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Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Income Distribution. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1910-11

The Crabbed Millionaire's Puzzle

This course by Thomas Nixon Carver on the distribution of wealth, appears from the exam questions and the course description to have been a course on the theory of the functional distribution of income. 

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From earlier semesters

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10

’The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

This course begins with an analysis of the theory of value. The attempt is then made to formulate a positive theory of distribution helpful in explaining the actual incomes of the various classes of producers. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 53.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 86: 6 Graduates, 28 Seniors, 36 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 14a1
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. What is meant by the margin of cultivation?
  2. What would you suggest as a method of raising wages?
  3. Are wages “drawn from” capital or from product? Explain clearly the meaning which you give to the words “drawn from.”
  4. Discuss the question: Does the rent of land enter into the price of products?
  5. Do laborers as a class, or capitalists as a class, gain more from inventions and improvements in production? Give your reasons.
  6. What is the relation of risk to profits?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

Image Source: The Crabbed Millionaire’s Puzzle by J. S. Pughe. Puck (7 August 1901). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.