Category: Macroeconomics

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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Macroeconomics

John Hopkins. Final exam for graduate macroeconomic theory. Aschheim, Christ, Mills. 1962

Carl Christ

 

The only remarkable thing to note about the following macroeconomics examination from Johns Hopkins is its somewhat confusing scheme for allowing students to select from the questions. No heroic leaps of imagination were demanded of the examinees, which is humane I guess. But an artifact is an artifact, so duly transcribed, posted, and added to the collection.

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MACROECONOMIC THEORY 18.604
Final Examination, May 21, 1962

Messrs. [Joseph] Aschheim,
[Carl] Christ, and [Edwin] Mills

Answer all questions except:

either       (a) three of the 12-point questions in Part II.
or             (b) one of the 36-point questions in Part I.

Time: 3 hours (i.e., 180 minutes); total credit 180 points.

PART I. 36 points each.
  1. Compare the roles assigned to technological progress in major writings of Schumpeter and Solow.
  2. Write a short critical essay comparing either
    1. The growth models of Harrod and Domar, or
    2. The models of growth and fluctuations presented by Tobin (JPE 1955) and Duesenberry (Business Cycles and Economic Growth)
  3. Analyze the essential differences between the modern conventional theory of public debt and the recent reformulation of this theory.
  4. The stability of equilibrium in the Wicksellian monetary system has been subjected to opposing interpretations by Myrdal and Patinkin. Review these opposing interpretations in light of Wicksell’s own formulation.
PART II. 12 points each.
  1. Saving equals investment.
  2. The demand for money (as a stock) depends on bondholdings as well as on income and interest rates.
  3. Disarmament would create a major depression in the United States.
  4. The effect of an increase in government expenditure does not depend on how the extra expenditure is financed, as long as it does not come from increased taxes.
  5. If national income is $500 billion and consumption is $400 billion, then for each increase of $1 in government expenditure the equilibrium level of national income will increase by $5.
  6. The multiplier analysis is useful for studying economic growth, abstracting from cyclical fluctuations.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives. Department of Political Economy, Box 3/1 Series 6 , Folder “Graduate Exams 1933-1965” (sic).

Source: Professor Carl Christ in the Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1964, p. 42.