Category: Suggested Reading

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading

Chicago. Bibliography on double-taxation. Bloch, 1940

 

 

Biographical information for Henry (Henri) Simon Bloch (1915-1988) along with an earlier post of a selected list of French, German and Italian works on public finance  by S. E. Leland and H. S. Bloch for Economics 360 (Government Finance). Below we have another bibliography prepared by Henry S. Bloch on international fiscal relations, essentially on the issue of double-taxation.

The book-review reprint mentioned in Bloch’s postscript was for the book by André Piatier, L’évasion fiscale et l’assistance administrative entre états (Paris, 1938).The review was published in the Journal of Political Economy (October 1939), pp. 742-743.

____________________

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics

Jan 3, 1940

Dear Professor Haig:

I thought you might be interested in this bibliography. I lectured on the topic and distributed the bibliography to the students.

Faithfully yours,
[signed] Henri

P.S. I enclose also a book-review.

____________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON INTERNATIONAL FISCAL RELATIONS
(Compiled by Dr. Henri Bloch)

Allix, E., La condition des étrangers au point de vue fiscal (The Hague*, 1937).

De Bar, Les doubles impositions (Thesis, Paris, 1900).

Barcley, “Les doubles impositions dans les rapports internationaux notamment en matière de droits de mutation par décès,” Annuaire du Droit International, 14, p. 118, 1897.

Berland, Les evasions fiscales (Thesis, Paris).

Bloch, H. S., “L’Assistance mutuelle en matière fiscale,” Revue de Science et législation financière, Paris, June, 1937.

Boué, Double imposition et évasion fiscal (Thesis, Lille, Paris, 1919).

Buhler, O., Les accords internationaux concernant la double imposition et l’évasion fiscal (The Hague, 1936).

Carroll, M. B., “International Double Taxation,” Tax Magazine, Oct., 1938, pp. 588ff.

Carroll, Double Taxation Relief. Discussion of Convention drafted at international conference of experts, 1927. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce. Trade Information Bulletin no. 527, Washington, 1928.

Clavier, “Les doubles impositions et l’évasion fiscal,” Revue économique international, 1923, p. 479 (Brussels).

Compain, “Les successions dans le droit fiscal international,” Clunet, 1909, pp. 640, 661, and 982-1003; Clunet, 1910, pp. 416-444, and 1072-1077.

Crocker, The Injustice and Inexpediency of Double Taxation (Boston, 1892).

Dorn, “Internationales Finanzrecht und international Doppelbesteuerung,” Deutsche Juristen Zeitung, XXIX, p. 189; 1924, pp. 682-688.

Einaudi, Luigi, La cooperation international en matière fiscal (La Haye*, 1928).

Fasolis, Le Doppie imposizioni (Citta di Castello, 1914).

Garelli, “Il diritto internazionale tributario,” Parte Generale: La Scienza della Finanza internazionale tributaria, Torino, 1899.

Grassi, “Il fenómeno financiere de la doble imposición,” Rivista de la Universitad de Buenos-Ayres, 1925.

Griziotti, L’imposition fiscal des étrangers, Vol. XIII (The Hague*, 1926).

Guerin, Des ententes internationales pour la répression des fraudes fiscales (Thesis, Paris, 1910).

Guggenehim, L’imposition des successions en droit international et le problème de la double imposition (Geneva, 1928).

Guilmard, L’évasion fiscale (P. Rosier, 5th ed., Paris, 1908).

Herndon, John Goodwin, The Development of International Reciprocity for the Prevention of Double Income Taxation (Philadelphia, 1932).

Jahn, George, Die Doppelbesteuerung (1928).

Jèze, Gaston, “La fraude fiscale,” Revue de Science et législation financière (1933).

Kambe, “Double Taxation with Special Reference to its International Aspects,” Kyoto Economic Review(1927).

King, Eldon P., “Income Tax Reciprocity with Canada,” Tax Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 4, p. 205, April, 1939.

Kluhe, SteuerlicheHeranziehung der Ausländer und Auslandsdeutschen nach dem heutigen deutschen Steuerrecht (1932).

Lamouche, Essai sur la territorialité de l’impôt(Thesis, Alger, 1927).

Lampe, A., “Doppelbelastung und Doppelbesteuerung,” Wörterbuch der Volkswirtschaft, Vol. I, 1931, pp. 581-583.

Lavagne, La question des double imposition (Thesis, paris, 1929)

League of Nations (Economic and financial committee), Report on Double Taxation (Geneva, 1923).

League of Nations (Committee of Technical Experts on Double Taxation and Tax Evasion), Double Taxation and Tax Evasion, II. Economic and Financial Committee, II, 40 (Geneva, 1927).

Lippert, “Das internationale Finanzrecht,” Handbuch des internationalen Finanzrechts, (Vienna, 1928)

Molodowsky, Le domicile fiscal des étrangers en France (Thesis, 1924).

Neumeyer, “Internationales Finanzrecht,” Zeitschrift Niemeyr’s, Vol. XXXIV, 1914, pp. 186, 200.

Niboyet, J. P., La double imposition au point de vue juridique, The Hague*, 1930.

Oualid, William, “Les solutions internationales du problème des doubles impositions,” Revue de Science et de Législation Financières, Paris, 1927, pp. 5-31.

Paillot, Fernand, Les doubles impositions (Ed. Caduce, Brussels, 1935).

Peeters, J., “Les Pays-Bas et la question des doubles impositions,” Bulletin Institut de droit intermédiaire international, 1930, pp. 191, 208.

Piatier, André, L’évasion fiscale et l’assistance administrative entre états (Paris, 1938).

Picard, R., “Le problème des double impôts à la Chambre de commerce internationale,” Clunet, 1925, pp. 40-53.

Ploquin, L’étranger et l’impôt (Thesis, 1934).

Pugliese, M., L’imposizione delle imprese di carattere internazionali (Padua, 1930).

Rosendorff-Henggeler, Das internationale Steuerrecht des Erdballs, 1936. Europa, Verlag fürRecht und Gesellschaft, AG. 1936, 1937, Zürich, Leipzig.

Rosier, “Problèms du droit fiscal international,” Revue critique de droit international, 1935, pp. 332-356. (Paris)

Sack, “La double imposition et les travaux de la S. D. N.,” Revue générale de droit international public, pp. 97-143.

Salvioli, Le doppie imposte in diritto internazionale, Napoli, 1914.

Schanz, G. V., “Die Doppelbesteuerung und der Völkerbund,” Finanzarchiv, 1923.

Schanz, “Zur Frage der Steuerpflicht, 1892,”Finanz. Archiv, IX, p. 365.

Seligman, E. R. A., Essays in Taxation, 10thed., Ch. iv. (New York, 1925).

Seligman, E. R. A., Double Taxation and International Fiscal Cooperation (New York, 1928).

Sénéchal, Les conventions fiscales passées par la France contre la double imposition (Thesis, Paris, 1933).

Spitaler, Arnim, Das Doppelbesteuerungsproblem bei den Direkten Steuern. 678 pp. 1936.

Stamp, Sir Josiah, “Double Taxation and Freedom of International Investment,” Chap. IX in Current Problems in Finance and Government(1924).

Stamp, J. C., “Double Taxation (International)”, Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, pp. 224-225.

Tax Systems of the World, 6thedition. Tax Research Foundation, Chicago, 1935.

Tranter, Evasion in Taxation (G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., London, 1929).

Wackernagel, Zur Frage der Vermeidung internationalen Doppelbesteuerung (1933).

Wahl, A., “Les étrangers devant l’impôt général sur le revenue,” Journal de Droit International, 1916, pp. 1095 and 1512.

Wengler, Beiträge zum Problem der internationalen Doppelbesteuerung (1935).

Williams, Sir John Fisher, L’entr’aide financière international, The Hague*, 1924.

*Recueil des Cours of the Académie de Droit International.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Papers of Robert M. Haig, Box 16, Folder “Bibliography”.

Source: Social Science Research Building. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07466, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Bryn Mawr Sociology Suggested Reading

Bryn Mawr. Readings for Graduate Course in Sociology. Franklin H. Giddings, 1893

 

 

From 1891-94 Franklin H. Giddings held overlapping appointments at Bryn Mawr College and Columbia University. In 1894 he was appointed professor of sociology at Columbia. Most economists today are not aware that academic economics and sociology were much closer to being siblings than kissing-cousins back in 1893 and even for several decades into the twentieth century. Giddings taught economics, political science, and sociology while at Bryn Mawr.

After several years of service as a vice-president of the American Economic Association, Franklin H. Giddings  went on to become a president of the American Sociological Association. 

Frank H. Hankins wrote the entry on Franklin H. Giddings for the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968).

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is happy to provide links to all but one of the items listed in Giddings’ printed Readings in Sociology that can be found in his papers at Columbia University. He writes “In the following bibliographical notes and directions for reading only the most essential things are included. No attempt is made to offer a bibliography for advanced or special students.”

________________

Graduate Course
Bryn Mawr College

Sociology, Mr. Giddings.
Once weekly throughout the year.

A course of thirty lectures will be given on General Sociology. The various attempts that have been made to construct a philosophical science of society as an organic whole will be examined, and the field of sociology, as a study distinct from history, politics, and economics, will be defined. The causes and laws of social change will be sought, and the lectures will then lead up to the problem of progress, its conditions and limits. The different types of progressive and unprogressive societies will be studied comparatively. Statistical methods will be employed to show the reactions of civilisation that take such forms as insanity, suicide, crime, pauperism, and changes in birth-rates and A death-rates. Fellows and graduate students expecting to do advanced work in this course must have, besides their equipment in history and political-economy, a general knowledge of the history of philosophy, and some acquaintance with the literature of modern biology and empirical psychology. A reading knowledge of French and German is requisite.

 

Source:  Program. Bryn Mawr College. 1893.   Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., Printers, p. 72.

________________

READINGS IN
SOCIOLOGY

To accompany lectures given by
FRANKLIN H. GIDDINGS.
1893.

General or Philosophical Sociology

The word “sociology” was first used by Auguste Comte, in the Cours de Philosophie Positive, as a name for that part of a positive, or verifiable, philosophy, which should attempt to explain the phenomena of human society. It was exactly equivalent to “social physics,” for the task of sociology was to discover the nature, the natural causes, and the natural laws of society, and to banish from history, politics, economics, etc., all appeals to the metaphysical and the supernatural, as they had been banished from astronomy and from chemistry. Comte argued also that society should be studied as a whole, as a unit or organism, and objected to political economy, for example, as unscientific, because it was partial or fragmentary in its view of the social organization and process.

Since Comte the evolutionist explanation of the natural world has made its way into social interpretations, and from this point of view sociology has become an attempt to explain society in terms of natural causes, working themselves out in a process of evolution.

Christian thinkers, on the other hand, have adopted the term, and, so far as it goes, the conception, but have insisted on the recognition of a divine, providential, and final cause back of, or co-operating with efficient or natural causes, in working out human destinies.

In either case, general or philosophical sociology is a broad but penetrating and thorough scientific study of society as a whole; a search for its causes, for the laws of its structure and growth, and for a rational view of its purpose, function, meaning or destiny.

General sociology cannot be subdivided into special social sciences, such as economics, law, politics, etc., without losing its distinctive character. It should be looked upon as the foundation or ground-work of those sciences, rather than as their sum, or as their collective name.

But the general sociology of those savage and barbarian peoples who are organized in hordes, clans, and tribes, should be in a measure familiar to the student before he attempts the sociology of the great modern populations which are politically organized in national states. The former may be called ethnographic, the latter demographic, sociology. The data of ethnographic sociology are found mainly in the works of ethnologists. Among its most important problems are those of the origins and development of the forms of social intercourse and pleasure, the origins and early forms of the family, the relation of the clan to the family and to the tribe, and the development of tribal into national life. The data of demographic sociology are for the most part statistical. Among its chief problems are those of the characteristics and the conditions of progress, of the growth and limitations of population, of the vast and complex development of the division of labor, and of the growth and mutual relations of the so-called social classes.

In working his way through these problems the student finds that, at any given time and in given circumstances, certain social relations and conditions may be described as normal, while others are unmistakably abnormal. In like manner, certain elements in the population are normal and others most clearly abnormal in character and conduct. The latter are the so-called defective, dependent, and delinquent classes. He perceives that, for both practical and theoretical purposes, the thorough study of abnormal phenomena is so important that the problems here presented may be conveniently grouped under the separate head, social pathology.

Theoretically, social pathology has for the sociologist the same importance that physical or mental abnormality or illness has for the physiologist or the psychologist. The abnormal reveals and defines the normal. Many sociologists would maintain that a constructive general sociology can be built up only on the basis of researches in social pathology.

In the following bibliographical notes and directions for reading only the most essential things are included. No attempt is made to offer a bibliography for advanced or special students.

The student of sociology should begin his readings, if possible, with a concise but comprehensive work. The best book for this purpose is:

Grundriss der Sociologie, von Dr. Ludwig Gumplowicz, Vienna, 1885.

The first 50 pages are a history of sociological theories and literature to the present time. The remaining 195 pages are a compact outline of sociological principles. Starting with a search for the elements of social life. Professor Gumplowicz insists that “the true social element is neither an institution nor an idea nor a biological process. it is a concrete social group of living men with all their feelings and habits; in short, the primitive horde or tribe. Social structure, industrial organization, government, and intellectual progress all begin when these elements are bound together in lordship and subordination; some groups having subdued others, established government over them, and set them at enforced labor.”

This work is now being translated into English. [English translation by Frederick Douglas Moore (1899) ]

The student should next become acquainted with the beginnings of sociological philosophy in Comte, and with the evolutionist sociology of Spencer. Read, therefore, as follows:

The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, freely translated and condensed by Harriet Martineau. Third edition. London, 1893.

Volume I., Introduction. Chapters I. and II.
Volume II., first six chapters.

Social Statics. By Herbert Spencer. Revised edition. New York, 1892.

Chapter on “General Considerations.”

An Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy [of Herbert Spencer]. By F. Howard Collins. New York, 1889.

Chapter II. (a summary of Part II. of First Principles).
Chapter III., first six sections. (A summary of the first six chapters of The Principles of Biology.)
Chapter VIII. (A summary of Part VI. of The Principles of Biology.)
Chapter XI. (A summary of Part III. of The Principles of Psychology.)

The Principles of Sociology. By Herbert Spencer.

Part I., first eight chapters, and Chapter XXVII.
Part II. entire.

Comte attempted to interpret society in terms of physical forces. His knowledge of physical science and his grasp of social relations were inadequate.

Spencer actually does carry the physical interpretation a long way. His shortcoming is an inadequate recognition and an imperfect treatment of the psychical, especially the volitional aspects of the social process. He is best in his exposition of social evolution as a consequence of an equilibration of energies in accordance with the Newtonian laws of motion, and as a phase of the progressive adjustment of organism to environment. But only a small part of this portion of his work is found in those of his books that bear sociological titles. For this reason it is absolutely necessary for the student to read either the First Principles, the Biologyand the Psychology, or Mr. Collins’ epitomes, as above.

 

Walter Bagehot and John Fiske lay much emphasis on the combined workings of imitation and volition on the subjective side, with natural selection on the objective side. Read:

Physics and Politics. By Walter Bagehot. New York, 1876.
Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy. By John Fisk. Boston, 1874-1891.

Chapters XVI.—XXII., inclusive.

The most adequate treatment of the psychic forces in social evolution is found in the writings of Lester F. Ward, who argues that artificial selection gradually supplements natural selection, and that society, becoming self-conscious, can and should volitionally shape its own destiny. Read:

Dynamic Sociology. 2 volumes. By Lester F. Ward. New York, 1883.

Volume I., Chapter VII.

The Psychic Factors of Civilization. By Lester F. Ward. Boston, 1893.

As yet there are no systematic and comprehensive treatises on sociology from a distinctly Christian or theistic point of view. The following works are recommended:

An Introduction to Social Philosophy. By John S. Mackenzie. London and New York, 1890.

The philosophy is neo-Hegelian.

Social Aspects of Christianity. By Brooke Foss Westcott. London, 1887.

The Nation. By Elisha Mulford. Boston, 1881.

 

The following works should be referred to:

Gedanken über eine Socialwissenschaft der Zukunft. Von Paul von Lilienfeld. Mitau, 1873.
Bau und Leben des socialen Körpers. Dr. A. Schäffle, Tübingen, 1875. [Vol. I ; Vol II]
Der Mensch in der Geschichte. Zur Begründung einer Psychologischen Weltanschauung. By Adolf Bastian. Leipzig, 1860. [Vol. I ; Vol. II; Vol. III]
Introduction à la Sociologie. Par Dr. Guillaume de Greef. Bruxelles. Première partie, 1886.  Deuxième Partie, 1889.
Éléments de Sociologie. Par Combes de Lestrade. Paris, 1889.

The foregoing expository reading should be supplemented by two or three critical works on the province, aims and methods of sociological science. The best are:

The Study of Sociology. By Herbert Spencer. New York, 1875.
La Science Sociale Contemporaine. Par Alfred Fouillée. Deuxième édition. Paris, 1885.
La Sociologie. Par E. Roberty. Deuxième édition. Paris, 1886.

 

The following works are the best introduction to ethnographic sociology, demographic sociology, and social pathology.

Ethnographic Sociology.

La Sociologie d’après l’Ethnographie. Par Dr. Charles Letourneau. Troisième édition. Paris, 1892.

An English translation of the first edition was published in London in 1881.

An Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy. (Collins, as above.) .

Chapters XX., XXI., XXII., XXIII. (A summary of Part III., “The Domestic Relations;” Part IV., “Ceremonial Institutions;” Part V., “Political Institutions;” and Par VI., “Ecclesiastical Institutions,” of The Principles of Sociology.)

The History of Human Marriage. By Edward Westermarck. London, 1891.

This is the most comprehensive, and, on the whole, the most judicious treatment of this warmly debated question.

Ancient Society. By Lewis H. Morgan. New York, 1878.

Read especially Part II.

The Early History of Institutions. By Sir Henry Sumner Maine. Fifth edition. London and New York, 1889.

Read especially Chapters II.-V., inclusive.

 

As works of reference consult:

Studies in Ancient History.By John Ferguson McLennan, London and New York, 1886.
The Patriarchal Theory. By John Ferguson McLennan. London and New York, 1885.
Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. By W. Robertson Smith. Cambridge, University Press, 1885.
The Primitive Family. By Dr. C. N. Starcke. New York, 1889.
Studien zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Familienrechts. Von Dr. Albert Hermann Post.   [This hathitrust.org item is not available online]
The Evolution of Marriage. By Dr. Charles Letourneau. New York, 1891.
L’Évolution Juridique dan des Diverses Races Humaines. Par Dr. Charles Letourneau. Paris, 1891.

 

Demographic Sociology.

Read:

National Life and Character. By Charles H. Pearson. London, 1893.

Chapters I. and II.

Introduction à la Sociologie. Par Guillaume De Greef. Paris, 1889.

Deuxième Partie.

Or:

Principles of Economics. By Alfred Marshall. London, 1890.

Book IV., Chapters VIII.-XII.

Marshall, as above:

Book IV., Chapters IV.-VI.

Studies in Statistics. By G.B. Longstaff. London, 1891.

Chapters I.-XII.

Statistics and Economics. By Richmond Mayo-Smith. The American Economic Association, 1888.
Emigration and Immigration. By Richmond Mayo-Smith. New York, 1892.
Labour and Life of the People. Edited by Charles Booth. London, 1891.

Vol. I., Part I. and Part III., Chapter II.

Études Pénales et Sociales. Par G. Tarde. Paris, 1892.

Last four papers

 

Consult:

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
Publications of the American Statistical Association.

 

Social Pathology

 

Read:

Philanthropy and Social Progress. Edited by Henry C. Adams. Boston, 1893.

Chapter VI.

An Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes. By Charles R. Henderson. Boston, 1893.
The Jukes: A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Heredity. By R. L. Dugdale. New York, 1884.
Suicide. By Henry Morselli. New York, 1882.
Crime and its Causes. By W. D. Morrison. London, 1891.

Or:

La Criminalité Comparée. Par G. Tarde. Paris, 1890.
The Criminal. By Havelock Ellis. London, 1892.
Illegitimacy, and the Influence of Seasons Upon Conduct.  By Albert Leffingwell. London, 1892.

 

Source: Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Franklin Henry Giddings papers, 1890-1931. Box 4.

Image Source:  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, p. 454.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economy of the U.S. Course outline, readings, exam. Leontief, 1945-46

 

 

Not much to say here about the material I have found for the first iteration of Wassily Leontief’s course on the economy of the United States other than I was surprised that his own book, Structure of the American Economy, 1919-1929, was not mentioned among the readings.

_______________

Course Announcement

Economics 12a. The Economy of the United States.

Half-course (fall term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 3.  Associate Professor Leontief.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1945-46. Published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 42, No. 8 (March 31, 1945), p. 36.

_______________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12a (fall term) Associate Professor Leontief.—The Economy of the United States.

Total 30: 2 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors 5 Sophomores, 10 Radcliffe.

Source:Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1945-46, in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 45, No. 12 (May 20, 1948), p. 58.

_______________

ECONOMICS 12a
The Economy of the United States
Winter Semester, 1945-46

  1. General Interrelation of Industries and Households:
    1. Commodity flow and allocations of commodities and services.
    2. Cost structure of industries and Direct and Indirect demand.
    3. Capital stock and the Balance of Saving and Investment.
    4. Basic determinants of the Economic Structure of the United States: National Resources and Population, State of technical arts, consumers’ behavior, Public Policies
  2. Structural Characteristics of Selected Branches of the National Economy:
    1. Manufacturing
    2. Mining
    3. Agriculture
    4. Transportation
    5. Foreign Trade
    6. Domestic Trade
    7. Service Industries
  3. Structure of Consumers’ Demand:
    1. Sources of income
    2. Income distribution
    3. Spending and Saving pattern
  4. Price Structure:
    1. Price structure and the industrial structure
    2. Prices and incomes
  5. Economic Structure and Economic Policies

In this course, lectures are supplemented by simple research problems assigned as home work.

Readings:

J. R. Hicks and A. G. Hart, The Social Framework of the American Economy

and selected readings from publications of

National Resources Planning Board
National Bureau of Economic Research
Brookings Institution

[Handwritten additions:
Williamson, Growth of American Economy
Kuznets, Secular Movements of Production]

            Since Economics 12a is being given for the first time, the above outline probably will be modified in the course of instruction.

*  * *  *  *  *

Handwritten list following course outline

Econ 12A

Desk. Hicks JR & Hart—Social Framework

Desk. Leontief W—Economic statistics & postwar policies.
Reprint Harris Post-war Economic Problems.

Desk. National Resources Committee—Structure of the American Economy

Desk. National Resources Planning Board. Industrial Location & Nat. Resources

Desk. Kuznets, S.S.—Secular Movements in Production & Prices

Desk. Bell, S.—Productivity, wages and national income. Chs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9. Appendix A: II & III

Desk. Glover, J.G.—Development of American Industries. Chs. 17, 31

Desk. Williamson, Growth of the American Economy. Chs 20, 21, 22.

Desk. U.S. Nat. Resources Comm., Consumer Spends his Income

Desk. Bd. Governors Federal Res. System [Postwar Economic Studies No. 1]. Jobs, production & living standards, 1945.
Goldenweiser)

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1945-1946 (1 of 2)”.

_______________

1945-46
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12a

The Economy of the United States
Final. January. 1946.

Answer FOUR questions including question six. If you choose to answer question one, spend approximately one hour on it; in the final score it will be given double weight.

  1. Present a short discussion of your special research topic.
  2. How would you go about estimating the probable effect of a changed distribution of national income on the output and employment in the metal fabricating industry?
  3. Discuss the principal factors which have determined the changes in agricultural employment from the end of the last century up to the beginning of the second World War.
  4. Analyze the position of foreign trade in the structure of American economy.
  5. Describe the mutual dependence of wages, profits, and prices from the point of view of interindustrial relationships.
  6. Review critically of the papers included in the Postwar Economic Studies assigned for the Reading Period.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 11, “Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science. January, 1946”.

Image Source:  Wassily Leontief in Harvard Class Album 1947.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of socialism. Outline, readings, final exam. Schumpeter, 1943-44

 

Earlier Economics in the Rear-view Mirror posted the course outline and final examination for Joseph Schumpeter’s course on the economics of socialism that was given in the second semester of 1945-46. None of the final examination questions were shared between these two years, so together the exams provide a better idea of what was actually covered than either alone.

______________________

Course Announcement

Economics 11b. Economics of Socialism

Half-course (winter term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at  10. Professor Schumpeter.

 

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1943-44. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 40, No. 21 (September 29, 1943), p. 33.

______________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 11b (winter term) Professor Schumpeter. –Economics of Socialism.

Total 26:  3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 13 Navy.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1943-44, p. 56.

______________________

ECONOMICS 11b
1943-44
OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS

  1. FIRST TWO WEEKS: The Socialist Issue.

Socialist ideas and socialist parties. Socialism and the labor movement. Laborite and intellectualist socialism. The Definition of Socialism.

H. W. Laidler*, History of Socialist Thought, 1927.
T.M. Sogge, “Industrial Classes in the U. S.  in 1930,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, vol. 28 (1933), pp. 199-203.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, article on Socialist and Labor Parties.

  1. THIRD TO FIFTH WEEK: The Theory of Centralist Socialism.

O. Lange and F. M. Taylor*, The Economic Theory of Socialism.
H. D. Dickinson, Economics of Socialism, 1939.

  1. SIXTH TO NINTH WEEK: The Economic Interpretation of History. The Class Struggle, and the Marxist Theory of Capitalism.

Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, chs. I, IV, V, VI.
Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto
Paul M. Sweezy*, The Theory of Capitalist Development, 1942, chs. I-VI (pp. 1-108).

  1. TENTH TO TWELFTH WEEK: The Socialist Theory of the State and of the Proletarian Revolution, Imperialism, National Socialism.

V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution.
V. I. Lenin, Imperialism.
M. Dobb, Political Economy and Capitalism, ch. VII.
Paul M. Sweezy*, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. XIII-XIX.

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read E. Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism, especially pp. 18-95, and survey again the items in the reading list marked *.

 

Source:Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1943-1944 (2 of 2)”.

______________________

1943-44
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11b
[Final. February, 1944]

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

  1. Describe briefly the emergence of either the English Independent Labour Party or the German Social Democratic Party.
  2. In the Second International, opinion was divided on the question whether socialists should or should not participate in bourgeois governments. What were the arguments that were adduced for and against? Which groups expressed the one and which the other view? Which view prevailed eventually within the Second International?
  3. What are the rules of rational allocation of productive resources in a socialist society, and how do they differ from the corresponding rules in a capitalist society (a) under conditions of perfect competition and (b) under conditions of monopolistic competition?
  4. State and criticize the Marxian proposition known as the Theory of Increasing Misery (“immiseration”).
  5. Most socialist writers recognize that the transition from the capitalist to the socialist form of life will raise a number of problems that are distinct from the problem of how to run a socialist society when established. What are those “transitional problems” and what methods have been suggested for dealing with them?
  6. What is meant by Reformism? By Revisionism? By Laborism?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 8, Folder “Final examinations, Winter term, 1943-44”.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Readings and Exam Questions for Graduate Money. Friedman, 1963

 

 

The reading list for Milton Friedman’s graduate money course, Economics 331, for the Winter Quarter of 1970 at the University of Chicago has been posted earlier. Here I have transcribed the (shorter) reading list from late 1963 along with the final exam questions and the take-home essay to be handed in on the day of the exam.

____________________

ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Autumn Quarter, 1963

READING LIST

Milton Friedman

[NOTE: Readings marked with an asterisk (*) cover the essential substantive material.]

  1. Introductory Material

Milton Friedman*, The Quantity Theory, (forthcoming Encyclopaedia article)
D. H. Robertson, Money
David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” in Essays and Treatises

  1. The Quantity Equation

Irving Fisher*, The Purchasing Power of Money (Macmillan, 1913), chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8
A. C. Pigou*, “The Value of Money” in Readings in Monetary Theory [, Lutz, F. A., and Mints, L. W. (eds.)]
J. M. Keynes*, Tract on Monetary Reform (1924), chap. II; chap. III, Sec. I
Wesley C. Mitchell*, Business Cycles, The Problem and Its Setting (New York, 1927), pp. 128-39
Henry Thornton, An Enquiry into the Nature and Effect of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802), Library of Economics edition (Allen and Irwin, 1939), chaps. III and XI
Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade (Harpers, 1937), pp. 119-289
Alfred Marshall, Official Papers, “Evidence before the Indian Currency Committee (1889),” questions 11758-62 (pp. 267-69); “Evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (1887-88).” questions 9629-86 (pp. 34-53); testimony to Royal Commission on The Depression of Trade and Industry (1886), answers to question 8(i), pp. 7-15

  1. The Demand for Money

Milton Friedman*, “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, ed., M. Friedman
______________ “The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1959), pp. 327-51
H. G. Johnson*, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” American Economic Review (June, 1962), Part II
W. J. Baumol, “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1952)
James Tobin, “The Interest Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics (August, 1956)
__________, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” Review of Economic Studies (August, 1956), pp. 241-47
J. M. Keynes*, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, chaps. 13 and 15
J. R. Hicks*, “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Joan Robinson, “The Rate of Interest,” Econometrica, Vol. 19 (1951), reprinted as chap 1 of The Rate of Interest and Other Essays
Allan H. Meltzer, “The Demand for Money: The Evidence from the Time Series,” Journal of Political Economy (June, 1963)
[handwritten marginal note:
(Allan H. Meltzer, ) “The D. for M: A Cross Section Study of Bus Firms” Q.J.E., Aug. 1963]
Phillip Cagan*, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, esp. pp. 25-35 and 86-91
H. A. Latane, “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics (November, 1954) and (November, 1960)
James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 19 (May, 1947), 130-31
Clark Warburton, “Monetary Velocity and Monetary Policy,” and Tobin’s rejoinder, Review of Economic Statistics, XXX (November, 1948), 310-17
John V. Deaver, “The Chilean Inflation and the Demand for Money,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1961)
Edgar Feige, “The Demand for Liquid Assets: A Temporal Cross-Section Analysis,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Spring, 1963)
George R. Morrison, “Liquidity Preferences of Commercial Banks,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1963)

  1. The Supply of Money

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz*, “Appendix B: Proximate Determinants of the Nominal Stock of Money,” from A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 [copies on reserve]
H. G. Johnson*, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” Section III
Phillip Cagan, “The Demand for Currency Relative to the Total Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1958)
A. J. Meigs, Free Reserves and the Money Supply (University of Chicago Press, 1962)
William Dewald, “Free Reserves, Total Reserves, and Monetary Control,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1963)
Lloyd W. Mints, A History of Banking Theory, pp. 9-12, 29-35, 217-22, 236-40, 247-57, 265-87
Milton Friedman, A Program for Monetary Stability, chapter 2
Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, 171 (June, 1907), 213-20
Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Function
A. G. Hart, “The ‘Chicago’ Plan of Banking Reform,” Readings in Monetary Theory
George Tolley, “Providing for Growth of the Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (December, 1957), pp. 465-85

  1. Liquidity and Financial Intermediaries

Edward Simmons, “The Relative Liquidity of Money and Other Things,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Roland N. McKean*, “Liquidity and a National Balance Sheet,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Phillip Cagan*, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1958)
J. G. Gurley, “Liquidity and Financial Institutions in the Postwar Period,” Study Paper No. 14, Joint Economic Committee, January, 1960
H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices, and Monetary Theory,” Readings in Price Theory
J. G. Gurley and E. S. Shaw, Money in a Theory of Finance
Alvin Marty, “Gurley and Shaw on Money in a Theory of Finance,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1961)

  1. The Monetary Standard and International Monetary Arrangements

Lloyd Mints*, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society, chaps. 4 and 5
Milton Friedman*, “Commodity Reserve Currency” and “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” Essays in Positive Economics
H. G. Johnson, International Trade and Economic Growth, chaps. 6 and 7
J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform, chap. III, secs. 2, 3, 4; chaps. IV and V (*especially chap. III, sec. 2; chap. IV, sec. 2)
J. M. Keynes, “Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill,” in Essays in Persuasion
Egon Sohmen, Flexible Exchange Rates (University of Chicago Press, 1961)
“Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium.”* Session at 1962 meeting of American Economic Association, with papers by H. G. Johnson, Richard E. Caves, and Peter B. Kenen, and Discussion by J. Marcus Fleming, Harry C. Eastman, and J. Herbert Furth, American Economic Review (May, 1963), pp. 112-46

  1. The Process of Adjustment: Inflation, Business Cycles

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz*, “Money and Business Cycles,” Supplement to Review of Economics and Statistics (Feb., 1963), containing proceedings of Conference on Monetary Economics. Also, comments by H. Minsky, A. Okun, and C. Warburton
Clark Warburton, “The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business-Fluctuation Theory,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Friedman, “The Inflationary Gap,” in Essays in Positive Economics
Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money
Eugene M. Lerner, “Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money
Arnold C. Harberger, “The Dynamics of Inflation in Chile,” in C. Christ, et al., Measurement in Economics (Stanford University Press, 1963)

[Handwritten note at the end of the section:
Reuben A. Kessel and Armen A. Alchian, “Effects of Inflation”, J.P.E., Dec. 1962]

____________________

ECONOMICS 331 – Autumn, 1963
M. Friedman

Problem for Reading Period

[Due on Final Exam 1:30 P.M., December 13, 1963.]]

In recent years, commercial banks have frequently complained about competition from other financial intermediaries, notably savings and loan associations, and have pressed the Reserve System to raise the maximum rate member banks are permitted to pay on time deposits.

At least one representative of savings and loan associations has argued that commercial banks are being extremely short-sighted, that they are not in any way harmed by the expansion of savings and loan associations, and are only hurting themselves by competing vigorously for time deposits and offering higher interest rates to get them. Indeed, the argument goes, the commercial banks would be wise to get out of the time deposit business altogether.

The fundamental constraint on the commercial banks, it is argued, is the total volume of reserves made available to them by the Federal Reserve System. True because of lower reserve requirements on time than on demand deposits, commercial banks can have larger total deposits if they expand the fraction which are in the form of time deposits. However, competition from financial intermediaries forces commercial banks to pay a rate of interest on time deposits that roughly matches earnings from them. And time deposits do absorb some reserves. Hence, with a given volume of reserves made available by the Fed, the expansion of time deposits reduces the aggregate amount of demand deposits, on which banks pay no interest and with respect to which they have no competitors. Each bank thinks it gets time deposits at the expense of financial intermediaries or other banks, but all banks together get them only at the expense of demand deposits.

Analyze this argument. Do so, first, on the assumption that the volume of reserves made available to commercial banks would be precisely the same whether the commercial banks did or did not offer time deposit facilities. Next, indicate whether this assumption is or is not plausible; if so, why; if not, why not and in what direction it is wrong.

____________________

ECONOMICS 331
Final Examination – Autumn 1963

M. Friedman
December 12, 1963

  1. Indicate briefly but specifically the key idea you got out of each of the following readings on the reading list.
    1. W. C. Mitchell, Business Cycles
    2. J. R. Hicks, “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money”
    3. Phillip Cagan, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations”
    4. J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform.
  2. “In the early history of our country there was a dearth of currency and specie. It was difficult to have cash on hand, especially when most of the specie was used to pay for imports.” (E. R. Taus, Central Banking Functions of the United States Treasury, 1789-1941, p. 22.)
    Discuss the economic meaning of these sentences. Do they make sense as they stand? If so explain. If not, can you suggest any interpretation of them that does make sense? In your answer, emphasize analysis, not economic history.
  3. In class, it was pointed out that (a) it is widely believed that “easy” money tends to make for low interest rates and “tight” money for high interest rates yet (b) in fact interest rates generally tend to be rising or high when the stock of money is expanding rapidly and to be falling or low when the stock of money is expanding slowly or declining, whether the comparison is made among countries at one point in time [e.g., currently, Brazil or Chile vs. the U.S.; Japan vs. Switzerland], or over time for one country [e.g., 20’s vs. 1929-33 in U.S.].
    1. Give the theoretical analysis underlying (a).
    2. Give a theoretical analysis to rationalize (b). Indicate whether this analysis is consistent with that given in (1.).
  4. Suppose U.S. Federal taxes are cut next year by an amount equal to $11 billion a year. Along strictly monetary theory lines, using as your framework the equation of exchange, analyze the effect on money income, prices, and interest rates under three alternative sets of circumstances:
    1. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal increase in the deficit, which is financed by increasing the stock of money at a rate of $11 billion a year more than it would otherwise have been increased.
    2. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal increase in the deficit, which is financed by borrowing from the general public with no effect on the stock of money.
    3. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal cut in expenditures, so there is no change in the deficit.

You are, of course, not expected to give quantitative answers but to indicate direction of effect and the economic parameters on which the magnitude of effect depends.

  1. Indicate the effect each of the following would have on the U.S. money supply under two alternative suppositions: A. The U.S. is on a gold standard; B. The U.S. is on a fiduciary standard with freely floating exchange rates.
    1. Increase in U.S. tariffs
    2. Increase in foreign tariffs
    3. Decline in legally required reserve ratio of commercial banks
    4. Rise in yield on productive investment and hence increase in demand for loanable funds.

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 77, Folder 8 “University of Chicago, Econ 331”.

Image Source:  Milton Friedman (undated) from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-06231, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate economic analysis and public policy. Hansen and Slichter, 1946-47

 

While the paired Harvard graduate economic courses Economics 106a and 106b shared a common title “Economic Analysis and Public Policy”, it appears as though Alvin Hansen taught a course in macroeconomic analysis and his colleague Sumner Slichter taught a topics in public policy course (parallel play). Hansen’s course attracted 59 students while Slichter’s course had 25 enrolled students, so the two courses were hardly connected at the hip. For the first term course (Hansen) we have a detailed outline, reading list and exam questions, I could only find a rough outline (more of a course description), a very incomplete set of reading assignments, and the final exam for the second term course (Slichter).

________________

Course Enrollment
Fall term

[Economics] 106a. (fall term) Professor Hansen.—Economic Analysis and Public Policy

Total 59:  22 Graduates, 25 Public Administration, 3 Radcliffe, 9 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1946-1947, p. 70.

________________

ECONOMICS 106a
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC POLICY
1946-1947

General Outline of Course

  1. Concepts and Statistical Measures of Aggregate Income and Its Component Parts:

    1. Gross National Product.
    2. Net National Product.
    3. National Income.
    4. Income Payments.
    5. Factor Costs.
    6. Component Parts of National Income.

  2. Over-all Determinants of National Income:

    1. Consumption and Savings Functions: Investment and its Determinants; Acceleration and Multiplier Principles; Consumption and Income Distribution.
    2. The Interest Rate and the National Income.
      1. Classical vs. Monetary Interest Rate Theories: Loanable Fund Theory vs. Liquidity Preference.
      2. The Role of the Interest Rate: In Investment, Consumption, Income Distribution, etc.
      3. The Interest Rate and Economic Stability; The Case for
        1. Fluctuating Rates;
        2. Stable Rate;
        3. Declining Rate.
      4. The Interest Rate and Income Velocity of Money.
      5. The Role of Central Bank Credit in Income Formation.
    3. Costs and Profits.
      1. Wage Policy: Wages as Costs, and Wages as Purchasing Power; Wage Rates and Degrees of Utilization of Plant Capacity; Wages and Value of Output at Different Employment Levels.
      2. Price Policy: Profits and the Over-all Economy; Profits and Monopoly; Profits and Income Distribution; Profits and the Inducement to Invest; Profits and the Savings Function.
    4. The Role of the Government in Income Formation.
      1. Monetary Policy: Neutral vs. Positive Program.
      2. Tax Policy.
      3. Borrowing; Public Debt.
      4. Expenditure Policy; Standard Services; Developmental Outlays; Compensatory Spending.

  3. Income, Output, and Prices:

    1. Income Flows and the General Level of Prices.
    2. Income Elasticity and Price Elasticity in Different Industries.
    3. The Effect of Over-all Shifts in Income on Demand in Different Industries; Demand Schedules; Indifference Maps.
    4. The Effect of Over-all Shifts in Income on Supply.
      1. The Economics of the Firm: Marginal, Average, and Total Unit Cost Curves.
      2. The Economics of an Industry: Differential Cost; Increasing, Decreasing, and Constant Cost.
    1. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost; Monopoly and Efficiency; Administrative Prices.
    2. Income Flows, Distributive Shares, and Income Distribution.
    3. Full Employment and the Problems of Wage Inflation.
    4. Planning vs. Automatic Adjustments in a Free Market.

 

Economic 106b: Public Policy Decisions: Analysis of the Effect of Public Policy Decisions Upon the Over-all Economy, Upon Various Producing Groups, and Upon Other Sectors of the Population.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

________________

ECONOMICS 106[a]
READING ASSIGNMENT

  1. Concepts and Statistical Measures of Aggregate Income and Its Component Parts:

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Hicks and Hart—The Social Framework of the American Economy, chapters 13-17.
      2. Livingston, S. Morris—Markets After the War, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
      3. Hansen, Alvin H.—Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters III-IV, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      4. Hansen and Perloff—State and Local Finance in the National Economy, (Norton, 1944), pp. 223-227.
      5. Basic Facts on Employment and Production, U.S. Senate Committee on Money and Banking, Print No. 4, 79th Congress, First Session.
      6. Survey of Current Business:
        1. May, 1942; pp. 9-13 (Gross National Product, 1929-1941).
        2. February, 1946; pp. 1-32 (The Economy of War and Transition).
      7. British White Paper on War Finance, British Government White Paper (Cmd. 6520) presented to Parliament on April 1944 (Reprinted in Federal Reserve Bulletin, July 1944, pp. 655-669).
      8. Federal Reserve Bulletin, August 1946 (Current Price Developments), pp. 833-843.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading:
      1. Clark Colin—The Conditions of Economic Progress, 1940.
      2. Kuznets, Simon—National Income and its Composition, 1919-1938, 1941.
      3. Martin, Robert F.—National Income in the U.S., 1799-1938, National Industrial Conference Board, 1939.
      4. The National Income of Principal Foreign Countries. The Conference Board Economic Record, August 3, 1939, Volume I, No. 4.
      5. Bowley, A. D.—Studies in the National Income, 1924-1938, 1942.
      6. Lindahl, Dahlgren, and Koch—National Income of Sweden, 1861-1930, 1937.
      7. Articles:
        1. Stone, Richard—“National Income in the United Kingdom and the United States”, Review of Economic Studies, Winter 1942-43, Volume X, No. 1.
        2. Kalecki, M.—“The White Paper on the National Income and Expenditure in the Years 1938-43”, Oxford Institute of Statistics Bulletin, July 1, 1944, Volume 6, No. 9.
        3. Dacey, W.M.—“The 1944 White Paper on National Income and Expenditure”, Economic Journal, June-September, 1944.
        4. Gilbert and Jaszi—“The 1945 White Paper on National Income and Expenditure”, Economic Journal, December 1945.

  2. Over-all Determinants of the National Income:

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Keynes, J.M.—General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (1936), Chapter 3, pp. 96-106; Chapters 9, 10, 13, 15, 18, 24.
      2. Meade and Hitch—Economic Analysis and Policy, (1938) Part I, Chapters 1-2; 5-9.
      3. Lerner, A. P.—The Economics of Control, (1944), Chapters 22, 23, 24.
      4. Robertson, D. H.—Essays in Monetary Theory, (1940), Chapter 1.
      5. British Government White Paper on Employment Policy, (Reprinted by MacMillan Co. as pamphlet entitled “Employment Policy”), 1944.
      6. Slichter, S. H.—“The Conditions of Expansion”, American Economic Review, March 1942.
      7. Hansen, Alvin H.—Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton, 1941), Part III, Chapters 11-15.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading
      1. Beveridge, Sir William—Full Employment in a Free Society, (1944).
      2. Haberler, G.—Prosperity and Depression, (1941), Chapters 8, 13.
      3. Cassel, Gustav—On Quantitative Thinking in Economics, (1935), Chapter 4.
      4. Robinson, Joan—Introduction to the Theory of Employment.
      5. Hicks, J. R.—Value and Capital, (1938), Chapters 20, 21, 22.
      6. Hansen and Perloff—State and Local Finance in the National Economy, (1944), Chapters 9, 11.
      7. Hansen, Alvin H.:
        1. Full Recovery or Stagnation, (Norton, 1938), Chapters 1, 2, and Appendix.
        2. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      8. Harris, S. E. (Editor):
        1. Economic Reconstruction, (McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapters 10-16.
        2. Postwar Economic Problems, (McGraw-Hill, 1943).
      9. Jobs and Markets, de Chazeau, Hart, and Others, Committee on Economic Development, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      10. Financing American Prosperity; A Symposium of Economists, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

  3. Income, Output and Prices; Economics of the Firm; Economics of an Industry; Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition, etc.

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Meade and Hitch—Economic Analysis and Policy, Part II, Competition and Monopoly, Chapters 1-8; Part III, The Distribution of Income, Chapters 1-5; Part IV, The Supply of the Primary Factors of Production, Chapters 1-4; Appendix on Graphs, pp. 411-424; Charts I, II (end of book).
      2. Boulding, K. E.—Economic Analysis, pp. 421-470; 485-509; 596-634; 658-663; (1941).
      3. Chamberlin, E. H.—The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, 1942, Chapters 4, 5, 8.
      4. Hicks, J.R.—Value and Capital, Chapters 1, 2, 3.
      5. Wicksell, K.—Lectures, Volume I, Part III.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading:
      1. Stigler—The Theory of Competitive Price.
      2. Robinson, E.A.G.—Monopoly, (Cambridge Series), Chapters 1-3; 6; 8-9;12.
      3. Burns, Arthur—Decline of Competition.
      4. Walker, E.R.—From Economic Theory to Policy, (University of Chicago Press), Chapters 1, 3, 4, 10, 12.
      5. Purdy, Lindahl, and Carter—Market Organization and Price Policy, Prentice-Hall.
      6. Hitch and Hall—Oxford Economics Papers, Volume I, Business Pricing Policy.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

________________

1946-47
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 106a

Final. January, 1947

(Write on any THREE questions)

    1. Explain what is meant by Gross National Product including in your discussion the following:
      1. Distinguish and compare Gross National Product, Net National Product, National Income, Income Payments, Disposable Income.
      2. Outline and discuss the component parts of the Gross National Product from two viewpoints: (a) Income-generation or outlays; (b) Disposal of income.
    2. State the savings-investment problem and show clearly the role of the consumption function (propensity to consume schedule) with respect to this problem. With respect to savings and investment discuss the ideas of Robertson and Keynes.
    3. Give an explanation of cost curves (marginal, variable and total unit costs) and show how this type of cost analysis throws light on the problem of inflation under conditions of full employment.
    4. Write an essay (about one hour) on any one (or two if you prefer) of the following:
      1. Keynes: General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.
      2. Beveridge: Full Employment in a Free Society.
      3. Lerner: Economics of Control.
      4. Chamberlin: The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
      5. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, or Economic Policy and Full Employment.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001.Box 13, Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science. January, 1947.

________________

Course Enrollment
Spring term

[Economics] 106b. (spring term) Professor Slichter.—Economic Analysis and Public Policy

Total 25:  10 Graduates, 11 Public Administration, 1 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1946-1947, p. 70.

________________

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR ECONOMICS 106b
February 18, 1947

Pigou—Economics of Welfare

(Second Edition) Part III

Ch. XIV, pp. 520-542
Ch. XVI, pp. 553-566
Ch. XVIII, pp. 572-578

(Third Edition) Part III

Ch. XIV, pp. 548-571
Ch. XVII, pp. 592-604
Ch. XIX, pp. 611-617

(please post on bulletin board)

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

________________

March 19, 1947

Please put on reserve for Economics 106

Review of Economic Statistics, May 1938
American Economic Review Proceedings, May 1945
American Economic Review, September 1940
American Economic Review, December 1946

Sumner H. Slichter

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

________________

[Final] May 19, 1947
Economics 106[b]
Economic Analysis and Public Policy

(Three Hours)

I

(a) Discuss the effect of increase in employment upon the size of the workforce.

(b) So long as there are substantial amounts of additional resources, increases in expenditures may be counted upon primarily to produce increases in employment rather than increases in prices. Discuss the validity of this statement.

II

“A wage structure based upon ability to pay would prevent the best distribution of men and resources among enterprises and would thus limit the output of industry.” Do you agree? Explain.

III

History shows that the price level has been subject to great fluctuations. The cost of living, for example, has risen 50 percent since 1940. Wholesale prices have risen even farther. Within several years after the First World War there was a substantial drop in the price level. In view of the history of prices, do you regard original cost as a fair guide for determining the rate base for public utilities?

IV

“A progressive income tax tends to reduce the attractiveness of risky ventures to investors more than the attractiveness of less risky ventures.” Do you agree? Can this effect be prevented? How? If two ventures offer an even chance of a return above 5 percent and below 5 percent, how would you determine which is the more risky?

V

It is asserted that import duties fall in part upon the foreigners who consume the goods exported by the country levying the duty. Analyze this proposition and point out its limitations.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 13, Folder “Final examinations, May 1947 ( 3 of 9)”.

Image Source:  Hansen and Slichter from Harvard Class Album, 1947.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 ___________________

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

ABBOT PAYSON USHER

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

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

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

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

Member: Ithaca Country Club.

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

___________________

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

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

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

Source: The Harvard Crimson, June 10, 1922 .

___________________

Course Description
1929-30

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

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

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

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

___________________

Course Enrollment
1929-30

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

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

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

___________________

Course Readings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. Reading period.

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

 

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

___________________

Final Examination, 1930

1929-30
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10a1

Answer SIX questions.

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

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

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1934.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

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

 

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

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

_________________________

Course Enrollment

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

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

 

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

_________________________

Economics 145a
Business Cycles                 1948-49                    Professor Hansen

Part I. Descriptive Survey

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

**********

Suggested Reading:

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

Part II. The Meaning and Genesis of National Product

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

**********

Suggested Reading:

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

Part III. Theory of Cycles and Investment

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

**********

Suggested Reading:

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

Part IV. Policy

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

**********

Suggested Reading:

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

 

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read one of the following four assignments:

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

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

_________________________

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

Part I
(Answer any THREE questions)

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

Part II (Required of everyone)

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

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

 

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

Image Source:  Harvard Album 1952.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

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

 

 

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

________________

March 16, 1973

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

Dear Ursula and Paul:

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

Meanwhile my best to you both.

Yours faithfully,

John Kenneth Galbraith

JKG:mjh
cc: James S. Duesenberry

________________

COURSE DESCRIPTION

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

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

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

________________

ECONOMICS 2365
AUTUMN TERM 1973-74
PROFESSOR JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

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

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

PREREQUISITES: There are no formal prerequisites.

 *  *  *  *  *

I. INTRODUCTION (Sept. 26)

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

J. K. Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

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

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

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

A. Lewis, Economic Survey 1919-1939

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Categories
Suggested Reading Swarthmore Syllabus

Swarthmore. Honors Economic Theory Seminar. Stolper, ca. 1944

 

This seminar reading list and reports was probably typed by Wolfgang Stolper himself and given to a (the?) departmental secretary for preparing 25 mimeographed copies to distribute. While this typed seminar outline has no date, at least judging from the last item to be reported on, William Beveridge’s Full Employment in a Free Society, the outline probably dates from the 1944-45 academic year.

The course description remained the same throughout Stolper’s years at Swarthmore.

Paul Samuelson was an honors examiner in 1943.

Richard Musgrave also served as an external examiner in 1946.

______________________

Course Description
(taught by Stolper 1941-42 through 1946-47, 1948-49)

The following seminars prepare for examinations for a degree with Honors:

[…]

  1. Economic Theory. Mr Stolper. Each semester.

An advanced analysis of the processes by which the prices of goods and services and the incomes of the factors of production are determined under various market condition. A study of theories of the business cycle. Directed reading and discussion, supplemented by reports on the theoretical problems raised by factual studies.

Source:  Swarthmore College Catalogue, 1941-42 p. 62.

______________________

Stolper
Economics Theory Seminar
25 copies

(1) First Week

Assigned:

Joan Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Bk. I
E.H. Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1,2
Ricardo, Principles, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Introd. und Pt. I, Sec 1

Suggested:

J.St. Mill, Principles, Bk. III, except Ch. 5
J. Cassels, A Re-interpretation of Ricardo on Value, QJE, Vol. 49, p. 518

Topic:

Review of the Tools of Analysis

(2) Second Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Pt. I, pp. 29-100.  You may omit: p. 31 small print; p. 60-63 small print; p. 79, 2d last para- p. 81 top; p. 93-95, small print and diagram
J. Viner, Cost Curves and Supply curves
Marshall, Principles, Bk. V, Chs. 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 15

Topic:

Pure Competition. The Classical Statement of Value Theory

(3) Third Week

Assigned:

Marshall, op.cit. Bk. V., Chs. 12, 14
Chamberlin, op.cit., Chs. 3-6
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Pt. I, secs. 1, 2,4; Pt. II complete

Suggested:

Triffin, op.cit. Pt. I, Secs. 3, 5, note

Topic:

Monopolistic Competition

Report:

TNEC Monograph 21, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, by Clair Wilcox

(4) Fourth Week

Assigned:

Triffin, op.cit., Pt. III, secs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Suggested:

Triffin, Monopoly in Particular Equilibrium…,Econometrica. Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 121
J. Robinson, What is Pure Competition? QJE Vol. 49, p. 104
F.Y. Edgeworth, Pure Theory of Monopoly
Cournot, Mathematical Theory of Wealth

Topic:

Criticisms of Monopolistic Competition

Reports:

(a) The Problem of Excess Capacity(See Bibliography in Chamberlin, op.cit.)
(b) Price Discrimination between Markets

G. Haberler, International Trade, Ch. on Dumping
J. Robinson, op.cit., Ch. XV
For illustrative facts refer to the following:
TNEC Monog. 41, Price Discrimination in Steel
TNEC Monog. 42, The Basing Point Problem

(c) Price Policy

TNEC Monog. 1, Price Behavior and Business Policy
Hall and Hitch, Oxford Economic Papers No. 2, pp. 12-45
Clive Saxton, The Economics of Price Determination
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy

(d) F.P. Bishop, The Economics of Advertising

 (5) Fifth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 1, 2, 11
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 1. You may omit: pp. 127-129, small print. Don’t worry about the mathematics on pp. 127-131, 139-40
Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, Ch. XIII (old edition, Ch. XI)
J. Cassels, The Law of Variable Proportions, Explorations in Economics, pp. 223-228
Chamberlin, op.cit. Ch. VIII (also in Explorations, …., pp. 237-250)
Triffin, Pt. III, Sec. 2
Schumpeter, The Instability of Capitalism, Economic Journal, Vol 38 (1928)

Suggested:

Articles by Machlup, Hart, Smithies, and remainder of article of Cassels, in Explorations in Economics
G. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories

 (6) Sixth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 3, 4, 5 Bk. IV, Ch. 4, 5
Ricardo, Ch. 5
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Complete

Suggested:

A. C. Pigou, Theory of Unemployment
J.T.Dunlop, Wage Determination under Trade Unions

Topic:

Wage Theory and Wage Problems

Reports:

(a) Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, particularly, Chs. V-IX
(b) National Resources Planning Board, Problems of a Changing Population, pp. 1-138
Reddaway, Economics of a Declining Population
Malthus, Principles,
Myrdal, Population
Hansen, Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 366-85

(c) P. Douglas, Theory of Wages
National Income of the US, Chs. 1-4

(d) TNEC Monog. 22, Technology in our Economy
TNEC Hearing on Technological Progress, selections
Consult for further readings

(e) J.T. Dunlop, op, cit., Chs. I-VI, IX, X
(f) TNEC Monog. 5, Industrial Wage Rates, Labor Costs and Price Policies

(7) Seventh Week

Assigned:

Ricardo, Ch. 2, 3
Mill, Bk. III, Ch. 5
Marshall, Bk. V, Ch. 10, 11, Bk. VI, Chs. o,10
Chamberlin, op.cit. Appendix D

Report:

H.W. Singer, Index of Urban Land Rents, Econometrica, Vol IX,

(8) Eighth Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chs. 2, 3, 4
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. V, omitting B
Marshall, Bk, VI, Chs. 7, 8
R.A.Gordon, Explorations in Economics, pp. 306-317
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Pt. II, sec. 3

Reports:

(a) Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property
TNEC Monograph 29, The Distribution of Ownership in the 200 largest non-financial Corporations
(b) W.L.Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

Topic:

Profits. General Summary of Value and Distribution

(9) Ninth Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 2; Pt. III. You may omit: Sec D, pp. 172-184; pp. 203-5, small print; p. 216, 2d para—p. 217, 1stpara
Marshall, Bk, VI, Ch. 6
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. V, I
Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14
Higgins and Musgrave, Deficit Financing—The Case Examined, Public Policy Yearbook II, pp. 136-207
O. Lange, The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, No. 8

Suggested:

J.M. Keynes, General Theory
Readings…., Pt. II

Topic:

Interest Theory

Reports:

(a) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, Bks. I-III
(b) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Bks. IV to end
(c) F.A.Lutz, The Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. 55,

(10) Tenth Week

Assigned:

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1939 ed. or later, Chs. 8, 9, 13
Hicks, Value and Capital, Ch. 24
Hicks, Social Framework, Chs. XI-XVI, Appendices E and F
and either
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. 4
Kuznets, Review of Schumpeter, AER
or
Mitchell, Business Cycles, Ch. III

Suggested:

Readings…., Pt. I

Topic:

Measurement and Separation of Cycles

Reports:

(a) Burns, Production Trends in the US since 1870
(b) Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Chs. 6, 7
Kondratieff, Readings…, pp. 20-42
(c) Schumpeter, Cycles, Vol. II, Chs. 14, 15
(d) The Cob Web Theorem

(11) Eleventh Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 6
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
P.A.Samuelson, Readings…. pp. 261-289

Suggested:

Readings, Pt. III, IV, V.
Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business Cycle Theories, Econometrica, Vol. 10, pp. 129 ff

Reports:

(a) A.H.Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, particularly Pts. I, III, IV
P.A.Samuelson, A Synthesis of the Principle of Acceleration and the Multiplier, JPE, 1939
_______________, Fiscal Policy and Income Determination QJE, August 1942
(b) Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 4, 6, 7
Hansen, Business Cycle Theory
Readings, …., Pts. IV, V
(c) Wm. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society

Topic:

Business Cycles, Theory and Theories

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economist Papers’ Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Folder “S miscellaneous (2 of 3) Swarthmore Theory outline”.

Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).