,

£20.8
Public deposits,

£  5.8

 Reserve,

£  5.8
Private deposits,

£13.5
Seven-day bills,

£  0.5

____

£37.5

£37.5

The panic reached its height and the Act of 1844 was suspended on the 12th; in the next three weeks the Bank increased its loans by thirteen millions, and five millions were drawn out by depositors. What changes must therefore be made in the above account? What changes would have been necessary if depositors had drawn seven millions instead of five?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1876-1877”.

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PHILOSOPHY 5.
Final Examination
May, 1877

[Do not change the order of the questions.
A number marked with an asterisk may be substituted for the same number not so marked.]

  1. To what extent is it true that “wages (meaning of course money wages) vary with the price of food, rising when it rises, and falling when it falls”?
  2. “Even a general rise of wages, when it involves a real increase in the cost of labor, does in some degree influence values.” How?
  3. What is the meaning of the statement that “it is not a difference in the absolute cost of production, which determines the interchanges [of commodities between countries], but a difference in the comparative cost.”
  4. How was the exchange of commodities with other countries be affected by an improvement which lowers the cost of production of some article which the country already exports?

4. *Explain both branches of the statement that “they are in the right to maintain that taxes on imports are partly paid by foreigners; but they are mistaken when they say, that it is by the foreign producer.”

  1. If a country has a large regular product of gold, what will be the natural effect on the rate charged for bills of exchange upon foreign countries, and why?
  2. If both the capital and population of the country are increasing, what will be the effect on wages, profits, and rent, respectively? Give the reasons.

6. *Why do improvements which cheapen the production of luxuries have less effect than those which cheaper the necessaries of life, in retarding the decline of profits towards the minimum?

  1. What is the ground for saying that a tax on what is properly called rent falls wholly on the landlord in the long run?
  2. Is a tax on the value of unimproved property (as e.g. vacant land) consistent with Adam Smith’s first canon of taxation? Give your reasons.
  3. The following is the account of the Bank of England for November 11, 1857:—

Issue Department.

Notes issued, £21.1 Gov’t debt and securities, £14.5
____ Coin and bullion, £  6.6
£21.1 £21.1

Banking Department.

Capital, £14.5 Government securities, £   9.4
Rest, £  3.4 Other securities, £26.1
Public deposits, £  5.3 Reserve, £  1.5
Private deposits, £12.9
Seven-day bills, £  0.9 ____
£37.0 £37.0

In the next two weeks five millions were lent to individuals and three millions of deposits were drawn out. Show the changes in the account and the effect on the limit fixed by the act of 1844.

    1. What was the date of the last suspension of specie payments in the United States? Explain the circumstances which led to it.
    2. Show what influences besides improving credit made the sale of 5-20’s easy in 1863, although it had been nearly impossible in 1862.
    3. Explain the plan on which the national banks are established; show its points of resemblance, if any, to the plan of the Bank of England; and state the purposes for which the deposits of bonds and the reserves are required.
    4. Describe the action which Congress has taken on the subject of currency since the financial crisis of 1873.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1876-1877”.

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PHILOSOPHY 6.
Mid-year Examination
February, 1877

[In answering the questions do not change their order.]

    1. How far are prices determined by Reciprocal International Demand, Reciprocal Domestic Demand, and Cost of Production, respectively? Is any change to be made in Cairnes’s statement that “an alteration in the reciprocal demand of two trading nations will act upon the price, not of any commodity in particular, but of every commodity which enters into the trade?”
    2. What is Cairnes’s reply to Mill’s statement that the portion of supply which is reserved for future sale forms no part of the supply which determines market price? How does Cairnes define supply and demand as affecting market price?
    3. In the general cheapening of manufacturers, resulting from modern improvements, which is cheapened most, the consumption of the masses or the consumption of the rich?
    4. How does the following statement of the wages-fund doctrine compare with Cairnes’s statement of it?
      “The wages-fund, therefore, may be greater or less at another time, but at the time taken it is definite. The amount of it cannot be increased by force of law or of public opinion, or through sympathy and compassion on the part of employers, or as the result of appeals or efforts on the part of the working classes.” (Walker, “The Wages Question,” p. 138.)
    5. It is said in answer to Cairnes’s argument for coöperation, that laborers can now bring profits to reinforce wages, by means of the savings banks. What answer is to be made to this?
    6. What is the connection between general wages and foreign trade, as illustrated by the case of the Australian colony, Victoria?
    7. What were Cairnes’s reasons for expecting in 1873 that before many years the balance of trade would become permanently “favorable” to the United States?
    8. “If the high rates of industrial remuneration in America be only evidence of a low cost of production, how is the fact to be explained, that the people of the United States are unable to compete in neutral markets, in the sale of certain important wares, with England and other European countries?”
    9. What is the inconsistency between the common definition of the cost of production and the doctrine of international values? How is the inconsistency to be remedied?
    10. Compare Carey’s doctrine of Value with Mill’s.
    11. “Diminution in the value of capital,” says Carey, “is attended by diminution in the proportion of labor given for its use by those who, unable to purchase, desire to hire it. Had the first axe been exclusive property of one of our colonists, he would have demanded more than half the wood that could be cut, in return for its use… His neighbor would find it to his advantage to give three-fourths of the product for use of the axe… The arrival of the ship having given them better axes at a smaller cost, would not give, nor could the other demand so large a proportion as before … In the fourteenth century, when a week’s labor would command only 7½d. in silver, the owner of a pound of that metal could demand as compensation for its use a much larger proportion than now, when the laborer can obtain that quantity in a little more than a fortnight.”
      What is the fallacy in this reasoning?
    12. Criticize the following statements : –
      “Ricardo’s system is based upon the assumed fact, that in the beginning of cultivation, when population is small and land abundant, the richest soils alone are cultivated… If it can be shown that, in every country and at every age, the order of events has been direct opposition to what it is supposed by Mr. Ricardo to have been, then must his theory be abandoned as wholly destitute of foundation.”
    13. It is also assumed that if our paper currency is brought to equality of value with gold, no further withdrawal of paper will be necessary. Can this be taken for granted? Can the gold now in the Treasury or in the Pacific States, or any of it, be regarded as a provision for specie resumption?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 1, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1876-1877”.

___________________

PHILOSOPHY 6.
Final Examination
May, 1877

    1. What is the reason “that’s so little impression has been made on the rate of wages and profits” by the immense industrial progress of recent times?
    2. Criticise the following extract from Walker’s “Wages Question,” p. 198: –

“Instead of asserting, as Prof. Cairnes has done, the practical isolation of certain great groups, with the entire freedom of movement within these groups, I believe that a fuller study of industrial society will establish the conviction that nowhere is mobility perfect, theoretically or even practically, and nowhere is there entire immobility of labor; that all classes and conditions of men are appreciably affected by the force of competition; but that, on the other hand, the force of competition, which nowhere becomes nil, even for practical purposes, ranges from a very high to very low degree of efficiency, according to national temperament, according to peculiarities of personal character and circumstance, according to the laws and institutions of the community, and according to natural or geographical influences.”

    1. It is laid down that high general wages do not hinder a country from exchanging with others. Trace the course of a trade, opened between two countries one of which has higher general wages and higher prices for all commodities adapted to foreign commerce than the other, and show the application of the principle first stated.
    2. What is meant by saying that a nation is interested, not in having its prices high or low, but in having its gold cheap?
    3. Examine the question whether a nation which has an unfavorable balance of trade can maintain specie payments?
    4. What is Mr. Carey’s doctrine as to the prices of raw materials and finished goods respectively, and the reason for it? How does he answer the question, “must not improved cultivation tend to cheapen corn, as improvements in the mode of conversion tend to cheapen cloth?”
    5. Compare Mr. Carey’s doctrine as to the distribution between capital and labor with the proposition laid down by Ricardo and Mill, that profits tend to decline in consequence of an increasing cost of labor.
    6. Discuss the following:—
      “The use of bank-notes tends, we are told, to promote the expulsion of gold. Were this so, it would be in opposition to the great general law in virtue of which all commodities tend to, and not from, the places where their utility is greatest…The check and the bank-note stimulate the import [of the precious metals], as is proved by the fact, that for a century past, they have flowed towards Britain, where such notes were most in use.”
    7. What is likely to be the effect of the attempt of Ohio and Illinois to make the subsidiary silver a legal tender without limit, supposing their constitutional power to do so to be granted?
    8. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the land-reforms undertaken in the last century in France, Prussia, and Russia, respectively?
    9. Of these six, — Adam Smith, Sir James Stewart, Quesnay, J.-B. Say, Ricardo, Sismondi, — take three, giving dates, relations to each other, and doctrines or discussions for which they are best known.
    10. Show the contributions of Ricardo, Mill, and Cairnes, respectively, to the full development of the doctrine of international values.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1876-1877”.

Image Source: Charles F. Dunbar in E. H. Jackson and R. W. Hunter (eds.), Portraits of the Harvard Faculty (Boston, 1892).