For those trained to think of sovereign kings subject to a government budget constraint that boils down to the use of some combination of taxing the peasants, borrowing from the grand houses of international banking, debasing the currency, and rents paid for the use of royal land to finance any particular level of government spending, it seems odd to divide a two semester sequence into a semester devoted to taxation and another semester for all the other items in that government budget constraint. But that was the way the field was divided at Harvard under Charles Jesse Bullock in the first part of the 20th century.
This post is for Economics 7a, the non-taxation parts of public finance.
________________________
Public Finance pre-1911/12
Links to earlier course material for Public Finance from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1910-11.
_______________________
Course Description
1911-12
[Economics] 7a 1hf. Introduction to Public Finance. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.
This course covers the general field of public finance exclusive of taxation. After a brief survey of the history of public finance, the following subjects are studied: public expenditures, public revenues other than taxes, public debts, financial administration, and financial legislation. Attention is given both to the theory and to the practice of various countries.
A systematic course of readings is prescribed, and most of the exercises are conducted by the method of informal discussion. Candidates for honors will be given an opportunity to write theses. The course is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1. Graduate students are advised to take Economics 16. Course 7a is not open to students who in the year 1910-11 elected Economics 7, but such students may be admitted to Economics 1b with the consent of the instructor.
Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 63.
_______________________
Course Enrollment
1911-12
Economics 7a 1hf. Professor Bullock. — Introduction to Public Finance.
Total 24: 3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Others
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.
_______________________
ECONOMICS 7a
Mid-year Final Exam
1911-12
Omit any question except the last.
- Discuss fully the proposition that increasing public expenditures are a sign of advancing civilization.
- Compare the policy of our federal government with regard to revenue from public domains with the policy of Prussia.
- To what extent in the United States and elsewhere has the weight of taxation been reduced by revenue from public industries?
- What light does the history of the United States Post Office throw upon the character and tendencies of public management of industries? Does the postal service of other countries reveal different or similiar tendencies?
- What policy would you advocate in fixing the prices charged by public industries? If your policy would not be the same under all circumstances, state what it would be under each of the different sets of circumstances that may be assumed to exist.
- Present what seems to you to be a satisfactory theory of the economic effects of public debts; then state and criticize four other theories which you have studied.
- “The truth is that all newly produced goods are at the outset disposable capital. All are created for the same purpose, the immediate or more remote satisfaction of needs; they are already destined to be capital, and must, therefore, be considered as capital. To take away any part of them is as truly a destruction of capital, as the destruction of capital previously accummulated would be.”
What does this passage suggest to you? Criticise it. - Of the writers upon public finance whose works you have read, which four impress you as the most important? State what each of these four writers contributed to the science, and explain why he deserves the rank you assign him.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 52-53.
Earlier public finance exams
at Harvard
1883-84. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the financial systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. Taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1884-85. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. [Omitted 1884-85].
1884-85. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1885-86. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1886-87. Political Economy 7. Public finance and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1886-87. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Exams not (yet) found]
1887-88. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1887-88. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1888-89. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1888-89. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar
1889-90. Political Economy 7. Public Finance and Banking. Omitted.
1889-90. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Adolph Caspar Miller
1890-91. Political Economy 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1890-91. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by William Morse Cole.
1891-92. Political Economy 71. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Mid-year examination not found]
1891-92. Political Economy 8. History of fnancial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1892-93. Economics 71. Theory and methods of txation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1892-93. Economics 72. Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1893-94. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1894-95. Economics 7. Theory and methods of taxation (first semester) and financial administration and public debts (second semester) taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1895-96. Economics 7. Financial administration and public Debts taught by John Cummings.
1895-96. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by J. A. Hill.
1896-97. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1897-98. Economics 71. Theory and Methods of Taxation taught by Frank William Taussig, Readings, Exams.
1898-99. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1899-1900. Economics 7a. Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.
1899-1900. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.
1900-01. Economics 7a and 7b. Not offered.
1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1902-03. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation with reference to local taxation [undergraduate] taught by Edward Dana Durand, Readings, Exam and Durand biography.
1902-03. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Prof Henry Brayton Gardner of Brown University.
1903-04. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.
1903-04. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1905-06 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1906-07 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1907-08 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1908-09 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1908-09 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock
1909-10 Economics 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Phillips Huse [biographical information included]
1909-10 Economics 16. American taxation [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock and Charles Phillips Huse.
1910-11 Economics 7 2hf. Public finance considered with special reference to the theory and methods of taxation. taught by Charles Phillips Huse, assisted by Wilfred] Eldred and Roscoe Russell Hess.
1910-11 Economics 16 Public finance (advanced course) taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.
1910-11 Economics 17 2hf. Municipal finance taught by Charles Phillips Huse
Image Source: The original Seal of the Department of the Treasury, designed in 1778. The Latin inscription is an abbreviation for the phrase Thesauri Americae Septentrionalis Sigillum, which means “The Seal of the Treasury of North America.”