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Economics Graduate Programs Ranked in 1925

 

Filed away in the archived records of the University of Chicago’s Office of the President is a copy of a report from January 1925 from Miami University (Ohio) that was based on a survey of college and university professors to obtain a rank ordering of graduate programs in different fields. The following ordering for economics graduate programs 1924-25 is based on two dozen responses. I have added institutional affiliations from the AEA membership list of the time and a few internet searches. The study was designed to have a rough balance between college and university professors and a broad geographic representation. What the study lacks in sophistication will amuse you in its presumption.

_____________________

This rating was prepared in the following way: The members of the Miami University faculty representing twenty fields of instruction were called together and a list of the universities which conceivably might be doing high grade work leading to a doctor’s degree in one or more subjects was prepared on their advice. Each professor was then requested to submit a list of from forty to sixty men who were teaching his subject in colleges and universities in this country, at least half of the names on the list to be those of professors in colleges rather than in universities. It was further agreed that the list should be fairly well distributed geographically over the United States. [p. 3]

 

ECONOMICS

Ratings submitted by: John H. Ashworth [Maine] , Lloyd V. Ballard [Beloit], Gilbert H. Barnes [Ohio Wesleyan], Clarence E. Bonnett [Tulane], John E. Brindley [Iowa State], E. J. Brown [Arizona], J. W. Crook [Amherst], Ira B. Cross [California], Edmund E. Day [Michigan], Herbert Feis [Cincinnati], Frank A. Fetter [Princeton], Eugene Gredier, Lewis H. Haney [N.Y.U.], Wilbur O. Hedrick [Michigan State], Floyd N. House [Chicago], Walter E. Lagerquist [Northwestern], W. E. Leonard, L. C. Marshall [Chicago], W. C. Mitchell [Columbia], C. T. Murchison [North Carolina], Tipton A. Snavely [Virginia], E. T. Towne [North Dakota], J. H. Underwood [Montana], M. S. Wildman [Stanford].

 

Combined Ratings:  (24)

1 2 3 4-5
Harvard 20 4 0 0
Columbia 11 9 2 1
Chicago 9 7 3 2
Wisconsin 8 7 4 2
Yale 3 3 9 3
Johns Hopkins 2 4 8 3
Michigan 0 6 4 5
Pennsylvania 0 3 6 8
Illinois 0 5 4 4
Cornell 0 2 7 5
Princeton 2 1 4 4
California 0 3 4 5
Minnesota 0 2 4 6
Northwestern 0 2 3 6
Stanford 0 1 4 6
Ohio State 0 1 2 8
Toronto 0 2 2 3

Staffs:

HARVARD: F.W. Taussig, E.F. Gay, T.N. Carver, W.Z. Ripley, C.J. Bullock, A.A. Young, W.M. Persons, A.P. Usher, A.S. Dewing, W.J. Cunningham, T.H. Sanders, W.M. Cole, A.E. Monroe, H.H. Burbank, A.H. Cole, J. H. Williams, W.L. Crum, R.S. Meriam.

COLUMBIA: R.E. Chaddock, F.H. Giddings, S.M. Lindsay, W.C. Mitchell, H.L. Moore, W. Fogburn, H.R. Seager, E.R.A. Seligman, V.G. Sinkhovitch, E.E. Agger, Emilie J. Hutchinson, A.A. Tenney, R.G. Tugwell, W.E. Weld.

CHICAGO: L.C. Marshall, C.W. Wright, J.A. Field, H.A. Millis, J.M. Clark, Jacob Viner, L. W. Mints, W.H. Spencer, N.W. Barnes, C.C. Colby, P.H. Douglas, J.O. McKinsey, E.A. Duddy, A.C. Hodge, L.C. Sorrell.

WISCONSIN: Commons, Elwell, Ely Garner, Gilman, Hibbard, Kiekhofer, Macklin, Scott, Kolb, McMurry, McNall, Gleaser, Jamison, Jerome, Miller, S. Perlman.

YALE: Olive Day, F.R. Fairchild, R.B. Westerfield, T.S. Adams, A.L. Bishop, W.M. Daniels, Irving Fisher, E.S. Furniss, A.H. Armbruster, N.S. Buck.

JOHNS HOPKINS: W.W. Willoughby, Goodnow, W.F. Willoughby, Thach, Latane.

MICHIGAN: Rodkey, Van Sickle, Peterson, Goodrich, Sharfman, Griffin, May, Taylor, Dickinson, Paton, Caverly, Wolaver.

PENNSYLVANIA: E.R. Johnson, E.S. Mead, S.S. Heubner, T. Conway, H.W. Hess, E.M. Patterson, G.G. Huebner, H.T. Collings, R. Riegel, C.K. Knight, W.P. Raine, F. Parker, R.T. Bye, W.C. Schluter, J.H. Willits, A.H. Williams, R.S. Morris, C.P. White, F.E. Williams, H.J. Loman, C.A. Kulp, S.H. Patterson, E.L. McKenna, W.W. Hewett, F.G. Tryon, H.S. Person, L.W. Hall.

ILLINOIS: Bogart, Robinson, Thompson, Weston, Litman, Watkins, Hunter, Wright, Norton.

CORNELL: W.F. Willcox, H.J. Davenport, D. English, H.L. Reed, S.H. Slichter, M.A. Copeland, S. Kendrick.

PRINCETON: F.A. Fetter, E.W. Kemmerer, G.B. McClellan, D.A. McCabe, F.H. Dixon, S.E. Howard, F.D. Graham.

CALIFORNIA: I.B. Cross, S. Daggett, H.R. Hatfield, J.B. Peixotte, C.C. Plehm, L.W. Stebbins, S. Blum, A.H. Mowbray, N.J. Silberling, C.C. Staehling, P.F. Cadman, F. Fluegel, B.N. Grimes, P.S. Taylor, Helen Jeter, E.T. Grether.

MINNESOTA: G.W. Dorwie, J.D. Black, R.G. Blakey, F.B. Garver, N.S.B. Gras, J.S. Young, A.H. Hansen, B.D. Mudgett, J.E. Cummings, E.A. Heilman, H.B Price, J.J. Reighard, J.W. Stehman, H. Working, C.L. Rotzell, W.R. Myers.

NORTHWESTERN: Deibler, Heilman, Secrist, Bailey, Pooley, Eliot, Ray Curtis, Bell, Hohman, Fagg.

STANFORD: M.S. Wildman, W.S. Beach, E. Jones, H.L. Lutz, A.C. Whitaker, J.G. Davis, A.E. Taylor, J.B. Canning.

OHIO STATE: M.B. Hammond, H.G. Hayes, A.B. Wolf, H.F. Waldradt, C.O. Ruggles, W.C. Weidler, J.A. Fisher, H.E. Hoagland, H.H. Maynard, C.A. Dice, M.E. Pike, J.A. Fitzgerald, F.E. Held, M.N. Nelson, R.C. Davis, C.W. Reeder, T.N. Beckman.

Compiled with the assistance of J.B. Dennison, associate professor of economics.

 

Source:  Raymond Mollyneaux Hughes, A Study of the Graduate Schools of America. Oxford, OH: Miami University (January 1925), pp. 14-15.  Copy from University of Chicago. Office of the President. Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations. Records, Box 47, Folder #5 “Study of the Graduate Schools of America”, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago.

 

Image Source: Four prize winners in annual beauty show, Washington Bathing Beach, Washington, D.C. from the U. S. Library of Congress. Prints & Photographs. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b43364

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Three economics subject exams from divisional comprehensives, 1931

 

Being a scavenger for old economics exams, I just had to transcribe the following three comprehensive subject examinations from the Harvard Division of History, Government, and Economics battery of comprehensive exams from 1931.  These exams were selected and published in a supplement to the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges dedicated to the subject of comprehensive exams. The subjects examined were History of Economic Thought, Public Finance, and Labor Problems.

For some strange reason two of the questions were omitted, with a note that the questions were presented “elsewhere”. I have identified what I think to be the likely missing questions from a list of 65 questions discussed earlier in the monograph. These two questions are placed in square brackets in the public finance and labor problems examinations.

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History of Economic Thought

Harvard University, 1931
(Three hours)

Answer either FOUR or FIVE questions, including TWO from each group. If you answer FOUR questions, write about an hour on one of them and mark your answer “Essay.” This question will be given double weight.

A

Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.

  1. Discuss the economic policies of one of the following in the light of theory and contemporary conditions: Colbert, Hamilton, Turgot, Bismarck, Andrew Jackson, Gladstone, Cromwell.
  2. Compare the part played by economic theories in the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution.
  3. In what ways do you think the economic thought of the Greeks reflects the social, intellectual, and political conditions of the period?
  4. Discuss the influence of economic fallacies upon public policy during the past hundred years.
  5. To what extent do you think the social and economic organization of medieval towns is reflected in the economic views of medieval thinkers?
  6. “Mercantilism is, in substance, the sum of all efforts to bring about a self-sufficient empire.” Discuss.
  7. How did contemporary writers explain the price revolution of the sixteenth century? Were these new or already accepted doctrines?
  8. Discuss the importance of economic theory for an understanding of British colonial policy during the period from 1783 to 1867.

B

Use a separate blue book for the questions in this part.

  1. What were some of the more widely held theories of wages during the nineteenth century?
  2. Discuss one of the following topics: The Medieval Doctrine of Just Price; The “Dismal Science”; Economic Stages.
  3. “Though the real problem of Distribution was sometimes approached by the Classical Economists, it was never properly presented, nor was an attempt made at its solution.” Discuss.
  4. What were the chief contributions to economic thought of one of the following writers: Senior, J. B. Clark, Walker, Cantillon?
  5. Explain the meaning of three of the following terms and tell with what writer or group they are chiefly associated: produit net, lucrum cessans, preventive check, productive forces, non-competing groups.
  6. ” There are no terms in economics which bear about them more palpable traces of the conflicts through which they have gone than ‘production’ and ‘productive.'” Discuss.
  7. What were the principal doctrines of the Austrian school of economics?
  8. Discuss the relation between the work of one of the following writers and the work of earlier thinkers: Smith, J. S. Mill, Marshall.

__________________________

Public Finance

Harvard University, 1931
(Three hours)

Part I
(About one hour)

  1. White an essay on one of the following topics:

(a) The general property tax,
(b) British budget principles since 1860,
(c) The sales tax,
(d) Postal rate problems in the United States,
(e) Financial problems of highway construction and maintenance.

Part II
(About one hour)

Answer TWO questions only.

  1. Do you think it wise for a government to exempt its own bonds and notes from taxation? Why, or why not?
  2. Indicate the nature and significance of the “grant in aid” in British public finance.
  3. Discuss recent tendencies in state and municipal expenditure.
  4. Discuss the fiscal aspects of a system of protective tariff duties.
  5. [In what ways do the problems of government finance affect currency systems and the control of currency?]

Part III
(About one hour)

Discuss THREE of the following quotations.

  1. “Modern taxation or tax making in its most characteristic aspect is a group contest in which powerful interests vigorously endeavor to rid themselves of present or proposed tax burdens.”
  2. “Though differential rents of land have complete ability to bear taxation directly imposed upon them, and cannot shift such taxation, they cannot be reached by a tax imposed upon their produce.”
  3. “To tax investment income at a higher rate would seem to be trebly unjust; for ‘savings’ are first taxed as ‘earned income’; the income derived from them is then taxed as ‘investment income’; and, thirdly, a portion of the invested capital, is confiscated by the ‘death duties’—a triple penalty upon thrift.”
  4. “It must not be supposed that a government’s safe borrowing power is anything like its national wealth, for the wealth belongs to the people and can be taken from them only by law and the laws are made by the people indirectly and eventually.”
  5. “Taxes should fall proportionately to the wealth of the taxed, that is, the sacrifice should be equally felt by all. This rule is easy to keep when taxation is light; but when taxation must be heavy, the rule is difficult to keep.”

[Note: Part II, Question 6 has been identified from a list of 65 questions as likely. It was appears to be the better “fit” of  two optional, 20-minute public finance questions.]

__________________________

Labor Problems

Harvard University, 1931

Part I
(About one hour)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:

(a) the legal status of trade unions in Great Britain,
(b) unemployment and the business cycle,
(c) standard wage rates,
(d) the family allowance system,
(e) the policy of organized labor towards new machinery.

Part II
(About one hour)

Answer TWO questions only.

  1. To what extent does welfare work contribute to the solution of the labor problem?
  2. What is a sweated industry? What are the best correctives for this abuse?
  3. Compare the policies of the trade unionists in any two of the following countries:

(a) United States,
(b) France,
(c) Germany,
(d) Australia.

  1. Discuss the policy and objectives of the British Labor Party.
  2. Discuss the tendencies of judicial interpretations of “liberty of contract” in labor cases in the United States.

Part III
(About one hour)

Discuss THREE of the following questions.

  1. “Only the most formal conception of the idea of equality and the most unrealistic attitude toward groups in our community could think of the ordinary forms of labor legislation as class legislation.”
  2. “If no general fund exists which can be diverted from some other form of surplus income into wages, trade unionism becomes a mere device for adding to certain well organized groups of workers a scarcity wage paid by less favorably placed workers.”
  3. “Wages are more of a question for business than they are for labor. Low wages will break business far more quickly than they will labor.”
  4. “Scientific management, properly applied, normally functioning, should it become universal, would spell the doom of effective unionism as it exists today.”
  5. [“As long as there is liberty there will be strikes, for a strike is nothing more or less than liberty to stop work and to wait for a bargain.”]

 

[Note: Part III, Question 11 has been identified from a list of 65 questions as an optional optional labor question for about 20 minutes and that fits the discuss the quotation format]

 

Source:  Edward S. Jones. Comprehensive Examinations in the Social Sciences, Supplement to the December, 1933 Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, pp. 33-36.

 

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Curriculum Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics course offerings, 1910-1915

 

Here are five more installments in the series “Economics course offerings at Radcliffe College”…

Pre-Radcliffe economics course offerings and the Radcliffe courses for 1893-94,  1894-1900 , 1900-1905 , 1905-1910 have been posted earlier.

________________

1910-1911
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. HUSE and DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor, Railroads, Trusts, Foreign Trade, Money, and Banking.

45 Undergraduates, 6 Special students. Total 51.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

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

3 Graduates, 31 Undergraduates, 1 Unclassified student.  Total 35.
(1 Graduate, 2d half only).

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 8 Undergraduates. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 12 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. Total 18.

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

7 Undergraduates. Total 7.

82. Dr. DAY. — Banking and Foreign Exchange. Half-course. 3 hours a week, 2d half-year.

5 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 6.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

2 Graduates, 11 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 15.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

1 Graduate, 11 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 16.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Millinery Trade in Boston. 1 Graduate. (b) The Small Loan Business in Boston. 1 Graduate.

Total 2.

**20b. Professor CARVER. — The Laws of Production and Valuation.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1910-11, pp. 49-50.

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1911-1912
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY and Mr. J. S. DAVIS. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

43 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 1 Unclassified student.
(1 Undergraduate, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student 1sthalf only.)  Total 52.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

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

4 Graduates, 18 Undergraduates, 6 Special Students. (1 Special student, 1st half only.)  Total 28.

6a1. Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 4 Undergraduates, 3 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 9.

6b2. Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 3 Special students. Total 14.

14a1. Professor CARVER. — The Distribution of Wealth.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1st half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

14b2.  Professor CARVER. — Methods of Social Reform.—Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.  Half-course. 2 hours a week, 2d half-year.

3 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 4.

*18. Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

6 Undergraduates. (4 Undergraduates, 1st half only; 1 Undergraduate, 2d half only.)  Total 6.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — (a) The Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. 1 Graduate. (b) Economic Policy of England from 1625 to 1660. 1 Graduate. (c) Women in the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts. 2 Graduates.

Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1911-12, pp. 53-54.

_______________

1912-1913
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Dr. DAY. — Outlines of Economics. — Production, Consumption, Distribution, Exchange, Socialism, Labor Problems, Trusts, Money, Banking, and Public Finance.

24 Undergraduates, 8 Special students, 4 Unclassified students.
(1 Special student, 1st half only.) Total 36.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

3 Graduates, 4 Undergraduates, 1 Special student. Total 8.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

3 Graduates, 5 Undergraduates. Total 8.

7 (formerly 14). Professor CARVER. — Theories of Distribution and Distributive Justice. 3 hours a week.

9 Undergraduates, 2 Special students. Total 11.

8 (formerly 3). Professor CARVER. — Principles of Sociology.—Theories of social progress. 3 hours a week.

27 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 2 Unclassified students. (1 Undergraduate, 1st half only.)  Total 31.

9 (formerly 18). Asst. Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**121 (formerly 13). Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation. Half-course. 2 hours a week, 1sthalf-year.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

**13 (formerly 4). Professor RIPLEY. — Statistics, Theory, method and practice. 2 hours a week.

3 Graduates. Total 3.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**23 (formerly 11). Dr. GRAY. — Economic History of Europe to 1760. 3 hours a week.

1 Special student. Total 1.

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Selected Topics in Modern European Economic History.

2 Graduates. Total 4.

20b. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 42-43.

_______________

1913-1914
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY and Mr. BURBANK. — Principles of Economics. 3 hours a week.

33 Undergraduates, 5 Special students, 2 Unclassified students.  Total 40.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

2a1 (formerly 6a1). Professor GAY.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 1st  half-year.

1 Graduate, 10 Undergraduates, 2 Special students, 1 Unclassified student. Total 14.

2b2 (formerly 6b2). Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor, 2d half-year.

2 Graduates, 9 Undergraduates, 1 Special student, 1 Unclassified student. Total 13.

7 (formerly 14). Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Economic Theory: Value and Related Problems. 3 hours a week.

1 Graduate, 5 Undergraduates.  Total 6.

9 (formerly 18). Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting. 3 hours a week.

5 Undergraduates. Total 5.

 

Primarily for Graduates:—

I
ECONOMIC THEORY AND METHOD

**11. Professor TAUSSIG. — Economic Theory. Half-course. 3 hours a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

**14. Professor BULLOCK. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. 2 hours a week, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor.

1 Graduate. Total 1.

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

**24. Professor GAY. — Topics in the Economic History of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evenings a week.

1 Undergraduate. Total 1.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

COURSES OF RESEARCH

20a. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates (1 Graduate, 1st half only). Total 2.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1912-14, pp. 99-100.

_______________

1914-1915
ECONOMICS.

Primarily for Undergraduates:

1. Asst. Professor E. E. DAY. — Principles of Economics.

5 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Unclassified students, 4 Special students.  Total 42.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates:

2a1 hf.  Professor GAY. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

3 Graduates, 3 Seniors. Total 6.

2b2 hf.   Professor GAY. — Economic and Financial History of the United States

3 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

7. Professor CARVER. — Economic Theory.

1 Graduate, 3 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.  Total 9.

8. Asst. Professor ANDERSON. — Principles of Sociology.

6 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 1 Special student. Total 10.

Accounting

Associate Professor COLE. — Principles of Accounting.

5 Seniors, 1 Junior.  Total 6.

 

Economic Theory and Method

Primarily for Graduates:

**121hf. Professor CARVER. — Scope and Methods of Economic Investigation.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**13. Asst. Professor DAY. — Statistics: Theory, method, and practice.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Applied Economics

**33 hf. Professor TAUSSIG. — International Trade, with special reference to Tariff Problems in the United States.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

**34. Professor RIPLEY. — Problems of Labor.

1 Graduate.  Total 1.

Course of Research

20a2 hf. Professor GAY. — Economic History.

2 Graduates.  Total 2.

 

[Note] The courses marked with two stars (**) are Graduate courses in Harvard University, to which Radcliffe students were admitted by vote of the Harvard Faculty.

 

Source:   Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1914-15, pp. 41-42.

Image Source: From front matter of the bound version of  The Radcliffe Bulletin, 1912-13 in the Harvard University Library.

 

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. History of Commerce to 1750. Usher, 1929-30

 

This post provides the course description, enrollment figures, reading assignments, and final examination questions for Abbott Payson Usher’s course “History of Commerce: 1450-1750” that he taught at Harvard in 1929-30.

The economic historian, Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965), received his A.B. (1904), A.M. (1905), and Ph.D. (1910) all from Harvard. He taught ten years at Cornell and two years at Boston University before returning to his alma mater in 1922 where he remained on the faculty for the rest of his career. Usher was a visiting professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1949-51 and 1955-57.

A bibliography of Usher’s writings is included in the Festschrift for him, Architects and Craftsmen in History (1956).

A memorial essay written by Thomas M. Smith was published in Technology and Culture, vol. 6, no. 4 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 630-632 [gated].

A few other Abbott Payson Usher artifacts from courses at Harvard already transcribed at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

Economic History to 1450 [1934]
Modern Economic History [1937-41]
European Economic History [1921]

 ___________________

From Usher’s report to the Harvard Class of 1904
(15th anniversary, 1919)

ABBOT PAYSON USHER

Born: Lynn, Mass., Jan. 13, 1883. [Died: June 18, 1965]
Parents:  Edward Preston Usher, Adela Louise Payson.
School: High School, Grafton, Mass.
Years in College: 1900-1904.
Degrees:  A.B. 1904; A.M. 1905; Ph.D. 1910.
Married: Miriam Shoe, Grafton, Mass., Sept. 3, 1914.
Children: Eunice, Sept. 8, 1915.
Business: Teacher.
Address:  (home) 108 Linden Ave, Ithaca, N.Y. (business) 260 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, N.Y.

My contribution for the war was the preparation of a special report for Colonel House’s committee.

Publications: “The Technique of Medieval and Modern Produce Markets.” Journal of Political Economy, xxiii, p. 365, 1915. “Germanic Statecraft and Democracy.” Unpopular Review, vol. iv, p. 27, 1915. “Generalizations in Economic History.” Journal of Sociology, vol. xxii, p. 474, 1916. “Influence of Speculative Marketing on Prices.” Economic Review, vol. vi, p. 49, 1916. “England’s Place in the Sun.” Unpopular Review, vol. vi, p. 311, 1916. “The Parisian Bill Market in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. xxiv, p. 985, 1916. “The Government, the Speculators and the Food Supply.” Cornell Countryman, vol. xiv, p. 726, 1917. “The Content of the Value Concept.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxxi, p. 711, 1917. “The Unions and the Labor Problem.” Unpopular Review, vol. viii, p. 168, 1917. “Science and Learning in France.” Chicago: Society for American Fellowships in French Universities, 1917, p. 287-290.

[Reviews of] “Customary Acres and Their Historical Importance,” by F. Seebohm. American Acad. of Polit. and Social Science, lvii, p. 342, 1915. “Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History”; edited by P. Vinogeradoff. Vol. iv. Same, lvii, p. 343, 1915. “History of Commerce and Industry,” by C.A. Herrick. American Economic Review, vol. viii, p. 101, 1918.

Member: Ithaca Country Club.

Source:  Harvard College Class of 1904. Fifteenth Anniversary Report (1919), pp. 408-9.

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Announcement of Usher joining Harvard Faculty in 1922 as Assistant Professor in economics

Abbott Payson Usher ’04, Professor of Economics at Boston University, has accepted an appointment at the University as Assistant professor of Economics and tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

Professor Usher took the degree of A.M. at the University in 1905, served as assistant and instructor in Economics until 1910, and in the latter year took the higher degree of Ph.D. For the next ten years he taught at Cornell, first as instructor in Economics and later as Assistant Professor. In 1920 he has called to Boston University as a full Professor and this year he is serving also as lecturer in Economics at Harvard.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, June 10, 1922 .

___________________

Course Description
1929-30

[Economics] 10a 1hf. The History of Commerce, 1450-1750

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. Associate Professor Usher.

A study of the expansion of Europe approached as a consequence of the great discoveries. The age of discovery is studied with special regard to the influence of improvements in the technique of ship-building and navigation. Changes in the physical volume of commerce and consumption will be studied by quantitative methods. The commercial policies and colonial systems of the leading countries will be studied.

Source:  Division of History, Government and Economics, 1929-30. Official Register of Harvard University, vol. 26, No. 36 (June 27, 1929), p. 70.

___________________

Course Enrollment
1929-30

[Economics] 10a1hf. Associate Professor Usher.—History of Commerce, 1450-1750.

Total 5:  4 Graduates, 1 Junior, 2 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1929-30, p. 78.

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Course Readings

Economics 10a.
1929-30
History of commerce: 1450-1750.

  1. The great discoveries. To be completed, Oct. 21.

Beazley, C.R. Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 1-123, 138-46, 160-78.
Olivera Martins, J.P. The golden age of Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 61-84, 169-231.
Nunn, G.E. The geographical conceptions of Columbus, pp. 31-53.
Vignaud, H. Toscanelli and Columbus, pp. 52-74, 243-73.

  1. Portugal, Spain, and Holland. To be completed, Nov. 15.

Whiteway, R.S. The rise of Portugese power in India, pp. 1-57, 128-79.
Haring, C.H. Trade and navigation between Spain and the Indies, pp. 3-45, 96-200.
Day, C. The policy and administration of the Dutch in Java, pp. 39-82.
Moreland, W.H. From Akbar to Arungzeb. pp. 1-188.

  1. England and France. To be completed, Dec. 23

Thomas, P.J. Mercantilism and the East India Company. pp. 1-47, 67-166.
Scott, W.R. The history of the Joint Stock companies, vol. I, pp. 1-15, 105-28, 326-52, 439-73.
Unwin, George. Studies in economic history, pp. 133-220.
Weber, Max. General economic history, pp. 275-301, 315-51. pp. 275-301, 315-51.

  1. Reading period.

Lyall, A. History of British India, chapters 2-11.
or
Dodwell, Henry Dupleix and Clive. pp. 3-269.

 

Source:Harvard University Archives.Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1929-1930”.

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Final Examination, 1930

1929-30
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10a1

Answer SIX questions.

  1. Sketch the history of geographical science from the death of Prince Henry the Navigator to the death of Mercator.
  2. Describe the place of the “Mesta” in the economic life of Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
  3. What were the distinctive features of Dutch colonial policy in Java?
  4. Describe and discuss the status and obligations of the natives to the government and to the Spanish settlers in the Spanish possessions in the New World in the sixteenth century.
  5. Sketch the development of the free trade policy in England in the seventeenth century, with special reference to the relation of the arguments of the Free Traders to analysis of international trade.
  6. What were the characteristic differences between the Regulated Company and the Corporation?
  7. What influence was exerted upon economic policy by Machiavelli’s treatise “The Prince”?
  8. Sketch the career of Dupleix or Clive.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers—Finals, 1930(vol. 72). Papers Printed for Final Examinations, History, New Testament,…Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science (January-June, 1930).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1934.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam for international trade and finance. Leontief, 1934

 

International Trade and Finance was a course taught by Wassily Leontief during the second semester of his second year on the Harvard economics faculty (1933-34).    

Course description, final exam, and enrollment for Economics 39,  International Trade and Finance, taught by Leontief in 1932-33 have been posted earlier.

The exam questions from both years provide some light on the actual course content.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 55 2hf. (formerly Economics 39). Asst. Professor Leontief.—International Trade and Finance.

Total: 6 of which 5 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1933-34, p. 86.

___________________________

1933-34
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 552

Answer three out of the four questions

  1. What are the terms of trade? Indicate the factors which effect their change; describe the methods of their statistical measurement.
  2. Give a critical discussion of the purchasing power parity theory.
  3. Under which conditions can an import duty be beneficial?
  4. Discuss what is in your opinion the fundamental difference between Taussig’s and Ohlin’s approach to the problems of international trade.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers. Finals 1934 (HUC 7000.38, vol. 76).

Image Source: Wassily Leontief in Harvard Class Album, 1934.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Undergraduate economics course outline and exam for business cycles. Hansen, 1948-49

 

This post provides enrollment data, course outline, reading assignments and final examination questions for Alvin H. Hansen‘s undergraduate economics course on business cycles  for the first semester of the Harvard 1948-49 academic year.

The 1950-51 course outline only differs with respect to a few items. Beginning 1951-52 the material for this course was swept into the second semester of Economics 141. Money, Banking and Economic Fluctuations offered jointly by Alvin Hansen and John H. Williams.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 145a (formerly Economics 45a). Business Cycles (F). Professor Hansen.

Total: 83 of which 48 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1948-49, p. 77.

_________________________

Economics 145a
Business Cycles                 1948-49                    Professor Hansen

Part I. Descriptive Survey

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 1,9.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. I, II.
Schumpeter, “The Analysis of Economic Change,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. I.
Federal Reserve Chart Book (available at the Coop.)

**********

Suggested Reading:

Mitchell, “Business Cycles,” in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106.
Kondratieff, “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 3.
Frickey, Economic Fluctuations in the United States.
Burns and Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Part II, Sec. 1 and Appendix A.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, pp. 161-174; 212-219.
Dewey and Dakin, Cycles, Ch. 1-9.

Part II. The Meaning and Genesis of National Product

Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4.
Gilbert and Jaszi, “National Product and Income as an Aid in Economic Problems,” in Readings in the Theory of Income and Distribution, Ch. 2.
Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 10, only pp. 210-234.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. I.
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 8, Section 4, pp. 222-232; Ch. 13, Section 1, pp. 455-461.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XI, XII, XIII, XIV.

**********

Suggested Reading:

National Income, Supplement to Survey of Current Business, July, 1947.
Kuznets, (a) The National Income and its Composition, Ch. 1; (b) National Income, A Summary of Findings.
M. Hoffenberg, “Estimates of National Output, Distributed Income, Consumer Spending, Saving, and Capital Formation,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1943.
Polanyi, Full Employment and Free Trade, Ch. I.
Kaldor, “The Quantitative Aspects of the Full Employment Problem in Britain,” Appendix C in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
Smithies, “Forecasting Post-War Demand,” Econometrica, January, 1945.
National Planning Association, National Budgets for Full Employment.

Part III. Theory of Cycles and Investment

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 10, 11, and 3; Ch. 13, Section 3, pp. 473-479.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XVI and XVII; (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 14-16.
Keynes, General Theory, ch. 22.
Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 21, 22.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 33.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. IV, Sections A, B, and C, pp. 130-161; Ch. VII, Section C., pp. 325-351.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 7-9.

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Suggested Reading:

Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, Macmillan, 1947. Ch. 1-4.
Long, Building Cycles and the Theory of Investment, Ch. I, II, VII, VIII, XII.
Haberler, Remainder of Prosperity and Depression, especially Chapter VIII.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 8-15; 18-19; 39-40.
Schumpeter, Further reading in Business Cycles, especially Chapters 6 and 7.
Tinbergen, Robertson, Hayek, Hawtrey in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 15, 16, 17.
Clark, Strategic Factors in Business Cycles.
Wilson, The Fluctuations in Income and EmploymentCh. 1-10.
Estey, Business Cycles, Ch. 1-16.
Hansen (a) Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 8; (b) Full Recovery or Stagnation, Ch. 3 (Hayek); and Appendix Keynes’ Treatise, pp. 331-343.
Metzler, (a) “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles,” in Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1941; (b) “Business Cycle Theory and the Theory of Employment,” in Am. Econ. Review, June, 1946.
Samuelson, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 12.
Samuelson, Chapter II in Harris’ Postwar Economic Problems: Income, Employment and Public Policy (Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen), W.W. Norton, 1948.
E. V. Morgan, Conquest of Unemployment, Samson-Low Co. London, 1948.

Part IV. Policy

Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies No. 3, Comar, Public Debt and National Income, pp. 53-68.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 16-17; 34-35.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. 9. (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 5-13; 22.
C. E. D., Research Staff, Jobs and Markets, Ch. 8.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Parts IV and V.
C. E. D., Taxes and the Budget, 1947.

**********

Suggested Reading:

Hicks, Ch. 24, in Readings in Income Distribution (Keynes and the Classics; also in Econometrica, Vol. 5, 1937).
Pigou, Lapses from Full Employment.
Kaldor, “Stability and Full Employment,” in the Economic Journal, Dec.1938.
Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies, No. 3, Musgrave, “Federal Tax Reform,” pp. 22-52.
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. XV, XVI, XVII.
Harold Smith, Testimony in Hearings of Senate Committee Banking and Currency on Full Employment Act of 1945, S. 380, pp. 676-696.
Twentieth Century Fund, American Housing, Ch. 12, pp. 311-341.
Financing American Prosperity, Ch. 3, 5, 6, 7 (Clark, Hansen, Slichter and Williams).

 

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read one of the following four assignments:

  1. Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 10-18.
  2. Kaldor, Appendix C. (pp. 344-400) in Beveridge, Full Emploment in a Free Society.
  3. Polanyi, Free Trade and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4, 6, 7; and H. Williams, “Free Enterprise and Full Employment,” Chapter 7 in Financing American Prosperity.
  4. Terborgh, George, The Bogey of Economic Maturity (entire book, disregarding appendices) and A. H. Hansen’s review of Terborgh’s book in Appendix B in Economic Policy and Full EmploymentandWright’s review in Review of Economic Statistics, February, 1946, pp. 13-22.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4. Folder: “Economics, 1949-1950 [sic] (2 of 3)”.

_________________________

1948-49
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 145a
[Final examination, January 1949]

Part I
(Answer any THREE questions)

  1. Certain theorists believe there is not one “business cycle,” but rather several of different duration and nature. Outline and discuss four types of cycle with particular reference to their interrelationships, if any.
  2. Discuss the factors that bring about a termination of the boom (the upper turning point). Introduce the views of different cycle theorists and critically examine their explanations.
  3. Gross National Product statistics provide an important tool in analyzing the cyclical nature of economic activity. Present the main components on (a) the expenditure side (b) the income (distributive shares) side of Gross National Product.
    Analyze the factors chiefly responsible for determining the level of: (a) investment, (b) consumption, (c) saving, in any period.
  4. (a) Using the Keynesian “instantaneous” analysis and assuming hypothetical values for the consumption function and the level of income, show how an increase of $10 billion in investment would affect income and consumption. Illustrate your answer graphically.
    (b) Show how the above analysis would be changed if the Robertsonian time period approach were used. What is the essential difference between the two forms of analysis, especially with regard to the multiplier.
  5. (a) Discuss the relative merits of fiscal and monetary policies as means of reducing business cycle fluctuations.
    (b) Discuss the proposals for stability and full employment contained in two CED publications: (1) Jobs and Marketsand (2) Taxes and the Budget.

Part II (Required of everyone)

Summarize the salient points in any oneof the following, and critically evaluate the conclusions reached by the author:

(a) Morgan: Income and Employment
(b) Kaldor: (Appendix C) in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
(c) Polanyi: Free Trade and Full Employmentand Williams in Financing American Prosperity.
(d) Terborgh: The Bogey of Economic Maturity.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28, Box 16 of 284). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, February, 1949.

Image Source:  Harvard Album 1952.

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Agricultural Economics Chicago Economists Harvard

Chicago. Economics Professor William Hill. Events leading to his leave of absence, 1894

 

 

The “peculiarly sad circumstances”, apparently a manic break in a bi-polar disorder, were reported for University of Chicago economics professor William Hill in 1894. I was able to trace much of the c.v. of this Harvard economics A.M. for today’s post. Apparently his last professional station was at Bethany College in West Virginia where his wife was able to get an appointment teaching history. I’ll keep my eyes open for more biographical information about William Hill (not an uncommon name). There were probably also episodes of depression in his life.

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HE GOES TO KANSAS.
PROF. HILL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GIVEN A VACATION. [1894]

Peculiarly Sad Circumstances Said to Surround the Action of the Faculty in Giving Mr. Hill Chance to Rest and Recuperate – He Is Deeply Interested in Irrigation Affairs, and a Lecture Before the Political Economy Club is Stopped by Physicians.

Prof. William Hill of the University of Chicago has been granted vacation under peculiar and sad circumstances.

Mr. Hill, who is instructor in tariff history and railway transportation, lives in Graduate Hall, occupying Suite No. 16. In addition to his duties in the university, Prof. Hill has been greatly interested in a scheme for the irrigation of arid land in the western part of Kansas. He has always been noted for his studious habits, and, having perfected his plans for reclaiming the Kansas property, he has recently been trying to form a company to give them practical application. At 4 o’clock Thursday morning of last week Night Watchmen Wilson was making his last rounds through Graduate Hall. He had just put out the lights on the third floor and was just about to descend when he heard stealthy footsteps on the floor below.

“Who is there?” He called. “Hill,” was the answer.

Going down Wilson was met by Prof. Hill, who was partially undressed.

“Do you want to make some money?” He asked.

The watchmen expressed his willingness to get rich.

“I’ll show you how you can make thousands,” said the professor, leading the astonished man into his room. There he proceeded to outline his plan for irrigating the dry lands of Kansas and to talk glibly of the vast sums of money to be made in the work.

Wilson was impressed with the peculiar manner of the professor and reported it to his superior officer. The same evening in Cobb Hall Prof. Hill was scheduled to deliver an address before the Political Economy club. He kept his appointment and began his lecture, but before going far the rambling manner of his talk so alarmed his listeners that a physician was summoned, who forbade him to finish. Later the same night Pres. Harper of the university and Prof. Laughlin were driven to the rooms of Prof. Hill and had a conference over his condition. In view of the fact that Prof. Hill’s condition is not considered serious it was decided not to remove him from his rooms, his brother coming on to attend him. Wednesday Prof. Hill was granted a vacation by the faculty and started for his old home in Kansas where he will remain until he has entirely recovered his health.

One of the launchers in graduate Hall was awakened before daylight Tuesday by hearing the professor talking in a loud and disconnected way. He was laboring under the delusion, apparently, that the faculty did not properly understand his case. “The facts must be laid before the members in a proper way,” said Prof. Hill, “so that they will know all about it. I know I am ill. Of course I am ill, but if the thing is not done right who is to know it?”

“What the professor was saying,” said the one who overheard him last night, “and his manner of saying it was like that of a man in a delirium. He has been overworked and overexcited over something. Once I went into his room and found a stranger there with him. The stranger had some sort of a machine, which he was showing Prof. Hill. I understood it was something to be used for irrigating purposes. The interest the professor showed in it was intense.”

When a call was made on Prof. J. Lawrence Laughlin last night the following conversation took place:

“It is said Prof. Hill, one of the instructors in your Department of Political Economy, is ill. Will you tell me how he is?”

“The report is utterly untrue, utterly untrue; Prof. Hill is away on his vacation.”

“Is there nothing the matter with him?”

“Nothing at all; the story is utterly untrue.”

[William Hill graduated from the University of Kansas in 1891 and spent the next year at Harvard where he took his masters degree under Dr. Taussig. At Harvard he also won the Lee Memorial Fellowship. He is the author of the American Economical Association monograph on “Colonial Tariffs.” He came to Chicago University in October, 1892 and has since then become popular with both students and faculty he is Acting President of the Political Economy club of the University and his known as a bicycle rider and tennis expert.]

Source:  Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 December 1894, p.1.

________________

Chicago Years

William Hill. Associate in Political Economy, 1893-94; Instructor, 1894-97; Assistant Professor, 1897-1908; Associate Professor, 1908-12.

Source: James Laurence Laughlin, Twenty-Five Years of the Department of Political Economy, University of Chicago. Chicago: Privately printed, 1916.

________________

Harvard Years

Resident Fellow

Henry Lee Memorial Fellowship, William Hill, A.B. (Univ. of Kansas) 1890, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1891, a student of Political Science.

Source:Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1890-91, p. 90. and  Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 96.

Henry Lee Memorial Fellowship

For 1892-93: WILLIAM HILL, A.B. (Kansas State Univ.) 1890, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1891, A.M, (Ibid.) 1892. Res. Gr. Stud., 1891-93. II. year of incumbency and as a student in the School. Studied at this University. Withdrew at the close of the year, and is now Instructor in Political Economy at the University of Chicago.

Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1892-93, p. 125.

Harvard Publications

William Hill, Colonial Tariffs, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 7, Issue 1, October 1892, Pages 78–100.

William Hill, “The First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States,”  Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 8 (1893), 452-614.

List of publications by William Hill at jstor.org.

________________

Bethany College, West Virginia

William Hill, A.B., A.M., Dean of Agriculture and Land Director.

Graduate of Friends’ Bloomingdale Academy,’ 87; Student in Earlham College [Richmond, Indiana], ’87-’88; Student in Kansas State University, ’88-’90; A.M., Harvard University, ’90-’93; Henry Lee Memorial Fellow in Harvard University, ’92-’93; Instructor in Economics in The University of Chicago, ’93-’95; Assistant Professor, ’95-’08; Associate Professor, ’08; Organizer and Director of the Agricultural Guild, ’08; Dean of Agriculture, Bethany, 1911 –

Wife:  Caroline Miles Hill, A.M., PhD., Professor of History.

A.B., Earlham College, 1887; Teacher in Friends Bloomingdale Academy, 1887-1889; A.M., Michigan State University, 1890; Fellow in History, Bryn Mawr College, 1890-1891; Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1892; Professor of History and Philosophy, Mount Holyoke College, 1892-1893; Professor of History, Wellesley College, 1893-1895; Studied in Europe, 1895-1896; Engaged in Educational and Social Work in Chicago, 1896-1910; Principal of Friends  Bloomingdale Academy, 1910-1912; Professor, Bethany, 1912 —

Source: Bethany College Bulletin, 1912 and 1913, p.8.

Source for marriage

Hill, William: s. 87-88; m. Caroline Miles, A 1887; l. add. Chicago, Ill.

Source: Who’s Who Among Earlhamites 1916, p. 82.

________________

Caroline Miles Hill, Instructor in History, ’93-’95, has recently published a valuable anthology, “The World’s Greatest Religious Poetry” [Macmillan, 1923].

Source:  The Michigan Alumnus. Vol 33 (1926-27), p. 127.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Yale

Harvard. Final Examination, U.S. Economic History. Callender, 1899-1900

 

This post is a cross between “get to know an economics Ph.D. alumnus (Harvard)” and a deposit into the data bank of old exams. For three years at the end of the 19th century Guy Stevens Callender taught U.S. economic history at Harvard where he received a Ph.D. in 1897.  He ultimately went on to a professorship at Yale. One of the connections that I discovered in preparing the post is that Guy Stevens Callender and John R. Commons were undergraduate classmates at Oberlin.

For an article about Callender’s contributions:

Engelbourg, Saul. Guy Stevens Callender: A Founding Father of American Economic History. Explorations in Economic History. Vol. 9, 1971-72, pp. 255-267.

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Biographical note:

Guy Stevens Callender was born on 9 November 1865 in Hartsgrove, Ohio, the son of Robert Foster Callender and Lois Winslow Callender.  The family moved from Massachusetts to the Western Reserve when Callender was a child.  At an early age he demonstrated that he had an active mind, intellectual curiosity, and a strong physical constitution; these attributes, along with his being an avid reader of books, led him at the age of fifteen to teach in the district schools of Ashtabula County.  Using his savings from several winters of teaching and his summer earnings made working on the family farm, Callender succeeded in paying for college preparatory courses at New Lyme Institute, South New Lyme, Ohio.

In 1886, at the age of twenty-one, Callender enrolled at Oberlin College where he took the classical course.  There he was influenced by James Monroe, professor of political science and modern history, who taught courses in political economy and sponsored Callender’s volunteer work in the Political Economy Club.  Callender also was an active participant in extracurricular organizations, including the Oberlin Glee Club, Oratorical Association, Phi Delta Society, The Review (student newspaper), and the Traveling Men’s Association.  In these groups, some of Callender’s affinity for leadership and exactness became evident (i.e., service as the financial manager and secretary).  He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1891, counting among his classmates John R. Commons and Robert A. Millikan.

After a year spent traveling and working in the business departments of newspapers in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Chicago, enrolled (1892) for graduate study at Harvard University from which he received a B.A. (1893), an M.A. (1894), and a Ph.D. in political science (1897).  During his graduate studies at Harvard he served for some time as instructor in economics at Wellesley College, and he was considered an “outstanding man among our graduate students” by Frank W. Taussig and other members of the teaching faculty.  Following the award of his Ph.D., Callender held an appointment as instructor in economics at Harvard from 1897 to 1900.  There he conducted a course in American economic history, which he personally created.  In 1900 he was appointed professor of political economy at Bowdoin College; in 1903 he accepted an appointment as professor in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, where he continued to teach and engage in scholarly research until 1915.  He also served as a member of the Governing Board of the Sheffield Scientific School. In 1904 Callender married Harriet Belle Rice; they had one son (Everett, b. 1905).

Callender published his only book, Selections from the Economic History of the United States, 1765-1860 in 1909.  In it he revealed his entire theory of the progress of the United States from the beginning of colonization until the Civil War.  Callender’s most important contributions are to be found in his condensed, precisely written introductory essays that precede each chapter. His article “The Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises of the States in Relation to the Growth of Corporations,” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (November 1902) was also well recognized and consulted by scholars.

Callender was as a member of the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, and he was a frequent contributor as a book reviewer, essayist, and speaker.  Callender’s contribution to scholarship is probably best summed up in his “The Position of American Economic History,” American Historical Review 19 (October, 1913).  Therein he argued that American economic history should “be pursued as a separate subject of study” and that economic historians must be prepared to interpret facts.  For Callender economic history was more than the chronological recital of events of commercial and industrial significance.  He sought historical explanations by applying the principles of economic science to the economic and social development of communities.  His published studies included an analysis of the part played by economic factors in the adoption of the Federal Constitution and in the debate over the economic basis of slavery in the South.

Prior to his death, Callender worked on several writing projects, including a comprehensive, multivolume economic history of the United States, but poor health prohibited him from completing this project.  Another work in progress was a critical essay of Arthur Young’s Political Essays Concerning the British Empire (1772), which focused on the history of British colonies in America.  Until then, Young’s essays had not been generally appreciated or known by American scholars.  Callender was also at work on an introduction for a new edition in two volumes of American Husbandry, which was first published in London in 1775.  Callender’s review of Cyclopedia of American Government (edited by A.S. McLaughlin and Albert Bushnell Hart) appeared in the Yale Review shortly after his death.  According to commentator C. W. Mixter, this highly critical review showed “in a marked degree the range, vitality and acuteness of his thinking” (Yale Alumni Weekly, Oct. 1, 1915, p. 48).

Callender was the recipient of numerous awards and honors.  In 1907 Yale University awarded him an honorary M.A.  Two months before his death the Oberlin College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa elected him to membership.  Upon Callender’s death from a cerebral hemorrhage in Branford, Connecticut, on 8 August 1915, members of the Oberlin College Class of 1891 purchased from his widow his library of some 2500 volumes and gave it to the institution in his memory.  The Class raised additional funds to purchase other titles on economic history, thus rounding out and completing the collection.  A small amount of money was also set aside as an ongoing fund to keep the collection up-to-date.  Callender’s gift to the College Library, established by his graduating class, set an Oberlin precedent.

Source:  Oberlin College Archives.  Guy Stevens Callender Papers, 1820-1870.

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Course Enrollment
1899-1900

[Economics] 6. Dr. [Guy Stevens] Callender.—The Economic History of the United States. Lectures (2 hours); discussions of assigned topics (1 hour); 2 theses.

Total: 163.  11 Graduates, 64 Seniors, 58 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Annual report of the President of Harvard College 1899-1900, p. 69.

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Course Description
1897-98

[Economics] 6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Mr. Callender.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the formation of the Union to the present time, and considers also the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by the experience so surveyed. A review is made of the financial history of the United States, including Hamilton’s financial system, the second bank of the United States and the banking systems of the period preceding the Civil War, coinage history, the finances of the Civil War, and the banking and currency history of the period since the Civil War. The history of manufacturing industries is taken up in connection with the course of international trade and of tariff legislation, the successive tariffs being followed and their economic effects considered. The land policy of the United States is examined partly in its relation to the growth of population and the inflow of immigrants, and partly in its relation to the history of transportation, including the movement for internal improvements, the beginnings of the railway system, the land grants and subsidies, and the successive bursts of activity in railway building. Comparison will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of European countries.

Written work will be required of all students, and a course of reading will be prescribed, and tested by examination. The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. While an acquaintance with economic principles is not indispensable, students are strongly advised to take the course after having taken Economics 1, or, if this be not easy to arrange, at the same time with that course.

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98.  pp. 32-33.

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1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Final examination, 1900]

  1. Into what periods may the economic history of the United States be properly divided? Give your reasons for making such a division, pointing out the chief characteristic of each periods.
  2. “A monopoly may be either legal, natural, or industrial.”—
    Distinguish each of these from the others by examples, and explain at length what is the character of an “industrial monopoly.”
  3. What legislation, if any, do you think is needed for the control of trusts? Give in full the reasons for your opinion.
  4. What features of American railway legislation do you consider open to criticism?
  5. “…As has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, cotton culture offered many and great advantages over other crops for the use of slave labor; but slavery had few, if any advantages over free labor for the cultivation of cotton….”—
    (a) Point out some of the advantages of cotton over other crops for the use of slave labor. (b) How do you reconcile the last part of the statement with the fact that cotton was produced chiefly by slave, instead of free, labor?
  6. Considering the conditions prevailing among the negroes in the South as well as in the West Indies since emancipation, what criticism, if any, would you make upon the policy of emancipation as actually carried out by the federal government during and after the war?
  7. What influences can you mention which have contributed to the recent depressed condition of cotton producers? (Do not confine your attention to the “credit system.”)
  8. What were the principal provisions of the resumption act? Explain the conditions under which it was carried into effect.
  9. Explain the conditions which led to the crisis or 1893.
  10. What reasons can you give to support the proposition that immigration has increased the population of the United States but little, if any?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives.  Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001.Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1899-1900”.

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Contemporary U.S. Economic History Seminar. Galbraith, 1973

 

 

Not really sure what was actually behind Galbraith giving up his “big course in the Social Sciences” for a cozy post-lunch seminar on Galbraith and the middle-two quarters of the twentieth century U.S. economic history. It seems that you could count the reasons on the middle finger of his right hand. But maybe it reveals nothing more nor less than a desire to simply reduce his teaching obligations to a delightful minimum. Still, not uninteresting to see how John Kenneth Galbraith chose to spend his Wednesday afternoons with a couple dozen Harvard undergraduates nearly a half century ago.

________________

March 16, 1973

Professor and Mrs. R. Paul Levine
Co-Masters, Currier House
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Dear Ursula and Paul:

I’ve given up my big course in the Social Sciences and I’m going to give a smaller seminar in contemporary economic history. Unfortunately there are some reasons why the Department wishes that this be an Economics course—it is something of a problem that, in recent years, my courses have been outside the Department. I wonder, however, if I might schedule it over in Currier House, and I wonder whether, as a further idea, it might be possible to schedule it, say, at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday, with the understanding that I would meet beforehand with any students who would like to join me for lunch. I propose to limit the attendance to 20 or 25—always assuming that many want to take it—so the congestion would not be too great. Perhaps you would let me have your thoughts.

Meanwhile my best to you both.

Yours faithfully,

John Kenneth Galbraith

JKG:mjh
cc: James S. Duesenberry

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

Economics 2365. Seminar: The United States Since the Great Depression
Professor John Kenneth Galbraith

The Crash and the Slump. The reputable view of cause and cure in the current economic orthodoxy. The collapse of banks, utilities, railroads. The agricultural crisis. Unemployment and the old labor movement. Roosevelt and the rationale of the recovery program. The process of recovery and the impact of Keynes. Radicalism and the rise of the CIO. The approach of World War II. The nature of the wartime economic mobilization. The transition to peace and the rise of economic evangelism. The Fifties and the economics of euphoria. The high tide of the New Economics. The new orthodoxy and the role of conditioned irrelevance.

Half course (fall term). Wednesday, 2-4 p.m.
For Graduates and Qualified Undergraduates. Enrollment limited as necessary.

________________

ECONOMICS 2365
AUTUMN TERM 1973-74
PROFESSOR JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

MEETINGS: This course will meet on Wednesday afternoons. Each week at 1:00 there will be an informal lunch in the Currier House private dining room. Class will be from 2:00 to 4:00 in the Currier House Binghem Room. There will be no meeting on Wednesday, November 21st. The course will observe the reading period.

REQUIREMENTS: The major course requirement is a twenty-five page paper due on January 14, 1974. It should develop critically one or another of the subjects discussed in the course. It is expected that the paper will display an understanding of the material presented in class and in the readings; unfamiliarity with relevant lectures and readings, however concealed or explained, will be adversely scored. Each student is to submit the proposed title of his paper by November 21st. Office hours will be arranged in early November for that purpose.

PREREQUISITES: There are no formal prerequisites.

 *  *  *  *  *

I. INTRODUCTION (Sept. 26)

II. THE GREAT CRASH AND ITS CAUSES (Oct. 3)

J. K. Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

III. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: DOMESTIC ASPECTS (Oct. 10)

L. Chandler, America’s Great Depression 1929-1941, Chapters 1-7.

IV. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: WORLD ASPECTS (Oct. 17)

A. Lewis, Economic Survey 1919-1939

V. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: I (Oct. 24)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 1-10

VI. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: II (Oct. 31)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 16-25.

VII. THE IMPACT OF KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS (Nov. 7)

J. K. Galbraith, “How Keynes Came to America,” in Economics, Peace, and Laughter. ***
R. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Chapter 9—“The Heresies of John Maynard Keynes.”
M. Stewart, Keynes and After, Chapters 4, 6, 11, 12.

VIII: THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION (Nov. 14)

J. K. Galbraith, A Theory of Price Control
W. K. Hancock, British War Economy, chapters 11, 12, 17 ***

IX. THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION: THE COMPARATIVE BRITISH AND GERMAN ORGANIZATION (Nov. 28)

B. Klein, Germany’s Economic Preparation for War, (Omit statistical appendix)

X. CRITIQUE OF THE NEW ECONOMICS (Dec. 5)

J. K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, Chapters 9-25.

XI. THE ECONOMICS OF THE COLD WAR AND VIETNAM (Dec. 12)

P. B. Baran and P. M. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital, Chapter 7—“The Absorption of Surplus: Militarism and Imperialism.”
G. W. Domoff, “Who Made American Foreign Policy 1945-1963.” ***
J. D. Phillips, “Economic Effects of the Cold War.” ***
R. Eisner, “The War and the Economy.” ***

XII. INFLATION AND THE PRESENT CRISIS (Dec. 19)

J. K. Galbraith, “Inflation.”
B. Bosworth, “The Current Inflation: Malign Neglect” in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1973. ***
M. Ulmer, The Welfare State, Chapter 4—“The Anatomy of Inflation and Unemployment.” ***

All of these readings are required. Unless otherwise indicated, the entire book should be read. Readings which are in xeroxed form as well as in book form are marked with a triple asterisk***. Copies of all readings are on reserve in Lamont, Hilles, and Littauer libraries.

 

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers.  Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 522, Folder “Economics 294: Spring term, 1968 (2 of 2) [sic]”.

Image Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Biographical Profile: John Kenneth Galbraith.

Categories
Berkeley Chicago Economists Germany Harvard New School Princeton

Harvard. Curriculum vitae submitted by Albert O. Hirschman, ca. 1942

 

One of those serendipitous finds in rummaging through a department’s correspondence in search of one thing (curricular material in my case) is the artifact transcribed for this post, a c.v. submitted to the Harvard department of economics by a 27 or 28 year old Rockefeller Foundation fellow,  O. Albert Hirschmann. It is written in a narrative, autobiographical style as was the custom in Europe of the time. Because I had the great pleasure of having worked as Albert O. Hirschman’s assistant at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during the 1980-81 academic year, I photographed his early c.v. in an act of filial piety. Of course all this and more can be found in the prize-winning biography written by Jeremy Adelman: Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman. Princeton University Press, 2013. Nonetheless, the c.v. possesses the charm of being the original words chosen by Hirschman to market himself back when he was just one of dozens of European economist émigrés looking for steady work.

Thanks to Adelman’s book I learned (p. 203) that one of my Yale mentors, William Fellner, taught a general seminar on the principles of economics at Berkeley that Albert Hirschman took during his Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. Historically speaking, it’s a small world! 

__________________

O. Albert Hirschmann
1751 Highland Place
Berkeley, Calif.

CURRICULUM VITAE

I was born on April 7th, 1915, in Berlin. My nationality is Lithuanian. In 1932 I began to study law and economics at the University of Berlin. In April, 1933, I left for Paris, where I registered at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (H.E.C.) and at the Institut de Statistiques de l’Université de Paris at the Sorbonne. In 1935 I had obtained the diplomas of both these institutions.

At the end of 1935, I went to England, in order to study for several months at the London School of Economics and Political Science under a scholarship granted to me by the International Student Service, which had already granted to me by the International Student Service, which had already helped me during my former studies. I had courses with Professors Robbins [1898-1984], T. E. Gregory [1890-1970] and B. A. Whale [Philip Barrett Whale, 1898-1950]. I worked in particular under Mr. Whale on French monetary policy since the stabilization of the Franc.

At the end of 1936, after a short stay at Paris, I applied for, and obtained a place as an assistant at the Institute of Statistics of the University of Trieste. I remained there until the middle of 1938, when I was compelled to return to Paris because of the anti-foreign and anti-semitic policy of the Fascist government. At Trieste, I worked under Professor P. Luzzatto-Fegiz [1900-1989]. I became much interested in Population Statistics and a part of my researches in this field was published in an article in the Giornale degli Economisti, January, 1938: “Nota su due recenti tavole di nuzialità della popolazione italiana.” (“A note on two recent nuptiality tables of the Italian population”.) I worked also on several problems of economic statistics and in particular on the statistics of the national income and of family budgets. At the same time I studied for my Doctor’s degree, which I obtained with the grade 120 points in a total of 120, in June, 1938. My thesis was a continuation and an expansion of the work on French monetary policy which I had begun at the London School of Economics. The thesis was to be printed in the Annals of the University, but this was rendered impossible by the subsequent political developments.

While still in Italy, during the first months of 1938, I tried to acquaint myself thoroughly with the Italian financial and economic situation. I finally sent an extensive report to Paris, which was published as a separate booklet, without naming the author, in June, 1938, by the Bulletin Quotidien de la Société d’Études et d’Informations Économiques, under the title: “Les Finances et l’Économie Italiennes – Situation actuelle et perspectives.” This report attracted some attention in Paris because by combining data from various sources I had thrown some light on the Italian economic and financial development which was surrounded by official secrecy. It was upon this report that Professor Charles Rist [1874-1955] offered me to collaborate in his Institut de Recherches Économiques et Sociales. Italy was my special field and from July, 1938, to April, 1940, I wrote regularly three-monthly reports on Italian economic development in L’Activité Économique, which was the publication of the Institute.

I also wrote a small booklet for the above named Bulletin Quotidian on the subject: “L’Industrie Textile Italienne et l’Autarcie.”

In November, 1938, Professor J. B. Condliffe [1891-1981], who was then acting as the director of studies for the International Studies Conference at Bergen, and in this capacity was organizing an international inquiry into the national systems of exchange control, entrusted me with the preparation of a report on the exchange control system of Italy. I also worked on other problems in connection with the Conference and, in particular, devised a new method of measuring the tendency toward bilateralism as completely distinct from the tendency towards equilibrium of foreign trade. Professor Condliffe encouraged me to write a small paper on this idea, and thus I presented two reports at the international Studies Conference at Bergen in 1939: (1) “Le Contrôle des Changes en Italie”—a report of ninety mimeographed pages by the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, which for various reasons was not signed, (2) “Étude Statistique de la Tendance du Commerce International [extérieur] Vers l’Équilibre et le Bilatéralisme”—a shorter paper also mimeographed and signed. A recent publication of the U.S. Tariff Commission on “Italian Commercial Policy (1922 – 1940)” has made an extensive use of my report on Italian Exchange Control, whereas Professor Condliffe has quoted my figures on bilateralism in his book “The Reconstruction of World Trade”.

I had registered as a volunteer for the French Army in case of war, in April, 1939. I was called as early as August, 1939. The stationary character of the war gave me the opportunity to prepare still two reports on the Italian economy, the necessary source-material being sent from Paris. After the armistice, in July, 1940, I was demobilized at Nîmes, in Southern France. From there I went to Marseilles, where I met Mr. Varian Fry [1907-1967], who had been sent to Marseilles by the Emergency Rescue Committee in order to evacuate political and intellectual refugees from France. I collaborated with him from August to December, 1940, when, upon the recommendation of Professor Condliffe, I obtained a Rockefeller fellowship, and thereupon the American visa. I arrived in this country on January 14, 1941.

After a short stay in the East, I went to the University of California at Berkeley to work in connection with a research project on Foreign Trade, directed by Professor Condliffe. Soon after my arrival at Berkeley, I met my wife and we were married in June 1941.

My original research plan was to give a statistical analysis of recent quantitative trends in world trade and my first months were spent in working out the specific problems which I intended to study. I wrote several papers on the measurement of concentration and related subjects in descriptive statistics which I hope to publish either as appendices to my main manuscript or as separate journal articles. The next step in my research was to apply the statistical methods which I had worked out to the foreign trade statistics. This required extensive calculations for which Professor Condliffe put an assistant at my disposal. I also participated in several graduate seminars and took a course in the theory of probability.

Upon the renewal of the Rockefeller fellowship for another year and after a two months illness during the winter of 1941-1942, I began to work at the theoretical and historical aspects of the problems which I had first studied from a purely quantitative point of view. The result of my research has now been embodied in a manuscript of 300 pages entitled “National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade”, of which only the concluding section remains to be written.

Professors Howard S. Ellis [1898-1992] and Condliffe have given me the assurance that the manuscript would be published by a series edited by the newly established Bureau of Economic and Business Research of the University of California. One chapter of the manuscript giving a new statistical analysis of the composition of world trade according to commodity groups, is somewhat loosely connected with the rest and it has been suggested to me to have it published as a separate article. The Rockefeller Foundation has granted me the expenses for a trip to the Middle West and East on which I have just had the opportunity to discuss my manuscript with Professor Viner [1892-1970] at Chicago, Professors Haberler [1900-1995] and Staley [Eugene Alvah Staley (1906-1989) was at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy] at Harvard, Professors Staudinger [1889-1980] and Lowe [1893-1995] at the New School of Social Research and with Professor Loveday [1888-1962] and Mr. [Folke] Hilgerdt [1894-1956] of the Economic Intelligence Service of the League at Princeton.

As a result of my training, I have acquired a certain specialization in statistical methods on the one hand and in the field of international economics on the other (theory and history of international trade, international monetary problems, exchange control, foreign trade statistics, etc.) Through my work in Europe I am well acquainted, in particular, with the economic problems of Italy and France.

Having studied for prolonged periods in Germany, France and Italy, I speak and write with complete fluency the languages of these countries. I also have a reading knowledge of Spanish.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 5, Folder “H”.

Image Source: Albert O. Hirschman before he was dispatched to North Africa, circa 1943. From Michele Alacevich’s Introduction to “Albert Hirschman and the Social Sciences: A Memorial Round-Table” posted July 25, 2015.