Harvard. Economics of Corporations. Description, Enrollment, Final Exam. Ripley, 1911-1912

The “so-called trust problem” was the principal topic for William Z. Ripley’s course on the Economics of Corporations. Big Business and Organized Labor were the objects of his research interests as well.

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Earlier Harvard courses
on Corporations

Links to earlier course material for Economics of Corporations taught at Harvard, 1902-1903 through 1909-10.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 9b ²hf. Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not from their legal but from their purely economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn.

The course is open to those students only who have passed in Economics 1. Systematic reading and report work will be assigned from time to time.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). p. 65.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 9b ²hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Arthur Stone] Dewing.— Economics of Corporations.

Total 140: 9 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 72 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 9b
Final Examination
Year-end, 1911-12

Answer in order.

State in topical form, omitting everything except the briefest outline, all you can recall concerning preferred stocks of industrial corporations. Just such headings as would make paragraphs in an essay on the subject. Name examples under each where possible.
What was the purpose of the valorization of coffee scheme? How has it worked?
Two objections to the price policy of the “trusts” have been advanced. One is the special cutting of prices in local markets; the other is “dumping” abroad at reduced prices. Are the two really different in essence; and if so, in what respect? Discuss fully.
Sketch the argument and conclusions in the recent Standard Oil case in the Supreme Court. What particular logical difficulty had to be overcome?
What is meant by “over capitalization”? What its effect upon: (a) earning power; (b) the market price of securities?
Compare the organization of the “Powder Trust,” with the Standard Oil Co. How does the dissolution of the two bring up different problems in each case?
In what respect is English company law in advance of ours?
Compare Federal incorporation and Federal licences as remedies for some of our industrial ills.
What industrial factors favor the inauguration of a policy of integration in production? Illustrate.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], p. 56.

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