Month: March 2016

Categories
Columbia Regulations

Columbia. Memo from the Dean on Registration-Books, 1909

While Economics in the Rear-View Mirror  is focussed on the content of graduate education in economics (including both the transmission of the tools and norms of economic science and scholarship), from time to time I’ll be adding artifacts related to the certification function of degree-granting institutions that have established rules to regulate the “paper-chase” of their graduate students. Examples: degree rules at Harvard for 1911-12, Chicago for 1903, Columbia University for 1908-10.

Today’s posting is a 1909 memo written by the founding Dean of Columbia’s Faculty of Political Science, John W. Burgess. Instead of having instructors filing grade reports to a central registrar’s office that performed the bookkeeping of course credits, Deans relied on student registration-books in which instructor signatures were collected, analogous to the German system in which students individually collected their Seminar Scheine (certificates) issued professor by professor, course by course as proof of their academic work. In Wolfgang Stolper’s papers at Duke University one sees that he carefully kept his Scheine from his course work at the University of Bonn before he went to Harvard.  

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting…

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[Registration books]

Course Records. It should be noted that the student is expected to keep his own record of courses attended. In the registration-book which is furnished him for this purpose, he enters at the beginning of each half-year the courses which he proposes to attend. At the beginning and end of each course the professor in charge certifies the student’s attendance by his signature. Before presenting himself for examination for any degree, the student must submit his registration-book to the Dean of the Faculty in which his major subject lies in order that the Dean may satisfy himself that the required minimum number of courses has been attended. Lost registration-books may be replaced if the professors are able from their own records or recollection to certify attendance; but if they are unable to do this, the candidate may lose credit for attendance.

Source: Course Regulations, 1908-10. Columbia University.

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Columbia University
in the City New York

FACULTIES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND PURE SCIENCE

Office of the Dean

September 23, 1909

My dear Professor:

The Dean’s attention has recently been called to the fact that there is some misunderstanding, or at least some difference of understanding, among the officers of instruction of the Graduate Faculties in regard to the signification of their signatures to the courses in the registration-books. Inasmuch as these books are the only evidence which the Dean has of the attendance of students upon the courses of instruction for which they are registered, and of the fulfillment of the requirements in regard to attendance whereby they become qualified to attain a higher degrees, the Dean deems it his duty to make known to the officers of instruction the interpretation placed in his office upon their signatures. The Dean understands that they certify that, to the best knowledge and belief of the officers signing, the student has generally attended the course in person, and that no substitution of work done or said to be done in absentia from the lecture room or conference room of the officer has been allowed for the certified attendance upon the courses of instruction. The Dean’s office will adhere to this interpretation of the requirement of attendance, until otherwise instructed by the Council of the University; or, of course, by the Trustees.

Very truly yours,

John W. Burgess

Dean

 

Source: Columbia University Archives. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Central Files, 1890- (UA#001), Box 318, Folder “1.1.14 5/8; Burgess, John William; 1/1909-6/1910”.

Image Source: Universities and their Sons, Vol. 2. Boston: R. Herndon Company, 1899,  p. 481.

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Frank A. Fetter, 1906.

Thomas Nixon Carver was granted a sabbatical leave from Harvard for the academic year 1906-07. Frank Albert Fetter from Cornell was hired to teach Carver’s course that covered economic utopias and proposed social reforms. 

Inspecting university course catalogues from where Fetter had previously taught, I was able to find that he did indeed once teach a one term course at Cornell before teaching Carver’s course in 1906:  “Political Science 55a: Socialism and Communism” that was given in the Fall term of a three term academic year 1894-95.

After Fetter returned to Cornell, it appears he then taught a course very similar to what he taught at Harvard: Political Science 66b Social Reforms. “History and growth of the more radical modern plans for changing industrial conditions; program and spirit of the socialistic parties in Europe and America.” (1907-08)

Here are the main dates in Fetter’s career:

1891  A. B. Indiana University
1892  Ph.M. Cornell University
1894  Ph.D. University of Halle
1894-1895   Instructor in Political Economy, Cornell University
1895-1898   Professor of Economics and Social Science, Indiana University
1898-1901   Professor, Stanford University
1901-1911   Professor, Cornell University
1911-1933   Professor, Princeton University

1912  President of the American Economic Association

Comparing this syllabus with those used by Carver before and after this year, one sees that Fetter essentially added items to Carver’s syllabus and made some minor rearrangements of the topics, e.g. anarchism moved to the end of the term.

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting…

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[Course Enrollment First Half-year 1906-07]

[Economics] 14b 1hf. Professor Fetter (Cornell University).—Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

4 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 7 Other. Total 32.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1906-07, p.71.

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ECONOMICS 14b
METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM

First Half-Year, 1906 – 07, F. A. Fetter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I.  Evil’s and Discontent Portrayed.

Engels, F., Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.
Rowntree, B. S., Poverty (a study of York, Eng.).
London, J., The People of the Abyss (in London).
Brooks, J. G., The Social Unrest (1903).
Hunter, R., Poverty (a pessimistic view of the U. S.).
Spargo, J., The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906).

II. Utopian Romances (chronological order of publication).

Plato, The Republic (4th century B.C.).
Morley, H. (ed.), Ideal Commonwealths (containing Plutarch’s Lycurgus, More’s Utopia (1516), Bacon’s New Atlantis (1629), Campanella’s City of the Sun (1520), Hall’s Mundus Alter et Idem (1607)).
Cabet, E., Voyage en Icarie (1839)
Bellamy, E., Looking Backward (1887).
Morris, W., News from Nowhere.
Hertzka, Freiland.
Bellamy, E., Equality (1897).
Wells, H. G., Anticipations (1902).
________, Mankind in the Making (1904).
Parry, The Scarlet Empire (1906, anti-utopian).

III. Communistic Experiments (American books in chronological order).

Kautsky, Karl, Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
Cabet, E., Icaria (history of the society in America, 1852).
Noyes, J. H., History of American Socialisms (1870).
Nordhoff, Charles, The Communistic Societies of the United States (1875).
Hinds, W. A., American Communities (1878, and later revised edition).
Shaw, Albert, Icaria, a Chapter in the History of Socialism (1884).
Codman, J. T., Brook Farm; Historic and Personal Memoirs (1894).
Randall, E. O., The Zoar Society (1899).
Landis, G. B., The Separatists of Zoar.
Lockwood, George B., The New Harmony Communities.
Broom, Isaac, The Last Days of the Ruskin Coöperative Association (1902).
Hillquist, M., History of Socialism in the United States (1903).

IV. Religious and Altruistic Socialism

Lamennais, Les Parole d’un Croyant.
Kaufman, Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
Kingsley, Charles, Alton Locke.
Stubbs, Charles Kingsley.
Woodworth, A. V., Christian Socialism in England (1903).
Gladden, Washington, Tools and the Man, A View of Christian Socialism.
Strong, Josiah, Our Country (1885), The New Era (1893).
Ballon-Adin, Practical Christian Socialism.
Nitti, F., Catholic Socialism (trans. 1895).
Carlyle, Thomas: “The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle,” a selection of chapters by W. D. P. Bliss.
Ruskin, John: “The Communism of John Ruskin,” a selection by W. D. P. Bliss from Unto This Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
“William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist,” a collection of his socialistic writings, by F. W. Lee.

V. History and Exposition of Collectivism (alphabetic by authors).

Dawson, W. H., German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle (1888).
Ely, R. T., French and German Socialism (1883); Socialism, an examination of its nature, strength, and weakness (1895).
Flower, B. O., How England Averted a Revolution of Force (1903).
Gonner, E. C. K., The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus (1899).
Graham, William, Socialism, New and Old.
Kirkup, Thomas, A History of Socialism.
Peixotto, Jessica B., The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism (1901).
Rae, John, Contemporary Socialism (2d ed. 1891).
Russell, Bertrand, German Social Democracy.
Schaeffle, Albert, The Quintessence of Socialism (1874).
Sombart, Werner, Socialism and the Social Movement in the 19th Century (1st ed. translated; 5th ed. revised, in German, 1905).
____________, Der moderne Capitalismus, 2 vols.

VI.  Collectivist arguments.

German.

Karl Marx and F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1847).
Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867).
Engels, F., Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
Bebel, A., Woman in the Past, Present and Future (trans. 1894).
Kautsky, K., The Social Revolution (trans. 1903).
Bernstein, E., Ferdinand Lassalle (trans. 1893).
_________, Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus (1899).
_________, Zur Geschichte und Theorie des Sozialismus (2d ed. 1901).

English and American.

Hyndman, H. M., The Economics of Socialism (English of the Marxist school).
Webb, Sydney and Beatrice, Problems of Modern Industry.
Fabian Essay in Socialism, B. Shaw and others.
Fabian Tracts, 1-86 (1884-1899).
Blatchford, R., Merrie England (1895).
Gronlund, L., The Coöperative Commonwealth (1895).
_________, The New Economy (1898).
Bliss, W. P. D., A Handbook of Socialism (1895).
Vail, Modern Socialism (1899).
Ghent, W. J., Our Benevolent Feudalism.
_________, Mass and Class.
London, J., War of the Classes.
Spargo, John, Socialism (1906).

Various.

Selections from Fourier.
Jaures, J., Studies in Socialism (trans. 1906).
Ensor, R. C. K., Modern Socialism as set forth by Socialists (collection of 29 articles, 1904).
Labriola, A., Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History (trans. 1904).
Vandervelde, E., Collectivism.

VII. Anti-Collectivist Arguments.

Brunhuber, Dr. Robert, Die heutige Sozialdemokratie (1906).
Cathrein, Rev. Victor, Socialism Exposed and Refuted (trans. 1902).
______________, Socialism, its Theoretical Basis and Practical Application.
Gilman, N. P., Socialism and the American Spirit.
Gonner, E. C. K., The Socialist State.
Guyot, Y., The Tyranny of Socialism.
Le Bon, G., Psychology of Socialism (trans. 1899).
Mackay, T., A Plea for Liberty.
Malloch, W. H., Labor and the Popular Welfare (new ed., 1894).
___________, Classes and Masses.
___________, Aristocracy and Evolution (1898).
Menger, A., The Right to the Whole Produce of Labor (trans. 1899).
Sanders, G. A., Reality, or Law and Order vs. Anarchy and Socialism, a reply to E. Bellamy (1898).
Schaeffle, A., The Impossibility of Social Democracy (1884).
Simonson, G., A Plain Examination of Socialism (1900).
Spencer, H., The Coming Slavery.

VIII. Land Nationalization.

Favorable.

George, H., Progress and Poverty.
______________, Our Land and Land Policy.
Wallace, A. R., Studies, Scientific and Social (in Vol. II, articles on land nationalization).
Loria, A., Problèmes Sociaux Contemporains.
George, H., Jr., The Menace of Privilege.
Shearman, T. G., Natural Taxation.

Unfavorable.

Cathrein, Rev. Victor, The Champions of Agrarian Socialism, A Refutation of Lavelèye and George (trans. 1889).
Huxley, T. H., Evolution and Ethics (chs. on single tax, 1894).
_________, Social Diseases and Worse Remedies (1891).
Rae, John, Ch. 12 of Contemporary Socialism.
Smart, W., Taxation of Land Values (1900).
Walker, F. A., Land and Its Rent (1883).

General.

Epps, Land Systems of Australia.
Lefèvre-Shaw, English Commons and Forests.

IX. The Extension of State Action

Adams, H. C., The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
Ely, R. T., Problems of To-day (chs. 17-23).
Hobson, J. A., The Social Problem, Life and Work (1901).
Jevons, W. S., Methods of Social Reform (last 5 chs.).
Ritchie, D. C., Principles of State Interference.
_________, Darwinism and Politics.
Taylor, F. M., The Right of the State to Be (1891).
Willoughby, W. W., Social Justice.

X. Anarchism and Nihilism.

Godwin, William, Political Justice; on Property.
Tolstoi, L., The Slavery of Our times (1900).
Kropotkin, The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
______________, The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22: 149.
Reclus, Elisée, Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 14: 627.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1906-1907).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics Departmental (General) Exam for A.B., 1939

Majors in economics at Harvard had to pass a battery of examinations in their Junior and Senior years (7.5 hours for non-honors candidates and 10.5 hours for honors candidates) before they could graduate. A printed copy of questions for thirteen component A.B. examinations in economics at Harvard for the academic year 1938-39 (over thirty pages!) are to be found in the Lloyd A. Metzler papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Project. 

Concentrators in Economics will have to pass in the spring their Junior year a general examination on the department of Economics, and in the spring of their Senior year an examination correlating Economics with either History or Government (this correlating exam may be abolished by 1942), and a third one on the student’s special field, which is chosen from a list of eleven, including economic theory, economic history, money and banking, industry, public utilities, public finance, labor problems, international economics, policies and agriculture.
Courses in allied fields, including Philosophy, Mathematics, History, Government, and Sociology, are suggested by the department for each of the special fields. In addition, Geography 1 is recommended in connection with international policies or agriculture.
[Source: Harvard Crimson, May 31, 1938]

This posting gives the questions from the Departmental Examination and the topics for the Essay Paper that all economics majors were required to take.  

  • One Departmental Examination from the Department of Economics consisting of two parts:

Essay Paper (May 5, 1939; 1.5 hours)
Departmental Examination (May 8, 1939; 3 hours)

  • One of the Five Division Special Examinations. (May 10, 1939; 3 hours)

Economic Theory,
Economic History since 1750,
Money and Finance,
Market Organization and Control,
Labor Economics and Social Reform.

  • One of the Six Correlation Examinations given to Honors Candidates. (May 12, 1939; 3 hours)

Economic History of Western Europe since 1750,
American Economic History,
History of Political and Economic Thought,
Public Administration and Finance,
Government Regulation of Industry,
Mathematical Economic Theory.

 

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

 

 

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENTAL EXAMINATION
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
[1939]

(Three hours)

Answer SIX questions; at least ONE question must be answered in each part. A senior may not take more than ONE question in that section of Part II which covers his special field.

PART I

  1. How may industrial fluctuations affect the distribution of income?
  2. Explain and discuss the probable immediate economic consequences in this country of the outbreak of a general European war in the near future. If we should stay out of it, what might be some of the long-run effects of the war on our economy?
  3. What various causes may lead to an increase in the general level of real wages in the country?
  4. Discuss some of the economic implications of declining population growth.
  5. Do you think that abolition of the institution of inheritance would have important social and economic consequences?
  6. If there were one hundred automobile manufacturing firms, would the process of determination of the prices of automobiles be different from what it is now? Do you think that the prices would be different? Explain.
  7. Explain briefly the principal short-run and long-run consequences in an economy of a succession of cost-reducing innovations by individual firms.
  8. Name and explain briefly as many of the possible economic consequences of the New England hurricane as you can think of.

PART II

A
STATISTICS AND ACCOUNTING

  1. What problems would be met in an endeavor to obtain a curve of marginal cost by an analysis of the actual monthly expense data of the firm?
  2. How would you treat a time series of employment data to reveal (a) the rate of change in secular growth and (b) changes in the intensity of cyclical fluctuations?
  3. What differences do you find between concepts used by accountants and those used by economists in analyzing profits? Do you think that these differences should be eliminated? Explain.
  4. Discuss the relevance to different situations of various methods of measuring appreciation.

B
PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE
(As Aspects of Modern Economic History)

  1. Discuss the causes, course, and outcome, and the interests and the views represented on both sides, of the struggle over the money question in this country in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.
  2. “The achievements in economic policy of America’s liberal or progressive statesmen have always been limited, because they have approached their tasks in this field too largely as moral crusaders against ‘predatory’ business interests, and too little as unbiased students of the technical economic problems involved.” Discuss, with special reference to the career of either Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson.
  3. What British statesman, during the 19th century, made the most important contributions in developing or establishing the public policies which chiefly aided, or removed impediments to, or reformed abuses connected with, Great Britain’s industrial development? Name several statesmen and the principal measures or policies each one stood for, and discuss the career and achievements of one man in some detail.
  4. Sketch the social security legislation in Germany prior to 1910. Do you think that this legislation had any influence on the strength and achievements of the Social Democratic Party in the post-war period?

C
MONEY AND FINANCE

  1. How do you account for changes in the velocity of circulation of money in bank credit? What are some of the consequences of changes in velocity? Can velocity be controlled by the central bank authorities?
  2. “The whirling dervishes of deflation and the experts of castor-oil economics assure us that ultimately we arrive at some mysterious automatic equilibrium point from which recovery can proceed.”
  3. Discuss the natures and effects on world economic conditions of some of the principal new types of restrictions on international trade imposed by various countries in the last two decades.
  4. “The disappearance of the gold standard is the disappearance of one of the safeguards of private property. For in giving the State a free hand to manage the money and credit supply, we are giving political pressure-groups a potent weapon for effecting arbitrary changes in all property-values and in the distribution of wealth.”
  5. Discuss the possible effects of each one of three different kinds of taxes on the annual amount of new investment in capital goods in the community.
  6. Would you advocate return of all the leading nations to a gold standard of the pre-war type? If not, what sort of international monetary arrangements do you favor?
  7. “The advocates of public spending as the way to open ‘save capitalism’ are either disingenuous about their objective, or ignorant of the nature of capitalism. For the continuance of capitalism requires economy in public, as well as in private spending.”

 

D
MARKET ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL

  1. “Corporate reorganization is merely a family squabble among investors over a pie which turned out to be a donut. The results have no significance to consumers or to labor.”
  2. Explain why you favor or oppose government ownership and operation (in the United States) of the railroads or of the bituminous coal industry.
  3. “Once recovery has been attained most agricultural problems can be left to the market.”
  4. Should differences in electric rates to different consumers reflect only differences in costs?
  5. “The law should be revised so as to prevent any business from becoming bigger than it can grow when subjected to the test of the free market.”
  6. Discuss the problem of improving efficiency in the distribution of some one farm product, or group of products, with respect to obstacles, possible achievements, and possible results to farmers, processors, middlemen, and consumers.
  7. “The price-cutter is worse than a criminal – he is a fool. He not only pulls down the standing of his goods; he pulls down himself and his trade. He scuttles the ship in which he himself is afloat. Price-cutting is not business any more than smallpox is health.”

 

E
LABOR ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL REFORM

  1. Discuss the relative merits, from the standpoints of labor and the public, under present-day American industrial conditions, of the principles of labor organization represented by the A. F. of L. And those represented by the C. I. O.
  2. “The rise of Fascism is due to the failure of events to bear out one of the predictions of Marx. In Germany and in Italy the lower-middle-class, instead of disappearing, has become not only desperate enough but strong enough to impose its patriotic will on both the plutocracy and the proletariat.”
  3. Do you think that a spread of collective bargaining in a community is likely to have any appreciable consequences for the total national income and the total amount of employment?
  4. “A vigorous labor movement always has as its basis in the motives and mentality of the workers, much less their economic interests as individuals, than their capacity for emotional loyalty to an ideology and a fighting ‘cause’ which plays the role, in their lives, of a class religion.”
  5. What basic tenets of Marxism in economic theory underlie both its explanation of capitalist crises or depressions, and its explanation of imperialist wars? Explain the underlying theory and how it leads to these two theories, and discuss the basic issues as issues in economic theory.
  6. What is your opinion of the view that redistributing wealth by taxation would be an ineffectual method of reform because it would leave untouched the unequal distribution of power.
  7. “If we wish to preserve our democratic, liberal, and capitalistic or ‘free enterprise’ society, by making it possible for the masses to be and remain contented with it, no means to this end is more important than development of an adequate program of social security.”

 

PART III

  1. “The idea that the sins and the errors of judgment of businessmen bring on depressions is a groundless myth. The business cycle is the product of impersonal forces, and would follow the same course even if all men were invariably honest and made no mistakes.”
  2. “To such extent as possible people are able to engage in competition upon the basis of quality and service, rather than price, trade will be raised to a higher level, and will be more to the advantage of the general public.”
  3. “If all employers agreed to pay the same wages then higher wages will hurt no employer, but will, instead, benefit all employers by increasing demand for their products.”
  4. “So long as consumers do not have purchasing power there is no need for further investment to increase facilities for production. If no one can buy, the facilities are not needed.”
  5. “Stabilization of individual prices is inherent in our financial structure because industry is based largely on a credit structure and any radical drop in prices makes fixed charges unbearable.”
  6. “Unemployment is a problem which Society must solve and we believe it is a better solved by businessmen than by passing it over to the government for solutions.”
  7. “The prices created in the process of buying and selling regulate our lives far more minutely than could an efficient despot – and often as arbitrarily as a capricious tyrant.”
  8. “Practical questions no more form part of the science of Political Economy and navigation forms part of the science of astronomy. The conclusions of the economic of the economist do not authorize him in adding a single syllable of advice.”

May 8, 1939.

 

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

 

ESSAY PAPER
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

(One hour and a half)

Candidates for honors may write on ONE topic only. Others may, if they prefer, write on TWO topics. Please note on the front cover of the bluebook the number of each topic upon which you write.

  1. The meaning and significance of economic progress.
  2. Economics of war – planning and financing.
  3. Would political and economic isolation be the best course for the United States?
  4. The concept of ideal output in a community.
  5. “The disappearance of the free competitive market must mean the eventual disappearance of liberty and democracy, political and economic.”
  6. The significance of specialization in economic activity.
  7. Effects of the business cycle on farmers, labor, investors, professional men, retailers.
  8. “The New Deal efforts at recovery were supported by theory, especially by doctrines explaining prosperity, that had gained popularity during the New Era of the twenties.”
  9. A book review giving your assessment of An Economic Program for American Democracy.
  10. The concept of ideal distribution of income.
  11. “The competitive price system is a scheme of social organization without resort to mass forces.”
  12. The significance of monopoly elements, of various sorts, in an economy.
  13. The functions of the study and teaching of economics.
  14. “The twentieth century clearly does not offer any comfortable prospect of a smoothly functioning economic Utopia.”
  15. A comparison (for the United States or for the world at large) of the principal features of the period of boom and depression in the 1920’s and to 1930’s with those of any period of boom and depression in the nineteenth century.
  16. The economic consequences of the next European war.
  17. “The growing acceptance of the idea that there must be a large, permanent body of unemployed is a passive recognition of the defeat of private capitalism.”
  18. The importance, and the outlines of the skillful integration of government policies with respect to money, public finance, industry, agriculture, public utilities, and labor into a consistent whole, for the purpose of achieving full use of the country’s economic resources.
  19. “The economic order of the western world is undergoing in this generation set of structural changes no less basic and profound in character and that transformation of economic life and institutions which we are wont to designate by the phrase ‘Industrial Revolution_.”
  20. Can economic theory be of practical value to business executives?
  21. Can economic theory aid in the development of public policy?
  22. Can economic theory explain “what goes on” in the economy of a totalitarian state?

May 5, 1939.

Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Lloyd A. Metzler Papers, Box 7; [Harvard University], Division of History, Government and Economics, Division Examinations for the Degree of A.B., 1938-39.

Categories
Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Monetary Dynamics Seminar. Milton Friedman, 1952

Welcome to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to this blog below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

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Transcribed from items in the Milton Friedman papers at the Hoover Institution today’s posting includes the bibliographic handout provided by Milton Friedman to the participants in his graduate seminar “Monetary Dynamics” that took place in the Spring Quarter of 1952 along with the official class list. We note that one of the graduate students enrolled in the seminar was Gary S. Becker. It is also interesting to note that “empirical studies” essentially meant “case studies” as of mid-twentieth century.

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The University of Chicago
Office of the Registrar

OFFICIAL CLASS LIST
SPRING QR. 1952

Instructor: FRIEDMAN MILTON
Department: ECON
Course number: 432

Student name:

Axilrod, Stephen H.
Becker, Gary S.
Deaver, John V.
Drayton, James
Fisher, Lawrence
Klein, John
Oort, Coenraad J.
Timberlake, Richard H. Jr.
Venetianer, Edmond

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Economics 432: Monetary Dynamics
Spring Quarter, 1952

  1. The central topic for this quarter will be monetary inflation. We hope to cover the theory of monetary inflation and empirical evidence on monetary inflations. The major issues in this area are, the process whereby changes in the stock of money produce their effect on prices and output or conversely, whereby changes in prices and output affect the stock of money; the role of the interest rate in inflation or, conversely, the effect of monetary changes on the interest rate; the role of exchange rates in monetary inflation as both cause and effect; the relative value of alternative simplified theories for predicting the course of inflationary movement; the role and problems of governmental monetary policy in inflationary periods; empirical regularities in monetary inflations and hyperinflations.
  2. We shall of course not be able to cover all these issues at all adequately; the interests of the members of the seminar will guide the selection made.
  3. There is a vast literature on these problems. The following bibliography, despite its length, is highly selective and is designed to suggest material available and to give leads to people working on particular topics rather than to be exhaustive. The three parts into which the essentially theoretical material is classified (1 to 3) are by no means mutually exclusive and many entries could with equal justification have been classified elsewhere; the sections are meant only to indicate major broad divisions and the order within the sections, the rough lines of theoretical development. Similarly, many of the items in Section 4, supposedly dealing with policy, could readily have been classified in the earlier sections; and many of the entries in section 5, labeled empirical studies, contain discussions of policy or of theory.

 

1. Classical analysis of inflation

A. Original sources

David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest” in Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, part II (first published 1752).

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776), Vol I. Bk. II, Chap 4; Bk 1, Ch xi, part of Pt. III (pp. 188-210 in Cannan edition); Bk. II, Ch. 11, esp. pp. 283-87 of Cannan edition.

Henry Thornton, An Essay on Paper Credit (1802), esp pp. 254-8, 281, 296-7, and 335-9 of reprint.

David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, (3rd ed. London (1821), Ch. 21; The Works and Correspondence, edited by P. Sraffa, Volume III, passim. (Cambridge 1951).

Nassau Senior, On the Value of Money (1840)

________________, Three Lectures on the Cost of Obtaining Money (1930)

John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, (1848), Bk. III, Ch. 8, 9, 23.

J. E. Cairnes, “Essays Toward a Solution of the Gold Question,” (written, 1858 to 1860) in Essays in Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied, (London, 1873) pp. 1 to 165.

B. Secondary sources

T. E. Gregory, Introduction to Tooke and Newmarch (London (1928), esp. pp. 22-31.

F. A. Hayek, “A Note on the Development of the Doctrine of ‘Forced Savings’”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1932, pp. 123-33.

J. W. Angell, The Theory of International Prices – history, criticism, and restatement (Cambridge, Mass., 1926)

Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, (New York, 1937), Ch. III, IV, V.

Lloyd W. Mints, History of Banking Theory (Chicago, 1945)

2. Neo-classical

A. Swedish school

Knut Wicksell, Interest and Prices, esp introduction, by Bertil Ohlin, Preface, (London 1936) and Ch. 5-9.

_______________, Lectures, Vol. 2, Ch. IV; pp. 127-222 (London 1935)

Gunner Myrdal, Monetary Equilibrium, London (1939).

E. Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic Expansion, (Stockholm, 1937)

E. Lindahl, Studies in the Theory of Money and Credit (London, 1939)

A. P. Lerner, “Swedish Stepping Stones in Economic Theory,” Canadian Journal of Economics, November 1940.

Brinley Thomas, Monetary Policy and Crisis, Ch. 3 and 4. (1936)

J. Marschak, “Wicksell’s Two Interest Rates,” Social Research, Nov. 1941.

B. Austrian school

L. von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit (1934) Eng. Translation.

F. A. Hayek, Prices and Production (2nd edition (1935)).

C. Cambridge school

Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, pp. 593-5; Money, Credit, and Commerce, pp. 38-50 (1923)

__________________, Official Papers, Ch. II, esp. 38-41, 45-6, 123-32, 157-60. (1926)

D. H. Robertson, Essays in Monetary Theory, esp. Ch. II, XII (1940)

__________________, Banking Policy and the Price Level (3rd ed, 1950)

__________________, “Notes on the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory, (Blakiston, 1951), pp. 159-61.

A. C. Pigou, Industrial Fluctuations (1927)

J. M. Keynes, Monetary Reform (London, 1923) especially Ch. III.

F. Langston, The Trade Cycle.

D. Other

J. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, esp Vol I, Ch. 13, pp. 293-302, Vol. II, Ch. 25, 30, 32, 33 (1930).

R. G. Hawtrey, The Art of Central Banking (1933), esp. pp. 116-207, 366-71.

__________________, Capital Employment, (1937) Ch. 4-6.

Irving Fisher, Elementary Principles of Economics, Ch. IX (N.Y. 1912) (revised)

__________________, The Purchasing Power of Money, (1926) Ch. 8.

__________________, The Rate of Interest, Ch. 8, 14, 16.

Bertrand Nogaro, Modern Monetary Systems (London, 1927)

M. Albert Aftalion, Monnaie, Prix et Change (Paris, 1927)

Joseph Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Vol II, Ch. 8 (1939)

MacMillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd 3897 (1931), Ch. 11, pp. 92-160.

E. Critiques

H. Ellis, German Monetary Theory (1934) Ch. 8, 9, 19.

R. J. Saulnier, Contemporary Monetary Theory (1938)

Arthur Marget, The Theory of Prices (1938, 1942) Vol 1, Ch. 2, 12-16, Vol 2, Ch. 3.

R. S. Sayers, Modern Banking, Ch. VI (1939, rev. ed.)

G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, (1941, 3rd ed.) Part I.

3. Keynes of General Theory

A. General

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. (London, 1936)

R. F. Kahn, “The Relation of Home Investment to the Multiplier,” Economic Journal, 1931.

Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Employment (1938)

________________, “The Economics of Hyper-Inflation,” (Economic Journal, Sept. 1938), “War Time Inflation,” both in Collected Economic Papers (New York, 1951).

M. Kalecki, Essays on the Theory of Economic Fluctuations (1939)

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital (2nd ed. 1946) Parts 3 and 4.

Alvin H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Full Employment, (1941).

________________, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy (1949) Chapter. 7, 8, 9.

________________, Economic Policy and Full Employment (1947).

L. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution (1947)

T. Wilson, Fluctuations in Income and Employment (3rd ed. 1948)

W. Fellner, A Treatise on War Inflation (1942)

A. G. Hart, Money, Debt and Economic Activity, (1948) Ch. 10.

A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, Ch. 21-25 (1944)

Walter A. Salant, “The Inflationary Gap, Meaning and Significance for Policy Making,” American Economic Review (June, 1942) pp. 308-14.

Milton Friedman, “Discussion of the Inflationary Gap,” American Economic Review (June, 1942) pp. 314-20.

Arthur Smithies, “The Behavior of Money National Income under Inflationary Conditions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1942.

T. C. Koopmans, “The Dynamics of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1942, pp. 53-65 (comment by A. Smithies and reply, pp. 189-90.)

Franklin Holzman, “Income Determination in Open Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1950.

Clark Warburton, “Monetary Expansion and the Inflationary Gap,” American Economic Review, 1944.

Lloyd A. Metzler, “Wealth, Saving, and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, April, 1951.

B. Wage-Price Spiral

Ralph Turvey, “Period Analysis and Inflation,” Economica, 1949.

________________, “Some Aspects of the Theory of Inflation in a Closed Economy,” Economic Journal, Sept. 1951.

J. Dusenberry, “The Mechanics of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1950.

W. A. Morton, “Trade Unionism, Full Employment, and Inflation” American Economic Review, March 1950.

_______________, “Keynesianism and Inflation,” Journal of Political Economy, June 1951.

M. W. Reder, “Theoretical Problems of a National Wage Policy,” Canadian Journal of Economics (Feb. 1948)

_____________, “On Money Wages,” Industrial Relations Research Association conference, 1950.

A. Rees, “Postwar Wage Determination in the Basic Steel Industry,” American Economic Review (June 1951).

4. Government Policy in Inflationary Periods

David Ricardo, “Funding System,” in The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed by Piero Sraffa (Cambridge, 1951), Vol. IV, esp pp. 185-200; also Vol. III, passim.

A. C. Pigou, The Political Economy of War (revised ed., 1940)

A. G. Hart, E. D. Allen, and collaborators, Paying for Defense (Philadelphia, 1941)

M. Kalecki, “General Rationing,” Bulletin of Oxford Institute of Statistics, January 1941.

G. L. Bach, “Rearmament, Recovery, and Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, 1941

W. A. Wallis, “How to Ration Consumer Goods and Control Their Prices,” American Economic Review, 1942.

Carl Shoup, Milton Friedman, and Ruth Mack, Taxing to Prevent Inflation (New York, 1943).

Milton Friedman, “The Spendings Tax as a Wartime Fiscal Measure,” American Economic Review, 1943.

J. J. Polak, “On the Theory of Price Control,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1945.

L. Seltzer, “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable,” American Economic Review, December, 1945.

R. I. Robinson, “Monetary Aspects of Public Debt Policy,” Postwar Economic Studies #3, Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System.

H. C. Wallich, “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, December 1946.

R. G. Hawtrey, “Monetary Aspects of the Economic Situation,” American Economic Review, March 1948.

Ten Economists on Inflation, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1948.

L. V. Chandler, “Federal Reserve Policy and Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, March 1949.

R. S. Sayers, “Central Banking in Light of Recent Experience,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949.

H. C. Murphy, The National Debt in War and Transition (1950)?E. A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy (1951)

L. W. Mints, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society. (1950)

Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies (“Douglas subcommittee”), Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st Session and Report, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document 129.

“The Controversy over Monetary Policy,” (Seymour Harris, Lester Chandler, Milton Friedman, Alvin Hansen, Abba Lerner, and James Tobin), Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1951.

J. K. Galbraith, The Theory of Price Control (1952)

Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt, Joint Committee Print, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, 1952) in two volumes.

5. Empirical Studies

W. C. Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks (Chicago, 1903)

_______________, Gold, Prices, and Wages under the Greenback Standard (Berkeley, 1908)

N. S. Silberling, “Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (1924), pp. 214-33, 397-439.

C. Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation.

E. L. Dulles, The French Franc (New York, 1929)

W. De Bordes, The Austrian Crown (London, 1924)

S. S. Katzenellenbaum Russian Currency and Banking, 1914-24 (London, 1925)

James H. Rogers, The Process of Inflation in France, 1914-27 (New York, 1929)

Frank D. Graham, Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyper-inflation: Germany, 1920-23 (Princeton, 1930)

Seymour Harris, The Assignats (1930)

R. A. Lester, Monetary Experiments (1939)

E. J. Hamilton, “Prices and Wages at Paris under John Law’s System,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1936).

______________, “Prices and Wages in Southern France under John Law’s System,” Economic History, a supplement of the Economic Journal (February, 1937)

Bertrand Nogaro, “Hungary’s Monetary Crisis,” American Economic Review (Sept. 1948).

Henry W. Spiegel, “A Century of Prices in Brazil,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1948

A. J. Brown, “Inflation and the Flight from Cash,” Yorkshire Bulletin of Economic and Social Research, Vol. 1 (Sept., 1949)

L. V. Chandler, Inflation in the United States, 1940-49. (1951)

Milton Friedman, “Price, Income, and Monetary Changes during Three Wartime Periods,” [American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1952, pp. 612-625]

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 78, Folder 4 (University of Chicago, Econ 432).

 

Categories
Chicago Undergraduate

Chicago. Undergraduate grade distribution in economics, 1925-26 and 1926-27.

Relatively tough grading in undergraduate economics courses at the University of Chicago during the roaring ‘twenties

Folie1

Calculated by Irwin Collier from official totals of marks reported by departments. 

 ___________________

Significantly Lower Grade Average for Economics Courses

Effective with the Summer Quarter, 1925 the University of Chicago switched from a marking system that distinguished nine ranks (A, A-,B, B-, C, C-, D, E, F) with grade points (6,5,4,3,2,1,0,-1,-2), respectively, to a system with five ranks (A, B, C, D, F) with grade points (6, 4,2,0,-2), respectively. The average mark required for a bachelor’s degree under the new system was 2 points.

Under this new point system non-economics courses were awarded on average 3.08 points compared to the average of 2.50 points awarded for economics courses. Following the grade distribution guidelines, a course would have awarded 2.63 points on average. Thus, the University of Chicago undergraduate economics grades were more than a quarter of a letter grade below those of other departments in the years 1925-27.

___________________

Grade Distribution Guideline

The Guideline distribution was voted at the joint meeting of the Faculties of the Colleges of Arts, Literature, and Science, the School of Commerce and Administration and the College of Education held on December 2, 1925:

…That in the case of a typical undergraduate section the instructor then compare the results thus obtained with the current general ratio of assignment to the several grades which (as explained at the meeting) is approximately as follows:

 

A [Excellent]

 11%

B [Good]

 29%

C [Fair]

 39%
D[Barely Passable]

13+%
F [Failure]

4+%
Incomplete

Should not exceed 2%

Note that the distribution for the Guideline distribution in the graphic above EXCLUDES the 2% for incompletes.

___________________

 

Undergraduate Grade Distributions for institutions using a comparable marking system

Institution Percentage distribution of grades
A B C D F
University of Minnesota 10.8 27.3 36.3 16.7

5.8

University of Illinois (L.A. & S.)

 11.5 25.4 33.8 18.9 10.4
Beloit College 9.0 31.0 40.0 11.0

3.0

Williams College

 8.5 22.9 43.0 20.8 4.8
Dartmouth College 8.9 24.2 41.3 19.6

5.9

Northwestern University

 12.8 30.8 40.3 9.2 4.6
Stanford University 16.8 34.4 35.1 7.2

2.8

University of Chicago, 1922-23

 11.0 29.0 39.0 13.+ 4.+
University of Chicago, 1926-27 13.9 36.6 37.1 6.2 3.0

From a memo dated November 21, 1927 from the Office of the President, University of Chicago signed by F. C. Woodward, Vice-President and dean of Faculties.

___________________

Source:  Reports of official totals of marks reported by departments. University of Chicago Archives, Department of Economics Records, Box 26, Folder 3.

Categories
Courses M.I.T. Syllabus

MIT. Course Outline of Economic Statistics. Robert Solow, 1960

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

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Robert Solow’s name is typically associated with neo-classical growth theory and MIT macroeconomics of the Keynesian persuasion. This posting reminds us that he was originally hired to beef up the statistics instruction in the MIT economics department. Like his Harvard professor Wassily Leontief, his theoretical work never really left the gravitational field of empirical economics.

_____________________________

14.382 Economic Statistics (A)
Prereq.: 14.371T  [Statistical Method]
Year: G(2)                  3-0-6

Study of selected statistical techniques found useful in recent economic work, especially the regression analysis of economic time series.

Solow

Source: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin 1959-1960. General Catalogue Issue, p. 248.

_____________________________

 

COURSE OUTLINE
14.382
[Economic Statistics, Robert M. Solow]

Spring Semester, 1960

 

I. AGGREGATION AND INDEX NUMBERS (3 weeks)

A. Aggregation

R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Economics, Chapter 20.

Stedman B. Noble, “Structure and Classification in Resource Flow Models”, George Washington University Logistics Research Project, May 1959.

____________________, “Resource Flow Models with Application”, delivered to the Econometric Society, December 1959.

Zvi Griliches and Y. Grunfeld, “Is Aggregation Necessarily Bad?”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming.

E. Malinvaud, “L’agrégation dan les Modéles Économique”, Cahiers du Séminaire d’Économetrie, No. 4, 1956, pp. 69-143.

B. Index Numbers

Kenneth J. Arrow, “The Measurement of Price Change”, The Relation of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth, Joint Economic Committee Compendium, March 1958.

C. S. Carter, W. B. Reddaway and R. Stone, The Measurement of Production Movements, Cambridge University Press: England, 1948.

Federal Reserve Bulletin, “Revised Industrial Production Index”, December 1959, pp. 1451-1466.

 

II. ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES (4 weeks)

A. Small Sample Properties of Simultaneous Equation Estimators

Robert L. Basmann, “An Experimental Investigation of Some Small Sample Properties of (GCL) Estimators of Structural Equations”, November 1958 (dittoed).

_____________________, “On Finite Sample Distributions of Identifiability Test Statistics”, March 1959 (dittoed).

Harvey M. Wagner, “A Monte Carlo Study of Estimates of Simultaneous Linear Equations”, Econometrica, Vol. 26, 1958, pp. 117-133.

Robert Summers, “Capital-Intensive Approach to the Small Sample Properties of Various Simultaneous Linear Equation Estimators”, 1958 (unpublished).

Richard J. Foote, “An Experiment to Test the Relative Merits of Least Squares and Limited Information Coefficients for Forecasting Under Specified Conditions”, Analytical Tools for Studying Demand and Price Structures, 1958, pp. 128-42.

B. Specification

G. E. P. Box and Norman Draper, “A Basis for Selection of a Response Surface Design”, Journal of the American Statistical Association, September 1959.

Henry Scheffe, The Analysis of Variance, “The Effects of Departures from Underlying Assumptions”, Chapter 10, 1959.

Hans Theil, Economic Forecasts and Policy, Chapter 6.2, pp. 204-39, “Statistical Methodology”, and Appendix 6B, “Analysis of Specification Errors”, pp. 326-33.

 

III. MEASUREMENT OF SUPPLY, COST, AND PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS (3 weeks)

Robert M. Solow, “Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1957.

Luigi Pasinetti, “On Concepts and Measures of Changes in Productivit” and Comment by R. Solow, Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1959, pp. 270-86.

Jack Johnston, “Statistical Cost Functions: Reappraisal”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1958.

Zvi Griliches, “Hybrid Corn: And Exploration in the Economics of Technical Change,” Econometrica, October 1957, pp. 501-22.

Paul H. Douglas, “Are There Laws of Production?”, American Economic Review, March 1948, pp. 1-41.

Irving Hoch, “Simultaneous Equation Bias in the Context of the Cobb-Douglas Production Function”, Econometrica, October 1958, pp. 566-78.

John R. Meyer, M. J. Peck and others, The Economics of Competition in the Transportation Industries, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1959.

Lawrence R. Klien, Econometrics, “A Cross-Section Model of Production of Railway Services”, Chapter 5, Section 4, pp. 226-41.

Hollis Chenery, “Engineering Production Functions”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1949.

Kenneth J. Arrow, Marvin Hoffenberg, A Time Series Analysis of Inter-industry Demands, The RAND Corporation, North-Holland Publishing Co.: Amsterdam, 1959.

Hollis Chenery and Paul G. Clark, Interindustry Economics, 1959.

 

IV. MACRO MODELS AND DECISION THEORY (5 weeks)

Hans Theil, Chapter 3, “Postwar Macro Economic Forecasts in the Netherlands and Scandinavia,” Chapter 5, “Underestimation of Changes,” pp. 154-183, Chapter 7, “Forecasts and Policy: Problems and Tools,” pp. 379-410, Chapter 8, “Underestimation of Changes: Analysis and Implications,” pp. 411-529.

James Duesenberry, Quarterly Model of U.S. Economy.

New Klein Model, Suits-Klein-Goldberger Model.

_____________________________

Source: Robert Solow papers. Box 68, Folder “Reading lists”, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Image Source: MIT Museum.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Schumpeter’s Socialism Course. Syllabus and Exam, 1946

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have already assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment below….

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…Regular vistors to this blog have seen that an economics course on socialist thought and movements was a regular part of the curriculum at Harvard during the first half of the twentieth century. Up to this posting I have included material from the following courses: Thomas Nixon Carver’s SINGLE TAX, SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM (1919-20), Edward Mason and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1938), and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1940).

This course became part of Joseph Schumpeter’s teaching portfolio in the 1940s. His course outline and exam for the winter semester of 1943-44 has been posted as well.

______________________

[Course Announcement]

Economics 11b. Economics of Socialism

Half-course (spring term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at  10. Professor Schumpeter.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1945-46. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 42, No. 8 (March 31, 1945), p. 36.

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[Enrollment]

[Economics] 11b (spring term) Professor Schumpeter. –Economics of Socialism.

5 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 8 Radcliffe, 9 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1945-46, p. 58.

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ECONOMICS 11b
1945-46
OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS

[Joseph A. Schumpeter]

I.   FIRST TWO WEEKS: The Socialist Issue.

Socialist ideas and socialist parties. Socialism and the labor movement. Laborite and intellectualist socialism. The definition of socialism.

*H. W. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements, 1944, esp. Parts V and VI.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, article on Socialist and Labor Parties.

II. THIRD TO FIFTH WEEK: The Theory of Centralist Socialism., 1938

*O. Lange and F. M. Taylor, The Economic Theory of Socialism, 1938.
[A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, 1944.]

III. SIXTH TO NINTH WEEK: The Economic Interpretation of History. The Class Struggle, and the Marxist Theory of Capitalism.

*Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, chs. I, IV, V, VI.
Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto.
*Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, 1942, chs. I-VI
(pp. 1-108).

IV. TENTH TO TWELFTH WEEK: The Socialist Theory of the State and of the Proletarian Revolution, Imperialism, National Socialism.

V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution, 1926.
[M. Dobb, Political Economy and Capitalism, ch. VII.]
Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. XIII-XIX.

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read E. Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism, 1909, especially pp. 18-95, and survey again the items in the reading list marked *.

NOTE: The items in square brackets are recommended but not assigned. So is: Bienstock, Gregory, and Schwartz, Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, 1944.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1945-1946 (1 of 2)”.

______________________

1945 – 46
Harvard University
Economics 11b

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. What is Syndicalism?
  2. Characterize the type, aims, and importance of the group that called itself Fabians.
  3. “Rational allocation of factors of production presupposes the existence of prices. Prices presuppose free markets. Hence the problem of rational allocation of factors of production would be insoluble in a socialist society.” Criticize.
  4. Discuss the various methods by which investment could be financed (that is, the resources for the extension of the productive apparatus could be provided) in a socialist society.
  5. Explain and criticize what is known as the Marxist Theory of Exploitation.
  6. What meaning do you attach to, and what do you think of, the proposition that Socialism is “inevitable?”

Final, May 1946

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes Box 2, Folder “Course notes (Jan 1950—Found in Drawer—Cambridge Study) Misc 1945-1947”.

Image Source: Harvard Album 1947.

Categories
Columbia Economists Funny Business M.I.T.

Columbia. Kindleberger remembers Simkhovitch, mid-1930s

Charles Kindleberger, ca 1950

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

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We met the curious Columbia University Professor Vladimir Gregorievitch Simkhovitch in an earlier posting. To recall briefly, Simkhovitch was a Russian born, German-trained economic historian who taught economic history and the course on socialist economics (more like anti-Marxian socialist economics) that he took over from John Bates Clark at Columbia. Milton Friedman took Simkhovitch’s economic history course.

Simkhovitch, Vladimir G. Marxism vs. Socialism. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1913. Book first published in installments 1908-12 in Political Science Quarterly.

Charles Kindleberger was both a gentleman and a scholar who was respected and loved by his colleagues and former students. Upon the occasion of his eightieth birthday (he went on to live to the age of 92), he was presented a bound volume of brief reminiscences from everybodys who are (famous) anybodys to somebodys who are (relative) nobodys but who were all touched in some way by Kindleberger.

Today’s posting provides an assist to Professor Frank Fisher, the volunteer “custodian of [part of the Kindlberger] oral tradition”. One detail gets incorrectly transmitted in the Fisher rendition—Kindleberger was never a colleague of Simkhovitch, the two of them overlapped when Kindleberger was a Columbia graduate student in the mid 1930s.  In his reminiscence for the birthday volume, Fisher wrote:

“When Charlie Kindleberger retired from M.I.T., he asked at his party, “Who will tell my Simkhovitch stories?” I don’t know whether Charlie heard me, but I said I would.

Simkhovitch, who was Charlie’s colleague at Columbia, is the principal character in two stories (so far as I know). I have given both of them a good home and it seems appropriate that I should use them today.

In story number one, the young Kindleberger, having carefully planned out his lectures for the term, finds that with some time left to spare in his first lecture he has used up all the material for the course. After vamping for the rest of the lecture period, he seeks Simkhovitch’s advice and is told: “Recipe for education: take teaspoon full of ideas and five gallons water. Stir. Dispense with eye dropper.”…

…In story number two, a student is on the verge of failing his Ph.D. exams and the department is debating what to do. Simkhovitch says: “This man want degree. We got plenty degrees. Give him degree.”

 

 

Source: Excerpt from Frank Fisher’s contribution to the collection: Reminiscences of Charles P. Kindleberger on his Eightieth Birthday, October 12, 1990 in the Charles P. Kindleberger Papers, Box 24, MIT Libraries, Institute Archives and Special Collections.

Image Source: Charles Kindleberger in MIT Technique, 1950.

Categories
Chicago Curriculum Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak. A.B. Comprehensive Exam Grades. 1935

November 2003. Samuelson and I after Bergson Commemoration.

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

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Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak were undergraduate classmates at the University of Chicago. The two of them along with 27 other students were required to take a battery of comprehensive examinations in economics for the Bachelor’s degree.   I found the distribution of grades for the comprehensive exams over the period 1934-1938 in the economic department records, as well as the distribution of grades for the separate courses taken by the 29 students.

Plot-spoiler: Paul Samuelson was the top undergraduate student at Chicago in the Spring Quarter of 1935 (or perhaps ever) and the first runner up, who lived to the grand old age of 99,  also went on to have a full and distinguished career as an economics professional. Mosak’s greatest research hit in economics was his Cowles Foundation Monograph, General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade (1944).

I have appended to this posting descriptive material about the comprehensive exams and the descriptions of the individual courses along with instructor names according to the 1934-1935 Announcements.

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REPORT ON PAST COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS FOR THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

 

Quarter

 A B C D E F

Total

Spring, 1934

 1 1

Winter, 1935

 1 3 3* 7

Spring, 1935

 3 11 12     3

29
Summer, 1935 1 2 1

4
Autumn, 1935 2 1 3

6

Winter, 1936

 1 1 3 2 7

Spring, 1936

 3 8 5 3 0 3 22

Summer, 1936

 1 4 3 8
Autumn, 1936 1 2 1

4
Winter, 1937 1 2 1

4
Spring, 1937 3 8 4 4 3

22

Summer, 1937

 1 5   2   2 10
15 35 35 14 0 25

124
*Includes one unfinished examination. [name omitted]
[Handwritten additions:]

Winter, 1938

   1 3     1 5

Spring, 1938

 3 4 10 3   2 22
18 40 48 17   28

151
% 11.92 26.49 31.79 11.25   18.54

 

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[Number of students awarded a particular grade by economics course numbers for the Spring Quarter 1935 comprehensive examinations]

209 210* 211 212 220 221-2 230 240 260 270** [Comp. Avg. ]

A+

 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

A

 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 4 0 1

A-

 5 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 1

B+

 7 1 1 0 2 0 1 4 1 0 1

B

 6 4 2 0 1 0 3 5 3 4 9

B-

 4 1 1 0 2 0 5 3 1 2 1

C+

 0 2 6 0 0 0 4 3 3 7

4
C 1 6 5 0 4 9 3 1 0 1

8
C- 2 4 3 0 1 0 2 0 1 2

0
D+ 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0

0
D 0 2 3 0 1 3 2 0 0 2

0
D- 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0

0
E/F 2 3 4 0 0 1 1 0 2 3

3

Samuelson

 A A- A A A A A A+
Mosak A+ B+ A A+ C- B- A

A

*Numerical grades reported for this course, converted to letter grade using the following scale:

A+ (95-100); A (93-94); A- (90-92);
B+ (87-89); B (83-86);       B- (80-82);
C+ (77-79); C (73-76); C- (70-72);
D+ (67-69); D (63-66); D- (60-62);
F (0-59).

**For four cases of exact border-line grades in Economics 270, e.g. B+/A-, I have assigned the higher grade.

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[Role of the Comprehensive Examinations]

THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE

On admission to the Division, the students specializing in the Department arranges with the Departmental Counselor a suitable program of study in economics. He is expected to include in his departmental program the materials of 7 courses beyond Social science I and II. His comprehensive examination in economics will cover economic theory, accounting, statistics, economic history, and money and banking, as developed in Economics 209, 210, 211, 220 or 221, and 230. The comprehensive examination will also cover two elective fields, preferably labor, government finance, or international economic relations, as developed in Economics 240, 260, and 270. The scope and content of the several courses mentioned are indicated in the course announcements printed below.

[…]

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

[…]

The specific requirements for the Master’s degree are:

  1. A minimum of 8 courses, or their equivalent (of which at least 6 must be in Grades II and III above). At some previous time the candidate should have covered the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in Economics. This equivalence may be shown by courses taken or by examination. The candidate must also have the preparation in the other social sciences required for the Bachelor’s degree at the University….

[…]

[Economics Course Descriptions 1934-35]

 

  1. Intermediate Economic Theory. – A course designed for undergraduates majoring in economics who have completed the other departmental requirements for the degree, and for graduate students with limited training in systematic theory. It deals with forces controlling, through the price system, the organization of economic activity. Prerequisite: Senior standing and Economics 210, 211, 230 or their equivalents. Summer, 10:00; Autumn, 11:00; Winter, 11:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Accounting. – (1) The principles of double-entry accounting. (2) The principles of valuation and of income determination; the mathematical problems arising from accumulating and discounting future sums and annuities. (3) A survey of the uses and limitations of accounting information and compares the concepts of cost used by accountants and by economists. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 11:00, [Wilfrid Merrill] Helms; Autumn, 9:00, Shields; Spring, 11:00, [Theodore Otte] Yntema.
  1. Introduction to Statistics. – The elementary principles of statistics. Main topics: frequency distributions, correlations, time series, index numbers. Prerequisite: Mathematics 104 or its equivalent. Summer, 10:00, [John Higson] Cover; Autumn, 11:00, [Henry] Schultz; Winter, 9:00,—.
  2. Intermediate Statistics. [not offered 1934-35, description from 1933-34 follows] This course extends the scope of Economics 211 to include a brief introduction to partial and multiple correlation, but its main objective is to make the elementary statistical methods part of the working equipment of the student. Prerequisite: Economics 211 and introductory courses in economics, accounting, finance, and marketing. Spring 9:00, [Aaron] Director.
  1. Economic History of the United States. – A general survey from the colonial settlements down to the present emphasizing the period since 1860. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 8:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Winter 1:30, [Chester Whitney] Wright.
  1. Economic History of Classical and Western European Civilization. –A survey of industrial conditions in their relation to economic, social, political, and cultural history at selected periods and in selected countries, undertaken with a view to understanding the nature and significance of modern industrialism. Prerequisite: Social Science I and 2 courses in European history, or equivalent. Autumn, 1:30; Spring, 1:30, [John Ulric] Nef.
  1. Introduction to Money and Banking. – A study of the factors which determine the value of money in the short and in the long run; the problem of index numbers of price levels; and the operation of the commercial banking system and its relation to the price level and general business activity. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Summer, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Autumn, 1:30, [Lloyd Wynn] Mints; Spring, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart.
  1. Labor Problems. – General survey of problems of labor arising in a system of free enterprise. Poverty, inequality, conditions of work, and unemployment are some of the topics considered. Trade-unionism and collective bargaining contrasted with state legislation as devices for dealing with these problems. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 10:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Government Finance. – A course dealing with fiscal problems of government, mainly in their economic aspect. Practices in regard to expenditure, taxation, and borrowing studied in problems of policy critically examined. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 11:00, [Henry Calvert] Simons.
  1. International Economic Relations. – A survey of international economic relations with special emphasis on the theory of international trade and the economic foreign-policy of the United States. Are Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Winter, 11:00, [Harry David] Gideonse.

 

Source: University of Chicago Announcements. The College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1934-1935. pp. 281-285.

Image Source:  Photo taken of Paul Samuelson and me at the Harvard Faculty Club following the memorial service for Abram Bergson in November 2003.

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Intermediate Macroeconomics. Modigliani, 1961

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have already assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment below….

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These course materials for undergraduate intermediate macroeconomics at MIT in the Spring term of the 1960/61 academic year are clearly identified as being for a course taught by Franco Modigliani. As it happens from time to time, one finds syllabi and reading lists in the files of colleagues and not just in the papers of students who took the course or the professors who taught them. These materials from reading list through class-assignments, term-paper assignment, up to and including the final examination all come from Robert Solow’s papers at the Duke University library’s Economists’ Papers Project. 

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14.05 Economic Fluctuations and Growth

Prereq.: 14.02
Year: U(1,2)     3-0-5

Analytical study of determinants of national income level, employment, and prices; study of their fluctuations and long-run trends. Consideration of historical and current behavior of the economic system, and role of stabilization policies.

Modigliani

Source:   Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin. The General Catalogue Issue for the Centennial Year 1960-61. p. 240.

 

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Spring, 1961
Professor Modigliani

 

14.05—Economic Fluctuations and Growth
READING LIST

 

Suggested Purchases: Dernburg & McDougall, Macro-Economics (1960)—(referred to below as D&M)
US Department of Commerce, U.S. Income and Output (1958)
Federal Reserve Chart Book, Historical Supplement (1960)

Review references in each section are to Samuelson, Economics (4th ed., 1958)

 

I. Introduction

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 1
New: D&M, Ch. 1

Friedman: Essays in Positive Economics, pp. 1-30.

II. National Income and Other Measures of Economic Activity.

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 10
New:   D&M, Ch. 1-5

Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2nd ed., pp. 167-171)
G. Moore, Statistical Indicators of Cyclical Revivals and Recessions, pp. 1-20, 63-77
Survey of Current Business—“The Business Situation” in a recent issue, and look at annual review in February, 1960, number.

References: For current business conditions and course problems, get acquainted with the following, by examining thoroughly at least one recent issue:

Survey of Current Business (monthly; annual summary in February; National Income issue in July)
Federal Reserve Bulletin (monthly)
Economic Indicators (monthly; historical supplement, 1957)
See Bratt, Business Cycles and Forecasting (1953), Chapter 15, for additional source material

III. The Supply of Money and the Banking System.

Review: Samuelson, Chap. 15 and Appendix, 16.
New:   Hart, Money, Debt, etc., Ch. 4 and 6.

Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions

IV. The Determinants of the Level of National Income.

A. Monetary Approaches

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 14 and Appendix
New:   D&M, Ch. 9

Hart, Money, Debt, Ch. 10, 12

B. The Theory of Effective Demand

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 11, 12
New: D&M, Ch. 6, 7

Hart, Money, Debt, Ch. 11, pp. 167-179
(optional) Modigliani & Brumberg, “Utility Analysis and the Consumption Function”, in Post-Keynesian Economics (esp. pp. 388-418)
(optional) Ando, “Aggregative Implications of the Modigliani-Brumberg Consumption Function” (mimeographed), pp. 1-118 and Summary

V. Cyclical Fluctuations and Growth.

A. Nature and Causes of Economic Fluctuations

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 13
New: D&M, Ch 19, Section 1-3

Metzler, “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1941-42
Modigliani, “Business Reasons for Holding Inventories and their Macro-economic Implications”, pp. 495-506
Modigliani, “Discussion of Hickman on Capacity, Capacity Utilization and the Acceleration Principle”, pp. 450-463 N.B.E.R. reprint
Cobren, “Inventories in Postwar Business Cycles”, Survey of Current Business, April, 1959
Tinbergen, The Dynamics of Business Cycles, Ch. 13
Hicks, Trade Cycle, Ch. 8, 9 (optional)
Fortune, series on the capital goods market in August, September, November, and December, 1958. (Sample, especially December issue.)

References only: Summaries of historical development of business cycle theories: Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Part I.

B. Growth and its Interrelation with Cycles

D&M Ch. 16, 17
Abramovitz, Resource and Output Trends in the U.S. since 1870
(optional) Ando & Modigliani, “Growth Fluctuations and Stability”, AER, May 1959, pp. 501-524
Bratt, Business Cycles and Forecasting (1953 ed.), Ch. 3
“A New Look at Production Growth Rates”, in Survey of Current Business, April 1957
Fortune, “The Market of the 1960’s” (series of 9 articles, Jan.-Sept. 1959) (Sample, esp. April issue)
Committee for Economic Development, Economic Growth in the United States (hurriedly)

VI. Business Forecasting.

Charles Roos, “Survey of Economics Forecasting Techniques”, Econometrica, October 1955
Moore, Statistical Indicators of Cyclical Revivals and Recessions, pp. 63-77 (National Bureau of Economic Research Method)
Moore, Measuring Recessions, esp. pp. 259-272
Sidney S. Alexander, “Rate of Change Approaches to Forecasting—Diffusion Indexes and First Differences”, The Economic Journal, June 1958
Fortune, “The Business Roundup”, January 1960
“1959 Survey of Consumer Finances”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, July and September 1959 (note supplementary tables)
Klein & Lansing, “Decisions to Purchase Consumer Durable Goods”, Journal of Marketing, October 1955
Fortune, series cited above on “The Market of the 1960’s” and on “The Coming Capital Goods Boom”
Modigliani & Weingartner, “Forecasting Uses of Anticipatory Data on Investment and Sales”
Bassie, Economic Forecasting (good general reference)
Abramson and Mack, Business Forecasting in Practice (for reference)

VII. Public Policy and Economic Stabilization.

A. Synthesis of Monetary and Income Analysis

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 17
New: D&M, Ch. 8, 9, 10

B. Monetary Policy

D&M, Ch. 11
United States Monetary Policy (American Assembly) –(esp. Ch. 1, 2, 4, 6)
Friedman, “The Supply of Money and Changes in Output”, in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth (Joint Econ. Committee)
Bach, “The Economics and Politics of Money”, Harvard Business Review 1953 (reprint)
Committee on the Economic Report (Patman Subcommittee)—Replies pp. 368-384, 402-428 (for reference)

C. Fiscal and Debt Policy

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 18
New:   D&M, Ch. 20, 21

The Federal Budget in Brief for Fiscal 1961 (get acquainted; copy of complete budget also on reserve)
Committee on Economic Development, Taxes and the Budget; also reprinted in Readings in Fiscal Policy (Parts I and II only)
Committee on Economic Development, The Budget and Economic Growth
Samuelson, “The New Look in Tax and Fiscal Policy”, in Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, pp. 229-34
Butters, “Taxation, Incentives, and Financial Capacity”, in Readings in Fiscal Policy
McCracken, “The Debt Problem and Economic Growth”, Michigan Business Review, November 1956

D. Wages, Productivity, Prices, and Inflation

D&M, Ch. 12, 14, 18
Wages, Prices, Profits and Productivity, American Assembly, (esp. Ch. 1, 3, 4, 6)

E. Overall Stabilization Policy and Economic Growth.

Friedman, “Framework for Monetary-Fiscal Stability”, Readings in Monetary Theory, OR;
Bach, “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered”, Readings in Fiscal Policy
Rockefeller Committee, The Challenge to America
C. E. D. Defense Against Inflation, July 1958
Eckstein, “Inflation, the Wage-Price Spiral, and Economic Growth”, in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth (Joint Economic Committee)
Bach, Inflation, Ch. 2, 4
Samuelson and Solow, “Analytical Aspects of Anti-Inflation Policy”, AER May 1959 (reprint)

VIII. International Aspects.

Review: Samuelson, Ch. 31 and Appendix
New:   D&M, Ch. 15

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Spring 1961
Professor Modigliani

14.05 – Economic Fluctuations and Growth
GUIDE SHEET TO BASIC ECONOMIC DATA SOURCES.

BASIC HISTORICAL INFORMATION:

Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial Times to 1952 (U. S. Government Printing Office) – Data on all major economic and many social areas, with descriptions of series.

U. S. Income and Output – A Supplement to the Survey of Current Business, providing data of all components of gross national product, 1929-1957.

Banking and Monetary Statistics, 1860-1941 (Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System)-More detailed series on money and banking, with descriptions of series.

The Economic Almanac (published annually by the National Industrial Conference Board) – each issue repeats large amount of historical data, some back to 1790. Several of these series go back further than the official government series; as such, they are often less accurate because of the less adequate coverage of the series and larger likely estimating errors involved.

(U. S. Census (U. S. Government Printing Office) – Vast amounts of data on most aspects of the economic life of business and individual, reaching back to 1790. Difficult to use without assistance or experience.

CURRENT DATA – OFFICIAL SOURCES

Survey of Current Business (U. S. Department of Commerce, monthly) – The most complete source of basic economic data, plus objective analyses of various economic developments. An annual survey is published each year in the February issue, and Annual Statistical Supplements have been issued in several recent years, which provide the data in more easily usable form than do most of the monthly issues.*

Federal Reserve Bulletin (Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, monthly) – The basic source of current official monetary and banking data, plus monthly analyses of monetary developments.

Monthly Labor Review (U. S. Department of Labor) – The basic source of current official data on labor and on price movements, plus monthly analyses of developments in these areas.

Statistical Abstract of the U. S. (U. S. Government Printing Office, annually) – The basic annual compilation of all U. S. Government statistical data; corresponds to the Historical Statistics of the United States, above.

*Business Statistics, 1959 Biennial Edition – The latest major supplement to the Survey. It includes all major series published in the Survey, from 1929 through 1958 in most cases.

CURRENT DATA AND ANALYSES—UNOFFICIAL

There are a vast number of analyses of current economic developments published. Among the more widely recognized as careful and influential are:

Monthly Letter of the National City Bank of New York – General business conditions and financial conditions.

Fortune Magazine (monthly) – Current business analyses and industry studies, written from a relatively “liberal” business slant.

The Conference Board Business Record (National Industrial Conference Board, monthly) – Briefly analyzes current developments; more conservative than Fortune.

CURRENT EVENTS—NEWSPAPERS

Three newspapers are widely thought to provide the most complete coverage of current economic events. They are:

New York Times (daily and Sunday) – Provides the most complete coverage of current economic events.

New York Herald-Tribune (daily and Sunday) – The Times’ closest rival.

Wall Street Journal (daily) – Leading financial and business paper. Complete daily data on most important markets; also includes many speculative news stories and analyses of current and expected developments.

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Spring, 1961
Professor Modigliani

14.05-Economic Fluctuations and Growth
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

I. Due Monday, February 13

“Inflation erodes the purchasing power of the dollar, robs the average man, and lowers the national standard of living. These results are pernicious and disastrous. Inflation must be avoided.” (Excerpt from recent statement by U. S. Senator)

Do you agree with the Senator? Why or why not?

 

II. Due Friday, September 17

Prepare a brief report (two to three pages) on the current business conditions and the outlook for the next six to twelve months.

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Spring, 1961
Professor Modigliani

14.05-Economic Fluctuations and Growth
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

III. Due February 24

Economists as well as politicians are very much concerned with the overall burden of taxes, or share of the nation’s income taxed away by the government.

Using as a framework for National Income Accounts of the Department of Commerce, state and defend what seems to you the most useful and meaningful measure of the “share of the nation’s income taken by the government” (paying attention to the numerator as well as to the denominator). Compute this year for 1948 and 1957.

Is the above concept identical with the “share of the nation’s output of goods and services consumed by the government”? If not, define the second concept and measure this year for the same two years.

Include any comments that may be suggested by your empirical findings.

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Spring, 1961
Professor Modigliani

14.05-Economic Fluctuations and Growth
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

IV. Due March 6

In a small, completely isolated economy (i.e., no foreign trade with money-using habits comparable to those of the U. S., there are four identical banks. Each bank’s balance sheet is as follows:

Cash $3,000,000 Deposits $8,000,000
Loans 2,000,000
Government Securities 5,000,000 Capital and Surplus 2,000,000
$10,000,000 $10,000,000

The law prescribes that banks must hold a 20% cash reserve against deposits. There is no central bank.

(a) A customer of bank letter a minds $1 million of gold (considered as cash for reserve purposes) and deposits it in his bank. Trace through any likely expansion of the money supply by Bank Letter a and by the entire banking system. What would be the maximum expansion possible?
Specify clearly any assumptions that you make, and state your reasoning carefully and precisely.

(b) Is the banking system in a more or less sound position after the gold deposit in any consequences you have predicted above? Explain why or why not.

___________________________________________

Spring, 1961
Professor Modigliani

14.05-Economic Fluctuations and Growth
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

V. Due March 10

In 196X the Federal Government will collect about 85 billion in taxes, according to present estimates, which also indicate that the money will be used roughly as follows:

Regular government expenses $77 billion
Repayment of government debt
…..Held by commercial banks 3 billion
…..Held by individuals and businesses other than banks 5 billion

Suppose these estimates are accurate, and assume it Government deposits are carried out with the commercial banks.

a. What will be the effect of these operations on the amount of money (current and deposits) owned by the public (including individuals and businesses other than banks)?

b. What will be the effect on the amount of total liquid assets (money plus government securities) owned by the public?

c. How, if at all, would your answers to (a) and (b) have been different if:

(1) All bonds paid off had been owned by commercial banks.
(2) All months paid off had been owned by the Federal Reserve Banks.

d. What generalization, if any, can you draw from this reasoning as to the most effective means of retiring the government debt, if the main aim is to alleviate inflationary pressure.

Explained concisely the reasoning by which to obtain the answers given.

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14.05-Economic Fluctuations and Growth
TERM PAPER—DUE MAY 15, 1961

Write an essay on the postwar “creeping inflation” in the U.S. – Its nature, causes and possible remedies. The essay should review the major explanations that have been advanced (e.g. cost-push and demand-poll); assess their usefulness in the light of the empirical evidence; and provide a formulation of your own conclusions and the evidence which supports them. It should further examine the implications of your analysis with respect to the outlook for price stability in the years immediately ahead.

The following items have been placed on reserve in Dewey Library to serve as a starting point, you should feel free to trace and use other references.

Books

American Assembly, Wages, Productivity, Prices, and Inflation
American Assembly, Wages, Prices, Profits and Productivity
Bowen, W. G., The Wage–Price Issue

Pamphlets, Monographs, Periodicals, etc.

Bowen, W. G., “Wage Behavior in the Postwar Period”, monograph, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, 1960
Eckstein, O., “Inflation, the Wage-Price Spiral, and Economic Growth”, in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth (Joint Economic Committee)
Phelps, E. S., “A Test for the Presence of Cost Inflation in the United States, 1955-1957”, Yale Economic Essays, Spring 1961
Samuelson and Solow, “Analytical Aspects of Anti-Inflation Policy”, AER, May 1960
Schultze, C., “The Recent Inflation in the United States”, Study Paper No. 1, Joint Economic Committee, 1959
Selden, R., “Cost-Push Versus Demand-Pull”, JPE, February 1959

___________________________________________

Prof. Modigliani
May 24, 1961

 

14.05 – ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS AND GROWTH
Final Examination

Answer all Questions.

I. Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and give a brief explanation of your answer. Major weight attaches to the explanation. (5 points per question)

(a) The money supply can always be increased through the Federal Reserve open market purchases.

(b) The relation between the two main demand liabilities of the FRB, namely Federal Reserve notes and member bank deposits is determined primarily by reserve requirements.

(c) Inflation will tend to occur whenever the money supply rises faster than productivity.

(d) Liquidity preference helps to explain why the velocity of circulation tends to vary over the business cycle.

(e) If the rate of investment expenditure declines, the stock of capital goods in the economy declines.

(f) Built-in flexibility in fiscal policy means that the level of government expenditure should vary countercyclically.

(g) A high marginal tax rate has a stabilizing effect on the economy by reducing the marginal propensity to consume.

(h) The most important characteristic of a good leading indicator is that it should always turn ahead of general business conditions.

 

II. (20 points) Given the following information (in billions of dollars per year):

Full employment income (Yf) 300
Consumption expenditure 20 plus 80 percent of disposable income
Government purchase of goods and services 50
Government receipts 20 percent of national income (Y)
Transfer payments 10 plus 5 percent of the difference between Yf and Y
Net investment 22

(a) Calculate the equilibrium level of income implied by this information and explain carefully in what sense it is an “equilibrium” level.

(b) What rate of investment would be required to bring about full utilization of resources? What measures other than an increase in investment could be utilized to reach full employment?

 

III. (20 points) Define the following concepts:

(a) multiplier

(b) capital coefficient

(c) acceleration principle,

and explain their use in business cycle analysis.

 

IV. (20 points) Explain the functioning of monetary policy as a stabilization device, and analyze its strength and weaknesses.

 

Source: Duke University. Rosenstein Library. Robert Solow Papers. Box 68. Folders “Reading Lists”, “Assignments, home problems”, and “Exams, tests, quizzes”.