After a long break to finish the draft of a paper and a couple of weeks of vacation, your Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s curator is back in action. We resume with the transcription of the 1909-10 Harvard economics course examinations. Economics 1, Principles of Economics is the subject of this post. Professors Carver and Bullock covered the course for Frank Taussig in 1909-10 due to a last-minute leave of absence taken by Taussig (undoubtedly related to the ill-health of his wife [Tuberculosis?]).
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Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1908/09
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Frank Taussig on Leave, 1909-1910
Owing to the absence of Professor Taussig, the following changes in the courses in Economics will be made:
Economics 1 will be conducted by Professors Bullock and Carver; Economics 2 will not be given; Economics 14a and 14b will be given as hitherto, but will be starred,–that is, may not be taken without the consent of the instructor; Economics 23 will not be given; Economics 4, which was announced to be given as a half-course only, in the first half-year, will be given as a full course, by Professor Ripley; Economics 9b, which was announced to be omitted, will be given; Economics 20d will not be given.
Source: The Harvard Crimson (29 September 1909).
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“The work that gave final form to the Principles was done in an atmosphere of sorrow. Mrs. Taussig’s health had given cause for anxiety for some time. In 1909-1910 he took a year’s leave of absence, which they spent in Saranac [Lake], N.Y., and there she died on April 15, 1910.”
Source: J. A. Schumpeter, A. H. Cole, and E. S. Mason, “Frank William Taussig”, Quarterly Journal of Economics (May, 1941), p. 352.
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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10
- Principles of Economies. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Dr. Huse and Messrs. M. T. Copeland, Holcombe, Sharfman, and Usher.
Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1.
Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.
The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading.
Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).
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Course Enrollment
1909-10
Economics 1. Professors [Thomas Nixon] Carver and [Charles Jesse] Bullock, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Ph.D., 1907] and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe [Ph.D., 1909], Messrs. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland [Ph.D., 1910], [Isaiah Leo] Sharfman [LL.B., 1910], and [Abbott Payson] Usher [Ph.D., 1910] . — Principles of Economics.
Total 423: 15 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 193 Sophomores, 80 Freshmen, 52 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 43.
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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10
- Distinguish between free goods and economic goods; between productive labor and unproductive labor; between wealth and capital.
- State the law of diminishing returns from land and explain its relation to the intensive and extensive margins of cultivation.
- If you were to find that all the land of a country had been brought under cultivation, what should you say would be the conditions which would permit a further increase of population?
- What are the chief advantages of a division of labor and what determines the extent to which the division of labor can be carried out?
- Name the great mechanical inventions since 1750 which have brought about a change in the form of industrial organization. What has been the character of this change?
- Can the value of a commodity depend both on demand and supply and on cost of production? If so, how? Can it ever depend on demand and supply and not on cost of production? Can it ever depend on cost of production and not on demand and supply? Explain?
- What will be the probable effect of the present meat boycott on the price of meat, other food products, cattle, hides, assuming the boycott to be permanent?
- Outline briefly the principal acts of congress relating to the coinage of money in the United States, explaining particularly those acts which produced effects illustrating Gresham’s Law.
- Compare the Bank of England, the Bank of Germany and the national banks of the United States as to (1) security of note issue; (2) elasticity of note issue.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.
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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1909-10
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- Distinguish between elastic and inelastic demand; between total and marginal utility.
- Can the value of any commodity depend both on marginal utility and on cost of production today it ever depend on one and not on the other? Explain carefully.
- What are the methods by which a bank may sell its credit? What provisions in the national banking law of the United States serve as a safeguard against the over-extension of credit?
- A has a piece of land which produces 100 bushels of wheat at an average cost of 60 cents a bushel. The cost of producing a bushel of wheat on the extensive margin of cultivation is 90 cents. What elements does this marginal cost of production include? Calculate the selling price of A’s land, the current rate of interest being 5%.
- Suppose that every person engaged in agriculture owned the land which he cultivated, and that all advantages of superior fertility were exactly offset by greater costs of transportation, would rent arise under any conditions? If so, how would it be determined? If not, would the land have any exchange value? Give reasons.
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- Suppose that every person made and used his own tools, would interest exist? Give reasons.
- Is the payment of interest at the current rate to a multi-millionaire for the use of his capital justifiable? Give reasons.
- What are net profits? To what are they due? Are they a factor in determining price? Give reasons.
- What effect upon wages would you expect as a result of:—
- the extension of industrial education;
- immigration;
- the limitation of the output by labor unions;
- an increase in the supply of capital;
- the introduction of socialism?
- Discuss briefly:—
- overcapitalization.
- Rochdale Pioneers.
- Knights of Labor.
- Single Tax.
- “Gold points.”
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 38-39.
Image Source: Charles Jesse Bullock and Thomas Nixon Carver portraits in the Harvard Class Album 1915.