William Leonard Crum (1894-1967) taught economic statistics at Harvard from 1923-1948 before finishing his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught an undergraduate one-semester course, “The National Income”, only twice. In the extensive but incomplete Harvard archival collection of course final examinations I have only been able to find the final for the second term of the 1937-38 academic year. Full course reading lists were not in the course syllabi and outlines collection, but the reading period assignments for both years could be found.
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Course Enrollments,
1937-38
[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.
Total 7: 1 Graduate, 4 Seniors, 2 Juniors.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-38, p. 85.
1938-39
[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.
Total 3: 2 Graduates, 1 Senior.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1938-39, p. 98.
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Reading Period
May 9- June 1, 1938
Economics 21b: Read either of the following:
Colin Clark, National Income and Outlay, Chs. I-V, and VII.
R. F. Martin, National Income and Its Elements (entire).
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1937-1938”.
May 8- May 31, 1939
Economics 21b: Choose one of the following:
National Industrial Conference Board, National Income in the United States, 1799-1938 (entire book).
Simon Kuznets, Commodity Flow and Capital Formation, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1938 (Part II and Part III).
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1938-1939”.
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Final exam, 1938
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 21b2
(Omit two of the first six questions, and omit one of the last two)
- (a) Outline the main items, listing as plus and minus, which must be covered in estimating national income by the net value product method.
(b) Discuss the chief theoretical and practical points relating to the estimated allowance for depreciation. - (a) Comment upon the main problems encountered in determining the net value product of “government”, considered as an “industry”.
(b) Name two chief “transfer” items, and indicate – for each – how it should be treated in national income estimates, and why. - (a) Discuss with care the way in which the accounting practice relative to inventory valuation affects estimates of national income.
(b) Comment upon the place of “additions to business surplus” in the simple concepts of national income. Indicate whether this surplus-additional item can be estimated directly, or only indirectly. - (a) What is meant by “entrepreneurial withdrawals”, and on what basis are they in general estimated? Give your view of the validity of such estimates, with reasons.
(b) To what extent do the methods customarily employed in estimating the distribution of national income according to particular categories give a satisfactory appraisal of any oneof the four main types discussed in economic theory – wages, interest, rent, profits? - (a) Discuss the place of capital gains in national income estimates.
(b) What is meant by capital formation? What are the leading obstacles to a satisfactory measurement thereof? - (a) Given an online account of the relation between size of income (of individuals) and the main sources from which income is derived. How, in general, does the business cycle affect these relationships?
(b) What is meant by real income? Name and discuss two chief obstacles to the measurement thereof. - (Clark) Name, and common briefly upon, the chief differences in method of estimating national income, as between Great Britain and the United States.
- (Martin) Four main types of entrepreneurs are distinguished – farmers, retail-store proprietors, service establishment owners, professional practitioners. Comment upon the data available for estimating incomes of these groups, and give your views as to the validity of such estimates.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 3, Folder “Final examinations, 1937-1938”.
Image source: Portrait of William Leonard Crum from the Harvard Class Album, 1946.