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Harvard. Final exam for location of economic activity. Usher, 1943

 

 The course announcement, enrollment figures, course description, and reading assignments for Abbott P. Usher’s Harvard half-course (first term, 1942-43), “The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems,” have been transcribed and posted earlier. 

This post provides a transcription of the final examination for the course.

________________

1942-43
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 65a1
[Final examination]

I
(About one hour)

  1. Write an essay on a topic based upon the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the basing point system, the effect of parallelism in a railway network upon the rate structure.

II
Answer THREE questions.

  1. Under what circumstances may we describe a region as “maturely” settled? Within what limits may we expect to find variations in the density of population in maturely settled areas?
  2. Discuss the relative significance of surplus food, coal, and water power as in the localization of economic activity in the modern world.
  3. Answer a, or b.
    1. Within what limits can we defend the charging of higher gross rates, per ton mile or per passenger mile, for shorter than for longer distances?
    2. Discuss: “It is probably safe to say that the centralization of manufacturing industry has reached its limit. A reaction toward decentralization began when manufacturers located their mills in the suburbs of large cities in order to escape high city rents….”
      Weber, Growth of Cities, 1899.
  4. Describe the pattern of production in the steel industry of the United States, and explain the outstanding features of the pattern of localization.
  5. Describe the processes of extracting and refining copper, and discuss the influence of these procedures upon the location of the various types of enterprises in the copper industry.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University: Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, Theology,…, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. January, 1943. [Mid-Year Exams—Social Sciences, 1943. HUC 7000.55]

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1947.