Allyn A. Young taught the course “Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises” from 1920/21 through 1926/27. The final exams from the second semester of the course have been posted earlier. Unfortunately, I probably have overlooked the volumes in the Harvard archives containing the first semester, i.e. mid-year, exams for 1920/21, 1923/24, and 1925/26. Hopefully, I find those exams during my next visit to the Harvard archives. Until then we at least have four of the mid-year exams included in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
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Course Description, 1924-25
[Economics] 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2. Professor Young.
In this course money and credit will be studied with special reference to the part they play in the present economic system. The principal problems of public policy with respect to the control of money and banking will be discussed. Foreign exchange, organized speculation in its relation to the money market, and the characteristic phenomena of commercial crises will be considered in some detail. The course will be conducted by means of lectures, discussions, frequent short reports or exercises on assigned topics, and (in the second half-year) a thesis based on work in the library. Certain subjects, such as the monetary and banking history of the United States, will be covered almost wholly by assigned reading, tested by written papers.
Source: Division of History, Government and Economics 1924-25 published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 21, No. 22 (April 30, 1924), p. 67.
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1920-21
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1921]
[not (yet) recovered]
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1921-22
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1922]
- What do you understand the “rationalistic series” of the origin of money to be? What other account of the origin of money can you give?
- Put the argument for bimetallism into what seems to you the strongest possible form.
- For how many years has gold been the monetary standard of the United States? Since 1900? 1879? 1873? 1834? What significance of this connection has each of these dates?
- Define the following terms, taken from American or foreign bank statements. Try to be both succinct and accurate in your definitions.
Deposits, surplus, loans and discounts, reserve, account-current, government debt. - What was the problem with which the Bullion Report dealt? What were its conclusions? And the Bank Act of 1844?
- Describe the functions of (a) joint-stock banks, (b) bill brokers, (c) acceptance houses, in the London money market.
- In what different ways are clearing-house balances settled? Do all of these methods accomplish the same purpose? What is that purpose?
- A writer, quoted by Phillips, holds with respect to the national banking system that “if all other circumstances remained the same, circulation grew less profitable as the current money rate advanced.” On what reasoning is this conclusion based? What is your opinion?
- What, in general, is the effect of speculation on price fluctuations? What evidence can you cite? Does short-selling tend to depress prices? Explain.
- Explain the effects of rising prices upon (a) profits, (b) interest, (c) wages, (d) long-period debts and credits, (e) industrial enterprise.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 10. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1920-22.
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1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1923]
- Explain the purposes and the provisions of (a) the Sherman Act and (b) the Pittman Act.
- In what respect is the case for international bimetallism stronger than the case for national bimetallism?
- Describe briefly the effects changes in the purchasing power of money have upon the welfare of (a) creditors, (b) debtors, (c) business man, (d) capitalists, (e) landowners, (f) wage-earners.
- “The absence of centralized responsibility for the maintenance of surplus reserves was the chief defect of the old national banking system.”
Explain. - Contrast the pre-war policy of the Bank of France with respect to its discount rate with that of the Bank of England.
- “Scotch banking is so generally regarded as one of the highest achievements of the banking intelligence that some hesitation is natural criticising the system by which, according to its own evidence, it has obtained most of its success. At the same time, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a serious danger lurks in the system which regards a banker’s unissued promise to pay in the light of a banking asset.”– Hartley Withers.
What is the practice which Mr. Withers deems a danger? Do you agree with him? - “Two powerful forces are constantly at work, one putting notes into circulation, the other retiring them, and the people of Canada always have on hand just the amount of currency they need and no more. It is the people, not the banks, who determine how much the circulation of the banks shall be.”–J. F. Johnson.
What are the “two powerful forces”? - “The close relation of the so-called regular banking business to that of the floating of enterprises, the trading in and the issue of shares is typical of the organization of the German credit-bank system….There is no doubt that for their policy of furthering the industries, the economic development of Germany would have taken considerably longer than has been the case.”–Robert Franz.
Discuss this topic with special reference to (a) the soundness or unsoundness of the joining of commercial and investment banking and (b) the judgment expressed by the writer with respect to the effect of the policy of German banks upon the economic progress of Germany.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 10. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1922-24.
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1923-24
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1924]
[not (yet) recovered]
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1924-25
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1925]
Answer 8 questions
- In what respects is the case for international bimetallism stronger than the case for national bimetallism?
- Disregarding legal stipulations, what assets might an individual bank properly regard as constituting its reserve? What assets might the banks of the United States, taken together, regard as their reserves?
- Professor Taussig, in discussing Professor Fisher’s equation of exchange, said: “In the end, an increase of deposits finds its limits in the volume of cash held by the banks. But there is some elasticity of adjustment, by which loans and discounts increase as fast as transactions or faster; and this accounts in no small degree for the rise in prices during periods of activity.”
Discuss. - In what different ways are clearing house balances settled? Why is so much importance attached to the matter?
- “The close relation of the so-called regular banking business to that of the floating of enterprises, the trading in and the issue of shares, is typical of the organization of the German credit-bank system.” Explain.
- With what problem did the “Bullion Report” deal, and what were the doctrines of its supporters?
- What was the issue between the “currency school” and the “banking school,” and what is your own opinion respecting the matter?
- What effects do large issues of paper money have on (a) taxation, (b) prices, (c) wages, (d) creditors, and upon (e) the “demand for money”?
- Do you or do you not favor Professor Fisher’s plan for a stabilized dollar? Give your principal reasons.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 11. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1925-26.
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1925-26
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1926]
[not (yet) recovered]
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1926-27
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1927]
Answer 8 questions
- Define deposits, reserve, surplus, discount.
- Describe the use of (a) the one-name promissory note, (b) the trade acceptance, (c) the bankers acceptance, in financing trade.
- What, in your opinion, what is the chief defect of the old national banking system? Explain.
- What was the principal issue in the controversy that preceded the bank-charter act of 1844? Discuss.
- What was the principal issue in the debates of the Restriction period? Discuss.
- “Germany’s ability to make reparation payments depends upon her ability to maintain a favorable balance of commodity trade.” How far do you agree? Explain.
- Under what conditions and why is goal shipped from one country to another?
- Explain the meaning of the statement, “London finances the world’s trade.”
- On what advantages has London’s position as the world’s central money market rested? Do you think that London is likely to maintain that position?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 11. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1927.
Image Source: Allyn A. Young faculty portrait in the Harvard Class Album, 1925.