SandbergLG Archives

For the previous post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror transcribed the reading lists and semester exams for the two semester Principles of Economics course (Economics 1) taught at Harvard in 1965-66. A biographical sketch of the faculty member responsible for coordinating the content and organizational structure of the instruction (some lectures, but mostly work in smaller sections), Richard T. Gill, can be found in that post too.

No less important for the course was the position of Head Tutor which was newly filled by Lars G. Sandberg (Harvard A.B. 1961; Harvard Ph.D. 1964), who was presumably the author of the “A Program for Sophomore Tutorial” (fifteen pages!) that Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has transcribed and included below. The program as outlined was designed for those Harvard undergraduates who were taking Economics 1 in their sophomore year, as opposed to their freshman year. Perhaps a document will turn up with information about the sophomore tutorial groups in economics offered to the students who had taken Economics 1 in their Freshman year.

The sophomore tutorial was a component of the larger tutorial system at Harvard College. The junior [Economics 98a and 98b] and senior [Economics 99] tutorial seminars were instituted to prepare for the departmental general examinations. [See the post on the 1964-65 junior tutorial led by Richard Caves: the post on the 1960-61 junior tutorial of Smithies and Chamberlin.]

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Origin of Tutorial Instruction in Economics, 1915-16

The Division of History, Government, and Economics introduced an new examination for A.B. candidates with a concentration chosen in the Division.

This examination was devised “not in order to place an additional burden upon candidates for the A.B., but for the purpose of securing better correlation of the student’s work, encouraging better methods of study, and furnishing a more adequate test of real power and attainment.” In their preparation students have from the beginning of the Sophomore year special tutorial instruction.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1915-1916, pp. 75-76.

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Obituary of Lars Gunnarsson Sandberg
(1939-2020)

Lars Gunnarsson Sandberg, 81, of Dublin, a 48-year resident of Upper Arlington, died at Riverside Methodist Hospital on September 29, 2020, with his family at his side.

He was born June 20, 1939, in Uppsala, Sweden, and emigrated to New York City in 1948. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard College in 1961, where he was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in Economics, and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1964. He taught Economics at Harvard and Dartmouth College before becoming a tenured full professor at The Ohio State University from 1970 – 1995. He continued to teach after retirement as an adjunct professor at OSU and Uppsala University. He was an avid reader and spent much of his time in libraries. He enjoyed the arts as much as sporting events, and rarely missed a Masterpiece Theatre show or an OSU football game. He loved boats, and enjoyed many sailing trips with his family on the east coast of Sweden. He was well known for his intelligence, his sharp wit, his down-to-earth nature, and his complete devotion to his family. He will be sadly missed.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Gunnar and Laila Sandberg. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Joyce Bigelow; son, Per Larsson (Sharon Knight) of San Francisco; daughters, Kerstin Margareta and Elisabet Katarina of Columbus; grandchildren, Erik and Elin; brothers, Bengt (Beatrice Helbling) Sandberg of Oberuzwil, Switzerland, and Per (Karin) Sandberg of Stockholm, Sweden, and many nieces and nephews.

Due to Covid-19, a memorial service will be announced at a later date. Interment is planned in Lunenburg, MA, and Uppsala, Sweden. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to PBS or to Friends of the Upper Arlington Public Library.

Source: Dignity Memorial Website.

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Course Announcement

Economics 1. Principles of Economics

Full course. Indivisible. M., W., F., at 12. The major part of the course is conducted in sections. Throughout the year, however, there will be lectures, generally on W., at 12. M., W., and F., at 12 will be the normal hour for section meetings, but sections will be scheduled at other hours. Professor Dunlop, Drs. R. T. Gill, Sanberg and other Members of the Department.

The Department encourages students considering concentration to take this course in their freshman year.

Designed to introduce students to the methods of economic analysis that bear on the issues which confront this country and the world. Will thus serve the needs both of those students who plan no further work in Economics and those who desire to obtain the groundwork for more advanced courses in the field.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe, 1965-1966, p. 102.

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Harvard University
Department of Economics
Tutorial Office
September 25, 1965

A Program for Sophomore Tutorial

The attached list of readings is the suggested list for sophomore tutorial groups comprised of students taking Economics 1 during the coming year. The list was prepared at the request of the Department’s Committee on Undergraduate Instruction for the purpose of providing a tutorial program to deepen and enrich the impact of Economics 1.

The suggested program has five sections, corresponding to major sections of Economics 1. Sections one and two are generally designed for the first term and sections three, four and five for the second term. Readings for each of the sections were chosen so as to provide somewhat more material than would be required for three two-hour tutorial meetings. The excess material within each section should provide flexibility in adapting to the needs of individual tutorial groups.

Papers and problem sets of the tutor’s own devising are optional with the suggested program. In planning for these, it should be recalled that tutees are required to prepare a Sophomore Essay during the Spring Term.

Brief comments on a suggested approach to each section have been provided.

SECTION I
Economic History

Henri Pirenne, The Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe.
The Economic Effects of the Navigation Acts on the American Colonies and Their Relationship to the American Revolution
1. Bernard Bailyn, “Communications and Trade: The Atlantic in the Seventeenth Century,” in H. Scheiber ed., US Economic History: A Reader, pp. 30-40, or JEH, XIII, Fall 1953, pp. 378-87.
2. Oliver Dickerson, The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution, chap. 1-9, 11.
3. Lawrence Harper, “The Effects of the Navigation Acts on the Thirteen Colonies,” in Scheiber, op. cit., pp. 41-70, or R. Morris ed., The Era of the American Revolution, pp. 3-39.
4. Curtis P. Nettels, “British Mercantilism and the Economic Development of the Thirteen Colonies,” JEH, XII, Spring 1952, pp. 105-114.
The Effects of Slavery on the Economic Development of the South
1. Alfred Conrad and John Meyer, The Economics of Slavery, pp. 43-99, 223-233. Pages 43-99 also appear in the JPE as pp. 95-130, April 1958, and pp. 440-443, October 1958.
2. Eugene Genovese, “The Significance of the Slave Plantation for Southern Economic Development,” in Scheiber, op. cit., pp.149-161 or Journal of Southern History, Nov. 1962, pp. 422-37.
3. E. Moes, “Absorption of Capital in Slave Labor in the Ante-Bellum South and Economic Growth,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, October 1961, pp. 535-542.
4. Robert R. Russel, “The General Effects of Slavery Upon Southern Economic Progress,” JSH, February 1938, p. 34-54.
The Role of the Government in the Development of the US Economy — Especially Transportation Part I — The Ante-Bellum Period
1. Thomas C. Cochran, “Land Grants and Railroad Enterprise,” JEH, Supplement X, 1950, pp. 53-67.
2. Carter Goodrich, Government Promotion of American Canals and Railroads, chap. 1-4.
3. K. Henrich, O. Handlin, L. Hartz and M. S. Heath, “”The Development of American Laissez Faire,” Journal of Economic History, Supplement, 1945, pp. 51-100.
4. Milton S. Heath, “Public Railroad Construction and the Development of Private Enterprise in the South Before 1861,” JEH, Supplement X, 1950, pp. 40-53.
5. Edward Mason, Economic Planning in Underdeveloped Areas, chap. 2, “Government and Business in 19th Century Development.”
Part II The Post-Bellum Period
1. Robert Fogel, The Union Pacific: A Case of Premature Enterprise.
2. Goodrich, op. cit., chap. 5-8.
The Effects of Improved Transportation on US Economic Development
1. Robert Fogel, Railroads and American Economic Growth, chap. I and VI.
2. George Taylor, The Transportation Revolution, chap. I-XI, XV, XVI.

Section I places emphasis on problems in American economic history. Pirenne is included because it is so well liked by experienced tutors and because it has been removed from the Economics I reading list within the last few years. It should, if it is at all possible, be used during the first few weeks of the term.

The readings in part B include varying estimates of the costs and benefits to the American Colonies resulting from the Navigation Acts and related British legislation. This problem is important both as history and as an example of commercial policy.

The question of Southern slavery also generates a considerable amount of dispute. Among the suggested readings, Genovese and Moes argue that slavery seriously retarded the economic development of the South, while Conrad, Meyer and Russel remain skeptical. The Conrad and Meyer study is also of considerable interest as a prototype of the “new,” quantitative economic history.

Parts D and E might well be handled in one meeting, half the tutorial group being assigned to the ante-bellum period and the other half to the post-bellum period. There should then be plenty of opportunity to “compare and contrast” policy in the two periods. The most interesting readings from an analytical point of view are the articles on “The Development of American Laissez Faire” and Fogel’s short book on the Union Pacific. The rest of the readings tend to be more descriptive in nature.

Part F uses the introduction and conclusion of Fogel’s rather complex book downgrading the importance of railroads and a standard exposition of US economic history to generate some debate on the role of transport, and therefore government support of transport development, in US economic development. Some attempt might also be made to consider this question in the context of currently underdeveloped countries.

SECTION II
Competition and Modern Industrial Organization

The Concept and Function of the Entrepreneur
1. Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development, pp. 74-94.
2. Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., My Years with General Motors, Introduction and pp. 3-168.
3. Carl Kaysen, “A Hero of Our Time,” New Republic, February 29, 1964, pp. 21-23; mimeo. available in University Hall 9.
4. Symposium on Corporate Capitalism, QJE, February 1965, pp. 1-51 and August 1965, pp. 492-499.
Advertising

A supplement containing suggested readings on this topic will be mailed out during October.

Business in Difficulties
1. Richard Austin Smith, Corporations in Crisis, pp. 13-26, 63-96. (“Introduction” and “General Dynamics: A Crisis of Control” — the Convair 880 case).
2. John Brooks, The Fate of the Edsel and Other Business Adventures, pp. 17-75. (“The Rise of the Edsel” and “The Fall of the Edsel”).
3. Ibid., pp. 137-164. (“The Impacted Philosophers” — The GE-electric industry price fixing case.)
4. Richard Harris, The Real Voice. (Senator Kefauver, The Drug Industry and Legislation).

The purpose of Section II is to illustrate the complex and uncertain environment in which business enterprise must operate. This basic approach has been selected as a counterweight to the relatively abstract treatment of the theory of the firm provided in Economics 1.

The readings in Group A concentrate on the problem of the entrepreneur. The first Schumpeter reading presents his classic theory of the entrepreneurial function. Sloan’s book describes a famous entrepreneurial task: the development of the management system of General Motors. The QJE symposium deals mainly with the relation between corporate control and organization, on the one hand, and corporate behavior on the other.

The Smith reading and the first Brooks’ reading in Group C deal with serious mistakes in business judgement, the former, after a general introduction, with the case of General Dynamics and the Convair 880, and the latter with the failure of the Edsel. The Smith reading is the more analytical. Harris’ book and the second selection in Brooks deal with problems of business ethics. Harris describes the events leading up to the Drug Amendments Act of 1962, and Brooks deals with General Electric’s position in the electric industry conspiracy case.

SECTION III
Policy Problems

The Role of Government
1. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
2. J. K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society

The issues which Friedman and Galbraith discuss may be treated individually and in greater detail.

Equality —The Progressive Personal Income Tax
1. Milton Friedman, “The Distribution of Income,” Capitalism and Freedom, pp. 161-76.
2. Walter Blum and H. Kalven, The Uneasy Case for Progressive Taxation, pp. 104.
3. Richard Goode, The Individual Income Tax, chap. IV, X, XI, XII, pp. 58-75, 260-318.
Education
1. Milton Friedman, “The Role of Government in Education,” Capitalism and Freedom, chap. VI, pp. 85-107.
2. John Vaizey, “Education as Consumption or Investment — a Public or Private Good?” The Economics of Education, pp. 26-36.
3. Theodore Schultz, The Economic Value of Education, 70 pp.
4. R. S. Eckaus, “Education and Economic Growth,” in Economics of Higher Education, ed. by Selma Mushkin, pp. 102-128.
5. Henry Bruton, “The Training of Labor,” Principles of Development Economics, pp. 205-40.
The Costs of Racial Discrimination
1. Mary Jean Bowman, “Human Inequalities and Southern Development,” Education and the Southern Economy, Supplement to SEJ, July 1965, pp. 73-102.
2. Gary Becker, The Economics of Discrimination (avoid appendixes)
3. Barbara Bergman, “The Effect of Discrimination Against Negroes in Employment on the Size and Distribution of Personal Income,” (mimeo. available at University Hall 9)
4. CEA, “The Economic Cost of Discrimination,” (mimeo. available at University Hall 9)
5. Alan Batchelder, “Decline in the Relative Income of Negro Men,” QJE, November 1964, pp. 525-548.
6. Alan Batchelder, “Poverty: The Special Case of the Negro,” AER, May 1965, pp. 530-539.

Section III presents readings on policy issues concerning the degree to which the government should amend certain economic decisions reached in the market place.

The readings in Part A by Friedman and Galbraith are book length statements of two largely opposing viewpoints on this question. Each book covers a large number of issues. Tutors who use Part A should probably assign both books at once, but may wish to devote two meetings to discussing them.

If tutors prefer to focus on particular issues, they may use Parts Band C instead of (or in addition to) Part A. In Part B, the selection by Friedman attacks the progressive income tax; the book by Blum and Kalven dissects the various ‘economic’ arguments for progressivity that have been advanced and concludes that the case for progressivity rests on ethical or aesthetic grounds; the chapters from Goode discuss actual economic effects of the progressive income tax. In part C Friedman and Vaizey debate the economic case for compulsory education. The book by Schultze is a terse description of education as an economic good with many facets. Eckaus and Bruton describe how education and economic growth are related.

The readings on the economics of discrimination include a theoretical exposition of the problem, several articles describing the economic position of the U.S. Negro and finally two different, and differing, estimates of the social economic cost of discrimination.

SECTION IV
Economic Growth and Organization
in Other Countries

Part I: Economic Planning

Planning: Theory versus Harsh Reality
1. Oskar Lange, “On the Economic Theory of Socialism” in Oskar Lange and Fred M. Taylor, On the Economic Theory of Socialism, pp. 55-129.
2. Ely Devons, Planning in Practice
Planning: Country Studies
1. “Use of Models in Programming” and “Aims and Means of Programming” in Gerald Meier, Leading Issues in Development Economics, pp. 465-83.
2. Everett Hagen, “The Aims and Tools of Economic Development Planning,” in Everett Hagen (ed.), Planning Economic Development, pp. 7-19.
3. Louis J. Walinsky, “Burma,” and Claire Wilcox, “Pakistan,” in E. Hagen (ed.), Planning Economic Development, 26-51, 52-79.
4. [4a.] Paul Lemerle, “Planning for Economic Development in France,” in U.N. Planning for Economic Development, II, Studies of National Planning Experience, Part I, Private Enterprise and Mixed Economics, pp. 47-61.
5. [4b.] C.P. Kindleberger, “The Post-war Resurgence of the French Economy,” in Stanley Hoffman (et. al.), In Search of France, pp. 153-58.
6. [5.] Pieter de Wolff, “Planning for Economic Development in the Netherlands,” in U.N. Planning for Economic Development (etc.), pp. 133-42.
7. [6.] Gunnar Myrdal, Challenge to Affluence, Part I, esp. chap. 6 and 7.
Planning: How Pervasive?
1. Wolfgang Stolper, “Problems of Development Planning” and Gerald Meier, “The State of Development Planning — Note,” in Gerald Meier (ed.) Leading Issues in Development Economics, pp. 491-6, 561-4.
2. Everett Hagen, “The Nature of a Good Plan and the Machinery for Good Planning” and “Some Difficulties and Some Remedies,” Planning Economic Development, pp. 325-64.
3. A. Waterston, “Review of Hagen’s Planning Economic Development,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, July, 1965.
4. Peter Bauer and Basil Yamey, “General Appraisal of the Role of Government” and “Functions of Government,” in The Economics of Underdeveloped Countries, pp. 149-89.
5. Edward Mason, “Government Initiated Development,” in Economic Planning in Underdeveloped Areas, pp. 40-59.
6. Joel Dirlan and Andrew Watson, “The Impact of Underdevelopment on Economic Planning,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1965, pp. 167-94.

Section IV discusses economic planning in theory and in fact.

The reading by Lange in Part A is the classic statement on behalf of market socialism as a system of planning. Devons, on the other hand, describes the actual planning problems encountered in the British aircraft industry during World War II.

The readings in Part B consist of two brief statements of alternative approaches to planning and of six descriptions of how planning is (or might be) done in five countries. The planning practices differ sharply as do the circumstances of the countries described. Tutors may use these differences to illustrate how particular conditions condition the planning methods that are used. Care should be taken to try to define ‘planning.’

Part C contains readings of a more general nature on the question of how much governments in underdeveloped countries should control economic activity in order to promote economic welfare. The viewpoints range from a belief that government activity should be severely limited in principle (Bauer and Yamey), through practical concern about how planning works in practice (Meier, and Dirlam and Watson), to a belief that government planning is both inevitable and desirable (Mason) and feasible (Hagen).

SECTION V
Economic Growth and Organization
in Other Countries

Part II: The Economics of Underdevelopment

Trade and Development
1. Charles P. Kindleberger, Foreign Trade and the National Econom
Trade and Development
1. Gottfried Haberler, International Trade and Economic Development.
2. Ragnar Nurkse, Patterns of Trade and Development.
3. Werner Baer, “The Economics of Prebisch and ECLA,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Jan. 1962, pp. 169-183.
4. H. W. Singer, “The Distribution of Gains Between Investing and Borrowing Countries,” American Economic Review, May 1950, pp. 473-494.
Trade and Development
1. Albert H. Imlah, Economic Elements in the Pax Britannica, chap. 5,6.
2. William Lockwood, The Economic Development of Japan, chap. 1,2,6,7.
Social and Political Aspects of Development
1. David C. McClelland, The Achieving Society, chap. 1-3, 6,7,10.
2. Exchange between Sayre [P.] Schatz and [David C.] McClelland, QJE, May 1965, pp. 234-247.
Social and Political Aspects of Development
1. Edward S. Mason, Economic Planning in Underdeveloped Areas.
2. Max F. Millikan and Donald L. M. Blackmer, The Emerging Nations.

Of the many possible subjects that could have been chosen for study under this general heading, two have emerged as perhaps most interesting. One is the relationship between international trade and development and the other is the importance of social and political factors in development. Material is provided for three meetings on trade and two on social and political aspects.

Group A consists exclusively of Kindleberger’s book on the relationship between trade and the domestic economy. While it does devote considerable space to the question of economic development, the book is more general than that. It can best be considered as a way of tying the theory of international trade with the nature, problems and progress of the domestic economy.

Group B deals with the theoretical debate concerning the effect of international trade on the underdeveloped countries. Haberler presents a concise and well reasoned defense of free trade and traditional trade theory. Nurkse, on the other hand, points out that this traditional theory is based on 19th century experience that may no longer be valid. The Baer article is a brief, and on the whole sympathetic, presentation of Prebisch’s argument concerning the worsening terms of trade faced by the underdeveloped countries. Singer’s article argues that foreign investment in the production of raw materials in underdeveloped countries is of little or no benefit to the recipient country.

The readings for Group C consist of two case studies. The first is a brief account of British experience with protection and free trade in the 19th century when she was the world’s leading industrial power. The second is a longer and more detailed study of the role of foreign trade in Japanese development up to 1938. These two case studies can be compared with each other and be interpreted in relation to the more theoretical material of Groups A and B.

McClelland’s book, in Group D, presents a sociological view of economic development. It emphasizes the importance of the psychological need for achievement in generating entrepreneurship, a key factor in economic development.

The works assigned in Group E are more general and cover a wider area than McClelland’s book. The Emerging Nations takes a social and political view of development and ends with an analysis of what American policy should be. Mason’s short book, on the other hand, concentrates on the problems of the underdeveloped countries, particularly the need for economic planning and control.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 9; Folder: “Economics, 1965-66 (1 of 2)”.

Origin of Tutorial Instruction in Economics, 1915-16

More recent backstories on the Sophomore Tutorial for Economics 1

Economics Undergraduate Program Undergoes Extensive Re-evaluation

Ec Dept. Appoints New Head Tutor; Lars Sandberg to Replace Wilkinson

Obituary of Lars Gunnarsson Sandberg (1939-2020)

Course Announcement

Economics 1. Principles of Economics

A Program for Sophomore Tutorial

SECTION I Economic History

SECTION II Competition and Modern Industrial Organization

SECTION III Policy Problems

SECTION IV Economic Growth and Organization in Other Countries

SECTION V Economic Growth and Organization in Other Countries

Ec Dept. Appoints New Head Tutor;
Lars Sandberg to Replace Wilkinson

Obituary of Lars Gunnarsson Sandberg
(1939-2020)

SECTION I
Economic History

SECTION II
Competition and Modern Industrial Organization

SECTION III
Policy Problems

SECTION IV
Economic Growth and Organization
in Other Countries

SECTION V
Economic Growth and Organization
in Other Countries