Tag: Carver

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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1910-1911

Seeds of Socialism

In this post you find the final exam, course description, and enrollment figures for the eighth iteration of Thomas Nixon Carver’s course that dealt with schemes of social reform, socialism/communism/single-tax. The economics of socialism was offered in some form or other throughout the first half of the twentieth century. 1910-11 was still a long-way from the great debates about the desirability/feasibility of central planning. 

Links to earlier and selected later versions of the course.

Brief bibliography by Carver for serious students on the economics of socialism (1910)

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

A study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

This course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 14a.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 53-54.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 14b 2hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 73: 6 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 32 Juniors, 7 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

 _______________________

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-End Examination, 1910-11

Give as full and complete answers
as possible in the time allowed.
Allow about thirty minutes to each question.
  1. In what respects are socialism and anarchism alike and in what respects are they unlike?
  2. Comment briefly upon the leading points in the creed of “orthodox socialism.”
  3. Compare the views of the socialist and the economist as to the source of interest.
  4. Compare economic competition with political competition as a means of selecting men to manage the productive resources of a country.
  5. Discuss the question: Is it better that the income derived from the rent of land should go to private individuals to be expended by them, or that it should go into the public treasury to be expended by public officials?
  6. Discuss the question: Would the single tax eliminate poverty?

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 51.

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Earlier Course Materials

Pre-Carver
Carver’s courses
Post-Carver:

 

Image Source:  Udo J. Keppler, “The Seeds of Socialism” from Puck (12 February 1908). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

A gigantic boar wearing a crown with “$” and a shawl labeled “Plutocratic Greed” and holding the U.S. Capitol dome labeled “Special Privilege”, inverted to form a bucket from which it is sowing seeds labeled “Abuse of Power, Arrogance, [and] Contempt of Law”onto a field sprouting “Socialist votes”. It is stepping on an American flag and a Liberty cap.

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Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Income Distribution. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1910-11

The Crabbed Millionaire's Puzzle

This course by Thomas Nixon Carver on the distribution of wealth, appears from the exam questions and the course description to have been a course on the theory of the functional distribution of income. 

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From earlier semesters

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10

’The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

This course begins with an analysis of the theory of value. The attempt is then made to formulate a positive theory of distribution helpful in explaining the actual incomes of the various classes of producers. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 53.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 86: 6 Graduates, 28 Seniors, 36 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 14a1
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. What is meant by the margin of cultivation?
  2. What would you suggest as a method of raising wages?
  3. Are wages “drawn from” capital or from product? Explain clearly the meaning which you give to the words “drawn from.”
  4. Discuss the question: Does the rent of land enter into the price of products?
  5. Do laborers as a class, or capitalists as a class, gain more from inventions and improvements in production? Give your reasons.
  6. What is the relation of risk to profits?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

Image Source: The Crabbed Millionaire’s Puzzle by J. S. Pughe. Puck (7 August 1901). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

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Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment, course description, semester exams in sociology. Carver and Bristol, 1910-1911

Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

An obituary for Carver’s assistant for the course, Lucius Moody Bristol (Harvard PhD in Social Ethics, 1913), was published in Social Forces Vol. 32, Issue 1 (October 1953), p. 90.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1892-93 (taught by E. Cummings)
1893-94 (taught by E. Cummings)
1894-95 (taught by E. Cummings)
1895-96 (taught by E. Cummings)
1896-97 (taught by E. Cummings)
1897-98 (taught by E. Cummings)
1898-99 (taught by E. Cummings)
1899-1900 (taught by E. Cummings)
1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)
1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.
1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)
1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)
1909-10 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. S. Davis)

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

An analytical study of social life and of the factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The leading social institutions will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Spencer’s Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1; Vol. II; Vol. III] and Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress will be read in full. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI,I No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 63

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr.[Lucius Moody] Bristol [Ph.D. 1913] — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 61: 8 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 12Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911 p. 50.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. What is the bearing of Weisman’s theory of heredity upon the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters?
  2. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the methods of administering charity?
  3. How does the transition from the militant to the industrial type of society affect the liberty of the individual?
  4. What is the relation of our economic concept of wealth to the general problem of adaptation?
  5. How does Spencer explain the origin of the belief in ghosts?
  6. What is meant by the power of idealization, and how does it affect the process of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1910-11

  1. Comment upon the following: —
    “Already increased facilities for divorce point to the probability that whereas, while permanent monogamy was being evolved, the union by law (originally the act of purchase) was regarded as the essential part of marriage and the union by affection as non essential; and whereas at present the union by law is thought the more important and the union by affection the less important, there will come a time when the union by affection will be held of primary moment and the union by law as of secondary moment: whence reprobation of marital relations in which the union by affection has dissolved.”
  2. Trace the origin, separation, and specialization of the leading professions.
  3. What is the leading idea of the selection entitled “War and Economics”? What do you think of it?
  4. What is the leading idea of the selection entitled “The Prolongation of Infancy”? What do you think of it?
  5. What, according to Nordau, are the symptoms and the causes of increasing degeneration in recent times?
  6. What is the relation of morality to the problem of adaptation?
  7. What are the leading phases of the struggle among the individuals of the social group called the state?
  8. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and by what means is it accomplished?
  9. Discuss the question: Is monarchy or democracy the more highly evolved form of government?
  10. What do you regard as the most important thing you have learned in this course?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1911), pp. 41-42.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver from Harvard Class Album 1913 (colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror).

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course Readings for Economics and Social Ethics, 1920-1921

Old Gate at Harvard College (August 6, 1920)

The artifact transcribed and linked for this post was found in last of ten boxes in the Harvard Archives collection “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”. I had worked through the previous nine boxes containing folders chronologically ordered by academic year. Box 10 contained five folders of poorly sorted course materials that were undated, requiring some effort to establish a probable time range for any of the artifacts. 

In the first folder I found an eight page typed list of courses, with the names and assigned readings (for most of the courses offered to both undergraduate and graduate students, though no reading lists for the courses that were primarily offered for graduate students) which was relatively easy to date by looking at the course staffing announced in the annual catalogue for the Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21. There is one reference to Taussig’s third edition (Dec. 1921) in the list which would suggest that the list was probably prepared for the 1921-22 or 1922-23 year using materials gathered from the earlier 1920-21 academic year. But the perfect correspondence of course staffing between the transcribed list below and the published announcement for 1920-21 is sufficient for me to assign the 1920-21 academic year to the post.

Square brackets […] have been used to distinguish additional information from the typed list. All explicit titles have been linked, increasing the value of this post considerably.

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Course Descriptions for
Economics and Social Ethics,
1920-21

Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1920-21 published in the Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XVII (May 22, 1920) No. 27.

______________________

One Harvard Graduate’s Memoir
of the 1920s

Carlson, Valdemar. “The Education of an Economist before the Great Depression: Harvard’s Economics Department in the 1920’s.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 27, no. 1, 1968, pp. 101–12.

______________________

ASSIGNED READINGS IN ECONOMICS

A. PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS

[Assistant] Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank and assistants

Readings:

Taussig, [Frank William], Principles of Economics

[First Edition (1911): Volume I; Volume II]
[Second Edition, Revised (1915): Volume I; Volume II]
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]
[Fourth Edition (1939) requires readers to set up an individual account at archive.org for temporary access: Volume I; Volume II]

[Questions on the Principles of Economics by Edmund Ezra Day and Joseph Stancliffe Davis (Revised for the thrid edition of Taussig’s Principles of Economics) edition, 1922.]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1a. ACCOUNTING

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1b. STATISTICS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

Readings:

Secrist, Introduction to Statistical Methods, 1-77, 116-424

King, Elements of Statistical Method, pp.1-19, 64-82, 167-196

Elderton, W. P. and E. M., Primer of Statistics, ch. 1-4

U.S. Census, The Story of the Census, 1790-1915

Field, “Some Advantages of the Logarithmic Scale in Statistical Diagrams,” Journ. Pol. Econ., Oct. 1917

Persons, W. M., Measuring and Forecasting General Business Conditions

Joint Committee on Graphic Standards, Preliminary Report
[Publications of the American Statistical Association 14, no. 112 (1915): 790–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/2965153]

Additional;

Unprescribed portions of King and Secrist

List of references appended to chapters in King and Secrist

References for Statistical Work (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

Questions and Exercises in Statistics (Prepared for Economics 1b, 1920)

The Review of Economic Statistics

Lists of references in specific fields

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2a. EUROPEAN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

2b. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

Readings:

See printed bibliography on file in Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

3. MONEY, BANKING, AND COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

Readings:

[none listed]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4a. ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Railroad Rates, vol. 1, (not vol. II)

Ripley, Railway Problems

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4b. ECONOMICS OF CORPORATIONS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Ripley, Trusts, Pools, and Corporations

Haney, Business Organization and Combination

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5a. PUBLIC FINANCE, EXCLUSIVE OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Daniel [sic], Public Finance [Possibly: Winthrop More Daniels, Elements of Public Finance (1899)]

Adams, H. C., Public Finance [sic]
[Probably: The Science of Finance, An Investigation of Public Expenditures and Public Revenues (1912)]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Darwin, Municipal Trade

Stourm, The Budget

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

5b. THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Asst. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank

Readings:

Bastable, Selections on Public Finance

Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance
[Second edition, 1921]

Seligman, Essays in Taxation

Means, Methods of Taxation

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6a. TRADE-UNIONISM AND ALLIED PROBLEMS

Professor [William Zebina] Ripley

Readings:

Webb, Industrial Democracy

Commons, Trade Unionism

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7a. THEORIES OF VALUE AND DISTRIBUTION

Professor [Edmund Ezra] Day

Readings:

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Carver, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Principles of Economics (1921 edition)
[Third Edition, (Dec. 1921): Volume I; Volume II]

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Walker, Political Economy

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest

Fetter, Economic Principles

Davenport, Economics of Enterprise

Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Anderson, Social Value

Anderson, The Value of Money

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

7b. SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM, THE SINGLE TAX

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

See printed circular on file in the Tutorial Library

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

8. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Bristol, Social Adaptation

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress

Sumner, Folkways

Spencer, Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]

Carver, Essays in Social Justice

Giddings, Sociology

Tardl [sic], Social Gains [sic]   [Looks like a typographical error. Probably Social Laws, An Outline of Sociology by Gabriel Tarde (1899 translation from the French)[

Kidd, Social Evolution

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Principles of Rural Economics

Carver, Selected Readings in Rural Economics

Various bulletins and reports

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9b. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF POLICIES

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

Readings:

Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Smith, Wealth of Nations

State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff

Taussig, Selected Readings (to appear shortly)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

10. ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND INSTITUTIONS

Dr. [Arthur Eli] Monroe

Readings:

Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I, ch. 1-11; Bk. II, ch. 1-6; IV, ch. 11-13; V, ch. 1-9

Maine, Ancient Law, ch. 5-8

Ashley, Economic History of England, vol. I, ch. 3

Mun: England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade

Turgot, Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, 1-3, 5-9, 11 (secs. 1,2)

Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. II, 3-5; IV, 1, 2, 9

Malthus, Essay on Population, [Vol. I, 6th ed. ] Bk I, 1, 2; Bk. II, 13; [Vol. II, 6th ed.] III, 2, 3; Bk. IV, 1, 2, 3. (Or selections in Ashley’s Classics)

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. I], Bk. I, 5; Bk: II, 11; Bk. III, 1-5

Mill, Political Economy [Vol. II], Bk. IV, 3,4; Bk. V, 8, 10, 11 (sec. 1-9)

List, National System of Political Economy, Bk. II, 2-5, 7

Carlyle, Past and Present (selected chap.) or
Ruskin, Unto this Last, ch. 1, 3

 Bücher, Industrial Evolution, chs. 3, 4

Ashley, Economic Organization of England, ch. 1-7

Wells, Mankind in the Making

(Several optional assignments to be announced later)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

11. ECONOMIC THEORY

Professor [Frank William] Taussig
[“Maurice Beck Hexter’s notes from Harvard University, 1921-22” and “Supplemental notes from F.W. Taussig’s Course in economic theory with contributions by A.A. Young” edited by Marianne Johnson and Warren J. Samuels in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 28-C (2010), pp. 11-176]

Readings:

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy
[Third edition, 1821]

Mill, Principles of Political Economy

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Clark, Distribution of Wealth

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fetter, Principles of Economics

Hobson, Work and Wealth

Veblen, Theory of Business Enterprise

Divers separate articles and chapters in other books

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

9a. THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

Readings:

Carver, Distribution of Wealth

Marshall, Principles of Economics

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Fisher, The Rate of Interest

Clark, The Distribution of Wealth

Taussig, Work [sic] and Capital [Wages and Capital]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

14. HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF ECONOMICS TO THE YEAR 1848

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

15. MODERN SCHOOLS OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

31. PUBLIC FINANCE

Professor [Charles Jesse] Bullock

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

32. ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMERICAN CONDITIONS

Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

33.  INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TARIFF PROBLEMS

Professor [Frank William] Taussig

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

34. PROBLEMS OF LABOR

Professor [William Ripley] Ripley

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35a. BUSINESS CORPORATIONS

Asst. Professor Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

35b. BUSINESS COMBINATIONS

Asst. Professor [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36a. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: HISTORICAL, THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

36b. PUBLIC REGULATION AND CONTROL OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PUBLIC SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Dr. [Edmund Earle] Lincoln

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

37. COMMERCIAL CRISES

Professor [Warren Milton] Persons

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

38. SELECTED MONETARY PROBLEMS

Professor [Allyn Abbott] Young

PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[ASSIGNED READINGS]
IN SOCIAL ETHICS

1. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL POLICY

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster and Asst. Professor [James] Ford

Readings:

Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London, vol. 1 of Series 1, 3-8, 24-73, 131-171

Conklin, Heredity and Environment, rev. ed. pp.197-242, 256-258, 297-306, 416-456, 475-497

Dewey, and Tufts, Ethics, ch. 15, pp. 297-304; ch. 18-26, pp. 364-606

Flexner, and Baldwin, Juvenile Courts and Probation, Pts.1, 2, pp. 3-78

Oppenheimer, The Rationale of Punishment, pp. 1-4, 171-175, 234-295

Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. 1, pt. 3, ch. 9 and 12, pp. 686-724, 745-756

Warner, American Charities, 3rd ed., ch. 4, 6-10, 12, 14-15, 17-22, pр. 64-90, 113-225, 248-284, 305-346, 363-476

Wines, Punishment and Reformation, ch. 8, 10, 12-14 (3rd ed.) pp. 133-167, 199-234, 265-412

Committee of Fifty to Study the Liquor Problem, Summary of Investigations, pp. 15-134

Burritt, Dennison, Gay, Heilman, and Kendall, Profit Sharing, pp. 159-257

Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, pp. 1-414, 454-464

Fay, Cooperation at Home and Abroad, pp. 273-285, 310-354

Foerster, A Promising Venture in Industrial Partnership, Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, Pub. 703, November 1912, pp. 97-103

Hoxie, Scientific Management and Labor, pp. 25-139

King, Industry and Humanity, ch. 7, 8, pp. 167-303; ch. 10, pp. 364-390

British Labor party, Sub-committee on Reconstruction, report, Labor and the New Social Order, reprint from the New Republic, Feb. 16, 1918, pp. 12

Lee, Play in Education, pp. 319-391, 423-494

Schaeffle, Quintessence of Socialism, pp. 39-127

Schloss, Industrial Remuneration, pp. 286-309

Spargo, Applied Socialism, pp. 87-325

Veiller, Housing Reform, pp. 3-190

Williams, Profit-sharing, pp. 17-42, 146-171

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

4. AMERICAN POPULATION PROBLEMS: IMMIGRATION AND THE NEGRO

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Reading:

Byington, Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town, ch. 9-11, pp.131-157

Fairchild, Immigration, ch. 1-5, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, pp. 1-105, 123-143, 163-212, 233-368, 393-415

Foerster, The Italian Emigration of Our Times, ch. 21-24, pp. 415-525

Ibid. Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug.1913, Review of Hourwich’s book on immigration, pp. 656-671

Hourwich, Immigration and Labor, ch. 4, 5, 12-15, 18, 23, pp. 82-112, 284-352, 375-383, 489-501, 414-431 and in chapter 21, Report of the MASS. COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION, 1914, pp. 54-104

Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, ch. 1, pp. 1-29

Reely, Selected Articles on Immigration (Debaters’ Handbook) pp. 131-134, 200-204, 219-222, 225-229

Roberts, The New Immigration, ch. 9, 11-13, pp. 124-138, 156-199

Ross, The Old World in the New, ch. 1-4, 6, 11, pp. 1-92, 120-140, 259-281

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 39, pp. 5-81, 127-129

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, vol. 2, pp. 417-426

Warne, Slav Invasion, pp. 28-38, 47-83

U. S. Immigration Commission, vol. 1, pp. 491-541; vol. 4, pp. 239-281, 337-348

Ovington, Half a Man, ch. 4-8, pp. 75-217

Shaler, The Neighbor, pp. 278-336

Stone, Studies in the American Race Problem, pp. 149-208

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, Amer. Econ. Review, May 1902, pp. 28-45, 60-79, 102-170

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

6. UNEMPLOYMENT AND RELATED PROBLEMS OF THE WORKING CLASSES

Asst. Professor [Robert Franz] Foerster

Readings:

Beveridge, Unemployment, pp. 1-237

Webb, Seasonal Trades, ch. 1, 2, pp. 1-90

U. S. Bureau of Labor, Report on Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. 7, pp. 43-60, 64-67, 177-192

Barnes, The Longshoremen, pp. 55-92, 199-206, 210-227

Chicago, Report of the Mayor’s Commission on Unemployment, 1914, pp. 107-165

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 206, B. Lasker, British System of Labor Exchanges, pp. 1-56

Kellor, Out of Work, Ch. 6, pp. 157-193

Gibbon, Unemployment Insurance, pp. 187-203

Dawson, Vagrancy Problem, ch. 4, 11, pp.104-132; 229-249

Ibid. Social Insurance in Germany, ch. 2-4, 7-9, pp. 22-127,182-265

Gibbon, Medical Benefit …Germany and Denmark, ch. 2, 6, 9, 12, 18 pp. 10-14, 43-52, 81-106, 125-131, 192-203

Rubinow, Standards of Health Insurance, Ch. 5-9, pp.67-152

Belloc, The Servile State, pp. 155-189

24th Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Labor, 1909, Vol. 2, pp. 1499-1530, 1540-1544

Foerster, The British National Insurance Act, Q. J. of Econ., Feb. 1912, pp. 275-298, 305-312

Bernhard, Undesirable Results of German Social Legislation, pp. 39-75

Mass. Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1910 Report, pp. 112-122, 164-203, 224-259, 268-284, 300-344

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 195, Unemployment in the United States, 1916

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 10, Folder “Economics, undated (1 of 5)”.

Image Source: Old Gate at Harvard College (Leon H. Abdalian, photographer). Boston Public Library Arts Department.  [No Copyright – United States]

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Radical Socialism Suggested Reading

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Readings, final exam. Carver, 1909-1910

Columbia standing with Puck's figure for the "Independent" party/vote and Puck who is holding a design drawing for a statue labeled "Reform", which is under construction behind them by "D.W. Everett, Rev. J.F. Clarke, Beecher, Col. The. Lyman, Schurz, H. White, G.F. Williams, Curtis, [and] Jones". The building blocks are labeled "Scratchem 1879, Anti-3rd Termism 1880, Tidal Wave Elections 1882, Civil Service Reform Bill, [and] Republican Revolt 1884"

The Economics in the Rear-view Mirror collection of artifacts in the form of course readings, syllabi, and exams is increased with this post that provides material from the economics course Methods of Social Reform — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax taught by Thomas Nixon Carver during the second term of the academic year 1909-10 at Harvard.

At the risk of being unfair to an academic scribbler of a few years back who may be pronounced not guilty in the illiberal mania of our own times, I believe Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver (1865-1961) could easily have been the sort of professor Turning Point USA would have embraced and promoted. 

Professor Carver’s own words about his course on Methods of Social Reform are fair game to quote (Prove me wrong):

The half course on methods of social reform attracted every kind of radical which the student body could furnish. They came armed with all the stock arguments against the existing economic system. Its defects were patent enough, while their untried schemes had not revealed to the naked eye their own defects. By listening patiently to their indictments, maintaining a reasonable attitude, and adopting the Socratic method of free discussion, I was able to steer the course, not to the satisfaction of the extreme radicals, but to that of the majority of the successive classes.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1949. Page 172.

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Previously posted

Pre-Carver:
Carver’s courses

Post-Carver:

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

A study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

This course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 14a.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, pp. 53-54.

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ECONOMICS 14b
TOPICS AND REFERENCES

Starred references are prescribed.
Double starred references will be used as a basis for class-room discussion.

COMMUNISM
A
UTOPIAS
  1. Plato’s Republic.
  2. *Sir Thomas More. Utopia.
  3. *Francis Bacon. New Atlantis.
  4. *Tommaso Campanella. The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
  5. Etienne Cabot. Voyage en Icarie.
  6. William Morris. News from Nowhere.
  7. Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward.
  8. Laurence Gronlund. The Coöperative Commonwealth.
  9. H. G. Wells. A Modern Utopia.
B
COMMUNISTIC EXPERIMENTS
  1. Charles Nordhoff. The Communistic Societies of the United States.
  2. Karl Kautsky. Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
  3. *W. A. Hinds. American Communities.
  4. J. H. Noyes. History of American Socialisms.
  5. J. T. Codman. Brook Farm Memoirs.
  6. Albert Shaw. Icaria.
  7. G. B. Landis. The Separatists of Zoar.
  8. E. O. Randall. History of the Zoar Society.
SOCIALISM
A
HISTORICAL
  1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
  2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
  3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
  4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
  5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism
  6. William Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
  7. Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.
  8. Wm. B. Guthrie. Socialism before the French Revolution.
  9. M. Hillquit. History of Socialism in the United States.
B
EXPOSITORY AND CRITICAL
  1. **J. E. Le Rossignol. Orthodox Socialism.
  2. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
  3. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
  4. **Karl Marx. Capital.
  5. *Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. The Manifest of the Communist Party.
  6. Frederic Engels. Socialism, Utopian and Scientific.
  7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
  8. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
  9. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
  10. The Fabian Tracts.
  11. R. T. Ely. Socialism: an Examination of its Nature, Strength and Weakness.
  12. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
  13. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
  14. Sidney and Beatrice Web. Problems of Modern Industry.
  15. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
  16. Werner Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
  17. Émile Vandervelde. Collectivism.
  18. R. Flint. Socialism.
  19. A. Labriola. Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History.
  20. E. de Laveleye. The Socialism of Today.
  21. P. J. Proudhon. What is Property?
  22. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism
  23. John Spargo. Socialism
ANARCHISM
  1. Max Stirner (pseudonym for Kaspar Schmidt). Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum.
  2. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
  3. William Godwin. Political Justice.
  4. P. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
  5. P. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22: 149.
  6. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 14: 627.
  7. E. V. Zenker. Anarchism, a Criticism and History.
RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM
  1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
  2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
  3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
  4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
  5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
  6. Josiah Strong. The New Era
  7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of Morris.
  8. Ruskin, the Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
  9. Carlyle, The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works.
THE SINGLE TAX
  1. **Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
  2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
  3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.
  4. Thomas G. Shearman. Natural Taxation.
  5. Louis F. Post. The Single Tax.
STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

  1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
  2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.
WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM
  1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
  2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
  5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder: 1909-1910.

_______________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 14b 2hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 59: 14 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 5 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

 _______________________

ECONOMICS 14b
Year-End Examination, 1909-10

  1. State and discuss the doctrine of “Evolution through class struggle.”
  2. What does Mackaye mean by “conditional compensation,” and how does he propose that it shall be put into practice?
  3. Give a brief account of the origin of the Social Democratic party in Germany.
  4. What is the difference between Utopian and “scientifie” Socialism?
  5. What problem did Henry George attempt to solve in his Progress and Poverty? Did he solve it? Explain your answer.
  6. Is the single tax a step in the direction of Socialism? Explain your answer.
  7. Why does Fillebrown think that the single tax would improve the conditions on Cornhill Street, Boston? Is he justified in his belief?
  8. Discuss the question: Would the single tax be confiscation?

 Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 48-49.

Image Source: “Men may come, and men may go; but the work of reform shall go on forever” by J. Keppler in Puck (5 November 1884). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Distribution Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Distribution of Wealth. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1909-1910

"Shall I be wise and great, or rich and powerful" wonders a schoolboy standing outside a "Public School"; on the left is Charles M. Schwab sitting atop a large money bag labeled "Manager of Steel Trust $1,000,000 yearly salary," resting on a steel factory, and on the right is a Supreme Court justice holding a balance scale in one hand and a tiny money bag with the label "Chief Justice of U.S. $10,500 yearly salary," sitting on a large book labeled "Law and Constitution."

Thomas Nixon Carver’s Cornell Ph.D. dissertation “The theory of wages adjusted to recent theories of value” was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (July 1894). This followed the publication of his paper “The place of abstinence in the theory of interest” that appeared in the October 1893 issue. It was this theoretical work on the functional distribution of income that caught the eye of the Harvard economics department. Thus it was natural for the topic of distribution to have been included in Carver’s portfolio of courses.

Carver later wrote about the importance of these two articles for his professional advancement:

Considering the time 1900, the place Harvard, and the subjects which I was to teach, the position to which I was appointed was undoubtedly the most important teaching position in the country, or the world. How a green country boy from an Iowa prairie moved through various stages, each one a surprise to himself, to such a position has been and still is a source of wonderment to me. It must surprise, even if it does
not interest, some other people.

I was deeply curious to know how President Eliot had heard of me and what had led him to write to me about coming to Harvard, but I restrained myself. Years afterward I asked him how he came to look me up, and he replied that Professor Dunbar had been impressed by two articles which I had sub- mitted to him as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which he had published, and which he, President Eliot, had read. “Besides,” said he, with a smile, “I know a great many people from Ohio.” I learned from other sources that he had talked with some of my former students who had come from Oberlin to Harvard for graduate work. I was fortunate in having some warm friends among the Oberlin men then at Harvard.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1949. Page 3.

________________________

From earlier semesters

1904-05
1905-06
1907-08
1908-09

’The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

__________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

14a 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

This course begins with a survey of the most noteworthy attempts to formulate a general theory of value. The economic systems of Ricardo, Mill, Böhm-Bawerk, and Clark are specially reviewed. The attempt is then made, in the light of these criticisms, and of industrial conditions, to formulate a positive theory of distribution helpful in explaining the actual incomes of the various classes of producers. Finally the question of justice in distribution is considered.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VI, No. 29 (23 July 1909). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1909-10, p. 53.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 67: 15 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 44.

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ECONOMICS 14a1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. What is the relation of cost of production to value?
  2. Would you include wages, rent, interest and profits all under cost of production? State your reasons for your answer in each case.
  3. What is the relation of the law of diminishing returns to the law of rent?
  4. How would you distinguish between the rate of interest and the income from capital? How is each determined?
  5. -6. How would you answer the following questions? Is land productive?
    Is capital productive?
    State briefly your reasons for each answer.
  1. -8. How would you answer the following questions?
    Is rent earned? Is interest earned?
    State briefly your reasons for each answer.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 48.

Image Source: Young America’s Dilemma by Louis Dalrymple. Puck (12 June 1901). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1909-1910

Thomas Nixon Carver taught or co-taught sociology in the Harvard economics department eight times in the first decade of the twentieth century. Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

__________________________

Carver’s teaching assistant was J. S. Davis [Ph.D., 1913] whose obituary, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was written by Joseph H. Willits. It was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

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Sociology exams from earlier years

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

The purpose of this course will be to make an analytical study of social life in order to discover the elementary factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The development of social institutions, such as the family, the state, religion, property, and contract, will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Reading in connection with the lectures will be assigned in such works as Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Kidd’s Social Evolution, and in Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

________________________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis [Ph.D., 1913]. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 70: 12 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

Do not try to write too much. Think out your answers and express yourself clearly.

  1. How would you define Sociology, and into what departments would you divide it?
  2. How does the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters affect the problem of race improvement?
  3. Do geographical conditions exercise as powerful an influence upon mental and social life in advanced stages of civilization as in the lower stages? Explain your position.
  4. How is the form of social organization affected when the social group is compelled to wage its chief struggle against other social groups? How is it affected when the group must wage its chief struggle against the forces of nature?
  5. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the relative importance of intellectual and moral development.
  6. What is meant by the standard of living, how is it maintained, and how does its maintenance affect the general problem of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What, according to Spencer, are the original external and the original internal factors of sociology?
  2. What professions have developed from the priesthood, and how has the development taken place?
  3. What are the points of resemblance between the mediaeval prince and the modern political boss?
  4. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the development of European society in the near future?
  5. How, according to Buckle, is civilization affected by the “aspects of nature”?
  6. What is meant by the “zone of the founders of religion”?
  7. What is meant by “The Productive Life”?
  8. What is the relation of morality to adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 39-40.

Image Source: Portraits of Thomas Nixon Carver and Joseph Stancliffe Davis from the Harvard Class Album 1916.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollment and semester examinations for principles of economics. Carver and Bullock, 1909-1910

After a long break to finish the draft of a paper and a couple of weeks of vacation, your Economics in the Rear-view Mirror’s curator is back in action. We resume with the transcription of the 1909-10 Harvard economics course examinations. Economics 1, Principles of Economics is the subject of this post. Professors Carver and Bullock covered the course for Frank Taussig in 1909-10 due to a last-minute leave of absence taken by Taussig (undoubtedly related to the ill-health of his wife [Tuberculosis?]).

________________________

Exams for principles (a.k.a. outlines)
of economics at Harvard
1870/71-1908/09

1871-75

 1880-81 1890-91 1900-01
1881-82 1891-92

1901-02

1882-83 1892-93 1902-03
1883-84 1893-94

1903-04

1884-85 1894-95 1904-05
1885-86 1895-96

1905-06

1876-77

 1886-87 1896-97 1906-07
1877-78 1887-88 1897-98

1907-08

1878-79

 1888-89 1898-99 1908-09
1879-80 1889-90 1899-00

________________________

Frank Taussig on Leave, 1909-1910

Owing to the absence of Professor Taussig, the following changes in the courses in Economics will be made:

Economics 1 will be conducted by Professors Bullock and Carver; Economics 2 will not be given; Economics 14a and 14b will be given as hitherto, but will be starred,–that is, may not be taken without the consent of the instructor; Economics 23 will not be given; Economics 4, which was announced to be given as a half-course only, in the first half-year, will be given as a full course, by Professor Ripley; Economics 9b, which was announced to be omitted, will be given; Economics 20d will not be given.

Source: The Harvard Crimson (29 September 1909).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

“The work that gave final form to the Principles was done in an atmosphere of sorrow. Mrs. Taussig’s health had given cause for anxiety for some time. In 1909-1910 he took a year’s leave of absence, which they spent in Saranac [Lake], N.Y., and there she died on April 15, 1910.”

Source: J. A. Schumpeter, A. H. Cole, and E. S. Mason, “Frank William Taussig”, Quarterly Journal of Economics (May, 1941), p. 352.

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Economies. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Taussig, assisted by Dr. Huse and Messrs. M. T. Copeland, Holcombe, Sharfman, and Usher.

Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1.

Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 1. Professors [Thomas Nixon] Carver and [Charles Jesse] Bullock, assisted by Drs. [Charles Phillips] Huse [Ph.D., 1907] and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe [Ph.D., 1909], Messrs. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland [Ph.D., 1910], [Isaiah Leo] Sharfman [LL.B., 1910], and [Abbott Payson] Usher [Ph.D., 1910] . — Principles of Economics.

Total 423: 15 Seniors, 83 Juniors, 193 Sophomores, 80 Freshmen, 52 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 43.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Distinguish between free goods and economic goods; between productive labor and unproductive labor; between wealth and capital.
  2. State the law of diminishing returns from land and explain its relation to the intensive and extensive margins of cultivation.
  3. If you were to find that all the land of a country had been brought under cultivation, what should you say would be the conditions which would permit a further increase of population?
  4. What are the chief advantages of a division of labor and what determines the extent to which the division of labor can be carried out?
  5. Name the great mechanical inventions since 1750 which have brought about a change in the form of industrial organization. What has been the character of this change?
  6. Can the value of a commodity depend both on demand and supply and on cost of production? If so, how? Can it ever depend on demand and supply and not on cost of production? Can it ever depend on cost of production and not on demand and supply? Explain?
  7. What will be the probable effect of the present meat boycott on the price of meat, other food products, cattle, hides, assuming the boycott to be permanent?
  8. Outline briefly the principal acts of congress relating to the coinage of money in the United States, explaining particularly those acts which produced effects illustrating Gresham’s Law.
  9. Compare the Bank of England, the Bank of Germany and the national banks of the United States as to (1) security of note issue; (2) elasticity of note issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. —
    1. Distinguish between elastic and inelastic demand; between total and marginal utility.
    2. Can the value of any commodity depend both on marginal utility and on cost of production today it ever depend on one and not on the other? Explain carefully.
  2. What are the methods by which a bank may sell its credit? What provisions in the national banking law of the United States serve as a safeguard against the over-extension of credit?
  3. A has a piece of land which produces 100 bushels of wheat at an average cost of 60 cents a bushel. The cost of producing a bushel of wheat on the extensive margin of cultivation is 90 cents. What elements does this marginal cost of production include? Calculate the selling price of A’s land, the current rate of interest being 5%.
  4. Suppose that every person engaged in agriculture owned the land which he cultivated, and that all advantages of superior fertility were exactly offset by greater costs of transportation, would rent arise under any conditions? If so, how would it be determined? If not, would the land have any exchange value? Give reasons.
  5. —
    1. Suppose that every person made and used his own tools, would interest exist? Give reasons.
    2. Is the payment of interest at the current rate to a multi-millionaire for the use of his capital justifiable? Give reasons.
  6. What are net profits? To what are they due? Are they a factor in determining price? Give reasons.
  7. What effect upon wages would you expect as a result of:—
    1. the extension of industrial education;
    2. immigration;
    3. the limitation of the output by labor unions;
    4. an increase in the supply of capital;
    5. the introduction of socialism?
  8. Discuss briefly:—
    1. overcapitalization.
    2. Rochdale Pioneers.
    3. Knights of Labor.
    4. Single Tax.
    5. “Gold points.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 38-39.

Image Source: Charles Jesse Bullock and Thomas Nixon Carver portraits in the Harvard Class Album 1915.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Exam for Economics of Agriculture. Carver, 1908-1909

 

In 1911 Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver published a textbook Principles of Rural Economics  that undoubtedly encompassed the content of his course on agricutural economics first taught in 1903-04. Carver’s book is prefaced with an eight page bibliography.

The eight question final exam for this semester course from 1908-09 is found below.

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Earlier material

ca. 1904 Problem set
1903-04 Final exam
1905-06 Final exam

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Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 23 2hf. Professor Carver. — Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions.

Total 25: 2 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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Course Description
1908-09

[Economics]23 2hf. Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30. Professor Carver.

A study of the relation of agriculture to the whole industrial system, the relative importance of rural and urban economics, the conditions of rural life in different parts of the United States, the forms of land tenure and methods of rent payment, the comparative merits of large and small holdings, the status and wages of farm labor, the influence of farm machinery, farmers’ organizations, the marketing and distribution of farm products, agricultural credit, the policy of the government toward agriculture, and the probable future of American agriculture.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19
(1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, p. 56.

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ECONOMICS 23
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

  1. Into what periods would you divide the agricultural history of the United States, and what are the leading characteristics of each period?
  2. What are the chief reasons for the fact that the urban population of the United States is growing more rapidly than the rural population?
  3. Does the law of diminishing returns as applied to agriculture give rise to national problems different from those to which it gives rise in manufacturing? Explain.
  4. Discuss the question: Is further immigration desirable in the interests of American agriculture? State clearly the point of view from which you approach the question.
  5. What agricultural improvements do you associate with the following names: Townsend, Bakewell, Robert Colling, Benjamin Tompkins, Jethro Wood.
  6. What are the chief difficulties in the way of the organization of farmers and farming interests?
  7. What, in your opinion, are the most important things now being done for agriculture by the Federal Government of the United States?
  8. State briefly the chief advantages of large-scale farming; also of small-scale farming.

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, 1909), p. 51.

Image Source: “Picking cranberries.” Card. [ca. 1850–2001]. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/fx71c322q  (accessed June 02, 2025).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Socialism, Communism, etc. Course Description and Final Exam. Carver, 1908-1909

“Plans of social amelioration” were considered important enough to include in the economics curriculum at Harvard from early on. In the hands of the conservative professor Thomas Nixon Carver the doctrines of socialism, communism, and Georgeism were introduced to Harvard students in order for them to see the errors of critics of free-enterprise market economies, a.k.a. capitalism.

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Previously posted

Pre-Carver:
Carver’s courses

Post-Carver:

________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 14b 2hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 44: 7 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 14 Juniors, 7 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 67.

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Course Announcement
1908-09

Economics 14b 2hf. Methods of Social Reform. — Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

A study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with & view to getting & clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.
This course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Course 14a. [The Distribution of Wealth]

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19
(1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, pp. 49-50.

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ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

  1. How would you distinguish Socialism from Communism, from Anarchism, and from the single tax?
  2. Upon what grounds do the Marxian Socialists base their belief that Socialism is inevitable?
  3. Compare the socialistic theory of commercial crises with that of Henry George.
  4. Compare the views of Karl Marx and of Henry George upon the source of interest, or the income of the capitalist.
  5. Discuss the question: Is interest earned?
  6. Discuss the question: Is rent earned?
  7. Which of the communistic experiments in the United States seems to you most interesting? Why?
  8. Outline, briefly, Tolstoi’s theory of “passive resistance.”

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, 1909), p. 45.

Image Source: Andy Piascik, “Remembering the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike,” September 8, 2018. From The Africanist Press website.