Six semester courses in political economy was Johns Hopkins University’s entire offerings for undergraduates interested in the field of economics in 1911-12.
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Instructors of Political Economy
(Undergraduate)
JACOB H. HOLLANDER, Ph. D., Professor of Political Economy. A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1891, Fellow, 1893-94, and Ph.D., 1894. Treasurer of the Island of Porto Rico, 1900-01; Special Commissioner Plenipotentiary to Santo Domingo, 1905-06; Financial Adviser of the Dominican Republic, 1908-10.
GEORGE ERNEST BARNETT, Professor of Statistics. A.B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.
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UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Political Economy 1.
[Political Economy 1 is required to later attend Polical Economy 2 and 3.]
(a) Economic History. The economic development of England from the tenth century to the present time and the most important experiences of the United States are studied.
Three hours weekly, first half-year.
Professor BARNETT.
(b) Elements of Economics. Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
Three hours weekly, second half-year.
Professor BARNETT.
Political Economy 2.
[Undergraduate Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed Course 1]
(a) Finance. The theory and practice of finance are considered, with particular reference to problems of taxation as presented in the experience of the United States.
Three hours weekly, first half-year.
Professor HOLLANDER.
(b) Money and Banking. The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
Three hours weekly, second half-year.
Professor BARNETT.
Political Economy 3.
[Save under exceptional circumstances, Course 3 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.]
(a) Statistical Methods. After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
Three hours weekly, first half-year.
Professor BARNETT.
(b) Economic Theory. Critical study is made of recent economic theories.
Three hours weekly, second half-year.
Professor HOLLANDER.
Source: Programmes of Courses. Published in The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series, 1911, No. 6 (June 1911) Whole Number, 236.
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[December, 1911.]
POLITICAL ECONOMY I [a].
- Distinguish the one-field, two-field and three-field systems of agriculture.
- Describe the government of the craft guild in the fourteenth century.
- Discuss the growth of capitalism and its influence on the concept of usury.
- Describe the craft guild stage of industry and distinguish it from succeeding and preceding stages.
- What economic effects are traceable to the Black Death?
- What place did Fairs fill in the organization of economic life in the fifteenth century?
- What is meant by an economic unit?
- Describe the chief economic institutions which have their origin in the seventeenth century.
- Describe the chief mechanical inventions from 1738 to 1790.
- What relation is there between the extent or width of the economic unit and the form of industrial organization?
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[March, 1912.]
POLITICAL ECONOMY I [b].
- How far is saving economically justifiable?
- What are the advantages of the corporation as a form of business organization?
- Define elasticity of demand. Draw and explain two demand curves, one representing an elastic and one an inelastic demand.
- Is it correct to say that the demand for a commodity is greater than the supply?
- Explain what is meant by consumers’ surplus. Illustrate by a diagram.
- Under what circumstances would monopoly price be less than competitive price?
- Define cost of production. Under what conditions does the value of a commodity tend to equal its cost of production.
- State and illustrate the economic laws relating to (a) the size of the business unit and (b) the proportion of the factors of production.
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[June, 1912]
POLITICAL ECONOMY I [b].
- Trace the attachment of the entrepreneurial function through the different economic stages.
- At what period in economic evolution did capital become a claimant in distribution?
- What is the “principle of marginal productivity?” Explain the relation of this principle to the law of diminishing returns.
- Explain what is meant by the “marginal laborer.” Distinguish the marginal laborer and the marginal unit of labor.
- What is meant by “the differential principle?” Show to what parts of the theory of distribution this principle is applicable.
- Discuss the arguments for and against the single tax.
- What effect does the invention of machinery have on the rate of interest?
- Distinguish between the “annual product” and the “annual social dividend.”
- Distinguish competitive and monopoly profits.
- Would a tax on the value of agricultural land raise the price of farm products?
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December 16, 1911.
POLITICAL ECONOMY II [a].
- The scope of Public Finance, as a study, and its relation to the science of Political Economy.
- In what particulars does the economy of the state differ from the economy of the individual?
- What policy should influence the distribution of public expenditure upon education between central and local government?
- Show the importance of economic or quasi-private receipts as a source of revenue to the federal government in the United States and in Germany respectively.
- State the arguments for and against (a) proportional, and (b) progressive taxation.
- Discuss the merits and demerits of the taxation of incomes.
- Discuss the incidence of an excise tax on manufactured tobacco (cigars and cigarettes).
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[March, 1912]
POLITICAL ECONOMY II [b].
- Discuss the physical characteristics of a good medium of exchange.
- Under what circumstances does bad money drive out good money?
- What evils flow from instability in the value of the medium of exchange?
- State the quantity theory of money.
- Discuss Professor Scott’s objections to this theory.
- Explain the compensatory action of the bimetallic system. Illustrate by a series of diagrams.
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[June 1912]
POLITICAL ECONOMY II [b].
- What is the “unearned increment tax” and how can it be used in American municipal finance?
- What is the incidence of the high license tax on saloons in Baltimore City?
- Define money. Is a bank check money?
- Would it be possible to have a monetary system under which fluctuations in prices would not occur?
- Describe the governmental organization of the Bank of France.
- What advantages are there in a system of branch banks?
- What is the purpose of a bank reserve? Under what circumstances would a bank need no reserve?
- Compare the bank note circulation in the United States and France.
- Compare the methods used by the Bank of England and the Bank of France for the protection of their reserves against foreign drain.
- Explain the method by which in an emergency the Bank of England brings the market rate up to the bank rate? Why does it do this?
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[December, 1911.]
POLITICAL ECONOMY III [a].
- What is the distinction between cause and chance?
- What is a “crude” death rate? Explain in detail how the standard death rate is obtained.
- What is meant by a “measure of dispersion?” What is the most usual one?
- Define the field of investigation in which the statistical method is useful.
- Under what circumstances is the geometric mean a useful form of average?
- Define percentile, quartile, mode and arithmetic mean.
- Explain the two chief methods of gathering statistical information. Under what circumstances may each be properly used?
- Explain the theory of weighting.
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Note: no March 1912 examination for Political Economy III was found in the collection of examination
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May 31, 1912.
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN POLITICAL ECONOMY III.
- What has been the relation of statistical science to the development of insurance?
- What is the relation of statistics to economics?
- Discuss the economies incident to large scale production.
- What are the economic services, if any, of speculation?
- Monopoly value and the law which governs it.
- What defects in our national banking system might a central banking institution, of the European type, be expected to remedy?
- Discuss the theory of international trade.
- What is the function of the entrepreneur and what principle determines his share in distribution?
Source for the examination questions: The Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 5/6. Box 6/1. Folder “Exams, 1907-1924”.
Image Source: Johns Hopkins University seal on the floor of Gilman Hall, on the Johns Hopkins University campus in Baltimore, Maryland. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.