Harvard. Exams for Statistics. Ripley, 1908-1909

William Zebina Ripley taught at Harvard from 1901/02 through 1932/33. He was a statistician in the time of pre-mathematical statistics but he truly made his mark as an expert on the institutions of organized labor, industrial organization, and transportation. 

________________________

Statistics (Econ 4), previous years

1901-02.
1902-03.
1903-04.
1904-05.
1905-06 [omitted]
1906-07. [offered but no printed exam found]
1907-08. [only mid-year exam found]

________________________

Course Description
1908-09

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. Tu., Th., at 11. Professor Ripley.

This course is intended rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as embodying mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of census and other statistical methods in the United States and abroad, with the scientific use and interpretation of results. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor, wages, and employment; statistics of agriculture, manufactures, and transportation, will be then considered in order. Laboratory work, amounting to not less than two hours per week, in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material, will be required.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economics 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19
(1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, p. 49.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 4. Professor Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 24: 5 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 4 Freshmen, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 67.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4

Mid-year Examination, 1908-09

1. What is the nature of Hoffman’s statistical data on negro mortality? Does the census of 1900 throw any light upon it? Criticise the evidence.
2. Criticise the statement, “the average age at death is discussed at greater length than it would seem proper to give to a practically discarded subject per vital statistics.”
3. —

Conjugal condition.	Color.
	White.		Colored.
	Males	Females.	Males.	Females.
Registration area:
Single	16.6	13.7	32.7	29.6
Married	16.4	13.1	23.8	20.3
Widowed	62.6	43.6	49.1	34.4

The above figures give death rates per thousand. What do they show and what do they not show?

4. Discuss the inter-relation between birth, marriage, and death rates. Show how they affect one another.
5. Comment upon the following figures showing the average number of children born in certain places: —

	Native born mothers	Foreign born mothers
Persons included	19,478	26,544
Average age of mothers	42.23	42.98
Child bearing period (years)	5.41	8.39
Years married	17.64	19.08
Average children born	2.77	4.83
Average children born by mothers of preceding generation	6.47	7.75

6. State the main statistical laws relating to the phenomena of marriage and divorce.
7. Compare conditions in the United States respecting registration of births and deaths.
8. What are the principal difficulties and defects in statistics of pauperism?
9. Compare the arithmetical and geometrical methods of estimating populations as applied to the United States in 1800 and at the present time. 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1908-09.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4

Year-end Examination, 1908-09

1. Explain and illustrate the following proposition concerning the tendency toward concentration of wealth: “by imagining a group of persons having incomes represented by 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc., in the first epoch, and by 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, etc., in the second epoch. Of course, as the income of each individual has doubled, the distribution of wealth is the same in both epochs. Yet if we arrange these ten individuals in fixed classes, and reason about the ‘concentration of wealth’ from the rate of increase in the higher and lower classes, we should probably conclude that some great change had taken place.” Can you suggest any better way to show the real facts than by the use of such “fixed classes”?
2. What is available officially as to statistics of strikes and lockouts? Point out the limitations upon the value.
3. Indicate the special field of statistics of as many as possible of the following authorities, viz.: Engel, Dewey, Rowley, Quetelet, Jevons, North, Wright, Hoffman, Willcox, Newsholme.
4. What is the principal source of weakness in all statistics of the U. S. Department of Agriculture as to crop conditions? How have they met it?
5. In what manner are statistics of profits in manufactures commonly computed? Point out sources of error in the process.
6. What is the principal argument in favor of weighted averages in price statistics? How may this be best controverted?
7. Set forth the main criticisms against the Aldrich Committee Report on Wages.
8. What does a logarithmic curve show, which may not be properly shown otherwise?
9. Define the following terms used in statistics, viz.: “improvement trade,” “quet,” decile, mode, fecundity.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), pp. 34-35.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.