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Harvard. Principles of Money and Banking. Reading lists and semester exams. Williams and Hansen, 1949-50

 

Money and Banking was a graduate field that John H. Williams and Alvin Hansen dominated for over a decade at mid-20th century Harvard. Reading lists and exams for other years (e.g. 1946-47) have been posted, allowing us gradually to get a real time sense of the evolution of that field. This post was updated March 27, 2020 to include the final exam from the second semester.

Most recently course materials for 1941-42 have been posted as well.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 241 (formerly Economics 141a and 141b). Principles of Money and Banking.

(F) Professor J. H. Williams; (Sp) Professor Hansen.

(F) Total 61:  33 Graduates, 1 Senior, 21 Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Other.
(S) Total 54: 31 Graduates, 18 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

 

Source:  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1949-50, p. 75.

 

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PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
Economics 241
Fall Term—1949-1950

I. International Monetary Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis and L. A. Metzler, eds.): Readings in the Theory of International Trade.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. Graham, Frank D.: The Theory of International Values. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1948.
  3. Harris, S. E. (ed.): Foreign Economic Policy for the United States. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1948.
  4. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics. New York, Knopf, 1947.
    1. Bloomfield, A. I., “Foreign Exchange Rate Theory and Policy,” Chapter XXII; and
    2. Nurkse, Ragnar, “Domestic and International Equilibrium,” Chapter XXI.
  5. Harrod, Roy F.: Are These Hardships Necessary?London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 2nd, 1947.
  6. Keynes, J. M.: A Treatise on Money. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930, Vol. I, Chapter 21; Vol. II, Chapters 34-38.
  7. Nurkse, Ragnar: International Currency Experience. Geneva, League of Nations, 1944.
  8. Organisation for European Economic Co-operation:Interim Report on the European Recovery Programme.Paris, December 1948.
  9. United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe:
    1. Survey of Economic Situation and Prospects in Europe. Geneva, March 1948.
    2. Economic Survey of Europe in 1948. Geneva, 1949.
  10. Williams, John H.: Post-War Monetary Plans and Other Essays.English edition. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 4th, 1949 (American edition. New York, Knopf, 3rded., 1947).

Articles

  1. Balogh, T.: “The Concept of a Dollar Shortage,” The Manchester School, XVII, May 1949, pp. 186-201.
  2. _______________ “Britain’s Economic Problem,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIII, Feb. 1949, pp. 32-67.
  3. _______________ “Britain, O.E.E.C., and the Restoration of a World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, XI, Feb.-March 1949.
  4. _______________ “Exchange Depreciation and Economic Readjustment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX, Nov. 1948, pp. 276-285.
  5. _______________ “The United States and the World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, VIII, Oct. 1946.
  6. Ellis, H. S.: “The Dollar Shortage in Theory and Fact,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, XIV, Aug. 1948, pp. 358-372.
  7. Graham, F. D.: “The Cause and Cure of ‘Dollar Shortages’,” (Essays in International Finance, No. 10). Princeton, Princeton University Press, Jan. 1949.
  8. Haberler, G.: “Some Economic Problems of the European Recovery Program,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, Sept. 1948, pp. 495-525.
  9. Hawtrey, R. G.: “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, June 1949, pp. 145-56, and “A Comment” by Sir H. D. Henderson, Ibid., pp. 157-158.
  10. Henderson, Sir Hubert D.: “The International Problem,” (Stamp Memorial Lecture). London, Oxford University Press, 1946.
  11. _______________ “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, January 1949.
  12. _______________ “A Criticism of the Havana Charter,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, pp. 605-17.
  13. Keynes, J. M.:“The Balance of Payments of the United States,” Economic Journal, LVI, June 1946, pp. 172-87.
  14. _______________ “National Self-sufficiency,” The Yale Review, XXII, Summer 1933.
  15. MacDougall, D. A.: “Further Notes on Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, Jan. 1949.
  16. _______________ “Britain’s Foreign Trade Problem,” Economic Journal, LVII, March 1947, pp. 69-113; and “A Reply (to T. Balogh), Ibid., LVIII, March 1948, pp. 96-98.
  17. _______________“Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946.
  18. _______________ “Notes on Non-discrimination,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, IX, Nov. 1947.
  19. Meade, J. E.: “National Income, National Expenditure and the Balance of Payments,” Parts I-II, Economic Journal, LVII, Dec. 1948, and LVIII, March 1949.
  20. Metzler, L. A.:“The Theory of International Trade,” Chap. 6 in A Survey of Contemporary Economics(ed. by H. S. Ellis) Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  21. Mikesell, R. F.: “International Disequilibrium,” ,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, ppp. 618-45
  22. Nurkse, Ragnar: “International Monetary Policy and the Search for economic Stability,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, May 1947, pp. 560-80.
  23. Polak, J. J.: “Exchange Depreciation and International Monetary Stability,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Aug. 1947, pp. 173-83.
  24. Robertson, D. H.: “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloyds Bank Review, July 1949, pp. 1-13.
  25. Triffin, Robert: “National Central Banking and the International Economy,”; see also comments by G. Haberler and L. A. Metzler, Postwar Economic Studies, No. 7. Washington, D. C. 1947; and further comments by H. D. Henderson, T. Balogh, R. Harrod, and Joan Robinson, Review of Economic Studies, XIV, 1946-47, pp. 53-97.
  26. Williams, J. H.: “The Task of Economic Recovery,” Foreign Affairs, July 1948.
  27. _______________ “Europe After 1952: The Long-term Problem,” Foreign Affairs, April 1949.
  28. _______________ “The British Crisis. A Problem in Economic Statesmanship,” Foreign Affairs, October 1949.

 

II. Monetary and Fiscal Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis, ed.): A Survey of Contemporary Economics. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. _______________ (W. Fellner and B. F. Haley, eds.): Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946.
  3. _______________ (G. Haberler, ed.): Readings in Business Cycle Theory. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1944.
  4. Fellner, William: Monetary Policies and Full Employment. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2nd, 1947.
  5. Haberler, G.: Prosperity and Depression. Geneva, United Nations, rev. ed., 1946.
  6. Hansen, A. H.: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles. New York, Norton, 1941.
  7. _______________ Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, New York, McGraw Hill, 1949.
  8. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics, New York, Knopf, 1947.
  9. Harrod, R. F.: Towards a Dynamic Econmics, London, Macmillan, 1948.
  10. Hawtrey, R. O.: Currency and Credit, London, Longmans, 3rd, 1928.
  11. _______________ Capital and Employment, London, Longmans, 2nd
  12. _______________ The Art of Central Banking, London, Longmans, 1932.
  13. Hayek, F. A. von: Prices and Production. London, Routledge, 1935.
  14. Keynes, J. M.: A Tract on Monetary Reform, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
  15. _______________ A Treatise on Money(2 vols.). New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930.
  16. _______________ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1936.
  17. Klein, L. R.: The Keynesian Revolution. New York, Macmillan, 1946.
  18. Robertson, D. H.: Essays in Monetary Theroy.London, King, 1940.
  19. _______________ Money. London, Nisbet, rev. ed., 1948.
  20. Simons, H. C.: Economic Policy for a Free Society, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1948.
  21. Terborgh, George: The Bogey of Economic Maturity. Chicago, Machinery and Allied Products Institute, 1945.
  22. Wicksell, Knut: Interest and Prices. London, Macmillan, 1936.
  23. Wright, D. M. The Economics of Disturbance. New York, Macmillan, 1946.

Articles

  1. Burns, Arthur F.: “Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of Our Times,” (26thAnnual Report). New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1947.
  2. _______________ “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Nov. 1947, pp. 252-265.
  3. Clark, Colin: “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” Economic Journal, LV, Dec. 1945, pp. 371-89.
  4. Hayek, F. A. von: “The ‘Paradox’ of Saving,” Economica, XI, March 1931, pp. 125-69. (Reprinted as an Appendix in Profits, Interest and Investment, London, Routledge, 1939).
  5. Hicks, J. R.: “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, V, 1937 (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946).
  6. Kuznets, Simon: Book Review: “Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles” by A. H. Hansen, Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1942, pp. 31-36.
  7. _______________ “Capital Formation, 1879-1938,” in Studies in Economics and Industrial Relations. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
  8. Mints, L. W. and others: “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXVIII, May 1946, pp. 60-84.
  9. Modigliani, F.: “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest,” Econometrica, XII, Jan. 1944, pp. 45-88.
  10. _______________ “Fluctuations in the Saving-income Ratio: A Problem in Economic Forecasting,” Studies in Income and Wealth, XI. New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1949.
  11. Tobin, James: “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, pp. 124-31.
  12. Wallich, H. C.: “Public Debt and Income Flow,” in Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3. Washington, D.C., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Dec. 1945, pp. 84-100.
  13. _______________ “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 761-87.
  14. Williams, John H.: “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Supplement, XXXVIII, May 1948.
  15. Wright, D. M.: “The Future of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, XXXV, June 1945, pp. 284-307.

 

III. Current Problems and Policies—Federal Reserve Policy and Debt Management

Book

  1. Homan, P. T. and F. Machlup (eds.): Financing American Prosperity. New York, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

Articles

  1. Carr, Hobart C.: “The Problem of Bank-held Government Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 833-42.
  2. Chandler, L. V.: “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, March 1949.
  3. Federal Reserve Board:
    1. Annual Reports for the years 1945-48.
    2. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 8, Nov. 1947.
  4. Ratchford, B. U. “The Economic and Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Public Finance, [sic, “The Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Openbare Financiën] No. 4, 1948 and No. 1, 1949.
  5. Seltzer, L. H.: “The Changed Environment of Monetary-banking Policy,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, May 1946.
  6. _______________ “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 831-50.
  7. Sproul, Allan: “Monetary Management and Credit Control,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, June 1947, pp. 339-50.
  8. Symposium: “How to Manage the National Debt,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXI, Feb. 1949.
  9. Whittlesey, C. R.: “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LX, May 1946, pp. 340-50.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

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1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

Mid-Year Examination. January, 1950.

(Three Hours)

Discuss ONE question in EACH group.

I

(1) “Hawtrey was never a Keynesian, but Keynes was formerly a Hawtreyan.”
(2) The relation of Keynes’ income theory to the quantity theory of money.
(3) The propensity to consume.

 

II

(1) Fixed versus flexible exchange rates.
(2) Classical international trade theory and the problems of the postwar world.

 

III

(1) The sterling problem since the war.
(2) “Chronic dollar shortage.”
(3) Western European “integration.”
(4) Devaluation and European recovery.
(5) The Intra-European Payments Plan.
(6) Europe after 1952: the long-term recovery problem.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences, etc. Feb. 1950. (HUC 7000.38, 81 of 284).

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[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING]
Reading List
[Economics 241, Spring 1949-50]
[Professor Hansen]

  1. The Role of Money in Current World Developments
    1. Books
      1. Balogh, T., Dollar Crisis: Causes and Cure, (Blackwell), 1949.
      2. Busschau, W. J., The Measure of Gold, (Central New Agency, Ltd.) South Africa, 1949.
      3. Goldenweiser, E. A., Monetary Management, (McGraw-Hill), N.Y., 1949. Chapters IV and VIII.
      4. Harris, S. E., The New Economics, (Knopf), N.Y. 1947. Chapters 20-29.
      5. Harris, S. E., Foreign Economics Policy of the United States, (Harvard University Press), 1948, Chapters 18-25.
      6. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans, (Knopf), 1947 or English edition (Blackwell), 1949.
    2. Pamphlets
      1. Inflationary and Deflationary Tendencies, 1946-48(United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
      2. International Capital Movements during the Inter-war Period, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
    3. Articles
      1. Burns, A. R., Lutz, F. A., and Clough, S. B., “The European Program in Operation,” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, January 1950.
      2. Robbins, Lionel, “The Sterling Problem,” Lloyds Bank Review, October, 1949.
      3. Robertson, D. H., “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloydds Bank Review, July, 1949.
      4. Sayers, R. S. “Central Banking in the Light of Recent British and American Experience,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1949.
  2. Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest, Wages and Prices
    1. Books
      1. Clark, Kaldor, Smithies, et al., National and International Measures for Full Employment, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, December 1949.
      2. Ellis, H. S., (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, (Blakiston), Philadelphia, 1948, Chapter 2 “Employment Theory”, by Fellner.
      3. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Berkeley, 1946. Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
      4. Hansen, Alvin H.
        1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill), 1947. Chapters 18, 19, and 22, (pp. 202-232, 261-287).
        2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton), 1941. Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
        3. Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, (McGraw-Hill), 1949.
      5. Harris, S. E., (ed.), The New Economics, (Knopf), 1947. Part III (The General Theory: Five Views; Chapters XI-XV).
      6. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt), 1924, pp. 81-95; pp. 152-191.
      7. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt), 1930, Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
      8. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt), 1936, pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
      9. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90) Macmillan, 1947.
      10. Marshall, Alfred, Money, Credit and Commerce, (Macmillan), 1923. Book I, Chapter IX, pp. 38-50.
      11. Robertson, D. H. Essays in Monetary Theory(King), 1940. Chapters 1, 6, 11; (pp. 1-38; 92-97; 113-153).
      12. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices(Macmillan), 1936; Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also Author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11; (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
      13. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan), 1935, Chapter IV (pp. 127-222).
      14. Income, Employment and Public Policy, (Norton), 1948, Chapter VI, “The Simple Mathematics of Income Determination,” by Paul Samuelson.
      15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd., 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11, (pp. 92-105).
      16. The Economic Report of the President, January 1950.
    2. Articles
      1. Hansen, A. H., and Burns, Arthur F., “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics Statistics, Nov. 1947.
      2. Hansen, A. H., “The Robertsonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1950.
      3. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, April 1937.
      4. Lerner, A. P., “Interest and Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1944.
      5. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, January 1944.
      6. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      7. Scott, Ira O. Jr., “Professor Leontief on Lord Keynes,” and “Comments” by Professors Leontief and Haberler, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1949.
      8. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      9. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
      10. Williams, John H., “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1948, pp. 273-290.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination (June, 1950)

(Three Hours)

Answer any FOUR questions.

I.

Discuss:

(a) the causes of the increase in the quantity of money (currency and deposits) in:

(1) the Thirties,
(2) the Second World War; and

(b) appraise the role of this increase:

(1) in the rise in income from 1933 to 1937; and
(2) in war-time financing.

II.

Compare the monetary theories of Wicksell and Marshall (or more broadly the Cambridge cash-balance approach).

III.

“An increase in the quantity of money is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the expansion of income and employment.” Show carefully why you agree, partially agree, or disagree in whole or in part with this statement. Give a technical discussion in terms of modern monetary theory.

IV.

Discuss and evaluate Treasury and Federal Reserve policies after 1945 with respect to

(a) inflation,
(b) interest rates,
(c) debt management,
(d) full employment.

V.

Discuss the changing role of Central Banking:

(a) in the 19th century,
(b) in the nineteen-twenties, and
(c) following the Second World War.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Bound Volume Final Exams—Social Sciences June 1940 (HUC 7000.28, 84 of 284), Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1950.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Business cycle theory. Reading list and exam. Hansen and Haberler, 1938

 

This is one of those instances where I really would like to try to dig deeper to see what the actual course content was. From the 1940-41 Division announcements we have the following description of the Business Cycle course at Harvard:

The broad facts about the business cycle will be discussed first. The distinction between trend movements, seasonal fluctuations, long waves and the business cycle in various time series will be analyzed. Then various theories of the cycle will be reviewed and the principles of cycle policy and possibilities of mitigating or avoiding depressions considered.

For now we at least have a bibliographic list for the subject and the exam questions from the first time that Alvin Hansen and Gottfried Haberler co-taught the course together.

________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 45a 2hf. Professor Hansen and Associate professor Haberler.— Business Cycles.

Total 37: 2 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-1938, p. 85.

________________

[Penciled Note: 1937-38]

[Penciled Note: Ec. 45a]

BUSINESS CYCLE THEORY

I.

Haberler, Gottfried: Prosperity and Depression, League of Nations, Geneva, 1937
Hansen, Alvin H.: Business Cycle Theory, Ginn and Co., 1927
Röpke, Wilhelm: Crises and Cycles, William Hodge and Co., London, 1936.

 

II.

Selected List of Books, Articles and Forecasting Services

A. Books

Adams, A. B. 1. Economics of Business Cycles

2. Profits, Progress and Prosperity
Ayres, L. P. Economics of Recovery
Bellerly Control of Credit
Brookings Institution The Recovery Problem in the United States
Cassel, G. The Theory of Social Economy, Book IV.
Clark, J. M. 1. Strategic Factors in Business Cycles

2. Economics of Planning Public Works, (Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.)
Copeland, Douglas Australia in the World Crises
Dickinson, F. G. Public Construction and Cyclical Unemployment
Douglas, Paul H. Controlling Depressions
Durbin, E. M. F. 1. Purchasing Power and Trade Depressions

2. The Problem of Credit Policy
Economic Reconstruction (Report of Columbia University Commission)
Economic Essays in Honour of Gustav Cassel
Fisher, Irving 1. Booms and Depressions

2. 100% Money
Foster and Catchings 1. Profits, Part V.

2. Business Without a Buyer

3. Road to Plenty
Gayer, Arthur D. 1. Monetary Policy and Economic Stabilization

2. Public Works in Prosperity and Depression
Haney, L. H. Business Forecasting
Hansen, A. H. 1. Economic Stabilization in an Unbalanced World

2. The Problem of Unemployment Insurance and Relief in the U.S., Part IV.
Hardy, C. O. and Cox, G. V. Forecasting Business Conditions
Harrod The Trade Cycle
Hawtrey 1. Good and Bad Taste [sic, “Trade”]

2. Trade Depression and the Way Out

3. Capital and Employment
Hayek, F. A. Prices and Production
Hobson, J. A. Economics of Unemployment
Hull Industrial Depressions
Keynes, J. M. 1. A Treatise on Money

2. The Means to Prosperity

3. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

4. Unemployment as a World Problem, pp. 1-42
Kuznets, S. S. Cyclical Fluctuations
Lavington Trade Cycle
Lundberg Economic Expansion
McCracken, H. L. Value Theory and Business Cycles
Meade  Economic Analysis and Policy
Mitchell, Wesley Business Cycles, the Problem and its Setting
Moore, Henry L. 1. Economic Cycles

2. Generating Economic Cycles
Moulton, H. G. 1. The Formation of Capital

2. Income and Economic Progress
Newman, William H. The Building Industry and Business Cycles
Ohlin, Bertil Course and Phases of the Depression (League of Nations)
Persons, Warren Forecasting Business Cycles
Persons, Foster and Hettinger The Problem of Business Forecasting
Pigou, A. C. Industrial Fluctuations
Robbins, Lionel The Great Depression
Robertson, D. H. 1. Money

2. Industrial Fluctuations

3. Banking Policy and the Price Level
Schmidt, C. T. German Business Cycles, 1924-1933
Schumpeter, Joseph A. The Theory of Economic Development
Slichter, S. H. Towards Stability
Smith, W. B. and  Cole, A.H. Fluctuations in American Business, 1790-1860
Snyder, Carl Business Cycles and Business Measurements
Timoshenko, V. 1. World Agriculture and the Depression

2. The Role of Agriculture Fluctuations
Tintner, Gerhard Prices in the Trade Cycle
Warren and Pearson Gold and Prices
World Prices and the Building Industry
Veblen, T. [1.] Theory of Business Enterprise

[2.] The Engineers and the Price System
Wagemann Economic Rhythm
Wicksell Interest and Prices

 

B. Articles

Aftalion, Albert in Review of Economic Statistics, October 1927

Haberler, Gottfried, “Some Reflections on the Present Situation of Business Cycle Theory,” Review of Economic Statistics, February, 1936

Hansen, Boddy and Langum, “Recent Trends in Business Cycle Literature,” Review of Economic Studies, May, 1936

Hansen and Tout, “Investment and Saving in the Business Cycle,” Econometrica, April 1933

Hansen, A. H., “Mr. Keynes in Under-employment Equilibrium,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1936

Hansen, A. H., Harrod on the Trade Cycle,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1937

Hansen, A. H., “The Consequences of Reducing Expenditures,” Proceedings, Academy of Political Science, January, 1938

Kondratieff, M. D., “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1935

Robertson, D. H., “The Trade Cycle—An Academic View,” Lloyds Bank Review, September, 1937

Schumpeter, Joseph, “An Analysis of Economic Change,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1935

 

C. Forecasting Services

  1. Annalist (Weekly)
  2. Brookmire Economic Service (Weekly and Special)
    Councillor; Annalist; Investor; Technician; Forecaster; Purchaser (outlook for commodity prices); Executive; Income Map; Special Reports on Industries.
  3. London and Cambridge Economic Service (Quarterly)
  4. Moody’s Investors Service (Weekly and Bi-weekly)
  5. Review of Economic Statistics; Harvard (Quarterly)
  6. Standard Statistics (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly and Special)
    Business Prospects; Outlook for Security Market; Industry Reports A, B, C, etc.; Basic Statistics.
  7. United Business Service (Weekly)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1937-38”.

________________

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45a2
BUSINESS CYCLES

[Final Exam]

(Write on THREE questions)

  1. Write briefly on each of the following:
    1. Summarize and evaluate the analyses of “the long waves” made by (1) Schumpeter, and (2) Kondratieff.
    2. Compare Robertson and Aftalion with respect to the role of fixed capital in the business cycle.
  2. Show the significance and implications of (a) the “principle of accelerations” and (b) the “multiplier” with respect to the “pump-priming” theory.
  3. “The turning point from prosperity to depression is caused not by a shortage of capital but by inadequate consumption expenditures.”
    (In answering this question discuss, among other items, the following: (1) Is saving deflationary? (2) What is the effect of an increase in savings (a) upon the value of real investment? (b) upon consumption? (3) Is over-investment a cause of recession?
  4. Discuss the part played by monetary factors in the trade cycle, drawing particularly upon the analyses of Hawtrey and Hayek.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 4. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1938.

Image Source: Alvin Hansen (left) and Gottfried Haberler (right) from Harvard Class Album 1942.

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Courses Curriculum Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Course Offerings, 1900-1905

 

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for  1893-94 and for 1894-1900 have been posted earlier.

____________________________________

1900-1901
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. SPRAGUE and Dr. ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange. — Lectures on Social Questions, Banking and Monetary Legislation. 3 hours a week.

19 Undergraduates, 5 Special students. Total 24.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 9.

10. Professor ASHLEY. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 9.

92. Mr. WILLOUGHBY. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 8 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

81. Dr. ANDREW. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1900-01, p.44.

____________________________________

1901-1902
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange. — Industrial Organization, Labor Questions, Banking and Monetary Legislation. 3 hours a week.

28 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 32.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Asst. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week.

6 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 8.

92. Mr. DURAND. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 6 Undergraduates. Total 7.

6.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 2 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates. Total 6.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

20. Asst. Professor CARVER. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis-subject: Motives in Politics.

1 Special student. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1901-02, pp. 37-38.

____________________________________

1902-1903
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Drs. ANDREW and MIXTER. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

18 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 21.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

32. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. —Theories of social progress. Half-course. 2 hours a week.  2d half-year.

10 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 11.

14. Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform. — 2 hours a week.

4 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 6.

112. Dr. GAY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe and America. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate. Total 2.

51.  Mr. MEYER. — Railways and Other Public Works under Corporate and Private Management. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates. Total 5.

8a1.  Dr. ANDREW. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 1st half-year.

1 Graduate, 7 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 11.

8b2.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — Banking and the history of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates. Total 3.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1902-03, p. 43.

____________________________________

1903-1904
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor ANDREW. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

36 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 38.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 1 Undergraduate, 2 Special students. Total 4.

11. Asst. Professor GAY. — The Modern Economic History of Europe and America. 2 hours a week (and occasionally a third hour).

2 Undergraduates. Total 2.

6.  Dr. SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 2 hours a week.

7 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 9.

9a2.  Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 7.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

131.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year. [Graduate course in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty]

1 Graduate, 2 Undergraduates. Total 3.

20.  Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Seminary in Economics. Thesis-subjects: “Labor Organizations among Women” and “The Defective Child in its own home.”

1 Graduate, 1 Special student. Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1903-04, pp. 50-51.

____________________________________

1904-1905
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professors ANDREW and SPRAGUE. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Industrial Organization, Foreign Trade, Banking, Socialism, and Labor Questions. 3 hours a week.

14 Undergraduates, 4 Special students. Total 18.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

3. Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology. — Theories of social progress. 2 hours a week, with a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate, 3 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 6.

6.  Asst. Professor SPRAGUE. — The Economic History of the United States. 3 hours a week.

2 Graduates, 1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student. Total 4.

 

COURSE OF RESEARCH

20a.  Asst. Professor GAY. — The Expansion of English Trade in the Mediterranean, and the Levant Company.  1 hour a week. [Graduate course in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty]

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President, 1904-05, p. 56.

Image Source: Gymnasium and Fay House, Radcliffe College ca. 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-D4-10778 R (b&w glass neg.)  Copy from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Categories
Cambridge Chicago Columbia Economic History Economists Germany Harvard NBER Stanford

Chicago. Friedman memo regarding Karl Bode and Moses Abramovitz, 1947

 

In the following 1947 memo from Milton Friedman to T.W. Schultz we can read two talent-scouting reports on potential appointments for the University of Chicago economics department. One candidate, Karl Bode had been vouched for by Allen Wallis, a trusted friend and colleague of Milton Friedman, but we can easily read Friedman’s own less than enthusiastic report on the meager published work examined, certainly compared to Friedman’s glowing report for his friend from Columbia student days, Moses Abramovitz. But comparing the publications listed in the memo, I certainly wouldn’t fault Friedman’s revealed preference for Abramovitz.

Abramovitz went on to have a long and distinguished career at Stanford and Bode left Stanford for government service with his last occupation according to his death certificate “Planning Director, Agency for International Development (A.I.D.)”

Since Karl Bode turned out to have cast a relatively short academic shadow, I have appended some biographical information about him at the end of this post. But for now just the vital dates: Karl Ernst Franz Bode was born November 24, 1912 in Boennien, Germany and he died March 18, 1981 in Arlington, VA.

__________________

Milton Friedman on Bode and Abramovitz

January 10, 1947

[To:] Mr. Schultz, Economics
[From:] Mr. Friedman, Economics
[Re:] Staff appointments

In connection with staff appointments, I thought it might be helpful if I put down on paper for you the information I have on two persons whose names I have casually mentioned: Karl Bode and Moses Abramovitz.

  1. Karl Bode (Assoc. Prof. of Economics, Stanford)

I know about Bode primarily from Allen Wallis. Allen considers him absolutely first-rate in all respects and recommends him very highly.

Bode, who is now in his early thirties, was born in Germany and, though Catholic of Aryan descent, and the holder of a highly-prized governmental fellowship, left Germany almost immediately after Hitler’s accession. He went first to Austria, then to Switzerland, where he took his Ph.D., in 1935, then to England, where he studied at Cambridge and at the London School. Bernard Haley met him while at Cambridge, was highly impressed with him, and induced him to come to Stanford, where he has been since 1937. He has been on leave of absence since early 1945, first with the Tactical Bombing Survey, then with the Allied Military Government in Berlin. He is expected back sometime this summer.

At Stanford, Bode is responsible for American and European Economic History, and, in addition, has taught advanced courses in Economic Theory. His original interest was in International Trade. He has a contract to write a text on Economic History, but I do not know whether on American or European Economic History.

I have obtained a list of his publications, most of which are fragments or reviews. Three of more general interest are:

(a) A. W. Stonier: “A New Approach to the Methodology of the Social Sciences”, Economica, Vol. 4, p. 406-424, Nov., 1937.

(b) “Plan Analysis and process analysis: AER, 33-348-54, June 1943.

(c) “A Note on the Mathematical Coincidence of the instantaneous and the serial multiplier”, Review of Economic Statistics, 26: 221-222, Nov. 1944.

I have read these. They are too slight to permit a reliable and comprehensive judgment about his capacities; but they are sufficient to demonstrate a clear, logical mind.

Allen tells me that Schumpeter, Haberler, Howard Ellis, and of course, the Stanford people all know him and could provide evidence about his abilities.

 

  1. Moses Abramovitz (member of research staff in charge of business cycle unit, National Bureau of Economic Research.)

Abramovitz got his bachelor’s at Harvard, his Ph.D. at Columbia. He has done some part-time teaching of Theory at Columbia. During the war he was with the Office of Strategic Services, where he worked on foreign economic conditions. He was a member of the reparations commission staff at both the Moscow and Paris Conferences.

Abramovitz and I were fellow graduate students at Columbia, and I have known him rather well ever since. I think him extremely capable, with an excellent mind, broad interests, and an extraordinary capacity for forming a sound judgment from conflicting evidence.

His academic and private research background is mostly in Economic Theory and Business Cycles; but the war years gave him a considerable background, and generated a real interest, in foreign economic relations.

Some of his writings are:

Selected Publications:

An Approach to a Price Theory for a Changing Economy, Columbia University Press, 1939.

Monopolistic Selling in a Changing Economy, Q.J.E., Feb., 1938.

Saving vs Investment: Profits vs Prosperity?Supplement on papers relating to the TNEC, Am. Econ. Rev., June, 1942.

Book on Cyclical behavior of inventories completed and scheduled to be published shortly by Nat’l Bureau of Economic Research.

M.F.

ab

* * * * *

PUBLICATIONS OF KARL BODE

A new approach to the methodology of the social sciences. (With A.W. Stonier): Economica, vol. 4, pp. 406-424, November, 1937.

Prosperität und Depression: Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, vol. 8, pp. 597-614, December, 1937.

Review of: Plotnik, M.J. Werner Sombart and his type of economics. 1937. American Economic Review, 28: 522-523, September, 1938.

Review of: Sombart, Werner. Weltanschauung, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft. 1938. Ibid., 28: 766, December, 1938.

The acceptance of defeat in Germany: Journal of abnormal and social psychology, 38: 193-198, April, 1943.

Plan analysis and process analysis: American Economic Review, 33: 348-354, June, 1943.

Review of: Day, C. Economic Development in Europe. 1942:Journal of economic History, 2: 225-227, November, 1942.

Catholics in the postwar world: America, 71: 347-348, July, 1944

Economic aspects of morale in Nazi Germany: Pacific Coast Economic Association: Papers, 1942. pp. 29-34, 1943.

Reflections on a reasonable peace: Thought, 19: 41-48, March, 1944

Review of: Dempsey, B.W. Interest and usury. 1943: Ibid., 18: 756-758, December, 1943.

German reparations and a democratic peace: Thought, 19: 594-606, December, 1944

A note on the mathematical coincidence of the instantaneous and the serial multiplier: Review of Economic Statistics, 26: 221-222, November, 1944.

 

Source:Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 79, Folder 1 “University of Chicago, Minutes. Economics Department 1946-1949”.

__________________

Karl F. Bode
AEA 1969 Directory of Members, p. 41.

Bode, Karl F., government; b. Germany, 1912; student, U. Bonn-Germany, 1931-33, U. Vienna-Austria, 1933-34; Ph.D., U. Bern-Switzerland, 1935; Cambridge-England, 1935-37. DOC.DIS. The Concept of Neutral Money, 1935. FIELDS 2abc, 1c, 4a. Chief, Regional Organization & Program Staff, Intl. Cooperation Adm., 1955-60, asst. dep. dir. for planning, 1960-62; chief, Planning Assistance & Research Div., Agy. for Intl. Dev., 1962-67; dir., Research, Evaluation & Information Retrieval, Agy. for Internat. Dev. since 1967. ADDRESS Vietnam Bur., Agy. for Internat. Dev., Dept. State, Washington, DC 20523.

__________________

 Haberler Report of Mises’s Private Seminar

Regular participants of the seminar were several members of the Mont Pelerin Society – notably Hayek, Machlup, the late Alfred Schutz and in the very early days, John V. Van Sickle. Visiting scholars regarded it a great honor to be invited to the seminar – among them Howard S. Ellis (University of California), Ragnar Nurkse (late Professor of Economics in Columbia University, New York) whose untimely death occurred three years ago, Karl Bode (later in Stanford University and now in Washington), Alfred Stonier (now University College in London), and many others. There was Oskar Morgenstern (now Princeton University), the late Karl Schlesinger and Richard Strigl, two of the most brilliant economists of their time…the unforgettable Felix Kaufmann, philosopher of the Social Sciences in the broadest sense including the law and economics – he also wrote a much debated book on the logical foundation of mathematics – who after his emigration in 1938 joined the Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York where he taught with great success until his premature death twelve years ago.

Source: Mises’s Private Seminar: Reminiscences by Gottfried Haberler. Reprint from The Mont Pelerin Quarterly, Volume III, October 1961, No. 3, page 20f. Posted at the Mises Institute website.

__________________

 From the Preface of Felix Kaufman’s 1936 book

For the critical editing of the manuscript and of the galleys, I wish to thank most heartily a number of friends in various countries, expecially Dr. Karl Bode, presently of St. John’s College, Cambridge and Dr. Alfred Schütz of Vienna. Dr. Bode has also taken upon himself the great labor of preparing both indexes.

Source: Felix Kaufmann. Theory and Method in the Social Sciences. [English translation of Methodenlehre der Sozialwissenschaften. Wien: Julius Springer, 1936.] from Felix Kaufmann’s Theory and Method in the Social Sciences, Robert S. Cohen and Ingeborg K. Helling (eds.). Boston Studies in the Philosophy and  History of Science, 303. Springer: 2014.

__________________

 Reports from The Stanford Daily

The Stanford Daily, Volume 93, Issue 47, 29 April 1938

Several distinguished scholars from other universities will join the Stanford faculty next year…Dr. Karl Franz Bode, formerly on the faculty of St. John’s College, Cambridge University, England, was appointed assistant professor of economics to succeed Dr. Donald M. Erb who was appointed president of the University of Oregon….

 

The Stanford Daily, Volume 100, Issue 02, 23 September 1941, p. 1.

Econ Department Changes Classes… History of Currency Problems, 118, will he given in fall quarter rather than in the spring quarter. It is a five-unit course, taught MTWThF at 11 a.m. in Room 200Q by Karl F. Bode. Economics 1 and 2 are prerequisites….

 

The Stanford Daily, Volume 103, Issue 86, 28 May 1943, p. 1.

Wilbur Names New Faculty Promotions. Promotions and appointments of faculty members for the academic year 1943-1944 were announced yesterday by Chancellor Ray Lyman Wilbur. … Those promoted from assistant professor to associate professor are … Dr. Karl F. Bode, economics….

 

The Stanford Daily, Volume 111, Issue 20, 7 March 1947, p. 3

President Donald B. Tresidder yesterday announced 37 faculty promotions. The promotions include 11 faculty members to full professorships, six to associate professorships, and two to assistant professorships, together with promotion of 18 members of the clinical faculty at the Stanford School of Medicine in San Francisco….

To professorships … Karl F. Bode, in economics…

 

The Stanford Daily, Vol 119, Issue 7, 13 February 1951, p. 1.

Dr. Karl F. Bode, Stanford economics professor on leave for government duty in Germany, has been appointed deputy economic adviser, Office of Economic Affairs, it has been announced by the office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. Dr. Bode will be stationed in Bonn, Germany. He has been acting chief of the program division in the Office of Economic Affairs.

 

Image Source: Karl Bode from the 1939 Standford Quad.

Categories
Amherst Chicago Economists Harvard M.I.T. Placement

Chicago. Zvi Griliches asking Frank Fisher for junior appointment leads, 1961

 

In a 1961 memo Zvi Griliches reported to his Chicago colleagues some scouting results regarding a possible junior appointment in economics. He spoke econometrician-to-econometrician with his colleague Frank Fisher at M.I.T. about the most interesting graduate students in the Cambridge area on the job market that year. Four names were mentioned, two unsurprising enough were the names of economists “unable” to be drawn from the gravitational pull of Cambridge. 

Griliches ended his memo with the remark “This year Domar happens to be MIT’s ‘placement officer’ and this is likely to put us at some competitive disadvantage.” Does this mean that Griliches thought the monopsonist Evsey Domar would deliberately discriminate against the University of Chicago?

_______________

Four graduate students discussed by Zvi Griliches and Frank Fisher

Beals, Ralph E. Dept. of Econs. Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002. Birth Yr: 1936.  Degrees: B.S., U. of Kentucky, 1958; M.A., Northwestern U., 1959; Ph.D., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1970. Prin. Cur. Position: Clarence Francis Prof. of Econs., Amherst Coll., 1966.  Concurrent/Past Positions: Assoc., Harvard Institute for Int’l. Develop., 1973.  Research: Int’l. trade, commercial policy & industrialization in Indonesia.

[According to the Prabook website: Ralph E. Beals was Assistant professor economics, Amherst (Massachusetts) College, 1962-1963; associate professor, Amherst (Massachusetts) College, 1966-1971. ]

Hohenberg, Paul M. RPI, Dept of Econ, Troy, NY 12180. Birth Yr: 1933.  Degrees: B.Ch.E., Cornell U., 1956; M.A., Tufts U., 1959; Ph.D., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1963. Prin. Cur. Position: Prof. of Econs., Rensselaer Poly. Institute, 1977.  Concurrent/Past Positions: Vis. Assoc. Prof., Sir George Williams U., Montreal, 1972-74; Assoc. Prof., Cornell U., 1968-73.  Research: Urbanization & econ. change in Europe and U.S.

Marglin, Stephen A.  Birth Yr: 1938.  Degrees: A.B., Harvard U., 1959; Ph.D., Harvard U., 1965. Prin. Cur. Position: Prof. of Econs., Harvard U.

Temin, Peter. Mass Inst of Tech, Dept of Econ, Cambridge, MA 02139. Birth Yr: 1937.  Degrees: B.A., Swarthmore Coll., 1959; Ph.D., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1964. Prin. Cur. Position: Prof. of Econs., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1970.  Concurrent/Past Positions: Assoc. Prof., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1967-70; Asst. Prof., Mass. Institute of Technol., 1965-67. Research: Econ. history; telecommunications policy.

 

Source:  Biographical Listing of Members. The American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 6 (Dec., 1993).

_______________

Memo on possible appointments written by Zvi Griliches

November 8, 1961

[To:] A. Rees
[From:] Z. Griliches
[Re:] The possible appointments.

I had a long telephone conversation with Frank Fisher last week about “whom we should look at.” It is his opinion that the single best young man coming up now in the Cambridge area is:

Stephen A. Marglin—He is a mathematical theorist, with several papers to his credit. He has spent a year at Cambridge, England and is currently in his second year of a three year Junior Fellowship at Harvard. I had already invited him to give a talk to the workshop and he will be here on January 16 to talk on “The Social Rate of Discount and the Opportunity Costs of Public Investment.” Frank thinks that we would have a very hard time getting him, in particular for next year, but that he is clearly the best.

The best current MIT student that will be coming to the market is, in Fisher’s opinion:

Ralph Beals—who is a third year graduate student specializing in the fields of monetary policy and econometrics. He has been working with Solow and Albert Ando and his interests in the monetary area have appartently been stimulated by Solow’s and Ando’s involvement in the Monetary Commission stuff.

In addition, Fisher mentioned that there are also two ver good “economic historian types” finishing there this year:

Peter Pemin[sic, “Temin”]—who is working with Gerschenkron at Harvard, and
Paul Hohenberg—who is working withKindelberger on the sources of the econonmic development of France in the 19thcentury.

This year Domar happens to be MIT’s “placement officer” and this is likely to put us at some competitive disadvantage.

cc:       H. Johnson, M. Friedman, T. Schultz✓, G. Stigler, W. Wallis.

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics Records, Box 42, Folder 3.

Image Source:  Zvi Griliches from the University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-06565, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Final Examination for topics in statistical theory. E.B. Wilson, 1938

 

Most course final examination questions at Harvard were officially printed, but for a variety of reasons some course final examinations questions were only duplicated using carbon paper or perhaps they were written on the black-board at the time of the examination. The Harvard archives collection of final examinations has boxes of the bound printed copies of final examinations and folders with the carbon or mimeographed copies of examinations for (some) of the other courses. We see from the enrollment data that there were only four graduate students enrolled in E. B. Wilson’s course on “Topics in Statistical Theory” so logistically it would have been no big deal for a secretary to type enough copies using carbon paper.  It appears to be the original copy of his examination questions for 1937-38 that I have transcribed for this post.

________________

Course Announcement

Economics 122b 2hf. (formerly 32b). Topics in Statistical Theory.
Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., 3 to 4.30. Professor E. B. Wilson.

 

Source:  Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1937-38 (First Edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 34, No. 5 (March 1, 1937), p. 149.

________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 122b 2hf. (formerly 32b). Professor E. B. Wilson.—Topics in Statistical Theory.

Total 4: 4 Graduates.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1937-38, p. 86.

________________

Final Examination in Economics  122b2.
Wednesday June 8, 1938 at 2 P.M. in Amerson A

Students may individually use slide rules, logarithmic tables, books, notes, and their solutions of problems at their discretion.

  1. Why did Macaulay feel that he must include a twelve-months moving average as one process in his summation formula for smoothing monthly interest rates? Why did this make it advisable that he include another summation over an even number of elements?
  2. Prove that a running mean of a specified number of elements eliminates more of the random fluctuation from a time series than any other mean of the same number of elements.
  3. What does a 13-term running mean do to a sine curve with period of 40 (using the interval between terms as a unit)?
  4. Define a random series. Derive the relations which exist between the standard deviation of the random elements and the standard deviations of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rddifferences of those elements?
  5. What is the actuarial criterion of smoothness? What is the difficulty of using maximum smoothness as a criterion for smoothing a series?
  6. Assuming the expansion of \frac{x}{{{e}^{x}}-1} in a series with Bernoulli numbers as coefficients, derive formally the (asymptotic) expansion for \log n! or for \log \Gamma \left( n \right).
  7. What is the criterion of fidelity which is ordinarily imposed in graduating time series? Why is Spencer’s 21-term formula, which satisfies this criterion, used in place of that best 21-term eliminator or of that 21-term best smoother which satisfy this same criterion?
  8. Prove the ordinary formula for the standard deviation of a median.
  9. State R.A.Fisher’s method of finding the values of the constants (or parameters) of a frequency function of assumed type from the elements of a given sample. State also his rule for the standard deviations of the constants.
  10. Given any analytical frequency function with close contact at the ends, derive therefrom the expansion of another frequency function of the same mean and standard deviation good to fourth moments inclusive.
  11. Give a brief sketch of the symbolic method of treating advancing and retreating and central differences.
  12. Give an illustration of (a) a universe with median but no mean (b) another universe in which the median is a better criterion of center than the mean, (c) a universe in which the mean is a better criterion of center than the median, (d) a universe in which the average of the least and greatest elements of a sample is a better criterion of center than either the mean or the median. What do you mean by “a better criterion of center”?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28). Box 3, Folder “Final examinations, 1937-1938”.

Image Source:  Faculty portrait of of E. B. Wilson in Harvard Album 1939.

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Columbia Courses Economists Gender Germany Harvard Social Work

Harvard, Boston University & Berlin. Career of alumnus Edward Everett Ayers

 

From the E.R.A. Seligman papers at Columbia I came across an unsolicited application for employment in economics and sociology submitted to the President of Columbia University by a man who received his A.M. from Harvard and a pair of doctorates from Boston University and the University of Berlin (I suspect the dissertation did double duty since both degrees were apparently awarded in 1901, but have not checked that out). Edward E. Ayers turns out to be a nice example of the mixture of economics, sociology and social reform that was found in economics departments around the turn of the 20th century. Before getting to the document-artifacts found in the Seligman papers, I have included information about Ayers’ life and career and a review of his German doctoral dissertation. The post ends with course descriptions for Ayres’ non-Biblical teaching at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. 

From his yearbook portrait for Greensboro College (The Echo) 1927 we see that Edward E. Ayers appears to have switched into Religious Education and entirely dropped economics/sociology/social reform at the end of his teaching career.

___________________

Rev Edward Everett Ayers

Bio by: David Ayers

BIRTH:           16 Jul 1865. Egypt, Belmont County, Ohio, USA

DEATH:         20 Apr 1939 (aged 73). Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

BURIAL:        Fort Hill Memorial Park, Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA

 

Edward Everett Ayers was the 9th of 14 children of Philander and Nancy (Eagon) Ayers. He grew up on their farm in Kirkwood Twp, Belmont Cty, Ohio.

Despite these humble beginnings he obtained an amazing education – B.C.S. from Mount Union College in Ohio in 1891 and then a Ph.B. from the same institution a year later, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Boston University in 1896, then an A.M. from Harvard University in 1898, then separate Ph.D.s from both the University of Berlin (Germany) and Boston University in 1901. He published a small book on worker’s insurance and care for the poor, in German, in 1901. He also studied at Andover Theological Seminary from 1901-1903.

In the midst of all that he served 4 churches in and around Boston, MA between 1894 and 1908 as a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.

He married Caroline Eleanor Elder in Boston in 1899.

He then obtained another degree — S.T.D. – from Mount Union College in 1908.

In 1908 he secured a faculty position at Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, and remained there until 1925. He was Professor of Sociology and Bible. The later-famous Pearl Buck graduated from there in 1914, and given her interests and the size of the college he almost certainly had her as a student. He then accepted a faculty position at Greensboro Women’s College in 1926, staying there until he retired in 1936. He kept his home in Lynchburg during this time and it appears that his wife Caroline, stayed there. His daughter Virginia was in Wellesley College when he made this shift to Greensboro (1924-28). He appears in yearbooks for Greensboro Women’s College and appears to have been very well liked by students. He was certainly amazingly well-educated. Given his subject area, while he was studying in Berlin he almost certainly would have attended lectures by the great Georg Simmel.

 

Source: Memorial page for Rev. Edward Everett Ayers at the Find a Grave website. Includes pictures.

___________________

Review of Ayres’ German dissertation

Arbeiterversicherung und Armenpflege. Von Edward E. Ayres, Ph.D. Berlin: E. Ebering, 1901.

Dr. Ayres belongs to an increasing number of young American clergymen who supplement their training in theology with a course in sociology. In selecting the above subject for his doctor’s thesis at Berlin he has appropriated one of the very choicest bits from the great social laboratory which the German states seem to have become. It appears that the German compulsory insurance — against sickness, accident, and old age — applies, in these different classes, to about 9,000,000, 16,500,000, and 12,000,000 of German working people, respectively. Dr. Willoughby, in his book on Workingmen’s Insurance, which appeared in 1898, explained the spirit and the letter of these experiments in paternalism, and now, after about twenty years of testing, it is time we were told something of the incidents, and it is to be  hoped that Dr. Ayres will turn his little book into English.

The chief thesis of the essay is that compulsory insurance has had a salutary influence upon conditions of dependency. This conclusion is reached after a study of the number of applicants for relief, for different periods, in a selected group of twenty-one towns, averaging in population about 40,000. The first discovery is that the number of cases of relief on account of sickness falling to women, who are less protected by the insurance, increased between 1880 and 1893 by about 20 per cent., while the population increased by nearly 50 per cent., and on account of sickness falling to men, who are more protected, there was an actual falling off in the number of cases. The showing is not quite so favorable in the class of relief on account of accident; but it is much more favorable in the class of relief on account of old age. The author’s conclusion is buttressed by a remarkable consensus of opinion, on the part of the administrators of the poor funds in the cities from which the figures are taken, that the burden of poor relief is greatly lightened as a result of measures of state insurance, and a number of them offer statistical reasons for their faith.

The general favorable view of the author is further strengthened by reports showing an increase of small savings-bank accounts, by different evidences of a higher standard of living, by the increased average annual income of insured persons from 641 marks in 1886 to 735 marks in 1898, and by a decline in emigration from 120,089 in 1891 to 20,837 m 1898.

The thesis certainly contains an interesting marshaling of pertinent coincidences, but in weighing the causal elements Germany’s phenomenal industrial awakening during the period studied should be considered, and this the author seems to neglect. Here he might shift his ground a trifle and say, “if insurance paternalism, as its enemies assert, leans in the direction of a slothful content (the future being cared for), it does not press sufficiently heavy to prevent the present era of industrial prosperity, and it has not proven to be as bad as some have prophesied.” But to say that “it was the cause of the industrial awakening” — not even Dr. Ayres would go that far. And that the industrial growth has been a factor in all the phenomena enumerated he would probably agree.

James H. Hamilton.
Syracuse University

 

Source: Review of Arbeiterversicherung und Armentpflege von Edward E. Ayres (Berlin, 1901) by James H. Hamilton in The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 7, No. 2 (September 1901), pp. 281-282.

___________________

Cover letter to President Butler
and Ayers’ c.v.

College Park, Lynchburg, Va.
Feb. 1, 1915.

Pres. N.M. Butler, LL.D.
New York

Dear Sir:-

Please find enclosed some personal testimonials of my preparation and work in economics and sociology. I would be very much pleased if you would keep these on file and, in case of a vacancy in this department of your institution, communicate with me.

Yours very truly,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

* * *

            With a desire to make larger provision for my family I wish to be considered for any vacancy in the department of Economics or Sociology in your institution.

The following is a brief account of my education and experience: I spent five years in Mt. Union College, having received my preparatory education in the public schools of Ohio. In the college I completed the business course, the teacher’s course, and the philosophical course, and received the degrees C.S.B. and Ph.B. in 1892. Entering immediately upon a course of study in Boston University, I remained four years and completed a theological course, receiving the degree S.T.B. During my stay there I also took all the philosophy taught by Professor Borden P. Bowne and all of the economics and sociology offered in the University. In 1896 I entered Harvard University to specialize in sociology and remained there two years, and received the degree A.M. in 1898. Much of my time while in Boston University and Harvard was spent in a study of the practical social problems of Boston and vicinity. In 1899 I entered Berlin University, Germany, and spent two years in special work on sociology and economics under Professors Schmoller, Wagner, Sering and Von Halle. In connection with my university work I made excursions over Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France to study social questions and economic conditions. I took all the courses offered in agricultural economics, and with the professors made excursions out to the farms to study actual conditions. My early life until entering college was spent on a farm in Ohio. In 1901 I received the degree Ph.D. from Berlin. In the same year I also received Ph.D, from Boston University.

From 1901 to 1908 I spent in directing church work in the following cities or their suburbs: Lawrence, Mass., Boston and Springfield, Mass., at the same time continuing my work and interest in economics and social subjects.

In 1908 I received a call to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College of Lynchburg, Va., as head professor of the department of Bible and Sociology. My work has been a pleasure from the beginning. I am now offering courses in economics, money and banking, pathology, labor movement and socialism.

In 1908 I received the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from my Alma Mater, Mt. Union College.

Trusting that I may hear from you, I am

Yours very sincerely,
[signed] Edward E. Ayers

[Note: testimonials have not been included here because they are not particularly informative]

Source:   Columbia University Archives. E.R.A. Seligman Collection. Box 98B [now in Box 36], Folder “Columbia, 1913-1917 (unarranged and incomplete)”.

___________________

Faculty listing for E.E. Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

Edward Everett Ayers, S.T.D.  Professor of Sociology and English Bible.

B.C.S., Mount Union College, 1891; Ph.B., 1892; S.T.B., Boston University, 1896; A.M., Harvard University, 1898; Ph.D., Boston University, 1901; Ph.D., University of Berlin, 1901; S.T.D., Mount Union College, 1908; Student, Andover Theological Seminary, 1901-03; Professor of Sociology and Bible, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 1908—.

* * *

Economics/Sociology Courses taught by Ayers at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

SOCIOLOGY
Professor Ayers.

            Course 1. Introduction to Economics.— This course deals with the rise of modern industry and its expansion in the United States; production, distribution and consumption; value, price and the monetary system of the United States; tariff, labor movement, natural and legal monopolies; American railroads and trusts; economic reform; government expenditures and revenues; taxation and economic progress.

The last half of this course deals with the development of economic thought. This will include a brief survey of economic thought in classical antiquity and its development in Europe, England, and America. Mill, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and other writers will be considered.

The members of the class will be taken on tours of inspection through industrial institutions in and about Lynchburg.

Lectures, recitations, and discussions. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 2. Introduction to Social Science.— This course deals with early social development, achievement, civilization, and the growth of modern social institutions; elimination of social evils; the social ideal; charities, compulsory insurance, and corrective legislation.

Particular problems of city and country life will be discussed. Students will be directed in personal investigation of social conditions in Lynchburg.

Prisons, almshouses, and other institutions will be studied. The aim of the course is to prepare students for social service.

One thesis is required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 3. Socialism.— The purpose of this course is to acquaint the student with the various Utopian schemes of government in order to separate the transient from the permanent in political society. Some attention will be given to such writers as Plato, Fourier, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Thomas More, and Edward Bellamy; but most of the time will be given to present socialistic theories and development. The nature, strength, and weakness of socialism will be considered; the golden mean of practical reform will be studied. Lectures, recitations, and discussions. One thesis will be required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

 

            Course 4. The Labor Movement.— This course embraces a brief survey of the conditions of labor in the nations of antiquity and in mediaeval Europe. Most of the time will be given to modern labor movements in Europe, England, and America; the rise of labor organizations, strikes, boycotts, and injunctions, the sweating system, woman and child labor; wages, hours of labor, sanitary and safety devices. The labor of factories, farms, and stores will be studied to furnish concrete examples for the course. One thesis required of each student. Three hours a week throughout the year.

Any student taking two courses in sociology may be allowed to concentrate her work in writing one thesis instead of two.

 

Source: Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Catalogue 1913-1914 (Announcements 1914-1915), pp. 6, 61-2. Lynchburg, Virginia.

Image Source: Edward E. Ayres. Greensboro College. The Echo, 1927.

Categories
Curriculum Germany Harvard

Harvard. The German language in higher education, 1894

 

Several earlier posts have considered foreign language requirements from the perspective of mid-20th century (e.g. Harvard, Columbia, Chicago). This post takes us back to the early years of graduate instruction at the end of the 19th century. The report by the “German Committee” submitted to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College in 1894 was forty-six pages long. I have included only the statements by three professors of economics (Taussig, Dunbar, and Ashley) between the report’s lede and its conclusions, but I can recommend a quick glance at the statements submitted by members of other departments at Harvard.

__________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GERMAN.
[October 4, 1894]

To The Board of Overseers : —

In order either to confirm or to correct the opinions held by the undersigned as to the position which instruction in the German language should occupy in the general scheme of the University, the following questions were addressed to teachers of every grade active in the various branches of the institution:

  1. Is any of your work, or of the work of any student in the University under you, determined, or limited, or in any way affected by knowledge or ignorance of the German language on the part of such student, and, if so, how?
  2. Is knowledge of German required of any student in the University for admission to, or for continuance in, any study under you, and, if so, how much knowledge, and how much is it used, and for what study or studies?
  3. What proportion of the published work of yourself, or of any student, or students, in your department, is published in the German language, and, if any, in what books or papers?
  4. What remedy or remedies can you suggest for any evil suffered by the University or any student or students thereof through ignorance of, or imperfect knowledge of German.

We beg leave to submit the answers received in the original; but, for the sake of convenience, we present also in this report, grouped according to the different branches of study, abstracts of opinions expressed, especially in response to question 1, to which we respectfully and urgently invite the attention of the Board of Overseers. It will be found that while a few of the professors, instructors or lecturers consider the knowledge of German as of little consequence to their students, an overwhelming majority of them, representing all conceivable varieties of study, agree, with singular concert of judgment, as to the desirability of that knowledge, differing only in the degree of their appreciation of it, some declaring the ability to read German merely helpful, while others pronounce it to be absolutely indispensable.

We shall now let them speak for themselves :

[…]

Professor F. W. Taussig, Professor of Political Economy.

  1. In the work of all my advanced courses, and especially in the course on economic theory, I am hampered by the fact that the students, otherwise well equipped, cannot handle German.

Professor C. F. Dunbar, Professor of Political Economy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

  1. In public finance and banking the work is so far affected that I feel it practically useless to require the reading of anything which cannot be paralleled in French or English; and although I make references to German sources, it is with the feeling that they will be used by only a part of the class. This often makes it necessary, in order to cover a German topic with certainty (as e. g. in Taxation), to give it a disproportionate amount of time in my lectures. I must add that the state of things appears to me to be improving.

Professor W. J. Ashley, Professor of Economic History.

  1. In all the higher University work with which I am concerned, in the study of economic and social history, it would be a great advantage to the men to have a fair acquaintance with German.
  2. In “The History of Economic Theory down to Adam Smith,” to read German is declared in the department pamphlet to be “desirable.” In a class last year of some eight seniors and graduate students, two, if I remember rightly, showed that they could use German with ease, and one of these did an excellent piece of work for me and the class which would have been impossible otherwise.

[…]

            While these reports are calculated to create a favorable impression as far as they go, it is to be gathered from many of the opinions expressed that, although a certain advance is to be noticed, a greater and more general proficiency in German among the students is very desirable. As to the question how the deficiencies that may exist might be remedied, the answers received in response to our interogatories differ. They may be divided into the following classes: —

  1. Those recommending that students be admonished by way of suggestion and advice, in the official reports and pamphlets as well as in personal conversation, to devote more attention to the study of the German language.
  2. Those recommending that the requirements as to German in the examinations for admission to the University be increased.
  3. Those recommending higher requirements as to German for admission to scientific schools, and for honors and degrees; and
  4. Those recommending special courses for scientific German to be connected with the different scientific departments.

These different recommendations do not necessarily exclude one another, as, indeed, they appear grouped together in one or two of the answers we have received to our interrogatories. The admonition by suggestion or advice, as well as the establishment of higher requirements in German for certain honors or degrees, might prove desirable incentives under any circumstances. But a careful consideration of the whole subject has led us to the conclusion that the recommendation of an increase of the initial requirements deserves the most serious attention. The more Harvard rises to the station and dignity of a University in the higher,—that is, the true sense—the less the institution should have to do with that kind of work which naturally belongs to the office of the preparatory school. The student entering Harvard should be required sufficiently to possess what may be called the mechanical equipment necessary for the pursuit of his studies. This, applied to the German language, would mean that the Harvard student should be beyond the struggle with its structural difficulties, that he should be able to read it understandingly, without the painful drudgery of conscious translation word for word, and that in using it his labor should be reduced to a mere occasional enlargement of the vocabulary.

We admit that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to reach this objective point all at once. But it may ultimately reached by gradual approaches. We venture respectfully to suggest as the first step a public announcement that the requirements as to German in the examination for admission, will henceforth be increased by degrees, and that elementary instruction in German at the University will be discontinued.

We further suggest that the time for the examination in German be extended to two hours and that it include, in addition to the translation of German prose, not of the simplest kind, but of ordinary difficulty, the translation of a few sentences of simple English prose into German, or a simple composition in German, and some ordinary tests in German grammar. The examination should certainly be severe enough not to permit the attainment of a satisfactory result by cramming.

We believe also that the recommendation made by several of the officers of instruction concerning the establishment of special courses in “scientific German” in connection with the respective scientific schools, deserves to be seriously considered. If, as sources of information, German works are to be read, it is most important that they should be read understandingly. The meaning of writers who are studied as authorities should not be merely guessed at. This is one of the cases in which “a little knowledge” is more dangerous than none at all. The particular study of scientific terminologies appears especially necessary with regard to German writers because, as is well known, not a few of them—whether writing on science, or philosophy, or even history, — take great liberties with their language in constructing composite words and in various other ways, thus creating, to some extent, technical terms, or forms of expression which, when applied to certain things, are to convey a special meaning — more or less peculiar to themselves. The courses suggested would, therefore, serve a useful purpose.

We would also respectfully recommend that in courses in which recitations form part of the system of instruction, the classes be divided into sections conveniently small, to contain not above 30 students, and that the number of instructors be correspondingly increased.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

C. SCHURZ,
J. ELLIOT CABOT,
CHARLES E. GRINNELL,

Committee on German.

4th October, 1894.

 

Source: Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from February 6, 1890, to January 8, 1902 Inclusive. Cambridge, Massachusetts (1902), pp. 221, 241-242, 265-267.

Image Source:  Dunbar, Ashley and Taussig from The Harvard Portfolio (Class of 1895), Vol. VI.

 

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Harvard

Harvard. Report of Economics Visiting Committee, 1915

 

A few posts ago Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provided a transcription of a report written by a member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John W. Morss, that shared his observations of teaching in the recitation sections of the principles of economics course (Economics A). Today we have the brief report submitted by the entire committee in 1915. Changes in the organization of the accounting and statistics courses as well as the surprising popularity of Thomas Nixon Carver’s course on agricultural economics are mentioned. The planned introduction of courses in European and U.S. economic history and expansion of the tutoring program are noted as well.

___________________

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

To the Board of Overseers of Harvard College: —

The Committee to Visit the Department of Economics respectfully reports:

The most important change during the year has been in the conduct of Courses la and 1b, which are now introductory courses in accounting and statistics, designed to give these subjects vital and fundamental relation to the students’ later work in economics. Both courses are given by effective teachers with a large amount of what may be called laboratory practice or problem work, which seems to be extremely valuable. Next year the Department is to have at its disposal one of the drafting rooms at Pierce Hall, which will furnish an admirable laboratory.

The interest shown in Professor Carver’s course in the Economics of Agriculture is surprising. There are forty-four students in this course and as many more were refused admission either because of their inadequate preparation or of their lack of practical interest in the subject. Most of the students electing this course have either come from farms or are contemplating farming or some other form of rural work. The number in the class has been strictly limited because of the difficulty in providing satisfactory reading matter in sufficient quantity. Professor Carver now has in preparation a book of selections bearing on the general question of rural economics and agricultural policy which will be available for use next year and render it unnecessary to restrict the members in the course arbitrarily. [Selected Readings in Rural Economics compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916]

Professor Carver is in Cambridge this year but continues to direct the investigation which the Department of Agriculture is making into the subject of the marketing of farm products. As no member of the teaching force is away on leave, the work this year has been unusually free from interruption. The number of graduate students continues to increase. This year it was forty-eight, and the prospect is of further growth. The attendance in other courses has been normal, but the re-adjustments made in Courses la and 1b have brought about a considerable reduction in the number taking these courses, the result of which is a slight decrease in the number taking all courses in the Department. This is no more variation than is to be expected from year to year.

Plans are under consideration for introducing in Economics 2a, European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, and 2b, Economic and Financial History of the United States, improved supervision of the work of the students in preparing and writing theses, in line with the effort now making to improve the quality of English written by students in Harvard College.

The Department has been obliged, during the year, to furnish the assistance of tutors to those of the present Sophomore class who were concentrating in economics, and thus to add three tutors to the staff. Three others will be appointed next year, and it appears possible that by combining these positions with those of instructors and assistants we shall be able to offer somewhat better compensation for the work and thereby secure a better type of instructor and assistant.

The Department of Education has continued this year its survey of the Department of Economics and has inspected the work of practically all the courses. The Department of Education expects to bring this work to completion next fall, and the report may be expected by November 1st. [The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.]

Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS J. SWAYZE,
CHARLES W. ELIOT,
WILLIAM ENDICOTT,
EDGAR C. FELTON,
JOHN F. MOORS,
JOHN W. MORSS,
I. TUCKER BURR,
ROBERT TREAT PAINE,
CAMILLUS G. KIDDER,
WALLACE B. DONHAM.

May 10, 1915.

 

Source:    Reports of the Visiting Committees of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College for the Academic Year 1914-15, pp. 261-262.

Image Source: Pierce Hall (1901) from Harvard Class Album 1920.

 

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Principles

Harvard. Report on the Recitation Sections of Principles of Economics, 1913-14

 

 

A member of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee, John Wells Morss, took it upon himself to sit in and observe classroom performance in the recitation sections of the Harvard Principles of Economics course during the Fall term of 1913-14. From the first paragraph of his report it would appear that the department of economics had invited him to provide a report to serve as a complementary (friendly?) assessment to the survey being (or to be) conducted by the Harvard Division of Education on teaching in the economics department. That Division of Education report was later published: The Teaching of Economics in Harvard University—A Report Presented by the Division of Education at the Request of the Department of Economics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917. 

Morss’ report was passed along to President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard by the chairman of the department of economics, Charles Bullock, for-the-(positive)-record. While the report seems rather long-winded by today’s standards, it does provide us some good information, e.g. about the importance of the weekly questions discussed in the recitation sections. For a sample of the questions we are fortunate to have the published record.

Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis. Questions on the Principles of Economics. New York: 1915.
“A few of the questions here presented are frankly borrowed from previously published collections…More of the questions have been drawn from a stock accumulated through several years in the hands of the instructing staff of the introductory course in Economics at Harvard University.” (p. vii)
The questions were arranged by topics to follow Taussig’s own textbook Principles of Economics (Second, revised edition of 1915: Volume One; Volume Two).

Another interesting takeaway is that Morss noted that over the four weeks that he attended sections, the average amount of assigned reading for these recitations was 33 pages per week from the Taussig textbook. This certainly seems modest from the perspective of today’s nominal reading lists but perhaps actually corresponds to the actual reading completed by the average undergraduate in an introductory or intermediate economics course.

Note: Since the following items come from the last folder from a box that contains the papers of President Lowell of 1909-14 and the month of February is significantly closer to the start than the end of the year, it seems likely that the date, “1913”, found in the typed date on Charles Bullock’s cover letter was mistaken and that both items transcribed below are from February 1914.

 __________________

Course Announcement and Description, 1913-14

[Economics] A. (formerly 1). Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11.

Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Messrs. Burbank, J. S. Davis, R. E. Heilman, and others.

            Course A gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

 

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1913-14, published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. X, No. 1, Part X (May 19, 1913) , p. 60.

__________________

Course Enrollment, 1913-14

[Economics] A (formerly 1). Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Dr. J. S. Davis, and Messrs. P. G. Wright, Burbank, Eldred, and Vanderblue.—Principles of Economics.

Total, 494: 1 Graduate, 1 Business School, 13 Seniors, 129 Juniors, 280 Sophomores, 24 Freshmen. 46 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1913-1914, p. 54.

 

__________________

Examination Questions for Economics A, 1913-14

Mid-year and Year-end final exams for 1913-14 for Economics A have been transcribed and posted earlier. 

__________________

Cover letter from Professor Bullock (Economics)
to President Lowell

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 20, 1913 [sic].

Dear Mr. Lowell:

Mr. John Wells Morss of our Visiting Committee has recently completed a very thoro investigation of the work done in the sections of Economics A. I enclose herewith a copy of the Report, which I think, will be of great interest to you. Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of an hour’s conference with Mr. Morss, in which he told me somewhat more fully about this investigation; and I think it may be worth your while to confer with him upon the subject.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
C. J. Bullock.

__________________

Harvard University

THE SECTION MEETINGS OF ECONOMICS A

Notes by John Wells Morss
February, 1914.

When an amateur attempts to pass upon the work of professionals, a knowledge of his point of view is essential to one who would consider his conclusions. It therefore seems fitting to state that I was invited by the Department of Economics to make an examination of some of its work not because I was expected to reach results comparable to those expected from the examination now being conducted by the Department of Education, but because, as my invitation expressed it, the Department of Economics believed it “important to secure the opinion of some one who represents a different point of view, and brings to the work of inspection the experience of a man of business rather than of a student of education”. I have limited my examination to the work of the section meetings of the Economics Department, and shall limit this report to the work of the section meetings of Economics A, as that course has a large majority of the section meetings of the Department, and to consider them only greatly simplifies what I have to say. I have not compared my results with those of the Department of Education, and I have sought but little to obtain the views of those who conduct the section meetings as to their problems and difficulties lest they overwhelm my own observation.

Economics A, the introductory course to the subject most popular in Harvard College, has an enrollment of students this year of about five hundred and twenty-five. On Saturdays a lecture is delivered to the students in a body in the New Lecture Hall. On two other days of the week each student attends a meeting of the section to which he is assigned. There are twenty-one sections, each with a membership of about twenty-five. They are conducted by five instructors and Assistant Professor Day, all of whom will be referred to as the instructors. Twenty minutes or more of the one hundred minutes given weekly to the section meetings are devoted to writing an answer to a question set by the instructor. As twenty-one section meetings cannot be held at once, the same question cannot be put to all the students of the course; but the six different questions, prepared at a conference of the instructors, are all designed to serve the same purpose of testing the students’ knowledge and comprehension of recent work. I have not attempted to judge either questions or answers, but their usefulness seems to me to be unquestionable. After the answer is written the rest of the two meetings is devoted to a quiz with explanations and discussions based on the required reading which is usually from twenty to fifty pages of Prof. Taussig’s “Principles of Economics”. It is to this part of the work that I have given the most of my attention.

The attendance has been excellent at all the meetings at which I have been present. The maximum number of absences in a section of twenty-five does not ordinarily exceed two. One section had but five absences in six successive meetings beginning in the second week of the fall term. This record may not be equaled at meetings close to holidays and other special occasions, but on the whole the attendance is surprisingly good.

The preparation of the students is stimulated and tested by the questions asked of them by the instructor. So generally did it appear that substantially all the students of a section were called upon in an hour that I ceased after a time to attend to the point, though it seems plain that care should be used not to miss sluggish students assigned to seats in the back of the room. How generally the required reading had been done it was difficult to judge. Perhaps on the average three or four at each meeting answered that they were not prepared. At one meeting near the end of the year in another course than Economics A the preparation had been widely neglected, but that was a single case in my experience, and on the whole it seems that success is attained in the attempt to cause the students to work throughout the year with reasonable regularity.

The attention of the students seemed also satisfactory. Nobody went to sleep and apparently very few were near it. I saw no carving of the desks, though many results of such handiwork are visible. A half dozen raised hands would often indicate a strong desire to answer a question or join in the discussion. A considerable number of questions were asked in the class, some showing thought above the realization of ignorance. At some meetings a few students asked questions after the class, though the total number of those so doing was rather disappointing, considering the theoretical and stimulating nature of the subject.

The quality of the thinking done by the students did not seem to equal their attention. That they should show a lack of practical knowledge and of well considered opinions was to be expected in an elementary course; but they showed a striking incapacity for the simplest mental arithmetic, and on one occasion but few, if any, of them had had the curiosity, when studying the different kinds of currency, to look at the bills in their own pockets. And there was frequently illustrated the difference in result between reading and hard study. Often their ideas seemed hazy and too often a whole class seemed unable to answer a question adequately explained in the text. In other words, one who seeks the thoroughness required of a man is disappointed as is also he who expects to find among these students the indifference of an idle boy. When however one remembers that the average student of an elementary course in college is neither boy nor man, but in progress of development from one to the other, one is reasonably satisfied with the attitude and work of the students, and with their response to what is done for them.

In one particular however it seems that special effort should be made to improve the work of the students. In all the section meetings I attended comparatively few notes were taken. A reason may be that it is difficult to take notes of a running discussion; but the results of the discussions are often summarized by the instructor, and nobody can really take notes who can only report a slowly delivered lecture. Moreover in one case apparently not a single member of a section copied from the blackboard figures excellently illustrating the working of a clearing house. I for one should be glad to see lectures delivered to all the students of the College explaining the importance of note taking, and suggesting various practical methods. Further I would have the instructors of this course informally supplement such lectures from time to time by encouraging good note taking.

When the work of the instructor of a section meeting is considered, it is necessary early to realize that one of the most serious limitations under which he works is that of time. The maximum time available weekly for discussion in the section meetings is a short eighty minutes. The average number of pages assigned to be read in four successive weeks was thirty-three, and an experiment showed that it takes three minutes to read aloud one of those pages very rapidly. In other words there are but eighty minutes to discuss a text which cannot be read rapidly in less than one hundred minutes, and which is usually condensed in statement, closely reasoned and in many points debatable. There has therefore arisen a demand for an additional section meeting. This does not appeal to me. Economics A is a course which should be taken by every student in the College, and it should not require an exceptional amount of time from its students lest the number of them taking it be thereby limited. Moreover an additional fifty minutes would not solve the problem; the cry for still another hour would inevitably follow.

The work of the instructor is also rendered difficult by the exceptional nature of the course itself. Economics A is not only an introductory course, but is also the only course in Economics taken by a large proportion of its members. It embraces a great number of topics, each as a rule involving difficult questions of theory and based on a great variety of facts. The amount of ground to be covered is so great that of most topics only a cursory view can be had. It is impossible to pursue to any considerable extent the method of teaching by asking questions introduced into the Law School by Prof. Langdell. With that method, at least in the first year, but little ground can be covered, the facts must be few and certain, and the students either trained to reason closely or ambitious to become so trained. In Economics A the students are two or three years younger than in the Law School, and the facts and principles involved in a simple economic problem are generally of much greater complexity than those contained in the printed report of a law case. Moreover it is a rare person who does not believe that his general knowledge of economics questions is valuable. Therefore the attempt to teach elementary economics by questioning usually leads into a maze of disputed facts. Frequently therefore the instructor can ask questions only until the points are developed and then must make a statement relative to the matter under discussion. These statements are necessary and save much time, but one wonders occasionally if they are fully understood by the students, and whether a question or two after the statement would not furnish a useful test.

The variety, and to some extent the inconsistency, of the objects sought to be accomplished in the section meetings is another difficulty of the instructor. He seems called upon to see that his students do steady work; to check that work for deficiencies; to emphasize the more important, and explain the more difficult parts of a difficult subject; to stimulate intellectual interest and develop good mental habits; and, so far as time allows, to add to the contribution of others further facts and principles. In other words he must be a drill sergeant, an efficient and inspiring teacher, and an authority overflowing with his subject. An illustration of the problems caused by this diversity of objects presents itself when we consider whether it is better to ask single questions of one student after another, or to ask a considerable number of questions of one student before calling on another. If the latter course is followed, the subject can be more thoroughly and consistently developed, and the questioned student better tested and aroused. But then the poorer members of the class may fail to follow the line of questioning or may even regard the considerable time given to one man as an opportunity mentally to go to sleep. A rattling fire of single questions keeps the whole class wide awake.

An observer who has come to realize some of the difficulties of conducting a section meeting, and has seen different methods pursued by different instructors, is tempted to theorize and to select the methods which he thinks he would adopt if he were himself conducting a meeting. He would call upon his students in an order which they could not forsee, and would call on each one of them at least weekly to test his reading of the text. He would use the single question when the simplicity of the subject matter encouraged it, or the class seemed dull, and would seek the opportunity to develop with one student a more complicated problem by a series of questions. He would realize that the limitation of time made it necessary not to attempt to cover in the class all the ground covered by the text, but to plan carefully what topics should be touched upon and the amount of time to be given to each of them, even if his intention was not to hold rigidly to his plan, but to meet the needs of his class as it developed in the meeting. He would try to present in some measure of scale the most important points, although saving time on those which could not fail to be seized by the students because of their relative simplicity or general popular interest. In such an introductory course he would tend to emphasize reasons rather than conclusions, and theory rather than facts, although he would welcome an opportunity to explain and illustrate the actual working in detail of practical affairs. He would as a rule follow the opinions of the text and not complicate a problem by introducing too often his own opinions or those of other authorities; nor would he expect himself largely to contribute additional material to the discussion; yet he would avoid frequent references to the text by name, but endeavor to have a proposition rest not on the authority of the writer but on its own reasonableness. Realizing that a problem is half solved when the definitions of its terms are accurately determined, he would emphasize the importance of the exact meaning of words, and would not infrequently write on the blackboard a list of significant words and phrases as an outline for the work of the meeting.

But even if a method could be determined upon which would be better than any other, its creator would still be far from his goal. The very perfection of the method of one instructor may cause his class to bow to it and hardly ask a question, while the apparent deficiencies of another’s method seems to stimulate his class to ask questions until the ground is well covered. Again a method highly successful with one teacher cannot be effectively pursued by another; and the needs of the students, even of the students of the same section, vary greatly from time to time. Moreover almost every conclusion embodied in a method is a resultant of conflicting considerations and its application is a question of degree. One therefore is here led to an opinion often reached before in similar cases that good teaching is primarily a matter not of method, but of judgment, energy and skill in the teacher.

In studying the characteristics of the instructors of Economics A, one first notes that they are men of very diverse temperaments, experience and methods. So different are they that when I learned that they had a weekly meeting I thought that they might greatly help each other by consultation about their common work, especially as most of them obtain in in this course their first experience in teaching. I was distinctly disappointed when I learned that the object of their weekly meeting was mainly to prepare the questions for the written answer, rather than to consult about the next week’s teaching. Still much consultation, if attempted, might easily become formal or cramping, and it may be better that each should be left alone to work out his results, and that we should trust that freedom will continue to justify itself by its fruits. Whichever plan is followed, the probability that there will occasionally be employed an instructor of inferior quality is sufficiently great to raise the question whether it would not be desirable to have each section taught by different instructors in the first and second half years. This would guarantee to each section at least a half year’s good instruction, and in addition would give to the students the advantage of two methods and two points of view.

In conclusion I am happy to be able to report that in my opinion the instructors of the section meetings of Economics A, with all their differences, are men of an exceptionally high average of ability and earnestness, and that their instruction is notably good,–much better than I had expected to find. The expenditure in the past few years of additional money to better the grade of these instructors has been justified by results, and those responsible for it are entitled to congratulations.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers 1909-1914, Box 14, Folder 404.

Image Source:  Wikimedia Commons photograph by Bill McLaughlin : Lowell Hall, originally called “New Lecture Hall”, Harvard University.