This particular addition to the series of written economic theory exams in the Harvard graduate program reveals that in 1960 aspiring economics Ph.D. candidates were still expected to know something about what Ricardo, Malthus, and Marx thought. Somewhat amusing is the reference to the “so-called Cobb-Douglas production function”. As opposed to what might we ask … “Chuck & Paul’s neat little production function”?
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Harvard Written Exams
in Economic Theory
Posted Earlier
April 11, 1961
April 10, 1962
November 13, 1962
April 8, 1963
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PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Written Examination
in Economic Theory
November 3, 1960
PART I
Two hours
Answer all the questions.
- Discuss the arguments for or against Say’s Law advanced by Ricardo, Malthus, Marx, and Keynes. Synthesize.
- “The equilibrium concept is meaningful only in the context of a dynamic theory.” Discuss that proposition, illustrating your argument with specific examples.
- Describe the general theoretical properties of the so-called Cobb-Douglas production function. Explain its use (a) in the analysis of income distribution, and (b) in the analysis of technological change.
- Under what assumptions with respect to the flexibility of prices, the shape of the investment demand function, and the shape of the demand for money function will a “liquidity preference” theory of interest lead to the same result as a “neo-classical” theory of interest?
PART II
Two hours
Answer three out of five questions.
- “The subjective value theory of Jevons and the Austrians diverted economics from the classical tradition to which it returned only in recent years.” Discuss the validity of this statement.
- Describe the meaning and the significance of the so-called “duality theorem” of linear programming when it is interpreted in terms of economic analysis.
- Can a price ceiling imposed on the production of a monopolist induce him to produce and sell (a) a smaller or (b) a larger amount than that he would have produced and sold without such limitation? Explain your answer for either case.
- Give a theoretical explanation of the demand for labor (i.e., of the number of workers hired) by (a) an enterprise which pays its workers hourly wages, and (b) an enterprise which remunerates its workers on the straight piece-work basis.
- Economists frequently despair of the possibility of measuring the stock of capital, but do not raise similar problems with respect to measurement of the stock of labor or real output. Discuss.
PLEASE RETURN THIS EXAMINATION PAPER WITH YOUR BLUEBOOK.
Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Edward H. Chamberlin Papers, Box 17, Folder “Economics Department 1960-62”.
Image Source: Original black and white images from Amherst College, Digital Collections. Amherst College Yearbook, Olio1926: Charles W. Cobb on p. 34; Paul H. Douglas on p. 36. Colorized at Economics by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.