Category: Johns Hopkins

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Bibliography Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Trade and Economic Development, Course Reading List. Balassa, 1968

 

Perhaps the story is apocryphal and/or I have confounded my European economists but I believe I remember having heard once upon a time during the Cold War that when Janos Kornai was asked how he could explain the relative abundance of successful Hungarian émigré economists, he replied “Oh we don’t export our best economists”. If the story is true, then certainly one of the Hungarian émigrés implicit in the question was likely to have been Bela Belassa. He attained textbook immortality as a co-parent of the Balassa-Samuelson Effect.

____________________________

The Johns Hopkins University
Department of Political Economy
Spring, 1968
Mr. Balassa

Trade and Economic Development
Bibliography and Reading List

Abbreviations of Books

Books are referred to by author unless otherwise noted.

Balassa, Bela, Trade Prospects for Developing Countries

Ellis, H.S., ed. Economic Development in Latin America

Hicks, J.R., Essays in World Economics

Harrod, Roy, ed., International Trade Theory in a Developing World

Johnson, H.G. I International Trade and Economic Growth

Johnson, H.G. II Money, Trade and Economic Growth

Johnson, H. G. III Economic Policies towards less Developed Countries

Meier, G.M., International Trade and Development

Mikesell, R.F., U.S. Private and Government Investment Abroad

Nurkse, R., Equilibrium and Growth in the World Economy

Pincus, J., Trade, Aid, and Development

Wionczek, M.S., ed. Latin American Integration

Abbreviations of Periodicals

AER      American Economic Review
Econ    Economica
EDCC   Economic Development and Cultural Change
EJ         Economic Journal
ER        Economic Record
JPE       Journal of Political Economy
Ky        Kyklos
LBR      Lloyds Bank Review
MS       Manchester School
Met     Metroeconomica
OEP     Oxford Economic Papers
QJE      Quarterly Journal of Economics
RES      Review of Economics and Statistics
RESt     Review of Economic Studies

I Foreign Trade and Economic Growth

Meier, ch. 2

Hicks, ch. 4 and Note B

Johnson, II, ch. 4

Johnson, I, ch. 4

Bhagwati, J., “International Trade and Economic Expansion” AER, December 1958

*Mishan, E.J. “The Long-Run Dollar Problem: A Comment” OEP June 1955

*Corden, W.M., “Economic Expansion and International Trade: A Geometric Approach,” OEP June 1956

*Findlay, R. and Grabert, H. “Factor Intensity, Technological Progress and the Terms of Trade,” OEP, February 1959

*Bhagwati, J., “Immiserizing Growth: A Geometrical Note,” RESt, June 1958

*Srinivasan, T.N., “Foreign Trade and Economic Development,” Met, January-August, 1965

II Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Controversy

Nurkse, R., ch. 10 I, 11

Prebisch, Raul, “Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries” AER, May 1959

Pincus, Part II

Seers, Dudley, “A Model of Comparative Growth Rates in the World Economy,” EJ, March 1962

Meier, ch. 7

*Haberler, G., International Trade and Economic Development National Bank of Egypt, Cairo Lectures

*Viner, J., International Trade and Economic Development

*Cairncross, A.K., “International Trade and Economic Development,” Ky 1960 (4)

*Mynt, H., “The Gains from International Trade and to Backward Countries,” RESt, 1954-55

*Flanders, M.J., “Prebisch on Protectionism: An Evaluation,” EJ, June 1964

 

III Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Facts

Balassa, ch. 1, 3, 4

Balassa, “Economic Growth, Trade, and Balance of Payments into Developing Countries”, mimeo, ch. 1, 2

Baer, W., “The Economics of Prebisch and ECLA” EDCC, January 1962, Comment by Flanders and Reply by Baer, ibid April 1964

Massell, B.F., “Export Concentration and Fluctuations in Export Earnings,” AER, March 1964

Morgan, T., “Trends in Terms of Trade, and their Repercussions on Primary Producers,” Harrod, ed. ch. 3

Meier, ch. 3

*Haberler, G., “Terms of Trade and Economic Development,” in Ellis, ch. 10.

*United Nations, International Compensation for Fluctuation in Commodity Trade, New York 1961

*United Nations, World Economic Survey, 1962, part I ch. 2

*Kindleberger, C.P., The Terms of Trade: A European Case Study

 

IV Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Policies

Balassa, B., The Impact of the Industrial Countries’ Tariff Structure on their Imports of Manufactures from less-Developed Areas, Econ. November 1967

Johnson III, ch. 5, 6

Pincus, ch. 6, 7, 9

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Preferences and other Policy Measures to Stimulate Exports of the Developing Countries, Trade Intelligence Paper No. 7, 1966

Swerling, B. Current issues in Commodity Policy, Princeton Essays in International Finance No. 7

*Patterson, G., “Would Tariff Preferences Help Economic Development?” LBR, April 1965

*Johnson, H.G., “Trade Preferences for Developing Countries,” LBR, April 1966

*UNCTAD, The Question of the Granting and Extension of Preferences in Favour of Developing Countries, May 31, 1967

*Wallich, H.C., “Stabilization of Proceeds from Raw Material Exports” in Ellis ed.

*International Monetary Fund, Compensatory Financing of Export Fluctuations

*New Directions for World Trade, Proceedings of a Chatham House Conference, 1964

V Trade Policies in Developing Countries

Chenery, H.B., “Comparative Advantage and Development Policy,” AER May 1961

Hagen, E.E., “An Economic Justification of Protectionism,” QJE November 1958

Mynt, H., “Infant Industry Arguments for Assistance of Industries in the Setting of Dynamic Trade Theory,” Harrod, ch. 7

Balassa, B. and Schydlowsky, D., “Effective Tariffs, the Domestic Cost of Foreign Exchange, and the Equilibrium Exchange Rate,” JPE, April 1958

Corden, W.M., “The Vernon Report,” ER, March 1966

Meier, ch. 6

*Black, J., “Arguments for Tariffs,” OEP June 1959

*Bruno, M., “The Optimal Selection of Export-Promoting and Import-Substituting Projects, Planning the External Sector: Techniques, Problems and Policies United Nations, 1967

*Kemp, M.C., “The Mill-Bastable Infant-Industry Dogma,” JPE, February 1960

*Lewis, W.A., “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor,” MS May 1954

*Chenery, H.B. and Bruno, M., “Development Alternatives in an Open Economy: The Case of Israel, EJ, March 1962

*Sheahan, J., “International Specialization and the Concept of Balanced Growth,” QJE, May 1958

 

VI Economic Integration among Less Developed Countries

Balassa, B., Economic Development and Integration

Balassa, B., “Integration and Resource Allocation in Latin America” mimeo

Mikesell, R.T., “The Theory of Common Markets as Applied to Regional Arrangements among Developing Countries,” Harrod, ch. 9

Massel, B.F. and Cooper, C.A., “Toward a General Theory of Customs Unions for Developing Countries,” JPEOctober 1965

*Wionczek, M.S., “Latin American Free Trade Association,” International Conciliation, January 1965

*Hansen, R.D., Central America: Regional Integration and Economic Development, National Planning Association, 1967

*United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, The Latin American Common Market, 1959

*Urquidi, V., Free Trade and Economic Integrity in Latin America

VII Capital Needs of Developing Countries and Foreign Aid

Johnson III, ch. 4

Pincus, ch. 8

Chenery, H.B. and Strout, A.M., “Foreign Assistance and Economic Development,” AER September 1966

McKinnon, R., “Foreign Exchange Constraints in Economic Development and Efficient Aid Allocation, EJ June 1954

Pincus, J., “The Cost of Foreign Aid,” RES November 1963

*Little, I.M.D. and Clifford, J.M., International Aid

*Fei, J.C.H. and Paauw, D.S., “Foreign Assistance and Self-Help: A Reappraisal of Development Finance,” RESAugust 1965

*Rosenstein-Rodan, P., “International Aid for Underdeveloped Countries,” RES May 1961

*Vanek, J., Estimating Foreign Resource needs for Economic Development: Theory, Method, and a Case Study of Colombia

 

VIII Foreign Investment and Economic Development

Nurkse, ch. 7, 10 II

MacDougall, D., “The Benefits and Costs of Private Investment Abroad: A Theoretical Approach, ER March 1960

Singer, M., “the Distribution of Gains between Investing and Borrowing Countries,” AER, May 1950

Alter, G.M., “The Servicing of Foreign Capital Inflows by Underdeveloped Countries,” Ellis, ch. 6

Meier, ch. 5

*Mikesell, Part II

*Avramovic and Gulhati, Debt Servicing Problems of Low Income Countries

*Mikesell, R.F., Public International Lending for Development

*Bernstein, M.D. Foreign Investment in Latin America

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 5/6. Box 6/1, Folder “Course Outlines and Reading Lists c. 1900, c. 1950, 1963-68”.

Image Source: Portrait of Bela Balassa in the Johns Hopkins University Yearbook, Hullabaloo 1976. Note that the image posted on the Béla Belassa page at the website Alchetron mistakenly uses a photo of Balassa Sándor Erkel Ferenc.

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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Graduate economics exams, M.A. and Ph.D., 1933

 

 

This post began innocently enough as simple transcriptions of the single A.M. and the two Ph.D. examinations in political economy for 1933 from the Johns Hopkins Archives. Because the names of the examinees are included on the typed carbon copies of the examination questions, I dug a little bit deeper to find out more about these degree candidates. From the official commencement programs, we are able to determine that these written examinations were in almost all cases administered as “exit examinations” a month before the degrees were actually awarded, so the exams were not “prelim” exams to establish degree candidacy and also not part of a dissertation defense. This seems late in the game for a final hurdle of this nature.

The commencement programs provide the titles of the theses/dissertations submitted for the degrees. Digging further, I was even able to find pictures of all the examinees.

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The Graduate Degree Examinees
Johns Hopkins University, May 1933

Lawrence Nelson Bloomberg, of Virginia, A.B. University of Richmond 1930. Political Economy.
A.M. Johns Hopkins University, Thesis.“Goodwill: Its Nature and Valuation.” [p. 8 of 1933 Commencement program]
PhD Dissertation. “The Investment Value of Goodwill.” [p. 11 of 1934 Commencement program]

Born September 27, 1909 in Richmond, Virginia; died August 13, 1989.
1940 worked in Washington, DC at the American Bankers Association.

Image Source:  Senior year photo of Lawrence Nelson Bloomberg in the University of Richmond yearbook, The Web–1930.

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

Roy Johnson Bullock, of Maryland, A.B. Doane College 1925; M.B.A. Harvard University 1927. Political Economy. Ph.D. dissertation “A History of the Chain Grocery Store in the United States.” [p. 11 of 1933 Commencement program]

Born October 5, 1903 in Crete, Nebraska; died in Marco Island, Collier County, Florida Feb. 14, 1980.
1940 Census: teacher at Johns Hopkins University.
1942: worked in the Office of Price Administration, Washington, DC.
1961: senior staff consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. Also, the commencement speaker at Doane College’s 1961 commencement. Awarded honorary doctor of laws degree.

Image Source: Portrait of Roy Johnson Bullock (approximately 30 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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

Abner Komaroff, of Palestine, B.V.A. American University of Beirut 1930.
Ph.D. Dissertation, “The Foreign Trade of the United States in Citrus Fruits.” [p. 12 of Commencement program 1933]

Image Source: Portrait of Abner Komaroff (approximately 20 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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

Harold Edwin Peters, of Maryland, A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1930.
Ph.D. Dissertation, “The Foreign Debt of the Argentine Republic”. [p. 13 of Commencement program 1934]

Born October 15, 1908 in Baltimore,   died February 22, 1978 in Baltimore.
Apartment developer since the mid-1930’s, after teaching economics for a year at the College of Charleston. (Graduate of Calvert Hall College, then Johns Hopkins where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1930).

Image Source: Portrait of Harold Edwin Peters (approximately 25 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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

Evelyn Ellen Singleton, of Maryland, A.B. Goucher College 1930. Political Economy.
PhD dissertation, “Workmen’s Compensation in Maryland”. [p. 13 of Commencement program 1933]

Born October 9, 1909 in Lancaster, PA; died May 29, 2002.
Married Robert William Thon, Jr. (see next graduate) April 1, 1936 in Elkton, MD.

Image Source: Portrait of Evelyn Ellen Singleton (approximately 20 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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

Robert William Thon, Jr., of Maryland. Political Economy. PhD Dissertation “Mutual Savings Banks in Baltimore.” [p. 14 of 1933 Commencement program]

Born Dec. 23, 1908 in Richmond, VA; died September 1983 in Baltimore MD.
Occupation: banker

Image Source: Portrait of Robert William Thon, Jr. (approximately 50 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
for Master of Arts Degree
May 18, 1933

Mr. Bloomberg

  1. Discuss Adam Smith’s canons of taxation.
  2. Describe Malthus’ principle of population and the changes which it underwent.
  3. What arguments are used to justify the sale of a manufactured article at a lower price abroad than at home?
  4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the general Property Tax?
  5. Explain and criticize the quantity theory of money.
  6. How are freight rates determined?

 

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Economic Theory)
May 18, 1933

Miss Singleton
Messrs. Thon, Bullock, Peters, Komaroff

  1. What is the relation of Political Economy to economic history in scope and in method of investigation?
  2. What important economic doctrines had been clearly formulated prior to the year 1800?
  3. Discuss the personal contacts and doctrinal contrasts of Quesnay and Adam Smith.
  4. Contrast the theories of distribution formulated by (a) Adam Smith, (b) David Ricardo, (c) Alfred Marshall.
  5. What has been the development of the principle of population since the time of Malthus?
  6. Discuss the origin and development of the wage fund theory.
  7. What have been the most important contributions of the Austrian economists?
  8. Discuss the law of increasing returns and its application to modern business.
  9. Criticize the various theories of entrepreneur profits that have been proposed.
  10. What are the present conspicuous gaps in economic theory and by what means are they to be repaired?

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Applied Economics)
May 19, 1933

Miss Singleton
Messrs. Thon, Komaroff , Bullock, Peters

  1. Discuss the history, theory, incidence and the defects of the General Property Tax.
  2. Discuss modern industrial combinations in the light of: (1) An assignable limit to the growth in the size of the modern industrial unit; and (2) the imminence of Socialism.
  3. Discuss the policy of selling protected manufactures in foreign markets at less than domestic prices.
  4. Is a compulsory Board of Arbitration practicable, and what principles should govern its decisions?
  5. Criticize the principle of fixing railway rates according to “What the traffic will bear”, in the light of the recent tendency towards cost of service rate.
  6. Outline the history of (a) metallic and (b) paper money in the United States since the adoption of the Federal constitution.
  7. Discuss the use of the chief forms of averages; for example, the mean, the median and the simple average.
  8. Outline the history of English legislation relating to joint stock companies.
  9. State the chief points in controversy between the Banking School and the Currency School.
  10. Discuss the economic justification for the chief forms of labor legislation.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6/Series /, Subseries 1, Box 3/1, Folder “Department of Political Economy, Graduate Exams 1933-1965”.

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1951.

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Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

John Hopkins. Economics Ph.D. completion rate, years to completion. 1956-1970

 

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the numbers in this table (that come from archived departmental statistics) need to be transformed to adjust for  incomplete “spells” of graduate work reported for the most recent cohorts (e.g. 1967/8 through 1969/70) that are apparently included with the completed “spells” and program drop-outs in order to get a proper estimate of the completion rate and the distribution of times to completion for the Ph.D. It has been years since I made this sort of calculation for the distribution of unemployment spells by duration, so I’ll just leave this as an exercise for readers.

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JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy Department
Fall 1970

DISTRIBUTION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS ENTERING SINCE JULY 1956, SHOWING IN COLUMN (3) THE PERCENTAGE OF ALL ENTERING STUDENTS WHO TAKE THE Ph.D. WITHIN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and more YEARS AFTER STARTING GRADUATE WORK AT HOPKINS

 

Year since
starting
graduate
work at
Hopkins a		 Percentage of all entering students who took the Ph.D. during that yearb
Col. (6) – Col. (5)		 Cumulative percentage from
Col. (2)c		 Academic years during which the represented students entered Hopkins Number of students who entered during the years in Col. (4) Number of those in
Col. (5) who took the Ph.D. during the year given in
Col. (1)

(1)

 (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
1st — — 56/7 thru 69/70 198

0

2nd

 1.7% 1.7% 56/7 thru 68/9 176 3
3rd 6.8% 8.5% 56/7 thru 67/8 162

11

4th

 14.0% 22.5% 56/7 thru 66/7 145 20
5th 4.5% 27% 56/7 thru 65/6 132

6

6th

 8.0% 35% 56/7 thru 64/5 118 8
7th & more 6.0% 41% 56/7 thru 63/4 108

6

a Not counting any previous graduate work elsewhere

b Including those who completed requirements by October at the end of the year given in Col. (1).

c About 59% (i.e. 100% — the total of 41%) of entering students do not take the Ph.D.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Papers. Series 5, Box 6, Folder “Statistical Information (Dept, University National, 1927, 1956-1972”.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Reading List and Exam for Aggregate Income Theory. Machlup, 1951

Machlup presenting, Domar, in profile, 3rd person to Machlup's right.

 

Materials (reading list and exams) for Fritz Machlup’s course on income distribution, 18-603, have been transcribed and posted earlier. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror also has a transcription of the final exam for his 1956 course on methodology.

________________________

 

Course Announcement

Theory of Aggregate Income 604. Professor Machlup.
Two hours weekly, second term.

A study of the theory of income formation, linking an analysis of the supply and circulation of money with a dynamic process analysis of autonomous and induced disbursements for consumption and investment; an attempt to explain the level and fluctuations of national income.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. School of Higher Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy, Announcements of Courses 1950-51 (The Johns Hopkins Circular, April 1950), p. 99.

________________________

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
THE THEORY OF AGGREGATE INCOME
18-604

Prof. Fritz Machlup

READING LIST
Spring Term 1951

Books:

Required:

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. (London: Macmillan, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1936) pp. 1-384.

Recommended:

Richard Ruggles, An Introduction to National Income and Income Analysis. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1949)

Thomas C. Schelling, National Income Behavior. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951)

A.E.A., Readings in Business Cycle Theory. (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1944)

Seymour E. Harris (ed.), The New Economics. New York: Knopf, 1947)

 

I. Static and Dynamic Analysis

Paul A. Samuelson, “Dynamic Process Analysis,” A Survey of Contemporary Economics, ed. Howard S. Ellis. (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1948) pp. 352-387.

 

II. Savings, Investment, and National Income

Bertil Ohlin, “Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Saving and Investment,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 87-131.

Friedrich A. Lutz, “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 131-157.

Abba P. Lerner, “Saving and Investment: Definitions, Assumptions, Objectives,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 158-168.

Oscar Lange, “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 169-192.

Fritz Machlup, “Forced or Induced Saving,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 25 (1943), pp. 26-39.

Dennis H. Robertson, “A Survey of Modern Monetary Controversy,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 311-329.

 

III. The Multiplier

Fritz Machlup, International Trade and the National Income Multiplier (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1943) Chapters 1-7, 10.

Gottfried Haberler, “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of the ‘Multiplier’: A Methodological Criticism,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 193-202.

Fritz Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 203-234.

Robert Eisner, “The Invariant Multiplier,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 17 (1949-50), pp. 198-202.

 

IV. Velocity and Time Lags

James W. Angell, “The Components of Circular Velocity of Money,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51 (1937), pp. 224-272.

Lloyd Metzler, “Three Lags in the Circular Flow of Income,” Income, Employment, and Public Policy. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1948), pp. 11-32.

Alvin H. Hansen, “The Robersonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 32 (1959), pp. 24-29.

Harold M. Somers, “A Theory of Income Determination,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 58 (1950), pp. 523-541.

 

V. Wage Rate Reductions and Employment

A. C. Pigou, “Real and Money Wage Rates in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47 (1937), pp. 405-422.

N. Kaldor, “Professor Pigou on Money Wages in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47 (1937), pp. 745-762.

A. C. Pigou, “Money Wages in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 48, (1938), pp. 134-137.

James Tobin, “Money Wage Rates and Employment”, in The New Economics, pp. 572-587.

 

VI. Tax-Financed Government Expenditures

Trygve Haavelmo, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, Vol. 13 (1945), pp. 311-318.

Gottfried Haberler, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Some Monetary Implications of Mr. Haavelmo’s Paper,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 148-149.

R. M. Goodwin, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: The Implications of a Lag for M. Haavelmo’s Analysis,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 150-151.

Everett E. Hagen, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Further Analysis,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 152-55.

T. Haavelmo, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Reply,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 156-58.

 

VII. The Accelerator

John M. Clark, “Business Acceleration and the Law of Demand: A Technical Factor,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 235-260.

Paul A. Samuelson, “Interactions Between the Multiplier Analysis and the Principle of Acceleration,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 261-269.

F. A. Hayek, Profits, Interest, and Investment. (London: Routledge and Sons, 91939) Chapter I, pp. 3-72.

F. A. Hayek, “The Ricardo Effect,” Economica (1942), pp. 126-152.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 15, Folder “Macroeconomics: Old Reading Lists”.

 

________________________

 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Theory of Aggregate Income
(18-604)
Final Exam, May 29, 1951

Professor Fritz Machlup

Answer three questions, one of each group, as concisely as possible without omitting significant steps in your reasoning. Write in English rather than in algebra or geometry.

I.

  1. Explain the possibilities of a general cut in money wage rates bringing about an increase in aggregate employment.
  2. Explain the increase in employment that can be brought about by an increase in tax-financed government expenditures, emphasizing alternatively the significance in the causal sequence of changes in (a) the quantity of money or velocity of circulation, (b) liquidity preference, (c) the propensity to consume, (d) the difference between investment and saving.

 

II.

  1. Explain the meaning of the distinctions between the “consumption lag”, the “output lag”, and the “earnings lag”, and their importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of income.
  2. Explain the meaning of the distinctions between “intended” and “unintended” saving, and “intended” and “unintended” investment, and their importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of income.

 

III.

  1. Explain the interactions between multiplier and accelerator.
  2. Explain the meaning of the “Ricardo Effect” and its importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of the accelerator and of the turning points of the business cycle.

 

Source: The Johns Hopkins University. The Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 6, Box 3/1, Folder “Graduate Exams, 1933-1965”.

Image Source: Fritz Machlup is seen presenting in a seminar (note: Evsey Domar is leaning forward on the right side of the table, third from the left). From the Johns Hopkins Yearbook Hullabaloo 1956, p. 15.

Categories
Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Reading List for Monetary Economics, William Poole, 1964

 

Typically one encounters the work of senior scholars without having much of a clue about what they might have been like when they were young. While there is the occasional Peter Pan among us who have lived long lives as Wunderkinder (e.g. Paul Samuelson), the overwhelming majority of academic economists have developed, some even in a positive sense, so it is useful to have material from different points in their individual life cycles. This post provides a small window into the academic life of a young economist who was to go on to become a member of Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers and the eleventh president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Professor William Poole. The reading list for monetary theory transcribed below comes from his second year at the Johns Hopkins University.

______________________

William Poole’s Fed Biography

William Poole became the eleventh president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on March 23, 1998, and retired March 31, 2008.

Poole was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He received a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in 1959 and a master’s degree and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1963 and 1966, respectively. Before joining the St. Louis Fed, Poole was Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University. He served on the Brown faculty from 1974 to 1998 and the faculty of Johns Hopkins University from 1963 to 1969. Between these two university positions, he was senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He was also a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Reagan administration from 1982 to 1985.

Poole has published numerous papers in professional journals and engaged in a wide range of professional activities. He has published two books: Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View in 1978 and Principles of Economics in 1991 (coauthored with J. Vernon Henderson). During his ten years at the St. Louis Fed, he delivered over 150 speeches on a wide variety of economic and finance topics.

In 1980 and 1981, Poole was a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia; in 1991, he was the Bank Mees and Hope Visiting Professor of Economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He has served on various advisory boards of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York and the Congressional Budget Office. He is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, distinguished scholar in residence at the University of Delaware, senior economic adviser to Merk Investments, and a special adviser to Market News International.

Swarthmore honored Poole with a doctor of laws degree in 1989. He was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2005 and presented with the Adam Smith Award by the National Association for Business Economics in 2006. In 2007, the Global Interdependence Center presented him its Frederick Heldring Award.

Source: William Poole page at the Federal Reserve History Website. 

______________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Monetary Theory—361
Fall 1964

W. Poole

READING LIST

TEXT: A.G. Hart and P.B. Kenen, Money, Debt and Economic Activity (3rd. ed.)

I The Nature of Money

Hart & Kenen, “Introduction”
D.H. Robertson, Money, Ch. 1, pp. 41-50

II The Supply of Money

Hart & Kenen, Chs. 1-7
E.S. Shaw, Money, Income and Monetary Policy, Chs. 2, 3, 6, 10
A. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, Ch. 2
B. Kragh, ”Two Liquidity Functions and the Rate of Interest,” R.E. Stud. 17 (2) (1949-50) pp. 98-106
M. Friedman, “Commodity-Reserve Currency,” JPE 59 (June, 1951) pp. 203-32; reprinted in M. Friedman, Essays in Positive Economics, pp. 204-50

III Classical Quantity Theory

Hart & Kenen, Ch. 11
I. Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money, Chs. 1-5, 8
A.C. Pigou, “The Value of Money,” QJE 32 (1917-18) pp. 38-65; reprinted in RMT, pp. 162-83
A. Hansen, Ch. 3

IV The Demand for Money and the Rate of Interest

Hart & Kenen, Ch. 14
J.M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Chs. 13-15, 17
A. Hansen, Ch. 4
W.J. Baumol, ”The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” QJE 66 (Nov. 1952), pp. 545-56
J. Tobin, “The Interest-Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” R.E.Stat. 38 (Aug. 1956), pp. 241-47
_________, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Towards Risk,” R.E.Stud. 25 (2) (Feb. 1958), pp. 65-86
M. Friedman, “The Quantity Theory of Money—A Restatement,” in M. Friedman (ed.) Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money

V Money and Economic Activity

Hart & Kenen, Chs. 12, 13
J.M. Keynes, Chs. 7-12, 18
M. Bailey, National Income and the Price Level, Chs. 1,2
A. Hansen, Ch. 5
J.R. Hicks, “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica 5 (April 1937), pp. 147-59

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Series 6, Box 1, Folder “Course Outlines and Reading Lists, ca. 1950, 1963-68”.

Image Source: William Poole at the Federal Reserve Centennial, 2014.

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Amherst Barnard Berkeley Brown Chicago Colorado Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Duke Harvard Illinois Indiana Iowa Johns Hopkins Kansas M.I.T. Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Carolina Northwestern NYU Ohio State Pennsylvania Princeton Radcliffe Rochester Stanford Swarthmore Texas Tufts UCLA Vassar Virginia Washington University Wellesley Williams Wisconsin Yale

U.S. Bureau of Education. Contributions to American Educational History, Herbert B. Adams (ed.), 1887-1903

 

I stumbled across this series while I was preparing the previous post on the political economy questions for the Harvard Examination for Women (1874). I figured it would be handy for me to keep a list of links to the monographs on the history of higher education in 35 of the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. Maybe this collection will help you too.

Contributions to American Educational History, edited by Herbert B. Adams

  1. The College of William and Mary. Herbert B. Adams (1887)
  2. Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia. Herbert B. Adams (1888)
  3. History of Education in North Carolina. Charles L. Smith (1888)
  4. History of Higher Education in South Carolina. C. Meriwether (1889)
  5. Education in Georgia. Charles Edgeworth Jones (1889)
  6. Education in Florida. George Gary Bush (1889)
  7. Higher Education in Wisconsin. William F. Allen and David E. Spencer (1889)
  8. History of Education in Alabama. Willis G. Clark (1890).
  9. History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education. Frank W. Blackmar (1890)
  10. Higher Education in Indiana. James Albert Woodburn (1891).
  11. Higher Education in Michigan. Andrew C. McLaughlin. (1891)
  12. History of Higher Education in Ohio. George W. Knight and John R. Commons (1891)
  13. History of Higher Education in Massachusetts. George Gary Bush (1891)
  14. The History of Education in Connecticut. Bernard C. Steiner (1893)
  15. The History of Education in Delaware. Lyman P. Powell (1893)
  16. Higher Education in Tennessee. Lucius Salisbury Merriam (1893)
  17. Higher Education in Iowa. Leonard F. Parker (1893)
  18. History of Higher Education in Rhode Island. William Howe Tolman (1894)
  19. History of Education in Maryland. Bernard C. Steiner (1894).
  20. History of Education in Lousiana. Edwin Whitfield Fay (1898).
  21. Higher Education in Missouri. Marshall S. Snow (1898)
  22. History of Education in New Hampshire. George Gary Bush (1898)
  23. History of Education in New Jersey. David Murray (1899).
  24. History of Education in Mississippi. Edward Mayes (1899)
  25. History of Higher Education in Kentucky. Alvin Fayette Lewis (1899)
  26. History of Education in Arkansas. Josiah H. Shinn (1900)
  27. Higher Education in Kansas. Frank W. Blackmar (1900)
  28. The University of the State of New York. History of Higher Education in the State of New York. Sidney Sherwood (1900)
  29. History of Education in Vermont. George Gary Bush (1900)
  30. History of Education in West Virginia. A. R. Whitehill (1902)
  31. The History of Education in Minnesota. John N. Greer (1902)
  32. Education in Nebraska. Howard W. Caldwell (1902)
  33. A History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania. Charles H. Haskins and William I. Hull (1902)
  34. History of Higher Education in Colorado. James Edward Le Rossignol (1903)
  35. History of Higher Education in Texas. J. J. Lane (1903)
  36. History of Higher Education in Maine. Edward W. Hall (1903)

Image Source: Cropped from portrait of Herbert Baxter Adams ca. 1890s. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. General exam questions for economics Ph.D., 1954

 

It is pretty interesting to compare the Harvard micro and macro general exams 1992 with what was asked economics graduate students at Johns Hopkins in 1954, transcribed and posted below. I note that the index number question (the first question in Part IV) was more-or-less covered in my second lecture of undergraduate principles of macroeconomics a few days ago (OK, I grant it was somewhat heavy-going, but somebody’s gotta do it…and better earlier than never). 

Ten comprehensive Ph.D. exams from Johns Hopkins in 1965 were transcribed and posted earlier.

_______________________

GENERAL WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS FOR THE PH.D.
Department of Political Economy
May 25-26, 1954

Part I — Three hours
May 25, 1954 — 9 a.m.

Answer the following questions: I and II; III or IV; they carry equal weights.

I.

In four out of five given cases, explain exactly — with or without the aid of graphs — how you can derive

  1. a demand curve for a commodity (as a function of price) from a family of indifference curves between that commodity and money;
  2. a supply curve for a foreign currency (as a function of its exchange rate in terms of domestic currency) from a demand curve for domestic currency (as a function of its exchange rate in terms of the foreign currency);
  3. a savings curve (as a function of income) from a consumption curve (as a function of income);
  4. a demand (liquidity preference) curve for cash balances (as a function of the interest rate) from a supply curve of interest-bearing securities (as a function of security prices);
  5. a family of interest-income curves (functions giving the equilibrium combinations of interest rate and income level) with various fixed money stocks as parameters, from a family of liquidity preference curves (as functions of the interest rate) with various fixed income levels as parameters.

II.

In three out of the five given cases, demonstrate as convincingly as you can

  1. that an increase in wage rates
    1. will result in an increase in total profits,
    2. will result in a decrease in total profits;
  2. that an increase in interest rates
    1. will result in an increase in total consumption
    2. will result in a decrease in total consumption;
  3. that an increase in government expenditures for domestic public works
    1. will result in an increase in total employment,
    2. will result in a decrease in total employment;
  4. that an increase in income taxes with an equal and simultaneous decrease in excise taxes
    1. will result in an increase in general prices,
    2. will result in a decrease in general prices;
  5. that an increase in private foreign investment
    1. will result in an increase in domestic total income,
    2. will result in a decrease in domestic total income;

[Note: In order to be convincing on both sides of each issue, you will have to change your evaluations of the probabilities with which the essential conditions responsible for the particular result may be expected actually to prevail.]

III.

“The elasticity of supply of foreign exchange will be higher, the higher is the elasticity of supply of exportable articles.” What is wrong with this statement? Why? How would you formulate the correct relationship between the variables in question?

IV.

“The question of whether capital movements lead the trade balances, or trade balances direct the capital movements has been answered differently by classical and Keynesian theory.”

Present the two views and then explain how the contradictions can be resolved, and both views found to be correct, if the terms are appropriately defined.

 

Part II — Three hours
May 25, 1954 — 2 p.m.

Answer three questions of the following five, provided you don’t select more than two from the first three. They all carry equal weights.

I.

Discuss the Neo-Classical School of Economists.

II.

In Schumpeter’s Book on the History of Economic Analysis, there is a section on “The Men Who Wrote above Their Time”. What would you write for such a section?

III.

Discuss the development of American economic thought.

IV.

Select a “period” of American economic history other than the most recent one and discuss it. Link it with the preceding and succeeding periods.

V.

Discuss England’s chief economic problems of 1793-1815.

 

Part III — Three hours
May 26, 1954 — 9 a.m.

Answer the following questions: I; any two out of the remaining three. They all carry equal weights.

I.

Write a coherent essay on statistical inference, in which you discuss (not necessarily in this order):

  1. tests of hypotheses
  2. confidence intervals
  3. errors of the first and second kind [Penciled here as change or alternative “Efficiency/Max Likelihood”]
  4. correlation and regression
  5. the identification problem
  6. the “t” distribution and an example of its use
  7. one other distribution (other than the normal) and an example of its use.

II.

It has been maintained by some that an increase in wages leads to an increase in labor supply out of a given population, and a decrease in wages to a decrease in supply; but it has also been maintained, by others, that an increase in wages brings a decrease in supply, and a decrease in wages an increase in supply.

Select one of the two views and summarize the points which have offered in defense of it. Do you think an equally strong case should be made for the other view? If you do, then are we left without a theory?

III.

Considerable attention has been devoted to the question of the effect of union activity on the wage level. One conclusion reached by several writers on the basis of statistical data is that union wage activity has resulted in no appreciable differential in favor of union income, compared to non-union income and to non-labor income.

What could be the theoretical foundations for such a result?

IV.

“Of all the single statements that can be made about wages, the statement that ‘wages tend to measure the marginal productivity of labor’ is at once the most illuminating analytically and the most important practically for the consideration of wage policy.”

This proposition has come in for considerable criticism over the years. What are the most telling points of this criticism?

 

Part IV — Three hours
May 26, 1954 — 2 p.m.

I.

Write an essay on index numbers in economics, in which you discuss (not necessarily in this order)

  1. price indexes
  2. quantity indexes
  3. value indexes
  4. constant-weight (Laspeyres) indexes
  5. changing-weight (Paasche) indexes
  6. the relationships among price, quantity, and value indexes
  7. the use and limitations of economic index numbers

II.

Evaluate critically the contribution which Keynes’ General Theory has made to:

  1. Theoretical economic thinking
  2. Economic policy

III.

Present and analyze some (reasonably respectable) business cycle theory.

IV.

Compare and contrast monetary and fiscal policies as methods of achieving economic stabilization (reasonably full employment without inflation). Include (but don’t limit yourself to) the following points:

  1. The theoretical foundation of each
  2. Methods used
  3. Effects on distribution of income and wealth
  4. Social and political repercussions
  5. Their effectiveness and limitations.

Do they overlap? Can you work out a synthesis of both?

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Series 5/6.  Box No. 6/1. Folder: “Comprehensive Exams for Ph.D. in Political Economy, 1947-1965”.

Image Source: from the cover of the 1954 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Readings and exam questions for fiscal and monetary policy. Domar, 1957

Evsey Domar’s first semester at M.I.T. was as a visiting professor according to the teaching records of the economics department. He taught one seminar on Russian Economics (14.292) and a graduate course with the nominal title “Fiscal Policy”. That course had been taught previously by E. Cary Brown (Spring 1954, 1955) and R. A. Musgrave, visiting Professor (Spring 1956).

Inspection of the ten-page course bibliography and the final examination questions along with two note-cards filed with these course materials, it appears that well over half the course was in all likelihood dedicated to fiscal policy topics with monetary policy for stabilization topics accouting for perhaps one-third of the course. Just as the length of the course bibliography (typical for Domar) is daunting, his use of asterisks to designate recommended reading was exceedingly liberal. An examination of the final examination questions leads me to conclude that it should be rather easy to reduce the course reading list (for examination purposes!) to less than two pages.

___________________________

Course Enrollment
(Second term, 1956-57

Instructor

Domar, E. D.
Rank

Prof. (Visit.)
Subj. No.

14.472
Subj. Title

Fiscal Policy
No. Class Hours/Week

3
No. Students

22

Source: M.I.T. Archives, Department of Economics Records 1947-, Box 3, Folder “Teaching Responsibility”.

___________________________

Typed notecards for an introduction to or a review of course.

The traditional arguments regarding the purposes of Monetary Policy:

  1. Stabilization of general prices or of factor earnings—the Wicksell-Davidson controversy. The instrument was the relation between the natural and the market rates.
  2. Stabilization of prices or of employment. Recent literature is full of this.
  3. Stabilization of the general prices or of prices of Federal securities. See Douglas’s and other reports on this recent controversy.
  4. Stabilization of employment or the achievement of growth. Any conflict?
  5. Discretionary methods or automatic provisions? See Simons’ article in Readings in Monetary Theory.
  6. To provide credit and currency, sound and in sufficient quantity.
  7. To protect the international position of the country.
  8. To have special effects, such as:

a. by region
b. by industry
c. by commodity consumed (such as tobacco) or housing
d. on population (by giving exemptions or subsidies for dependents)

  1. Provide revenue [handwritten addition]
  2. Distribution of income [handwritten addition]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The following limitations, some real, other imaginary, explain why Fiscal Policy is not as simple as Lerner makes it:

Income distribution
Size of the deficit
Size of the budget
Balance of payments
Special regional and industrial effects
Effects on incentives to work (in inflation)
Automaticity of the system (built-in-flexibility)
Monetary effects (on reserves, deposits)
Long-run effects (on growth and development)

Their presence complicates things and explains all the ingenious articles and tax devices frequently suggested. If not for them, fiscal policy would be very simple indeed: cut taxes or increase taxes, and the same with expenditures.

___________________________

READING LIST
14.472 Fiscal Policy
Spring Term 1956-57

Professor E. D. Domar

PART I—MONETARY POLICY

The purpose of this list is to suggest to the student the sources in which the more important topics in Monetary Policy are discussed from many points of view. His objective should be the understanding of these topics and not the memorization of who said what.

Most of the sources listed here, and particularly the Congressional materials, discuss a number of questions not only in Monetary but in Fiscal Policy as well. Hence it is difficult to classify them.

Items marked with an * are strongly recommended. (I don’t like to use the expression “required” in a graduate reading list.)

  1. Factual Materials on Monetary Problems

Federal Reserve Bulletin.

Treasury Bulletin.

Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, and the Continuation to 1952.

Congressional Hearings, Reports and other Materials listed below.

  1. Introduction

Hart, Albert Gailord, Money, Debt and Economic Activity, New York 1948.

Hicks*, J. R., “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Economica, 1935; reprinted in Readings in Monetary Theory.

Lerner*; Abba P., “Functional Finance and the Federal Debt,” Social Research, 1943, and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 468, also Chapter 24 in his Economics of Control, New York, 1944.

Poole, Kenyon E., ed. Fiscal Policies and the American Economy.

Sproul* Allan, “Changing Concepts of Central Banking,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, New York, 1951.

  1. Monetary Theory and Growth

Gurley*, John G. and Shaw, E. S., “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, September 1955, pp. 515-538.

  1. Effectiveness of the Interest Rate

Ebersole*, J. F., “The Influence of Interest Rates,” Harvard Business Review, XVII, i, 1938, pp. 35-39.

Henderson*, R. D., “The Significance of the Rate of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, October 1938, I, pp. 1-13.

*Meade, J. E. and Andrews, P. W. S., “Summary of Replies to Questions on Effects of Interest Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, October 1938, I, pp. 14-31.

Sayers, R. S. “Business Men and the Terms of Borrowing,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb. 1940, III, pp. 23-31.

Andrews, P. W. S., “A Further Inquiry into the Effects of Rates of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb. 1940, III, pp. 32-73.

White*, William H., “Interest Inelasticity of Investment Demand—The Case from Business Attitude Survey Re-Examined,” American Economic Review, September 1956, pp. 565-87.

Lutz, Friedrich A., “The Interest Rate and Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” American Economic Review, Dec. 1945.

  1. General Surveys of Monetary Policy

Federal Reserve Board*, Tenth Annual Report for 1923. See pp. 29-39 particularly.

Chandler*, Lester V., “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, 1949, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 394.

Hardy, Charles O., “Fiscal Operations as Instruments of Economic Stabilization,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1948, pp. 395-403 and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 394.

Hart, Albert Gailord, “Monetary Policy for Income Stabilization,” Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy, ed. by Max F. Millikan, New Haven, 1953.

Williams, John H., “The Implications of Fiscal Policy for Monetary Policy and the Banking System,” AER Proceedings, March 1942; Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 185.

Smith*, Warren L., “On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, September 1956, pp. 588-606.

  1. Suggested Objectives and Policies

Hammarskjold, Dag, “The Swedish Discussion on the Aims of Monetary Policy,” reprinted in International Monetary Papers, No. 5, pp. 145-154.

Simons*, Henry C., “Rule versus Authorities in Monetary Policy,” JPE, 1936, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 337.

Simons, Henry, “On Debt Policy,” JPE, Dec. 1944, and Readings in Fiscal Policy.

Mints*, Lloyd, W., “Monetary Policy,” Review of Econ. and Stat., 1946 and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 344.

Bach*, G. L., “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” JPE, Oct. 1949, and Readings in Fiscal Policy.

Friedman*, Milton, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” American Economic Review, 1949, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 369.

*United Nations. National and International Measures for Full Employment. Report by a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General (Lake Success, New York, December 1949).

Viner*, Jacob, “Full Employment at Whatever Cost,” QJE, August 1950, pp. 385-407. Reproduced with omissions in Economic Policy, Readings in Political Economy, edited by William D. Grampp and Emanuel T. Weiler, Homewood, Ill., 1956, pp. 54-65.

Samuelson* Paul A., “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy: A New-Classical Reformulation,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, New York, 1951.

Seltzer* Lawrence H., “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable,” American Economic Review, Dec. 1945; Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 202.

Roosa, Robert V., “Interest Rates and the Central Bank,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, 1951.

Roosa*, Robert V., “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” American Economic Review, 1952, and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 265.

Hansen*, Alvin H., “Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1955, pp. 110-119.

  1. Commodity Money

Graham, Benjamin, World Commodities and World Currency, New York 1944.

Graham*, Frank D., “Full Employment without Public Debt, Without Taxation, Without Public Works, and without Inflation,” Planning and Paying for Full Employment, edited by Abba P. Lerner and Frank D. Graham, 1946.

  1. Congressional Materials

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Money, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 81st Congress, First Session, September 23, November 16,17,18,22,23 and December 1,2,3,5,7, 1949.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. A Collection of Statements Submitted to the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies by Government Officials, Bankers, Economists, and Others. 1949.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report (The Douglas Subcommittee). A Compendium of Materials on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. A Collection of Statements Submitted to the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies by Government Officials, Bankers, Economists, and Others. 81st Congress, 2ndSession, Senate Document No. 132, 1950.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report*. Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. Report of the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 81st Congress, 2ndSession, Senate Document No. 129, 1950.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt Hearings before the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, March 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt. Their Role in Achieving Price Stability and High-Level Employment. Replies to questions and other material for the use of the subcommittee on general credit control and debt management. 82nd Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document No. 123, 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt Report of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience Hearings before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 83rd Congress, 2nd Session, December 6 and 7, 1954.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. January 1956 Economic Report of the President. Hearings before the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 84th Congress, 2nd Session, January 31, February 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,14,15,17 and 28, 1956.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report*. Conflicting Official Views on Monetary Policy; April 1956. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Joint Committee on Economic Report, 84thCongress, 2nd Session, June 12, 1956.

  1. Readings for Amusement

Outside Readings in Economics, second edition. Selected by Hess, Arleigh P. Jr., Gallman, Robert E., Rice, John P., and Stern, Carl, New York, 1956. The “Dialogue on Money,” by D. H. Robertson; “The Island of Stone Money,” by William H. Furness III; “The Paper Money of Kubla Khan,” by Marco Polo; and “The Edict of Diocletian,” by Humphrey Mitchell, pp. 314-335 are very amusing and instructive.

 

PART II—FISCAL POLICY

See the remarks in Part I.

  1. Factual Materials of General Character

Joint Committee on the Economic Report.* The Federal Revenue System: Facts and Problems, 1956

Treasury Bulletin

Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945 (published by the U. S. Bureau of the Census)

U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income (an annual publication in two volumes)

U. S. Bureau of the Census, Summary of Governmental Finances (annual series)

The Budget of the U. S. Government

Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Tax Systems

West Publishing Co., Federal Tax Regulations, 1956

Congressional Hearings and Reports, listed in Part I and below

Textbooks on Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

  1. Historical Studies

Ratner, S., American Taxation: Its History as a Social Force in a Democracy, New York, 1942

Fabricant*, S., The Trend of Government Activity in the United States since 1900, New York, 1952, Chapters 1, 6, 7

Studenski, P. and H. E. Kroos, Financial History of the United States, New York, 1952

Musgrave*, R. A. and J. M. Culbertson, “The Growth of Public Expenditures in the United States,” National Tax Journal, June, 1953, pp. 97-115

Paul, R. E., Taxation in the United States, Boston, 1954

  1. Fundamental Assumptions

Hansen*, A. H., “The Stagnation Thesis,” Fiscal Policy and the Business Cycle, New York, 1941, pp. 38-46, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Schumpeter*, J. A., “Economic Possibilities in the United States,” Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 1947, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

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

Fellner*, W., “Relative Emphasis in Tax Policy on Encouragement of Consumption or Investment,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D.C., November 9, 1955, p. 210

Hansen*, A. H., “Economic Stability and Growth,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 14

Smithies*, A., “Economic Growth as a Policy Objective,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 32.

  1. General Objectives and Policies

Keynes* J. M., “An Open Letter,” The New York Times, 1933, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Lerner*, A. P., “Functional Finance and the Federal Debt,” Social Research, 1943, and Readings in Fiscal Policy. Also Chapter 24 in his Economics of Control, New York, 1944

Hart, A. G., “’Model-Building’ and Fiscal Policy,” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Committee for Economic Development, “Taxes and the Budget: A Program for Prosperity in a Free Economy,” Readings in Fiscal Policy, 1947

Colm* G., “The Government Budget and the Nation’s Economic Budget,” Public Finance, 1948, and Readings

Friedman*, M., “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” American Economic Review, 1948, and Readings

National Planning Association, “Federal Expenditure and Revenue Policy for Economic Stability,” 1949, Readings

Bach*, G. L., “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1949, and Readings

United Nations*, National and International Measures for Full Employment (report by a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General), Lake Success, New York, December, 1949

Simons*, H. C., Federal Tax Reform, Chicago, 1950

Viner*, J., “Full Employment at Whatever Cost,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1950

Samuelson*, P. A., “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy; A Neoclassical Reformulation,” Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: in Honor of John H. Williams, New York, 1951

Millikan, M., ed., Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy, Yale, 1953

Rolph, E.R., The Theory of Fiscal Economics, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1954

U. S. Congress, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, December, 1955, Hearings

American Economic Association* Readings in Fiscal Policy, Homewood, Illinois, 1955

National Bureau of Economic Research, Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, 1956

Council of Economic Advisers*, the latest Annual Report

  1. Institutional Factors

Bailey, S. K., Congress Makes a Law: the Story behind the Employment Act of 1946, New York, 1950

Bailey, S. K. and H. D. Samuel, Congress at Work, New York, 1952

Blough, R., The Federal Taxing Process, New York, 1952

Smithies*, A., The Budgetary Process in the United States, Committee for Economic Development, New York, 1955

  1. Tax Incidence

Musgrave*, R. A., et al, “Distribution of Tax Payments by Income Groups,” National Tax Journal, March, 1951

Little, I. M. D., “Direct versus Indirect Taxes, Economic Journal, September, 1951

Musgrave*, R. A., “On Incidence,” Journal of Political Economy, August, 1953

Bach*, G. L., “The Impact of Moderate Inflation on Income and Assets of Economic Groups,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 71

Musgrave*, R.A., “Incidence of the Tax Structure and its Effects on Consumption,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 96

  1. Cyclical Aspects

Slichter*, S. H., “The Economics of Public Works,” American Economics Review, 1934, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Lutz, H. L., “Federal Depression Financing and its Consequences,” Harvard Business Review, 1938, and Readings

Myrdal* G., “Fiscal Policy in the Business Trade,” American Economic Review Supplement, 1939, and Readings

Hagen, E. E., “Timing and Administering Fiscal Policy,” American Economic Review, May, 1948

Committee on Public Issues of the American Economic Association*, “The Problem of Economic Instability,” American Economic Review, 1950, and Readings

Smithies*, A., “The American Economic Association Committee Report on Economic Instability,” American Economic Review, 1951, and Readings

Phillips, A. W., “Stabilization Policy in a Closed Economy,” The Economic Journal, June, 1954, pp. 290-323

Committee for Economic Development*, Problems in Anti-Recession Policy, September 1954

  1. Alternative Budgets for Full Employment

Kaldor*, N., Appendix C in W. H. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, 1945

Musgrave*, R. A., “Alternative Budget Policies for Full Employment,” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings

Musgrave*, R. A. and M. H. Miller, “Built-In Flexibility,” American Economic Review, 1948 and Readings

Bishop*, R. L., “Alternative Expansionist Policies,” Income, Employment and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen, New York, 1948

Stein, H., “Budget Policy to Maintain Stability,” Problems in Anti-Recession Policy, Committee for Economic Development, September, 1954

Hagen*, E. E., “Federal Taxation and Economic Stabilization,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, November 9, 1955, pp. 58-70

Lusher, D. W., “The Stabilizing Effectiveness of Budget Flexibility,” Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, Princeton, 1956

  1. Balanced Budget Multiplier

Wallich*, H. C., “Income-Generating Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1944

Haavelmo*, T., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, 1945, and Readings

Haberler, G., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, April, 1946

Baumol, W. J. and M. H. Preston, “More on the Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget under Full Employment,” American Economic Review, March, 1955

  1. The National Debt

Studenski, P., “The Limits of Possible Debt Burdens—Federal, State, and Local,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1937

Haley*, R. F., “The Federal Budget: Economic Consequences of Deficit Financing,” American Economic Review, 1941, and Readings

Williams*, H. H., “Deficit Spending,” American Economic Review, February, 1941 and Postwar Monetary Plans and other Essays, 1944

Ratchford, B. U., “The Burden of a Domestic Debt,” American Economic Review, 1942, and Readings

Williams, J. H., “The Implications of Fiscal Policy for Monetary Policy and the Banking System,” Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 1942, and Readings

Domar*, E. D., “The ‘Burden of the Debt’ and the National Income,” American Economic Review, 1944, and Readings

Simons*, H., “On Debt Policy,” Journal of Political Economy, 1944, and Readings

Seltzer, L. H., “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings

Wallich, H. C., “Debt Management as an Instrument of Economic Policy,” American Economic Review, June, 1946

Roosa, R. V., “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” American Economic Review, 1952, and Readings

Burkhead*, J., “The Balanced Budget,” Quarterly Journal of Economic, 1954, and Readings

  1. Inflation and War Finance

Sprague, O. M. W., “Loans and Taxes in War Finance,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, 1917, and Readings

Keynes*, J. M., How to Pay for the War, London, 1940

Smithies*, A., “The Behavior of Money National Income under Inflationary Conditions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1942, and Readings

Fellner*, W. J., “Postscript on War Inflation: A Lesson from World War II,” American Economic Review, 1947, and Readings

Fetter*, F., “The Economic Reports of the President and the Problem of Inflation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949, and Readings

Wald, H. P., “Fiscal Policy, Military Preparedness, and Postwar Inflation,” National Tax Journal, 1949, and Readings

Hart, A. G., Defense Without Inflation, New York, 1951

  1. Effect on Incentives: Incentive Taxation

Domar*, E. D., and R. A. Musgrave, “Proportional Income Taxation and Risk Taking,” Quarterly Journal of Economic, May, 1954

Butters, J. K., and J. Lintner, Effect of Federal Taxes on Growing Enterprises, Boston, 1945

Groves*, H. M., Postwar Taxation and Economic Progress, New York, 1946, Chapter 11

Shelton, J. P., and G. Ohlin, “A Swedish Tax Provision for Stabilizing Business Investment,” American Economic Review, June, 1952

Brown*, R. S., “Techniques for Influencing Private Investment,” Income Stabilization in a Developing Democracy, M. Millikan, ed., 1953, pp. 416-432

Domar*, E. D., “The Case for Accelerated Depreciation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1953

Butters*, J. K., “Taxation, Incentives, and Financial Capacity,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1954, and Readings

Brown, E. C., “The New Depreciation Policy under the Income Tax: An Economic Analysis,” National Tax Journal, March, 1955

Goode*, R., “Accelerated Depreciation Allowances as a Stimulus to Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1955

Break*, G. F., “Effects of Taxation on Work Incentives,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 192

Brown*, E. C., “Weaknesses of Accelerated Depreciation as an Investment Stimulus,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 495

Butters*, J. K., “Effects of Taxation on the Investment Capacities and Policies of Individuals,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 126

Greenewalt*, C. H., “Effect of High Tax Rates on Executive Incentive,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 185

Long*, C. D., “Impact of Federal Income Tax on Labor Force Participation,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 153

Kaldor*, N., “An Expenditure Tax,” London, 1955

  1. Particular Taxes

Simons, H., Personal Income Taxation, Chicago, 1938

Brown*, E. C., “Analysis of Consumption Taxes in Terms of the Theory of Income Determination,” American Economic Review, March, 1950

Goode*, R., Corporation Income Tax, New York, 1951

Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income, First Report, February, 1953; Second Report, April, 1954; Final Report, June, 1955

Due, J. F., “Economics of Commodity Taxation and the Present Excise Tax System,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 547

Keith*, G., “Economic Impact of the Corporation Income Tax,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 658

Goode, R., “The Corporate Income Tax in a Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, 1956

Merriam, I. C., “Social Security Programs and Economic Stability,” Policies to Combat Depression

Pechman, J. A., “Yield of the Individual Income Tax During A Recession,” Policies to Combat Depression

  1. Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations

Maxwell*, J. A., “Intergovernmental Fiscal Devices for Economic Stabilization,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 807

Heer*, C., “Stabilizing State and Local Finance,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

U. S. Treasury Department, Committee on Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations, Federal, State, and Local Government Fiscal Relations, 78th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document No. 69, 1943

U. S. Bureau of the Census, Compendium of State Government Finances (an annual series)

Same source, Compendium of City Government Finances (an annual series)

Tax Institute, Federal-State-Local Tax Correlation (A Symposium), December, 1953

The Council of State Governments, Federal Grants-in-Aid, 1949

  1. Growth and Economic Development

Bernstein*, E. M. and I. G. Patel, “Inflation in Relation to Economic Development,” International Monetary Fund, Staff papers, II, 1951-52

United Nations*: Fiscal Division, “Taxation and Economic Development in Asian Countries,” Economic Bulletin for Asia and the Far East, Vol. IV, November, 1953

Gurley, J. A., “Fiscal Policy in a Growing Economy,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1953

Papers and Proceedings of the Conference on Agricultural Taxation and Economic Development, H. P. Wald, and J. N. Froomkin, eds., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1954 (Harvard University Law School, International Program in Taxation)

  1. Special Problems

Clark*, C., “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” The Economic Journal, December, 1945

Clark*, C., “The Danger Point in Taxes,” Harper’s Magazine, December, 1950

Goode*, R., “An Economic Limit on Taxes: Some Recent Discussion,” National Tax Journal, September, 1952

Caplan, B., “A Case Study: The 1948-1949 Recession,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

Fox, K. A., “The Contribution of Farm Price Support Programs to General Economic Stability,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

Gordon, R. A., “Types of Depressions and Programs to Combat Them,” Policies to Combat Depression

Grebler, L., “Housing Policies to Comat Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression

Johnson, D. G., “Stabilization of International Commodity Prices,” Policies to Combat Depression

Owen, W., “Self-Liquidating Public Works to Combat Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Box 17, Folder “Fiscal and Monetary Policy”.

___________________________

FINAL EXAMINATION
14.472 Fiscal Policy
Monday, May 20, 1957

E. D. Domar

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. THE QUALITY OF YOUR REASONING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR ANSWERS.

  1. [35%] Compare and contrast monetary and fiscal policies as methods of achieving a steadily expanding economy (without inflation or depression). Include, but don’t limit yourself to, the following points:
      1. The theoretical foundation of each.
      2. Methods used.
      3. Effects on distribution of income and wealth.
      4. Social and political repercussions of each.
      5. The effectiveness and limitations of each.

Do they overlap? Can you work out a synthesis?

  1. [20%] “Government spending tends to be like a drug, in that it takes larger and larger doses to get results, and all the time debt and taxes get higher and higher.”
    Analyze this statement and comment as fully as you can. Compare the effect of government expenditures with that of private.
  2. [15%] “The best cure against inflation is increased production.”
    Analyze this statement and comment on it. Include in your comments the monetary and fiscal implications of this statement.
  3. [15%] What are the so-called “Built-in-Stabilizers?” Discuss fully and indicate how they operate in (a) depression and (b) inflation.
  4. [15%] “The purpose of taxation is never to raise money but to leave less in the hands of the taxpayer.”
    Comment fully and indicate the limitations of this statement. Can you identify the author? (No great penalty if you cannot.)

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Box 16, Folder “Examination. Public Finance and Fiscal Policy”.

Notes on Final Exam:

Question II comes from a review of Stuart Chase, Where’s the Money Coming From? Published in the Monthly Bulletin of the National City Bank of New York that I was fortunate to find inserted into the Congressional Record Volume 93—Part 4 (May 8, 1947, p. 4827);

Question III. Domar liked this question enough to have used it at least twice. See January 23, 1958 Exam at Johns Hopkins; January 26, 1966 at M.I.T.;

Question V. The sentence quoted comes from Abba Lerner’s The Economics of Control, p. 307.

___________________________

Image Source: Evsey D. Domar at the MIT Museum legacy website.

 

Categories
History of Economics Johns Hopkins Reprints

Johns Hopkins. Links to Reprints of Economic Tracts. Hollander, ed.

Economics in the Rear-View Mirror provides links to scans of important works of economics up to 1900 and from the twentieth century. This post begins a series of links to reprints of important economics texts.

Jacob Hollander of the Johns Hopkins University was, like E. R. A. Seligman of Columbia University, a great collector of old and rare economics books and pamphlets. Elsie A. G. Marsh compiled a catalogue of Hollander’s economic library (addenda).

Below you will find links to early collections of letters of David Ricardo edited by Hollander that are followed by links to a dozen tracts edited and published by Hollander.

_____________

Selections of Letters by David Ricardo, edited by Hollander

J. H. Hollander (ed.). Letters of David Ricardo to John Ramsay McCulloch, 1816-1823. Publications of the American Economic Association, Vol. X, No. 5-6 (September and November, 1895).

James Bonar and J. H. Hollander (eds.). Letters of David Ricardo to Hutches Trower and Others, 1811-1823. Oxford, 1899.

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Reprints of Economic Tracts

Edited by Jacob H. Hollander

Asgill, John. Several Assertions Proved. London, 1690.

Barbon, Nicholas. A Discourse of Trade. London, 1690.

Berkeley, George. Several Queries Proposed to the Public. Dublin, 1735-37.

Fauquier, Francis. An Essay on Ways and Means for Raising Money for the Support of the Present War, &tc. London, 1756.

Fortrey, Samuel. England’s Interest and Improvement. Cambridge, 1663.

Longe, Francis Davy. A Refutation of the Wage-Fund Theory. London, 1866.

Malthus, Thomas Robert. An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent. (London, 1815)

Massie, Joseph. An Essay on the Governing Causes of the Natural Rate of Interest. London, 1750.

North, Sir Dudley. Discourses upon Trade. London, 1691.

Ricardo, David. Three Letters on the Price of Gold. London, 1815.

Vanderlint, Jacob. Money Answers All Things. London, 1734.

West, Sir Edward. Essay on the Application of Capital to Land. London, 1815.

_____________

Image Source:  Jacob Harry Hollander (ca. 1918) from Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries’ graphic and pictorial collection.

Categories
AEA Bibliography Economists Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Life and career of economics Ph.D. (1901) alumnus, George Ernest Barnett

 

The economist George E. Barnett (b. 19 February 1873; d. 17 June 1938) was briefly glimpsed in the previous post as one of three colleagues who covered the undergraduate course offerings in economics at the Johns Hopkins University in 1919-20. Unlike many an economics professor who has gone on to relative obscurity, Barnett actually served a term as President of the American Economic Association (1932) that should have been sufficient to double the half-life of his afterlife. Barnett even served on an advisory committee for the director of the national census.

To partially fill in the historical blank, today’s post provides a local obituary that reported Barnett’s suicide, presumably related to a severe, chronic illness. Links to books mentioned in his obituary and a Johns Hopkins’ bibiliography up through 1913 have been included as well. Apparently a more complete bibliography was prepared in 1938.

___________________________

J.H.U. Teacher Dies of Wound; Had Been Ill
Dr. George E. Barnett Is Found In Apartment, Pistol Near By
Succumbs at Hospital. Was Expert on Labor Problems, Statistics

Dr. George Ernest Barnett, 65 years old, professor of statistics at the Johns Hopkins University and an international authority on labor problems, was found fatally wounded in the bathroom of his third-floor apartment at 827 Park avenue early today. A .38-caliber revolver lay on the floor near by.

An ambulance was summoned and he was taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Found by Friend

The wounded professor was found by a friend, Dr. Lucien Brun, a dentist with offices on the first floor of the apartment building, and the latter’s secretary. Dr. Brun told Sergt. Lawrence Stevens, Central district officer who investigated the case, that he knew Dr. Barnett had been ill for some time.

The dentist said when he heard a shot from upstairs he and his secretary rushed up to find Dr. Barnett slumped on the floor, a bullet wound in his temple.

Born in Cambridge, Md.

A native of Cambridge, Md., Dr. Barnett graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1891 with his bachelor’s degree, and was presented with his doctorate by the Johns Hopkins University in 1902 [sic, 1901 appears correct] after teaching school for some years in North Carolina.

He served as instructor, associate and associate professor in economics from 1901 to 1911. Made a full professor in 1911, he has made a special study of labor problems since that time. His studies of labor in the Antipodes were undertaken because he felt the federation type of government in these two countries was so similar to that of the United States that such studies would be appropriate and helpful.

Member of Faculty 37 Years

Dr. Barnett had been a member of the Hopkins faculty for thirty-seven years and had lived for many years at the Park avenue address. His brilliant conversational abilities and his amiable personality had won him hundreds of friends among students, colleagues and a wide circle of Baltimoreans.

His specialization in the field of labor, unionism, arbitration and other labor problems had made him widely known as a scholar and led to his final assignment—a trip to New Zealand and Australia to study the labor arbitration court systems in use in the antipodes.

Granted a year’s leave of absence from the university, he went to New Zealand to begin his studies. He was stricken with a fever, however, and upon medical advice returned to Baltimore to undergo treatment. He remained at the Hopkins Hospital for a time, then moved back into his apartment.

His portly figure was a familiar one as he walked along North Charles street between his residence, the University Club, and the Johns Hopkins University. For many years it was his custom to walk the distance daily, often stopping to talk to a wide range of acquaintances.

Active in Club’s Affairs

For many years, too, he had been a member of the University Club, having his meals there and taking an active part in the affairs of the club.

He was a member of the Hopkins Faculty Club, and the Academic Council of the university.

Dr. Barnett is survived by two brothers, D’Arcy Barnett, of Caldwell, N. J., and Charles Barnett, of Cambridge, Md.

A member of the American Economic Association, the American Statistical Association and the American Association for Labor Legislation, Dr. Barnett has published numerous books in his field.

Wrote Numerous Books

He was the author of “State Banking in the United States,” in 1902; “The Printers,” in 1909; “State Banks and Trust Companies,” in 1911; “Mediation, Investigation and Arbitration in Industrial Disputes,” in 1916, with D. A. McCabe, and “Machinery and Labor,” in 1926.

He also edited “A Trial Bibliography of American Trade Union Publications” in 1904 and was coeditor of “Studies in American Trade Unionism” in 1906. He was a member of the University Club.

Source: The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD), June 17, 1938

___________________________

 

Barnett, George Ernest.
Bibliography through 1913

A. B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; fellow in political economy, Johns Hopkins, 1899-1900; instructor in political economy, 1900-1904; Ph. D., 1902 [sic, 1901 appears to be the correct year]; associate in political economy, 1904-1907; associate professor of political economy, 1907-1911; professor of statistics, 1911 —; co-editor of Johns Hopkins Studies, 1908 —. Marshall Prize, Johns Hopkins, 1910.

State Banking in the United States since the Passage of the National Bank Act (J. H. U. Studies, ser. xx, nos. 2-3).

A Method of Determining the Jewish Population of Large Cities in the United States (Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 1902, no. 10, pp. 37-45).

The Jewish Population of Maryland (American Jewish Year Book, 1902-1903, pp. 46-62).

The Economic Position of Germany (J. H. U. Circular, p. 80, June, 1902).

The Maryland Workmen’s Compensation Act (Quarterly Journal of Economics, xvi, 591-594, August, 1902).

A Working Bibliography of Trade Unions (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 36-37, April, 1903).

Editor, A Trial Bibliography of American Trade-Union Publications (J. H. U. Studies, ser. xxii, nos. 1-2. Second edition, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. 1907. Pp.139).

Shop Rules of the International Typographical Union ( J. H. U. Circular, pp. 3-8, May, 1904).

The Introduction of the Linotype (Yale Review, xiii, 251-273, November, 1904).

________ and J. H. Hollander, editors. The Economic Seminary, 1904-1905, 1905-1906, 1906-1907, 1907-1908, 1908-1909, 1909-1910, 1910-1911 (J. H. U. Circular, June, 1905, March, 1906, April, 1907, May, 1908, April, 1909, April, 1910, April, 1911).

The End of the Maryland Workmen’s Compensation Act (Quarterly Journal of Economics, xix, 320-322, February, 1905).

The Origin of the Constitution of the Typographical Union (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 3-6, June, 1905). and J. H. Hollander, editors. Studies in American Trade Unionism (New York: H. Holt and Co. 1906. Pp. v, 380).

The Government of the Typographical Union (Studies in American Trade Unionism, pp. 13-41).

Collective Bargaining in the Typographical Union (Studies in American Trade Unionism, pp. 153-182).

The Standard Wage as a Bargaining Device (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 7-11, March, 1906).

The Budget of the Typographical Union (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 9-12, April, 1907).

Territorial Jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 11-18, May, 1908).

The Printers; A Study in American Trade Unionism (American Economic Association Quarterly, third ser., vol. x, no. 3. Pp. vii, 387. Marshall Prize).

Labor Organization in the South (The South in the Building of the Nation, v, 144-146, vi, 36-40. Richmond, Va.: The Southern Historical Publication Society. [c1909-1913] ).

The State Finances of North Carolina (The South in the Building of the Nation, v, 529-532, vi, 507-511).

Economic Statistics in the South (The South in the Building of the Nation, v, 563-564, vi, 542-545).

The Piece System of Remuneration in the Printing Trade (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 5-11, April, 1909 ).

The Growth of State Banks and Trust Companies (Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, xxxvi, 613-625, November, 1910).

The “One Man Office” and the Typographical Union (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 8-15, April, 1910).

State Banks and Trust Companies since the Passage of the National Bank Act (Publications of National Monetary Commission. 61st Cong., 3d sess. Sen. Doc. No. 659. Pp.366).

Recent Tendencies in State Banking Legislation (Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York, i, 270-284).

The Breaking Down of the Distinctions between the Classes of Banks in the United States (J. H. U. Circular, pp. 8-12, April, 1911).

National and District Systems of Collective Bargaining in the United States (Quarterly Journal of Economics, xxvi, 425-443, May, 1912).

A Documentary History of American Labor (Political Science Quarterly, xxvii, 298-304, June, 1912).

The Dominance of the National Union in American Labor Organization (Quarterly Journal of Economics, xxvii, 455-481, May, 1913).

 

Source: Publications of Members and Graduates of the Departments of History, Political Economy, and Political Science, 1901-1915 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1915), pp. 9-11.

Note: [have not consulted yet]
Lavarello, Angela. Bibliography of the writings of George E. Barnett (Baltimore: Typescript (7 leaves), 1938).  Copy at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Image Source: From a portrait of George Ernest Barnett at Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.