It is pretty interesting to compare the Harvard micro and macro general exams 1992 with what was asked economics graduate students at Johns Hopkins in 1954, transcribed and posted below. I note that the index number question (the first question in Part IV) was more-or-less covered in my second lecture of undergraduate principles of macroeconomics a few days ago (OK, I grant it was somewhat heavy-going, but somebody’s gotta do it…and better earlier than never).
Ten comprehensive Ph.D. exams from Johns Hopkins in 1965 were transcribed and posted earlier.
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GENERAL WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS FOR THE PH.D.
Department of Political Economy
May 25-26, 1954
Part I — Three hours
May 25, 1954 — 9 a.m.
Answer the following questions: I and II; III or IV; they carry equal weights.
I.
In four out of five given cases, explain exactly — with or without the aid of graphs — how you can derive
- a demand curve for a commodity (as a function of price) from a family of indifference curves between that commodity and money;
- a supply curve for a foreign currency (as a function of its exchange rate in terms of domestic currency) from a demand curve for domestic currency (as a function of its exchange rate in terms of the foreign currency);
- a savings curve (as a function of income) from a consumption curve (as a function of income);
- a demand (liquidity preference) curve for cash balances (as a function of the interest rate) from a supply curve of interest-bearing securities (as a function of security prices);
- a family of interest-income curves (functions giving the equilibrium combinations of interest rate and income level) with various fixed money stocks as parameters, from a family of liquidity preference curves (as functions of the interest rate) with various fixed income levels as parameters.
II.
In three out of the five given cases, demonstrate as convincingly as you can
- that an increase in wage rates
- will result in an increase in total profits,
- will result in a decrease in total profits;
- that an increase in interest rates
- will result in an increase in total consumption
- will result in a decrease in total consumption;
- that an increase in government expenditures for domestic public works
- will result in an increase in total employment,
- will result in a decrease in total employment;
- that an increase in income taxes with an equal and simultaneous decrease in excise taxes
- will result in an increase in general prices,
- will result in a decrease in general prices;
- that an increase in private foreign investment
- will result in an increase in domestic total income,
- will result in a decrease in domestic total income;
[Note: In order to be convincing on both sides of each issue, you will have to change your evaluations of the probabilities with which the essential conditions responsible for the particular result may be expected actually to prevail.]
III.
“The elasticity of supply of foreign exchange will be higher, the higher is the elasticity of supply of exportable articles.” What is wrong with this statement? Why? How would you formulate the correct relationship between the variables in question?
IV.
“The question of whether capital movements lead the trade balances, or trade balances direct the capital movements has been answered differently by classical and Keynesian theory.”
Present the two views and then explain how the contradictions can be resolved, and both views found to be correct, if the terms are appropriately defined.
Part II — Three hours
May 25, 1954 — 2 p.m.
Answer three questions of the following five, provided you don’t select more than two from the first three. They all carry equal weights.
I.
Discuss the Neo-Classical School of Economists.
II.
In Schumpeter’s Book on the History of Economic Analysis, there is a section on “The Men Who Wrote above Their Time”. What would you write for such a section?
III.
Discuss the development of American economic thought.
IV.
Select a “period” of American economic history other than the most recent one and discuss it. Link it with the preceding and succeeding periods.
V.
Discuss England’s chief economic problems of 1793-1815.
Part III — Three hours
May 26, 1954 — 9 a.m.
Answer the following questions: I; any two out of the remaining three. They all carry equal weights.
I.
Write a coherent essay on statistical inference, in which you discuss (not necessarily in this order):
- tests of hypotheses
- confidence intervals
- errors of the first and second kind [Penciled here as change or alternative “Efficiency/Max Likelihood”]
- correlation and regression
- the identification problem
- the “t” distribution and an example of its use
- one other distribution (other than the normal) and an example of its use.
II.
It has been maintained by some that an increase in wages leads to an increase in labor supply out of a given population, and a decrease in wages to a decrease in supply; but it has also been maintained, by others, that an increase in wages brings a decrease in supply, and a decrease in wages an increase in supply.
Select one of the two views and summarize the points which have offered in defense of it. Do you think an equally strong case should be made for the other view? If you do, then are we left without a theory?
III.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the question of the effect of union activity on the wage level. One conclusion reached by several writers on the basis of statistical data is that union wage activity has resulted in no appreciable differential in favor of union income, compared to non-union income and to non-labor income.
What could be the theoretical foundations for such a result?
IV.
“Of all the single statements that can be made about wages, the statement that ‘wages tend to measure the marginal productivity of labor’ is at once the most illuminating analytically and the most important practically for the consideration of wage policy.”
This proposition has come in for considerable criticism over the years. What are the most telling points of this criticism?
Part IV — Three hours
May 26, 1954 — 2 p.m.
I.
Write an essay on index numbers in economics, in which you discuss (not necessarily in this order)
- price indexes
- quantity indexes
- value indexes
- constant-weight (Laspeyres) indexes
- changing-weight (Paasche) indexes
- the relationships among price, quantity, and value indexes
- the use and limitations of economic index numbers
II.
Evaluate critically the contribution which Keynes’ General Theory has made to:
- Theoretical economic thinking
- Economic policy
III.
Present and analyze some (reasonably respectable) business cycle theory.
IV.
Compare and contrast monetary and fiscal policies as methods of achieving economic stabilization (reasonably full employment without inflation). Include (but don’t limit yourself to) the following points:
- The theoretical foundation of each
- Methods used
- Effects on distribution of income and wealth
- Social and political repercussions
- Their effectiveness and limitations.
Do they overlap? Can you work out a synthesis of both?
Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Series 5/6. Box No. 6/1. Folder: “Comprehensive Exams for Ph.D. in Political Economy, 1947-1965”.
Image Source: from the cover of the 1954 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.