While the memo to the libraries promises a full reading list for the course on international trade and finance to come as soon as possible, there was no copy of Richard Caves’ full reading list for the first semester of 1963-64 to be found with other economics course syllabi in the Harvard archives. Still the twenty items arranged in approximate order of use together with the final exam questions for the course give us a good idea of the course content.
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Course Announcement
Economics 148. International Trade: Basic Facts and Policies
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., (S.), at 12. Professor Caves
Treats such problems as the balance of payments, the dollar market, capital movements, exchange rates, exchange control, European integration and the relation of domestic and international policies.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Science. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LX, No. 21 (September 4, 1963) p. 104.
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Book list for Economics 148
September 11, 1963
To: Lamont, Radcliffe, Littauer Libraries
From: Richard E. Caves
Subject: book list for Economics 148, Fall Semester, 1963-64
The following books and other special materials which I plan to assign for Economics 148 (“International Trade: Basic Facts and Policies”) are arranged in the approximate order of use during the term. Heavy assignments will be made in those titles preceded by an asterisk; in general, only relatively short passages will be assigned from other titles.
Students will be urged to purchase as a basic text Charles P. Kindleberger, International Economics, 3rd ed. (Homewood, Ill.: Richard 3 D. Irwin, 1963). I expect an enrollment in the course about the same as last year, 90 to 100.
A full reading list will follow as soon as possible.
Lary, Hal B. Problems of the United States as World Trader and Banker. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963.
Allen, W. R., and Allen, C. L., eds. Foreign Trade and Finance: Essays in International Economic Equilibrium and Adjustment. New York: Macmillan, 1959.
Meier, Gerald M. International Trade and Development. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Kenen, Peter B. Giant Among Nations: Problems in United States Foreign Economic Policy. Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1963.
Daedalus, Summer and Fall numbers, 1962.
Vaccara, Beatrice N. Employment and Output in Protected Manufacturing Industries. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1960.
Myrdal, Gunnar. An International Economy: Problems and Prospects. New York: Harper & Bros., 1956.
Triffin, Robert. Europe and the Money Muddle. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957.
*Salant, Walter S. et al. The United States Balance of Payments in 1968, Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution, 1963.
[Note: Chapters 2-9 were the Reading Period assignments]
Harris, Seymour E., ed. The Dollar in Crisis. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961.
*Factors Affecting the United States Balance of Payments, Compilation of Studies, U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Subcommittee on International Exchange and Payments, 87th Congress, 2nd session. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1962.
Tew, Brian. International Monetary Cooperation, 1945-1956. London: Hutchinson’s University Library, 1956.
Tew, Brian, The International Monetary Fund: Its Present Role and Future Prospects. Essays in International Finance, No. 36. Princeton, N.J.: International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1961.
Machlup, Fritz. Plans for Reform of the International Monetary System, Special Papers in International Economics, No. 3. Princeton, N.J.: International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1962.
Tinbergen, Jan. Shaping the World Economy: Suggestions for an International Economic Policy. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1962.
Asher, Robert E. Grants, Loans, and Local Currencies: Their Role In Foreign Aid. Washington, D. C.: Brookings Institution, 1961.
Millikan, M. F., and W. W. Rostow. A Proposal: Key To An Effective Foreign Policy. New York: Harper & Bros., 1957.
Mikesell, R. F. Promoting United States Private Investment Abroad. Washington, D.C. National Planning Association, 1957.
*Balassa, Bela. The Theory of Economic Integration. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1961.
Sannwald, Rolf F., and Jacques Stohler. Economic Integration: Theoretical Assumptions and Consequences of European Integration. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1959.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1963-1964”.
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 148
Final Examination
January 21, 1964
Answer question No. 1 and three of the remaining five. The answers to all questions will be weighted equally.
- Describe the basic model used in the Brookings report (The United States Balance of Payments in 1968) to forecast the balance of payments and evaluate its completeness and correctness in terms of international trade theory.
(Note: Make sure that you distinguish between the structure of the model and the assumptions made about independent variables used in the model.) - Do underdeveloped countries face a conflict between the “gains from trade” and the “gains from growth”?
Discuss critically the arguments which have been advanced for the restriction of imports by developing countries, distinguishing between arguments for across-the-board restrictions and those for restricting the inflow of particular types of commodities. - A country devalues its currency. Show how the price and income adjustment mechanisms respond to affect the balance of payments. Would you normally expect the balance to improve? Is it possible for no net improvement to occur, although the price effect is favorable?
- Discuss the elements of the “international liquidity problem.” Would the problem disappear if the United States balance of payments (miraculously) returned to equilibrium? Appraise the extent to which at least two of the proposals for dealing with the liquidity problem would solve the essential elements of that problem, as you see them.
- A country forms a customs union with another. Illustrate the following effects for any one traded commodity, using diagrams, and assuming that the world’s and the partner country’s supply functions are perfectly elastic, while the domestic supply and demand functions are neither perfectly elastic nor perfectly inelastic:
- Tariff revenue foregone
- Transfer from the government to the consumers
- Transfer from domestic producers to consumers
- Change in consumers’ surplus
- Trade creation
- Trade diversion
Briefly, how might the net effect (gain or loss) of the union on the country’s welfare be measured?
- Can industrialized countries increase their rates of economic growth by forming customs unions? Appraise the possible gains from faster growth in the setting of Western European economies. Could some of the effects of a customs union hamper growth, either among members or in excluded countries?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences. Final Examinations January 1964 (HUC 7000.28, vol. 150).
Image Source: Harvard Square Snowstorm, February 1964. Boston Public Library, Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue Collection. Copy downloaded from the Digital Commonwealth website.