Category: Harvard

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Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. American Taxation, course description, enrollment, and final exam. Bullock and Huse, 1909-1910

It is not only inquisitorial; but public morality forbids that the taxpayer should be forced to do any more hard swearing than he already does.

Time to add more economics course artifacts from Harvard in the early 20th century. By 1910 the division of labor regarding the economics curriculum was well-established with Charles Jesse Bullock serving as point man in public finance, especially for taxation.

________________________

Readings

Cf.  “Taxation” bibliography by Charles Jesse Bullock in Francis G. Peabody, et al. A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, pp. 54-56.

________________________

Previously posted material
from earlier years

1906-07
1907-08
1908-09
________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

*16 1hf. American Taxation. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course is designed for graduate students and for undergraduates who are especially interested in public finance. It cannot be elected by students who have taken Economics 7 [Public Finance course exclusively offered to undergraduates], except by express consent of the instructor.

The course is devoted to American Taxation, — federal, state, and local. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 60.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 16 1hf. Professor Bullock and Dr. [Charles Phillips] Huse. — American Taxation.

Total 31: 6 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 16
THE THEORY AND METHODS OF TAXATION
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. On what two distinct grounds has progressive taxation been advocated? Give your opinion of each.
  2. Discuss the incidence of a tax on the gross profits of a monopoly; on a real estate mortgage; on the land and buildings in a decadent city.
  3. Describe the Massachusetts method of taxing personal property, mortgages, income.
  4. What are the defects of the general property tax as administered in Massachusetts? What remedies have been suggested to correct these?
  5. Compare the British and the Prussian income taxes, pointing out similarities and differences. What lessons can be learned from a study of these taxes?
  6. What has been the experience of the United States with income taxes?
  7. Compare the customs systems of the United States and England. Write a brief history of each since 1890, for the purpose of bringing out its merits or defects.
  8. Describe the Massachusetts method of taxing corporations. How does the rate of the Massachusetts tax compare with that of the Federal corporation tax?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 50.

Image Source: No Income Tax! by Charles Jay Taylor, a scene at the Income Tax Office with a crowd clamoring at the door where a notice states “One at a Time”; inside, a wealthy man is standing by a desk, on the floor at his feet, in his hat, are papers labeled “Personal Property Tax Sworn Off”, “Tax on Capital Sworn Off”, and “Tax on Investments”, he kisses the Bible while a government official sits at the desk with his right hand raised. Cover of Puck, v. 34, no. 881, (1894 January 24). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course Readings for Economics and Social Ethics, 1920-1921

Old Gate at Harvard College (August 6, 1920)

The artifact transcribed and linked for this post was found in last of ten boxes in the Harvard Archives collection “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”. I had worked through the previous nine boxes containing folders chronologically ordered by academic year. Box 10 contained five folders of poorly sorted course materials that were undated, requiring some effort to establish a probable time range for any of the artifacts. 

In the first folder I found an eight page typed list of courses, with the names and assigned readings (for most of the courses offered to both undergraduate and graduate students, though no reading lists for the courses that were primarily offered for graduate students) which was relatively easy to date by looking at the course staffing announced in the annual catalogue for the Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21. There is one reference to Taussig’s third edition (Dec. 1921) in the list which would suggest that the list was probably prepared for the 1921-22 or 1922-23 year using materials gathered from the earlier 1920-21 academic year. But the perfect correspondence of course staffing between the transcribed list below and the published announcement for 1920-21 is sufficient for me to assign the 1920-21 academic year to the post.

Square brackets […] have been used to distinguish additional information from the typed list. All explicit titles have been linked, increasing the value of this post considerably.

______________________

Course Descriptions for
Economics and Social Ethics,
1920-21

Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21 published in the Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XVII (May 22, 1920) No. 27.

______________________

One Harvard Graduate’s Memoir
of the 1920s

Carlson, Valdemar. “The Education of an Economist before the Great Depression: Harvard’s Economics Department in the 1920’s.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 27, no. 1, 1968, pp. 101–12.

______________________

ASSIGNED READINGS IN ECONOMICS

A. PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS

[Assistant] Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank and assistants

Readings:

Taussig, [Frank William], Principles of Economics

[First Edition (1911): Volume I; Volume II]
[Second Edition, Revised (1915): Volume I; Volume II]
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]
[Fourth Edition (1939) requires readers to set up an individual account at archive.org for temporary access: Volume I; Volume II]

[Questions on the Principles of Economics by Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis (Revised for the thrid edition of Taussig’s Principles of Economics) edition, 1922.]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1a. ACCOUNTING

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1b. STATISTICS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

Secrist, Introduction to Statistical Methods, 1-77, 116-424

King, Elements of Statistical Method, pp.1-19, 64-82, 167-196

Elderton, W. P. and E. M., Primer of Statistics, ch. 1-4

U.S. Census, The Story of the Census, 1790-1915

Field, “Some Advantages of the Logarithmic Scale in Statistical Diagrams,” Journ. Pol. Econ., Oct. 1917

Persons, W. M., Measuring and Forecasting General Business Conditions

Joint Committee on Graphic Standards, Preliminary Report
[Publications of the American Statistical Association 14, no. 112 (1915): 790–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/2965153]

Additional;

Unprescribed portions of King and Secrist

List of references appended to chapters in King and Secrist

References for Statistical Work (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

Questions and Exercises in Statistics (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

The Review of Economic Statistics

Lists of references in specific fields

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2a. EUROPEAN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2b. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

3. MONEY, BANKING, AND COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4a. ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Railroad Rates, vol. 1, (not vol. II)

Ripley, Railway Problems

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4b. ECONOMICS OF CORPORATIONS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations

Haney, Business Organization and Combination

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5a. PUBLIC FINANCE, EXCLUSIVE OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Daniel [sic], Public Finance [Possibly: Winthrop More Daniels, Elements of Public Finance (1899)]

Adams, H. C., Public Finance [sic]
[Probably: The Science of Finance, An Investigation of Public Expenditures and Public Revenues (1912)]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Darwin, Municipal Trade

Stourm, The Budget

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5b. THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Selections on Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Means, Methods of Taxation

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6a. TRADE-UNIONISM AND ALLIED PROBLEMS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Webb, Industrial Democracy

Commons, Trade Unionism

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7a. THEORIES OF VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION

Professor [Edmund Ezra] Day

Readings:

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Carver, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Principles of Economics (1921 edition)
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Walker, Political Economy

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest

Fetter, Economic Principles

Davenport, Economics of Enterprise

Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Anderson, Social Value

Anderson, The Value of Money

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7b. SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM, THE SINGLE TAX

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

See printed circular on file in the Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

8. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Bristol, Social Adaptation

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress

Sumner, Folkways

Spencer, Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]

Carver, Essays in Social Justice

Giddings, Sociology

Tardl [sic], Social Gains [sic]   [Looks like a typographical error. Probably Social Laws, An Outline of Sociology by Gabriel Tarde (1899 translation from the French)[

Kidd, Social Evolution

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Principles of Rural Economics

Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics

Various bulletins and reports

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9b. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF POLICIES

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

Readings:

Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Smith, Wealth of Nations

State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff

Taussig, Selected Readings (to appear shortly)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

10. ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND INSTITUTIONS

Dr. [Arthur Eli] Monroe

Readings:

Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I, ch. 1-11; Bk. II, ch. 1-6; IV, ch. 11-13; V, ch. 1-9

Maine, Ancient Law, ch. 5-8

Ashley, Economic History of England, vol. I, ch. 3

Mun: England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade

Turgot, Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, 1-3, 5-9, 11 (secs. 1,2)

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. II, 3-5; IV, 1, 2, 9

Malthus, Essay on Population, [Vol. I, 6th ed. ] Bk I, 1, 2; Bk. II, 13; [Vol. II, 6th ed.] III, 2, 3; Bk. IV, 1, 2, 3. (Or selections in Ashley’s Classics)

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. I], Bk. I, 5; Bk: II, 11; Bk. III, 1-5

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. II], Bk. IV, 3,4; Bk. V, 8, 10, 11 (sec. 1-9)

List, National System of Political Economy, Bk. II, 2-5, 7

Carlyle, Past and Present (selected chap.) or
Ruskin, Unto this Last, ch. 1, 3

 Bücher, Industrial Evolution, chs. 3, 4

Ashley, Economic Organization of England, ch. 1-7

Wells, Mankind in the Making

(Several optional assignments to be announced later)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

11. ECONOMIC THEORY

Professor [Frank William] Taussig
[“Maurice Beck Hexter’s notes from Harvard University, 1921-22” and “Supplemental notes from F.W. Taussig’s Course in economic theory with contributions by A.A. Young” edited by Marianne Johnson and Warren J. Samuels in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 28-C (2010), pp. 11-176]

Readings:

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy
[Third edition, 1821]

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Clark, Distribution of Wealth

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fetter, Principles of Economics

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Veblen, Theory of Business Enterprise

Divers separate articles and chapters in other books

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Distribution of Wealth

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Work [sic] and Capital [Wages and Capital]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

14. HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS TO THE YEAR 1848

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

15. MODERN SCHOOLS OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

31. PUBLIC FINANCE

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

32. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMERICAN CONDITIONS

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

33.  INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF PROBLEMS

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

34. PROBLEMS OF LABOR

Professor [William Ripley] Ripley

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35a. BUSINESS CORPORATIONS

Asst. Professor Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35b. BUSINESS COMBINATIONS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36a. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: HISTORICAL, THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36b. PUBLIC REGULATION AND CONTROL OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PUBLIC SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

37. COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Warren Milton] Persons

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

38. SELECTED MONETARY PROBLEMS

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[ASSIGNED READINGS]
IN SOCIAL ETHICS

1. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL POLICY

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster and Asst. Professor [James] Ford

Readings:

Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, vol. 1 of Series 1, 3-8, 24-73, 131-171

Conklin, Heredity and Environment, rev. ed. pp.197-242, 256-258, 297-306, 416-456, 475-497

Dewey, and Tufts, Ethics, ch. 15, pp. 297-304; ch. 18-26, pp. 364-606

Flexner, and Baldwin, Juvenile Courts and Probation, Pts.1, 2, pp. 3-78

Oppenheimer, The Rationale of Punishment, pp. 1-4, 171-175, 234-295

Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. 1, pt. 3, ch. 9 and 12, pp. 686-724, 745-756

Warner, American Charities, 3rd ed., ch. 4, 6-10, 12, 14-15, 17-22, pр. 64-90, 113-225, 248-284, 305-346, 363-476

Wines, Punishment and Reformation, ch. 8, 10, 12-14 (3rd ed.) pp. 133-167, 199-234, 265-412

Committee of Fifty to Study the Liquor Problem, Summary of Investigations, pp. 15-134

Burritt, Dennison, Gay, Heilman, and Kendall, Profit Sharing, pp. 159-257

Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, pp. 1-414, 454-464

Fay, Cooperation at Home and Abroad, pp. 273-285, 310-354

Foerster, A Promising Venture in Industrial Partnership, Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, Pub. 703, November 1912, pp. 97-103

Hoxie, Scientific Management and Labor, pp. 25-139

King, Industry and Humanity, ch. 7, 8, pp. 167-303; ch. 10, pp. 364-390

British Labor party, Sub-committee on Reconstruction, report, Labor and the New Social Order, reprint from the New Republic, Feb. 16, 1918, pp. 12

Lee, Play in Education, pp. 319-391, 423-494

Schaeffle, Quintessence of Socialism, pp. 39-127

Schloss, Industrial Remuneration, pp. 286-309

Spargo, Applied Socialism, pp. 87-325

Veiller, Housing Reform, pp. 3-190

Williams, Profit-sharing, pp. 17-42, 146-171

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4. AMERICAN POPULATION PROBLEMS: IMMIGRATION AND THE NEGRO

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Reading:

Byington, Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town, ch. 9-11, pp.131-157

Fairchild, Immigration, ch. 1-5, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, pp. 1-105, 123-143, 163-212, 233-368, 393-415

Foerster, The Italian Emigration of Our Times, ch. 21-24, pp. 415-525

Ibid. Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug.1913, Review of Hourwich’s book on immigration, pp. 656-671

Hourwich, Immigration and Labor, ch. 4, 5, 12-15, 18, 23, pp. 82-112, 284-352, 375-383, 489-501, 414-431 and in chapter 21, Report of the MASS. COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION, 1914, pp. 54-104

Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, ch. 1, pp. 1-29

Reely, Selected Articles on Immigration (Debaters’ Handbook) pp. 131-134, 200-204, 219-222, 225-229

Roberts, The New Immigration, ch. 9, 11-13, pp. 124-138, 156-199

Ross, The Old World in the New, ch. 1-4, 6, 11, pp. 1-92, 120-140, 259-281

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 39, pp. 5-81, 127-129

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, vol. 2, pp. 417-426

Warne, Slav Invasion, pp. 28-38, 47-83

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 1, pp. 491-541; vol. 4, pp. 239-281, 337-348

Ovington, Half a Man, ch. 4-8, pp. 75-217

Shaler, The Neighbor, pp. 278-336

Stone, Studies in the American Race Problem, pp. 149-208

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, Amer. Econ. Review, May 1902, pp. 28-45, 60-79, 102-170

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6. UNEMPLOYMENT AND RELATED PROBLEMS OF THE WORKING CLASSES

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Readings:

Beveridge, Unemployment, pp. 1-237

Webb, Seasonal Trades, ch. 1, 2, pp. 1-90

U. S. Bureau of Labor, Report on Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. 7, pp. 43-60, 64-67, 177-192

Barnes, The Longshoremen, pp. 55-92, 199-206, 210-227

Chicago, Report of the Mayor’s Commission on Unemployment, 1914, pp. 107-165

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 206, B. Lasker, British System of Labor Exchanges, pp. 1-56

Kellor, Out of Work, Ch. 6, pp. 157-193

Gibbon, Unemployment Insurance, pp. 187-203

Dawson, Vagrancy Problem, ch. 4, 11, pp.104-132; 229-249

Ibid. Social Insurance in Germany, ch. 2-4, 7-9, pp. 22-127,182-265

Gibbon, Medical Benefit …Germany and Denmark, ch. 2, 6, 9, 12, 18 pp. 10-14, 43-52, 81-106, 125-131, 192-203

Rubinow, Standards of Health Insurance, Ch. 5-9, pp.67-152

Belloc, The Servile State, pp. 155-189

24th Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Labor, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1499-1530, 1540-1544

Foerster, The British National Insurance Act, Q. J. of Econ., Feb. 1912, pp. 275-298, 305-312

Bernhard, Undesirable Results of German Social Legislation, pp. 39-75

Mass. Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1910 Report, pp. 112-122, 164-203, 224-259, 268-284, 300-344

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 195, Unemployment in the United States, 1916

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 10, Folder “Economics, undated (1 of 5)”.

Image Source: Old Gate at Harvard College (Leon H. Abdalian, photographer). Boston Public Library Arts Department.  [No Copyright – United States]

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Letter supporting Mason written by Taussig, 1925

The following memo to the Dean for the files tells us probably as much about its subject, a rising star in the Harvard economics department Edward Sagendorph Mason, as it does about what academic talent-spotters in the 1920s thought important. Of course, demonstrated academic brilliance has generally been of primary importance, but in an environment notably rich in brilliance, other qualities become distinguishing. “…he is a handsome, upstanding chap. His very appearance makes an impression on the young fellows.” 

__________________________

February 12, 1925

Dear Clifford:

                  Carver tells me that you would welcome a line from me about E. S. Mason.

                  He is a very unusual fellow. His special examination for the doctorate, which he took about a week ago, by agreement of the examiners was not less than brilliant. As you know, he was three years at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and learned a lot there not merely in philosophy and letters, but in ways of handling the boys. He is one of the very best of our tutors, and one of the very best of our instructors in Economics A. And he is a handsome, upstanding chap. His very appearance makes an impression on the young fellows. It being our policy to keep men of that sort in our own service instead of putting them in a position where they cannot well help but accept a tempting offer from elsewhere, he ought to be given the very best treatment we can afford.

Cordially yours,
F. W. Taussig

Professor Clifford H. Moore

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers 1930-1961, Box 2 (American-Appointments, 1925), Folder “Appointments for 1913-26”.

Image Source: Portrait of Edward S. Mason included in the Harvard Class Album 1932.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Theory

Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory. Reading lists and exams. Schumpeter, 1948-1949

With the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics honoring work that has expanded upon Joseph Schumpeter’s felicitous description of economic innovation as a process of “creative destruction”, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is happy to add the following Schumpeter teaching artifacts from the 1948-49 academic year at Harvard from his course on advanced economic theory. Keeping on the subject of Nobel prizes, it is worth noting that nine future economics laureates were included in Schumpeter’s reading lists for the course.

_______________________

Previous Posts:
Schumpeter’s Courses on Economic Theory

Economics 11. Economic Theory, Second Semester, 1934-35. [taken by Wolfgang Stolper]

Economics 11. Economic Theory, 1935-36. [taken by Paul Samuelson]

Economic 101. Economic Theory, 1936-37. [formerly 11]

Economics 101. Economic Theory, 1937-38.

Economics 103. Advanced Economic Theory, 1941-42.

Economics 103b. Advanced Economic Theory, 1947-48. [103a taught by Gottfried Haberler]

_______________________

Course Enrollment
1948-49

[Economics] 203  (formerly Economics 103a and 103b). Advanced Economic Theory (Full Course). Professor Schumpeter

Fall Term:
Total 21. 17 Graduates, 2 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe.

Spring Term:
Total 10. 8 Graduates, 2 Public Administration.

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

_______________________

1948-49
Economies 203a
Fall Term

The primary object of this course is to train the students in the art of conceptualizing the salient features of the economic process. But discussion of individual problems will give the opportunity of rehearsing critically large parts of traditional theory, old and new. The program for this term includes, first, a preliminary survey of certain fundamental nations, especially determinateness and stability, second, the general dynamics of economic aggregates, third, the general theory of the behavior of households and firms. Though some knowledge of the calculus and of differential equations is desirable, purely mathematical aspects will not be stressed.

The student is supposed to be familiar with such standard works as Marshall’s Principles, Wicksell’s Lectures, Vol. I, Keynes’ General Theory,* Chamberlin’s Monopolistic Competition, Hicks’ Value and Capital, and Fisher’s Theory of Interest (out of print). To these, which are also required in several other courses, and part of every student’s equipment, should be added.

*(not available until October 29)

E. Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic Expansion (King & Son, 1937) and for students with adequate mathematical preparations.

P. A. Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, 1947.

Students must use their own judgments as regards the extent to which they will avail themselves of the following additional suggestions which also stand instead of reading-period assignments:

P. A. Samuelson, Statics, “Dynamics, and the Stationary State,” Review of Economic Statistics, February 1943.

J. Tinbergen, “Suggestions on Quantitative Business Cycle Theory,” Econometrica, July 1935.

F. Modigliani, “Liquidity Preference, Interest, and Money,” Econometrica, January, 1944.

Allen and Bowley, Family Expenditure, 1935.

Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economics Progress, 1940.

Arthur Smithies, “The Boundaries of the Production Function and the Utility Function” (in Explorations in Economics, Essays in Honor of F. W. Taussig, 1936, II, Ch. 11).

T. De Scitovszky, “Price under Monopoly and Competition,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1941.

T. Haavelmo, “The Interdependence between Agriculture and the National Economy,” Journal of Farm Economics, November, 1947.

G. Cooper, “The Role of Econometric Models in Economic Research,” Journal of Farm Economics, February 1948.

M. Reder, “Monopolistic Competition and the Stability Conditions,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. VIII, No. 2.

N. Kaldor, “A Classificatory Note on the Determinateness of Equilibrium,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. I, No. 2.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder: “Economics, 1948-49 (2 of 2)”.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 203a
February 1949

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Consider the concept of the Stationary State both as a state of society that is to be expected in the near or distant future and as a methodological tool. When considering it in the latter sense, contrast it with the concepts of Economic Statics and of Static Equilibrium.
  2. Analyze the profit item of the usual income statement of a corporation.
  3. State the theory of interest which you prefer to others and give your reasons for this preference; then discuss, from the standpoint of this theory, how “technological progress” affects the rate of interest.
  4. Discuss Cournot’s Duopoly and explain the shortcomings of this schema.
  5. What has been, in your opinion, the upshot of the recent controversy on the “marginal-productivity theory of wages?”
  6. What are the reasons for expecting that monopoly prices are more “rigid” than competitive prices?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001. Box 16, Bound volume Examinations, Social Sciences Feb. 1949.

_______________________

Spring Term
1948-49
Economics 203b

Reference is made to the Reading List for the preceding term, both as regards the general scope of this course and as regards certain fundamental works with which students are supposed to be, or to make themselves, familiar (Marshall, Wicksell, Keynes, Chamberlin, Fisher, Lundberg, and Samuelson) and all of which are available in the Harvard libraries, although sone are out of print. The topics to be dealt with in this term are grouped into four approximately equal parts, each of which is to cover about three weeks. Of the books and papers to be mentioned below, three are taken over from the fall term list.

  1. Restatement, with some additions and further illustrative applications, of the essentials treated in the Fall Term.

American Economic Association, H. S. Ellis ed., Survey of Contemporary Economics, Chs. 10 (Samuelson) and 11 (Leontief).

  1. The Process of Accumulation and the idea of Balanced Advance

R. F. Harrod, Towards a Dynamic Economics, 1948

R. G. Hawtrey, “Mr. Harrod’s Essay in Dynamic Theory,” Economic Journal, September, 1939

E. D. Domer, “Capital Expansion,” Econometrica, April, 1946

E. D. Domar, “The Problem of Capital Accumulation,” American Economic Review, December, 1948

H. Froehlich, “Income Determination and Investment,” ibid. March, 1948

T. C. Schelling, “Capital Growth and Equilibrium,” ibid. December, 1947

L. R. Klein, “Notes on the Theory of Investment,” Kyklos, International Review of the Social Sciences, Bern, Volume II, 1948, fasc. 2

J. M. Keynes, “The Process of Capital Formation,” Economic Journal, September, 1939

  1. Money and Real Income. Wages and Employment

A. C. Pigou, Equilibrium and Employment, 1941.

S. C. Tsiang, “Professor Pigou on Real Wages and Employment,” Economic Journal, December 1944

T. Haavelmo et al., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, October, 1945, and April, 1946

H. M. Somers, “The Impact of Fiscal Policy on National Income,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, August, 1942

J. L. Mosak, “Wage Increases and Employment,” American Economic Review, June, 1941

J. T. Dunlop, “The Demand and Supply Functions for Labor,” American Economic Review, May, 1948

J. T. Dunlop, “Productivity and the Wage Structure,” Income, Employment and Public Policy (Norton & Company, 1948)

H. W. Singer, “Wage Policy in Full Employment,” Economic Journal, December, 1947

N. Kaldor, “Stability and Full Employment,” Economic Journal, December, 1938

  1. Transformation or Disintegration of Capitalism

C. Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, 1940

G. J. Stigler, Trends in Output and Employment (National Bureau Publ. 1947)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder: “Economics, 1948-49 (2 of 2)”.

_______________________

1948-49
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 203b

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Prove and discuss Haavelmo’s theorem that the imposition of a tax may lead to an increase of gross national income by an amount exactly equal to the tax.
  2. Discuss Kaldor’s proposition that a state of full employment is essentially unstable.
  3. In what sense is it true (a) that capital accumulation tends to exhaust investment opportunities and (b) that exhaustion of investment opportunities induces not only stationary conditions but also depression (underemployment)?
  4. Analyze the relation between employment and a general variation (e.g. an increase) of (a) money wage rates (b) real wage rates. What has either case to do with the so-called Ricardo effect?
  5. Discuss Harrod’s “dynamical schema.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. . Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001. Box 16, Papers Printed for Final Examinations, History, History of Religions, Government, Economics,….June 1949.

Image Source: Joseph Schumpeter in his Harvard office published in the Harvard Class Album 1946.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Macroeconomics

Harvard. General Exam in Macroeconomic Theory. Spring 1993

 

 

The following general examination for macroeconomic theory (Spring 1993) has been transcribed from a collection of general exams at Harvard from the 1990s provided to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror by Abigail Waggoner Wozniak (Harvard economics Ph.D., 2005). Abigail Wozniak was an associate professor of economics at Notre Dame before being appointed a senior research economist and the first director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is most grateful for her generosity in sharing this valuable material.

Because the “Wozniak collection” is over 90 pages long, it will take some time for all the exams to get transcribed. To date the following transcriptions are available for:

Spring 1991

Microeconomics; Macroeconomics

Spring 1992

Micro- and Macroeconomics

Fall 1992

Micro- and Macroeconomics

Spring 1993

Microeconomics

_______________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Economics 2010d: Final Examination
and
GENERAL EXAMINATION IN MACROECONOMIC THEORY

Spring Term, 1993

For those taking the GENERAL EXAM in macroeconomic theory:

  1. You have FOUR hours.
  2. Answer a total of SIX questions subject to the following constraints:

— answer both questions from Part I;
— answer two questions from Part II;
— answer two questions from Part III.

For those taking the FINAL EXAMINATION in ECONOMICS 2010d (not the General Examination):

  1. You have THREE hours.
  2. Answer a total of four questions subject to the following constraints:

— DO NOT ANSWER ANY questions from Part I;
— answer two questions from Part II;
— answer two questions from Part III.

PLEASE USE A SEPARATE BLUE BOOK FOR EACH QUESTION, AND WRITE THE QUESTION NUMBER ON THE FRONT OF THE APPROPRIATE BLUE BOOK.

PLEASE PUT YOUR EXAM NUMBER ON EACH BOOK.

PLEASE DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON YOUR BLUE BOOKS.

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

Part I. (Answer both questions)

Question 1:

Consider the following dynamic, perfect-foresight version of the IS-LM model:

R=R-\dot{R} /\rho

r=\alpha y-\beta m

\dot{y} =\gamma \left( d-y \right)

d=\lambda y-\theta R+g

where

R is the long-term interest rate,
r is the short-term interest rate,
y is output,
m is (exogenous) real money balances,
d is demand,
g is a measure of (exogenous) fiscal policy,
and all parameters are positive and 0<\lambda <1.

    1. Give an interpretation of each equation.
      (Hint: When long-term interest rates rise, bond prices fall.)
    2. Write the model using two variables and two laws of motion. Identify the state (non-jumping) variable and the costate (jumping) variable.
    3. Draw the phase diagram, including the steady-state conditions, the implied dynamics, and the saddle-point stable path.
    4. Describe the effects of an immediate permanent decrease in g. What happens to short-term and long-term interest rates?
    5. Describe the effects an announced future permanent decrease in g. (This scenario is also known as the Clinton plan). What happens to short-term and long-term interest rates?

Question 2:

Endogenous Money

Monetary aggregates, such as the monetary base and broader concepts like M1 or M2, appear to be procyclical. It is sometimes argued that this pattern can be explained from models of “endogenous money,” that is, frameworks in which money moves in response to changes in the economy.

  1. Suppose that the monetary authority varies the money supply in order to maintain a desired path of the price level, for example, to maintain price stability. Can this monetary rule create a procyclical pattern for money even if money has no effect on real variables? What happens if the monetary authority targets a nominal interest rate instead of, or in addition to, the price level?
  2. Suppose that the monetary authority wants to peg an exchange rate, rather than the domestic price level. Would the targeting of an exchange rate create a procyclical pattern for money?
  3. Does the idea of endogenous money imply that broad aggregates like M1 or M2 will be more procyclical than a narrow aggregate like the monetary base?
  4. Can the idea of endogenous money explain why money and output move together on a seasonal basis (using seasonally-unadjusted data!)?
PART II

Answer any two of the following three questions. Be sure to use a separate bluebook for each answer.

  1. “It’s absurd to think that monetary policy actions, as conventionally implemented by central banks in advanced industrialized economies, have any more than a trivial impact on either real economic magnitudes or prices. For example, in the United States an enormous financial market holds and trades approximately $4 trillion of government securities and more than that amount of debt securities issued by other borrowers, yet supposedly the difference between a highly “expansionary” monetary policy and a highly “restrictive” monetary policy amounts to whether the central bank buys $10 billion more or less of government securities over the course of an entire year. Hah! Open market operations in such trivial amounts (compared to the size of the economy and the financial markets) can’t have much impact on anything. Further, since the majority of U.S. bank liabilities are not subject to reserve requirements, the idea that these open market operations affect the economy by regulating the banking system’s ability to create money and/or extend credit doesn’t make sense either.”
    Construct the strongest argument you can to disagree with this statement.
  2. The U.S. Treasury has just announced its intention to change the maturity structure of its outstanding debt by issuing fewer long- and medium-term securities and more short-term securities. The stated rationale for this change is to save on the government’s interest payments. (Long-term Treasury bonds currently yield around 7%, short-term bills around 3%, and medium-term notes somewhere in between depending upon the maturity.)
    1. Under what assumptions would this kind of debt management action actually deliver reduced interest costs over the long run?
    2. Under what assumptions would this kind of debt management action not deliver reduced interest costs over the long run?
    3. Under what assumptions would this kind of debt management action not deliver reduced interest costs over the long run, but reduce the government’s budget deficit over the long run anyway?
  3. —
    1. Evidence drawn from the experience of OECD countries over the last three decades strongly suggests that disinflations (that is, reductions in the rate of increase of prices) are typically costly, in the sense of involving foregone real output compared to what a disinflating economy would otherwise have produced if its inflation rate had remained unchanged. What features of economic behavior account for this foregone output? In answering, be specific about how the elements to which you point affect real output. Also indicate whether your answer implies that disinflations brought about by restrictive monetary policy are likely to be more or less costly (again, in the sense of foregone output) than disinflations that occur for other reasons.
    2. In light of your answer to (a), why do you think there is not more discussion of the “gain” associated with increasing inflation rates, to parallel the usual discussion of the “sacrifice” associated with disinflation?
Part III. (Answer two questions)

Answer any two of the following three questions.

Question 6

    1. Consider a small open economy characterized by the following equations

Y\  =\  C\left( Y \right) +I\left( r^{\ast} \right) +G+X\left( e \right) -eM\left( e \right)

M/P\ =\ L\left( Y,r^{\ast} \right)

where all variables have their standard meaning, e is the real exchange rate, e = EP*/P and * denotes a foreign variable. Assuming that the price level is fixed, what is the effect of an increase in G on output and net exports under fixed and flexible exchange rates? What assumptions on X and M do you need to make in the flexible rate case?

    1. Now consider another small open economy with a representative agent that chooses consumption to maximize the present discounted value of consumption

\max_{\left\{ c_{t} \right\}} \int_{0}^{\infty} e^{-\alpha t}\  ln\  c\  dt

where c denotes consumption, α the discount rate, and t indexes time. The agent receives a constant flow income of \bar{y} and can borrow and lend at the world interest rate which is also α. What is the economy’s current account? Suppose that at time 0 the government decides to erect a monument to its own greatness. The monument will cost γ in time 0 income. What is the effect on the current account if the government finances construction by confiscating αγ from \bar{y} at each instant? What is the effect on the current account if the government issues bonds to finance construction and postpones the implementation of the income tax until time t=\Gamma >0?

(c) Speculate as to why the effect on the current account in the flexible rate part of (a) differs from the bond financing part of (b)?

Question 7

Suppose that the exchange rate (x) depends on some fundamentals (f) and the expected rate of appreciation or depreciation as follows:

x\left( f_{t} \right) =f_{t}+\frac{1}{dt} E_{t}dx\left( f_{t} \right).

Suppose further that fundamentals follow a Brownian motion without drift

df=\sigma dw

where w is a Wiener process.

    1. Use Ito’s lemma to write a differential equation for x and solve it. [Hint: the solution should contain three terms, two of which should involve exponentials and the third should be f].
    2. Suppose that initially f < \bar{f} and that each time the fundamentals reach the level \bar{f} , the government follows a policy of resetting the fundamentals to \bar{f} -  c < \bar{f}. What boundary conditions allow you to solve for x(f). (Hint: consider what happens when the government intervenes and when f approaches -∞.)
    3. Graph the solution for x(f) from (b). What effect does the policy of intervention at \bar{f} have on the variance of x? Is var(x) < var(f)?
    4. What does your answer in part (c) lead you to conclude about the desirability of exchange rate systems such as the European Monetary System in which the currency government maintains the currency between two bands?

Question 8

Consider a firm with the following loss function

\Pi \left( p_{i},p,m \right) =-\gamma \left( p_{i}-p-\alpha \left( m-p \right) \right)^{2}

where pi is the firm’s nominal price, p is a price index, m is the money supply, and \gamma is a positive constant. All variables are in logs. Suppose that initially

pi = p = m = 0.

    1. Suppose that the firm incurs a fixed cost β each time it alters its nominal price. Characterize the optimal policy in the face of a once and for all change in m given that the price index remains constant and that the firm discounts future losses at the rate r. How does this policy depend on the curvature of the loss function (γ) and the discount rate (r)?
    2. Suppose that the economy is made up of many firms just like the one above and that the log price index is just the average of their log prices

\left( p=\int p_{i}di \right).

What policy would these firms follow in the face of a once and for all change in the money supply if they could agree to follow identical strategies? How does your answer differ from part (a). Interpret the role of α.

    1. How would you expect your answer to part (a) to change if instead of a one time change, the money supply followed a process with variance σ.

Source: Department of Economics, Harvard University. Past General Exams Spring 1991-Spring 1999, pp. 53-59. Copy provided to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror by Abigail Wozniak.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. History of Economics up to the Physiocrats. Description, enrollment, final exam. Bullock, 1909-1910

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli (1476).

During the first quarter of the 20th century at Harvard, the academic study of the history of economics extended back to ancient Greece. Charles Jesse Bullock brought enough classics cred to teach such a course, having himself taught Greek and Latin in New England schools before going off to get his Ph.D. (1895) at the University of Wisconsin.

__________________________

Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

________________________

Course Description
1909-10

151. History and Literature of Economies to the year 1848. First half-year. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11, and two additional hours to be arranged by the instructor. Professor Bullock.

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

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

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

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 54.

_______________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 151. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 6: 6 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 15
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Discuss Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s communism.
  2. Give an account of Xenophon’s “Revenues of Athens.”
  3. At what points were the economic theories of the Schoolmen most influenced by Aristotle’s economic theories?
  4. What do you think of Ingram’s account of the economic ideas of the Middle Ages?
  5. Name six of the more important mercantilist writers and summarize the views of the one you consider to be most representative.
  6. “The earth is the source or matter whence all riches are produced. … The intrinsic worth of everything is proportioned to the value of the land, labor, risk and time necessarily had in producing it into use and form.”
    Who wrote this and how do you classify him?
  7. State the doctrine of the wage fund as you have found it in the writings of its leading exponents. Why and in what sense was it given up, and how is it related to more recent theories of wages?
  8. So far as you have read the evidence, to what extent was Adam Smith indebted to the Physiocrats, and to what extent did he make original contributions in the field of economics?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 49.

Image Source: Portrait of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Demidoff Altarpiece by Carlo Crivelli (1476). The National Gallery website.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Radical Socialism Suggested Reading

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Readings, final exam. Carver, 1909-1910

Columbia standing with Puck's figure for the "Independent" party/vote and Puck who is holding a design drawing for a statue labeled "Reform", which is under construction behind them by "D.W. Everett, Rev. J.F. Clarke, Beecher, Col. The. Lyman, Schurz, H. White, G.F. Williams, Curtis, [and] Jones". The building blocks are labeled "Scratchem 1879, Anti-3rd Termism 1880, Tidal Wave Elections 1882, Civil Service Reform Bill, [and] Republican Revolt 1884"

The Economics in the Rear-view Mirror collection of artifacts in the form of course readings, syllabi, and exams is increased with this post that provides material from the economics course Methods of Social Reform — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax taught by Thomas Nixon Carver during the second term of the academic year 1909-10 at Harvard.

At the risk of being unfair to an academic scribbler of a few years back who may be pronounced not guilty in the illiberal mania of our own times, I believe Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver (1865-1961) could easily have been the sort of professor Turning Point USA would have embraced and promoted. 

Professor Carver’s own words about his course on Methods of Social Reform are fair game to quote (Prove me wrong):

The half course on methods of social reform attracted every kind of radical which the student body could furnish. They came armed with all the stock arguments against the existing economic system. Its defects were patent enough, while their untried schemes had not revealed to the naked eye their own defects. By listening patiently to their indictments, maintaining a reasonable attitude, and adopting the Socratic method of free discussion, I was able to steer the course, not to the satisfaction of the extreme radicals, but to that of the majority of the successive classes.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1949. Page 172.

__________________________

Previously posted

Pre-Carver:
Carver’s courses

Post-Carver:

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

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

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

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

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, pp. 53-54.

________________________

ECONOMICS 14b
TOPICS AND REFERENCES

Starred references are prescribed.
Double starred references will be used as a basis for class-room discussion.

COMMUNISM
A
UTOPIAS
  1. Plato’s Republic.
  2. *Sir Thomas More. Utopia.
  3. *Francis Bacon. New Atlantis.
  4. *Tommaso Campanella. The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
  5. Etienne Cabot. Voyage en Icarie.
  6. William Morris. News from Nowhere.
  7. Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward.
  8. Laurence Gronlund. The Coöperative Commonwealth.
  9. H. G. Wells. A Modern Utopia.
B
COMMUNISTIC EXPERIMENTS
  1. Charles Nordhoff. The Communistic Societies of the United States.
  2. Karl Kautsky. Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
  3. *W. A. Hinds. American Communities.
  4. J. H. Noyes. History of American Socialisms.
  5. J. T. Codman. Brook Farm Memoirs.
  6. Albert Shaw. Icaria.
  7. G. B. Landis. The Separatists of Zoar.
  8. E. O. Randall. History of the Zoar Society.
SOCIALISM
A
HISTORICAL
  1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
  2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
  3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
  4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
  5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism
  6. William Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
  7. Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.
  8. Wm. B. Guthrie. Socialism before the French Revolution.
  9. M. Hillquit. History of Socialism in the United States.
B
EXPOSITORY AND CRITICAL
  1. **J. E. Le Rossignol. Orthodox Socialism.
  2. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
  3. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
  4. **Karl Marx. Capital.
  5. *Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. The Manifest of the Communist Party.
  6. Frederic Engels. Socialism, Utopian and Scientific.
  7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
  8. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
  9. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
  10. The Fabian Tracts.
  11. R. T. Ely. Socialism: an Examination of its Nature, Strength and Weakness.
  12. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
  13. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
  14. Sidney and Beatrice Web. Problems of Modern Industry.
  15. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
  16. Werner Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
  17. Émile Vandervelde. Collectivism.
  18. R. Flint. Socialism.
  19. A. Labriola. Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History.
  20. E. de Laveleye. The Socialism of Today.
  21. P. J. Proudhon. What is Property?
  22. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism
  23. John Spargo. Socialism
ANARCHISM
  1. Max Stirner (pseudonym for Kaspar Schmidt). Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum.
  2. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
  3. William Godwin. Political Justice.
  4. P. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
  5. P. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22: 149.
  6. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 14: 627.
  7. E. V. Zenker. Anarchism, a Criticism and History.
RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM
  1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
  2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
  3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
  4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
  5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
  6. Josiah Strong. The New Era
  7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of Morris.
  8. Ruskin, the Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
  9. Carlyle, The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works.
THE SINGLE TAX
  1. **Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
  2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
  3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.
  4. Thomas G. Shearman. Natural Taxation.
  5. Louis F. Post. The Single Tax.
STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

  1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
  2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.
WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM
  1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
  2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
  5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder: 1909-1910.

_______________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

Total 59: 14 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 5 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

 _______________________

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-End Examination, 1909-10

  1. State and discuss the doctrine of “Evolution through class struggle.”
  2. What does Mackaye mean by “conditional compensation,” and how does he propose that it shall be put into practice?
  3. Give a brief account of the origin of the Social Democratic party in Germany.
  4. What is the difference between Utopian and “scientifie” Socialism?
  5. What problem did Henry George attempt to solve in his Progress and Poverty? Did he solve it? Explain your answer.
  6. Is the single tax a step in the direction of Socialism? Explain your answer.
  7. Why does Fillebrown think that the single tax would improve the conditions on Cornhill Street, Boston? Is he justified in his belief?
  8. Discuss the question: Would the single tax be confiscation?

 Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 48-49.

Image Source: “Men may come, and men may go; but the work of reform shall go on forever” by J. Keppler in Puck (5 November 1884). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Distribution of Wealth. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1909-1910

"Shall I be wise and great, or rich and powerful" wonders a schoolboy standing outside a "Public School"; on the left is Charles M. Schwab sitting atop a large money bag labeled "Manager of Steel Trust $1,000,000 yearly salary," resting on a steel factory, and on the right is a Supreme Court justice holding a balance scale in one hand and a tiny money bag with the label "Chief Justice of U.S. $10,500 yearly salary," sitting on a large book labeled "Law and Constitution."

Thomas Nixon Carver’s Cornell Ph.D. dissertation “The theory of wages adjusted to recent theories of value” was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (July 1894). This followed the publication of his paper “The place of abstinence in the theory of interest” that appeared in the October 1893 issue. It was this theoretical work on the functional distribution of income that caught the eye of the Harvard economics department. Thus it was natural for the topic of distribution to have been included in Carver’s portfolio of courses.

Carver later wrote about the importance of these two articles for his professional advancement:

Considering the time 1900, the place Harvard, and the subjects which I was to teach, the position to which I was appointed was undoubtedly the most important teaching position in the country, or the world. How a green country boy from an Iowa prairie moved through various stages, each one a surprise to himself, to such a position has been and still is a source of wonderment to me. It must surprise, even if it does
not interest, some other people.

I was deeply curious to know how President Eliot had heard of me and what had led him to write to me about coming to Harvard, but I restrained myself. Years afterward I asked him how he came to look me up, and he replied that Professor Dunbar had been impressed by two articles which I had sub- mitted to him as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which he had published, and which he, President Eliot, had read. “Besides,” said he, with a smile, “I know a great many people from Ohio.” I learned from other sources that he had talked with some of my former students who had come from Oberlin to Harvard for graduate work. I was fortunate in having some warm friends among the Oberlin men then at Harvard.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1949. Page 3.

________________________

From earlier semesters

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09

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

__________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

This course begins with a survey of the most noteworthy attempts to formulate a general theory of value. The economic systems of Ricardo, Mill, Böhm-Bawerk, and Clark are specially reviewed. The attempt is then made, in the light of these criticisms, and of industrial conditions, to formulate a positive theory of distribution helpful in explaining the actual incomes of the various classes of producers. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 53.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 67: 15 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 14a1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. What is the relation of cost of production to value?
  2. Would you include wages, rent, interest and profits all under cost of production? State your reasons for your answer in each case.
  3. What is the relation of the law of diminishing returns to the law of rent?
  4. How would you distinguish between the rate of interest and the income from capital? How is each determined?
  5. -6. How would you answer the following questions? Is land productive?
    Is capital productive?
    State briefly your reasons for each answer.
  1. -8. How would you answer the following questions?
    Is rent earned? Is interest earned?
    State briefly your reasons for each answer.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 48.

Image Source: Young America’s Dilemma by Louis Dalrymple. Puck (12 June 1901). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. European Economic History. Description, Enrollment, Exams. Gray and Gay, 1909-1910

Historical time and cultural space are dimensions that have collapsed in the training of the the 21st century economist. We again take you back to view some of the economic history course offerings found in early 20th century Harvard. OK, let’s be honest, even at that time we can see from the course enrollments that there were only three graduate students with Latin skills robust enough to handle medieval texts (Si verum quaeris). It is also charming to see that Edwin F. Gay’s  “modern economic history” goes all the way up to … the beginning of the 19th century.

________________________

Earlier Courses
European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with M.T. Copeland]

1909-10. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with H. L. Gray]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

________________________

Mediaeval Economic History
of Europe

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

10 2hf. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 2.30. Dr. [Howard Levi] Gray.

After a preliminary examination of early economic and social institutions, this course aims to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. Among other topics, the following will be considered: medieval agriculture and serfdom; the manorial system and the economic aspects of feudalism; the beginnings of town life and the gild-system of industry; and the Italian and Hanseatic commercial supremacy.

It is essential that students should possess some reading knowledge of Latin.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 56.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 10 2hf. Dr. [Howard Levi] Gray. — Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Total 3: 3 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

________________________

Modern Economic History
of Europe

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Modern Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., al 10. Professor Gay.

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

Course 11 is open to students who have taken Economics 1 or History 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 56.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Course Enrollment
1909-10

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

Total 12: 4 Graduates, 4 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Explain briefly: —
    1. the open field system,
    2. the manorial system,
    3. copyhold,
    4. Meierrecht,
    5. Erbuntertänigkeit,
    6. yeomanry.
  2. —
    1. The second chapter in the class outline of the “Decline of the Manorial System” was entitled “The Decline of Serfdom.” Write this chapter in as full detail as your time permits.
    2. State briefly why, in your opinion, serfdom disappeared earlier in England than on the Continent.
  3. Describe the chief changes in the English craft gild in the sixteenth century.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. —
    1. Discuss this statement:
      “In many ways the Statute of Artificers marks the transition between the gild system and the later methods of labor regulation, although the intention of the Statute to accomplish this transition is by no means certain.”
    2. Outline the policy of public regulation of prices and wages in England from the Statute of Laborers to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
  2. State the extent, causes, and results of the price movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  3. —
    1. Describe the forms of company organization in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Account for the change in the attitude of public opinion toward the companies.
    2. Compare the development of mercantile companies in England, France, and Holland.
  4. In 1665 a Dutch merchant desired to ship from Amsterdam to London the following commodities: Portuguese wine, currants, olive-oil, herring, Russian timber, Prussian grain, Java coffee, and Delft tiles. How legally could he ship each commodity? Would he have shipped in the same way ten years earlier?
  5. Define (a) the manorial system, (b) the gild system, (c) the domestic system. Comment briefly on (d) John Hales, (e) the Fuggers, (f) Colbert.

Write on one of the following topics in English economic history
prior to 1800:—

  1. The problem of interest.
  2. The poor laws.
  3. Indirect taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 47-48.

Image Source: Regts Delft Tiles website.

Categories
Economists Harvard International Economics

Harvard. Economics professors who signed petition supporting Congressman Jerry O’Connell’s resolution, 1938

Haberler, Hansen Leontief, Mason

In a random search for interesting newspaper reports about the Austrian economist Gottfried Haberler during his early years on the Harvard faculty, I came upon a report of a Spanish Civil War rally held at Harvard featuring the Montana one-term Congressional democrat, Jerry O’Connell, that had taken place on March 27, 1938 in Emerson Hall. The U.S. Communist Party newspaper The Daily Worker reported that a number of Harvard faculty members signed a petition to support an anti-fascist amendment to U.S. neutrality legislation of the time. They included the economists:

Gottfried Haberler
Alvin Hansen
Wassily Leontief
Edward Mason.

The amendment would have prohibited commerce with aggressor nations [Germany and Italy] and have opened American markets to the victims of aggression [the Loyalist Republicans].

This naturally leads to questions as to why these economists took a side and why other senior colleagues did not? I presume lower ranks of the faculty (instructor-tutors) also signed the petition, but all my casual research has uncovered is found in the article transcribed below.

_______________________________

Backstory of the O’Connor Peace Bill

In March 1938 Representative Jerry O’Connell introduced a House resolution to amend the existing neutrality legislation, including the Spanish embargo. Sam McReynolds, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, initially agreed to hearings before finally refusing. James Roosevelt claimed that the hearings were stopped by the State Department to avoid public discussion of the Spanish embargo. On 24 March Breckinridge Long, employed as a lobbyist by pro-Loyalists, visited Roosevelt to argue in favor of repealing the embargo. FDR, sympathetic but noncommittal, suggested that Long talk to Hull. A week later Hull told Long that the embargo might be lifted if fascist intervention could be proved: ‘‘Hull said he would reconsider if he received sufficient factual information about Italo-German invasion in Spain—so sufficient to justify a change of policy so the president could revoke the Proclamation of Neutrality and embargo of war implements. The Spanish Ambassador today furnished him with substantial proof of alleged ‘invasion’ of Spain. Whether that is sufficient remains to be seen.’’

Long did secure a promise that the embargo issue would be placed before the president. But on 10 April Long thought that no change of policy was likely, primarily because the Loyalists looked close to military collapse. Late March was also the height of the fight in Congress over reorganizing executive agencies, and FDR was particularly reluctant at this time to engage in a violent political quarrel to lift the embargo. On 5 April Byron Scott introduced a House resolution to repeal the Spanish embargo, but this effort also failed. Hull, who favored wider neutrality reform but not the repeal of the Spanish embargo, telegraphed the U.S. embassy in Spain in early April to state that repeal was ‘‘not in prospect.’’ But a few weeks later Roosevelt was told that Senator Key Pittman, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, might act on the Spanish question. On 2 May Senator Gerald Nye introduced a resolution to allow arms sales to Loyalist Spain.

… there is little evidence that Roosevelt sought to lift the Spanish embargo in the spring or summer of 1938.

Source: Dominic Tierney. FDR and the Spanish Civil War Neutrality and Commitment in the Struggle that Divided America, Chapter 7: Covert Aid. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007, pp. 92-94.

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46 Harvard Faculty Members
Back O’Connell Peace Bill
16 Professors Among Signers of Petition

Montana Representative Main Speaker at Peace Rally in Cambridge
— Points to Danger From Reactionaries in U.S.

(Special to the Daily Worker)

BOSTON, Mass., March 27. —A group of 16 prominent Harvard professors in addition to 30 other members of the university faculty presented a petition supporting the O’Connell Peace Bill, yesterday afternoon to Representative Jerry O’Connell of Montana on the occasion of his address at a peace rally of undergraduates in Emerson Hall.

The professors who signed the petition for the Act, which would empower the President to name the aggressor nation in case of war, and apply economic sanctions against that aggressor, were:

Professors:

Arthur Holcombe—Government
Ralph Burton Perry—Philosophy
David Prall—Philosophy
Walter B. Cannon—Harvard Medical School
Hassler Whitney—Mathematics
Gordon Allport—Psychology
Gottfried Haberler—Economics
Alvin Hansen—Economics
Wassily Leontieff—Economics
Edward Mason—Economics
Kenneth Murdock—English
H. L. Blumgart—Harvard Medical School
T. Morrison—English
C. L. Kuhn—Fine Arts
Ernest Simmons—English
W. C. Greene—Classics

Speaks on Fascist Danger

In his address, Rep. O’Connell stressed the recent unparalleled spread of fascism through Europe. He pointed out the danger to American democracy from certain reactionary business interests in this country. O’Connell traced the recent development of collective security sentiment in the country and in Congress. After drawing a vivid picture of Loyalist Spain under the bombs of fascism, O’Connell urged his audience to write letters to the House Foreign Affairs Committee urging immediate consideration and passage of his Peace Act. “To keep America out of war,” he said, “keep war out of the world.”

The meeting was sponsored jointly by the Harvard Student Union (local A.S.U, chapter), the American League for Peace and Democracy, and the Cambridge Teachers’ Union.

The petition read: “We wholeheartedly support the proposed O’Connell amendment to the Neutrality Act. This amendment would prohibit commerce with aggressor nations and open American markets to the victims of aggression.”

Source: Daily Worker (New York), March 28, 1938, p. 4.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1942.