With this course taught by Abbott P. Usher we can see that the economics of transportation and location continued as standard fare in the economics curriculum at least up to the middle of the 20th century. The final exam for the course was transcribed and posted subsequent to this post.
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Course Announcement
Economics 65a1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems
Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.
Source: Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1942-43. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 53 (September 23, 1942), p. 54.
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Course Enrollment
[Economics] 65a 1hf. Professor Usher. — The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.
Total 15: 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, p. 47.
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Course Description
Economics 65a 1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.
Regional differentiation of resources and its significance. Topography and its influence upon patterns of urban settlement. Progressive revaluation of resources through technological change. Power resources of the modern world. Areas of primary industrialization, present and potential. Areas of secondary industrialization. Agricultural areas. The economic foundations of power politics, old and new.
Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics containing an Announcement for 1942-43. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 45 (June 30, 1942), p. 54.
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1942-43
ECONOMICS 65a
Reading Assignments
- History of Population. (To Oct. 8)
Usher, A.P., History of Population and Settlement in Eurasia, Geographical Review, XX, pp. 110-132.
Willcox, W.F., Increase in the Population of the Earth, International Migrations, II, pp. 33-92.
- Resources as factors in the localization of economic activity. (To Oct. 31)
Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 1-35.
Nef, J.U., The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I, pp. 109-261.
Zimmermann, Erich W., World Resources and Industries, pp. 178-399, 429-583.
- Topography as a locational factor. (To Nov. 21)
Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 36-45.
Mackinder, H.J., Britain and the British Seas, pp. 231-259.
Weber, A.F., The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 1-19, 155-229.
Federal Housing Administration, The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhood in American Cities, 1939. pp. 15-25, 96-111.
Dagett, S., Principles of Inland Transportation, 3rd Edition. pp. 173-190, 301-427.
Vanderblus and Burgess, Railroads: Rates, Service, Management, (1924) pp. 139-156.
Daniels, W.M., The Price of Transportation Service, 1-86.
- Location of the heavy industries. (To Dec. 12)
Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton,Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, 9-111, 309-370.
Zimmermann, Erich W. World Resources and Industries, pp. 584-781.
- Markets and Market Structure. (To Dec. 22)
Hoover, E.M., Jr., Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, pp. 3-59.
Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton, Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, pp. 533-578.
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Special Topics
Economics 65a
Students will select 200-250 pages of readings from one or two titles. This reading should be used as the basis for an essay of one hour written as part of the examination.
- Cities and City Planning.
Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities, 1938.
Regional Survey of New York and its Environs: esp. Vol. I, Major Economic Factors in Metropolitan Growth and Arrangement, 1927.
Vol. II, Population, Land Values and Government, 1929.
Regional Plan of New York, The Graphic Regional Plan, I, 1929.
Committee on the Regional Plan of New York, From Plan to Reality, 1933.
Great Britain, Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, (1940) Cmd. 6153.
- Development of Power Systems.
Ernest R. Abrams, Power in Transition, 1940.
National Resources Committee, Energy Resources and National Policy, 1939.
- Studies of Special Industries and their Price Policies.
T.N.E.C. Monograph Number 42. The Basing Point System.
E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries.
Guthrie, John A. The Newsprint Paper Industry.
A.H. Cole and H.F. Williamson, The American Carpet Industry.
John M. Cassels, Study of Fluid Milk Prices.
- Railway Development.
I.L. Sharfman, The Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. III, B, pp. 309-771.
R.D. Tiwari, Railway Rates in Relation to Trade and Industry in India. 1937.
N.B. Mehta, Indian Railways: Rates and Regulations, 1927.
A. Paillard, Les Tarifs de Chemin de Fer en Matière de Marchandises.
- Air and Motor Transport.
Federal Coordinator of Transportation, Public Aids to Transport.
O.J. Lissitzyn, International Air Transport and Public Policy
H.A. Smith, Airways: The History of Commercial Aviation in the United States, 1942.
S.B. Smith, Air Transportation in the Pacific Area, 1941.
- Water Transport and Canals.
Federal Coordinator of Transportation. Public Aids to Transport.
A. Siegfried, Suez and Panama.
N.J. Padelford, The Panama Canal in Peace and War.
Joseph G. Broodbank, The Port of London.
E.J. Clapp, The Port of Hamburg.
E.J. Clapp, The Port of Boston.
- VIII. Economic Geography.
Eugene Staley, World Economy in Transition.
Mikhailov, N. Soviet Geography: the new industrial and economic distributions of the U.S.S.R.
W. Rickmer Rickmers, The Duab of Turkestan.
Ellsworth Huntington, Civilization and Climate.
_______________ Palestine and its Transformation.
_______________ The Pulse of Asia.
Guy Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern Caliphate.
_______________ Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943 (2 of 2)”.
Image Source: Abbott P. Usher in Harvard Class Album 1947-48.