Category: Syllabus

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Columbia Socialism Syllabus

Columbia. Communistic and Socialistic Theories. Course Outline. J. B. Clark, 1908

 

 

The artifact transcribed for this posting consists of two pages of handwritten notes for a course that was regularly offered by John Bates Clark on socialist and communist economic theories. An earlier post included an essay written by Clark in 1879 on meanings of socialism. 

This is the 1000th artifact transcribed for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. 

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ECONOMICS 109 — Communistic and Socialistic Theories. Professor CLARK.
Tu. and Th. at 2.30, first half-year. 406 L.

This course studies the theories of St. Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, Rodbertus, Marx, Lassalle, and others. It aims to utilize recent discoveries in economic science in making a critical test of these theories themselves and of certain counter-arguments. It examines the socialistic ideals of distribution, and the effects that, by reason of natural laws, would follow an attempt to realize them through the action of the state.

Source:  Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science and the Several Undergraduate Faculties. Announcement 1905-07. p. 26.

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Econ. 109—Jan. 1908

                                                                        Practical relations

1          Definitions of Socialism.

2          Distinction bet[ween] Soc[ialism] and Communism

3          [Distinction between Socialism and] Anarchism

4          Possibility of Socialism without Communism & vice versa

5          Ancient labor movements

6          Agrarianism.ancient and mediaeval in Rome.

7          Mediaeval and early modern labor movements

8          Economic causes of the French Revolution

9          Socialism during the Rev. and the 1st Empire.

(1) theoretical           (2) practical

10        Life and teachings of Saint-Simon

11        [Life and teachings of] Fourier

12        [Life and teachings of] Proudhon

13        France under Louis XVIII and Charles X

14        The revolution of 1830

15        France under Louis Philippe

16        The revolution of 1848

17        Socialism of 1848

18        Life and teachings of Louis Blanc

19        Life and teachings of Rodbertus

(1) Relation to Ricardo’s system
(2) Theory of Crises

20        Life of Karl Marx

21        Relation of Marx’ system to that of Rodbertus

22        Marx theory of U[se] Value. Ex[change] Val[ue] & Val[ue].

Dif[ference] in
application to
goods[?] made by
same[?] L[abor]
& dif[ferent] C[apital]

23        Basis in Ric[ardo of] the Function of Money

24        [Basis in Ricardo of] Surplus Value  (later)

25        [Basis in Ricardo of] the Effect of Machinery

26        Criticism of the Surplus Value theory

27        Merits and demerits of the general Marxian System

28       Change in the character of the socialistic movement due to the growth of monopolies

29       Trade unions and their purposes

30       Socialism and the trade union movement

31       The practicability of a partially socialistic society, of a completely [socialistic society]

 

Marx Biog[raphy] Publications.

Theory—Val[ue], [unclear word] Basis of dif[ference] Exchange V[alue]–Use V[alue]

Include  App[lication?] to L

[Include] Basis of the criticism of cost of [abor]

[Include] Marx app[lied?] to goods made by dif[ferent] proportions of l[abor] and c[apital]. His solution of difficulty.

[Include] Criticism

[Include] Modern theory of imputation as app[lication?] to prod[uct?] of l[abor] and of c[apital].

[Include] Surplus val[ue] theory–Full statement. Criticism.

[Include] Effect as above of app[lication?] of th[eory] of imputation. Marx th[eory] of  effects of machinery.

 

Source: Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library. John Bates Clark Papers, Box 3, Folder 23, Series II.1 “Economics 109”, 1908.

Image Source: John Bates Clark portrait from the webpage “Famous Carleton Economists“.

Categories
Harvard Seminar Speakers Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Social Influences on Economic Actions, outline and readings. Musgrave and Spechler, 1973

 

The outline below for an ambitious Harvard course organized jointly by Richard Musgrave and Martin C. Spechler in 1973 comes from John Kenneth Galbraith’s papers. Galbraith was invited to give a lecture on institutional economics and a couple of pages of keywords in the folder would appear to confirm that Galbraith indeed lectured on the topic.

Biographical information for Richard Musgrave was provided a few blog postings ago. Martin Spechler too was a Harvard alumnus (indeed all three of his academic degrees come from that institution) and so I’ll first insert the chronology of his academic jobs so one can meet another economic Ph.D. alumnus. Spechler’s main research field was comparative economic systems complemented by a strong interest in the history of economics (see the link to his 2007 c.v. below). 

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Martin C. Spechler (b. January 25, 1943, New York City)

A.B. in Social Studies (1964), A.M. in Economics (1967), Ph.D. in Economics (1971). Harvard

1965-1971. Harvard. Teaching fellow in economics and social studies.
1971-1973. Harvard. Lecturer on economics and on social studies.
1971-1974. Harvard. Head tutor in economics.
1973-1975. Harvard. Assistant professor of economics.
1974-1980. Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Department of Economics, lecturer.
1980-1982. Tel Aviv University. Department of Economics and School of General History. Senior lecturer (acting).
1982-1983. University of Washington, Seattle. School  of International Studies. Visiting associate professor.
1983-1984. University Iowa, Iowa City. Visiting associate professor.
1984-1986. Indiana University, Bloomington. Visiting associate professor of economics and research associate, West European Studies.
1986-1990. Indiana University, Indianapolis. Associate professor of economics
1990-. Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis. Professor of economics.

Source:  Martin C. Spechler c.v. (December 2007).

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ECONOMICS 2080
Tentative Lecture Schedule
[1973]

1. September 27 Spechler on Marxism
2. October 4 Unger on Weber
3. October 9 (Tues.) Galbraith on institutionalism
4. October 18 Duesenberry on consumer behavior
5. October 25 (?) on entrepreneurs
6. November 1 M. Roberts on government bureaucracy
7. November 8 J. Bower on corporate organization
8. November 15 Doeringer on workers and unions
9. November 20 (Tuesday) Bowles (?) on Marxian theory of the state
10. November 29 D. Bell (?) on elite theory
11. December 6 J. Q. Wilson on pluralism
12. December 13 Hirschman on trade policy
13. December 20 Musgrave on objectivity in economics and social science

 

Harvard University
Economics 2080

Social Influences on Economic Action
Fall Term, Thursday 4-6

Martin C. Spechler
Holyoke 833, Office; 10-12 (daily)

Richard Musgrave
Littauer 326

            Designed to be taken in one semester to be followed by a seminar, this course examines the social context of economic activity. It covers theoretic and applied writings in several significant traditions: Marxist, Weberian, institutionalist, and liberal. The list includes a more thorough reading of Marx and Weber than is usually available elsewhere and articles reporting contemporary research of a scale suitable for dissertations. Since certain topics of interest, such as stratification, are treated elsewhere in the Economics or allied departments, the range of topics is intentionally incomplete. But each topic includes competing paradigms and case studies making use of them. Each topic takes off from the limits of conventional economics to show that different assumptions and procedures show promise of answering important questions about economic life.

It is envisioned that the course will be taught during the first year in a conference format, with guest lecturers but with one or two Department members responsible for the entire course and always present in class. The course will culminate in the writing of a long (30-40 pages) case study, employing some or all of the theoretical perspectives which have been presented. There will also be a shorter paper early on to fix the theoretical perspectives in mind.

The course is intended for graduate students with some preparation in economics. To facilitate discussion, one might have to limit enrollment, though a diverse group would be highly desirable.

Works marked (*) are assumed as background; those marked (**) are supplementary.

A. The Content and Limits of Modern Economics: A Point of Departure

*Lord Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (2nd ed. 1935).

Emile Gruenberg, “The Meaning of Scope and External Boundaries of Economics.”

Kenneth E. Boulding, “The Verifiability of Economic Images.” Both in Sherman Roy Krupp, The Structure of Economic Science. (Prentice Hall, 1966), pp. 129-165.

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Analytical Economics (Harvard University Press, 1966), Part I (especially pp. 92-129).

B. Three Social Perspectives on Economic Action

What are the hallmarks of “modern” — now misleadingly termed “Western” — society? What changes in productive relations, in ethos, and in political arrangements favored its development? This section examines in depth three major interdisciplinary systems which undertake to define, explain, and analyze the working of modern society, particularly the limits placed on the market by social forces.

Week 1 (September 27) Marxism

Karl Marx, “Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy”

________, “Estranged Labor”

________, “Private Property and Communism”

________, “The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society”

________, “The German Ideology”, Part I

________, “Wage Labor and Capital”

________, “Capital”, Vol. 1 (selections) all in The Marx-Engels Reader (ed. By Robert C. Tucker), Norton Publ., pp. 306 [30-36 intended?], 56-83, 110-164, 167-317, 577-588.

Friedrich Engels, “Letters on Historical Materialism” in Tucker, ed., pp. 640-651 and 661-664.  OR

Ernest Mandel, Marxist Economic Theory, Vol. I, chapters 5, 11; Vol. II, 12-14.

Week 2 (October 4) Weber

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, entire.

________, The Religion of China, IV, V, and VIII.

________, *General Economic History, Part IV

“Power, Capitalism and Rural Society in Germany,” and “National Character and the Junkers,” all in Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, pp. 159-195, 363-395.

Week 3 (October 11) Institutionalism

Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, in Max Lerner, The Portable Veblen (Viking pb) chapters IV, VI.

________, “On the Merits of Borrowing,” from Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, pp. 349-363 in M. Lerner, The Portable Veblen, op. cit.

________, The Theory of Business Enterprise, chapters III, IV, VII.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economics and the Public Purpose (Houghton-Mifflin, 1973), chapters V, IX-XIV, and XIX.

Possible paper topics (illustrative only) for section B. Due October 18:

Paper: What do Marxist, Weberian, and Historical-institutional theories have to say about kinds of modern economies which have developed in the world?

**England, 1642-1851

David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus, introduction and chapter 1.

Barrington, Moore, Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, chapters I and VI.

E.J. Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire, chapters 1-7.

**Japan and China Compared

M. J. Levy, “Contrasting Factors in the Modernization of China and Japan,” in Simon Kuznets, Economic Growth: Brazil, India, Japan (Duke, 1955), pp. 496-536.

Henry Rosovsky, “Japan’s Transition to Modern Economic Growth, 1868-1885,” in Henry Rosovsky (ed.) Industrialization in Two Systems: Essays in Honor of Alexander Gerschenkron (Wiley, 1966). Bobbs-Merrill Reprint No. Econom-264.

Thomas C. Smith, “Japan’s Aristocratic Revolution,” Yale Review V (50), 1960-61, pp. 370-83, reprinted in R. Bendix and S.M. Lipset, Class, Status and Power (2nd ed.), pp. 135-40. The samurai class as modernizers.

Barrington Moore, Jr., Social Origins, op. cit., IV, V, VIII, IX. Particular attention to feudal land patterns as an obstacle to economic and political modernization.

or R.H. Tawney, Land and Labour in China (Octagon, 1964)

or Johannes Hirschmeier, The Origins of Entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan (Harvard, 1964).

**Indonesia, 1945-

Clifford Geertz, Peddlers and Princes (Chicago, 1963). An excellent example of economic anthropology in the Weberian tradition.
[Other suggestions and bibliography available from the instructors.]

C. How do Consumers, Workers, and Entrepreneurs form their Preferences for Market Activities?

This section examines the empirical evidence to date on the relative role of material incentives and job characteristics on productivity, on the effects of advertising on consumer attitudes, and on the relationship between historical experience and decisions about the future.

Week 4 (October 18) Consumer Behavior

*Robert Ferber, “Research on Household Behavior,” American Economic Review, Vol. 52 (1962), pp. 19-63. Reprinted in A.S.C. Ehrenburg and F.G. Pyatt, Consumer Behavior (Penguin, 1971).

*Karl Marx, “Alienated Labor,” and “Needs, Production, and the Division of Labor,” from Early Writings, ed. J. B. Bottomore, pp. 120-134.

*James S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving, and the Theory of Consumer Behavior, chapters I-IV.

J.K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, (Revised edition), chapter 11.

Lester Telser, “Advertising and Cigarettes,” Journal of Political Economy (October, 1962), pp. 471-99).

Tony McGuiness and Keith Cowling, “Advertising and the Aggregate Demand for Cigarettes: An Empirical Analysis of a U.K. Market,” paper no. 31, Centre for Industrial Economic and Business Research, University of Warwick, England. On reserve in Littauer.

Lester D. Taylor and Daniel Weiserbs, “Advertising and the Aggregate Production Function,” American Economic Review, (September 1972), pp. 642-55.

George Katona, Burkhard Strumpel and Ernest Zahn, Aspirations and Affluence (McGraw-Hill, 1971), chapters 6-12. The effects and causes of consumer attitudes in the United States and Western Europe.

Week 5 (October 25) Entrepreneurs

Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, (Harper Torchbook, 1962), chapter XI-XIV.

Thomas C. Cochran, “Cultural Factors in Economic Growth,” and David Landes, “French Business and the Business Man: a Social and Cultural Analysis,” in Hugh G.J. Aitken, Explorations in Enterprise (Harvard University Press, 1965), pp, 122-38, 184-209.

Alexander Gerschenkron, “Social Attitudes, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development,” in Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Harvard, 1962), pp. 52-71. [note: workers’ attitudes will be discussed in week 8.]

D. How Do Large Organizations Behave?

The opportunities created by market power and the size of the hierarchy in modern economic bureaucracies probably allowed behavior far from the competitive norm. What are the elements of structure, control, and attitudes which influence corporate behavior? The readings include the Weberian, and the “bureaucratic politics” points of view; and the case comparisons include the U.S. Navy, French enterprise, the Society of Jesus, the Soviet industrial planning system, and the most important American public enterprise.

Week 6 (November 1) Government Bureaucracy

Max Weber, “Bureaucracy,” in Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber, pp. 196-244.

Charles Lindblom, “The Politics of Muddling Through,” Bobbs-Merrill Reprint, Public Administration Review XIX (Spring, 1959), pp.79-88: why strict means-end rationality is impossible in government bureaucracies.

A. Wildavsky, The Politics of the Budgetary Process, (Little, Brown, 1964) chapter 2.

Stanley Surrey, “Congress and the Tax Lobbyist: How Tax Provisions Get Enacted,” Harvard Law Review (1957), pp. 1145-70.

Sandford F. Borins, “The Political Economy of ‘The Fed,’” Public Policy (Spring, 1972), pp. 175-98.

Sanford Weiner, “Resource Allocation in Basic Research and Organizational Design,” Public Policy (Spring, 1972), pp. 227-55.

Benjamin Ward, The Socialist Economy: A Study of Organizational Alternatives, chapters 5 and 6.

The latter considers whether socialization, such as occurs in the Jesuits and the Navy, would overcome some of the control anomalies which have frustrated Soviet planning.

**Joseph Berliner, Factory and Manager in the U.S.S.R. (Harvard, 1957); a classic on informal organizations versus system goals.

Week 7 (November 8) Corporate Organization

A Harvard Business School case will be distributed for discussion.

*R.H. Coase, “The Nature of the Firm,” Economica, (1937) reprinted in G. J. Stigler and Kenneth Boulding,Readings in Price Theory (AEA, 1952), pp. 331-351.

Armen A. Alchian and Harold Demsetz, “Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,” American Economic Review (December, 1972), pp. 777-95.

Philip Selznick, Leadership in Administration (Row Peterson, 1957), chapter 4.

David Granick, Managerial Comparisons of Four Developed Countries (MIT, 1972), chapters 1-5, 9-13.

**Alfred Chandler, Jr. Strategy and Structure, chapters 1-3, 5-7, conclusion.

**Philip Selznick, TVA and the Grass Roots (Harper pb, 1966).

**Michelle Crozier, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (Phoenix pb, 1964).

**Alfred Chandler. Pierre Dupont and the Modern Corporation.

Joseph L. Bower, “The Amoral Organization,” in R. Marris and E. G. Mesthene, Technology, the Corporation, and the State (forthcoming) or Harvard Business School 4-372-285.

Week 8 (November 15) Workers and Unions

Victor Vroom,”Industrial Social Psychology,” in Gardner B. Lindzey and Elliott Aronson, eds., The Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. V. (2nd ed.), 1969, pp. 196-248.

Work in America, report of a Special Task Force to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (MIT Press, 1973), chapters 1, 2, 4, 5.
Mancur Olsen, Logic of Collective Goods (paperback, rev. ed., 1971), chapter III, pp. 66-97.

Suggested:

**John Goldthorpe et al., The Affluent Worker in the Class Structure, Cambridge University Press, 1969, pb).

**Andre Gorz, A Strategy for Labor (Beacon pb., 1968), chapter 4.
Leonard Goodwin, Do the Poor Want to Work? (Brookings, 1972).

E. Does Economic Power Give Rise to Political Power?

            Marxist, elite and pluralist theorists all answer differently as to under what circumstances market power and material privilege are translated into political power and what sorts of groups (classes, corporations, trade associations, ideological coalitions, parties) contend for ascendancy. The readings examine such mechanisms as control of mass media, the common training and outlook of American and European elites, pressure group influence on Congressional elections, and the weakening of countervailing interests.

*Otto Eckstein, Public Finance (2nd ed.), chapters 1-2.

Week 9 (November 20, Tuesday) Marxian Theory of the State

Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society (Basic Books), entire.

Week 10 (November 29) Elite Theory

C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, chapters 1-13.

G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America? (Spectrum pb. 1967), 1-5, 7.

Week 11 (December 6) Pluralism

Arnold M. Rose, The Power Structure, (Oxford pb, 1967), pp. 1-10, 15-24, 26-39, 70-78, 89-127, 131-133.

**J.K. Galbraith, The New Industrial State, chapters I-IX, XXV, and XXXV: A strong statement of the technological impetus towards convergence.

**Walter Adams, “The Military-Industrial Complex and the New Industrial State,” American Economic Review (May, 1968), pp. 652-665.

Stanley Lieberson, “An Empirical Study of Military-Industrial Linkages,” American Journal of Sociology, (1971), pp. 562-82.

George J. Stigler, “The Theory of Economic Regulation,” Bell Journal of Economic and Manag. Sci., (Spring, 1971), pp. 3-17.

Joseph C. Palamountain, Jr., The Politics of Distribution (Harvard University Press, 1955), II, IV, VII, VIII.

J.Q. Wilson, “Politics of Business Regulation” (revised ed.), mimeographed.

Week 12 (December 13) Trade Policy

Raymond A. Bauer, Ithiel de Sola Pool, and Lewis Anthony Dexter, American Business and Public Policy, The Politics of Foreign Trade (Aldine, 2nded., 1972), Parts II, IV-VI.

F. Validation of Theories about Economic Action

Week 13 (December 20) Objectivity in Economics and Social Science

*Milton Friedman, “The Methodology of Positive Economics.”

Max Weber, “The Meaning of ‘Ethical Neutrality’ in Sociology and Economics,” and “’Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy,” in Max Weber, The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Free Press, 1949), pp. 1-112.

Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge Cambridge University Press pb. (Essays by T.S. Kuhn, S.E. Toulmin, K.R. Popper, and I. Lakatos), pp. 1-24, 39-59, 91-196.

Term papers due by January 17.

Source:  John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers. Series 5 Harvard University File, 1949-1990, Box 521, Folder “[courses]: Economics 280: Musgrave Lecture. 9 October 1973”.

Image Source: Martin C. Spechler from the Department of Economics webpage, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis archived at the Wayback Machine (February 18, 2003).

 

 

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Exam Questions Pennsylvania Syllabus

Pennsylvania. Theories of business cycles. Reading assignments and exam. Weintraub, 1954-55.

 

The following list of course reading assignments and final exam come from the first semester of Sidney Weintraub’s course at the University of Pennsylvania during the academic year 1954-55 that surveyed business cycle theories. There are an additional two pages of added readings in Weintraub’s papers but I accidentally missed copying the first page and will need to add that list later. 

I found a copy of the final exam for the second semester of the course, appended below, that reveals the more empirical emphasis of the second semester. Hopefully we will find a copy of the syllabus for the second semester.

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Brief Bio

Sidney Weintraub (1914-1983) was an American economist and a professor who specialized in the post-Keynesian school of economics. He was best known for his proposal to use the federal income tax to discourage wage and price inflation in a tax-based incomes policy (TIP). Raised in New York, Weintraub studied at the London School of Economics before being forced to return to the United States at the outbreak of World War II. He earned his Ph.D. from New York University in 1941, and began teaching economics at St. John’s University following the war. He joined the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950, where he remained for the rest of his career. Weintraub also founded and co-edited the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics.

Weintraub married Sheila Ellen Weintraub and had two sons, E. Roy and A. Neil Weintraub. E. Roy Weintraub is an economics professor at Duke University.

Source: Preliminary Guide to the Sidney Weintraub Papers. Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Project.

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ECONOMICS 612
Theories of Business Cycles
Fall Term 1954-55

Assignment Sheet

The first semester will be devoted to a study of theories of business fluctuations with readings largely confined to original sources. Classroom discussion will center upon the logical structure of the theories. The added references constitute suggestions for further reading on the specific topics but are not a prerequisite for the particular class session.

Session 1. Introduction: Early Cycle Theory.
Session 2. Underconsumption and Overinvestment theories.

a. Underconsumption theories: John Hobson, The Industrial System, pp. 39-54, 284-301;
W. T. Foster and W. Catchings, Profits, pp. 247-282, 398-421.

b. Overinvestment theories: A. Spiethoff, “Business Cycles”, in International Economic Papers(No. 3), pp. 75-81, 147-171;
Gustav Cassel, in Hansen and Clemence [H. and C.], Readings in Business Cycles, pp. 116-128.
Session 3. Psychological Impulse and Cumulative Propagation.

A.C. Pigou, Industrial Fluctuations, pp. 26-35, 72-98;
Albert Aftalion, in H. and C., Readings, pp. 129-138.
Session 4. Wesley Mitchell: Eclecticism and Quantitative Verification.

W. Mitchell, Business Cycles: The Problem and Its Setting, pp. 47-60, 376-378, 451-468 and pp. 150-165 in H. and C., Readings: “What Happens During Business Cycles,” pp. 6-12, 251-255.
Also, A. F. Burns, Frontiers of Economic Knowledge, pp. 187-198.
Read Schumpeter, Vol. I, Ch. 2
Session 5. Monetary Disequilibrium.

Warburton, [“The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business Fluctuation Theory”, in] Readings in Monetary Theory [1951].
R. G. Hawtrey, “The Trade Cycle”, pp. 330-349 in AEA Readings in Business Cycle Theory.
F. A. Hayek, Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle, Ch. 3 and Prices and Production (2nded.) pp. 65-88.
Session 6. Swedish Contributions: The Cumulative Process.

K. Wicksell, “The Enigma of Business Cycles”, in International Economic Papers (Vol. 3), pp. 58-74.
J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital, pp. 283-302.
Session 7. Innovations and Investment Irregularity.

J. Schumpeter, pp. 1-19 in AEA Readings in Business Cycle Theory. (Also, Clemence and Doody, The Schumpeterian System, pp. 9-22, 95-101).
D. H. Robertson, pp. 166-174 in H. and C., Readings.
Session 8. Long Waves and Cycles.

N. Kondratieff, pp. 20-42 in AEA, Readings;
G. Garvy, pp. 438-466 in H. and C., Readings.
Session 9. J. M. Keynes: Income Levels and Cycles.

J. M. Keynes, General Theory, Ch. 22.
Session 10-11. Neo-Keynesian Theories.

J. R. Hicks, The Trade Cycle.
Session 12. Econometric Theories.

T. C. Koopmans, “The Econometric Approach to Business Fluctuations” AEA (Proc. May 1949).
Session 13. Economic Trends and Cycles.

S. Kuznets, Economic Change, pp. 125-144.
A. F. Burns, Frontiers, pp. 107-134.
Session 14-15. Contemporary Critiques of Cycle Theory.

R. A. Gordon, “Business Cycles: The Quantitative Historical Approach”, AEA(Proc. May 1949), pp. 47-63.
C. Warburton, “The Theory of Turning Points in Business Fluctuations”, QJE(Nov. 1950); see , [“The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business Fluctuation Theory”, in]  Readings in Monetary Theory.
A. Knox, “On a Theory of the Trade Cycle”, pp. 267-277 in H. and C., Readings;
N. Kaldor, “Economic Growth and Cyclical Fluctuations”, Economic Journal(Mar. 1954).

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Sidney Weintraub Papers, Box 19, Folder 1a “Miscellany Notes”.

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Final Examination.
Economics 612.
January 1955

Answer all questions.

  1. In which theories do you find the view that business cycles are chiefly a manifestation of capitalist growth? Explain the individual analyses and differences at some length.
  2. Referring to (1), indicate the theories in which the growth aspect is either ignored or denied, and the reasons for its suppression.
  3. Irving Fisher declared: “I see no reason to believe in “the” business cycle. It is simply the fluctuation about its own mean.” Discuss.
  4. Lloyd Metzler wrote: “Traditional theory usually assumed that the economic system is inherently unstable……” argue, pro and con.
  5. There have been several attempts to place causal emphasis on agriculture as the cycle-maker. Explain the major ones briefly. Prepare the strongest possible argument for the agricultural thesis.
  6. Wesley Mitchell placed substantial stress on the lag of retail prices behind wholesale prices, as well as the failure of wages to move synchronously with finished goods prices. Do you think that these divergent price movements are major cycle factors? Why?

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Sidney Weintraub Papers, Box 15, Folder 16 “Miscellany Notes”.

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Economics 612
Final Exam
June 3, 1955
11:00-1:30

Answer 3 out of 4

  1. a. Discuss the major conceptual and statistical limitations of the national income and product data published by the U. S. Department of Commerce.
    b. Describe and evaluate the National Bureau of Economic Research approach to the measurement and forecasting of business cycles.
  2. a. Discuss the major factors which might be expected to affect individuals’ saving and the relevant empirical evidence from cross-sectional data.
    b. Describe and appraise the major statistical relationships which have been developed to explain fluctuations or variations in individuals’ saving.
  3. Summarize and evaluate the empirical evidence on the factors determining the demand for (a) plant and equipment and (b) inventories.
    In your answer indicate briefly the economic rationale of the statistical relationships you refer to.
  4. a. Write out a system of equations which on the basis of experience to data you might utilize to forecast economic activity for the next year, indicating both limitations and possible future improvements.
    b. Discuss and evaluate the types of models developed by Lawrence Klein and others.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Sidney Weintraub Papers, Box 19, Folder 1a “Miscellany Notes”.

Image Source: Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s The History of Economic Thought Website: biography of Sidney Weintraub.

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Monetary economics, reading lists. Ando and Modigliani, 1960-61

 

 

Franco Modigliani first came to M.I.T. as a visiting professor in 1960-61 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology before returning in 1962 after only one year at Northwestern. His former Carnegie Tech student Albert K. Ando was already on the M.I.T. faculty and the partial reading lists for their jointly taught courses can be found in Modigliani’s papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive. 

Readings and final exam from the monetary theory course taught by Modigliani at Northwestern in 1961 have been posted earlier.

Note: I have inserted part of the reading list on monetary policy from Modigliani’s course at Carnegie Tech in the term immediately preceding his visiting professorship at M.I.T. This insertion is motivated by last sentence in the course description in the M.I.T. catalogue that includes the topic “the role of money in policy”.

_____________________

Monetary Economics course enrollments
1960-61

Fall 1960.  14.461 Monetary Economics, A. K. Ando. 14 students.

Spring 1961.  14.192 Economics Seminar—Monetary Economics. Ando/Modigliani. 7 students.

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

_____________________

Course Announcement
Fall, 1960

14.461 Monetary Economics

Prereq.: 14.451 [Theory of Income and Employment]
Year: G(1)

Review of theory of income determination, with explicit attention to monetary parts of the model. Examination of sources and determinants of supply of money with attention to role of commercial banks, Federal Reserve System, and the Treasury. Exploration of both theory and fact about demand for money for transactions and for speculative purposes. Discussion of general equilibrium theory of money, interest, prices and output, and role of money in policy.

Ando, Modigliani

Source:   Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, 1960-61, p. 243.

_____________________

Modigliani
Ando
Fall, 1960

Monetary Economics
14.461

We assume that students are familiar with the elementary price theory and income theory, i.e., that they have taken 14.121, 14.122, 14.451, and 14.452. We also assume that students have some material ordinarily covered in the elementary course in Money and Banking. Those who feel that they need to refresh their memory of the latter may consult:

Steiner, Shapiro, Solomon, Money and Banking, Parts I, II, and III.

Day and Beza, Money and Income, Parts I and III.

Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity, 2nd edition, Part I.

Chandler, The Economics of Money and Banking, 3rd edition.

  1. The nature of money and the position of money in the balance sheet for the United States: An Introduction

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chs. 1 and 2.

Robertson, D. H., Money, Chs. 1 to 3.

Meade, J. E., “The Amount of Money and the Banking System,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

The Federal Reserve System—Purposes and Functions, Chs. I to VIII and XIII.

Modigliani, F., Lecture Notes No. 1-3.

Federal Reserve Bulletin, August, 1959, “A Quarterly Presentation of Flow of Funds, Saving, and Investment.”

Roosa, R. V. Federal Reserve Operations with Money and Government Securities Market.

  1. Demand for Money

This year, we shall postpone the discussion of the demand for money arising from various forms of uncertainty until later in the course, and confine ourselves in this section to dealing with the demand for money due to the existence of the cost of transaction.

    1. Why is demand for money different from demands for consumption goods?

Samuelson, P. A., Foundations, pp. 117-124

Marschak, J., “The Rationale of the Demand for Money and of ‘Money Illusion’,” Metroeconomica, August, 1950, Sections 1 and 2.

    1. Classical theory (Equation of Exchange and Cambridge Equation).

Fisher, I., The Purchasing Power of Money, Chs. 1 to 6 and 8.

Robertson, D. H., Money, Chs. 4 to 6.

Marshall, A., Official Papers, pp. 32-54.

Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, Chs. 9-19.

Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices, Chs. 3 and 5 to 8.

Gregory, T. E., The Gold Standard and Its Future, Chs. 1 and 2.

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

Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Ch. 15.

Pigou, A. C., “The Value of Money,” AEA Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 162-185.

Friedman, M., “The Restatement of the Quantity Theory of Money,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

    1. More modern theory of transaction demand for money.

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chapter 4, Sections 1 and 2, Appendix to Chapter 4.

Tobin, J., “The Interest Elasticity of Transaction Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1956, pp. 241-47.

Baumol, W. J., “The Transaction Demand for Cash,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1952.

Lecture notes, 3-6, 9 and 10.

    1. Some empirical evidence.

Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation, Chs. 2, 4, and 5 (see also J. Robinson’s review in Economic Journal, September, 1938).

League of Nations, The Course and Control of Inflation, Part I.

Cagan, P., “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyper-Inflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, (M. Friedman, ed.)

Kisselgoff, A., “Liquidity Preference of Large Manufacturing Corporations,” Econometrica, October, 1945.

Latane, H. A., “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1954, pp. 456-460.

Polak, J. and White, W. H., “The Effect of Income Expansion on the Quantity of Money,” in IMF Staff Papers, August, 1956.

Stedry, A.C., “A Note on Interest Rates and the Demand for Money,” RENS August, 1959.

Those who are not familiar with the elementary theory of inventory management should consult any one of the following:

Whitin, T., Theory of Inventory Management, Chapters 2 and 3.

Arrow, K. J., Karlin, and Scarf, Studies in the Mathematical Theory of Inventory and Production, Chapters 1 and 2.

Arrow, K. J., Harris, and Marschak, “Optimal Inventory Policy,” Econometrica, July 1951.

  1. Analysis of the place of money in the economy—general equilibrium theory of money, prices, and employment.
    1. Neo-classical theory: the case of flexible prices and perfect markets.

Marschak, J., “The Rationale of the Demand for Money and Money Illusion,” Metroeconomica, 1950, pp. 71-160.

Modigliani, F., Preliminary Notes on the Theory of Money and Interest, Part I, II, and III, Section A to D (2).

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices, An Integration of Monetary and Value Theory.

Patinkin, D., “A Reconsideration of the General Equilibrium Theory of Money,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 18, 1950-51.

De Scitovsky, T., “Capital Accumulation, Employment, and Price Rigidity,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 8, pp. 69-88.

Pigou, A. C., “Economic Progress in a Stable Environment,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

Metzler, L., “Wealth, Saving, and the Rate of Interest,” JPE, April, 1951.

Archibald, G. C., and Lipsey, R.G., “Monetary and Value Theory: A Critique of Lange and Patinkin,” Review of Economic Studies, October, 1958.

    1. Keynesian theory: the effects of rigid prices.

Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Chs. 2, 6, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21 including appendix.

Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics,” Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory

Modigliani, Preliminary Notes, Part IV.

Pigou, A. C., Employment and Equilibrium.

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chs. 5-6.

(To be continued)

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

From: Course outline and major references, GI-583—Advance Economics III (Monetary Theory and Macro-Economic Analysis), Carnegie Institute of Technology, Spring Term 1960.

[Applications of the model to Economic Analysis and Policy]

  1. a) The causes of unemployment

(i) “Monetary” causes

(ii) Effective demand and the limits of monetary policy—Fiscal policy.

(iii) Real wage rigidity, market structures and the limits of monetary and fiscal policy

b) Creeping inflation and its causes—Cost push and demand pull

c) Implications for economic policy

Modigliani, Preliminary notes, Part IV section A.6 and C.6

Hart, A. G., Money, Debt and Economic Activity, Part V

Timlin, P., A MODEL OF THE CURRENT INFLATION—B.A. Thesis, Swarthmore College (Mimeographed) Ch. I

Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress—THE RELATIONSHIP OF PRICES TO ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH—COMPENDIUM March, 1958

(See especially: A. P. Lerner, “Inflationary Depression and the Regulation of Administered prices”) and G. Ackley, “A Third Approach to the Analysis and Control of Inflation”)

Selden, R., Cost Push versus Demand Pull, JPE Feb. 1959

WAGES, PRICES, PROFITS AND PRODUCTIVITY—The American Assembly, Columbia University

Schultze, C. THE RECENT INFLATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Joint Economic Committee, 1959

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

List of Suggested Books
for Review in 14.461

Pigou, A. C., Employment and Equilibrium

Friedman, M., A Program for Monetary Stability

Hansen, B., Theory of Inflation

Hansen, B., Economic Theory of Fiscal Policy

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

Faxen, K. O., Monetary and Fiscal Policy under Uncertainty

Botha, D. J., A Study in the Theory of Monetary Equilibrium

Hall, C. A., Fiscal Policy for Stable Growth

Buchanan, J. M., Public Principles of Public Debt

Musgrave, R. A., The Theory of Public Finance

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices

Robinson, J., Accumulation of Capital

Sraffa, P., Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

Course Announcement

14.192 Economics Seminar

Prereq.: 14.121 [Economic Analysis (first term)]
Year: G(1)

Special social problems or economic problems of particular industries. (Open to graduate students only.)

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, 1960-61,  p. 242.

_____________________

Spring Term, 1961
Franco Modigliani
Albert Ando

14.192
Monetary Economics

  1. Preliminary Discussion of the Theory of Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Friedman, M., “Choice, Chance, and Personal Distribution of Income,” Journal of Political Economy, 1953, pp. 277-290.

Friedman, M., and Savage, L. J., “The Utility Analysis of Choices involving Risk,” JPE, 1948, pp. 279-304, reprinted in AEA Readings in Price Theory.

Dreze, J., and Modigliani, F., Consumer’s Behavior under Uncertaintydittoed notes.

Tobin, J., “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” The Review of Economic Studies, February, 1958

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Ch. 3

Markowitz, H. M., Portfolio Selection

Hirschleifer—“Risk, the Discount Rate and Investment Decisions”—AER, Vol LI, No. 2 May 1961, pp. 112-120

Those who are not familiar with the standard theory of decision making under uncertainty should consult the following:

Luce, R. D., and Raiffa, H., Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey, Chs. 2, 13, and 14

Raiffa, H., and Schlaifer, R. O.,Applied Statistical Decision Theory, Preface and Introduction, Ch. 1.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

Image Source: Albert K. Ando from the MIT Museum, People Records. Franco Modigliani from Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s History of Economic Thought website.

 

Categories
Exam Questions History of Economics M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. History of Economic Thought. Misc. Readings and exams. Samuelson, 1973-78

 

Scattered across several folders in the Paul Samuelson Papers at Duke are course materials from the graduate history of economic course regularly offered by Samuelson in the 1970s. Not included below are a few class lecture handouts and class lists also in the folders. Instead I have just transcribed the suggested reading lists or Dewey library course reserve lists and two final exams found in the folders. 

I did not take this course, once having sat in on a Marxian economics lecture that consisted of Paul Samuelson commenting on his textbook’s appendix “Rudiments of Marxian Economics”. Perhaps the arrogance of my youth got the better of me, but I thought there were other courses that were going to teach me something that I had not already learned so I am now condemned to trying to reconstruct his course content from such scraps as these we find in his archival record. Maybe a visitor to this page of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has saved notes from the course?

_________________

14.132 FALL 1973
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. SAMUELSON

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

T. Kuhn
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schumpeter (1912), Heilbroner.

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes
ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY

Schumpeter
TEN ECONOMISTS

H. Spiegel
GREAT ECONOMISTS ON GREAT ECONOMISTS

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. S. Schumpeter
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Marc Blaug
ECONOMIC THEORY IN RETROSPECT

3. ON RICARDO, you should at least sample

Sraffa edition
PRINCIPLES

Useful readings are:

Blaug

Baumol
ch 2 in ECONOMIC DYNAMICS

Stigler in
HISTORY OF ECONOMICS

Sraffa
his introduction to the PRINCIPLES

Kaldor
his brief section in 1954 RES “Alternative Theories of Distribution”

Models of Ricardo-like systems

Pasinetti
Samuelson
Edelberg

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1973”.

_________________

14.132 FALL 1974
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. SAMUELSON E 52-394

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

T. Kuhn
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schumpeter (1912), Heilbroner, Cannan, Recktenwald’s POLITICAL ECONOMY: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes
ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY

Schumpeter
TEN ECONOMISTS

H. Spiegel
GREAT ECONOMISTS ON GREAT ECONOMISTS

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. S. Schumpeter
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Marc Blaug
ECONOMIC THEORY IN RETROSPECT

3. First Topic of land and the interest rate: Turgot, Böhm-Bawerk and Keynes-Modigliani

Böhm-Bawerk, Vol I, Ch. 4
„Land and the Rate of Interest“: also Samuelson (1958, 1968, 1974)
Modigliani (1954, 1974)
Diamond (1965)

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1973”.

_________________

14.132 Fall 1975
STORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. A. SAMUELSON E52-394
FRIDAY 1:30-3:30

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution
and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schupeter (1912), Heilbroner, Cannan’s Review of Economic Theory, Recktenwald’s Political Economy: A Historical Perspective.

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes, Essays in Biography

Schumpeter, Ten Economists

H. Spiegel, Great Economists on Great Economists [not in Dewey Library]

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect

For fruits of Marx’s hours in the British Museum, see
K. Marx, Theories of Surplus Value (many volumes, and sometimes called Vol. IV of Das Kapital)

Readable and scholarly essays are collected in
G. J. Stigler, Essays in the History of Economics

3. First topic of Quesnay’s Tableau Economique:

Any text like Gray, Peter Newman, Roll, Schumpeter;
Meek on Physiocracy, and edited volume;
A. Phillips, QJE, 1955;
S. Maital, QJE, 1972.

4. Topic of land and the interest rate: Turgot, Böhm-Bawerk and Keynes-Modigliani

Böhm-Bawerk, Vol I, Ch. 4, “Land and the Rate of Interest,” also,
Samuelson (1958, 1968, 1974)
Modigliani (1954, 1974)
Diamond (1965)

5. Modern model of Ricardo

6. Transformation problem of Marx

7. Smith, Adam

8. ….

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1975”.

_________________

Samuelson
To be placed on reserve for 14.132

Mass. Inst. Tech.
FEB 14 1977
DEWEY RESERVE

McLellan. Karl Marx: His Life and Thought

Luxemburg. Accumulation of Capital

Sweezy. Theory of Capitalist Development

Robinson. An Essay on Marxian Economics

Dobbs. History of Theories of Distribution [sic, Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith: Ideology and Economic Theory]

Morishima. On Marxian Economics [sic, Marx’s Economics]

Schumpeter. History of Economic Analysis

Roll. History of Economic Thought 

Alexander Gray. The Development of Economic Doctrine

[Metzler Lloyd] Festschrift. (Trade, Stability and Macroeconomics) edited by G. Horowitz and P. Samuelson.

Reprints

Samuelson

Samuelson’s “Reply on Marxian Matters”

Insight and Detour in the Theory of Exploitation: A Reply to Baumol

Understanding the Marxian Notion of Exploitation: A Summary of the So-Called Transformation Problem Between Marxian Values and Competitive Prices

Marx as a Mathematical Economist

 

Journals

Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 2, 1934-35

American Economic Review, March 1938.

 

[Appendix: Rudiments of Marxian Economics (from Samuelson Economics, pp. 858-)]

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

_________________

14.132 Final Exam
History of Economic Thought
P. A. Samuelson
May 20, 1977

ANSWER (1) OR (2) QUESTIONS.

  1. Describe any aspects of the classical economists’ system that primarily interests you.
  2. Describe the doctrines of some one historical economist or school in which you have an interest.
  3. Analyze any aspects of Marxian economics that you think are of relevance to economic history and policy.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

_________________

Reserve List, MIT Libraries
14.132 History of Economic Thought
Spring 1978

D. L. Thomson, Adam Smith’s Daughters, Exposition Press, 1973.

L. Robbins. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. Macmillan, 1935 and 1962.

M. Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect. Richard D. Irwin, 1962.

I. H. Rima. Development of Economic Analysis. Irwin, 1972.

H. W. Spiegel,The Growth of Economic Thought. Prentice-Hall, 1971.

Alexander Gray, Development of Economic Doctrines. Longman, Green and Co. 1934.

T. W. Hutchinson, A Review of Economic Doctrines, 1870-1929. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1953.

Thomas Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, Princeton U. Press, 1974.

Eric Roll, A History of Economic Thought. Faber and Faber, 1973.

Eric Roll, The World After Keynes, Praeger, 1968.

J. A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis. Oxford U. Press, 1954.

G. L. S. Shackle. The Nature of Economic Thought. Cambridge U Press, 1966.

J. A. Schumpeter, Ten Great Economists. Oxford, 1965.

R. L. Meek. Precursors of Adam Smith. Dear (London), 1973.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1978”.

_________________

14.132 Take-Home Exam
Spring 1978

Answer any one of these questions or any two or all three.

  1. Describe some topic covered in this course that you find to be of interest. Discuss its broad significance; or concentrate in depth on any aspect of the problem that you believe to be worth exploring. Do not hesitate to let your imagination soar.
  2. Describe some aspect or aspects of what we call neoclassical economics. If you wish, compare and contrast it with earlier classical economics; or with later Keynesian economics; or with the Marx-inspired economics that developed around the same time.
  3. Thomas Kuhn attempted to throw light on how the natural sciences tend to develop. If any part of his paradigms seems to you useful in any part of the history of economic thought, describe the use. If you have criticisms to make of the Kuhnian methodology, feel free to enlarge on them.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

Image Source:  Capture of the photos page from the Paul Samuelson memorial webpages at the MIT economics department (date of Wayback Machine capture May 22, 2011)

Categories
Economic History Economists Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate Yale

Yale. Undergraduate European Economic History through the Industrial Revolution. Miskimin, 1971

 

Reflecting on my own academic upbringing, I am increasingly amazed at the sheer abundance of economic history courses still offered at Yale and MIT in the 1970s. My first taste of economic history came with Harry Miskimin’s course on the economic history of Europe up through the Industrial Revolution. I later took a graduate course he offered on French mercantilism. I remember well the sage advice he gave me to postpone work in economic history to first get trained in the analytic tools of economics, since he thought I apparently could handle the demands of economics graduate school. I believe he was the only professor I ever had who actually smoked (cigarettes) in class. 

From the Yale Daily News Archives I learned that Harry Miskimin later served as president of the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). There is a low-resolution picture of Miskimin in his mature years in the article linked.

Below are the assigned readings for the European economic history course from the Fall Term, 1971-72.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
100% Yalie

Harry Alvin Miskimin, Jr. was born September 8, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey. He died October 24, 1995.

B.A. Yale, 1954; M.A. Yale, 1958; Ph.D. Yale, 1960. From instructor to professor history Yale University, New Haven, since 1960, associate professor, 1964-1971, professor history, since 1971, chairman department history, 1986-1989, Charles Seymour Professor of History, since 1991.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
Obituary Note

Post by Wendy Plotkin
H-Urban Co-Editor
14 January 1996

1995 saw the death of Harry A. Miskimin, the Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University in October. According to a press release received from H-Net Central in December, Professor Miskimin was

“An authority on the economic history of medieval and early modern Europe” and “the author of five books, including The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe, 1300-1460and The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe, 1460-1600both of which were translated in Spanish and Portuguese; Money and Power in Fifteenth Century France, Money, Prices and Foreign Exchange in Fourteenth Century Franceand Cash, Credit and Crisis in Europe, 1300-1600.”

Professor Miskimin was general editor of four volumes of the Cambridge University Press series “The Economic Civilization of Europe.”

Of special interest to H-Urban subscribers, Miskimin co-edited THE MEDIEVAL CITY with A. Udovitch and D. Herlihy (Yale University Press, 1977). This collection included:

    1. The Italian City

Herlihy, “Family and property in Renaissance Florence”
Krekic, B., “Four Florentine commercial companies in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the first half of the fourteenth century”
Lane, F. C. “The First Infidelities of the Venetian Lire”
Cipolla, C. M. “A Plague Doctor”
Kedar, B.Z. “The Genoese Notaries of 1382”
Hughes, D. O. “Kinsmen and neighbors in Medieval Genoa”
Peters, E. Pars, parte: “Dante and an Urban Contribution to Political Thought”

    1. The Eastern City

Udovitch, A. L. “A Tale of Two Cities”
Goitein, S. D. “A Mansion in Fustat”
Prawer, J. “Crusader Cities”
Teall, J. “Byzantine Urbanism in the Military Handbooks”

    1. The Northern City:

Miskimin, H. A. “The Legacies of London”
Munro, J. “Industrial Protectionism in Medieval Flanders”
Strayer, J.R. “The Costs and Profits of War”
Hoffmann, R. C. “Wroclaw Citizens as Rural Landholders”
Cohen, S. “The Earliest Scandinavian Towns”

Professor Miskimin was noted for his work on the “beginning of the transition from medieval to modern economies.” I am interested in reflections on this and other work of Professor Miskimin.

After obtaining his undergraduate and graduate education at Yale, he spent the rest of his career teaching at Yale College, serving as director of graduate studies for the Economic History Program after 1967.

On leave from Yale, Miskimin was for a period director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Although his intellectual work was on the medieval period, he participated in present day activities in his community, serving as a zoning commissioner for the Town of Woodbridge 1976-85, a member of the Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee and a board member of the Woodbridge Town Library.

Professor Miskimin was born in 1932 in East Orange, New Jersey, graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1950, and was in the U.S. Army from 1955-57.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online

_________________

Yale University
History 51 a – Economics 80a
Mr. Miskimin
Fall Term 1971-72

The readings from this course will be in diverse sources but the student may find it convenient to purchase the books of Herbert Heaton (Economic History of Europe rev. ed., Harper & Bros., New York, 1948) and Henri Pirenne (Economic and Social History of Mediaeval Europe, Harvest Books, Harcourt, Brace, New York.)

Sept. 17

 First Class

20

 Heaton, Chapters 4, 5

22

 Heaton, Chapters 6, 7

24

 Pirenne, pp. 38-86

27

 Pirenne, pp. 87-140

29

 Pirenne, pp. 141-188

Oct. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 8

4

 Heaton Chapters 9, 10

6

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 2, pp. 433-441, 456-92

8

 Pirenne, pp. 188-end
(Rec. Miskimin, The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe.)

11

 Heaton, Chapters 11, 12

13

 Hamilton, E. J., American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1601-1650. Scan thoroughly

15

 Continue Hamilton

18

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. IV, pp. 1-95.

20

 Nef, J. U., Industry and Government in France and England, 1540-1640, Great Seal Books, Cornell University Ithaca, 1957. Also in Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. XV, 1940. First half.

22

 Finish Nef

25

 Green, R.W., ed., Protestantism and Capitalism—The Weber Thesis and its Critics, D.C. Heath & Co., Boston. First half.

27

 Finish Green

29

 Heaton, Chapters 13, 14

Nov. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 15

3

 Heaton, Chapter 16

5

 Viner, Jacob, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Harper Brothers, New York. Chapter 1

8

 Viner, Chapter 2

10

 Cipolla, C. M., “The Decline of Italy,” Economic History Review, 1952, pp. 178-87. Hamilton, E. J., “The Decline of Spain,”Economic History Review, 1938, pp. 168-79

12

 Review Heaton, Chapters 13-16

15

 Hour Test (paper may be substituted)

17

 Wilson, C.H., “The Economic Decline of the Netherlands,” Economic History Review, 1939, pp. 111-127

19

 Heckscher, Eli, Mercantilism. Rev. ed., George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, 1955, Vol. I, pp. 78-109

22

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 137-78

24

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 178-220

26

 Helleiner, K.F., ed., Readings in European Economic History, University of Toronto Press, 1946. Section by R. H. Tawney, pp. 143-82

29

 Helleiner, Section by Tawney, pp. 183-223

Dec. 1

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, An Economic History of Europe since 1750, pp. 45-66; Cambridge Economic History, IV, chapter V, pp. 276-308

3

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, pp. 146-96

6

 Ashton, T.S., The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830. First third.

8

 Ashton, Second third

10

 Finish Ashton

13

 Taylor, Philip, ed., The Industrial Revolution—Triumph or Disaster? D.C. Heath & Company, Boston.

15

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 1-35

17

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 36-72

 

Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Harry Miskimin’s 1954 Yale yearbook portrait.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings and Exams for Methods of Social Reform. Carver, 1902-03

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

“The trouble with radicals is that they only read radical literature, and the trouble with conservatives is that they don’t read anything.”

Thomas Nixon Carver quoted by John Kenneth Galbraith (A Life in Our Times)

This conservative Harvard economic theorist regularly taught the course on schemes of economic reform at Harvard early in the 20th century. He was certainly more forgiving than sympathetic to his radical subjects. 

Variations of this course syllabus have been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

___________________

Course Description

[Economics] 14. Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Tu.,Th, at 1.30. Professor Carver.

The purpose of this course is to make a careful study of those plans of social amelioration which involves either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with an historical study of early communistic theories and experiments. This is followed by a critical examination of the series of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of Anarchism and Nihilism, of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths, Ely’s French and German Socialism, Marx’s Capital, Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, and George’s Progress and Poverty will be read, besides other special references.

The course will be conducted by means of lectures, reports, and classroom discussions.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1902-03. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902), p. 42

___________________

Course Enrollment
(Harvard, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 15: 2 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

___________________

Course Enrollment (Radcliffe, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Social Reform.

Total 6: 4 Undergraduates, 2 Others.

Source: Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College, 1902-03, p. 43.

___________________

Economics 14
[handwritten note: 1902-03]

Topics and References
Starred references are prescribed

COMMUNISM

A
Utopias
1. Plato’s Republic
2. *Sir Thomas More.   Utopia.
3. *Francis Bacon.   New Atlantis.
4. *Tommaso Campanella.   The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
5. Etienne Cabet.   Voyage en Icarie.
6. Wm. Morris.   News from Nowhere.
7. Edward Bellamy.   Looking Backward.

 

B
Communistic Experiments
1. *Charles Nordhoff.   The Communistic Societies of the United States.
2. Karl Kautsky.   Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
3. W. A. Hinds.   American Communities.
4. J.H. Noyes.   History of American Socialisms.
5. J. T. Codman.   Brook Farm Memoirs.
6. Albert Shaw.   Icaria.
7. G.B. Landis.   The Separatists of Zoar.
8. E.O. Randall.   History of the Zoar Society.

 

SOCIALISM

A
Historical
1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
6. Wm. Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
7. [Jessica Blanche] Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.

 

B
Expository and Critical
1. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
2. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
3. *Karl Marx. Capital.
4. *Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
5. Frederick Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
6. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
8. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
9. The Fabian Tracts.
10. R. T. Ely. Socialism: An Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
11. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
12. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
13. Sydney and Beatrice Webb. Problems of Modern Industry.
14. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
15. Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
16. Vandervelde. Collectivism [and Industrial Evolution].

 

ANARCHISM

1. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
2. Wm. Godwin. Political Justice.
3. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
4. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22:149.
5. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 45: 627. [May 1884]

 

RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM

1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
6. Josiah Strong. The New Era.
7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of William Morris.
8. Ruskin. The Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
9. Carlyle. The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works. [Volume 1; Volume 2]

 

AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

1. *Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.

 

STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.

 

WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM

1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

______________________

Economics 14
Mid-year Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give an account of More’s Utopia.
  2. Is there any ground for supposing that Utopian schemes have influenced social development? Give reasons.
  3. What were the periods of greatest activity in the founding of communistic settlements in America? What stimulated the activity in each period, and what were the general conditions favorable to such activity?
  4. Does the history of communistic experiments in America throw any light on the probable success or failure of socialism on a large scale? Give reasons.
  5. Give an account of the communistic plans and activities of Etienne Cabet.
  6. Describe the Communist Manifesto. What place does it hold in socialistic literature, and why?
  7. Compare the socialism of Rodbertus with that of Karl Marx.
  8. Outline Marx’ theory of surplus value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

______________________

Economics 14
Year-End Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give some account of Fourier and the Fourieristic experiments in the United States.
  2. Distinguish between Utopian and Scientific Socialism.
  3. What part has religion played in the history of Communistic Experiments?
  4. How does Karl Marx explain the existence of poverty?
  5. Trace briefly the history of the German Social Democratic Party.
  6. Distinguish between land and other forms of property.
  7. How do you account for the share of the capitalist in distribution?
  8. Is there any relation between the unequal distribution of workers among different occupations and the unequal distribution of wealth?
  9. What is meant by the term “Natural Monopolies.”
  10. Define “Christian Socialism” and explain how it differs from Marxian Socialism.

Source:  University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1906.

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

M.I.T. Core Economic Growth and Dynamics. Readings and Final Exam. Solow, 1968

 

The reading list and examination questions for the “Economic Growth and Short-run Fluctuations” course taught by Robert Solow in the core graduate macro sequence has been posted earlier for 1966. There were many changes in the readings chosen between 1966 and 1968.

Solow’s 1973 course material for a later revised version (Growth and Capital Theory), that was moved to be the final course in the core macro sequence has also been posted.

Here a glimpse at what students thought about this course (as well as the other courses and instructors in the core theory courses, both micro and macro).

________________________

R.M. Solow
Spring 1968

READING LIST
14.452

As a background text you should have a copy of R.G.D. Allen, Macro-Economic Theory (Macmillan, 1967). For review, read Chapters 1, 3, 7, 8.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

  1. Factual Basis

Kendrick & Sato, “Factor Prices, Productivity and Growth”, American Economic Review, December 1963.
Bureau of the Census, Long-Term Economic Growth, 1860-1965  (This is an excellent compendium of time series. You should spend a few hours with it, and might like to buy a copy from Supt. of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, $2.75)
Thurow & Taylor, “The Interaction between the Actual and Potential Rates of Growth,” Review of Economics and Statistics, November, 1966.

  1. One-Sector Real Theory

Allen, Chaps. 11, 14.
Hahn & Matthews, “The Theory of Economic Growth: A Survey”, Economic Journal, December 1964, Parts I, II except pp. 812-21.
Modigliani, “Comment” in Behavior of Income Shares (NBER), pp. 39-50.
(Optional: Johnson, “The Neo-Classical One-Sector Growth Model…,” Economica, August, 1966, pp. 265-79 only).

  1. Technical Progress

Allen, Chaps. 13, 15.
Solow et al., “Neoclassical Growth with Fixed Factor Proportions,” Review of Economic Studies, April 1966, pp. 27-89 only).

  1. One-Sector Monetary Theory

Tobin, “Money and Economic Growth”, Econometrica, October 1965.
Sidrauski, “Inflation and Economic Growth,” J.P.E., December, 1967.
Johnson, pp. 279-87 in article cited above.
See also Tobin-Johnson exchange in Economica, February, 1967.

  1. The Golden Rule and Optimal Growth

Marty, “The Neoclassical Theorem”, A.E.R., December 1964.
Diamond, “National Debt in a Neoclassical Growth Model”, A.E.R., December 1965, esp. pp. 1126-1135.
Koopmans, “Objectives, Constraints, and Outcomes in Optimal Growth Models,” Econometrica, January, 1967.

  1. Two (or more) Sector Real Theory

Hahn & Matthews, pp. 812-21.
Allen, Ch. 12.
(Optional: Shell & Stiglitz, “Allocation of Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1967).

  1. Income Flows in Long-Run

Thurow, “A Policy Planning Model of the American Economy,” dittoed.

SHORT-RUN FLUCTUATIONS

  1. Cyclical Mechanisms

Samuelson, “Interaction between Multiplier Analysis and the Principle of Acceleration”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1939, reprinted in A.E.A., Readings in Business Cycle Theory.
Metzler, “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1941.
Kaldor, “A Model of the Trade Cycle”, Economic Journal, 1940, reprinted in Hansen and Clemence, Readings in Business Cycles and National Income and in Kaldor, Essays on Economic Stability and Growth.

  1. Income Analysis Models

Klein, “The Econometrics of the General Theroy,” Ch. IX in The Keynesian Revolution, SECOND edition.
Okun, “Measuring the Impact of the 1964 Tax Reduction,” xerox.
Surte, “Forecasting and Analysis with an Econometric Model,” A.E.R., March, 1962.
De Leeuw & Gramlich, “The Federal-Reserve-MIT Econometric Model,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, January, 1968.

  1. Inflation

Johnson, “A Survey of Theories of Inflation,” in Essays in Monetary Economics.
Solow, “Recent Controversies in the Theory of Inflation,” dittoed.
Solow & Stiglitz, “Output, Employment and Wages in the Short Run,” dittoed.

________________________

FINAL EXAMINATION
14.452
May 23, 1968

Please answer each question in a separate examination booklet. Indicate on the front page of each booklet whether you are seeking only a grade in 14.452 or a grade in the general examination in economic theory. Those who seek only a grade in 14.452 should answer two questions in Part I and two questions in Part II. Those who are taking the general examination and economic theory should answer two questions in Part II and two in Part III.

Part I

  1. Construct a difference-equation model embodying the following assumptions:
    1. Consumption is a linear function of disposable income lagged one time-unit;
    2. Tax revenue is proportional to national product;
    3. Investment is the sum of a component proportional to the current change in consumption and the component proportional to national product lagged one time-unit;
    4. Imports are proportional to national product lagged one time-unit; exports constant;
    5. Government purchases are constant.

Write down formally the conditions for and an oscillatory response of the model to disturbance. When are the oscillations damped? How do variations in the tax rate affect these conditions? Suppose part of government purchases were made negatively proportional to the last observed change in national product?

  1. Why is technical progress an important part of the usual model of economic growth? Could increasing returns to scale play the same role? What is the special role of purely labor-augmenting (i.e. Harrod-neutral) technical progress?
  2. Imagine a planned economy choosing among steady states in the one-sector model, without technical progress. The planner values both consumption per head and capital per head (as a measure of national strength, say) and his preferences can be expressed by a system of conventionally-shaped indifference curves in consumption per head and capital per head.

Use this indifference map and the requirements for a steady state to show how the optimal steady-state is chosen. Prove that the optimal capital per head will exceed the “Golden-Rule” (maximal consumption per head) level. Show what happens to the optimal position if the rate of population growth increases. Discuss briefly the case of a one-time upward shift in the production function.

 

Part II

  1. In the generalized multiplier-accelerator model, the equation \frac{dK}{dt}=I\left( Y,K \right) means that “investment decisions are always carried out”, so that when I\left( Y,K \right)\ne S\left( Y \right) “unintended consumption or saving” occurs. Replace the above equation with \frac{dK}{dt}=S\left( Y \right), and interpret and analyze the resulting model. Compare its behavior with this with the case analyzed in class.
  2. Suppose I =I(Y,K) and S= S(Y) are the schedules of desired investment and saving. In what sense is (I-S) a measure of excess demand in the aggregate commodity market?
    How is it that no specific supply variables (labor force, for example) appear in this measure? Under what circumstances is it natural to suppose that \frac{dY}{dt} responds to (I-S)? (Y = real output, P = commodity price level). Under what circumstances is it natural to suppose that \frac{dP}{dt} responds to (I-S)?
  3. Consider it a one-sector non-monetary model of growth under the following assumptions:
    1. The production function in intensive form is q= Akb;
    2. The wages equal to the marginal product of labor;
    3. Investment demand is such that the after-tax return on capital is always at a target level r*;
    4. There is a tax on profits at rate t in the government spends all its revenue on consumption;
    5. The savings rates from wages and after-tax profits are both equal to a constant s.

Find the tax rate that will permit a steady-state at full employment. When will it be between zero and one? How does it change if this changes? Interpret.

  1. Considered a one-sector growth model, with two factors of production (capital and labor), constant returns to scale, and no technical progress. Suppose that the propensity to save out of profits and capital gains is equal to one, and the propensity to save out of wages and transfer payments (taxes = negative transfers) is zero.

Money, which is non-interest-bearing government debt, is the only alternative asset to capital. The desired money-capital ratio is of the form \frac{m}{k}=L\left( {f}'\left( k \right)+{{\left( {{\dot{p}}}/{p}\; \right)}^{e}} \right) where m is the real per capita stock of money,k is the capital-labor ratio, and {{\left( {{\dot{p}}}/{p}\; \right)}^{e}} is the expected rate of inflation which is equal to the actual rate \left( {{\dot{p}}}/{p}\; \right) in the steady-state.

  1. Government purchases are zero and the budget deficit, which is equal to the excess of transfers over taxes, is financed by issuing money.
    1. Describe the steady-state characteristics of the model.
    2. Find the rate of inflation that maximizes steady-state consumption per head.
    3. Suppose that {{\left( {{\dot{p}}}/{p}\; \right)}_{0}} is the rate of inflation in (b) that maximizes steady state consumption per head. Would a higher rate of inflation lead to a higher or lower long-run capital-labor ratio?

 

Part III

  1. Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “The Problem of Weights in National Income and Index-Number Construction”.
    Explain the criteria which are used, should be used (for what purpose?) and why.
  2. Discuss the economic effects of an increase in the stock of money. Include an evaluation of the positions of several (not less than two) prominent economists familiar to you. How would you test the correctness of their positions?
  3. Discuss the effects of inflation on the level of real investment.

 

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Robert M. Solow, Box 67, Folder “Exams”.

Image Source:  Robert Solow (right) from MIT Museum website.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Location of Economic Activity. Readings. Usher, 1942

 

 

With this course taught by Abbott P. Usher we can see that the economics of transportation and location continued as standard fare in the economics curriculum at least up to the middle of the 20th century. The final exam for the course was transcribed and posted subsequent to this post.

___________________

Course Announcement

Economics 65a1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems

Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.

Source: Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1942-43. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 53 (September 23, 1942), p. 54.

___________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 65a 1hf. Professor Usher. — The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.

Total 15: 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, p. 47.

___________________

Course Description

Economics 65a 1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.

Regional differentiation of resources and its significance. Topography and its influence upon patterns of urban settlement. Progressive revaluation of resources through technological change. Power resources of the modern world. Areas of primary industrialization, present and potential. Areas of secondary industrialization. Agricultural areas. The economic foundations of power politics, old and new.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics containing an Announcement for 1942-43.  Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 45 (June 30, 1942), p. 54.

___________________

1942-43
ECONOMICS 65a
Reading Assignments

  1. History of Population. (To Oct. 8)

Usher, A.P., History of Population and Settlement in Eurasia, Geographical Review, XX, pp. 110-132.

Willcox, W.F., Increase in the Population of the Earth, International Migrations, II, pp. 33-92.

  1. Resources as factors in the localization of economic activity. (To Oct. 31)

Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 1-35.

Nef, J.U., The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I, pp. 109-261.

Zimmermann, Erich W., World Resources and Industries, pp. 178-399, 429-583.

  1. Topography as a locational factor. (To Nov. 21)

Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 36-45.

Mackinder, H.J., Britain and the British Seas, pp. 231-259.

Weber, A.F., The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 1-19, 155-229.

Federal Housing Administration, The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhood in American Cities, 1939. pp. 15-25, 96-111.

Dagett, S., Principles of Inland Transportation, 3rd Edition. pp. 173-190, 301-427.

Vanderblus and Burgess, Railroads: Rates, Service, Management, (1924) pp. 139-156.

Daniels, W.M., The Price of Transportation Service, 1-86.

  1. Location of the heavy industries. (To Dec. 12)

Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton,Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, 9-111, 309-370.

Zimmermann, Erich W. World Resources and Industries, pp. 584-781.

  1. Markets and Market Structure. (To Dec. 22)

Hoover, E.M., Jr., Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, pp. 3-59.

Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton, Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, pp. 533-578.

___________________

Special Topics
Economics 65a

Students will select 200-250 pages of readings from one or two titles. This reading should be used as the basis for an essay of one hour written as part of the examination.

  1. Cities and City Planning.

Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities, 1938.

Regional Survey of New York and its Environs: esp. Vol. I, Major Economic Factors in Metropolitan Growth and Arrangement, 1927.
Vol. II, Population, Land Values and Government, 1929.

Regional Plan of New York, The Graphic Regional Plan, I, 1929.

Committee on the Regional Plan of New York, From Plan to Reality, 1933.

Great Britain, Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, (1940) Cmd. 6153.

  1. Development of Power Systems.

Ernest R. Abrams, Power in Transition, 1940.

National Resources Committee, Energy Resources and National Policy, 1939.

  1. Studies of Special Industries and their Price Policies.

T.N.E.C. Monograph Number 42. The Basing Point System.

E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries.

Guthrie, John A. The Newsprint Paper Industry.

A.H. Cole and H.F. Williamson, The American Carpet Industry.

John M. Cassels, Study of Fluid Milk Prices.

  1. Railway Development.

I.L. Sharfman, The Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. III, B, pp. 309-771.

R.D. Tiwari, Railway Rates in Relation to Trade and Industry in India. 1937.

N.B. Mehta, Indian Railways: Rates and Regulations, 1927.

A. Paillard, Les Tarifs de Chemin de Fer en Matière de Marchandises.

  1. Air and Motor Transport.

Federal Coordinator of Transportation, Public Aids to Transport.

O.J. Lissitzyn, International Air Transport and Public Policy

H.A. Smith, Airways: The History of Commercial Aviation in the United States, 1942.

S.B. Smith, Air Transportation in the Pacific Area, 1941.

  1. Water Transport and Canals.

Federal Coordinator of Transportation. Public Aids to Transport.

A. Siegfried, Suez and Panama.

N.J. Padelford, The Panama Canal in Peace and War.

Joseph G. Broodbank, The Port of London.

E.J. Clapp, The Port of Hamburg.

E.J. Clapp, The Port of Boston.

  1. VIII. Economic Geography.

Eugene Staley, World Economy in Transition.

Mikhailov, N. Soviet Geography: the new industrial and economic distributions of the U.S.S.R.

W. Rickmer Rickmers, The Duab of Turkestan.

Ellsworth Huntington, Civilization and Climate.

_______________ Palestine and its Transformation.

_______________ The Pulse of Asia.

Guy Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern Caliphate.

_______________ Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: Abbott P. Usher in Harvard Class Album 1947-48.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of Transportation and Public Utilities. Exams, Readings for Public Utilities. Crum, Cunningham, C.O. Ruggles, 1940-41

 

 

 

The following course on public utilities and transporation regulation was co-taught by William Leonard Crum, professor of statistics in the department of economics, William J. Cunningham, professor of railroad operations and transportation at the Graduate School of Business, and  Clyde Orval Ruggles, professor of public utility management at the Graduate School of Business.

Cunningham was a member of the original faculty of the Harvard Business School, having gone from working in railroad management and administration to teaching railroad operations. He had an honorary A.M. degree from Harvard in 1921 but apparently never possessed another formal academic credential (other than an honorary D.Sc. awarded him upon his 1946 retirement by the Clarkson College of Technology).

The only part of the course syllabus in the Harvard Archives’ course folder was for the portion taught by Professor Ruggles, transcribed below.

Looking for other biographical information about William J. Cunningham, I just discovered that there is a folder with course material at Harvard Business School’s Baker Library: Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School, Harvard University William J. Cunningham papers Series II. Teaching Records, 1920-1941 Economics 163, 1940-1941.

_____________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 163. Economics of Public Utilities (including Transportation). Mon., Wed., at 4, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Professors Crum, Cunningham, and Ruggles.

This course deals with the economic problems of the Public Utility industries including railways. Attention is given to rates and rate structures, valuation, the issue and regulation of securities, utility managements, the relation of the commissions to the courts, and public ownership of utility enterprises.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 62.

_____________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 163. Professors Crum, Cunningham and Ruggles. — Economics of Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 18: 9 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 2 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1940-41, p. 60.

 

_____________________________

READINGS FOR ECONOMICS 163

[Note: only for the Ruggles’ portion of the course]

Unless otherwise indicated, all references marked with the asterisk are required.

March 17

Legal and Economic Criteria Regarding the Public Utility Concept.

Read three of the following marked with the asterisk:

*Clay, C. M. Regulation of Public Utilities (1932). Part I, pp. 3-130.

*Jones & Bigham. Principles of Public Utilities (1931). Chapter II, “Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 62-101.

*Wilson, Herring and Eutsler. Public Utility Industries. Chapter I, “The Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 1-25.

Glaeser, Outlines of Public Utility Economics (1927).  Chapter I, “Nature and Scope of Public Utility Economics,” pp. 1-22.

*Thompson and Smith, Public Utility Economics (1941). Chapter IV, “What Is a Public Utility?” pp. 56-74;  Chapter V, “Economic Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 75-98.

March 19

Competition, Load Factor, Output, and Economic Conditions as Affecting Rate Making.

*Behling, B.N. Competition and Monopoly in Public Utility Industries (University of Illinois Press, 1938). A Ph.D. thesis, p. 175.

*Bernstein, E.M. Public Utility Rate Making and the Price Level (1937). Chapter IX, “Rate Making in Prosperity and Depression,” pp. 105-119.

*Clark, J.M. Studies in the Economics of Overhead Costs (1923). Chapter XVI, “Public Utilities,” pp. 318-334.

Eisenmenger, H.E. Central Station Rates in Theory and Practice (1921). Appendix II, Explanation of the Terms “Load Curve” and “Load Factor” (For the Non-technical Reader), pp. 260-266.

Hardy, C. O. Recent Growth of the Electric Light and Power Industry. The Brookings Institution, Pamphlet Series Vol. I, No. 1, April, 1929, p. 60.

March 24

Rate Structures; Reasonableness of Rates; Theory of Rate Making in the TVA Act.

*Nash, L.R. Rate Structures (1933). Chapter II, “Rate Classifications and Forms,” pp. 11-29; Chapter IX, “Promotional Rates,” pp. 152-197; and Chapter XIII, “Economic Factors in Rate Making,” pp. 296-330.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapters VII and VIII, “Rate Structures,” pp. 288-386.

*Bauer. Effective Regulation of Public Utilities (1925). Chapter XI, “Rate Schedules,” pp. 275-301.

Barker, H. Public Utility Rates (1917). Chapter III, “Various Bases for Rates,” pp. 10-17.

Bryant and Hermann. Elements of Utility Rate Determination (1940).

Eisenmenger, H.E. Op. Cit. Section II, “The Price of Electric Service,“ pp. 62-102.

March 26

Discrimination in Rate Making; Service and Minimum Charges.

*Havilik, H.F. Service Charges in Gas and Electric Rates (1938). A Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, p. 234.

*Kennedy, W.F. The Objective Rate Plan (1937, Columbia University Press), p. 83.

Nichols, E. Public Utility Service and Discrimination (1928). Chapter XXVII, “Discrimination in Rates Generally,” pp. 856-901; Chapter XXVIII, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Particular Classes,” pp. 902-934; Chapter XIX, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Public Welfare, Educational, and Social Organizations,” pp. 935-949; Chapter XXX, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Contract Holders of Equipment,” pp. 950-966; Chapter XXXI, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Large Consumers and Industrial and Commercial Enterprises,” pp. 967-975.

Batson. The Price Policies of German Public Utility Undertakings (1933). Chapter IX, “Electricity-Supply Charges,” pp. 143-182; Chapter XII, “Conclusion,” pp. 213-216.

April 7

The Geographical Unit for Rate Making; Municipal, Statewide, and Regional Uniformity in Rates.

*Decision of Wisconsin Supreme Court in Eau Claire v. Railroad Commission. Public Utility Reports (P.U.R.) 1922 D666.

*Georgia and Alabama Commissions Install Uniform Electric Rates. Public Utility Fortnightly, Vol. IV, pp. 773-774 (1929).

*Decision of the Pennsylvania Superior Court in Borough of Ambridge v. Pennsylvania Commission, 31 P.U.R. (N.S.) 50. (1939).

*Annual Report, Secretary of the Interior, 1938, p. 84 (Bonneville Rates).

*Commissioner Maltbie’s (New York) Criticism of Implications in Federal Power Commission’s Data on Public Utility Rates. Electrical World, January 14, 1939, p. 112.

*Statement of Chairman of Tennessee Rural Electrification Authority. Public Utility Fortnightly, Vol. XXV, p. 631 (May 9, 1940).

*Bonbright, J.C. Price Policy and Price Behavior. Papers and Proceedings of American Economic Association, Vol. XXX, No. 5, February, 1941, pp. 379-389.

April 9

The Rate Base; Theories in (a) Federal Water Power Act, 1920; (b) Transportation Act of 1920.

*Bonbright, J. C. Valuation of Property (1937). Vol. II, Chapter XXX, “Valuation for Rate Making Purposes: Economic Theory versus Legal Doctrine,” pp. 1078-1110; Chapter XXXI, “Valuation for Rate Making Purposes: Methods of Appraisal; Non-utility Price Fixing,” pp. 1111-1165.

*Bauer, John. Op. Cit. Chapter IV, “Valuation Primarily a Legislative Responsibility,” pp. 47-60; Chapter V, “Court Decisions on Valuation” pp. 61-103; Chapter IX, “Systematic Maintenance of the Rate Base,” pp. 228-252.

Hartman, H.H. Fair Value (1920). Chapter IV, “The Theory of Valuation,” pp. 77-93.

*Glaeser. Op. Cit. Chapter XIV, “The Movement for Physical Valuation,” pp. 311-338.

*Clark. Social Control of Business (2d ed., 1939). Chapter XX, “Fair Value and Fair Return — The Legal Doctrine,” pp. 303-319; Chapter XXI, “Fair Earnings and Fair Value from the Economic Standpoint — Two Phases of One Fact,” pp. 320-336.

Tendency of Supreme Court decisions to favor reproduction cost less depreciation. Indicated in Q.J.E. XVII (1912-1913), pp. 27 and 616.

Graham, W.J. Public Utility Valuation; Reproduction Cost as a Basis for Depreciation and Rate-Base Determination. Studies in Business Administration, University of Chicago (1934), Vol. IV, No. 3, p. 95.

Barnes, I.R. “Shall Going Value Be Included in the Rate Base?” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, November, 1940, pp. 430-437.

April 14

Rate of Return; Capital Structure; Control of Investment and Issue of Securities.

*Bernstein. Op. Cit. Chapter VIII, “The Fair Rate of Return,” pp. 91-104.

*Smith, N.L. The Fair Rate of Return in Public Utility Regulation (1932). Chapter I, “Regulation, Valuation and the Rate of Return,” pp. 1-48; Chapter II, “Elements of the Fair Return,” pp. 49-79.

*Thompson and Smith. Op. Cit. Chapter XVII, “Fair Rate of Return,” pp. 349-361.

*Waterman, M.H. Financial Policies of Public Utility Holding Companies, Michigan Business Studies, Vol. V (1932), Chapter 4, “Trading on the Equity,” pp. 78-99.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapter XI, “Regulation of Securities,” pp. 495-547.

Report of the Public Utilities Division, Securities and Exchange Commission, on “The Problem of Maintaining Arm’s Length Bargaining and Competitive Conditions in the Sale and Distribution of Securities of Registered Public Utility Holding Companies and Their Subsidiaries” (December, 1940), p. 46. (Comprehensive Appendices A to F inclusive.)

April 16

Sliding Scale and other “Automatic” Devices for Controlling Rates and Rate of Return; Rate of Return and Efficiency in Management.

*Bussing, Irwin. Public Utility Regulation and the So-Called Sliding Scale. Columbia University Press, 1936, p. 174. (A Ph.D. thesis)

*Clark. Social Control of Business (2d ed., 1939). Chapter XXII, “Regulation, Service, and Efficiency,” pp. 337-349.

Morgan, C.S. Regulation and Management of Public Utilities (1923). Chapter V, “Methods at Present Used to Promote Efficiency in the Management of Public Utilities,” pp. 144-233.

April 21

The Holding Company; Corporate Simplification and Physical Integration under the Public Utility Holding Company Act.

*Bonbright and Means. The Holding Company (1932). Chapter V, “The Public Utility Holding Company — Organization of the Major Systems,” pp. 90-148; Supplement to Chapter VI, “Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Utility Integration,” pp. 188-199.

*Lillienthal, D.E. “The Regulation of the Holding Company.” 29 Columbia Law Review 404-440 (April, 1929).

*Wright, Warren. “Tests of Reasonableness for Charges of Services from Holding Company to Subsidiary.” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, Vol. 6 (November 1930), pp. 417-423.

Waterman, M.H. Op. Cit. Chapter 3, “Parent Company versus Subsidiary Company Financing,” pp. 45-77.

National Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners. Proceedings of Fortieth Annual Convention, 1928. “Report of the Committee on Capitalization and Intercorporate Relations,” pp. 504-511.

April 23

Regulatory Policies and Efficiency and Inefficiency in Management.

*Morgan, C.S. Op. Cit. Chapters I-III, pp. 1-117, and Chapter VII, pp. 307-346.

*Lyon, Abramson, and Associates. Government and Economic Life (1940). Chapter XXI, Sec. I, “The Rationale of Regulation,” pp. 618-625; Sec. II, “The Structure and Process of Regulation,” pp. 626-671; Sec. III, “The Substantive Problems of Regulation,” pp. 672-728.

Bauer, John. Op. Cit. Chapter XIII, “Effect upon Service and Efficiency of Operation,” pp. 328-349.

Fainsod, Merle. “Regulation and Efficiency in Management.” Yale Law Review, May, 1940, pp. 1190-1211.

April 28

National Power Policy; Public Ownership and the Government Corporation.

Voskuil, W.H. The Economics of Water Power Development (1928). Chapters I-III, pp. 1-43.

*Bird, F.L. The Management of Small Municipal Lighting Plants (1932). Chapters II-III, pp. 9-53, and Chapters VIII-IX, pp. 106-139.

Hodge, C.L. The Tennessee Valley Authority (1938). Chapter II, pp. 29-49; Chapter VIII, 201-248.

Mason, E.S. The Street Railway in Massachusetts (1932). Chapters 8 and 9, pp. 163-192.

Dimock, M.E. British Public Utilities and National Development (1933). Chapter I, “The Setting,” pp. 19-62; Chapter VI, “National Electricity Planning,” pp. 195-227; Chapter VII, “Electrical Progress and the National Economy,” pp. 228-262.

McDiarmid, John. Government Corporations and Federal Funds (1936). Chapters I and II, pp. 1-50; Chapter IX, “Conclusions,” pp. 209-232.

*Taussig. Principles of Economics. Vol. II, Chapter 66, pp. 472-489.

*Lyon, Abramson, and Associates. Op. Cit. Vol. II, Chapter XXI, Sec. IV, “Public Ownership and Operation,” pp. 369-377.

*Clark, J.M. Social Control of Business. Chapter XXIV, “Public Control versus Public Operation,” pp. 369-377.

Abrams, E.R. Power in Transition (1940). Chapter II, “National Power Policies and Activities,” pp. 20-41; Chapter IX, “Threats of Public Power Projects and National Power Policies,” pp. 297-306.

*Bonbright, J.C. Public Utilities and the National Power Policies. (Public lectures at Columbia University, 1940), p. 82.

April 30

Legislative, Judicial, and Administrative Regulation.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapter III, pp. 102-156, and Chapter IV, pp. 157-190.

*Glaeser. Op. Cit. Chapter VII, “The Common Law Basis of Public Utility Regulation,” pp. 156-180; Chapter VII, “The Constitutional Basis of Public Utility Regulation,” pp. 181-194; and Chapter XXXIII, “General Summary and Forecast of the Development of Regulation,” pp. 733-754.

*Mosher and Crawford. Public Utility Regulation (1933). Chapter IV, “Judicial Review of Commission Determination,” pp. 41-53.

*Clay. Op. Cit. Part III, “Conclusion,” pp. 273-297.

*Fainsod, Merle. “Some Reflections on the Nature of the Regulatory Process.” Chapter X, pp. 297-323, in Public Policy, a Yearbook of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University (1940), edited by Friedrich, C.J. and Mason, E.S.

Landis, James M. “Crucial Issues in Administrative Law: The Walter-Logan Bill.” Harvard Law Review, May, 1940, pp. 1077-1103.

*National Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners, Report of the Committee on Progress in Public Utility Regulation. Utility Regulation and National Defense, December, 1940. Section IV, “Critical Utility Regulatory Problems,” pp. 125-147.

Herring, E.P. Federal Commissioners, A Study of Their Careers and Qualifications. Harvard University Press, 1936, pp. 1-104.

Parsons, R.H. Early Days of the Power Industry (English), 1940. Chapter XI, “Legislation Affecting the Electrical Industry,” pp. 184-200.

Pegrum, D.F. “The Public Corporation as a Regulatory Device.” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, August, 1940, pp. 335-343.

Smith, N.L. “The Outlook in Regulation,” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, November, 1940, pp. 386-392, and February, 1941, pp. 48-53.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-41”.

_____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 163
FINAL EXAMINATION
June 1941.

(Answer 6 questions, selecting 3 from Part 1 and 3 from Part 2. Use a separate blue book for each part.)

PART I—TRANSPORTATION

I

In his discussion of the cost of transportation Healy draws a distinction between “joint costs” and “common costs.” Give illustrations which for each of the two groups will make the distinction clear and discuss the bearing of such costs (whether designated as joint or common) on the determination of commodity rates.

II

The commodities clause of the Interstate Commerce Act has since 1908 prohibited a railroad from transporting commodities which it produced or in which it had any direct or indirect interest. That prohibition was continued in the 1940 revision of the Act but it has not been made applicable to common or contract carriers by highway, water or pipe line.

(a) What was the purpose of the prohibition when first applied to railroads in 1908?

(b) Does public interest now require the continuation of the prohibition?

(c) If continued for railroads should it be made applicable also to other carriers, especially common carrier pipe lines?

III

The Transportation Act of 1940 provides for the establishment of a transportation board which, among other things, would investigate and report on “the relative economy and fitness” of the several carriers for transportation service “or any particular classes or descriptions thereof.” Discuss this section of the Act from the following viewpoints:

(a) The need for the creation of such a board

(b) The criteria for the determination of relative fitness

(c) The problems of greatest difficulty in reaching conclusions as to how “there may be provided a national transportation system adequate to meet the needs of the commerce of the United States, of the postal service and of the national defense.”

IV

The present rule of rate making (Section 15a of the 1940 Transportation Act) applying to common carriers by rail, highway, water and pipe line is:

“In the exercise of its power to prescribe just and reasonable rates the Commission shall give due consideration, among other factors, to the effect of rates on the movement of traffic by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed;to the need, in the public interest, of adequate and efficient railway transportation service at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of such service; and to the need of revenues sufficient to enable the carriers, under honest, economical, and efficient management, to provide such service.”

(a) What was the main reason for departing from the principle of the 1920 Act requiring the Commission to set rates so as to yield, for the railroads collectively, a fair return on value?

(b) Why did the railroads object to the inclusion, in first place, of the factor of “effect of rates on the movement of traffic”?

(c) The present law differs from the 1933 law only by the addition of the words “by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed” (italicized above). What is the significance of the added words?

V

From the viewpoint of a sound financial structure of a railroad discuss the significance of:

(a) The ratio of funded debt to total capitalization

(b) Provision for sinking funds on mortgage bonds

(c) Provision for a stated sum annually, or a percentage of operating revenues, for routine capital improvements, such provision to take precedence in claim on net income over interest charges on income bonds and dividends on stock.

 

PART 2—PUBLIC UTILITY ECONOMICS

VI

Explain the economic significance of a peak demand upon (a) an electric power utility, (b) a gas utility, (c) a local transit utility, and (d) a telephone utility.

VII

Explain the basis upon which utility service should or should not be extended that may not initially cover (a) the utility’s increment costs and (b) in addition to increment costs, some return upon an approved base.

VIII

Distinguish between (a) minimum and (b) service charges for public utility service and explain which type of rate you prefer.

IX

Discuss the economic significance of such modes of rate making as employ (a) such “escalator” devices as fuel clauses and (b) the so-called “sliding scale,” which relates rates to the utility’s rate of return.

X

What is the purpose of a depreciation charge? Of the following methods of determining annual depreciation, explain which you prefer and why: (a) a percentage of gross revenue, and (b) a percentage of depreciable property.

XI

Explain the difference in the theory of valuation of public utility property in (a) the Transportation Act of 1920 and (b) the Federal Water Power Act of 1920. Indicate which of the theories you approve and why.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations 1853-2001.Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations—History, History of Religions,…, Government, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science. June 1941.

Image Sources:  Crum from the  Harvard Class Album 1941, Cunningham and Ruggles from the Harvard Business School Yearbook, 1946-47 and 1937-38, respectively.