Category: History of Economics

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Harvard History of Economics Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list for History of Economics through Ricardo. Probably Ashley, 1899-1900

The Harvard Archives has five folders of undated syllabi/reading lists from the economics department. Every so often as curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror I cannot resist the urge to attempt dating artifacts that have been unceremoniously dumped into folders labelled e.g. “Economics, Undated (5 of 5)”. 

The following prescribed reading list can be dated with extremely high probability to the course taught by William James Ashley from the turn of the 20th century (1899-90) for which exams have already been transcribed. I have used square brackets to designate additional bibliographic information.

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Evidence of
(i) Ashley’s course and (ii) 1899-1900

Note the close correspondence of the authors in the prescribed reading list to the course announcement below for the 1897-98 academic year (it was not offered 1898-99 when Ashley was on leave). The course description for 1899-1900 would have been helpful, but I have not located a copy yet.

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror posted a first term reading list in the Harvard Archives for Ashley’s course Economics 11: The Modern Economic History of Europe that has a stamp: “Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass. Jan 15, 1900” along with a handwritten note in pencil on the second term’s reading list “1899-1900”. Those semester reading lists bear distinct similarities to the reading list featured in this post, both begin with “Prescribed Reading” and we see that almost all authors of items in the reading list are only identified by last name.

The translation of Turgot’s Réflexions in Ashley’s own series Economic Classics was published in 1898. Also the use of many other texts from Ashley’s Economic Classics as well as his use relevant chapters of his own Economic History are strong evidence that we are dealing with Ashley’s course.

Ashley resigned from Harvard effect September 1, 1901. He did not offer Economics 15 in his final year.

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Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—

[Economics] 15. Professor Ashley. — The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 11: 6 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

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

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Cf. Course Announcement
1897-98

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economics to the Close of the Eighteenth Century. Mon., Wed., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Professor ASHLEY.

The course of economic speculation will here be followed, in its relation alike to the general movement of contemporary thought and to contemporary social conditions. The lectures will consider the economic theories of Plato and Aristotle; the economic ideas underlying Roman law; the mediaeval church and the canonist doctrine; mercantilism in its diverse forms; “political arithmetic;” the origin of the belief in natural rights and its influence on economic thought; the physiocratic doctrine; the work and influence of Adam Smith; the doctrine of population as presented by Malthus; Say and the French school; and the beginnings of academic instruction in economics.

The lectures will be interrupted from time to time for the examination of selected portions of particular authors; and careful study will be given to portions of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics (in translation) to Mun’s England’s Treasure, Locke’s Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, certain Essays of Hume, Turgot’s Réflexions, and specified chapters of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and Malthus’ Essay . Students taking the course are expected to procure the texts of the chief authors considered, and to consult the following critical works:

Ingram, History of Political Economy; Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy; Cannan, History of the Theories of Production and Distribution; Bonar, Philosophy and Political Economy; Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest; Taussig, Wages and Capital.

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. 33-34. 

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ECONOMICS 15.

PRESCRIBED READING.

Ingram, History of Political Economy. [Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1888.]

Taussig, Wages and Capital, pp. 124-215. [New York: D. Appleton and company, 1896.]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Plato, The Republic, 368-376, 414-424, 462-465, 473 [note: these are not page numbers but rather text section numbers printed in margins], in the translation either of Jowett or of Davies and Vaughan [London and New York: Macmillan, 1892]; with Jowett’s Introduction. pp. cli-clxxv, clxxxv-cxcii.  [Jowett’s third edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888]

Aristotle, The Politics, Bk. I and Bk. II, 1-7, in Jowett’s translation; with Jowett’s Introduction, pp. ix-xxxvii. [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885]

The teaching of mediaeval Schoolmen and Canonists; as set forth in Ashley, Economic History, I, pp. 124-159, II, ch. vi.  [2nd edition. 1892-93.]

Mun, England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade. [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Locke, Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest. (in Ward, Lock & Co.’s edition of his Essays, pp. 559-614).

Hume, Essays, “Of Commerce” (23), “Of Money” (25), “Of Interest” (26), “Of the Balance of Trade” (27), “Of Taxes” (30). [David Hume. Essays, Literary, Moral, and Political. London: Ward, Lock & Bowden, Limited, printed sometime after Aug 1891 and 1897. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100193633].

Turgot, Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses (in [L.] Robineau’s Turgot [Administration et oeuvres Économiques] in “Petite Bibliothèque Economique” [Paris: Guillaumin et Cie (1889), pp. 46-148; or English translation in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. London: Macmillan, 1898.]

Adam Smith, “Select Chapters and Passages from The Wealth of Nations [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Malthus, “Parallel Chapters of the 1st and 2d editions of An Essay on the Principle of Population” [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”. New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, ch. I-VI. [See this title in Ashley’s “Economic Classics”: New York and London: Macmillan, 1895.]

J. S. Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy, II-V. [2nd ed. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1874.]

Two theses are required: one, before the Christmas Recess, on Mercantilism (illustrated from Mun, or any other important mercantilist writer); the other, before the Spring Recess, on Physiocracy (with a discussion of Turgot’s relation thereto).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC(522.2.1) Box 10. Folder “Economics, Undated (5 of 5)”.

Image Source: “Ashley, William James, 1860–” in University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), p. 595.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for the history of economics up to 1848. Bullock, 1910-1911

Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot

Six Harvard graduate students were led through economic thought from the Ancient Greeks through the Scottish Enlightenment by Professor Charles Jesse Bullock in 1910-11. That material could have been covered in the General Examination in economic theory that at that time included the history of economic ideas.

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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]

1909-10. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 [Charles Jesse Bullock]

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 15. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. 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: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 54.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 15. 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, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 15
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. How did Aristotle classify the various branches of the art of acquisition?
  2. What ideas concerning value are found in the works of the leading Greek and Roman writers?
  3. Discuss Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s communism.
  4. Discuss the economic opinions of Xenophon.
  5. What views concerning commerce were held by Aristotle, Xenophon, and Thomas Aquinas?
  6. What traces of the influence of Aristotle do you find in the theories of the Schoolmen concerning just price and usury?
  7. Discuss Ashley’s views of the Scholastic doctrine of usury.
  8. Discuss the change that occurred in the doctrine of usury between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-End Examination, 1910-11 

  1. Discuss briefly the development of theories of interest from Aquinas to Turgot.
  2. Discuss the economic opinions of John Hales.
  3. Discuss the relation of mercantilism to the economic thought of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
  4. Discuss the economic opinions of Mun and Davenant.
  5. Discuss the theories of Boisguilbert and Cantillon.
  6. Compare English mercantilism with French and Italian.
  7. Discuss critically Ingram’s treatment of mercantilism.
  8. Discuss Adam Smith’s relation to earlier ethical and political thought; his relation to mercantilist writers; his indebtedness to the physiocrats. How far can his work claim originality?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 51.

Image Source: Chateau de Versailles. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, intendant et ministre des Finances (1727-1781).

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.

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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.

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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.

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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
History of Economics Princeton Suggested Reading

Princeton. Introductory lecture notes for history of economics. Baumol, 1979

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror proudly adds the 1900th artifact to its collection of curated transcriptions of archival material.

I have chosen to post William J. Baumol’s lecture notes for his introductory lecture in his Princeton course on the history of economic thought because Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is, after all, in the same business of examining the evolution of economics. Baumol’s notes were typed using ALL UPPER-CASE letters which I have taken the liberty to tone down to a conventional mixture of upper- and lower-case letters for ease of reading. Also I have added boldface and italics, and paragraph formats have been tweaked for the same purpose. Links to the literature cited add a little jazz to the presentation of today’s artifact. Square brackets indicate material I have inserted.

Executive summary: Baumol began his course with warnings of five dangers to be avoided by prospective historians of economics.

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Previously posted course material
on the history of economics
taught by Wm. J. Baumol

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Revised February 1979

INTRODUCTION

      1. One Question Exam
      2. Choice of Papers
      3. When Due
      4. Will Concentrate on Smith, Ricardo, Marx

General References: J. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, (Oxford, 1954); Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (Irwin, Homewood, 2nd ed., 1968).

Dangers in Doctrinal History

Favoritism: Schumpeter: Walras Sí, Ricardo No!

Reading into predecessors’ minds:

Example — Isnard 1781 (vs. Canard, 1801)

[Achille Nicolas Isnard. Traité des richesses. Tome I; Tome II; Tome III. London and Lausanne:  François Grasset, 1781]

[Nicolas François Canard. Principes d’économie politique. Paris: F. Buisson, 1801]

“Canard’s performance… is sometimes listed among early contributions to mathematical economics (on the strength of a few algebraic formulae that mean nothing) but would otherwise partake of the blessings of deserved oblivion, had not a misfortune befallen it. This misfortune consisted in its being ‘crowned’ by the same French Academy that later failed to extend any recognition to Cournot and Walras. And those Olympians who felt their neglect the more bitterly on account of the honour done to Canard visited him with a scathing contempt that bestowed upon him an unenviable immortality…”

([Precursors in Mathematical Economics, eds. William J. Baumol and Stephen M. Goldfeld, 1968], 155, quoted from Schumpeter, p. 499 [also cf. Schumpeter, p. 217])

“..we cannot help feeling that Schumpeter and Theocharis are somewhat over-enthusiastic. Schumpeter describes the following passages as ‘the crowning achievement of the epoch in this line [supply-demand] of analysis… in his not otherwise remarkable book…’ (p. 307); and Theocharis calls it ‘… one of the most important contributions in the history of the development of mathematical economics…. [He] conceived the idea of a general equilibrium and its determination.’” ([Reghinos D. Theocharis, Early Developments in Mathematical Economics, 1961] pp. 66-68)

Excerpts from Traité des Richesses
by A.N. Isnard
First Section
On the relationship of commodities in general
[Original]

“Here we will consider the direct exchange of commodities in general against other commodities at the same location, in order to investigate their values in terms of one another in the absence of any intermediary monies….

It is easy to see what will transpire in an exchange between two isolated proprietors of two commodities, for which the desire for the exchangeable surplus (superflue) of the one is equivalent to the desire for the surplus of the other. If one supposes, for example, that the surplus of the first is a quantity, a, of some commodity measured in (value) units, M, and that that of the second is a quantity b of some other item measured in units M’, if these are the only available goods, they cannot be exchanged for one another unless the quantity a of units M is equivalent to the quantity b of units M’—  thus we have the equation aM = bM’, and, consequently, M:M’,::(1/a):(1/b). The value of each unit is thus in inverse ratio to the quantity of the item which is offered for exchange.

If, instead of two items, one assumes that three or more commodities are traded, the same situation holds for the general value of the commodities. Each unit of a particular item will be equal in value to the sum of the supplies of units [of the item being evaluated], or, what amounts to the same thing, the values of the commodities are in direct proportion to the sum of the quantities [of other items] supplied and in inverse proportion to the number of [their] units. But since the quantities supplied consist of many heterogeneous commodities, it is not possible to deduce the exchange ratio of any two particular items from the equation which has just been discussed. To obtain the exchange rates of commodities taken two by two, it is necessary to formulate as many equations as there are commodities.”

Blowing small passages out of proportion —  authors probably would not have understood today’s interpretation.

Robertson: periodic requests by Pigou to explain “Pigou effect”.

Inconsistencies in predecessors: which passage in an author’s text should one interpret as “his view”?

“Early writers — Ricardo is a notorious case — say things and their opposites. Thus Galileo wrote that a freely falling object has (A) a velocity proportional to its distance fallen, and (B) a squared velocity proportional to its distance fallen. (A) is a mistake, (B) is right. After many years, Galileo went from (A) to (B). You would be just to criticize me if I kept attributing to Galileo (A): you could properly write to me ‘surely…” If Ricardo’s procedure were like Galileo’s, I’d concede all. But it isn’t. He went back and forth saying ‘Swans are white,’ ‘Swans are black.’ There is no progression in his view on the relation of short-run wage to long-run subsistence. It is bootless for us to vie in matching Ricardo’s quotation on swans’ color, the winner to be the one with the most passages on his side. I refuse to play that game, and I doubt that you care for such procedures. Perhaps we can both agree (?) on Stigler’s summary (JPE, 1952, 60, around footnote 37): ‘…The indefinitely prolonged excess [noted by Ricardo] of the market over the natural [“subsistence”] wage…must simply be recorded as correct views which Ricardo did not know how to incorporate in his theoretical system.’”

(Letter to Baumol from Paul Samuelson, June 17, 1977).

Carelessness: failure to read what author said.

Example: Marx interpreted to mean value = price.

Example: utility of money (Patinkin, “Relative Prices, Say’s Law, and the Demand for Money,” Econometrica 16 [April 1948], p. 140). Surely Patinkin is not justified in citing Walras as one of those to whom money has no utility. His only reference (indeed his only “damning” reference to Walras) is to the statement, “Soit (U) la monnaie que nous considérerons d’abord comme un objet sans utilité propre...” (Éléments, p. 303) This is hardly conclusive and it may well be meant to indicate no more than the author’s intention at that point to deal only with monies like paper rather than, for example, gold. In any case, it includes the phrase “d’abord” (to begin with). Indeed it would be most strange for one who has been hailed as a mighty protagonist of the cash balance approach, to find Walras denying utility to cash. But we have better evidence that this. In his Théorie de la Monnaie he makes it abundantly clear that he is most pleased that the theory of money provides such a fine and important application of the theory of marginal utility and more than once he speaks of the rareté of money after having pointed out that this is the term he had appropriated from his father to designate marginal utility.

Pareto is another of the five “classics” (Walras, Pareto, Wicksell, Cassel and Divisia) whose work is specifically cited by Patinkin as an example of the mishandling of monetary theory. As with Walras, Patinkin provides us with only one specific reference to prove that in the Paretian system money has no utility. But the choice of passage is here even more strange. The only reference to money on the page cited is the following: “la monnaie étant une marchandise doit avoir pour quelques individus une ophélimité propre; mais elle peut ne pas en avoir pout d’autres”. (Manuel, p. 593) Surely this is the contradictory of Patinkin’s allegation! Indeed, Pareto goes further — in effect reprimanding those others (?) who maintain that money has no utility: “La monnaie remplit deux rôles principaux: 1° elle facilite l’échange des marchandises; 2° elle garantit cet échange…C’est parce qu’on n’a pris parfois en considération que son premier rôle qu’n n’a vu dans la monnaie qu’un simple signe sans valeur intrinsèque.” (Manuel, p. 451)

Overall comments

  • Many but not all of predecessors wise men.
  • Understood surprisingly much of what we understand today.
  • But also missed a great deal.
  • Would be sad indeed if it were all contained in earlier work!
  • Do we have much to learn from them? — That you will have to judge for yourselves.
Author Year of Birth First Important Work
on the Theory of Value		 Year of Publication Age
Smith 1723 Wealth of Nations [Vol. I; Vol. II] 1776 53
Malthus 1766 Essay on the Principle of Population 1798 32
Ricardo 1772 Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation 1817 45
Cournot 1801 Recherches sur les Principes mathématiques de la Théorie des Richesses 1838 37
Dupuit 1804 De la mesure de l’utilité des travaux publics 1844 40
Mill, J. S. 1806 Principles of Political Economy [Vol. I; Vol. II] 1848 42
Von Thünen 1783 Der Isolierte Staat, Vol. II 1850 67
Gossen 1810 Entwickelung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs 1854 44
Marx 1818 Das Kapital 1867 49
Jevons 1835 Theory of Political Economy 1871 36
Menger 1840 Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre 1871 31
Walras 1834 Éleménts d’Économie Politique Pure 1874 40
Böhm-Bawerk 1851 Grundzüge der Theorie des Wirtschaftlichen Güterverkehrs [Part I; Part II] 1886 35
Von Wieser 1851 Der Natürliche Wert 1889 38
Marshall 1842 Principles of Economics 1890 48
Fisher 1867 Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Value and Prices 1892 25
Wicksell 1851 Über Wert, Kapital und Rente 1893 42
Wicksteed 1844 The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution 1894 50
Pareto 1848 Cours d’Économie Politique, [Volume I; Volume II] 1896/97 58
Barone 1859 Studi Sulla Distribuzione
[Part I; Part II]		 1896 37
Clark 1847 The Distribution of Wealth 1899 52
Keynes 1883 General Theory 1936 53

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. William J. Baumol Papers, Box 20, Folder “History of Economic Thought (1979-1988) One of Two”.

Image Source:  Cropped from portrait of William J. Baumol in 1981 published in his obituary published in The New York Times, May 10, 2017.

Categories
Exam Questions France Germany Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exam questions for 19th century French and German economists. Gay, 1908-09

Friedrich Benedict von Hermann (ca. 1850)

Nine Harvard graduate students were registered for Professor Edwin F. Gay’s reading seminar on French and German economists of the 19th century. I’d be very surprised if there were a U.S. department of economics today in which one would find nine graduate students who could read both of those languages. But that was then when it would have beeen difficult to find an economics department with nine graduate students who could handle a second year undergraduate math class of today. 

Incidentally, there was no mid-year final exam for this course included in the printed collection of mid-year final exams in 1908-09.

________________________

Previously offered

1903. Exam for German Economic Thought

1906-07. Exam for 19th century French and German Economics

________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 22. Professor Gay — German and French Economists of the Nineteenth Century.

Total 9: 9 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 67.

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Course Description

[Economics] 22. German and French Economists of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evening hours per week, to be arranged with the instructor. Professor Gay.

In this course selections from the works of a number of the more important German and French economists will be read and informally discussed. The influence of the English classical school will be traced, together with the criticism directed against this school by the socialists and the historical economists. Attention will also be given to the question of methods in economic investigation.

A moderate reading knowledge of German and French will of course be necessary.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19
(1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, p. 51.

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ECONOMICS 22
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

  1. State critically the position of Sismondi, Rodbertus, Bastiat, and Wagner on rent.
  2. Von Thünen and Le Play.
  3. Discuss the German historical school.
  4. (a) Estimate the work of St. Simon, Fourier, Rodbertus, Marx.
    (b) Comment on Wagner’s criticism of Socialism.
  5. Translate and comment on the following passage:—
    „Die wahre und immer neu fliessende Quelle der Vergeltung der Produktivarbeit ist das Einkommen des Käufers, der ihr Produkt für den eigenen Bedarf kauft. Das Kapital des Unternehmers einer technischen Produktion ist daher nur das Mittel, die auf jeder Produktionsstufe erforderliche Arbeit dem Produkt einzuverleiben und dieselbe am Ende dieser Bearbeitung im Produkte zu verkaufen. Es ist in keiner Weise der Fond, aus dem der Lohn bezahlt wird. Dass die Quelle des Lohnes das Kapital der Unternehmer sei, ist nicht blos theoretisch irrig, sondern auch in praktischer Beziehung eine höchst bedenkliche Lehre, weil sie den Arbeiter in der oberflächlichen Ansicht bestärkt, der Unternehmer sei sein Arbeitgeber und von diesem hänge die Höhe seines Lohnes ab.“

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), pp. 50-51.

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Cf. Original German Text

„Die wahre und immer neu fliessende Quelle der Vergeltung der Produktivarbeit ist das Einkommen des Käufers, der ihr Produkt für den eigenen Bedarf kauft.
…Das Kapital des Unternehmers einer technischen Produktion ist daher nur das Mittel, die auf jeder Produktionsstufe erforderliche Arbeit dem Produkt einzuverleiben und dieselbe am Ende dieser Bearbeitung im Produkte zu verkaufen…Es ist in keiner Weise der Fond, aus dem der Lohn bezahlt wird.

[two pages later]

…Dass die Quelle des Lohnes das Kapital der Unternehmer sei, ist nicht blos theoretisch irrig, sondern auch in praktischer Beziehung eine höchst bedenkliche Lehre, weil sie den Arbeiter in der oberflächlichen Ansicht bestärkt, der Unternehmer sei sein Arbeitgeber und von diesem hänge die Höhe seines Lohnes ab.“

Source: Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen von Friedrich Benedict Wilhelm von Hermann  (2nd edition, München, 1870), p. 476 and p. 478.

Fun fact: the previous links take us to Allyn A. Young’s copy of Hermann.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for the history of economics up to 1848. Bullock, 1908-1909

Xenophon

“Economic Theory and its History” was the designation of the only mandatory subject for the economics Ph.D. general examination at Harvard in the early 20th century [there were still another five elective subjects to be examined in!] so it is not surprising that this full year course taught by Charles J. Bullock actually went all the way back to Aristotle and Xenophon. 

__________________________

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]

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 15. 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, 1908-1909, p. 67.

__________________________

Course Announcement
1908-09

[Economics] 15. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri, at 11. 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. V, No. 19 (1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, p. 50.

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ECONOMICS 15
THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS

Mid-Year Examination, 1908-09
  1. By what processes did the western world’s stock of economic ideas grow during the period you have studied?
  2. Compare the economic opinions of Xenophon with those of Aristotle.
  3. What did the Roman Law derive from previous economic thought and what did it contribute to subsequent thought?
  4. What do you think of Ingram’s account of economic thought during the Middle Ages?
  5. Where would you look for materials relating to the economic ideas of Europe from 500 A.D. to 1100 A.D.?
  6. What traces of the influence of Aristotle do you find in the economic doctrines of the Schoolmen?
  7. Describe the progress of economic thought in Italy from 1300 A.D. to 1500 A.D.
  8. What opinions concerning commercial policy do you find in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1908-09.

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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS.
Year-end Examination, 1908-09
  1. Write an essay of about 1,000 words upon the progress of economic thought in England from 1500 to 1770.
  2. What were the elements that contributed to Smith’s system of economic thought?
  3. Compare briefly the development of economic thought in France from 1500 to 1770 with the development of English thought during the same period.
  4. What is the attitude of Schmoller and Oncken toward the mercantilists?
  5. What significance have the Physiocrats for the history of economic thought?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 46.

Image Source: Xenophon. From the statue of Xenophon by Hugo Haerdtl that is located on the southern entry ramp to the Austrian Parliament (Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring 3, im 1. Wiener Gemeindebezirk Innere Stadt).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Final exam for Adam Smith and Ricardo course. Bullock, 1907-1908

 

I suppose that a graduate course dedicated to the works of Smith and Ricardo between historical bookends of Physiocracy and Karl Marx should come as no surprise from that era over a century ago when the history of economic ideas was firmly embedded in the theory taught to apprentice economists. But like Gay’s attempt to bring a deep reading of French and German economics (not in translation) into the curriculum in the previous year, Bullock’s course of was not met with an overwhelming demand.

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Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 25 2hf. Professor Bullock — Adam Smith and Ricardo.

Total 6: 4 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

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ECONOMICS 25
ADAM SMITH AND RICARDO.
Year-end Examination, 1907-07

  1. Trace the development of the doctrine of rent in the writings of the Physiocrats, Smith, and Ricardo.
  2. What were the opinions of Smith and Ricardo concerning the measure of value?
  3. Discuss the fundamental doctrines of the Physiocrats and Smith concerning capital.
  4. Compare Marx’s theory of value with the theories of Smith and Ricardo.
  5. What are the fundamental contentions of Smith in his attack upon the Mercantilists?
  6. Compare the general doctrines of the Physiocrats, Smith, and Ricardo concerning the incidence of taxation.
  7. Compare Ricardo’s doctrine of foreign trade with that of Smith.
  8. What were the views of Smith and Ricardo concerning the effect of the increase of capital upon profits?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), p. 46.

Image Sources: Adam Smith by James Tassie in the National Galleries of Scotland. David Ricardo by William Holl Jr, after Thomas Phillips stipple engraving, published 1839 in the National Portrait Gallery.

 

Categories
Exam Questions History of Economics Princeton

Princeton. History of Economic Thought General Exams for Ph.D. 1981, 1986

I believe the history of economics is too important to be left exclusively in the hands of either historians or economists, but I also believe that not a whole lot would get done if we had to wait for scholars with the right blend of talents and skills, given the constraints of time and the institutional realities of modern universities. Nonetheless there has been the one or other colleague who actually contributed to the development of economics in a scientific sense and has thought long and hard about the ideas of those upon whose shoulders we all stand. William J. Baumol was one such economist. The history of economic thought was one polished arrow in his teaching quiver.

This post provides a transcript of the two Ph.D. field exams in the history of economic thought at Princeton that I found in Baumol’s papers at the Economists’ Papers Archive in Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The 1981 exam appears to have only run one page and just might be missing a few questions on a second page not seen, though I find that possibility less likely than it only was one page long.

In an earlier post you can find the field exam from January 1987 and a reading list for his course from the fall semester of 1988.

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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

General Examination
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
History of Economic Thought

October 1981

3 hours

  1. Discuss Ricardo’s “93 percent Labor Theory of Value.”
    1. In what sense was the Labor Theory taken to approximate the true determination of equilibrium price relationships?
    2. How does this relate to Ricardo’s views about the relationship between wages and profits?
  2. Describe Marx’s use of the Tableau Économique.
    1. Briefly describe the working of the tableau.
    2. Describe the working of the Marxian model that emerged from the tableau.
    3. Indicate at least one use that has been made of the Marxian model.
  3. In one sentence for each, give some information about the work of the following writers:
    1. Nassau Senior
    2. Jules Dupuit
    3. John Bates Clark
    4. Enrico Barone
    5. Knut Wicksell
  4. Classical and neoclassical economists considered free trade to be superior to protectionism from the viewpoint of the general welfare.
    1. How did Pigou measure the general welfare in this sort of analysis?
    2. When the free trade issue was discussed by earlier writers did they usually discuss this measurement problem to any substantial degree?
    3. On what grounds was the Pigouvian approach criticized?
    4. What alternative was offered in the “new welfare economies2 of Hicks and Kaldor?

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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

General Examination
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
History of Economic Thought

Time: 3 hours

January 1986

  1. (for Peter Rathjens) Earlier writings on rent focussed on rent payments as a reward to units of superior quality that was attributable to the heterogeniety of the resource. Thus, land was alone among inputs in the focus upon its heterogeniety. Discuss the role of this issue in later writings and the degree to which they did or did not treat land as essentially different from all other inputs which of them, if any, concluded that there is such a thing as an “absolute” rent (in contradistinction to differential rent)?
  2. (for Jai-June Kim) Validity of the infant industry argument for tariffs as a benefit to the general public required that when the industry grows up it not merely yield net benefits, but that they be more than sufficient to offset the welfare lost during the period of protection. Was this point recognized by those who wrote on the subject? If so, by whom? Discuss what other qualifications some of the writers raised in relation to the argument and how they treated the way in which the issue had been analyzed by others.
  3. Discuss the role of alienation in Marx. In which of his writings was it discussed? Does the term always refer to the same phenomenon? How might it relate to accumulation and, consequently, to the “Laws of motion of capitalism?”
  4. Ricardo’s test of the labor theory of value was whether a rise in wages will change the relative prices of commodities. Explain the logic of this test. What does Ricardo conclude from the test about the validity of the labor theory in reality? Why was this way of looking at the matter of importance to Ricardo?
  5. Describe the tasks that Adam Smith considers to constitute the proper roles of government. Was he an extreme or a moderate advocate of laissez-faire? What is the logic of his arguments for governmental economic activity? How do they compare with modern analysis of the subject?
  6. In one sentence each characterize some of the work of the following:

a) Cantillon
b) Quesnay
c) Menger
d) Wesley Mitchell
e) Kondratieff

  1. (Jeehwan Rhee) Summarize some of Malthus’ arguments on the issue of general overproduction. Indicate (giving specific examples) to what extent Malthus’ arguments anticipate those of Keynes.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. William J. Baumol Papers, Box 20, Folder “Exams 1980-89”.

Image Source:  Cropped from portrait of William J. Baumol in 1981 published in his obituary published in The New York Times, May 10, 2017.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for history of economics to 1848. Bullock, 1907-1908

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, 1727-1781

The semester exam questions for the fifth time Charles Jesse Bullock taught this history and literature of economics through 1848 at Harvard. He also covered the field of public finance. Guess which field is not really taught much any more…

__________________________

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]

__________________________

History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848

Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 15. Asst. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 7: 7 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Mid-Year Examination, 1907-08

  1. Describe the development of theories of commerce from the time of Aristotle to that of the Schoolmen.
  2. Compare the Republic of Plato with More’s Utopia.
  3. Give an account of the economic opinions of Xenophon.
  4. Describe the development of the doctrine of usury from the time of Aristotle to the year 1500.
  5. What do you think of Ingram’s treatment of the economic thought of the Middle Ages?
  6. How did Aristotle classify the various branches of the art of acquisition?
  7. How far would Aristotle’s classification of the various branches of the art of acquisition harmonize with the views of the Schoolmen concerning the various branches of industry and trade?
  8. What is your opinion of the Scholastic doctrine concerning usury?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1907-08.

ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS.
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. What connection can be traced between the economic thought of the sixteenth century and that of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?
  2. What traces of Aristotle’s influence can be seen in the political and economic theories of Adam Smith?
  3. What doctrines concerning money can be found in the writings of Aristotle, the Schoolmen, Davanzati, and Hume?
  4. Write a brief account of economic thought in England, France, and Italy from 1540 to 1590.
  5. Write a brief survey of the condition of economic thought in England, France, Germany, and Italy about the middle of the eighteenth century.
  6. Compare the opinions of Thomas Mun with those of two earlier and two later English Mercantilists.
  7. What was Turgot’s theory of distribution?
  8. At what points did Smith’s theory of distribution differ from that of Turgot?
  9. Describe the progress of Smith’s doctrines in France and Germany up to the year 1850.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 38-39.

Image Source: Jean-Antoine Houdon’s bust of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781). Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. History of Economics through 1848. Bullock, 1905-1906

For some reason this course was inadvertently skipped over when I was posting the 1905-06 Harvard exams earlier. Charles Jesse Bullock was responsible for the fields of public finance and the history of economic thought in the department during the first decades of the twentieth century. There’s more to come.

__________________________

Earlier history of economics exams
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]

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1905-06

 Economics 15. Asst. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 7: 7 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Mid-Year Examination, 1905-06

  1. What did Aristotle say concerning the following topics: commerce, money, usury, value?
  2. What economic topics were discussed by the Roman writers?
  3. Trace briefly the development of the political and economic theories of the Schoolmen.
  4. Upon what grounds do modern writers defend the prohibition of usury during the Middle Ages?
  5. What is your opinion of the theories by which the prohibition was upheld?
  6. Give some account of the economic opinions of Carafa.
  7. In the economic writings of the sixteenth century, so far as you are acquainted with them, what evidence do you find of continuity in the development of economic doctrine?
  8. Give an account of the economic opinions of John Hales?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. What traces of Aristotle’s influence have you found in the economic literature of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries?
  2. What traces of Scholastic influence can be found in the economic literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
  3. Give a brief account of the writings and economic opinions of any three of the following men: Misselden, North, Locke, Vanderlint, Decker, and Hume.
  4. Write a brief account of the progress of economic thought in Italy from 1500 to 1770.
  5. Write a brief account of the rise and progress of Cameral Science in Germany.
  6. To what extent were the Physiocrats indebted to previous economic thought?
  7. What were the chief influences that contributed to the development of Adam Smith’s system of economic doctrine?
  8. Compare the “Wealth of Nations” with the “Lectures upon Justice, Police, Revenue, and Arms.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 40-41.