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Business Cycles Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles. Description, enrollment, final exam. Day, 1910-11

After a year gap, a business cycle course was offered in 1910-11 with a new instructor, Edmund Ezra Day. One-third of the exam was devoted to “‘barometers’ or indices of general business conditions”.

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About Edmund Ezra Day

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-1909-phd-alumnus-edmund-ezra-day-cornell-memorial-minute-1951/

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Earlier Exams 

1902/03-1907/08. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles (A.P. Andrew)

1908/09. Commercial Crises and Trade Cycles (Wesley Clair Mitchell)

1909/10. Not offered.

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

12 1hf. Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. Day.

            Course 12 begins with a brief review of the more important crises occurring before 1870. This is followed by an intensive study of the cycles of trade culminating in the crises of 1873, 1893, and 1907. The influence upon commercial fluctuations of the present organization of industry, of government finance, of foreign trade, of agricultural conditions, of the money supply, of speculation, of banking methods, and of other such factors is discussed. The so-called barometers of trade are examined. Finally some consideration is given to the theory of economic crises, to the methods which have been employed in different countries for relieving crises, and to proposed reforms designed to prevent them.

            Written work, in the preparation of short papers on assigned topics, will be required of all students.

            The course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Economics 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 59.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 12 1hf. Dr. E.E. Day. — Commercial Crises and Cycles of Trade.

Total 99: 1 Graduate, 40 Seniors, 43Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 12
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

Give at least one-third of your time to Part II.
I
  1. “The real cause of the crisis of 1893 was the bungling and incompetent legislation of our Federal Government.” Was this so? If so, why? If not, why not?
  2. In what particulars were the conditions in the United States prior to the crisis of 1857 similar to those before 1907? In what respects were the conditions different?
  3. Describe accurately the relation between:—
    1. (1) Changes in the price level and (2) merchandise imports and exports.
    2. (1) Merchandise imports and exports and (2) international gold movements.
    3. (1) International gold movements and (2) banking reserves.
  4. In the theory of crises what is meant by overproduction? To what different causes may this overproduction be assigned?

II

  1. Arrange in the order of importance the following “barometers” or indices of general business conditions: —
    1. Wheat production.
    2. Cotton production.
    3. Railroad construction.
    4. Price of pig iron.
    5. New York bank clearings.
    6. Business failures.

Analyze the value and limitations of each of these indices. 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

Image Source: “A dangerous bubble” by J.S. Pughe. Illustration published in Puck (22 October 1902). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.