Edward Chamberlin was a member of the graduate examination committee of the Harvard economics department in the early 1960s and in his files I have found copies of theory exams from 1961, 1962, and 1963 along with a few memos that circulated among members of the committee that together provide a description of the procedures used for grading.
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Harvard Written Exams
in Economic Theory
Posted Earlier
April 14, 1960
November 3, 1960
April 11, 1961
April 10, 1962
November 13, 1962
April 8, 1963
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Written Examination in Economic Theory
November 7, 1961
Answer six questions; all questions have equal weight.
- Describe and discuss Ricardo’s theory of economic growth; and discuss its relevance if any to problems now confronting ‘underdeveloped’ countries or economies.
- What are the chief differences in the conclusions reached by analyzing an area of the economy (say, an “industry”) under the assumptions of (a) pure competition, on the one hand, and (b) monopolistic competition on the other. Elaborate the explanation of one of the differences mentioned.
- To what extent may the concept of economic rent be generalized beyond its original application to land? Discuss fully, making clear what you mean by “rent” in each case.
- Identify and illustrate the main kinds of uncertainty that arise in economic decisions. Can problems of choice involving uncertainty be analyzed in terms of ordinal utility?
- Give an economic appraisal of the effects of “indivisibility” on the results of competitive resource allocation.
- Set up an example of a simple static general equilibrium system with three goods and two factors of production, for example, land and labor.
- How can technological change cause unemployment? What market forces tend to eliminate the unemployment? What factors may impede the operation of these forces?
- What is the theoretical justification of the “competitive ideal”? How is the validity of the argument that competition produces ideal results affected by recognition of the phenomenon of product differentiation?
- Describe the von Neumann Model of an expanding economy, and the principal results yielded by the model. Discuss the relevance of these results to real economic systems.
- Outline and criticize the theory of economic growth, of one of the following authors: Solow, Joan Robinson, Kaldor, Tobin.
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: Harvard Square, 1961. From the Cambridge Historical Commission, image in the Photo Morgue Collection. Online: Digital Commonwealth.