Tag: Bullock

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Economists Harvard

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. alumnus, Seymour Edwin Harris. 1926

While this post still needs the course transcript from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard to be complete, there is enough information about the 1926 Harvard economics Ph.D. Seymour Edwin Harris for it to be added to our series “Meet an economics Ph.D. alumnus/alumna”.

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Biographical/Historical Note

Seymour Edwin Harris was born September 8, 1897 in New York City. He received an A.B. in 1920 and a Ph.D. in 1926 from Harvard University. From 1922 to 1964, Dr. Harris taught economics at Harvard University, where he received a full professorship in 1954, and served as the chairman of the department of economics from 1955 to 1959. During World War II, Dr. Harris was involved in several wartime planning projects. From 1954 to 1956, Dr. Harris became chief economic advisor to Adlai Stevenson. He then served Senator John F. Kennedy in the same capacity and was chosen as a member of President Kennedy’s task force on the economy. In 1961, Dr. Harris was named as chief economic consultant to Douglas Dillon, Secretary of the Treasury. During the Kennedy administration. Dr. Harris, a proponent of Keynesian economics, was a member of Walter W. Heller’s New Frontiersmen, which persuaded President Kennedy that the stimulation of the economy was more important than a balanced budget and tax cuts and government spending could counter threats of a recession. In 1963, Dr. Harris became the chairman of the department of economics at the University of California at La Jolla. At the same time, he served as a chief economic advisor to the Johnson administration.

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Archives. Guide to the Seymour E. Harris Personal Papers.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

Seymour Edwin Harris.  Sept. 8, 1897; Brooklyn, N.Y.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

C.C.N.Y. – 1916-18. Harvard A.B. 1918-20.
Princeton – Instructor of Economics 1920-2.
Harvard – Tutor 1922-4.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

A.B. Harvard. 1920.

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc. In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

Economics A, 3, 5, 11, 33
History 1, 12, 32b
Government 1, 17B.
Latin – 2 years at college. Greek – 1 year. French – 2 years (college). German – 1 year.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics.

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory & History.
    Economics A, 11 – as undergraduate – 14, 15
  2. Money and Banking.
    Economics 38
    Two half courses at Princeton Grad. School. (Currency Reform & Monetary Histor of the U.S.)
  3. Statistics.
    Economics 41
  4. Public Finance
    Economics 31
  5. American History.
    History 32b (as Undergraduate)
    & Private reading
  6. [Left blank]

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Money and Banking with International Trade as a substitute field [committee: Professors Young (chairman), Taussig, Gay, and Monroe]

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

Subject? [The Assignat]
Professor Young.

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

May 15, 1924
[March (early), 1926]

X. Remarks

I have not decided on any subject. At present, I expect to write in Theory, and I hope under Professor Young.

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

Allyn A. Young

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: S. E. Harris

Approved: April 2, 1924

Ability to use French certified by C. J. Bullock, 10 May 1923.

Ability to use German certified by C. J. Bullock, 10 May 1923.

Date of general examination April 29, 1924. Passed A.A.Y.

Thesis received March 5, 1926

Read by [left blank]

Approved [left blank]

Date of special examination [left blank]

Recommended for the Doctorate [left blank]

Degree conferred  [left blank]

Remarks.  [left blank]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Certification of reading knowledge
of French and German for Ph.D.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 10, 1923

This is to certify that I have examined Mr. S.E. Harris and have found that he has such a knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the Ph.D. degree.

Very truly yours
[signed]
C. J. Bullock [K]

Dean D. H. Haskins

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Passed General Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 30, 1924

Dear Dean Haskins:

As Chairman of the Committee to conduct the general examination of S. E. Harris for the degree of Ph.D., I beg to report that Mr. Harris passed the examination. It was the opinion of the Committee that Mr. Harris’ showing was distinctly good, “better than the average”.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Allyn A. Young

Dean C. H. Haskins

[Note: The exam was held Tuesday, 29 April at 4 p.m. in Widener D. Committee: Professors Young, Crum, Bullock, Williams and Dr. Merk with Professor Persons substituting for Professor Crum at the examination.]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Passed Special Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 12, 1926

To the Division of History, Government and Economics:

As chairman of the committee appointed to conduct the special examination of Mr. S. E. Harris for the degree of Ph.D. in Economics I beg to report that Mr. Harris passed a very creditable examination.

[signed]
Allyn A. Young

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics, Ph.D. Degrees Conferred 1929-30. (UA V 453.270), Box 6.

Image Source: This particular portrait of Seymour E. Harris has been cropped from the 1934 Harvard Album. The identical portrait can be found already in the 1925 Harvard Album.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and semester examinations for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock and Andrew. 1907-1908

Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, A. Piatt Andrew

In addition to the 1907-08 exam questions for Principles of Economics taught at Harvard by Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, and A. Piatt Andrew, this post provides links to the previously transcribed 36 years worth of exams.

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Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1906/07

1871-75.
1876-77.
1877-78.
1878-79.
1879-80.
1880-81.
1881-82.
1882-83.
1883-84.
1884-85.
1885-86.
1886-87.
1887-88.
1888-89.
1889-90.
1890-91.
1891-92.
1892-93.
1893-94.
1894-95.
1895-96.
1896-97.
1897-98.
1898-99.
1899-00.
1900-01.
1901-02.
1902-03.
1903-04.
1904-05.
1905-06.
1906-07.

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Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Dr. [Charles Phillips] Huse, and Messrs. [?] Hall, [Probably: Walter Max Shohl, A.B. 1906] Shohl and [Abbott Payson] Usher [A.B. 1904]. — Principles of Economics.

Total 482: 1 Graduate, 8 Seniors, 76 Juniors, 290 Sophomores, 66 Freshmen, 41 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Does saving lead to investment? Does investment lead to the increase of capital? Does the increase of capital lead to the decline of interest? If so, explain in each case why and how; if not, why not?
  2. Suppose that by the use of more prolific seeds the yield of agriculture were very greatly increased; what immediate consequences would you expect as to
    1. The price of agricultural produce;
    2. Economic rent on agricultural land;
    3. The earnings of farmers?

Wherein might the ultimate consequence be different?

  1. Is there any inconsistency between the propositions that
    1. Value is governed by demand and supply;
    2. Value is governed by marginal utility;
    3. The price of a monopolized commodity may be different for different purchasers?
  2. How far does the price of a copyrighted book depend on its cost? How far does its cost depend on its price?
  3. Explain what is meant by “non-competing groups,” and how the situation indicated by that phrase is connected with questions concerning trade-unions and the closed shop.
  4. What effect has the unattractiveness of an employment on the wages of those engaged in it? How do you explain the current scale of wages for unskilled labor? For “sweated” laborers? For domestic servants?
  5. Is it beneficial to laborers as a class that there should be (1) great mobility and free competition between business men and investors; (2) great mobility and free competition between the laborers themselves?

One of the following questions may be omitted.

  1. Suppose coöperative production were universally adopted, how would business profits be affected? Suppose profit-sharing were universally adopted, how would they be affected? Suppose all laborers organized in trade-unions, how would they be affected?
  2. What is the significance for labor questions of
    1. “Making work”;
    2. Luxurious expenditure by the rich;
    3. Jurisdiction disputes?
  3. Explain precisely what social movement you associate with the following:—
    1. Rochdale Pioneers;
    2. Leclaire;
    3. Knights of Labor;
    4. American Federation of Labor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1907-08.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. Wherein is there resemblance, wherein difference, between the causes that determine the value of

a ton of coal;
an ounce of gold;
a dollar of inconvertible paper?

  1. Wherein, if at all, are the following subject to the law of monopoly value:—

urban sites;
the output of a protective industry;
railway transportation?

  1. It is said that “charging what the traffic will bear” may rest on two different causes. Do you find either or both of the causes in (a) railway rates; (b) the prices of illuminating oil; (c) the prices of cotton-seed oil?
  2. Explain the following terms:—

index number;
bimetallism;
limping standard;
Independent Treasury system;
Gresham’s Law.

  1. In the year 1906 the exports of merchandise from the United States exceeded the imports by about 500 million dollars. In the same year the imports of gold were about 50 million dollars.

(a) Can such a disparity continue for a long period of years? If so, why? If not, why not?

(b) So long as it continues, do you regard the situation as favorable for the people of the United States?

  1. Explain the measures taken in periods of great financial stress in (a) England, (b) Germany, (c) the United States; and mention in each case to what extent these measures were contemplated by existing legislation.
  2. What determines the selling-price of (a) an urban site advantageous for business; (b) the shares of a street railway corporation; (c) the shares of a “trust” whose capitalization much exceeds its tangible property? In which of these cases, if in any, can it be said that there is “over-capitalization”?
  3. Suppose the public-service industries (“monopolies of organization”) to be placed under government management. Do you think wages would be lower or higher in these industries? Would the general level of wages in the community be higher or lower?
    On the same supposition, do you think prices of the commodities or services supplied by those industries would be higher or lower? Would the general level of prices be higher or lower?
  4. Does the encouragement of domestic industries through tariff duties cause a saving by doing away with the expense of transporting goods from foreign countries? Are such duties likely to bring a charge on the foreign producer or on the domestic consumer?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1908), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Faculty portraits of Frank W. Taussig, Charles J. Bullock, A. Piatt Andrew. The Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Public finance and taxation. Enrollments and final exams. Bullock, 1906-1907

The Tax Collector. Marinus van Reymerswaele (1542)

As can be seen below, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has put together a considerable time-series of public finance exams for Harvard at the start of the 20th century.

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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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INTRODUCTION TO
PUBLIC FINANCE

Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 16a 1hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Introduction to Public Finance

Total 15: 4 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 16a
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC FINANCE

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07
  1. What classes of public expenditure increased most rapidly during the nineteenth century and what classes showed the least tendency to increase?
  2. Describe the policy pursued by the United States in regard to its public lands.
  3. What are the chief abuses of the fee system in the United States?
  4. Discuss the financial aspects of national ownership of railroads.
  5. Compare the administration of the British post office with the administration of the post office in the United States.
  6. Write an account of American State debts in the nineteenth century?
  7. Compare the history of the British debt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the history of the French debt at the same period.
  8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of sinking funds?
  9. What are the essential characteristics of a good budget system?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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THE THEORY AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Course Enrollment
1906-07 

Economics 16b 2hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation

Total 22: 3 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 16b
THE THEORY AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

Omit one question.

  1. What are the criteria by which you would test the justice of any system of taxation?
  2. What are the chief difficulties encountered by American commonwealths in constructing their tax systems?
  3. Describe the French system of direct taxation.
  4. Compare the French system of direct taxation with that employed in Prussia.
  5. What points of difference have you observed between the British and the French systems of taxation?
  6. What lessons has European practice for the student of American taxation?
  7. Outline a system of corporation taxes which you would consider satisfactory for such a state as Massachusetts.
  8. Write a history of income taxation in the United States.
  9. Upon what class or classes of persons does the American system of state and local taxation fall with the greatest weight?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), p. 39.

Image Source: The Tax Collector by Marinus van Reymerswaele (1542). Wikiart, Visual Art Encyclopedia.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Semester exams for history of economics. Bullock, 1906-07

The two-semester course on the history of economics up through Adam Smith taught by assistant professor Charles J. Bullock at Harvard in  1906-07 was taken by seven graduate students and one undergraduate.

A reprint of the 1690 pamphlet by Nicholas Barbon “A Discourse of Trade” was published by Johns Hopkins Press in 1905 and Bullock incorporated it into his course at the first opportunity (the course was announced but not taught in 1905-06). The third question of the year-end exam below concerns a quote from the first page of Barbon’s Discourse.

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Before joining Harvard in 1903

Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, p. 16.

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Earlier History of Economics Courses
Taught by Charles J. Bullock

1903-04

1904-05

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 15. Asst. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 8: 7 Graduates, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Mid-Year Examination, 1906-07

  1. By the close of the Middle Ages what progress had been made in developing a theory of value?
  2. Compare the communism of Plato with that of More.
  3. What was the attitude of the following writers toward commerce: Aristotle, Xenophon, Thomas Aquinas?
  4. What economic topics were discussed by Roman writers?
  5. Discuss the connection between political and economic theory from the time of Plato to the middle of the eighteenth century.
  6. What is your opinion of the scholastic doctrine of usury?
  7. Write an account of economic discussions in Italy in the fifteenth century?
  8. To what books would you turn for information concerning the political and economic theories of the Schoolmen?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

Omit one question.
  1. What analysis does Quesnay make of the organization of economic society? Does his analysis resemble at any points the analysis made by Aristotle?
  2. What traces of Aristotelianism and Scholasticism do you find in the economic thought of Europe from 1500 to 1800?
  3. At about what time was the following passage written?
    “The Stock and Wares of all Trade are the Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals of the whole Universe, whatsoever the Land or Sea produceth. These Wares may be divided into Natural and Artificial. Natural Wares are those which are sold as Nature produceth them. … Artificial Wares are those which by Art are changed into another Form than Nature gave them.” [A Discourse of Trade (1609) by Nicholas Barbon]
    Does this passage suggest any distinction drawn by earlier writers? What use was made of it by the economists of the period when it was written?
  4. Compare the general development of mercantilist doctrines in England from 1500 to 1760 with the development of French mercantilist doctrines of the same period.
  5. What tendencies are noticeable in the economic thought of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain between 1740 and 1760? Name some of the chief writers in each country at this time.
  6. What is the fundamental difference between the theories of commerce entertained by enlightened mercantilists of the eighteenth century and the view of Hume, d’Argenson, and Adam Smith?
  7. What various elements were fused in the economical philosophy of Adam Smith?
  8. What are the prevailing theories of value, profits, and rent found in the writings of English mercantilists?
  9. Outline Turgot’s theory of distribution.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1907-08; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 37-38.

Image Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, p. 16. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollments, staffing, exams for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock, Andrew. 1906-1907

It is now time to begin posting transcriptions of course material for the Harvard academic year 1906-07. Sometimes, even for the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, this becomes a tedious task. Still, the opportunity to assemble a long time series of economics exams into searchable text for one of the leading economics departments has the virtue of being steady work. 

In the beginning… there is the undergraduate principles of economics course and that is the subject of this post. Subsequent posts more or less follow the course numbering used at the time by Harvard.

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Taussig explains the course structure

In a letter Aug 8, 1906 to E.R.A. Seligman at Columbia describing how Economics 1 was taught we learn that Frank Taussig gave the first semester lectures and his younger colleagues, Charles J. Bullock and A. Piatt Andrew split the second semester’s lectures between themselves. The textbooks used in the course were “Mill, Walker, and Seager.” Taussig also gave himself credit for introducing the course structure of having a common set of lectures and small-section work for discussion and exercises.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs [Selden Osgood] Martin, [Frank Richardson] Mason, G. R. [George Randall] Lewis, [Charles Phillips] Huse, and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe. — Principles of Economics.

Total 392: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 252 Sophomores, 50 Freshmen, 31 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Explain briefly what is meant by, — free goods; public goods; utility; marginal utility; productive labor.
  2. Explain the relation between, — the rate of interest; the selling price of land; the capitalization of monopolies; vested rights.
  3. What is meant by urban site rent? Does such rent differ from the rent of agricultural land? If so, in what essentials? If not, why not?
  4. Are business profits a return different in kind from wages, according to Mill? Seager? the instructor in the course?
  5. Is a high birth-rate to be regarded with anxiety? a low birth-rate? a high death-rate? a low death-rate? State (in round numbers per 1000 of population) what you would regard as high and low rates.
  6. Would you expect the price of a commodity to fall if its cost of production were lowered? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
    Would you expect the cost of producing a commodity to be lowered if its price fell? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
  7. Wherein had immigration into the United States during the decade just passed differed from immigration in earlier times; and what effect has recent immigration had (a) on the general rate of wages, (b) on wages in particular occupations?
  8. Explain the connection between, — collective bargaining; the closed shop; the open union.
  9. Suppose socialism, in the form proposed by Fourier, were adopted: how would wages, rent, interest, business profits, be affected? What if socialism, as outlined by modern writers, were adopted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

I.
Answer three questions.

  1. Does the value of a commodity depend on its utility? Does the price of a commodity depend on its value?
  2. Explain briefly what is meant by (a) the sweating system, (b) producers’ coöperation, (c) collective bargaining.
  3. Suppose a great increase in the supply of (a) gold, (b) silver, (c) wheat: would the values of these three articles be affected in the same way and in the same degree?
  4. What is the nature of the income received by (a) an owner of lodging house who lets rooms to students; (b) an owner of shares a “trust”; (c) an author receiving royalty on a copy-righted book; (d) a mine owner receiving a royalty (so much per ton) on minerals extracted from his mine.

II.
Answer three questions.

  1. Describe the various forms of credit which serve as means of exchange. Does their existence afford any disproof of the “quantity theory”? Explain why or why not.
  2. If there were no legal restrictions, would anything tend to prevent an over-expansion (a) of deposits, (b) of notes?
    If the present legal restrictions on note issue were abolished, what substitutes would you suggest?
  3. The imports of the United States from Brazil permanently exceed our exports to that country. What movements of specie between these countries are involved? The total exports of merchandise from the United States permanently exceed its imports. What movements of specie to or from this country are involved?
  4. Given mint par with England 4.86 2/3, France 5.18, Germany 0.952. What conditions with regard to American trade are indicated by the following quotations of exchange in New York, 4.84, 5.20, 0.945? How ought these rates to stand if the American dollar were to fall to half its present gold value?

III.
Answer three questions.

  1. According: to the principles laid down by Adam Smith and Mill, what changes should be made in the system of taxation employed by our national government?
  2. Compare the history of the income tax in the United States with the history of the tax in two European countries.
  3. What are the principal arguments for and against the proposal to levy progressive income taxes in order to prevent “undue” concentration of wealth? What are the arguments for and against using progressive inheritance taxes for the same purpose?
  4. Should a national debt be extinguished? Should municipal debts be extinguished? (In each case state fully the reasons for your answer.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 24-25.

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Exams for the advanced course in public finance. Bullock 1905-06

Say what you will, Bullock’s courses in public finance attempted to span centuries of fiscal history and had a strong international comparative scope. 

Charles Jesse Bullock also provides us a nice illustration of the ephemeral nature of academic rank and distinction. In the long-run…

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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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Course Enrollment
Economics 16
1905-06

Economics 16. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 7: 5 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 16
PUBLIC FINANCE
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. What were the chief causes of the increase of public expenditure during the nineteenth century?
  2. Can any prediction be made concerning the probable future of any classes of public expenditures?
  3. What has been the history of revenues from domains in European states since the close of the Middle Ages?
  4. What can you say concerning the revenue now derived from domains and industries in Prussia and in England?
  5. How do Seligman and Adams classify public revenues? What are Bastable’s criticisms against Seligman’s classification?
  6. What are the arguments commonly advanced for and against alienation of domains?
  7. With what different definitions of taxes are you familiar? What do you consider a correct definition?
  8. Discuss the comparative merits or demerits of proportional and progressive taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
[Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]

  1. What is your opinion of the causes and results of the increase of public expenditures in the nineteenth century?
  2. What is your opinion of the merits of the arguments for and against municipal ownership of lighting and traction enterprises in the United States?
  3. Compare the French system of national taxation with the British.
  4. Write an account of the present financial system of the Kingdom of Prussia, considering particularly the following topics: expenditures, domain and industries, taxation, and indebtedness.
  5. What is the present status of corporation taxes in the American commonwealths?
  6. What, in your opinion, would constitute a satisfactory tax system for the State of Massachusetts?
  7. Discuss the incidence of taxes falling upon: (a) wages, (b) rent, (c) interest.
  8. Compare the British budgetary system with that of the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906),  p. 41.

Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Exam for undergraduate public finance. Bullock, 1905-1906

Charles Jesse Bullock compressed his two semester public finance sequence at Harvard that was pitched to graduates and advanced undergraduates in 1904-05 into a single semester for undergraduates in the following academic year. This compression and “dumbing down” [?] resulted in a significant increase in enrollment. Who knows, maybe he even lowered the curve for grading?

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Exams from the two semester sequence in public finance (1904-05)

1904-05. Introduction to Public Finance (post includes two obituaries for Bullock)

1904-05. Theory and Methods of Taxation

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 7 2hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 137: 13 Seniors, 54 Juniors, 55 Sophomores, 4 Freshman, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss the history of federal expenditures in the United States since 1860.
  2. Discuss the past and the present policy of the United States with respect to its public lands.
  3. Give an account of the present status of the municipal ownership movement in the United States.
  4. Discuss the proposition that income is the normal source of taxation.
  5. What is your opinion concerning the justice of progressive taxation?
  6. What was decided in the income tax decisions of 1895?
  7. Give a detailed account of the present method of taxing personal property in Massachusetts.
  8. Compare the general corporation tax of Massachusetts with that of Pennsylvania.
  9. Write an account of the present status of the inheritance tax in the American commonwealths.
  10. Write a history of federal taxation in the United States from 1789 to the present day.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 32.

Image Source: Illustration by Louis M. Glackens in Puck, April 8, 1908. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.26261

Categories
Economists Harvard Transcript

Harvard. Application for PhD candidacy. James Waterhouse Angell, 1921

The empirical questions behind most of the collection of archival artifacts found here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror can be reduced to i) what was being taught ii) who was teaching it, and iii) what was the pattern of the courses actually taken by young economists. These artifacts can be thought of as occupying cell(s) in a matrix of year by academic institution, e.g. this post deals with question (iii) and will be filed in the Harvard, early 1920’s cell.

James Waterhouse Angell (1898-1986) was a Harvard and Chicago trained economist who joined the Columbia faculty upon receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1924. He was a member of Columbia’s faculty for over forty years, interrupted by government service during World War II at the War Production Board and the Foreign Economics Administration.  More about his life and career can be read in his New York Times obituary (April 1, 1986)

With this post we have the record for Angell in Harvard’s Division of History, Government, and Economics. It provides us with a wealth of information about his academic training. There will be a flow of such records for other graduate students that promises to match the flow of syllabi and exams, the stock of which constitute the core of archival material.

 You  should subscribe to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror if you are working on the history of economics. To do so scroll down (or search “Subscribe” on this page from your web browser).

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Autobiographical snippet

Angell’s personal statement in the 25th year anniversary report of the Harvard Class of 1918

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Application for Candidacy for the Degree of Ph.D.

[Note: Boldface used to indicate printed text of the application; italics used to indicate the handwritten entries]

I. Full Name, with date and place of birth.

James Waterhouse Angell. May 20, 1898. Chicago.

II. Academic Career: (Mention, with dates inclusive, colleges or other higher institutions of learning attended; and teaching positions held.)

Undergraduate: Harvard 1914-18. Graduate: University of Chicago, March 1919-June 1920; Harvard, September 1920-date. Teaching: Assistant in Economics, Univ. of Chicago, October 1919-June 1920.

III. Degrees already attained. (Mention institutions and dates.)

A.B. Harvard, 1918. [magna cum laude]

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your undergraduate studies in History, Economics, Government, and in such other fields as Ancient and Modern Languages, Philosophy, etc.) In case you are a candidate for the degree in History, state the number of years you have studied preparatory and college Latin.)

History. Harvard: Hist. A, 30a. Government. Univ. of Chicago: Elementary Comp. Govt. Economics. Harvard: Economics A, 2a, 2b, 4b, 5a, 5b. Univ. of Chicago: Labor Problems, Money and Banking, Statistics.

Greek: Harvard: Greek G, A, 2, 8. Latin. Harvard: Latin B, 8. French. Harvard: French 2. Philosophy. Univ. of Chicago: Social and Political Philosophy. Psychology. Harvard: Psychology A, Univ. of Chicago: Social Psychology.

V. Department of Study. (Do you propose to offer yourself for the Ph.D., “History,” in “Economics,” or in “Political Science”?)

Economics

VI. Choice of Subjects for the General Examination. (State briefly the nature of your preparation in each subject, as by Harvard courses, courses taken elsewhere, private reading, teaching the subject, etc., etc.)

  1. Economic Theory and Its History. Harvard: Economics A, 11, 14; Univ. of Chicago: History of Econ. Thought. Teaching: Univ. of Chicago: 2 quarters of elementary theory, 1920.
  2. Economic History since 1750. Harvard: Economics 2a and 2b.
  3. Public Finance. Harvard: Economics 5a, 5b, 31
  4. Money and Banking. Harvard: Economics 38. Univ. of Chicago: Elementary Money & Banking. Also private reading.
  5. International Trade and Tariff Policy. Harvard: Economics 33; and private reading.
  6. [Constitutional] History of the U.S., 1789-1914. Univ. of Chicago. 3 quarters of graduate study. (A. D. Mr. Laughlin)

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Special subject either Economic Theory or Public Finance; to be specified later. Money and Banking

VIII. Thesis Subject. (State the subject and mention the instructor who knows most about your work upon it.)

International Price Levels (With Professors Taussig and Young)

IX. Examinations. (Indicate any preferences as to the time of the general and special examinations.)

General: Last week in October, 1921.

X. Remarks

[Left blank]

Signature of a member of the Division certifying approval of the above outline of subjects.

[signed] Edmund E. Day

*   *   *   [Last page of application] *   *   *

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: James W. Angell

Approved: April 29, 1921

Ability to use French certified by Charles J. Bullock. 10 March, 1922 B.S.M.

Ability to use German certified by Charles J. Bullock, 10 March, 1922 B.S.M.

Date of general examination June 2, 1922 Passed A.A.Y.

Thesis received Oct. 15, 1923

Read by Professors Taussig, Young, and Persons

Approved October 29, 1921

Date of special examination Thursday, March 6, 1924. Passed A.A. Young 

Recommended for the Doctorate[left blank]

Degree conferred  [left blank]

Remarks.  [left blank]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Record of James Waterhouse Angell in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University

1920-21
Economics 11.
[Economic Theory, Prof. Taussig]		 A
Economics 14
[History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848, Prof. Bullock]		 A minus
Economics 31
[Public Finance, Prof. Bullock]		 A
Economics 331 [half course]
[International Trade and Tariff Problems, Prof. Taussig]		 A
Economics 382 [half course]
[Selected Monetary Problems, Prof. Young]		 A
Attained the degree of Master of Arts.
1921-22
Economics 20 (F.W.T.)
[Economic Research (for Ph.D. candidates)]		 A

Note: A transcript can also be found in Harvard University Archives, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Record Cards of Students, 1895-1930, Aab—Belcher (UAV 161.2722.5). File I, Box 1, Record Card of James Waterhouse Angell.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Committee on Economic Research
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Charles J. Bullock, Chairman

Charles F. Adams
Nicholas Biddle
Frederic H. Curtiss
Wallace B. Donham
Ogden L. Mills
Eugene V. R. Thayer

W.M. Persons, Editor
Review of Economic Statistics

J.B. Hubbard, Editor
Harvard Economic Service

F.Y. Presley
General Manager

March 10, 1922.

Professor Charles H. Haskins,
23 University Hall,
Cambridge, Mass.

This is to certify that I have examined Mr. J. W. Angell and find that he has such a knowledge of French and German as we require of candidates for the doctor’s degree.

[signed] Charles J. Bullock

CJB/AMB

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
6 June 1922

I beg to report that Mr. James W. Angell passed the General Examination in Economics held on Friday, 2 June. Mr. Angell’s examination clearly earned a pass, but it is proper to say that the examination was not as distinguished and the margin was not as large as Mr. Angell’s brilliant course record indicated it would be.

[signed by D.C. for] Allyn A. Young

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[Carbon copy]

26 February 1924

My dear Professor Young:

We are arranging J.W. Angell’s special examination for Thursday, 6 March, at 4 p.m. I will let you know the place later. The committee will consist of Professors Taussig, Williams, Sprague, and yourself as chairman.

Very truly yours,
Secretary of the Division.

Professor A. A. Young

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 7, 1924

Dear Haskins:

On behalf of the committee appointed to conduct the special examination of Mr. J. W. Angell, I beg to report that Mr. Angell successfully passed the examination. I may add that the examination as a whole was unusually satisfactory.

Very truly yours,
[signed by k. for] Allyn A. Young

Dean C. H. Haskins

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 5. Folder “J. W. Angell.”

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Annotated Typescript for
Division of History, Government, and Economics
Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D. 1923-1924
JAMES WATERHOUSE ANGELL.

SPECIAL EXAMINATION in Economics, passed. Thursday, March 6, 1924.

GENERAL EXAMINATION passed June 2, 1922.

ACADEMIC HISTORY: Harvard College, 1914-18; University of Chicago, March, 1919, to June, 1920; Harvard Graduate School, 1920-23. A.B., 1918; A.M., 1921. Assistant in Economics, University of Chicago, 1919-20; Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, Harvard, 1921-22; Frederick Sheldon Travelling Fellow, Harvard, 1922-23; Instructor in Economics and Tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, Harvard, 1923-4.

GENERAL SUBJECTS: 1. Economic Theory and Its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Public Finance. 4. Money and Banking. 5. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 6. American History since 1789.

SPECIAL SUBJECT: Money and Banking.

COMMITTEE: Professors Young (chairman), Taussig, Williams,
and Sprague.

THESIS SUBJECT: The Theory of International Prices and its History.

COMMITTEE ON THESIS: Professors Taussig, Young, and Persons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 5. Unmarked Envelope/Folder

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Image Source:  James Waterhouse Angell’s July 18, 1922 U.S. passport application. National Archives.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking Public Finance

Harvard. Course description, enrollment, exam questions for history of public finance. Bullock, 1904-1905

Step by step, inch by inch, course by course we transcribe and file away course materials from academic years gone by. Again we encounter Harvard assistant professor of economics, Charles Jesse Bullock, this time wearing his public finance hat. Note that at the turn of the twentieth century monetary and fiscal issues were taught as two sides of a single financial history.

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Previously…

1903-1904 enrollment and final exam questions.

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Course Enrollment
1904-05

Economics 16 1hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Financial History of the United States.

Total 6: 4 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 75.

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Course Description
1904-05

[Economics] 16 1hf. The Financial History of the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and(at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Bullock.

This course will deal mainly with the history of the finances of the federal government; but will include some study of the financial experience of the colonies, and will treat of the development of the finances of the states from 1775 to 1850.
Each student will be required to prepare a thesis upon some special topic.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 46.

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ECONOMICS 161
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
  1. Describe the development of colonial tax systems.
  2. State the main facts concerning the Continental paper money.
  3. Describe Hamilton’s funding system.
  4. Describe and criticise the sinking-fund act of 1795.
  5. What are the main facts in the history of the Second Bank of the United States?
  6. Describe the tariffs of 1828, 1838, and 1846.
  7. What are the main facts in the history of the greenbacks?
  8. Discuss the suspension of specie payments in December, 1861.
  9. Describe the refunding of the national debt after the Civil War
  10. What were the chief provisions of the resumption act? How was resumption actually accomplished?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 36.

Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, Vol. 45, p. 26. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for the history of economics through Adam Smith. Bullock, 1904-1905

 

Meanwhile, back in the early 20th century we find Charles Jesse Bullock teaching the history of economics from the ancient Greeks to Adam Smith, judging from his exam questions. Nominally, the course was to cover economic thought through 1848. He, like Frank Taussig, examined economics Ph.D. candidates ability to read French and German. He taught Latin and Greek at the high-school level before going on to study economics so it is not surprising that he would have been expected to cover the ancient Greek and Latin literatures of economics as well.

The year-examination for this course in 1903-04 has been posted earlier.

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Course Enrollment
1904-05

Economics 15. Asst. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 3: 3 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 75.

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Course Description, 1904-05

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economies to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri, at 12. Asst. Professor Bullock.

The purpose of this course is to trace the development of economic thought from classical antiquity to the middle of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed upon the relation of economics to philosophical and political theories, as well as to political and industrial conditions.

A considerable amount of reading of prominent writers will be assigned and opportunity given for the preparation of theses. Much of the instruction is necessarily given by means of lectures.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), pp. 49-50.

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ECONOMICS 15
Mid-Year Examination, 1904-05

  1. With what literature upon the history of economics are you familiar?
  2. What place does Plato occupy in the development of economic thought?
  3. What criticism did Aristotle make against Plato’s Republic?
  4. What economic topics are discussed by Xenophon?
  5. Describe the economic doctrines of Thomas Aquinas.
  6. What do you think of the scholastic doctrine concerning usury?
  7. What were the doctrines of Molinaeus and Salmasius?
  8. Compare the Utopia with Plato’s Republic.
  9. What do you think of Ingram’s treatment of economic thought in the Middle Ages?
  10. Upon what subject do you consider the economic doctrine of the Schoolmen most satisfactory?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

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ECONOMICS 15
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

  1. What influence did the schoolmen have upon the economic thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
  2. Compare the contributions to economic thought made by English writers in the seventeenth century with those made by contemporaneous writers in France and Italy.
  3. Give some account of the economic doctrines of Bodin.
  4. Trace in outline the development of theories of money in Europe from 1550 to 1760.
  5. Compare the communistic theories of Plato with those of More.
  6. Describe the work done in the eighteenth century toward systematizing economic doctrines.
  7. Describe the economic doctrines of two German and two Italian writers of the eighteenth century.
  8. Give a general account of the life and writings of Adam Smith.
  9. What different influences can be observed in the Wealth of Nations? To which do you attribute most importance?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), pp. 35-36.

Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, Vol. 45, p. 26. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.