Category: Suggested Reading

M.I.T. Advanced Economic Theory. Uncertainty and Capital Theory. Readings and Exam. Solow, 1965

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-29

Topics in advanced economic theory in 1965 was taught at M.I.T. by Robert Solow. The topics discussed were uncertainty and capital theory. This post provides information that was found stored in three different folders in Robert Solow’s papers at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Together in one place we now have the reading lists for the topics, the final exam questions and even the class list. For the little it is worth knowing, Robert Hall of Stanford and William Nordhaus of Yale were awarded A’s in the course. I certainly hope that their scientific reputations will not be affected by that revelation.

____________________

Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
I. Economics of Uncertainty

K. Arrow, “Alternative Approaches…,” Econometrica, October 1951.
D. Bernoulli, “Exposition of a New Theory…,” Econometrica, January 1954.
M. Friedman and L. J. Savage, “Utility Analysis…,” JPE, August, 1948, also in Readings in Price Theory.
H. Markowitz, “The Utility of Wealth,” JPE, April, 1952.
I. Herstein and J. Milnor, “An Axiomatic Approach…,” Econometrica, April, 1953.
J. Pratt, “Risk Aversion…,” Econometrica, January-April 1964.
H. Latané, “Criteria for Choice Among Risky Ventures,” JPE, April, 1959.
J. Tobin, “Liquidity Preference…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., February, 1958.
K. Arrow, “The Role of Securities…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., April, 1964.
J. Hirschleifer, “Efficient Allocation…,” AER, May, 1964, 77-96 (including relevant discussion)
K. Arrow, “Uncertainty and the Economics of Medical Care,” AER, December, 1963.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

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Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Reading List on Capital Theory

I. Fisher: Theory of Interest, passim.
K. Wicksell: Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. I, Part II and Appendix on Akerman.
O. Lange: “the Place of Interest…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1935-1936.
L. Metzler: “Rate of Interest and…”, JPE 1950, “Corrections”, JPE 1951.
P. Samuelson: “Some Aspects of the Pure Theory…”, QJE 1937
___________: “Rate of Interest under Ideal Conditions”, QJE 1939.
T. Koopmans: Three Essays on the State of Economics, pp. 105-126.
R. Radner: Notes on the Theory of Economic Planning.
E. Malinvaud: “The Analogy between…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1961.
R. Solow: “Substitution and Fixed Proportions…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962
________: Capital Theory and the Rate of Return, Chapters 1, 2.
E. Phelps: “Substitution, Fixed Proportions,….”, International Economic Review, September 1963.
K. Arrow: “…Learning by Doing”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962.
R. Findlay: “The Robinsonian Model…”, Economica, February 1963 and “Comments” by Robinson and Findlay, Economica, November 1963.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 67, Folder “14.192 Capital Theory”.

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Final Examination
14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Spring 1965

Suppose Caius, a Petersburg merchant, has purchased commodities in Amsterdam which he could sell for 10,000 rubles if he had them in Petersburg. He therefore orders them to be shipped by sea, but is in doubt whether to insure them. He is well aware that at this time of year, of 100 ships which sail from Amsterdam to Petersburg, 5 are usually lost. How much wealth must Caius possess apart from the goods under consideration in order that it be sensible for him to abstain from insuring the shipment at a price of 800 rubles? And what fortune should be possessed by the man who offers to provide this insurance in order for him to be rational in doing so? Work out for an arbitrary utility function and specialize to the logarithmic case.
In a perfectly competitive economy, it requires c (X) many years of labor, and nothing else, to build a machine which requires X men to operate it and has a capacity of one unit of output a year. The wage in terms of output is w and is expected to be constant forever. The market rate of interest is r, also constant. For given w, find the competitive equilibrium values of x and r. How does x change with w?
By investing one unit of labor now (at real wage w) you can start a yoghurt-process. T units of time later, by investing one more unit of labor you can collect f (T) units yoghurt and start another identical yoghurt-process. There is a competitive capital market. You intend this yoghurt business to go on forever at the scale of one process. Discuss the determination of the best T, and implications for r and w.
An investor with wealth W must divide it between holding cash, M, and holding one-year bonds in value B, paying interest at rate r. The return of principal is sure but the interest rate is random. Interest income is subject to a proportional tax at rate t. If the investor is a Bernoullian expected-utility maximizer and a risk-averter, how will his holding of bonds respond to a change in the tax rate? Explain the economics of your answer.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

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From the Final Grade Sheet

Second Term 1964-65
Subject number: 14.192
Subject name: Economics Seminar
Staff member in charge: [signed] R. M. Solow

Graduate students of economics who were awarded grades
[There were 5 A’s and 7 B’s]:

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo [Emeritus Professor,Keio Univ.]
Kheir El Dine, H. Miss
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Nordhaus, William D.
Schulson, Louis J.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

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(Preliminary) Class List

14.192 ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY
W 1:00-3:00
Professor Robert M. Solow

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Chacholiades, Miltiades LISTENER
DeMenil, George F. DROPPED APRIL 13, 1965
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo
Kheir El Dine, H.
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Schulson, Louis J.
Suva, Felipe
Wales, Terrence J. LISTENER
Cohen, Malcolm S. LISTENER
Stiglitz, Joseph
La Malfa, Giorgio LISTENER

Note: William Nordhaus who received a grade in the course was not included in this preliminary class list. Felipe Suva and Joseph Stiglitz appear on this list but were not included in the gradesheet.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

Image Source: Robert Merton Solow at the M.I.T. Museum website.

Tags Bischoff, HallR, Nordhaus, Solow, Stiglitz

Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Economics, Summer School. Syllabus and Exams, 1942.

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-28

Harvard Commencement, 1943. Military copy work from the Harvard ArchivesHarvard University. . Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Harvard University was able to switch into a three semester per year mode in the very first summer after the U.S. entered World War II. There were two versions of the standard Principles of Economics course offered, one which extended over the twelve week summer term and one very intensive version that covered the material of a normal year-long course in just six weeks by having the students in class for two hours per days for five days per week. There was also a Principles “Lite” version that ran for only six weeks and covered just half the material apparently.

The syllabus for the full twelve week version of Economics A lists 2,600 pages of assigned reading for the course. Nominally there would be five one-hour sessions per week, so on average for the sixty sessions students were expected to read 40-45 pages per day. Call me cynical, but I would be surprised if the average of the distribution were even half that pensum.

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Summer enrollment in Principles of Economics, 1942

“The large number of course enrolments meant that individual classes were very much larger than in preceding years. The largest classes were Mathematics SAa, with 436 students, English SAa, with 347, English SAb, with 329, Mathematics SAb, with 299, and Economics SAa, with 222 students. Enrolment in 22 courses was 100 or more.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1941-1942, p. 356.

___________________

Course Announcements for Summer School 1942

Economics SAa ¹hf. Principles of Economics.
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAa may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
SAa and SAb provide an introductory study of the present organization of industry, money and the mechanism of exchange, the theory of value, foreign trade and tariff policy, the distribution of wealth; i.e., the forces governing the incomes of the laboring, land-owning, capitalist and business classes, and the relation of government to industry. The course is conducted entirely by oral discussion.

Economics SAb ²hf.Principles of Economics
Half-course (second session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAb may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
Economics SAa is a prerequisite for the course.
For description see SAa.

Economics SA¹(to count as a whole course in the first session). Principles of Economics
Whole course (first session). Mon. through Fri., 9 to 11. Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SA¹is identical with SAa and Sab, the two, however, combined and completed in one session. Freshmen will not be admitted to this course. For description see SAa.

Economics SB ¹hf. Principles of Economics
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Dr. Monroe.

If a Harvard student counts Economics SB for a degree, Economics A may be counted as a half-course only. Ordinarily students concentrating in History, Government, and Economics must take Economics A, SA, or SAa and SAb.
Course SB gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject.

Source: Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered in the Summer Term 1942 published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 16 (April 20, 1942), pp. 21-22.

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ECONOMICS A
Summer Term, 1942

Sources:	Arnold, Thurman	The Bottlenecks of Business (1940)
*	Benham and Lutz	Economics, American Edition (1941)
	Bidwell, P.	Economic Defense of Latin America (1941)
**	Federal Reserve System	Federal Reserve Charts on Bank Credit, Money Rates and Business (1941)
	Garver and Hansen	Principles of Economics, Revised Edition (1937)
	Golden and Ruttenberg	The Dynamics of Industrial Democracy (1942)
	Johnson, E.A.J.	Some Origins of the Modern Economic World (1936)
**	Luthringer, Chandler and Cline	Money, Credit and Finance (1938)
	Meyers, A.L.	Elements of Modern Economics (1937)
**	Neal, A.C., Editor	Introduction to War Economics (1942)
	Slichter, S.E.	Modern Economic Society (1928)
	-ditto-	The Economics of Collective Bargaining (reprint)
	-ditto-	The Period 1919-1936 in the United States, Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory, in Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1937, No. 1, Part I
**	Staff members	Syllabus: Economics A
	Taussig, F.W.	Principles of Economics, Vol. I Third Edition Revised (1921)
**	Taylor, H.	Main Currents in Modern Economic Life (1941)
	T.N.E.C.	Price Behavior and Business Policy, Monograph No. 1 (1941)
	T.N.E.C.	Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, Monograph No. 21 (1940)

** To be purchased by students
* Suggested for purchase

Note: Essay due at end of eight week.

ECONOMICS A
Outline and Reading Assignments
Summer Term, 1942

Weeks			Pages
1^st	Part I.	EMERGENCE OF MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS The economic problem; historical development of social and legal institutions; their effect on the economic problem.
		Johnson, Ch. 1, Economic Activity and Economic Development	7
		_______, Ch. 2, The Late-Medieval Background	21
		_______, Ch. 3, The Emergence of Capitalism	34
		_______, Ch. 4, The Beginnings of Scientific Technology	32
		_______, Ch. 5, The Formulation of Capitalist Theory	23
		_______, Ch. 6, Protection and the Transplantation of Industrialism	24
		_______, Ch. 7, The Export of Capital and the Genesis of Economic Imperialism	15 156

Part II.		MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
		A—The economic problem again; how it is solved today; the concept of useful production.
		Benham, Ch. 1, General Survey	17
		Taussig, Ch. 2, Of Labor in Production	13 30

		B—Description of money flows and goods flows in a capitalist society; the relation of the division of labor to these flows; the forms of business organization and their relation to the division of labor.
		Taylor, Ch. 6, Vol. I, The National Income and its Distribution	18
2^nd		_______, Ch. 12, Vol. I, Industrial Techniques	16
		Taussig, Ch. 3, Division of Labor	18
		_______, Ch. 4, Large Scale Production	15
		Slichter, Ch. 8, (M.E.S.) Modern Business Organization	26 93

Part III.		THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND MONEY Division of Labor necessitates exchange; exchange is facilitated by the use of money; digression to explain the working of the monetary system in the United States.
		Luthringer, Ch. 1, Functions and Significance of Money	24
		_______, Ch. 2, Kinds of Money	23
		_______, Ch. 3, Credit and Credit Instruments	15
		_______, Ch. 4, Investment Institutions and Commercial Banking	23
		Pamphlet, Credit Expansion, in Economics A Syllabus	14
		Luthringer, Ch. 5, Central Banking and the Federal Reserve System	20
		_______, Ch. 6, The Quantitative Control of Bank Credit	18
3^rd		_______, Ch. 7, Meaning of the Value of Money	14
		_______, Ch. 8, Equation of Exchange and the Quantity of Money	16
		_______, Ch. 9, Velocity of Money and the Volume of Trade	17 184

Part IV.		THE SOLUTION TO THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM
		A—The Markets for Commodities Analysis in this section refers only to the determination of prices and quantities of commodities produced by a business firm. No answers are given to the questions: Why are wages, rents, interest high or low?
		A.1 The Business Firm vis-à-vis Consumers in an unregulated market
		A.1.a Consumer Demand Why consumers spend their incomes as they do, the process whereby consumer demand is transmitted to the market.
		Benham, Ch. 2, Markets	25
		_______, Ch. 3, Demand	16
		_______, Ch. 4, Prices with a Fixed Demand	10
		_______, Ch. 5, Changes in Demand	10 61

		A.1.b The Business Firm The final relationship of cost to price depends on the competitive conditions in each commodity market; the profit motive the main determinant of the firm’s decisions.
		Benham, Ch. 12, The Controlling Power of Demand	8
		_______, Ch. 13, The Problems of the Firm (omit Sec. 11)	37
		_______, Ch. 14, Monopoly	18
		Monograph 21, Ch. 1, the Nature and Significance of Competition	18
		Monograph 1, Part 1, Ch. 2, Nonprice Competition	53
4^th		_______, 1, Part 2, Ch. 1, Types of Geographical Price Structures	14 148

		A.2 Effect of Government Regulation on the unregulated market
		A.2.a Introduction General analysis of regulation and impediments to free markets. Sections b, c, and d elaborate more completely some issues presented here.
		Arnold, Ch. 1, The Basic Problem of Distribution	19
		_______, Ch. 2, How Restraints of Trade Affect your Standard of Living	25
		_______, Ch. 3, How Restraints of Trade Unbalance the National Budget	13
		_______, Ch. 4, A Free market in time of National Emergency or War	30
		_______, Ch. 5, An Elastic Procedure…to Prevent…Seizure of…Power…	24
		_______, Appendix I and II	20
		_______, Ch. 6, The Test is Efficiency and Service—not size	15
		_______, Ch. 7, Procedure Under the Sherman Act…	31
5^th		_______, Ch. 8, The Clarification of Law through public enforcement	26
		_______, Ch. 9, Antitrust Enforcement for the Betterment of the Consumer	21
		_______, Ch. 10, Bottlenecks between the Farm and the Table	26
		_______, Ch. 11, Labor—Restraints of Trade among the Underdogs	19
		_______, Ch. 12, The Rise of a Consumer Movement	37 306

		A.2.b Regulation and the Consumer
		Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 37, Consumption Standards	15
		____________, Ch. 38, Consumers and the Business System	19
		____________, Ch. 39, Consumer Cooperation	20 54

6^th		A.2.c Regulation and the Business Firm
		(1) Monopoly
		Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 15, The Growth of Big Business	18
		___________, Ch. 16, The Trend Toward Monopoly	17
		___________, Ch. 17, Monopolies and Public Policy	16 51

		(2) Public Utilities Techniques of regulation different for firms classified as public utilities; the TVA—an example of a new regulatory device.
		Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 13, pp. 363-364 Introduction	2
		____________, Ch. 48, The Nature and Scope of Public Regulation	15
		___________, Ch. 49, The Price of Utility Services	16
		___________, Ch. 50, Recent Expansion of Federal Control	19
		___________, Ch. 51, The State as Operator	17 69

		A.2.d Agriculture—a special problem
		Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 8, Agriculture and the Market	3
		____________, Ch. 30, The American Farmers	18
		____________, Ch. 31, Farmers in the Market System	19
		____________, Ch. 32, Agriculture and Public Policy	24 64

7^th		B. The Markets for Productive Agents (Factors of Production) The Analysis in this section refers to the determination of the prices of the factors of production, land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship in the markets where they are bought and sold. The entrepreneur’s reward, profit, is decided for him by the success or failure of his production plan. This market is, of course, not independent of the commodity markets. The unclassified reading discusses the productive agents of the United States:
		Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 8, How Productive Resources are Used	17
		___________, Ch. 9, Population	19
		___________, Ch. 10, Land	15
		___________, Ch. 11 Localized Natural Resources	21
		___________, Ch. 13 Capital	19 91

		B.1 The Factors vis-à-vis Firms in an Unregulated Market
		B.1.a. The Pricing Process in General
		Benham, Ch. 9, Combination of Factors (omit sec’s 5,6)	18
		Meyers, Ch. 11, The Distribution of Income	11 29

		B.1.b. The Prices of Each Factor of Production
		Benham, Ch. 15, The Mobility of Factors of Production	10
		_______, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 258-269	20
		_______, Ch. 18, Rent	13
		Garver and Hansen, Ch. 26, Interest	23
		_______________, Ch. 27, Profits	12 78

8^th		B.2 Effects of Government Regulation and other Institutional Aspects of Distribution on the Markets for Factors.
		B.2.a The Labor Market
		Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 33, The American Labor Market, pp. 75-89	14
		___________, Ch. 35, The Labor Movement	24
		Slichter (pamphlet). The Economics of Collective Bargaining	23
		Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 36, Public Policy Regarding Labor	22
		Benham, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 269-275 (section 9)	6
		Golden, entire book. Write an essay of not more than 1200 words evaluating the ideas in the book.	347 436

9^th		B.2.b The Market for Savings It is to be noted that firms and others may secure funds from credit created by commercial banks.
		Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 23, pp. 431-434 only (self financing by corporations)	4
		__________, Ch. 24, Investment Credit Institutions	19
		__________, Ch. 25, The Security Markets	17
		__________, Ch. 26, Regulation of Securities and Exchanges	18 58

		C. Public Finance and the Economic Problem The State not only regulates markets as described above but also influences the prices of factors and commodities in the process of financing the production of public goods (roads, protection, etc.). The effects of government finance on the level of national income to be postponed to Part VI.
		Luthringer, Ch. 12, The Public Economy	13
		_________, Ch. 13, The Revenue System	20
		_________, Ch. 14, Tax Incidence	26
		_________, Ch. 15, The Income Tax	20
		_________, Ch. 16, Property and Other Taxes	18
		_________, Ch. 17, Public Credit	14
		_________, Ch. 18, Principles of Public Credit	16 127

Part V.		INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARKETS AND FINANCE Analysis of international trade and finance; the free market and the regulated market. Previous analysis emphasized only domestic markets although the principle of international trade is applicable to regions within a country to some extent; Latin America and the War.
10^th		Benham, Ch. 25, The Theory of International Trade	22
		_______, Ch. 26, Balances of Payments	10
		_______, Ch. 27, Free Exchange Rates	10
		_______, Ch. 28, The Gold Standard	22
		_______, Ch. 29, Exchange Control	8
		_______, Ch. 30, Import Duties and Quotas	9
		Bidwell, Ch. 1, War and the Monroe Doctrine	16
		______, Ch. 2, Propaganda and Politics	13
		______, Ch. 3, German Economic Penetration	12
		______, Ch. 4, The Weapons of Economic Defense	33
		______, Ch. 5, The Fallacy of Hemisphere Self-Sufficiency	14 169

Part VI.		PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION Analysis of the reasons why all prices move together; why all factors tend to become unemployed—hence the emphasis on the movements of national income. Previously, the analysis of prices was chiefly concerned (with the exception of the value of money) with relative prices. Existence of international markets tends to spread the cyclical pattern.
		A. Explanation and Verification of Business Cycle Theories
		Benham, Ch. 7, The Volume of Production, pp. 113-125	13
		Garver and Hansen, Ch. 21, Business Cycles	18
11^th		Benham, Ch. 20, Economic Progress and the Trade Cycle, pp. 347-356	9
		Slichter, R.E.S., The Period 1919-1936 in the U.S. Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory	19 59

		B. Governmental Policy and Business Cycles
		Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 44, Deficit Spending	16
		____________, Ch. 12, The State as Provider (Introduction)	2
		____________, Ch. 45, Providing Minimum Needs	17
		____________, Ch. 46, Social Security	19
		____________, Ch. 47, Public Housing	17 71

Part VII.		TOTALITARIAN ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM Analysis of the solution to the economic problem in totalitarian economic systems.
		Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 14, Totalitarian Alternatives to Free Markets (Introduction)	2
		____________, Ch. 52, Economic Basis of Totalitarianism	16
		____________, Ch. 53, The Soviet Economy	23
		____________, Ch. 54, The Fascist Economy in Italy	19
		____________, Ch. 55, The National Socialist Economy in Germany	20 80

12^th	Part VIII.	THE ECONOMICS OF WAR
		Neal, Ch. 1, Basic Economic Problems of War	15
		____, Ch. 2, Economic War Potential	23
		____, Ch. 3, Problems of War Production	21
		____, Ch. 4, War Labor Problems	25
		____, Ch. 5, Financing the War Effort	19
		____, Ch. 6, Financing the War Effort, Business Finance	27
		____, Ch. 7, Wartime Management of the Monetary and Banking System	28
		____, Ch. 8, The Control of Individual Prices	31
		____, Ch. 9, Economic Warfare	20
		____, Ch.10, Post-War International Economics	19 228

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Randall Hinshaw Papers, Box 1, Folder “Schoolwork, 1940s”.

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Final examination first half of course

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAa

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the following in this section:

Analyze carefully the effects of the following on average cost, marginal cost, marginal revenue and price for the individual firm in the short run:
1. A tax of ten cents per unit of output on a monopolist.
2. A subsidy of ten cents per unit of output to firms in a purely competitive industry.
Trace the repercussions on member bank reserve balances, Treasury deposits with the Federal Reserve System and reserves of the Federal Reserve System caused by:
1. The purchase and sterilization of gold by the Treasury.
2. The purchase of U.S. government bonds by the Federal Reserve System.
3. A transference of Treasury deposits from the Federal Reserve System to member banks.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the following in this section:

“Regulation of public utility rates may be effected by limiting charges to yield a fair return on a fair value of the property. This will result in prices comparable to competitive conditions. An alternative type of rate regulation may be accomplished by using as a ‘yardstick’ the rates which a government-owned plant could economically charge.”
1. Does the use of the fair return formula approximate the price which would evolve in a competitive market for the same commodity?
2. May the rates fixed by the Tennessee Valley Authority be used as a “yardstick” for privately-owned power companies?
“There seems to be a common belief that banks, by some process of sleight of hand, contrive to create a multiple of the amount of money they receive. The truth is that they can lend not more, but less than the amount of money that comes into their hands.”
Do you agree? Explain fully.
“It is not size in itself that we want to destroy….What ought to be emphasized is…the evil of industries which are not efficient or do not pass (the gains from) efficiency on to consumers.” Arnold.
Examine the consistency of this statement.
Contrast carefully the industrial economic world of nineteenth century England with the industrial economic world of fourteenth century England.
Write a letter to your congressman briefly explaining what you believe to be the basic American farm problems and critically evaluating the New Deal attempts to alleviate them.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

____________________

Final examination second half of course

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[Second Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAb

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the questions in this section:

“The main fiscal problem of the war is the diversion of a large share of the national income from the private economy to the public fisc for war purposes.” Outline and defend a plan of taxation and borrowing which in your opinion effectively will solve this problem.
Analyze the effects of an increase in the supply of labor on (a) the remuneration of the various productive factors and (b) the changes in output of those industries whose costs are mainly labor and those whose costs are mainly capital.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the questions in this section:

Write an essay on the topic of cyclical unemployment emphasizing (a) the processes by which full employment is supposed to be effected in a free enterprise economy and (b) the reasons why these processes have failed to operate.
What controls are necessary for the orderly and equitable distribution of goods during war time in the markets for factors of production and the markets for consumers’ commodities? Indicate the results likely to follow from partial rather than complete controls in these two major groups of markets.
“Labor unions cannot raise the wages of labor within an occupation without reducing the number employed in that occupation since the entrepreneur cannot afford to pay labor more than the value of its marginal product.” Do you agree? Explain fully.
Discuss carefully three methods of correcting an adverse balance of payments. Indicate the effects of each method on the level of domestic money incomes, the foreign exchange rate, merchandise exports and imports and short-term capital movements.
Explain the chief methods of regulating securities markets in the United States. State concisely the functions of securities markets and evaluate the success of regulation in aiding the orderly functioning of these markets.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

____________________

Final Exam Intensive Course, First Session 1942

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SA¹

I

(One hour)

Reply fully to the following questions:
1. Which are the main problems confronting the economy of this country during the present war?
2. What measures of economic policy would you propose to cope with them?

II

(About one half hour each)

What are the effects of the practice of self-financing by corporations upon
1. the rate of interest;
2. the allocation of the nation’s resources;
3. the prevalence of competition, or of monopoly, in the economy as a whole?
Let a tax be imposed upon a monopolist and the amount due be determined by either of the following methods:
1. a fixed percentage of his profits;
2. a fixed money amount per unit of output;
3. a fixed percentage of the total money value of his sales;
4. a global fixed sum, independent of either output or sales.

In which of these cases will he be able to shift the tax forward? Prove your conclusions by a graphical analysis.

Criticize the following statement carefully:
“The average citizen is inclined to think that there is nothing at all which he himself can do to check inflation. He considers the anti-inflationary fight a task for Uncle Sam only and therefore urges control of prices and labor and the draining off of excessive purchasing power. Actually, the citizen himself can do a great deal, and the efforts of the government will be far less effective unless he does.
“He can co-operate with the government by putting money in the bank and making it work for him, instead of drawing it out, letting it lie idle and exposing it to the danger of theft, fire and forgetfulness, He can pay his debts. He can discharge his mortgage more rapidly. He can make larger down payments on installment purchases than he has to. He can be more generous to poor relatives. He can see his oculist, dentist or family doctor more often, and pay cash. He can contribute more liberally to local and national charities. He can refuse to hoard goods. He can refrain from rushing to buy the very articles of which there is a shortage….” (The Boston Herald, July 28, 1942, p. 14)
Trace the main effects that the abolition of the tariff on beef (one of the major export articles of Argentina) would, in peacetime, have upon the economies of the United States and of Argentina. Distinguish the short-run and the long-run consequences.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

____________________

Final Examination for Principles of Economics “Lite”

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SB

I

(About one hour)

Write an essay on one of the following topics:
1. Long-run value under competition,
2. The rate of wages,
3. Investment and interest,
4. Profits

II

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

How should you expect the following to affect the selling price of a farm: an increase in population; a fall in the rate of interest; the opening of a new market for its products; a bad crop failure?
Explain the meaning of the following terms and show how one of them enters into the explanation of economic phenomena: comparative advantage; bank reserves; the gold points; marginal revenue.
What are the principal factors responsible for cyclical fluctuations in business activity?

III

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

Explain the nature and operation of the forces which cause variations in the purchasing power of the dollar.
Outline the principal forms of unemployment and discuss one of them in some detail.
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods available for financing a war.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

Image Source: Harvard’s Commencement in 1943. From The Harvard Gazette, November 10, 2011.

Tags Burbank, Chamberlin, Monroe

Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Money and Banking. Reading lists and semester exams. Williams and Hansen, 1949-50

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-23

Money and Banking was a graduate field that John H. Williams and Alvin Hansen dominated for over a decade at mid-20th century Harvard. Reading lists and exams for other years (e.g. 1946-47) have been posted, allowing us gradually to get a real time sense of the evolution of that field. This post was updated March 27, 2020 to include the final exam from the second semester.

Most recently course materials for 1941-42 have been posted as well.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 241 (formerly Economics 141a and 141b). Principles of Money and Banking.

(F) Professor J. H. Williams; (Sp) Professor Hansen.

(F) Total 61: 33 Graduates, 1 Senior, 21 Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Other.
(S) Total 54: 31 Graduates, 18 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1949-50, p. 75.

_____________________

PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
Economics 241
Fall Term—1949-1950

I. International Monetary Theory and Policy

Books

American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis and L. A. Metzler, eds.): Readings in the Theory of International Trade.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
Graham, Frank D.: The Theory of International Values. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1948.
Harris, S. E. (ed.): Foreign Economic Policy for the United States. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1948.
Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics. New York, Knopf, 1947.
1. Bloomfield, A. I., “Foreign Exchange Rate Theory and Policy,” Chapter XXII; and
2. Nurkse, Ragnar, “Domestic and International Equilibrium,” Chapter XXI.
Harrod, Roy F.: Are These Hardships Necessary?London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 2^nd, 1947.
Keynes, J. M.: A Treatise on Money. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930, Vol. I, Chapter 21; Vol. II, Chapters 34-38.
Nurkse, Ragnar: International Currency Experience. Geneva, League of Nations, 1944.
Organisation for European Economic Co-operation:Interim Report on the European Recovery Programme.Paris, December 1948.
United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe:
1. Survey of Economic Situation and Prospects in Europe. Geneva, March 1948.
2. Economic Survey of Europe in 1948. Geneva, 1949.
Williams, John H.: Post-War Monetary Plans and Other Essays.English edition. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 4^th, 1949 (American edition. New York, Knopf, 3^rded., 1947).

Articles

Balogh, T.: “The Concept of a Dollar Shortage,” The Manchester School, XVII, May 1949, pp. 186-201.
_______________ “Britain’s Economic Problem,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIII, Feb. 1949, pp. 32-67.
_______________ “Britain, O.E.E.C., and the Restoration of a World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, XI, Feb.-March 1949.
_______________ “Exchange Depreciation and Economic Readjustment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX, Nov. 1948, pp. 276-285.
_______________ “The United States and the World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, VIII, Oct. 1946.
Ellis, H. S.: “The Dollar Shortage in Theory and Fact,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, XIV, Aug. 1948, pp. 358-372.
Graham, F. D.: “The Cause and Cure of ‘Dollar Shortages’,” (Essays in International Finance, No. 10). Princeton, Princeton University Press, Jan. 1949.
Haberler, G.: “Some Economic Problems of the European Recovery Program,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, Sept. 1948, pp. 495-525.
Hawtrey, R. G.: “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, June 1949, pp. 145-56, and “A Comment” by Sir H. D. Henderson, Ibid., pp. 157-158.
Henderson, Sir Hubert D.: “The International Problem,” (Stamp Memorial Lecture). London, Oxford University Press, 1946.
_______________ “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, January 1949.
_______________ “A Criticism of the Havana Charter,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, pp. 605-17.
Keynes, J. M.:“The Balance of Payments of the United States,” Economic Journal, LVI, June 1946, pp. 172-87.
_______________ “National Self-sufficiency,” The Yale Review, XXII, Summer 1933.
MacDougall, D. A.: “Further Notes on Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, Jan. 1949.
_______________ “Britain’s Foreign Trade Problem,” Economic Journal, LVII, March 1947, pp. 69-113; and “A Reply (to T. Balogh), Ibid., LVIII, March 1948, pp. 96-98.
_______________“Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946.
_______________ “Notes on Non-discrimination,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, IX, Nov. 1947.
Meade, J. E.: “National Income, National Expenditure and the Balance of Payments,” Parts I-II, Economic Journal, LVII, Dec. 1948, and LVIII, March 1949.
Metzler, L. A.:“The Theory of International Trade,” Chap. 6 in A Survey of Contemporary Economics(ed. by H. S. Ellis) Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
Mikesell, R. F.: “International Disequilibrium,” ,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, ppp. 618-45
Nurkse, Ragnar: “International Monetary Policy and the Search for economic Stability,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, May 1947, pp. 560-80.
Polak, J. J.: “Exchange Depreciation and International Monetary Stability,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Aug. 1947, pp. 173-83.
Robertson, D. H.: “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloyds Bank Review, July 1949, pp. 1-13.
Triffin, Robert: “National Central Banking and the International Economy,”; see also comments by G. Haberler and L. A. Metzler, Postwar Economic Studies, No. 7. Washington, D. C. 1947; and further comments by H. D. Henderson, T. Balogh, R. Harrod, and Joan Robinson, Review of Economic Studies, XIV, 1946-47, pp. 53-97.
Williams, J. H.: “The Task of Economic Recovery,” Foreign Affairs, July 1948.
_______________ “Europe After 1952: The Long-term Problem,” Foreign Affairs, April 1949.
_______________ “The British Crisis. A Problem in Economic Statesmanship,” Foreign Affairs, October 1949.

II. Monetary and Fiscal Theory and Policy

Books

American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis, ed.): A Survey of Contemporary Economics. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
_______________ (W. Fellner and B. F. Haley, eds.): Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946.
_______________ (G. Haberler, ed.): Readings in Business Cycle Theory. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1944.
Fellner, William: Monetary Policies and Full Employment. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2^nd, 1947.
Haberler, G.: Prosperity and Depression. Geneva, United Nations, rev. ed., 1946.
Hansen, A. H.: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles. New York, Norton, 1941.
_______________ Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, New York, McGraw Hill, 1949.
Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics, New York, Knopf, 1947.
Harrod, R. F.: Towards a Dynamic Econmics, London, Macmillan, 1948.
Hawtrey, R. O.: Currency and Credit, London, Longmans, 3^rd, 1928.
_______________ Capital and Employment, London, Longmans, 2^nd
_______________ The Art of Central Banking, London, Longmans, 1932.
Hayek, F. A. von: Prices and Production. London, Routledge, 1935.
Keynes, J. M.: A Tract on Monetary Reform, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
_______________ A Treatise on Money(2 vols.). New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930.
_______________ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1936.
Klein, L. R.: The Keynesian Revolution. New York, Macmillan, 1946.
Robertson, D. H.: Essays in Monetary Theroy.London, King, 1940.
_______________ Money. London, Nisbet, rev. ed., 1948.
Simons, H. C.: Economic Policy for a Free Society, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1948.
Terborgh, George: The Bogey of Economic Maturity. Chicago, Machinery and Allied Products Institute, 1945.
Wicksell, Knut: Interest and Prices. London, Macmillan, 1936.
Wright, D. M. The Economics of Disturbance. New York, Macmillan, 1946.

Articles

Burns, Arthur F.: “Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of Our Times,” (26^thAnnual Report). New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1947.
_______________ “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Nov. 1947, pp. 252-265.
Clark, Colin: “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” Economic Journal, LV, Dec. 1945, pp. 371-89.
Hayek, F. A. von: “The ‘Paradox’ of Saving,” Economica, XI, March 1931, pp. 125-69. (Reprinted as an Appendix in Profits, Interest and Investment, London, Routledge, 1939).
Hicks, J. R.: “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, V, 1937 (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946).
Kuznets, Simon: Book Review: “Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles” by A. H. Hansen, Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1942, pp. 31-36.
_______________ “Capital Formation, 1879-1938,” in Studies in Economics and Industrial Relations. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
Mints, L. W. and others: “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXVIII, May 1946, pp. 60-84.
Modigliani, F.: “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest,” Econometrica, XII, Jan. 1944, pp. 45-88.
_______________ “Fluctuations in the Saving-income Ratio: A Problem in Economic Forecasting,” Studies in Income and Wealth, XI. New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1949.
Tobin, James: “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, pp. 124-31.
Wallich, H. C.: “Public Debt and Income Flow,” in Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3. Washington, D.C., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Dec. 1945, pp. 84-100.
_______________ “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 761-87.
Williams, John H.: “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Supplement, XXXVIII, May 1948.
Wright, D. M.: “The Future of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, XXXV, June 1945, pp. 284-307.

III. Current Problems and Policies—Federal Reserve Policy and Debt Management

Book

Homan, P. T. and F. Machlup (eds.): Financing American Prosperity. New York, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

Articles

Carr, Hobart C.: “The Problem of Bank-held Government Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 833-42.
Chandler, L. V.: “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, March 1949.
Federal Reserve Board:
1. Annual Reports for the years 1945-48.
2. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 8, Nov. 1947.
Ratchford, B. U. “The Economic and Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Public Finance, [sic, “The Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Openbare Financiën] No. 4, 1948 and No. 1, 1949.
Seltzer, L. H.: “The Changed Environment of Monetary-banking Policy,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, May 1946.
_______________ “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 831-50.
Sproul, Allan: “Monetary Management and Credit Control,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, June 1947, pp. 339-50.
Symposium: “How to Manage the National Debt,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXI, Feb. 1949.
Whittlesey, C. R.: “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LX, May 1946, pp. 340-50.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

Mid-Year Examination. January, 1950.

(Three Hours)

Discuss ONE question in EACH group.

I

(1) “Hawtrey was never a Keynesian, but Keynes was formerly a Hawtreyan.”
(2) The relation of Keynes’ income theory to the quantity theory of money.
(3) The propensity to consume.

II

(1) Fixed versus flexible exchange rates.
(2) Classical international trade theory and the problems of the postwar world.

III

(1) The sterling problem since the war.
(2) “Chronic dollar shortage.”
(3) Western European “integration.”
(4) Devaluation and European recovery.
(5) The Intra-European Payments Plan.
(6) Europe after 1952: the long-term recovery problem.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences, etc. Feb. 1950. (HUC 7000.38, 81 of 284).

_____________________

[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING]
Reading List
[Economics 241, Spring 1949-50]
[Professor Hansen]

The Role of Money in Current World Developments
1. Books
  1. Balogh, T., Dollar Crisis: Causes and Cure, (Blackwell), 1949.
  2. Busschau, W. J., The Measure of Gold, (Central New Agency, Ltd.) South Africa, 1949.
  3. Goldenweiser, E. A., Monetary Management, (McGraw-Hill), N.Y., 1949. Chapters IV and VIII.
  4. Harris, S. E., The New Economics, (Knopf), N.Y. 1947. Chapters 20-29.
  5. Harris, S. E., Foreign Economics Policy of the United States, (Harvard University Press), 1948, Chapters 18-25.
  6. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans, (Knopf), 1947 or English edition (Blackwell), 1949.
2. Pamphlets
  1. Inflationary and Deflationary Tendencies, 1946-48(United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
  2. International Capital Movements during the Inter-war Period, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
3. Articles
  1. Burns, A. R., Lutz, F. A., and Clough, S. B., “The European Program in Operation,” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, January 1950.
  2. Robbins, Lionel, “The Sterling Problem,” Lloyds Bank Review, October, 1949.
  3. Robertson, D. H., “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloydds Bank Review, July, 1949.
  4. Sayers, R. S. “Central Banking in the Light of Recent British and American Experience,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1949.
Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest, Wages and Prices
1. Books
  1. Clark, Kaldor, Smithies, et al., National and International Measures for Full Employment, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, December 1949.
  2. Ellis, H. S., (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, (Blakiston), Philadelphia, 1948, Chapter 2 “Employment Theory”, by Fellner.
  3. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Berkeley, 1946. Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
  4. Hansen, Alvin H.
    1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill), 1947. Chapters 18, 19, and 22, (pp. 202-232, 261-287).
    2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton), 1941. Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
    3. Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, (McGraw-Hill), 1949.
  5. Harris, S. E., (ed.), The New Economics, (Knopf), 1947. Part III (The General Theory: Five Views; Chapters XI-XV).
  6. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt), 1924, pp. 81-95; pp. 152-191.
  7. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt), 1930, Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
  8. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt), 1936, pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
  9. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90) Macmillan, 1947.
  10. Marshall, Alfred, Money, Credit and Commerce, (Macmillan), 1923. Book I, Chapter IX, pp. 38-50.
  11. Robertson, D. H. Essays in Monetary Theory(King), 1940. Chapters 1, 6, 11; (pp. 1-38; 92-97; 113-153).
  12. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices(Macmillan), 1936; Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also Author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11; (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
  13. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan), 1935, Chapter IV (pp. 127-222).
  14. Income, Employment and Public Policy, (Norton), 1948, Chapter VI, “The Simple Mathematics of Income Determination,” by Paul Samuelson.
  15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd., 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11, (pp. 92-105).
  16. The Economic Report of the President, January 1950.
2. Articles
  1. Hansen, A. H., and Burns, Arthur F., “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics Statistics, Nov. 1947.
  2. Hansen, A. H., “The Robertsonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1950.
  3. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, April 1937.
  4. Lerner, A. P., “Interest and Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1944.
  5. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, January 1944.
  6. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
  7. Scott, Ira O. Jr., “Professor Leontief on Lord Keynes,” and “Comments” by Professors Leontief and Haberler, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1949.
  8. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
  9. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
  10. Williams, John H., “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1948, pp. 273-290.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination (June, 1950)

(Three Hours)

Answer any FOUR questions.

I.

Discuss:

(a) the causes of the increase in the quantity of money (currency and deposits) in:

(1) the Thirties,
(2) the Second World War; and

(b) appraise the role of this increase:

(1) in the rise in income from 1933 to 1937; and
(2) in war-time financing.

II.

Compare the monetary theories of Wicksell and Marshall (or more broadly the Cambridge cash-balance approach).

III.

“An increase in the quantity of money is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the expansion of income and employment.” Show carefully why you agree, partially agree, or disagree in whole or in part with this statement. Give a technical discussion in terms of modern monetary theory.

IV.

Discuss and evaluate Treasury and Federal Reserve policies after 1945 with respect to

(a) inflation,
(b) interest rates,
(c) debt management,
(d) full employment.

V.

Discuss the changing role of Central Banking:

(a) in the 19^th century,
(b) in the nineteen-twenties, and
(c) following the Second World War.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Bound Volume Final Exams—Social Sciences June 1940 (HUC 7000.28, 84 of 284), Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1950.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.

Tags Hansen, WilliamsJH

M.I.T. Suggested Reading Uncategorized

M.I.T. Imperfect competition and capital theory reading lists. Samuelson, 1948

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-23

The following two reading lists come from the second semester of the two-semester course Economic Analysis that Paul Samuelson taught in the 1940s. The first list covers Duopoly and Bilateral Monopoly followed by Monopolistic Competition. There is no date on that reading list, but based on the newest item of the list, Hurwicz’s Dec. 1945 paper in the AER, it is safe to say that the reading list was for the second half of the 1940’s. The fact that this mimeographed reading list immediately precedes the reading list for capital theory (also assigned to the same course, EC18) which is explicitly dated “Spring Semester 1948” makes it likely that this pair of reading lists were from the same semester. The folder has no other material for the course.

READING LIST EC18

Duopoly and Bi-lateral Monopoly

Chamberlin, E. H., Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 3, Appendix A
Hicks, J.R., “Theory of Monopoly”, Econometrica, V. III, No. 1 (1935)
Cournot, A., Math. Principles of the Theory of Wealth, Ch. 7
Hurwicz, L., American Economic Review, Vol. 35, “Theory of Economic Behavior”, p. 909.

Optional

von Stackelberg, H., Marktform und Gleichgewicht. (German)

Monopolistic Competition

Chamberlin, E. H., Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Chaps. 4,5.
Triffin, R., Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Intro., pp. 17-35, 49-51, Chaps. 2, 3,5.
Stigler, G. J., Theory of Price, Chaps. 11, 15, pp. 266-287.

__________________

Readings on Capital Theory
Spring 1948

Ec 18

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Translator’s Preface
Book V, all
Book VI, Chs. V, VI, VII

Wicksell, LecturesVol. I

Part II
Part III

I. Fisher, Theory of Interest

Part I, Chs. I, III
Part II, all
Part III, Chs. X, XI

Hicks, Value and Capital

Part III, all
Part IV, Chs. XVII, XIX

Keynes, General Theory

Chs. 11, 13, 14

Knight, Ethics of Competition

Social Science Encyclopedia article on Interest
Cf. E.J., J.P.E., Economica, articles on same subject

N. Kaldor, Econometrica Annual Survey

(gives bibliography)

F. Lutz, Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., 1940

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul A. Samuelson Papers. Box 33, Folder “Miscellaneous Teaching Materials”.

Image Source: Samuelson Memorial Information Page/Photos from Memorial Service. Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Tags Samuelson

Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Business cycle theory. Reading list and exam. Hansen and Haberler, 1938

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-19

This is one of those instances where I really would like to try to dig deeper to see what the actual course content was. From the 1940-41 Division announcements we have the following description of the Business Cycle course at Harvard:

The broad facts about the business cycle will be discussed first. The distinction between trend movements, seasonal fluctuations, long waves and the business cycle in various time series will be analyzed. Then various theories of the cycle will be reviewed and the principles of cycle policy and possibilities of mitigating or avoiding depressions considered.

For now we at least have a bibliographic list for the subject and the exam questions from the first time that Alvin Hansen and Gottfried Haberler co-taught the course together.

________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 45a ²hf. Professor Hansen and Associate professor Haberler.— Business Cycles.

Total 37: 2 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-1938, p. 85.

________________

[Penciled Note: 1937-38]

[Penciled Note: Ec. 45a]

BUSINESS CYCLE THEORY

I.

Haberler, Gottfried:	Prosperity and Depression, League of Nations, Geneva, 1937
Hansen, Alvin H.:	Business Cycle Theory, Ginn and Co., 1927
Röpke, Wilhelm:	Crises and Cycles, William Hodge and Co., London, 1936.

II.

Selected List of Books, Articles and Forecasting Services

A. Books

Adams, A. B.	1. Economics of Business Cycles 2. Profits, Progress and Prosperity
Ayres, L. P.	Economics of Recovery
Bellerly	Control of Credit
Brookings Institution	The Recovery Problem in the United States
Cassel, G.	The Theory of Social Economy, Book IV.
Clark, J. M.	1. Strategic Factors in Business Cycles 2. Economics of Planning Public Works, (Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.)
Copeland, Douglas	Australia in the World Crises
Dickinson, F. G.	Public Construction and Cyclical Unemployment
Douglas, Paul H.	Controlling Depressions
Durbin, E. M. F.	1. Purchasing Power and Trade Depressions 2. The Problem of Credit Policy
	Economic Reconstruction (Report of Columbia University Commission)
	Economic Essays in Honour of Gustav Cassel
Fisher, Irving	1. Booms and Depressions 2. 100% Money
Foster and Catchings	1. Profits, Part V. 2. Business Without a Buyer 3. Road to Plenty
Gayer, Arthur D.	1. Monetary Policy and Economic Stabilization 2. Public Works in Prosperity and Depression
Haney, L. H.	Business Forecasting
Hansen, A. H.	1. Economic Stabilization in an Unbalanced World 2. The Problem of Unemployment Insurance and Relief in the U.S., Part IV.
Hardy, C. O. and Cox, G. V.	Forecasting Business Conditions
Harrod	The Trade Cycle
Hawtrey	1. Good and Bad Taste [sic, “Trade”] 2. Trade Depression and the Way Out 3. Capital and Employment
Hayek, F. A.	Prices and Production
Hobson, J. A.	Economics of Unemployment
Hull	Industrial Depressions
Keynes, J. M.	1. A Treatise on Money 2. The Means to Prosperity 3. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money 4. Unemployment as a World Problem, pp. 1-42
Kuznets, S. S.	Cyclical Fluctuations
Lavington	Trade Cycle
Lundberg	Economic Expansion
McCracken, H. L.	Value Theory and Business Cycles
Meade	Economic Analysis and Policy
Mitchell, Wesley	Business Cycles, the Problem and its Setting
Moore, Henry L.	1. Economic Cycles 2. Generating Economic Cycles
Moulton, H. G.	1. The Formation of Capital 2. Income and Economic Progress
Newman, William H.	The Building Industry and Business Cycles
Ohlin, Bertil	Course and Phases of the Depression (League of Nations)
Persons, Warren	Forecasting Business Cycles
Persons, Foster and Hettinger	The Problem of Business Forecasting
Pigou, A. C.	Industrial Fluctuations
Robbins, Lionel	The Great Depression
Robertson, D. H.	1. Money 2. Industrial Fluctuations 3. Banking Policy and the Price Level
Schmidt, C. T.	German Business Cycles, 1924-1933
Schumpeter, Joseph A.	The Theory of Economic Development
Slichter, S. H.	Towards Stability
Smith, W. B. and Cole, A.H.	Fluctuations in American Business, 1790-1860
Snyder, Carl	Business Cycles and Business Measurements
Timoshenko, V.	1. World Agriculture and the Depression 2. The Role of Agriculture Fluctuations
Tintner, Gerhard	Prices in the Trade Cycle
Warren and Pearson	Gold and Prices
	World Prices and the Building Industry
Veblen, T.	[1.] Theory of Business Enterprise [2.] The Engineers and the Price System
Wagemann	Economic Rhythm
Wicksell	Interest and Prices

B. Articles

Aftalion, Albert in Review of Economic Statistics, October 1927

Haberler, Gottfried, “Some Reflections on the Present Situation of Business Cycle Theory,” Review of Economic Statistics, February, 1936

Hansen, Boddy and Langum, “Recent Trends in Business Cycle Literature,” Review of Economic Studies, May, 1936

Hansen and Tout, “Investment and Saving in the Business Cycle,” Econometrica, April 1933

Hansen, A. H., “Mr. Keynes in Under-employment Equilibrium,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1936

Hansen, A. H., Harrod on the Trade Cycle,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1937

Hansen, A. H., “The Consequences of Reducing Expenditures,” Proceedings, Academy of Political Science, January, 1938

Kondratieff, M. D., “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1935

Robertson, D. H., “The Trade Cycle—An Academic View,” Lloyds Bank Review, September, 1937

Schumpeter, Joseph, “An Analysis of Economic Change,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1935

C. Forecasting Services

Annalist (Weekly)
Brookmire Economic Service (Weekly and Special)
Councillor; Annalist; Investor; Technician; Forecaster; Purchaser (outlook for commodity prices); Executive; Income Map; Special Reports on Industries.
London and Cambridge Economic Service (Quarterly)
Moody’s Investors Service (Weekly and Bi-weekly)
Review of Economic Statistics; Harvard (Quarterly)
Standard Statistics (Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly and Special)
Business Prospects; Outlook for Security Market; Industry Reports A, B, C, etc.; Basic Statistics.
United Business Service (Weekly)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1937-38”.

________________

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45a²BUSINESS CYCLES

[Final Exam]

(Write on THREE questions)

Write briefly on each of the following:
1. Summarize and evaluate the analyses of “the long waves” made by (1) Schumpeter, and (2) Kondratieff.
2. Compare Robertson and Aftalion with respect to the role of fixed capital in the business cycle.
Show the significance and implications of (a) the “principle of accelerations” and (b) the “multiplier” with respect to the “pump-priming” theory.
“The turning point from prosperity to depression is caused not by a shortage of capital but by inadequate consumption expenditures.”
(In answering this question discuss, among other items, the following: (1) Is saving deflationary? (2) What is the effect of an increase in savings (a) upon the value of real investment? (b) upon consumption? (3) Is over-investment a cause of recession?
Discuss the part played by monetary factors in the trade cycle, drawing particularly upon the analyses of Hawtrey and Hayek.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 4. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1938.

Image Source: Alvin Hansen (left) and Gottfried Haberler (right) from Harvard Class Album 1942.

Tags Haberler, Hansen

Princeton Suggested Reading Syllabus

Princeton. Syllabus for International Economic Policies. F.W. Fetter and C.R. Whittlesey, 1934

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-15

The Princeton course “International Economic Policies” was co-taught by Charles R. Whittlesey and Frank W. Fetter in 1934. Biographical material from their respective archival papers guides and the course syllabus are included in this post.

______________

Frank Whitson Fetter
(1902-1992)

1899, May 22—Born, San Francisco, Calif.
1916—Graduate of Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ
1920 A.B.—Political Science, Swarthmore College (Phi Beta Kappa)
1922 A.M.—Princeton University
1924 A.M.—Harvard University
1926 Ph.D.—Economics, Princeton University
1928-1934—Assistant Professor and Professor of Economics, Princeton University
1929, Jan. 14—Married Elizabeth Pollard (d. 1977)
1934—Member of Commission on Cuban Affairs, organized by the Foreign Policy Association
1934-1948—Associate Professor and Professor of Economics, Haverford College
1937-1938—Guggenheim fellowship (Research on banking in Great Britain)
1939—summer Economist for the Export-Import Bank of Washington
1940—summer Economic Advisor to the Central Bank of Ecuador
1943-1946—Economic Advisor with the Lend-Lease Administration and the Department of State; ten months spent in India
1948-1967—Professor of Economics, Northwestern University
1950—summer Advisor to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
1951—summer Advisor to the Department of State, Division of German Affairs, and member of the American Delegation to London for the Preliminary Conference on German Debts
1967-1968—Visiting Haney Professor, Dartmouth College
1978, Apr.—Married Elizabeth Miller Stabler (d. 1985)
1991—Died

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Guide to the Frank Whitson Fetter Papers.

______________

Charles Raymond Whittlesey
(1900-1979)

Economist, author and educator; B.A., Philomath College, (1921), M.A., American U. of Beirut, (1924) and Ph.D., Princeton U., (1928) [dissertation: Government Control of the Crude Rubber Industry. The Stevensen Plan. Published by Princeton University Press, 1931]; faculty, Princeton U., (1925-1940); faculty, Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania, (194-1967); chairman, Dept. of Finance, (1945-1952, 1960-1963); economist for Penn Mutual Insurance Co. (1941-1961); specialist in monetary economics and monetary policy.

Source: University of Pennsylvania Archives. Webpage Papers of Charles Raymond Whittlesey, 1928-1974.

______________

Economics 526. (International Economic Policies.)
– 1934 –

Date	Topic	Readings
Feb. 14 (CRW)	Valorization	Wallace and Edminster, International Control of Raw Materials. (Omit ch. 8 and Appendix).
Feb. 21 (CRW)	Valorization	1. C. R. Whittlesey, The Stevenson Plan, Journal of Political Economy, August 1931, pp. 506-25; 2. Jacob Viner, Control of Raw Materials, Foreign Affairs, July 1926; 3. F. Rowe, Studies in Artificial Control of Raw Materials, #3. Coffee; 4. Senate Document 70, 73d Congress, 1^st Session, World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture, pp. 1-141; 5. T.T.Read, Valorization in the Mineral Industry, Political Science Quarterly, June 1932, pp. 234-241. 6. Department of Commerce, Foreign Combines to Control Prices of Raw Materials, T. 1B. #385, 1926. 7. W. S. Colbertson, Raw Materials and Foodstuffs in the Commercial Policies of Nations, Annals of Am. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1924. 8. J. Pedersen. Economic Stabilization in Economic Essays in Honour of Gustav Cassel, 1936. 9. Reports by students on various aspects of Valorization.
Feb. 28 (FWF)	Foreign Trade Monopolies and Commercial Treaties	1. E.Lipson, An Introduction to the Economic History of England, vol. 1, ch. 10 (Foreign Trade) vol. 2, pp. 184-315 (Foreign Trade).2. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, ch. 6 (Of Treaties of Commerce).3. U.S.Tariff Commission, Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties, pp. 389-450.4. Vernon Seltzer, Did Americans Originate the Conditional Most Favored Nation Clause, Journal of Modern History, Sept. 1933.
March 7 (FWF)	Reciprocity	1. U.S. Tariff Commission, Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties, Conclusions and Recommendations, pp. 9-47. 2. U. S. Tariff Commission, Effects of the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty, Summary and Conclusions, pp. 1-26. 3. W. S. Culbertson, America’s New Commercial Policy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 38, Feb. 1924, pp. 352-357. 4. League of Nations—Documentation of International Economic Conference of 1927 on “Discriminatory Tariff Classifications” and “European Bargaining Tariffs.” 5. Reports by members of class, on: Canadian Reciprocity, Contingent Duties, Hawaiian Reciprocity, Tariff Bargaining under 1890 Act, Tariff Bargaining under 1897 Act.
March 14 (FWF)	Colonial Tariff Policies	1. U.S. Tariff Commission, Colonial Tariff Policies, pp. 1-78, 571-629. 2. U.S. Tariff Commission, U.S. Philippine Tariff and Trade Relations, pp. 1-52
March 21 (FWF)	British Tariff Policy and Colonial Preference	1. Dunham, The Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce of 1860, ch. 1. 2. W.J.Ashley, The Tariff Problem, Introduction and ch. 1-6. 3. U.S.Tariff Commission, Colonial Tariff Policies, ch. 12, 13, 18. 4. H.V.Hodson, Before Ottawa, Foreign Affairs, vol. 10, pp. 588-599. 5. J.M.Macdonnell, After the Ottawa Conference, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 11, pp. 331-346.
March 28 (CRW)	Dumping	1. Jacob Viner, Dumping, pp. 1-329. 2. Article on Dumping in Encyclopaedia of Soc. Sci. 3. Sen. Doc. Anti-Dumping Legislation [Perhaps: Emergency Tariff and Antidumping. Hearing before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, April, 1921]
April 11 (CRW)	Quotas and Exchange Control	1. World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture, pp. 1-141. 2. E.B.Dietrich, French Import Quotas, American Economic Review, Dec. 1933. 3. C.R.Whittlesey, Exchange Control, American Economic Review, Dec. 1922.
April 18 (CRW)	Quotas and Exchange Control	1. W.H.Beveridge, Tariffs, The Case Examined. ch. 7, 9-18, and Appendix. 2. Economist, Feb. 24, 1934, Clearing Agreements, pp. 405-6. 3. U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, T. 1B. #812, Foreign Tariffs and Commercial Policy during 1932.
April 25 (FWF)	Bounties and Subsidies	1. D.G.Barnes, A History of the English Corn Laws, ch. 1-3. 2. Josef Gruzel, Economic Protectionism, pp. 163-179, 200-231. 3. Griffin, The Sugar Industry and Legilation in Europe, Q.J.E., vol. 17, pp. 1-43. 4. F.W.Taussig, The End of the Sugar Bounties, Q.J.E., vol. 18, pp. 130-4. 5. P.T.Cherington, State Bounties and the Beet Sugar Industry, Q.J.E., V. 26, pp. 381-386. 6. League of Nations—Documentation of International Economic Conference, Direct and Indirect Subsidies, pp. 8-22. 7. U.S. Tariff Commission, Preferential Transportation Rates, pp. 9-52 8. Review, pp. 72-84 in World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture.
May 2 (CRW)	Shipping Subsidies	1. Dunmore, Ship Subsidies. 2. U.S.Shipping Board, History of Shipping Discriminations. 3. Nat. Inds. Conf. Bd: Amer. Merchant Marine Problem. Omit chs. 2-6. 4. Grovenor M. Jones: Government Aid to Merchant Shipping, pp. 7-29; 257-84; 427-68.
May 9 (FWF)	Control of Foreign Investments	1. Herbert Feis, Europe, the World’s Banker. ch. 1-6. 2. L.H.Jenks, The Migration of British Capital to 1875. ch. 9. 3. T.E.Gregory, Foreign Investments and British Public Opinion, in Foreign Investments, by Cassell and others, pp. 97-119. 4. Carter Glass, Government Supervision of Foreign Loans, Proceedings of The American Academy of Political Science, vol. xii, Jan. 1928, pp. 843-849. 5. Charles P. Howland, Our Repudiated State Debts, Foreign Affairs, vol. 6, April 1928, pp. 395-407. 6. John Foster Dulles, Our Foreign Loan Policy, Foreign Affairs, vol. 5, Oct. 1926, pp. 33-48.
May 16 (FWF and CRW)	Present Day American Commercial Policy	1. U.S. Tariff Commission, Methods of Valuation, pp. 1-43. 2. U.S.Tariff Commission, Regulation of Tariffs by Administrative Action, Passim. 3. Report of Ways and Means Committee on Reciprocal Trade Agreements Bill (House Report 1000, 72d Congress, 2d Session). 4. Reciprocal Trade Agreements, Hearings before Ways and Means Committee on H.R. 8430. a. Testimonies of Hull, pp. 1-45 b. Testimonies of Dickinson, pp. 183-227. c. Testimonies of Sayre, 293-319, 333-382, 387-389. d. Letters, pp. 282-286.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Frank Whitson Fetter Papers, Box 55, Folder “Teaching Ec 526 International Economic Policies (Princeton University)”.

Image Sources: Frank W. Fetter (left) (ca. 1937) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Charles R. Whittlesey (right), Princeton Yearbook, Bric-a-Brac, 1939

Tags FetterFW, Whittlesey

Curriculum Economists Exam Questions Suggested Reading Toronto

Toronto. Five Annual Examinations in Economics. Ashley and McEvoy, 1891

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-04-07

Today’s post was just intended to be a quickie set of five economics exams I found for the University of Toronto from 1891. There turned out to be much more interesting information at the hathitrust.org digital library that I simply had to include: from the University of Toronto Calendar, I was able to obtain course announcements that provide course descriptions as well as list a few key readings. And as though this were not enough, it turns out that it was the practice, at least in Toronto at the end of the 19th century, when applying for a professorship to submit a printed application “cover letter” followed by short “testimonials”. As it so happens, the University of Alberta has copies of Professor William J. Ashley’s application for the vacant Drummond professorship in political economy at Oxford (1890) and of Mr. John Millar McEvoy’s application for Ashley’s vacant chair at Toronto, following Ashley’s move to Harvard in 1892.

Following the “cover letters” with these two abbreviated c.v.’s are the course descriptions for all four economics courses offered at the University of Toronto in 1890-91 and five sets of examination questions.

__________________

To the Electors to the Drummond Professorship.
[From William J. Ashley, November 20, 1890]

My Lord and Gentlemen:

I beg to offer myself as a candidate for the Professorship of Political Economy in the University of Oxford.

I entered Balliol College with a History Scholarship in 1878, took a First-Class in the Honour School of Modern Histor. in 1881, and received the Lothian Prize in 1882. In February, 1885, I was elected to a tutorial Fellowship at Lincoln College, and soon afterwards was also appointed Lecturer in History in Corpus Christi College. Resigning this position in order to be able to devote my time more exclusively to economic studies, I was appointed Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional History in the University of Toronto in 1888; and by the subsequent appointment of an assistant I have recently been enabled to give my whole attention to Economics.

I began the study of Political Economy under the late Arnold Toynbee, whose Lectures on the Industrial Revolution the 18th CenturyI afterwards assisted in preparing for publication. I began to lecture on Political Economy in 1884; and after my appointment at Lincoln I lectured upon it each year; in one course stating and criticizing Modern Economic Theory, and in another following Economic History and Theory in their relation to one another from mediaeval to modern times. I may add that from 1886 to 1888 I acted as Secretary to the Oxford Economic Society; and that in 1887 and 1888 I examined in the Pass School of Political Economy.

Since my arrival at Toronto I have had the task of organizing the new Department of Political Science, a Department which has grown rapidly, and now numbers more than 100 students; and I have lectured on (i) Elementary Political Economy, (2) The History of Economic Theory; (3) The History of Economic Development; (4) Modern Finance. In dealing with the last mentioned subject I have had an opportunity to acquaint myself with the main features of Canadian and American Taxation, Tariffs, Currency, Banking, and similar subjects.

I have also undertaken the editorship of the Toronto University Studies in Political Science, of which the first, on The Ontario Township, has already appeared. For a further account of my work here I beg to refer you to the subjoined letters from the Chancellor and President of the University, the Minister of Education, the Manager of the Bank of Commerce, and from one of my pupils.

My own researches have hitherto been mainly in the field of Economic History. In 1887 the American Economic Association published my Early History of the English Woollen Industry. In 1888 appeared the first volume of my Introduction to Economic Historyand Theory, which I now beg to lay before you, together with the letters concerning it from English and foreign authorities printed below.

There are two directions in which, as it appears to me, it is most desirable to promote economic study in Oxford. Of these one is Public Finance; it might not be impossible

to secure for men who are about to enter into public life, the civil service, or the higher branches of business, a training similar to that provided by some foreign Universities. The other is the history of Economic Phenomena, and of the parallel growth of Economic Theory. While recognizing the value of recent work in the further analysis of theory, there is, I think, reason to believe that the most fruitful field for economic work at the present time in Oxford is the historical. An effort in this direction would be in sympathy with one of the strongest intellectual forces in the University, and it might reasonably be expected to enlist the interest of students in the School of Modern History.

I have the honour to be,

My Lord and Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

W. J. ASHLEY.

The University of Toronto,
November 20, 1890.

[…]

Source: Testimonials in Favour of W.J. Ashley M.A., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Toronto: Late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. A Candidate for the Drummond Professorship of Political Economy in the University of Oxford, pp. 1-2.

__________________

TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS, LL.D.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO.

[Application of ] JOHN MILLAR McEVOY.
Toronto, July 30^th, A.D. 1892.

Sir, — I beg leave to make application for the chair of Political Economy and Constitutional History, in the University of Toronto, lately rendered vacant by the resignation of Professor W. J. Ashley, M.A.

I am a graduate of the University of Toronto in the Honor Department of Political Science. Throughout my course in that department I was first in first-class honors in all economic subjects. Since being graduated in Arts I have taken the University Law Examinations, and have been awarded the LL.B. degree. I have attended two years’ lectures in Osgoode Hall Law School, and have taken the examination required at the end of each year.

I may be permitted to mention the following scientific and literary work : —

My “Essay on Canadian Currency and Banking,” which was awarded the Ramsay Scholarship. This essay, upon examination by some of the leading bankers of Canada, was thought to be so valuable that the various banking institutions of the Dominion in order to have it printed, have offered to take such a number of copies of it, at $1.50 per copy, as will provide for its publication and leave me a handsome margin.
My essay on “Karl Marx’s Theory of Value,” which was read before the Political Science Association of the University of Toronto. This essay was publicly declared by Professor W. J. Ashley, M.A., to be “the ablest exposition of the kernel of the abstract theory of value that it had been his good fortune to have heard or read on any occasion.”
At the invitation of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, which is controlled by the most distinguished Economists on the continent, I contributed a series of articles to their publication, the Annals, upon subjects of economic and historical importance to Canada. These may be seen in the November number of that journal for 1891.
My essay on “The Ontario Township,” which was printed by the Minister of Education, as the first in the series of University of Toronto studies in Political Science, It has received favorable notice from American, English and German Economic Reviews and Journals. It has also been very favorably received by men engaged in the practical working of our municipal institutions. Several American publishing houses have asked me to publish a second edition; and there is a growing demand for it in our own Province.

As Fellow I have had two years’ experience in the practical work of the Department of Political Science in the University of Toronto. In consequence of sickness in Professor Ashley’s family, I had for a time during last year, full charge of the department. During this time I did acceptably Professor Ashley’s work as well as my own. Throughout last year the Constitutional History, both English and Canadian, has been entirely under my charge.

I have had two years’ experience as Examiner in Political Science in the University, and I have been for one year Examiner in Political Economy in the Ontario Agricultural College. My work throughout has been completely satisfactory, which fact may be easily verified by inquiry. What my success as a practical teacher of the science has been, I will leave you to infer from my testimonials.

It is my desire, if appointed, to spend the long vacations of each of the first three or four years at some foreign university, in which a regular course of lectures in Political Science is delivered during the summer months; and in that event I shall be glad to have your government indicate the institution most suitable for the further prosecution of my studies.

[…]

Source: Application and Testimonials of J. M. McEvoy, B.A., LL.B., for the Chair of Political Economy and Constitutional History in the University of Toronto. 1892.

__________________

FACULTY OF LAW

§1.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Professor: W. J. ASHLEY, M.A.

FIRST YEAR. (SECOND YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

The elements of Political Economy. Value, Price, Wages, Interest, Profits, Rent.

For Reference:

F.A. Walker, Political Economy.
Mill, Political Economy, ed. Laughlin.

SECOND YEAR. (THIRD YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

The history and criticism of economic theories.

The Economic ideas of Plato and Aristotle; the influence of Roman law; the teaching of the mediaeval church; Aquinas; the genesis of modern conceptions; the mercantile system; the Physiocrats; Adam Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo; the historical school.

Students are requested to especially examine (i.) Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, chap. 10, part 2; Bk. IV, chaps. 1, 2, 3, part 2; chap. 7. (ii.) Malthus, Essay on Population, Bk. I, chaps. 1, 2. (iii.) List, National System of Political Economy(trans. Sampson Lloyd), chaps. 10, 11, 12. (iv.) Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, chaps. 1-6.

For Reference:

Ingram, History of Political Economy.

THIRD YEAR. (FOURTH YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

(1) The History of Economic Development, including such topics as the following: the Manor; Guilds; Domestic Industry; Trading Companies; Enclosures; Agricultural changes; the Mercantile System and Protection; the measures of Colbert; the beginnings of modern finance; the Factory System.

For Reference:

Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages.
Ashley, Economic History, vol. I.
Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Bks. IV and V.
Toynbee, Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18^th Century in England.

(2) Modern Economic Questions, including such topics as the following: Socialism; taxation; public debt; currency (including banking); municipal finance; public domain; Government works.

Students are advised to consult such books as the following: Jevons, The State in Relation to Labour and Money; Giffen, Essays in Finance, vol. I, Essays ix, x, xiii, xiv; vol. II, Essay vi; Rae, ContemporarySocialism; Ely, The Labour Movement, and Taxation in American Cities and States; Adams,Public Debts; Seligman, Railway Tariffs, in Political Science Quarterly, vol. II; Adams, Relation of the State to IndustrialAction; and James, Modern Municipality and Gas Supply, in Publications of American Economic Association; Taussig, Tariff History of theU.S.; Felkin, The National Insurance Laws of Germany, in Contemporary Reviewfor August, 1888; Taussig, Workmen’s Insurance, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. II.

Source: University of Toronto Calendar, 1890-91, pp. 43-44.

__________________

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Candidates for B.A.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Examiners: J.M. McEvoy, B.A. and A.T. Thompson, B.A.

What is Political Economy ?
Illustrate the use of inductionand deductionin Political Economy.
State and criticize the ‘Wage Fund Theory.’
“Landlords were able to pocket the whole advantage of the Corn Laws, and the people suffered that rents might be kept up.” Explain and criticize.
What are the functions of money ?
State arguments for and against the adoption of bimetalism.
Is a government justified in taxing the rich for the benefit of the poor? If so, to what degree?
Distinguish the various meanings attached to the term “socialism.”

* * * *

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Candidates for B.A.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
HONORS.

Examiners: J.M. McEvoy, B.A. and A.T. Thompson, B.A.

N.B.—Candidates are requested not to attempt more than eight questions.

Sketch the history of the Teutonic Hanse in England.
Describe the position of the mediaeval villein.
Explain the causes for the decay of the Craft Guilds.
Trace the development of the Poor Laws during Elizabeth’s reign.
Show the importance in English Economic History of the woollen industry.
Distinguish the various stages in the growth of English foreign trade.
Describe the origin of the Bank of England, and explain its connection with the financial measures of the government of William III.
Trace the progress of the East India Company, down to the beginning of the eighteenth century.
What were the social effect of the “Enclosures” of the eighteenth century?
Compare the Merchant Guild with the modern Joint Stock Company.
Illustrate historically the relative advantages and disadvantages of the Factory system of Industry.
Sketch the history of factory legislation in England.

* * * *

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Second Year.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
HONORS.

Examiners: J.M. McEvoy, B.A. and A.T. Thompson, B.A.

N.B.—Candidates are requested not to attempt more than eight questions.

Examine the assumption made by some Economists, that all persons will act in such a manner as will secure their own best interests.
What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor?
Co-operation in production has not been so successful as co-operation in distribution. How would you account for this?
Define value. How is the value of commodities determined?
“The fundamental cause of rent is difference in fertility.” — Symes. Criticize.
What do you understand by “average rate of profit?”
State the theoretic arguments, if any, in favour of protection and the practical disadvantages, if any, in its application.
What are the objects of trades unions? How far are they suited to the attainment of these objects?
State the various circumstances which explain and justify the payment of interest.
What would be the result if the government were to issue bills to every farmer to the extent of $500 on the security of his real estate?
Illustrate the correct and incorrect use of the phrase “a violation of the laws of Political Economy.”

* * * *

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Third Year.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
ECONOMIC THEORY.
HONORS.

Examiners: J.M. McEvoy, B.A. and A.T. Thompson, B.A.

N.B.—Candidates are requested not to attempt more than eight questions.

Show how the mediaeval doctrine of Usury was undermined by the doctrine of Interest.
Describe the “Balance of Bargain” system.
Compare the attitude of Child and Hume towards the Balance of Trade theory.
Comment on the Maxims of Quesnay.
Distinguish the essentials and non-essentials in the teaching of Malthus.
In what case did Adam Smith consider “Protection” desirable.
“What Smith sought to establish was the free competition of equal industrial units; what in fact he was helping to establish was the free competition of unequal industrial units.” Explain and comment upon.
“Back to Adam Smith.” In what sense is this desirable.
State and criticize the “Iron Law of Wages.”
Examine the doctrine laid down by Ricardo that the relative values of commodities are governed by the relative quantities of labor bestowed on their production.
Wherein does List find the teaching of Smith and his school defective.

* * * *

University of Toronto.
Supplemental Examinations: 1891.
Fourth Year.

ARTS.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Examiners: J.M. McEvoy, B.A. and A.T. Thompson, B.A.

Does density of population tend to increase or to diminish the per capitaproductiveness of a nation? Apply your conclusions to determine the importance of the Malthusian doctrine of population.
If it were deemed desirable to encourage the manufacturing of steel in Canada would you do so by levying a duty on imported steel, or by giving a bonus per ton for all steel produced in Canada?
Examine the soundness of the two fundamental assumptions upon which the laissez fairedoctrine of the functions of Government proceeds.
“Value depends on supply and demand.”
What limitations and explanations does this statement require ?
“Rents tend to rise with industrial propers .” [sic, “when industry prosper”]
Examine this statement.
On what principles would you proceed to determine what was “fair wages” between master and workman in any given industry?
Describe some of the more important plans recently advanced for the uniting of labour and capital, and examine the expediency of each from an economic standpoint.

Source: University of Toronto. Examination Papers for 1891.

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

Tags Ashley, McEvoy

Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Graduate money reading list. Friedman, 1970

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-03-29

The following course outline with its readings is pretty much self-explanatory, though I cannot help but notice that there is quite a bit of Milton Friedman to read in Milton Friedman’s money course. It reminds me of the remark by Samuelson:

One must not make the mistake attributed to Edward Gibbon when he wrote his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon, it was said, sometimes confused himself and the Roman Empire.

_____________________

Milton Friedman

ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Reading List—Winter Quarter, 1970

(Note: Readings marked with an asterisk (*) cover the essential substantive material.)

I. Introductory Material

*Milton Friedman, The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, (Aldine, 1968), Chap. 1.

*Milton Friedman, The Quantity Theory, International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (reprints on reserve).

David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” in Essays and Treatises.

H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Keynesian Economics,” reprinted in W. Smith and R. Teiger (eds.) Readings in Money, National Income, and Stabilization Policy.

D. H. Robertson, Money.

II. The Quantity Equation

*Irving Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money (Macmillan, 1913), chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.

*J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform (1924), chap. 2; chap. iii, sec. 1.

*Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, The Problem and Its Setting (New York, 1927), pp. 128-39.

*A. C. Pigou, “The Value of Money” in Lutz, F. A., and Mints, L. W. (eds.) Readings in Monetary Theory.

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.

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.

III. The Demand for Money

*Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, esp. 11, 25-35 and 86-91.

*Milton Friedman, “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, ed., M. Friedman.

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

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” American Economic Review (June, 1962), Part II.

*J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, chaps. 13 and 15.

Maurice Allais, “A Restatement of the Quantity Theory of Money,” American Economic Review (December, 1966), pp. 1123-57.

W. J. Baumol, “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1952).

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Predicting Velocity: Implications for Theory and Policy,” Journal of Finance (May, 1963), pp. 319-54.

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Some Further Investigations of Demand and Supply Functions for Money,” Journal of Finance (May, 1964).

Gregory C. Chow, “On the Long-run and Short-run Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1966), pp. 111-31.

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 (Prentice-Hall, 1964).

Milton Friedman, “The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1959), pp. 327-51.

H. G. Johnson, “Recent Developments in Monetary Theory,” Essays in Monetary Economics.

David Laidler, “Some Evidence on the Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1966), pp. 55-68.

H. A. Latane, “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics (November, 1954) and (November, 1960).

Allan H. Meltzer, “The Demand for Money: The Evidence from the Time Series,” Journal of Political Economy (June, 1963).

Merton H. Miller and Daniel Orr, “A Model of the Demand for Money by Firms,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXX (August, 1966), 413-35.

George R. Morrison, Liquidity Preferences of Commercial Banks (University of Chicago Press, 1966).

Joan Robinson, “The Rate of Interest,” Econometrica, Vol. 19 (1951), reprinted as chap 1 of The Rate of Interest and Other Essays.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 19 (May, 1947), 130-31.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” Review of Economic Studies (August, 1956), pp. 241-47.

James Tobin, “The Interest Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics (August, 1956).

Clark Warburton, “Monetary Velocity and Monetary Policy,” and Tobin’s rejoinder, Review of Economic Statistics, XXX (November, 1948), 310-17.

IV. The Supply of Money (covered mostly in Econ. 330)

*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.

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” sec. 3.

Phillip Cagan, Determinants and Effects of Changes in the Stock of Money, 1875-1960 (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1968).

Phillip Cagan, “The Demand for Currency Relative to the Total Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1958).

William Dewald, “Free Reserves, Total Reserves, and Monetary Control,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1963).

Milton Friedman, A Program for Monetary Stability, chap. ii.

A. G. Hart, “The ‘Chicago’ Plan of Banking Reform,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

A. J. Meigs, Free Reserves and the Money Supply (University of Chicago Press, 1962).

Lloyd W. Mints, A History of Banking Theory, pp. 9-12, 29-35, 217-22, 247-57, 265-87.

George Tolley, “Providing for Growth of the Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (Dec., 1957), pp. 465-85.

U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Systems Purposes and Function.

Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, 171 (June, 1907), 213-20

V. Liquidity and Financial Intermediaries

*Phillip Cagan, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1958).

*Roland N. McKean, “Liquidity and a National Balance Sheet,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

J. G. Gurley, “Liquidity and Financial Institutions in the Postwar Period,” Study Paper No. 14, Joint Economic Committee, January, 1960.

J. G. Gurley and E. S. Shaw, Money in a Theory of Finance.

H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices and Monetary Theory,” Readings in Price Theory.

Alvin Marty, “Gurley and Shaw on Money in a Theory of Finance,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1961).

Edward Simmons, “The Relative Liquidity of Money and Other Things,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

VI. The Monetary Standard and International Monetary Arrangements

*”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.

*Milton Friedman, “Commodity Reserve Currency” and “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” Essays in Positive Economics.

*Lloyd Mints, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society, chaps. 4 and 5.

Frank W. Fetter, Development of British Monetary Orthodoxy, 1797-1875 (Harvard University Press, 1965).

Milton Friedman and Robert V. Roosa, The Balance of Payments: Free versus Fixed Exchange Rates, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1967.

H. G. Johnson, International Trade and Economic Growth, chaps. 6, 7.

H. G. Johnson, “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates, 1969,” Review of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (June, 1969).

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).

Egon Sohmen, Flexible Exchange Rates (University of Chicago Press, 1961).

VII. The Process of Adjustment: Inflation, Business Cycles

*Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, “Money and Business Cycles,” Supplement to Review of Economics and Statistics (February, 1963), containing proceedings of Conference on Monetary Economics. Also, comments by H. Minsky, A. Okun, and C. Warburton.

Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Milton Friedman, Dollars and Deficits (Prentice-Hall, 1968), chaps. 1, 4, and 5.

Milton Friedman, “The Inflationary Gap,” in Essays in Positive Economics.

Milton Friedman, “The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau,” in The National Bureau Enters Its Forty-fifth Year, 44^th Annual Report, National Bureau of Economic Research, June, 1964, pp. 7-25.

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, esp. chapter 7.

Arnold C. Harberger, “The Dynamics of Inflation in Chile,” in C. Christ, et al., Measurement in Economics (Stanford University Press, 1964).

Eugene M. Lerner, “Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Clark Warburton, “The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business-Fluctuation Theory,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 55, Folder 7.

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

Tags Friedman

Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Course readings for undergrad and graduate labor economics, mid-1920s

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-03-25

This is one of those postings that I sort of wish I had never started. I began, feeling pretty sure that I knew who the instructor (William Z. Ripley) was and which course was being taught at Harvard some time during the second-half of the 1920s (Economics 6a, Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems). At the Hoover Institution Archives I had found eleven hand-written notecards of Vervon Orvall Watts (Harvard Ph.D., 1932. Thesis: The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought) that were filed together under the keyword “wages”.

Upon closer inspection it became clear that the artifacts were not from a single course and perhaps not even for a single instructor. The problem of identifying unambiguously the instructor for the undergraduate course might have been solved if there had been a clear date on any of the notecards.

The graduate course was always taught by William Z. Ripley over this period. The course outline and reading list for the 1931 graduate course Problems of Labor taught by William Z. Ripley has been transcribed and posted earlier. That post also includes some biographical information.

Since I was dealing with handwritten references, I went to the trouble of tracking down almost all the items. When I did, I added links to the lists, adding both to the accuracy and research value of the transcriptions. Square brackets indicate my additions.

The following post provides nearly complete enrollment data and final exams for the “Trade-unionism and Allied Problems” course for 1913-32.

_________________

On Vervon Orvall Watts:

V. Orval Watts’ obituary in the Los Angeles Times (April 1, 1993).

Watts’ 1952 Book Away from Freedom: The Revolt of the College Economists was republished by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, Alabama) in 2008. “This book had a powerful impact on a generation — a kind of primer on Keynesian fallacies that still pervade the profession if not by that name.“

_________________

Course Descriptions

6a ¹hf. Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; the legal status of unionism, closed shop, etc.; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.
Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or a special topic, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice.

34. Problems of Labor. Full-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 2. Professor Ripley.

This course deals more intensively with the same topics which are comprehended in Economics 6a, as given for undergraduates. Especial attention is given to methods of investigation and original sources. Specific aspects of trade union policy and the legal status of unionism are given priority over the broader issues of labor legislation and kindred subjects.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXI, No. 22 (April 30, 1924): Division of History, Government, and Economics 1924-25, pp. 68-69, 73.

_________________________

Card 1

Ec. 6a. Feb. 2[second digit illegible]. Topics.

Wages.

Justice in Distribution—(Lowell[?] & Dempsey[?])
Wages & Supply of Labor.—Supply falls with rise in wages.
Laissez-faire, Competition (Railroads, vs coal mines, sweat shops.)
Tendency increasing [illegible 2 letters] various kinds of regulation in all sorts of trades.
Competition: over-development of industries & depression of wages.
Trace effects of increase in efficiency of individual, of trade, of group of trades. Effects on other individuals, own wages, wages of other groups.
Increase of efficiency of all trades—benefits landlord largely. Workers get only part of increase. Capitalists benefit.
Increased efficiency of exploitation of land.
Sweated trades—benefits of a strong union. (causes of sweatshops—competition with machinery.)
Effects of rise in wages for union methods (monopoly) upon other classes of wage-earners.
Union answer: universal organization.

_________________________

Card 2

[Probably Econ 6a]

Orth, S. P. The Armies of Labor [1919].
Brissenden. The I. W. W. [1920 Columbia University dissertation].
Selekman. Sharing Management with the Workers. [1924]
Paul Gemmill. The Actors’ Equity. [cf. Paul F. Gemmill. Equity: The Actors’ Trade Union, QJE (1926) ]
J. R. Commons. Industrial Goodwill [1919].
S. Perlman. History of Labor in the U.S. [Vol. I, 1918; Vol. II, 1918]
Gompers, S. Labor & the Common Welfare. [1919]
Cole, G.D.H. Labor in the Coal-Mining Industry (1914-1921) [1923].
Tawney, R. H. The British Labor Movement [ca. 1925].

Papers:

What kind of workers make a good trade union?
The A. F. of L. vs. the I. W. W.
Employee Representation: What has it to offer?
The Ford industries & unionism.
The Efficacy of Company Unions.
The Economic Basis of Effective Unionism
The Objection of Unions to the Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes
The Case for a Labor Party in the U.S.

East. Mankind at the Crossroads. [1923]
Marshall. Industry & Trade. [3^rd edition, 1920]
Budish & Soule. The New Unionism in the Clothing Industry.
Selekman & Van Kleeck Employe’s Representation in Coal Mines. [1924] [cf. Miners and Management; a study of the collective agreement between the United Mine Workers of America and the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, 1934]

______________________

Card 3

[Probably Econ 6a]
(Assignments to a Junior by William Thomas Ham)

Hammond, J. L. B. The Rise of Modern Industry. [1925]
H. Ford. My Life and Work. [1922]
Lewisohn, S. The New Leadership in Industry. [1926]
Lewisohn, Sam A. et al. Can Business Prevent Unemployment? [1925]
Carver. The Present Economic Revolution in the United States. [1926]
Groat. Labor and the Courts. [“Unionism and the Courts,” Yale Review (August, 1910) ]
Gompers. S. Editorials.
Commons and Andrews. Labor Legislation. [1916]
Blum, S. Labor Economics. [1925]
11^th Special Report of U.S. Commissioner of Labor. Regulation and Restriction of Output. [1904]
Allen, H. J. The Party of the Third Part. [1921]
Pound, R. The Spirit of the Common Law. [1921] Freedom of Contract (in Harvard Law Review, sic) [Perhaps “Liberty of Contract” in the Yale Law Journal (1909) is meant here]
Commons, J.R. Trade Unionism and Labor Problems, selections. [1921]
Webb. Industrial Democracy (Selections). [1920]
Robertson, D.H. The Control of Industry. [1923]
Feis. The Principles of Wage Settlement. [1924] The Settlement of Wage Disputes. [1921]
P. Douglas. The Family Wage (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Barnett, G. A. Machinery and Labor. [1926]
Taussig. Inventors and Money-Makers [1915]. The Minimum Wage. [cf. Minimum Wages for Women in QJE (1916) pp. 411-442 ]

Papers:

The right to strike and the doctrine of conspiracy.
What should be the painters’ policy re the [two illegible words] machine?
The Use of the Injunction in Labor Disputes.
Wage Principles in Arbitration cases.

______________________

Card 4

Appears not to properly belong to either course (penciled addition)

Sorokin. Social Mobility. [1927]
Popenoe and Johnson. Applied Eugenics. [1922]
Sumner and Keller. The Science of Society, Soc. 543.16.20 [1927, 4 volumes] [Vol. II; Vol III; Vol. IV]
C. S. Day. This Simian World. [1920]

______________________

Card 5

Ec. 6a—Topics

Does the competition of women and children tend to lower wages of men? Does prohibition of it benefit men workers?
Standard of Living. make assumption of family of 5.
cf P. Douglas, The Family Wage (sic). [cf. Wages and the Family (1925)]
Extent to Wk. Budgets/Minimum of Subsistence should be considered by arbitration boards in adjusting/fixing wages (rising/falling/stable prices).
Could it be maintained if given? I.e. do poor make their standards, or do the low wages make the standards?
Do the poor make the slums, or the slums produce the poor?
(Note Tugwell’s [?] estimate that American real wages rose 400%–1820 to 1922.)

______________________

Card 6

[Probably Ec 34]
Labor Problems—Sources.

Monthly Labor Review, and Bulletin of U.S. Business of Labor Statistics. can be obtained cheaply from Washington as they appear by writing for them.

Law and Labor. Published by the League for Industrial Rights

(cf. Sayer: The Law and Labor: a Collection of Cases)
(Ellingwood and Coombs: The Government and Labor)

Report of the British Royal Commission on Labor, 1894 (19 Vol.).

[T. G. Spyers, The Labor Question. An Epitome of the Evidence and the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1894] ]

Report of the U.S. Industrial Commission 1899

Hearings before the Industrial Commission on relations and conditions of capital and labor employed in manufacturing and general business (1899).

Report of the New York State Factory Investigation. Vol. 1-3; Vol. 4-5.

Report of the U.S. Coal Commission, 1923.

(Q. J. E. for 1924, Resumé of the Report).

Part I. Principal Findings and Recommendations [1923]
Part II. Antracite—Detailed Studies
Part III. [could not find a link]
Part IV. Bituminous Coal—Detailed Studies of Cost of Production, Investment and Profits. [1923]
Part V. [could not find a link]

______________________

Card 7

[Probably Econ 34] Labor.

Catlin, W. B. The Labor Problem. [1926]

Ripley says is best general text. Cfs. Eng. and U.S. A long section (40 pp) on restriction of output. Interesting style. Gives sources. Is weak on legislative side.

Blum: Labor Economics. [1925]

Good on Wages. Knows economic theory. Investment is rather abstract.

Hoxie: Trade Unionism in the U.S. 1917 (13-33).

Furniss: Labor Problems (1-17). 1925.

S. and B. Webb. Industrial Democracy. [1920]
——————. History of Trade Unionism. [1920]

Old, confined to England. Over-sympathetic with labor. Contrast Hoxie and Webb on the Labor Leader.

Commons and Andrews. Principles of Labor Legislation.

Best on legal aspects. [1920]

(Watkins, Groat, Carlton–dsg[?]. Over-sympathetic with labor. Cf Adams and Sumner, Ely.)

Hoopingarner [Dwight Lowell Hoopingarner, Labor Relations in Industry (1925)] from employers standpoint.

Lauck: Political and Social Democracy. [1926]

Intimate contact with labor in U.S. Knows subject. Interesting. Not good text book.

______________________

Card 8

[Probably Econ 34] Topics. Labor Problems.

Life of Robert Owen (G. D. H. Cole). [1920]

Origin and Causes of Trade Unionism

Are they, as Persons and Perlman say, a defensive reaction against excessive cut-throat competition among producers, a competition which is due to the Industrial Revolution and instead of machine-methods of production.
–Due to a desire to reduce costs and widen markets.

Trade Unionism in U.S.

Note influence of free lands in the West, and (increasing) new opportunities in Young and expanding country. Is there likely in future to be this same vertical mobility of labor which has hindered growth of Unionism in U.S. So union inevitable accompaniment of capitalism.

Laissez-faire and Labor Legislation

Laissez-faire and Trades Unions.

______________________

Card 9

[Probably Econ 34] Labor

D. Houser: What the Employer Thinks. (Econ 7409.27.5) [1927]
W. B. Catlin: The Labor Problem. [1926]
E. S. Furniss, and L. R. Guild. Labor Problems. [1925]
R. W. Cooke Taylor: The Modern Factory System (IE, 20.26) [1891]
J. A. Fitch: The Causes of Industrial Unrest (inefficiency of present order) [1924]
W. L. M. King: Industry and Humanity [1918]

Ch. 12—plea for making worker understand bigger economic tendencies and results for him. e.g. machinery, large-scale industry, etc.

Brooks, J. G.: The Social Unrest (S.E.) [1903]
Penty, A. J.: Post-Industrialism [1922]
Feis, Herbert: Principles of Wage Settlement [1924].

______________________

Card 10

References. Ec. 34.

Unemployment

Beveridge. Unemployment in Industry. [Unemployment—A Problem of Industry (3^rd ed, 1912)]

J. L. Cohen. Unemployment Insurance. [Insurance Against Unemployment. London, 1921.]

Feldman. Regularization of Employment [1925] [also published as a Columbia University, Ph.D. thesis)]

[Berridge et al.] Business Cycles and Unemployment.[NBER publication for a Committee of the President’s Conference on Unemployment, and a Special Staff of the Naitonal Bureau (1923)] (collection of papers)

Berridge. Business Cycles and Unemployment. (re indexes for unemployment—how to construct) [William A. Berridge. Cycles of Unemployment in the United States, 1903-1922. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1923.]

U.S. Bureau of Labor (No. 310)-1922- Bulletin on Unemployment in U.S., No. 310. [Ernest S. Bradford, Industrial Unemployment—A Statistical Study of Its Extent and Causes, BLS Bulletin 310 (August 1922)]

Secretary of Labor, Report on Unemployment in U.S., 1928. (head of Bur. of Labor Statistics) (Shrinkage in competition, 1925-7, in a few industries)

The Ministry of Labor Gazette—figures for England and Britain, monthly, operat[?] of unemployment doles.

Feb. 1928, Q. J. E.—German Unemployment Insurance. [Frieda Wunderlich. The German Unemployment Insurance Act of 1927. Quarterly Journal of Economics (Feb. 1928)]

______________________

Card 11

Readings. Ec. 34. Feb 28.

W. B. Catlin. [The Labor Problem, 1926] 259-315.
Brissenden. The I. W. W. 83-110, 155-178, (297-309)
Hoxie. [Trade Unionism in the U.S., 1917] 103-139
Furniss. [Labor Problems, 1925] 267-325

[…]

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. V. Orval Watts Papers. Box 21, Blue-tab-Notecard File, Tab W (Wages).

Image Source: William Zebina Ripley in the Harvard Class Album, 1928.

Tags Ham, Ripley

Exam Questions Gender Harvard Radcliffe Socialism Suggested Reading

Harvard. Exams and reading period assignment for Programs of Social Reconstruction (Socialism). Mason, 1933.

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2018-03-18

In the collection of final examinations in the Harvard archives, I came across both the Radcliffe and Harvard final examinations for the identical course with the title “Programs of Social Reconstruction” taught by Edward S. Mason. This course was one of the undergraduate staples offered earlier by Thomas Nixon Carver that was handed off to Mason starting 1926/27.

A few things I find interesting from the materials I was able to find for this year (Note: a course reading list for 1928 needs some work, will be posted later):

The final examination questions only cover Marxian socialist theory and movements except for the question on the reading period assignment that is dedicated to contemporary U.S./U.K. reform. It is possible that earlier utopian socialist literature, Henry George, and anarchism were tested in a mid-term examination, or of course the course description had not been changed. The exact same course description was used by Mason for the 1928-29 academic year.
From the Harvard President’s report and the final exam (note the superscript “1” which means first term), it would appear that Mason taught the course in the first term of 1932-33 and not during the second term as announced earlier in the Harvard Register. So it does appear that he taught the course one semester to Harvard men and the following semester to Radcliffe women, so having different final examinations makes sense.
The Harvard exam as printed can be compared to the Radcliffe exam to see that there is an obvious type: the first question only be allocated one hour and the remaining four questions would fill the rest of the examination time.

____________________

Radcliffe College Course Announcement

Economics 7c ²hf. Programs of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Asst. Professor E. S. Mason.

Source: Radcliffe College. Courses of Instruction, 1932-33. Page 87.

____________________

Harvard Course Announcement with Course Description

Economics 7c ²hf. Programmes of Social Reconstruction

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Associate Professor Mason.

A comparison of the various radical programmes, such as socialism, communism, anarchism and the single tax, the theories upon which they are based, and the grounds of their attack upon the present industrial system. An examination of the various criteria of distributive justice, and of the social utility of the institution of property. A comparison of the merits of liberalism and authoritarianism, of radicalism and conservatism. An analysis also of the present tendencies toward equality under liberalism in this country.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1932-33 in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXIX, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), p. 74.

____________________

Course Enrollment (Harvard)

[Economics] 7c ¹hf. Associate Professor Mason.—Programs of Social Reconstruction.

Total 42: 26 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1932-33, p. 65.

____________________

Reading Period Assignment

Economics 7c

Read one:

1. Norman Thomas, America’s Way Out.
2. Stuart Chase, A New Deal.
3. George Soule, A Planned Society.
4. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, A Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1932-1933”.

____________________

1932-33
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE

ECONOMICS 7c
Final Examination

Allow about one hour.

Write a critical review of the book you read for the reading period.

Answer four of the following questions.

What position does technological change occupy in Marx’s theory of the decline of capitalism?
What importance has economic imperialism for the tactics of a socialist party according to Marxian theorists?
How do you explain the collapse of the Second International in 1914.
Discuss the validity of the labor-hour as a unit of cost in a socialist planned economy.
Can Marx’s theory of value be reconciled with his explanation of the tendency toward an equal rate of profit in all industries? Discuss.

Final. 1933

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, Finals 1933 (HUC 700028, No. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. January—June, 1933.

____________________

1932-33
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 7c¹
Final Examination

Allow about one hour.

Write a review of the book you read for the reading period assignment.
“The essence of the Marxian contribution to socialism was and is the discovery of the proletarian path to power.” Discuss.
What does Lenin mean by economic imperialism?
Consider the position in the history of socialist thought of one of the socialist leaders before Marx.
“With his ‘socially necessary labor time’ Marx anticipated the Technocrats by three quarters of a century and proposed a technological measure of cost and value whose use would immediately put an end to all the stupid absurdities of the price system.” Discuss.

Final. 1933.

Image Source: Edward S. Mason in Harvard Album 1934.

Tags Mason

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory I. Economics of Uncertainty

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory Reading List on Capital Theory

Final Examination 14.192 Advanced Economic Theory Spring 1965

From the Final Grade Sheet

Second Term 1964-65 Subject number: 14.192 Subject name: Economics Seminar Staff member in charge: [signed] R. M. Solow

(Preliminary) Class List

14.192 ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY W 1:00-3:00 Professor Robert M. Solow

Summer enrollment in Principles of Economics, 1942

Course Announcements for Summer School 1942

ECONOMICS A Summer Term, 1942

ECONOMICS A Outline and Reading Assignments Summer Term, 1942

Final examination first half of course

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY [First Session. Summer, 1942] ECONOMICS SAa

Part I

Part II

Final examination second half of course

HARVARD UNIVERSITY [Second Session. Summer, 1942] ECONOMICS SAb

Part I

Part II

Final Exam Intensive Course, First Session 1942

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY [First Session. Summer, 1942] ECONOMICS SA1

I

II

Final Examination for Principles of Economics “Lite”

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY [First Session. Summer, 1942] ECONOMICS SB

I

II

III

Course Enrollment

PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING Economics 241 Fall Term—1949-1950

I. International Monetary Theory and Policy

Books

Articles

II. Monetary and Fiscal Theory and Policy

Books

Articles

III. Current Problems and Policies—Federal Reserve Policy and Debt Management

Book

Articles

1949-50 HARVARD UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS 241 PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

Mid-Year Examination. January, 1950.

I

II

III

[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING] Reading List [Economics 241, Spring 1949-50] [Professor Hansen]

1949-50 HARVARD UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking Final Examination (June, 1950)

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

READING LIST EC18

Readings on Capital Theory Spring 1948

Ec 18

Course Enrollment

[Penciled Note: Ec. 45a]

BUSINESS CYCLE THEORY

I.

II.

A. Books

B. Articles

C. Forecasting Services

1937-38 HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45a2 BUSINESS CYCLES

[Final Exam]

Frank Whitson Fetter (1902-1992)

Charles Raymond Whittlesey (1900-1979)

Economics 526. (International Economic Policies.) – 1934 –

To the Electors to the Drummond Professorship. [From William J. Ashley, November 20, 1890]

TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS, LL.D. MINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO.

[Application of ] JOHN MILLAR McEVOY. Toronto, July 30th, A.D. 1892.

FACULTY OF LAW

§1. POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Professor: W. J. ASHLEY, M.A.

FIRST YEAR. (SECOND YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

SECOND YEAR. (THIRD YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

THIRD YEAR. (FOURTH YEAR IN FACULTY OF ARTS.)

University of Toronto. Annual Examinations: 1891. Candidates for B.A.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
I. Economics of Uncertainty

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Reading List on Capital Theory

Final Examination
14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Spring 1965

Second Term 1964-65
Subject number: 14.192
Subject name: Economics Seminar
Staff member in charge: [signed] R. M. Solow

14.192 ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY
W 1:00-3:00
Professor Robert M. Solow

ECONOMICS A
Summer Term, 1942

ECONOMICS A
Outline and Reading Assignments
Summer Term, 1942

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAa

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[Second Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAb

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SA¹

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SB

PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
Economics 241
Fall Term—1949-1950

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING]
Reading List
[Economics 241, Spring 1949-50]
[Professor Hansen]

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination (June, 1950)

Readings on Capital Theory
Spring 1948

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45a²BUSINESS CYCLES

Frank Whitson Fetter
(1902-1992)

Charles Raymond Whittlesey
(1900-1979)

Economics 526. (International Economic Policies.)
– 1934 –

To the Electors to the Drummond Professorship.
[From William J. Ashley, November 20, 1890]

TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS, LL.D.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO.

[Application of ] JOHN MILLAR McEVOY.
Toronto, July 30^th, A.D. 1892.

§1.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Candidates for B.A.

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Candidates for B.A.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
HONORS.

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Second Year.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
HONORS.

University of Toronto.
Annual Examinations: 1891.
Third Year.

POLITICAL SCIENCE.
ECONOMIC THEORY.
HONORS.

University of Toronto.
Supplemental Examinations: 1891.
Fourth Year.

ARTS.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Reading List—Winter Quarter, 1970

[Probably Econ 6a]
(Assignments to a Junior by William Thomas Ham)

[Probably Ec 34]
Labor Problems—Sources.

1932-33
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE