The two-semester course on the history of economics up through Adam Smith taught by assistant professor Charles J. Bullock at Harvard in 1906-07 was taken by seven graduate students and one undergraduate.
A reprint of the 1690 pamphlet by Nicholas Barbon “A Discourse of Trade” was published by Johns Hopkins Press in 1905 and Bullock incorporated it into his course at the first opportunity (the course was announced but not taught in 1905-06). The third question of the year-end exam below concerns a quote from the first page of Barbon’s Discourse.
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Before joining Harvard in 1903
Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, p. 16.
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Earlier History of Economics Courses
Taught by Charles J. Bullock
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Course Enrollment
1906-07
Economics 15. Asst. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.
Total 8: 7 Graduates, 1 Junior.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.
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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Mid-Year Examination, 1906-07
- By the close of the Middle Ages what progress had been made in developing a theory of value?
- Compare the communism of Plato with that of More.
- What was the attitude of the following writers toward commerce: Aristotle, Xenophon, Thomas Aquinas?
- What economic topics were discussed by Roman writers?
- Discuss the connection between political and economic theory from the time of Plato to the middle of the eighteenth century.
- What is your opinion of the scholastic doctrine of usury?
- Write an account of economic discussions in Italy in the fifteenth century?
- To what books would you turn for information concerning the political and economic theories of the Schoolmen?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.
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ECONOMICS 15
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY
Year-end Examination, 1906-07
Omit one question.
- What analysis does Quesnay make of the organization of economic society? Does his analysis resemble at any points the analysis made by Aristotle?
- What traces of Aristotelianism and Scholasticism do you find in the economic thought of Europe from 1500 to 1800?
- At about what time was the following passage written?
“The Stock and Wares of all Trade are the Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals of the whole Universe, whatsoever the Land or Sea produceth. These Wares may be divided into Natural and Artificial. Natural Wares are those which are sold as Nature produceth them. … Artificial Wares are those which by Art are changed into another Form than Nature gave them.” [A Discourse of Trade (1609) by Nicholas Barbon]
Does this passage suggest any distinction drawn by earlier writers? What use was made of it by the economists of the period when it was written? - Compare the general development of mercantilist doctrines in England from 1500 to 1760 with the development of French mercantilist doctrines of the same period.
- What tendencies are noticeable in the economic thought of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain between 1740 and 1760? Name some of the chief writers in each country at this time.
- What is the fundamental difference between the theories of commerce entertained by enlightened mercantilists of the eighteenth century and the view of Hume, d’Argenson, and Adam Smith?
- What various elements were fused in the economical philosophy of Adam Smith?
- What are the prevailing theories of value, profits, and rent found in the writings of English mercantilists?
- Outline Turgot’s theory of distribution.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1907-08; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 37-38.
Image Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, p. 16. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.