Harvard. European Economic History. Description, enrollment, final exam. Gay, 1911-1912

A clue that your economic history course description wasn’t written by a.i.: it includes the words “recrudescence of protectionism”. Anyone? Anyone?

Biographical notes for can be found for Edwin F. Gay and Julisus Klein in this earlier post.

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Earlier Harvard courses
on European economic history

Links to earlier course material for European Economic History from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

6a ¹hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. Klein.

Course 6a undertakes to present the general outlines of the economic history of western Europe since the Industrial Revolution. Such topics as the following will be discussed: the economic aspects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms, the Zoll-Verein, Cobden and free trade in England, labor legislation and social reform, nationalism and the recrudescence of protectionism, railways and waterways, the effects of transoceanic competition, the rise of industrial Germany.

Since attention will be directed in this course to those phases of the subject which are related to the economic history of the United States, it may be taken usefully before Economics 6b. It is open to students who have passed in Economics 1, and, with the consent of the instructor, to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 61.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 6a ¹hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. Klein. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 65: 22 Graduates 5 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 2 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 6a
Final Examination
Mid-year 1911-12

1. “Trade bursts local barriers because industry is the history of invention responding to the pressure of wants.”
   Discuss this statement with special reference to the Industrial Revolution.
2. “The years from 1800 to 1825 were suited to almost any doctrine of despair. No economic problem was generally understood; it was the age of everything done wrong.”
   Do you agree? Substantiate your answer with detailed examples.
3. Compare the agricultural history of England during the periods 1825–1850 and 1875–1900. Describe the condition of the agricultural laborer during the two periods.
4. —

1. 1. Comment upon the following statistics (compiled from the British Board of Trade “Memoranda,” 1903): —

	Average ad valorem import duties.	Number of inhabitants per ton of steam shipping.
Russia	131%	330
United States	73	116
Austria-Hungary	35	110
France	34	71
Italy	27	72
Germany	25	34
Denmark	18	9
Norway	12	4
Holland	3	15
United Kingdom	0	4.6

1. 2. Outline the development of the English merchant marine during the nineteenth century.

5.  Discuss: —

1. 1. The regulation of prices by English industrial combinations.
   2. “Protective tariffs do not seem to have been of special significance in the formation of industrial combinations in Europe, although in many cases the combination has been enabled to take advantage of the protective tariff.”
      — U. S. Industrial Commission Report, v. 18.

6. Enumerate and comment upon those features of England’s cotton industry which contribute to her superiority in that field.

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 […], pp. 50-51.

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Links to earlier course material for
European Economic History.
Harvard 1883-84 through 1910-11

1883-84. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1884-85. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1885-86. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1886-87. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1887-88. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1888-89. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [Gray]
1889-90. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [A.C. Miller]
1890-91. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1891-92. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [W.M. Cole]
1892-93. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [W.M. Cole]
1892-93. Economics 10. Economic History of Europe and America, to 1763. [W.J. Ashley]
1893-94. Economics 10. Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. [W.J. Ashley]
1893-94. Economics 13. Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1894-95. Economics 10. Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. [W.J. Ashley]
1895-96. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1896-97. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe and America [W.J. Ashley]
1897-98. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe and America [W.J. Ashley]
1898-99. Economics 8. Western Civilization, mediaeval and modern, in its Economic Aspects [W. Cunningham, Reading List]
1898-99. Economics 11. Industrial Revolution in England. [W. Cunningham]
1899-1900. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [W.J. Ashley, Reading List]
1900-01. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1901-02. No course in European economic history offered.
1902-03. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1902-03. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1903-04. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History [E.F. Gay]
1904-05. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]
1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]
1906-07. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1906-07. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]
1907-08. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with M.T. Copeland]
1908-09. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1908-09. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1909-10. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with H. L. Gray]
1909-10. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe [H.L. Gray]
1909-10. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1910-11. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with J. Klein]. Reading list included.
1910-11. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]

Image Source: Borsig’s Maschinenbau-Anstalt zu Berlin in der Chausseestraße (1847) at the Märkisches Museum in Berlin. Image at Wikimedia commons.