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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Modern Economic History of Europe. Description, Enrollment, Exams. Gay, 1910-1911

Facciata di Palazzo San Giorgio visto dal Bigo - Genova

European and U.S. economic history were charter subjects within the discipline of economics (née political economy) from its earliest days. This post adds Edwin F. Gay’s exam questions for his course on modern European economic history taught at Harvard 1910-11. 

Bonus material:

Links to earlier course material for European Economic History from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1909-10.

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

  1. Modern Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Gay and Dr. Gray.
    [note the enrollment figures only has Professor Gay as the course instructor]

At the outset a survey will be made of economic and social conditions in the chief European countries at the close of the Middle Ages. The history of agriculture, industry, and commerce in the succeeding periods down to the beginning of the nineteenth century will then be treated in some detail. England will receive the emphasis due to its increasing importance during this period.

Course 11 is open to students who have taken Economics 1 or History 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), pp. 56.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 11. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 9: 6 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. Trace the history of copyhold tenure in England to the time of Sir Edward Coke.
  2. Describe the agrarian development of different parts of Germany from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
Answer three of the following questions.
  1. Compare the development and organization of the woolen industry in the Rhine valley, in Florence, and in England.
  2. Upon what sources are based modern studies of population and wealth in mediaeval towns? What definite results have been reached? To what extent was the mediaeval merchant a wholesale trader?
  3. State Unwin’s views regarding the differentiation of classes within English crafts, and examine the evidence adduced.
  4. …“we are led to the principle that the work of townsmen should yield them a sufficient satisfaction of the necessities of life … since only the well-being of individuals was the aim … it was necessary to see to it that there be the greatest possible equality in the division of output among individual producers … hence free competition was excluded.” Discuss this view of the purpose of the craft gild, illustrating from any special study of your own.

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1910-11

  1. Comment on the following statement, giving illustrations:
    “The whole internal history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is summed up in the opposition of the economic policy of the state to that of the town, the district, and the several estates. [Both in domestic and foreign policy] questions of political power were at issue, which were, at the same time, questions of economic organization.”
  2. Criticise the following statement: “the domestic system existed in England from the earliest times till it was superseded by capitalism; … craft gilds were a form of industrial organization which was appropriate to the domestic rather than to the capitalist system.”
  3. —
    1. Outline the history of English commerce from Elizabeth to the younger Pitt.
    2. It is stated that the total value of exports and imports for England and France was as follows for the years here given: —

England
£

France
livres

1613

 4,628,586
1750 20,471,120 1750

355,202,357

1800

 62,639,398 1789

758,104,000

Are these figures of equal statistical value? What conclusions may be drawn from a comparison of English and French commercial statistics during this period?

  1. —
    1. Describe briefly the price movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its extent, character, causes, and results.
    2. What are the difficulties in comparing the purchasing power of a shilling in 1450, 1550, and 1911?
  2. What connection exists between: —
    1. the Casa di San Giorgio and modern banking?
    2. the “lettre de foire” and the bill of exchange?
    3. the Statute of Artificers and changes in the gild system?
    4. the Navigation Acts and the decline of Holland?

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, pp. 48-49.

________________________

Links to earlier course material for
European Economic History.
Harvard 1883-84 through 1909-10

1883-84. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1884-85. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1885-86. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1886-87. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1887-88. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1888-89. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [Gray]
1889-90. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [A.C. Miller]
1890-91. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [C.F. Dunbar]
1891-92. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [W.M. Cole]
1892-93. Economics 4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. [W.M. Cole]
1892-93. Economics 10. Economic History of Europe and America, to 1763. [W.J. Ashley]
1893-94. Economics 10. Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. [W.J. Ashley]
1893-94. Economics 13. Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1894-95. Economics 10. Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. [W.J. Ashley]
1895-96. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1896-97. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe and America [W.J. Ashley]
1897-98. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe and America [W.J. Ashley]
1898-99. Economics 8. Western Civilization, mediaeval and modern, in its Economic Aspects [W. Cunningham, Reading List]
1898-99. Economics 11. Industrial Revolution in England. [W. Cunningham]
1899-1900. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [W.J. Ashley, Reading List]
1900-01. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [W.J. Ashley]
1901-02. No course in European economic history offered.
1902-03. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1902-03. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1903-04. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History [E.F. Gay]
1904-05. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]
1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]
1906-07. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1906-07. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]
1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]
1907-08. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]
1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with M.T. Copeland]
1908-09. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1908-09. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [not offered]
1909-10. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with H. L. Gray]
1909-10. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe [H.L. Gray]
1909-10. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe [E.F. Gay]

________________________

Image Source: Facciata di Palazzo San Giorgio visto dal Bigo – Genova by Sidvis from Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons license.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. European Economic History. Description, Enrollment, Exams. Gray and Gay, 1909-1910

Historical time and cultural space are dimensions that have collapsed in the training of the the 21st century economist. We again take you back to view some of the economic history course offerings found in early 20th century Harvard. OK, let’s be honest, even at that time we can see from the course enrollments that there were only three graduate students with Latin skills robust enough to handle medieval texts (Si verum quaeris). It is also charming to see that Edwin F. Gay’s  “modern economic history” goes all the way up to … the beginning of the 19th century.

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Earlier Courses
European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with M.T. Copeland]

1909-10. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay with H. L. Gray]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Mediaeval Economic History
of Europe

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

10 2hf. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 2.30. Dr. [Howard Levi] Gray.

After a preliminary examination of early economic and social institutions, this course aims to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. Among other topics, the following will be considered: medieval agriculture and serfdom; the manorial system and the economic aspects of feudalism; the beginnings of town life and the gild-system of industry; and the Italian and Hanseatic commercial supremacy.

It is essential that students should possess some reading knowledge of Latin.

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. 56.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 10 2hf. Dr. [Howard Levi] Gray. — Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Total 3: 3 Graduates.

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

________________________

Modern Economic History
of Europe

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Modern Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., al 10. Professor Gay.

At the outset a survey will be made of economic and social conditions in the chief European countries at the close of the Middle Ages. The history of agriculture, industry, and commerce in the succeeding periods down to the beginning of the nineteenth century will then be treated in some detail. England will receive the emphasis due to its increasing importance during this period.

Course 11 is open to students who have taken Economics 1 or History 1.

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. 56.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 11. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 12: 4 Graduates, 4 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 2 Others.

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. Explain briefly: —
    1. the open field system,
    2. the manorial system,
    3. copyhold,
    4. Meierrecht,
    5. Erbuntertänigkeit,
    6. yeomanry.
  2. —
    1. The second chapter in the class outline of the “Decline of the Manorial System” was entitled “The Decline of Serfdom.” Write this chapter in as full detail as your time permits.
    2. State briefly why, in your opinion, serfdom disappeared earlier in England than on the Continent.
  3. Describe the chief changes in the English craft gild in the sixteenth century.

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. —
    1. Discuss this statement:
      “In many ways the Statute of Artificers marks the transition between the gild system and the later methods of labor regulation, although the intention of the Statute to accomplish this transition is by no means certain.”
    2. Outline the policy of public regulation of prices and wages in England from the Statute of Laborers to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
  2. State the extent, causes, and results of the price movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  3. —
    1. Describe the forms of company organization in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Account for the change in the attitude of public opinion toward the companies.
    2. Compare the development of mercantile companies in England, France, and Holland.
  4. In 1665 a Dutch merchant desired to ship from Amsterdam to London the following commodities: Portuguese wine, currants, olive-oil, herring, Russian timber, Prussian grain, Java coffee, and Delft tiles. How legally could he ship each commodity? Would he have shipped in the same way ten years earlier?
  5. Define (a) the manorial system, (b) the gild system, (c) the domestic system. Comment briefly on (d) John Hales, (e) the Fuggers, (f) Colbert.

Write on one of the following topics in English economic history
prior to 1800:—

  1. The problem of interest.
  2. The poor laws.
  3. Indirect taxation.

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. 47-48.

Image Source: Regts Delft Tiles website.

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Bibliography Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. European and U.S. Economic History. Reading Lists and Exams. Gay and Gray, 1909-10

Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray

 

Edwin Francis Gay teamed up a young history Ph.D., Howard L. Gray [see biographical material included below], to teach the European and U.S. economic history sequence, Economics 6a and 6b in 1909-10 at Harvard.

Materials, mainly course descriptions, enrollment and final exams for 1901/2-1908/9, that have been transcribed earlier are linked below.

Course bibliographies for 1909-10 are included in this post as well.

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Economic History Materials
Posted Earlier

Economic History of the United States

1901-02. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague and J.H. Patten]

1902-03. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1903-04. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1904-05. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1905-06. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States [with Frank W. Taussig]

1906-07. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay and M.T. Copeland]

European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1908-09. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 that was posted earlier.

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Howard Levi Gray, History Ph.D. 1907

HOWARD LEVI GRAY, A.B. (Univ. of Rochester) 1897, A.B. (Harvard Univ.) 1898, A.M. (ibid.) 1900. Subject, History. Special Field, Economic History. Thesis, “A Contribution to the Study of Anglo-Saxon Settlement.” Continuing his studies at London, as Edward William Hooper Fellow.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-07, p. 135.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard Levi Gray (see A.B. 1898), Instr. in History 1909-1914; Instr. in Economics 1911-1912; Tutor 1914-1915; Asst. Prof, of History 1914-1915.

Source: Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates 1636-1930, p. 83.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Howard L. Gray, Historian, 71, Dies

Professor at Bryn Mawr for 25 Years Retired in 1940
—Had Taught at Harvard

Special to The New York Times

BRYN MAWR, Pa., Sept 15— Howard Levi Gray, professor emeritus of history at Bryn Mawr College, died in his sleep early yesterday at Canajoharie, N. Y., at the age of 71, according to word received at the college here.

Professor Gray was born in Starkesville, N. Y., near Fort Plain, where his family had lived for many generations. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Rochester in 1897; an A.B. from Harvard University in 1898, and an M.A. in 1900.

He was an instructor in history at Harvard from 1909 through 1913 and assistant professor of history from 1914 until 1915 when he came to Bryn Mawr College as Professor of History. At his retirement in 1940 he was the Marjorie Walter Goodhart Professor of History.

While in Government service in London in the department of supply for the year 1918-1919, Professor Gray gathered material for his book, “Wartime Control of Industry.” His other publications included “Influence of the Commons on Early Legislation,” “English Field Systems,” “The First Benevolence” and “Greek Visitors to England in 1455-1456.” At his death he was at work on a new book, a study of mid-Fifteenth Century finance and administration.

Source: The New York Times, 16 Sept 1945.

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________________________

Econ 6a.
European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century, 1909-10

________________________

Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray.

Course 6a undertakes to present the general outlines of the economic history of western Europe since the Industrial Revolution. Such topics as the following will be discussed: the economic aspects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms, the Zoll-Verein, Cobden and free-trade in England, labor legislation and social reform, nationalism and the recrudescence of protectionism, railways and waterways, the effects of transoceanic competition, the rise of industrial Germany.

Since attention will be directed in this course to those phases of the subject which are related to the economic history of the United States, it may be taken usefully before Economics 6b. It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

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. 55.

______________

Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 96: 12 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 9 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 6a (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 609-669.

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 10-82.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, pp. 32-93.

Woollen Report of 1806; reprinted in Bullock, Selected Readings in Economics, pp. 114-124.

Walpole, The Great Inventions, in History of England, Vol. I, pp. 50-76; reprinted in Bullock, pp. 125-145, and Rand, Selections illustrating Economic History, chapter ii.

Chapman, The Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 1-112.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-101.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation, pp. 14-42.

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, pp. 197-240.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 179-502.

Cooke Taylor, The Modern Factory System, pp. 44-225.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, Selections, pp. 55-85.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Vol. I, pp. 287-297. (Rand, pp. 86-98.)

*Morier, Agrarian Legislation of Prussia, in “Systems of Land Tenure,” pp. 267-275. (Rand, pp. 98-108.)

*Brentano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia, Econ. Jour., Vol. VII, pp. 1-20.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriété Rurale, pp. 80-164.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, pp. 52-89.

Von Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, pp. 40-50.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. II, pp. 371-394.

Schulze-Gävernitz, Volkswirtschaftliche Studien aus Russland, pp. 308-383.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 71-116.

*Taylor, Decline of Land-Owning Farmers in England, pp. 1-61.

Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 64-103.

Brodrick, English Land and English Landlords, pp. 65-240.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, pp. 473-528.

Garnier, English Landed Interest, Vol. II, pp. 360-512.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I, pp. 10-109, 133-174.

Levy, Entstehung und Rückgang des landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebs in England.

  1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Levi, History of British Commerce, pp. 218-227, 261-272, 292-303; in Rand, pp. 207-241.

*Morley, Life of Cobden, chapters vi, vii, xvi.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, pp. 32-64, 296-392.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. I, pp. 49-77.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, Vol. II, pp. 522-559; Vol. III, pp. 220-252.

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 27-99.

Tooke, History of Prices, Vol. V, pp. 391-457.

  1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

*Ashley, Modern Tariff History, pp. 3-62, 301-312, [267-300].

Worms, L’Allemagne Économique, pp. 57-393.

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, Vol. I, pp. 21-34, 219-316.

Perigot, Histoire de Commerce Français, pp. 77-185.

Lang, Hundert Jahre Zollpolitik, pp. 168-230.

  1. FINANCE.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 689-703, 822-829, 833-840.

*Andréadès, History of the Bank of England, pp. 284-294, 331-369, 381-388.

Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, pp. 38-54, 62-121.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, pp. 115-134.

Macleod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), Vol. I, pp. 433-540; Vol. II, pp. 1-197.

Bastable, Public Finance, Bk. V, chaps. 3 and 4 (3d ed.), pp. 629-657.

  1. THE NEW GOLD.

*Cairnes, Essays, pp. 53-108; in Rand, pp. 242-284.

*Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 34-92.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Traité d’Economie Politique, Vol. III, pp. 192-238.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, pp. 75-97,k 121-228.

Hooper, Recent Gold Production of the World, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1901, pp. 415-433.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 146-202.

*Preferential Treatment given by Railway Companies in Great Britain, Report of the Royal Commission of 1906, pp. 11-34.

McLean, English Railway and Canal Commission of 1888, in Q.J.E., 1905, Vol. XX, pp. 1-55, or in Ripley, Railway Problems, pp. 603-649.

Acworth, Railways of England, pp. 1-56.

Acworth, Elements of Railway Economics, pp. 50-159.

McDermott, Railways, pp. 1-149.

Porter, Progress of the Nation, pp. 287-339.

Edwards, Railways and the Trade of Great Britain, Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1908, pp. 102-131.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 1-184.

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 3-20, 133-182.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, Vol. II, pp. 178-284.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 82-120.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, pp. 107-137.

Léon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, pp. 1-156.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – STATE OWNERSHIP.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 236-258, [203-235].

*Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 92-188.

Acworth, Relation of Railways to the State, Econ. Jour., 1908, pp. 501-519.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie des Deutschen Eisenbahnen, pp. 3-14.

Lotz, Verkehrsentwicklung in Deutschland, pp. 2-47, 96-142.

Leuschau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, pp. 9-56, 95-161.

Peschaud, Belgian State Railways, translated in Pratt, State Railways, pp. 57-107.

Tajani, The Railway Situation in Italy, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIII, pp. 618-653.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, pp. 185-326.

Pratt, Railways and Nationalization, pp. 1-120, 253-293.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century (ed. 1905), pp. 55-107.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 1-95.

Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, pp. 55-106, 207-249.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, pp. 252-260, 306-317.

Glover, Tonnage Statistics of the Decade 1891-1900. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1902, pp. 1-41.

Ginsburg, British Shipping, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 173-195.

LeRoux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, pp. 93-224.

Charles-Roux, L’Isthme et le Canal de Suez, Vol. II, pp. 287-339.

Von Halle, Volks- und Seewirtschaft, pp. 136-219.

  1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

*Report on Agricultural Depression, 1897, pp. 6-10, 21-40, 43-53, 85-87.

*Report on Small Holdings in Great Britain, Royal Commission of 1906.

Haggard, Rural England, Vol. II, pp. 536-576.

The Tariff Commission, Vol. III, Report of the Agricultural Committee, 1906.

Thompson, Rent of Agricultural Land in England and Wales during the Nineteenth Century. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 587-611.

Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, pp. 274-364.

Arch, Autobiography, pp. 65-144, 300-345.

Little, The Agricultural Labourer, Report to the Royal Commission on Labour, 1894, Vol. I, pp. 195-253.

Adams, Position of the Small Holding in the United Kingdom. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, pp. 412-437.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), pp. 175-209.

Bastable, Some Features of the Economic Movement in Ireland, Econ. Jour., Vol. XI, pp. 31-42.

J. Méline, The Return to the Land, pp. 83-144, 185-240.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, pp. 24-34, 127-223.

Simkhovitch, The Agrarian Movement in Russia, Yale Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 9-38.

King and Okey, Italy Today, pp. 156-192.

  1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

*Smart, Return to Protection, pp. 7-44, 136-185, 284-259.

*Balfour, Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade. (Also in Fiscal Reform, pp. 71-95, [97-113, 266-280]).

*Chamberlain, Imperial Union and Tariff Reform, pp. 19-44.

Ashley, W.J., Tariff Problem, pp. 53-210.

Marshall, Fiscal Policy of International Trade, pp. 30-82.

Pigou, Protective and Preferential Import Duties, pp. 1-117. (See also his Riddle of the Tariff, pp. 1-107.)

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, pp. 100-168.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History, pp. 78-112, 313-358.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

Meredith, Protection in France, pp. 54-129.

  1. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

*Ashley, W.J., British Industries, pp. 2-38, 68-92.

*Howard, Recent Industrial Progress in Germany, pp. 51-109, [1-50]

Cox, British Industries under Free Trade, pp. 2-84, 142-175, 235-376.

Levasseur, Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous le troisième République, pp. 27-166.

La Belgique, 1830-1905, pp. 397-617.

Fischer, Italien und die Italiener (ed. 1901), pp. 240-267.

Machat, Le Developpment Èconomique de la Russie, pp. 157-229.

  1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

*Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165, [14-38]

*Macrosty, The Trust Movement in Great Britain, in Ashley, British Industries, pp. 196-232.

Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in Europe, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 13-41.

———, Combinations in German Coal Industry, pp. 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 22-32.

Baumgarten und Meszlény, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 83-152.

  1. LABOR — COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

*Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, pp. 22-57, 81-127.

*Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency, Vol. II, pp. 307-350.

Wood, Real Wages and the Standard of Comfort since 1860. Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1909, pp. 91-101.

Cost of Living of the Working Classes in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Report to the Board of Trade, 1909.

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, pp. 29-87.

Beveridge, Unemployment.

Ashley, W.J., Progress of German Working Classes, pp. 1-65, 74-141.

Dawson, The German Workman, pp. 1-245.

Holyoake, History of Coöperation in England (ed. 1906), [pages missing?]

Gide, Productive Coöperation in France, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 30-66.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 394-397, 407-413.

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

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ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

  1. State the topics you would discuss if you were to write on the agricultural history of England in the nineteenth century.
  2. In the light of your knowledge of the movement of wages and rent in England, comment on the following statement by Henry George: —

“Though neither wages nor interest anywhere increase as material progress goes on, yet the invariable accompaniment and mark of material progress is the increase of rent … Increased power of production has everywhere added to the value of land; nowhere has it added to the value of labor; everywhere wages, as a proportion of the produce, have decreased.”

  1. Courcelle-Seneuil wrote of Peel’s Bank Charter Act: “The Bill of 1844 was based on several errors of fact … and as soon as it was put to the test of experience the inadequacy and danger of its effects became evident.” Discuss this view, stating at the outset the chief provisions of the Act.
  2. Do you find in the facts of the recent economic history of England any justification for the revival of protectionism in that country? State the chief arguments for and against such a policy.
  3. (a) Give examples of the different classes of Kartells or trade associations.
    (b) Are Kartells, as Grunzel asserts, essentially different from trusts or amalgamations?

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. 41-42.

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Econ 6b.
Economic and Financial History of the United States,
1909-10

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

6b 2hf. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones.

The following are among the subjects considered: aspects of the Revolution and commercial relations during the Confederation and the European wars; the history of the protective tariff policy and the growth of manufacturing industries; the settlement of the West and the history of transportation, including the early canal and turnpike enterprises of the states, the various phases of railway building and the establishment of public regulation of railways; banking and currency experiences; various aspects of agrarian history, such as the public land policy, the growth of foreign demand for American produce and the subsequent competition of other sources of supply; certain social topics, such as slavery and its economic basis, and the effects of immigration.

It is open to students who have taken or are taking Economics 1.

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. 56.

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Dr. Gray and Mr. Eliot Jones. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 170: 12 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 70 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 14 Freshmen, 15 Others.

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

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ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Callender, Economic History of the United States, pp. 6-63, 85-121.

Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860.
  1. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Callender, Economic History, pp. 432-563.

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

  1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 271-275, 345-404.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 597-692.

Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257 printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

  1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

*Callender, Economic History, pp. 738-819.

Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-119.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

Ballagh, Land System of the South, Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900.
  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254, (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

  1. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 257-283.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

  1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 114-152, 182-233.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

  1. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

*Taussig, Tariff Act of 1909, Q.J.E., Vol. XXIV, pp. 1-38.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Taussig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-487.

  1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance, pp. 284-354.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

  1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 724-746, 793-833.

*Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

  1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

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

________________________

ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1830-40 with that of the decade 1850-60.
  2. (a) Outline the tariff legislation of the United States from 1816 to 1860.
    (b) Compare Hamilton’s argument for Protection with the recent statement of the “true principle.”
  3. Comment on the following: —
    “It is the American farmer who sustains the foreign credit of the United States, and keeps the balance of trade favorable. During the fiscal year of 1907 the exports of farm products exceeded the imports by four hundred and forty-four millions of dollars. The farmer has succeeded in keeping the balance favorable for eighteen years, the aggregate in favor of the United States during that time being more than six billion dollars, while the non-agricultural products during the same period have shown an adverse balance of more than four hundred and fifty millions.”
  4. (a) In 1891 ex-Senator Peffer wrote: “Agriculture is behind, farming is profitless. farmers are not doing business on a cash basis. The railroad builder, the banker, miner, and manufacturer are growing richer, while the farmer and his co-worker are poorer as the years pass.”
    What remedies were then proposed, and what has in fact remedied the condition of the farmer?
  5. Summarize the merits and defects of the trade union policies as compared with those of the “Trust.”
  6. Discuss briefly:
    1. Specie Circular.
    2. Suffolk Banking System.
    3. The abuses of the public land policy.
    4. The “American Invasion.”

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. 42-43.

Image Source: The portraits of Edwin Francis Gay and Howard Levi Gray in Radcliffe College, The Book of the Class of 1916.

Categories
Exam Questions France Germany Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exam questions for 19th century French and German economists. Gay, 1908-09

Friedrich Benedict von Hermann (ca. 1850)

Nine Harvard graduate students were registered for Professor Edwin F. Gay’s reading seminar on French and German economists of the 19th century. I’d be very surprised if there were a U.S. department of economics today in which one would find nine graduate students who could read both of those languages. But that was then when it would have beeen difficult to find an economics department with nine graduate students who could handle a second year undergraduate math class of today. 

Incidentally, there was no mid-year final exam for this course included in the printed collection of mid-year final exams in 1908-09.

________________________

Previously offered

1903. Exam for German Economic Thought

1906-07. Exam for 19th century French and German Economics

________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 22. Professor Gay — German and French Economists of the Nineteenth Century.

Total 9: 9 Graduates.

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

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Course Description

[Economics] 22. German and French Economists of the Nineteenth Century. Two consecutive evening hours per week, to be arranged with the instructor. Professor Gay.

In this course selections from the works of a number of the more important German and French economists will be read and informally discussed. The influence of the English classical school will be traced, together with the criticism directed against this school by the socialists and the historical economists. Attention will also be given to the question of methods in economic investigation.

A moderate reading knowledge of German and French will of course be necessary.

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. 51.

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ECONOMICS 22
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

  1. State critically the position of Sismondi, Rodbertus, Bastiat, and Wagner on rent.
  2. Von Thünen and Le Play.
  3. Discuss the German historical school.
  4. (a) Estimate the work of St. Simon, Fourier, Rodbertus, Marx.
    (b) Comment on Wagner’s criticism of Socialism.
  5. Translate and comment on the following passage:—
    „Die wahre und immer neu fliessende Quelle der Vergeltung der Produktivarbeit ist das Einkommen des Käufers, der ihr Produkt für den eigenen Bedarf kauft. Das Kapital des Unternehmers einer technischen Produktion ist daher nur das Mittel, die auf jeder Produktionsstufe erforderliche Arbeit dem Produkt einzuverleiben und dieselbe am Ende dieser Bearbeitung im Produkte zu verkaufen. Es ist in keiner Weise der Fond, aus dem der Lohn bezahlt wird. Dass die Quelle des Lohnes das Kapital der Unternehmer sei, ist nicht blos theoretisch irrig, sondern auch in praktischer Beziehung eine höchst bedenkliche Lehre, weil sie den Arbeiter in der oberflächlichen Ansicht bestärkt, der Unternehmer sei sein Arbeitgeber und von diesem hänge die Höhe seines Lohnes ab.“

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), pp. 50-51.

________________________

Cf. Original German Text

„Die wahre und immer neu fliessende Quelle der Vergeltung der Produktivarbeit ist das Einkommen des Käufers, der ihr Produkt für den eigenen Bedarf kauft.
…Das Kapital des Unternehmers einer technischen Produktion ist daher nur das Mittel, die auf jeder Produktionsstufe erforderliche Arbeit dem Produkt einzuverleiben und dieselbe am Ende dieser Bearbeitung im Produkte zu verkaufen…Es ist in keiner Weise der Fond, aus dem der Lohn bezahlt wird.

[two pages later]

…Dass die Quelle des Lohnes das Kapital der Unternehmer sei, ist nicht blos theoretisch irrig, sondern auch in praktischer Beziehung eine höchst bedenkliche Lehre, weil sie den Arbeiter in der oberflächlichen Ansicht bestärkt, der Unternehmer sei sein Arbeitgeber und von diesem hänge die Höhe seines Lohnes ab.“

Source: Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen von Friedrich Benedict Wilhelm von Hermann  (2nd edition, München, 1870), p. 476 and p. 478.

Fun fact: the previous links take us to Allyn A. Young’s copy of Hermann.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. European and U.S. Economic History. Reading Lists and Exams. Gay, 1908-09

This post provides the double dose of economic history taught by Professor Edwin Francis Gay at Harvard in the 1908-09 academic year. I have transcribed the reading lists and final exams for the courses covering 19th century European economic history and United States economic history below.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 was posted earlier.

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Economic History Materials
Posted Earlier

Economic History of the United States

1901-02. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague and J.H. Patten]

1902-03. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1903-04. Economics 6. Economic History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1904-05. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [O.M.W. Sprague]

1905-06. Economics 6. Economic and Financial History of the United States [with Frank W. Taussig]

1906-07. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. [E.F. Gay]

European Economic History

1902-03. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay, only one student enrolled, no printed exam available]

1905-06. Economics 10. Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1906-07. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 6a. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. [E.F. Gay]

1902-03. Economics 11. Economic History of Europe since 1500. [E.F. Gay]

1903-04. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1904-05. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1905-06. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

1907-08. Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe. [E.F. Gay]

Other Economic History Material

1903-04. Economics 24. General Outlines of Agrarian History. [E.F. Gay]

E.F. Gay and A. P. Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Course Enrollment
19th Century European Economic History, 1908-09

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. M. T. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 109: 11 Graduates, 28 Seniors, 48 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 3 Others.

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

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Reading List
19th Century European Economic History, 1908-09

ECONOMICS 6a (1908)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. GENERAL CONDITIONS. – COLONIAL POLICY.

*Smith, Colonial Policy of Europe, in Rand (4th ed.), pp. 1-30.

*Seeley, Expansion of England (ed. 1883), pp. 98-160.

Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History, pp. 281-300.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 73-125.

  1. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, pp. 32-93,

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 10-82.

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III, pp. 609-619.

Walpole, History of England, Vol. I, pp. 50-76. (Rand, pp. 31-54.)

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, pp. 197-240.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation, pp. 14-42.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-101.

Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle, pp. 349-502.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – CONTINENT.

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, pp. 55-85.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Vol. I, pp. 287-297. (Rand, pp. 86-98.)

*Morier, Agrarian Legislation of Prussia, in “Systems of Land Tenure,” pp. 267-275. (Rand, pp. 98-108.)

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I1, pp. 371-394.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriétée Rurale, pp. 80-164.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, pp. 52-89.

Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, pp. 40-50.

  1. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Taylor, Decline of Land-Owning Farmers in England, pp. 1-61.

Brodrick, English Land and English Landlords, pp. 65-240.

Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 64-103.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, pp. 473-528.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), Vol. I, pp. 10-109, 133-174

  1. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT. – ENGLAND.

*Levi, History of British Commerce, pp. 218-227, 261-272, 292-303. (Rand, pp. 207-241.)

*Morley, Life of Cobden, Vol. I, pp. 140-172, 355-389.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, pp. 32-64,

296-392.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. I, pp. 49-77.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, Vol. II, pp. 522-559; Vol. III, pp. 220-252.

  1. THE TARIFF. – CONTINENT.

*Ashley, Modern Tariff History, pp. 3-62, 301-312, [267-300]

Worms, L’Allemagne Economique, pp. 57-393.

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, Vol. I, pp. 21-34, 219-316.

Perigot, Histoire de Commerce Français, pp. 77-185.

  1. FINANCE.

*Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Vol. III (ed. 1903), pp. 689-703, 822-829, 833-840.

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, pp. 167-219.

Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, pp. 38-54, 62-121.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, pp. 115-134.

Macleod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), Vol. I, pp. 433-540; Vol. II, pp. 1-197

Bastable, Public Finance, Bk. V, chaps. 3 and 4 (3d ed.), pp. 629-657

  1. THE NEW GOLD.

*Cairnes, Essays, pp. 53-108. (Rand, pp. 242-284.)

*Chevalier. On Gold (3d English ed.), pp. 1-9, 40-71, 99-106.

Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, pp. 34-92.

Leroy-Beaulieu, Traité d’Economie Politique, Vol. III, pp. 192-238.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, pp. 75-97.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 146-202, 236-258.

Ross, British Railways, pp. 1-36.

—— The Railway Clearing House, pp. 7-28.

Findlay, Working and Management of an English Railway (6th ed.), pp. 262-322.

Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 123-132.

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 3-20, 133-182.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, Vol. II, pp. 178-284.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, pp. 82-120.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, pp. 107-137.

Colson, Transports et Tarifs, pp. 80-145.

Léon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, pp. 1-70.

  1. TRANSPORTATION. – GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

*Meyer, Governmental Regulation of Railway Rates, pp. 93-122, 133-188.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 203-235.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie des Deutschen Eisenbahnen, pp. 3-14.

Leuschau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, pp. 9-56, 95-162.

De Koulomzine, Le Transsibérien, pp. 1-53, 261-312.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 1-95.

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century (ed. 1905), pp. 55-107.

Fry, History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, pp. 55-106, 207-249.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, pp. 252-260, 306-317.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 373-379, 399-405.

LeRoux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, pp. 93-224.

Rossignol, Le Canal de Suez, pp. 23-148.

  1. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

*Report on Agricultural Depression, 1897, pp. 6-87.

Pratt, Organization of Agriculture, pp. 1-104, 269-391.

Haggard, Rural England, Vol. I1, pp. 536-576.

Channing, Truth about the Agricultural Depression, pp. 1-59, 311-320.

Arch, Autobiography, pp. 65-144, 300-345.

Fillmore, Agricultural Laborer, pp. 12-24.

Winfrey, Progress of Small Holdings Movement, Econ. Jour., Vol. XVI, pp. 222-229.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), pp. 175-209.

Bastable, Some Features of the Economic Movement in Ireland, Econ. Jour., Vol. XI, pp. 31-42.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, pp. 24-34, 127-223.

Bretano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia, Econ, Jour., Vol. VII, pp. 1-20, 165-184.

  1. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY.

*Smart, Return to Protection, pp. 7-44, 136-185, 284-259.

Ashley, W. J., Tariff Problem, pp. 53-167.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History, pp. 78-112, 313-358.

Dawson, Protection in Germany, pp. 17-160.

Dietzel, German Tariff Controversy, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 365-417.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, pp. 218-314.

Fisher, Protectionist Reaction in France, Econ. Jour., Vol. VI, pp. 341-355.

Meredith, Protection in France, pp. 54-129.

  1. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION.

*Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, pp. 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

*Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165.

Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. XVIII, pp. 14-38.

Smith, New Trades Combination Movement, pp. 1-96.

Walker, Monopolistic Combinations in Europe, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 13-41.

———, Combinations in German Coal Industry, pp. 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 22-32.

Baumgarten und Meszlény, Kartelle und Trusts, pp. 83-152.

  1. LABOR, COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

*Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, pp. 22-57, 81-127.

*Ashley, W. J., Progress of German Working Classes, pp. 60-65, 74-141, [1-52].

Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency, Vol. II, pp. 307-350.

Giffen, Essays in Finance (2d series), pp. 372-474.

Howell, Labor Legislation, pp. 447-499.

Webb, Trade Unionism, pp. 344-478.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, pp. 29-87.

Gide, Productive Coöperation in France, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 30-66.

Bertrand, Le Mouvement Coopératif en Belgique, Rev. d’Econ. Pol., Vol. XIII, pp. 668-694.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 394-397, 407-413.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1908-1909”.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6a
19th Century European Economic History
Mid-year Examination, 1908-09

  1. Toynbee says concerning the English yeomanry: “It was not till about 1760 that the process of extinction became rapid. … It was the political conditions of the age, the overwhelming importance of land, which made it impossible for the yeoman to keep his grip upon the soil.”
    Von Sybel states that in France prior to the Revolution “a middle class of proprietors, substantial enough to derive from their land a sufficient livelihood, and yet humble enough to be bound to constant and diligent labor, was entirely wanting. … But what the movement of 1789 did produce is this middle class of proprietors.”
    Comment on these statements. How, furthermore, do you account for the divergence of development between French and English agrarian conditions
  2. (1) Criticise the following statements:
    “Il est évident que nous serious plus riches si nos exportations avaient été plus considérables et nos importations moines fortes.” — Méline.
    “It is a mathematical truth that if imports come into this country of manufactured goods which we can make as well as any other nation, they must displace labor.” — Mr. Chamberlain.
    (2) “What brings great changes of policy is the shifting and readjustments of interests, not the discovery of new principles.” — John Morley.
    Illustrate this from the tariff history of Germany, France, and England.
  1. “Ability to compete in the world’s market is a vital matter for Germany. …To this achievement the State railways have contributed in the past practically nothing. … Nor will the railways be able to do much more in the future than they have done in the past.” Who says this? Give the arguments for and against this view.
  2. Discuss the recent agricultural depression in England.
  3. (1) Compare concisely the trust movement in England, Germany, and France.
    (2) What were the provisions of the Austrian bill of 1897 to regulate industrial combinations?
  4. The Report of the Industrial Commission says that “France is less developed industrially than England and Germany.” What does this mean? Can such a statement be verified by the comparison of statistics? If so, what statistics would you use? What are the chief factors which have determined industrial development in the nineteenth century, and why, in your opinion, have they not operated equally in the three countries named?

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), pp. 37-38.

________________________

Course Enrollment
United States Economic History
1908-09

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. M. T. [Melvin Thomas] Copeland — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 198: 15 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 87 Juniors, 41 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 7 Others.

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

________________________

Reading List
United States Economic History
ECONOMICS 6b (1909)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

  1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860.
  1. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

  1. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Phillips, History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt, pp. 46-131.

Bishop, State Works of Pennsylvania, pp. 150-261.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257 printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

  1. THE SOUTH AND SLAVERY.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

Ballagh, Land System of the South, Publications of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1897, pp. 101-129.

  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900.
  1. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254, (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

  1. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

  1. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

Day, History of Commerce, pp. 553-575.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

  1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-clxxviii.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-152, 182-233.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

Sparks, National Development, pp. 37-52.

  1. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229, 321-360.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Taussig, Sugar, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CI, pp. 334-344.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, p. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-487.

  1. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

  1. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 502-547.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Levassesur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

  1. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

* United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1908-1909”.

________________________

United States Economic History
ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1909

  1. Compare the financial history of the United States during the period 1829-1840 with that of the period 1880-1896.
  2. Trace briefly the relation between tariff legislation and the public revenue since the establishment of the Independent Treasury.
  3. —
    1. Comment on the following (from President Grant’s message of 1870):—
      “Building ships and navigating them utilizes vast capital at home; it creates a home market for the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy of the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war.”
    2. Was the balance of trade before 1870 “favorable” or “unfavorable” to the United States? Why?
  4. Sketch the history of wheat-growing in the United States: changes in geographical location, markets, and prices.
  5. What is meant by the integration of industry? How far has it affected, and how far do you think it will affect, the following industries: Cotton; woolen; iron; sugar; tobacco; boots and shoes? Give reasons.
  6. (a) The distribution of immigrants in the different industries as shown by the Industrial Commission report. (b) The alien contract labor law.
  7. State briefly what you consider to be the most significant point brought out in your thesis for this course.

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. 38.

Image Source: John George Brown, The Longshoremen’s Noon, 1879, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.2. From the National Gallery of Art’s web-page “Industrial Revolution.”

Categories
Economic History Economists Gender Harvard

Radcliffe/Harvard. Ph.D. economic history alumna Esther Clark Wright, 1931

Esther Clark Wright (1916)

Today we meet the Canadian Radcliffe/Harvard Ph.D. in economic history (1931), Esther Clark Wright. A link to her list of publications will be found below. The main artifact for this post consists of transcriptions of documents in her graduate record in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

_______________________

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.

Esther Clark Wright, May 4, 1895, Fredericton, N.B., Canada.

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

1912-1916. Acadia University.
1918. Toronto University.
1920-21. Oxford University.
1926–. Radcliffe College.

Fredericton High School. 1920,1922-23. English and History.
Moulton Ladies College, 1923. History and Latin.
Harvard. Assistant in Business History, 1927.

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

B.A. Acadia, 1916. Honors in Economics.

IV. General Preparation. (Indicate briefly the range and character of your under-graduate 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, 1 yr.
Economics and Sociology 3 yrs.
Greek and Latin, 4 yrs. each.
French and German, 1½ yrs each.
Philosophy, 1 yr.
Logic and Ethics, 1 yr.
Psychology, 1 yr..

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. S7a. Ec. 11. Courses at Toronto and Stanford (not registered).
  2. Labor Problems. Ec 34. Seminary at Toronto. Private reading..
  3. Socialism and Social Reconstruction. Ec. 7b. Private reading.
  4. Canadian History. Course at Toronto. Private reading. (Special Topic: The Settlement of New Brunswick). Teaching.
  5. [Sociology] Ec. 12. Course at Toronto. (Course credit).
  6. (Economic History since 1750) Ec 2. Ec 20. Course at Oxford. Assistant in Business History at Business School.

VII. Special Subject for the special examination.

Economic History since 1750.

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

The Genesis of the Civil Engineer. A Study in the Economic History of Great Britain, 1760-1830. Professor Gay..

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

April 28 or 30, 1930. General.
Special, Tues May 19/31

X. Remarks

Professors Gay, Ripley, Mason, [Dr.] Furber, Chamberlin

Special Committee:  Professors Gay, Usher, and Dr. Monroe

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

[signed] H. H. Burbank

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

[Not to be filled out by the applicant]

Name: Esther Clark Wright

Approved: December 10, 1929

Ability to use French certified by Professor A. E. Monroe, March 8, 1930.

Ability to use German certified by Professor A. E. Monroe, November 6, 1930.

Date of general examination April 30, 1930. Passed (Edwin F. Gay, Chairman)

Thesis received April 1, 1931

Read by Professors Gay and Usher

Approved June 1, 1931.

Date of special examination Monday, June 8, 1931. Passed. (Edwin F. Gay, Chairman)

Recommended for the Doctorate June 4, 1931

Degree conferred  June 17, 1931

Remarks.  [left blank]

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

General Examination,
date and examiners requested
[carbon copy]

April 21, 1930.

Dear Sir:

Will it be possible for you to serve as a member of the committee for the general examination in Economics of Mrs. Esther Wright on Wednesday, April 30, at four o’clock? Mrs. Wright’s fields for this examination are:

  1. Economic Theory and its History.
  2. Labor Problems.
  3. Socialism and Social Reconstruction.
  4. Canadian History.

Mrs. Wright’s special field is Economic History since 1750 and she is offering course credit in Sociology.

The committee consists of Professors Gay (chairman), Chamberlin, Mason, Ripley, and Dr. Furber.

Very truly yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary of the Division

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

Change of thesis title
[carbon copy]

June 6, 1931

My dear Mrs. Wright:

Professor Gay has asked me to tell you that he would like you to change the title of your thesis to

The Genesis of the Civil Engineer in Great Britain

As it is desirable to have this done before the examination, could you attend to it on Monday? The thesis is in my office.

Very sincerely yours,
[unsigned copy]
Secretary

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

Radcliffe College

College Record of Mrs. Esther Clark Wright.
SUBJECT GRADE
1926-27 Course

Half-Course

Economics 2

A minus

 

SUBJECT GRADE
1927-28 2hf. Course

Half-Course

Economics 20″
Prof. Gay

A minus

 

SUBJECT GRADE
1928-29 Course

Half-Course

Economics 20
Prof. Gay

A minus
Economics 34″ A
Economics 7b” A

 

SUBJECT GRADE
1929-30 Course

Half-Course

Economics 11

Economics 12

A.B. Acadia University 1916

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics, Ph.D. Degrees Conferred 1930-31. (UA V 453.270), Box 11.

__________________________

Course Names and Instructors

1926-27

Economics 2. Economic History since the Industrial Revolution. Professor Gay.

1927-28

Economics 20. Economic Research. Professor Gay.

1928-29

Economics 20. Economic Research. Professor Gay.

Economics 34. Problems of Labor. Professor Ripley.

Economics 7b. Programs of Social Reconstruction. Asst. Professor E. S. Mason.

1929-30

Economics 11. Economic Theory. Professor Taussig.

Economics 12. Some Fundamental Problems in Economic and Social Theory. Professor Carver.

Source: Radcliffe College Catalogue [for] 1926-27, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30.

_______________________

Some of her personal backstory

…After her undergraduate study at Acadia, she studied at the University of Toronto and then at Oxford. Her studies at Oxford were cut short after just one year by her younger brother’s illness, which ended his life in October 1921. It was on the journey back to Fredericton from Oxford that she met her future husband, Conrad Payling Wright.

The courtship between the two comprised largely of correspondence over the next two years and culminated in their marriage, in 1924, on the family farm outside of Fredericton. This was unusual at the time because her family held positions of esteem in the local congregation and thus they were expected to marry in a church. After marriage, Esther Clark Wright moved to California where her husband was studying at Stanford University. She soon discovered that she was unable to have children which, though devastating, enabled her to pursue her academic studies and research at liberty. She joined her husband at Stanford, and then following that she studied at Radcliffe (Harvard University), where she graduated with a PhD in economics in 1931.

Back in Fredericton, her father had risen through the political ranks, beginning as mayor of Fredericton and eventually becoming the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. He had also opened several car dealerships in anticipation of the coming demand for automobiles. Her family’s prosperity ensured that Wright never had to depend on any other income to maintain her material comfort and this enabled her to spend time pursuing her research. This also provided her with much more independence in marriage than her female contemporaries enjoyed. Her relationship with her husband was tumultuous with the two of them often maintaining separate residences throughout their sixty-five-year marriage….

Source: New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia website article “Esther Isabelle (Clark) Wright”.

__________________________

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright’s publications, 1914-1988.

__________________________

Esther Isabelle Clark Wright
Timeline of her life and career

1895. Born May 4 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

1916. B.A. Acadia University (Wolville, Nova Scotia). Honors in Economics.

1924. July 31. Married Conrad Payling Wright.

1931. Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. Dissertation: “The Genesis of the Civil Engineer in Great Britain, 1760-1830.”

1943-47. Lectured in sociology at Acadia University.

1975. Honorary D. Litt. awarded by Acadia University

1981. Honorary Ll.D. awarded by Dalhousie University.

1984. Honorary D. Litt. awarded by the University of New Brunswick.

1990. Died June 17

1990. Posthumously awarded Order of Canada. “A prolific author and respected scholar, her excellent research has been used by many students, historians and genealogists studying Maritime history, particularly the Loyalist migration, or tracing family roots.”

Image Source: Esther Isabelle Clark from the Acadia University Class of 1916 photo.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for Modern Economic History of Europe. Gay, 1907-1908

Portrait of Jakob Fugger the Rich by Albrecht Dürer

 

Today’s artifact is a reminder of the importance of economic history in the economics curriculum throughout most of the twentieth century (and of course earlier). While it is by no means obvious that knowledge of the sort of stuff taught by Edwin F. Gay over one hundred years ago will help working economists develop and use the tools of modern economic analysis in their present day research, it should be rather obvious that the record of human experience is loaded with variation begging for understanding and explanation. It seems like an awful lot of evidence to ignore. So let us see what Edwin Gay’s students were expected to have learned about European economic history.

___________________________

Earlier, related posts

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

Exams for 1905-06.

Exams for 1906-07.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

________________________

Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 11. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 5: 3 Graduates, 1 Seniors, 1 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

________________________

ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

  1. Explain briefly:—
    1. the open field system.
    2. the manorial system.
    3. the town economy.
    4. Erbuntertänigkeit.
    5. lettre de maîtrise.
    6. the Steelyard.
  2. Serfdom.
    1. When and why did it disappear in England?
    2. When on the Continent?
    3. Can you account for the differences between England and the Continent in the manner and time of disappearance?
  3. The craft gild.
    1. What in general was its object and policy?
    2. What changes took place in its internal organization?
    3. What, during the sixteenth century, was the attitude toward it of the national government in England and France?
  4. The woollen industry in England to the end of the sixteenth century.

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

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ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. Criticise the following statement:—

“The two ways by which a villein or slave could always get free in England were, first, by owning land; and secondly, by joining the guild of a trade, in a town, and working at it for a year and a day. In a sense, therefore, labor is the source of freedom in England; for many millions more Englishmen got free through this door than by any other way.”

  1. (a) Who were the Fuggers? What type of company organization do they represent?
    (b) Compare the form of company organization in the following: Merchant Adventurers, the Commenda, English Levant Company, English and Dutch East India Companies prior to 1660.
  2. Describe the chief changes in taxation in England during the seventeenth century.
  3. (a) Define the domestic and factory systems.
    (b) Give in detail examples of three different forms of the domestic system.
  4. Summarize the history and results of wage regulation by public authority in England.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), p. 35.

Image Source: Portrait of Jakob Fugger (1459-1525) by Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
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”.

_______________________

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.

_______________________

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.

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. American Economic and Financial History. Gay, 1907-08.

Lincoln and Chase working on the national banking legislation. Painted by N.C. Wyeth

The materials for this post come from the second time Edwin Francis Gay solo-taught the course on U.S. economic and financial history at Harvard. Other than having its bibliographic furniture rearranged, the course content is virtually identical to that of the 1906-07 version of the course.

__________________________

Previously…

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan. The Taussig/Gay reading list and final exam for 1905-06. Gay taught this course alone in 1906-07.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 143: 14 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 33 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 12 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

__________________________

[Except for a minor rearrangement in the sequence of topics, the course reading list for 1907-08 is, with only one exception, identical to that for 1906-07.]

Course Reading List
Economic and Financial History
of the United States

ECONOMICS 6b (1908)

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. Colonial Period.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86, 124-139.

1776-1860.
2. Commerce, Manufactures, and Tariff.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154.

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

3. Internal Improvements.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Polities in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

4. Agriculture and Land Policy. – Westward Movement.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257 printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Hibbard, History of Agriculture in Dane County, Wisconsin, pp. 86-90, 105-133.
[Replaces “Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, IV. Nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181” from the 1906-07 reading list.]

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci. and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

5. The South and Slavery.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

6. Finance, Banking and Currency.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 34-59, 76-117, 224-246, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37, 64-76.

Kinley, History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

1860-1900.
7. Finance, Banking and Currency.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254, (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

8. Transportation.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

9. Agriculture and Opening of the West.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Quaintance, Influence of Farm Machinery, pp. 1-103.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, pp. 193-213.

10. Industrial Expansion.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-clxxviii.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-126.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

11. The Tariff.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-229.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, p. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-487.

12. Commerce and Shipping.

*Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.
[This reading has been switched to required status in 1907-08.]

Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

13. Industrial Concentration.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

14. The Labor Problem.

*United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept., 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept., 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 3-16, 502-547.

Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

15. Population, Immigration and the Race Question.

* United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-lxiv.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 33-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economies and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1907-1908”.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. Briefly:—
    1. The Bland-Allison and Sherman Acts.
    2. The National Banking Act.
    3. The Homestead Law.
    4. Reciprocity since 1890.
  2. Compare the condition of manufactures in the United States in 1791 (Hamilton’s report) with that in 1900.
  3. Why has the cotton industry developed more satisfactorily than the woolen industry?
  4. Compare in its chief features the state of Southern agriculture before and after the Civil War.
  5. [Farm indebtedness and tenancy]
    1. Farm indebtedness in the United States 1885-1900; its relation to agricultural prices and the demand for monetary reform.
    2. Farm tenancy in the United States.
  6. Is railroad “pooling” permitted in the United States? Should it be permitted? What do you think of Anti-Trust Legislation?

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. 31-32.

Image Source: Website of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Webpage: History. Lincoln and the Founding of the National Banking System.

“Lincoln and Chase working on the national banking legislation. N.C. Wyeth painted this mural in the lobby of what was then the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The former bank building is today the Langham Hotel.”

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam for 19th century European Industry and Commerce. Gay, 1907-1908

Edwin F. Gay was promoted to the rank of professor in 1906 and served as the acting chairman of the Harvard economics department during Thomas Nixon Carver’s leave of absence. He then became the chair of the department in 1907. In the following year he was appointed the first dean of the newly established Graduate School of Business Administration which is likely the reason that European economic history was reduced to a single semester course.

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Earlier, related posts

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

Exams for 1905-06.

Exams for 1906-07.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 6a 1hf. Professor Gay. — European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 90: 16 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 4 Others.

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

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6a
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

  1. What was the “Movement of Liberation” in the economic history of the nineteenth century? Do you consider this movement completed?
  2. Gladstone wrote in 1846: “Mr. Cobden has throughout argued the corn question on the principle of holding up the landlords of England to the people as plunderers and knaves for maintaining the corn law to save their rents, and as fools because it was not necessary for that purpose.”
    1. Do you regard this as a fair characterization of Cobden’s Anti-Corn Law agitation? Give reasons for your opinion.
    2. What converted Peel to Free Trade?
  3. [Tariffs]
    1. What was the Cobden treaty and in what lay its chief importance?
    2. Describe the protectionist reaction in France and state its causes.
  4. [France and Germany]
    1. Compare the railway policy of France with that of Germany, giving briefly history and results.
    2. Make a similar comparison of the policies of France and Germany in regard to shipping subsidies.
    3. May any conclusions of value for other countries be drawn from the experience of France and Germany? State the grounds for your view.
  5. Comment on the following (from a speech by Mr. Chamberlain, 1903): “In thirty years the total imports of manufactures which could just as well be made in this country have increased £86,000,000, and the total exports have decreased £6,000,000. £92,000,000 of trade that we might have done here has gone to the foreigner, and what has been the result for our own people? The Board of Trade tells you that you may take one-half of the export as representing wages. We therefore have lost £46,000,000 a year in wages during the thirty years. That would give employment to nearly 600,000 men at 30s. per week of continuous employment. That would give a fair subsistence for these men and their families, amounting to 3,000,000 persons.”
  6. What has been the attitude of European governments toward the so-called Trust Problem?

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

Image Source: “The Corn Laws Part 2–Real”at the website “British Food: A History”.