Month: December 2017

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Berkeley Lecture Notes

Berkeley (but maybe Roosevelt College). Notes for 9 lectures on income and employment. Lerner, 1947.

 

 

The following (typed unless noted) lecture series outline by Abba Lerner is quite typical for his lecture notes. When I checked the University of California catalogues for 1945/46 and 1946/47, I discovered that there were no courses numbered in the 300’s at that time. William Fellner did teach a graduate course Economics 235A and 235B “Advanced Money and Credit” that could conceivably have been the relevant course.

It is also quite possible that Lerner’s handwritten note on the first card “Univ. of California Spring 1947” was incorrect. Maybe some day, this loose end gets tied. According to Lerner’s c.v. he was Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research (1946-47) and at Roosevelt University, Chicago (1947-59).  He also lists visiting professorships at Roosevelt College in the Spring and Summer of 1947. He does not list the University of California for that year.
CV Source: Library of Congress. Papers of Abba P. Lerner. Box 6, Folder 2 “Biographical, 1943-82, n.d.”.

________________________

Income and Employment

9 lectures

  1. I, C Y, S. ✓ defs. ✓ system.
  2. Say and Keynes FF ✓ [functional finance]
  3. Rigidities and Unemployment
  4. The Rate of interest ✓
  5. Neo classical theory of Emp.
  6. Business Cycles
  7. FF and National Debt. ✓
  8. Employment Policy
  9. Sentimental Internationalism.

handwritten: multiplier ✓

handwritten: [Univ. of California Spring 1947]

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT 335A

1. F. April 11th, 1947

✓ I and C make Y
✓ S and I. defs.
Steering Wheel
Deficits or big budgets (for defl
Keynes’ Law.
✓ simplicity and complicators.

Ec Steering Wheel
FF and Fed Debt
Integrated FE policy

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT 335A

2. F. April 18th, 1947

Repeat I, C, and Y ✓

Functional Finance Principles. ✓
[handwritten: o] six instruments
Deficits or big budgets.

Say’s law and Keynes’ Law. ✓

Refs. Ec Steering Wheel
FF and Fed Debt
Integrated FE Policy

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT 335A

3. F. April 25th, 1947

S and I. Pd. count receipts and payments. ✓
increased M. “out of” not ✓
value appreciation (Brookings)

[following section labeled “O” =omit?]
FF and six instruments
            implicit combination
Budgets and Debt Principles fall
Fear of Debt. Internal and External.
grandchildren. Interest Burden.
Real Burden. Inequality.
Inflation and taxes. Incentives
both ways – silent socialism.
What Aternative? Private
Debt worse. efficiency,
price charge, monopolistic
falsification keeps the evil
an especially bad tax system
though private.
Limit and limit.

handwritten addition: multiplier ✓

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

4. F. May 2, 1947

S and I again. govt S and I too ✓

Robertson’s definition ✓ –don’t explain. ✓

Ex ante—no clear meaning. ✓

propensities—equ. conditions. ✓

handwritten addition unclear: low? i

Debt. in- external. grandchild
interest burden. Real burden
inequality inflation and taxes.

incentives and loss offset
silent socialism Alternative?
private debt worse. efficiency
price charge monopoly as bad
tax limit and limit.

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

5. F. May 9, 1947

? No I and S ?

Continue Debt
Real burden
Distribution, loss offset,
socialism, profit rebate,
taxes, bad taxes, why taxes
bad? surplus. departure from
optimum price. what alternative
tax now or later.
troubles those of FE not of Debt.
private debt. efficiency of
private vs. public investment.
monopoly as very bad tax.
(negative rent)

limit and limit (Hansen)

Next Theory of Interest.

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

6. F. May 16, 1947

Conclude Debt.
Private vs. Govt Debt.
greater efficiency
charging average cost
like bad tax worse.

limit and limit.

Theory of Interest.
Classical S & D for saving Handwritten: Define F.E.

 

Handwritten: 7. May 23

Loanable funds ✓
Liquidity preference ✓
Must bring in Income
Assets and Money, (credit & Capital)
o[=omit?] ? Sigma
two margins OK ✓

Next Neo Classical Theory
Business Cycles.

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

8. F. June 6, 1947

Questions on Theory of Interest. ✓
Neo-Classical Theory of Employment
eight stages. Like Int. Th. ✓
Stability conditions
marginal propensity to invest.
marginal efficiency of investment
marginal productivity of Cap.

Business Cycles
expansion and prosperity
prosperity depending on expansion.

Kalecki’s scheme.
(Process analysis)

________________________

INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT

9. Sat. June 7, 1947 (?)

Sentimental Internationalism

Free trade failure
beggar my neighbor
advantages of fixed exchanges
International Monetary Fund.
exchange adjustment vs. price adjustment.
hedging. longterm investment for foreign trade.
competitive devaluation—T.T. ✓

hoarding each others’ currencies
conditions for single currency.
symptom cannot be legislated.

 

Source: Library of Congress. Papers of Abba P. Lerner. Box 22, Folder “Lectures and speeches: Other, 1937-47”.

Image Source: Publicity photo of Abba Lerner from Beth Emet’s announcement of speakers in its 1958 Forum (that included besides Dr. Abba Lerner, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the actor Theodore Bikel) in Library of Congress. Abba P. Lerner Papers. Box 6, Folder 8 “’B’ miscellany”.

Categories
Courses Gender Harvard Radcliffe

Harvard. Pre-Radcliffe economics instruction for women, 1879-1893

 

Before there was a Radcliffe College, there was  “A Society for the Private Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and other Instructors of Harvard College”. Below are excerpts mostly relating to political economy and economics courses from the fourteen reports that preceeded the official establishment of Radcliffe College in 1893/94. I have highlighted the economics references but definitely recommend reading the other text as well. For several years early on enrollments in economics were actually zero. By 1892 seventeen women were enrolled in the introductory economics course. The course descriptions get more detailed in the last half-dozen or so reports.

________________________

REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE FIRST YEAR.
[1879-80]

The Managers of the plan for the Private Collegiate Instruction for Women by Professors and other Instructors of Harvard College take pleasure in making the following Report to the supporters of the undertaking. Funds amounting to more than sixteen thousand dollars were subscribed, by a small number of persons payable at various times within four years from the beginning of the work, according to the needs of the Managers. The Report of the Treasurer, given below, shows the sums paid in, and the mode of their expenditure during the year. The movement was first brought to public notice by a circular issued February 22, 1879. The requisites for admission to the courses of instruction were published in a second circular, issued April 19, and the first examination was held at Cambridge, September 24-27, after which the classes began to receive instruction immediately. Twenty-seven ladies began the year, one of whom soon after left to study abroad, and another withdrew on account of the difficulty of coming to Cambridge regularly while living in another town. The remaining twenty-five continued through the year. At the examination four ladies were examined on a preparatory course the same as that required for admission to college, one on a course akin to that of the Women’s Examination and the remainder in one or more branches. Three began a regular course, the studies taken being the same as those of a first year’s course in college. Another began a four years’ course of advanced studies. The others were special students, of whom thirteen took one study, four took two, and four took four.

Of the different departments of study,

Greek was taken by 6;
Latin by 9;
Sanskrit by 1;
English by 5;
German by 5;
French by 6;
Philosophy by 4;
Political Economy by 6;
History by 4;
Music by 1;
Mathematics by 7;
Physics by 3;
Botany by 5.

 

In Greek, three read Lysias, Plato, and Homer with Mr. L. B. R. Briggs.

One studied Greek Composition and Written Translation with Mr. White.

Two read the Agamemnon and Eumenides of Aeschylus, and Thucydides with Mr Goodwin.

In Latin, five read Livy and the Odes of Horace with Mr. Hale.

Three studied Latin Composition and Translation at Sight with Mr. Gould.

Two read Pliny’s Letters and Tacitus with Mr. Lane.

In Sanskrit, one studied with Mr. Greenough.

In English, four studied Composition with Mr. Hill.

In German, four took the elementary course with Mr. Bartlett.

One studied German Composition and Oral Exercises, and German Literature from Luther to Lessing, with Mr. Sheldon.

Two studied Goethe and German Literature of the XIX. Century with Mr. Bartlett.

In French, three took Mr. Bôcher’s course in La Fontaine, Racine, Taine, and Alfred de Musset.

Two studied the Literature of the XIX. Century with Mr. Jacquinot.

In Philosophy, three studied Metaphysics and Logic with Mr. Palmer.

In Political Economy, six studied with Mr. [James Laurence] Laughlin.

In History, one studied the period of the Revival of Learning and the Reformation with Mr. Emerton.

Two studied the period of the French Revolution with Mr. Bendelari.

In Music, one studied Harmony and Counterpoint with Mr. Paine.

In Mathematics, two studied Solid Geometry, Plane Trigonometry, and Advanced Algebra with Mr. G. R. Briggs.

Three studied Analytical Geometry with Mr. Byerly.

Two studied the Differential and Integral Calculus with Mr. J. M. Peirce.

One received instruction from Mr. Benjamin Peirce in Quaternions.

In Physics, three studied Descriptive Physics, — Mechanics, Light, and Heat with Mr. Willson.

In Natural History, three received Laboratory Instruction in the Microscopic Anatomy, Physiology, and Development of Plants with Mr. Goodale.

Regular examinations were held in the middle and at the end of the year, which were passed by the students with credit.

Recitation rooms were rented in two private houses on Appian Way, and there was also provided a separate apartment for the convenience of students who need a place where they can spend the intervals between recitations. Here some of the instructors have left books of reference from time to time. The students have been encouraged to make free use of this room. Blackboards, tables, etc., have been provided for there citation rooms

During the year the Secretary has kept a list of the names of those private families in which students could find board and lodging. On this list only such names were recorded as were approved by the Managers.

There has been no difficulty in finding comfortable and suitable homes for those students who were not provided for by their friends.

 

There are now forty-two ladies in the following classes:—

In Greek, 4 classes, and 18 students.
In Latin, 4 classes, and 15 students.
In English, 2 classes, and 10 students.
In German, 3 classes, and 10 students.
In French, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Italian, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Philosophy, 2 classes, and 8 students.
In Pol. Econ’y, 1 class, and 1 student.
In History, 3 classes, and 8 students.
In Mathematics, 4 classes, and 10 students.
In Physics, 1 class, and 4 students.
In Botany, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Astronomy, 2 classes, and 3 students.

The twenty-nine classes are taught by seven Professors, four Assistant Professors and twelve Instructors.

Ten ladies are pursuing the regular course of four years. Of the remainder, twenty-one take one course, seven take two curses, and four take four courses.

ARTHUR GILMAN,
Secretary.

Cambridge, Nov. 10, 1880

 

Source: Private Collegiate Instruction for Women in Cambridge, Mass. Courses of Study for 1880-81, with Requisitions for Admission and Report of the First Year. Cambridge, Mass.: William H. Wheeler, 1880. Pages 12-15.

________________________

Courses of Study for the Year 1880-1881

Two hours of instruction a week will be given in all courses not otherwise designated.

VIII. POLITICAL ECONOMY.

  1. Principles of Political Economy. Financial Legislation of the United States. Mr. Laughlin

  2. Advanced Course. Cairnes’ Leading Principles of Political Economy. Blanqui’s History of Political Economy. Mr. Laughlin

 

Source: Private Collegiate Instruction for Women in Cambridge, Mass. Courses of Study for 1880-81, with Requisitions for Admission and Report of the First Year. Cambridge, Mass.: William H. Wheeler, 1880. Pages 3, 5.

________________________

 

WORK OF THE SECOND YEAR
[1880-81]

During the second year of the operation of the plan for the Private Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and other Instructors of Harvard College, forty-seven ladies were connected with the classes.

Numbers in the Classes.

The following table exhibits the numbers in the different classes: —

In Greek, 4 classes, and 21 students.
In Latin, 4 classes, and 17 students.
In English, 2 classes, and 9 students.
In German, 3 classes, and 11 students.
In French, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Italian, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Philosophy, 2 classes, and 9 students.
In Pol. Econ’y, 1 class, and 1 student.
In History, 3 classes, and 12 students.
In Mathematics, 4 classes, and 11 students.
In Physics, 1 class, and 5 students.
In Botany, 1 class, and 2 students.
In Astronomy, 2 classes, and 4 students.

 

The twenty-nine classes were taught by eight Professors, three Assistant-Professors and twelve Instructors of Harvard College, and the instruction given is a repetition of that of the College in the different departments.

 

Work in the Class Room.

There were four classes in Greek. Three ladies read in Aeschylus, Pindar and Aristotle with Mr. Goodwin.

Three studied Greek Composition and Written Translation at Sight with Mr. White.

Four read from Plato (Phaedo), Sophocles (Ajax) and Euripides (Medea) with Mr. Wheeler.

Ten read Plato’s Apology and Crito, and Homer’s Odyssey with Mr. Briggs.

The Latin classes were the following: – Mr. Lane had three in Pliny’s Letters, Horace, Plautus and Cicero.

Mr. J.H. Wheeler had three in Composition and Translation at Sight.

Mr. Greenough had three in Cicero’s Epistles, Terence and the Epistles of Horace.

Mr. Gould had nine in the Odes and Epodes of Horace, Cicero de Amicitia and Composition.

In English, Mr. Hill had four in Composition and five in Literature.

In German, Mr. Bartlett had three in Parzival and other mediaeval poems, and five in Elementary German.

Mr. Sheldon had three in the Romantic School, Lyric Poetry and the practice of writing German.

In French Mr. Jacquinot had two in the study of French Prose.

In Italian, two took the elementary course under Mr. Bendelari.

In Philosophy, Mr. Palmer had six in Metaphysics and Logic and three in the study of Locke, Berkeley and Hume.

In Political Economy, Mr. [James Laurence] Laughlin gave the advance course to one student who had begun the study the previous year.

In History, Mr. Emerton had three in the European History of the Middle Ages.

Mr. MacVane had one in the Mediaeval and Modern History of France and England, who had begun the previous year.

Mr. Young had eight in an Introduction to the Study of History. This was a course of lectures begun by Mr. Emerton, but resigned to Mr. Young on account of an unexpected pressure of other work.

In Mathematics, Mr. Peirce had one student in Quaternions.

Mr. Byerly had two in the Differential Calculus.

Mr. H.N. Wheeler had two in Analytic Geometry.

Mr. Briggs had six in Solid Geometry, Plan Trigonometry and Algebra.

In Physics, Mr. Willson had five in Descriptive Physics, — Mechanics, Light and Heat.

In Botany, Mr. Goodale had four in Laboratory Instruction in the Microscopic Anatomy, Physiology and Development of Plants.

In Astronomy, Mr. Waldo had two students in Descriptive and Practical Astronomy.

 

Readings and Lectures.

The Calendar of the University has been regularly posted upon our bulletin-board, and the students thus notified of the Lectures by the Professors, and the Readings from classical authors, to which they were privileged to go. A number of them have been present at the readings by Professor Child from Chaucer, at the lectures of Professor Lanman on the Veda, and at the Greek readings of Professors Goodwin, White, and Palmer, and of Mr. Dyer and Mr. Briggs. The performance of the Oedipus Tyrannus in Sanders Theatre was an extraordinary opportunity for becoming acquainted with a phase of Greek literature and life which was of as great advantage to the young ladies as to the students of the University.

 

Courses Offered but not Called For.

A comparison of the studies actually pursued by the young ladies and the electives offered in the circular at the beginning of the year shows that thirty-one courses of instruction, offered by twenty-three instructors, were not called for by actual students. Though some of the present students will take some of these courses at other stages of their progress, the comparison seems to indicate on the part of women seeking the higher education a tendency towards the traditional classical curriculum and not towards science, and that the preparatory schools offer advantages for obtaining a knowledge of French and Italian sufficient for most women. All the courses in Greek were taken.

The following list shows the courses not called for:—

LATIN. Latin Poetical Literature, Lectures on the Latin Poets. MR. SMITH. – Cicero, Lucretius and Seneca. MR. GOULD.

SANSKRIT and Comparative Philology. MR GREENOUGH.

ENGLISH. Milton. Lectures on English Literature. MR. PERRY. – Elocution. MR. TICKNOR.

GERMAN. Niebelungenlied or Gudrun. Selections from Goethe or Schiller. MR. LUTZ. — German Literature (Goethe, Schiller and Jean Paul). DR. HEDGE.

FRENCH. Elementary Course. French Prose. MR. JACQUINOT. – Romance Philology. MR. SHELDON and MR. BENDELARI.

ITALIAN. Elementary Course. MR. BENDELARI. — Dante. MR. NORTON.

SPANISH. Course by MR. BENDELARI.

PHILOSOPHY. Psychology. DR. JAMES. – German Philosophy (Critical Study of Kant, Hegel or Schopenhauer). DR. EVERETT. – Ethics. DR. PEABODY. – Advanced Logic. DR. PEABODY.

POLITICAL ECONOMY. Principles. Financial Legislation of the United States. MR. [James Laurence] LAUGHLIN.

HISTORY. The French Revolution. MR. BENDELARI. – The First Ten Christian Centuries or Catholic Civilization of the Middle Ages. Mr. ALLEN.

MUSIC. Harmony and Counterpoint. History of Music. The Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and their successors. (Three distinct courses.) MR. PAINE.

MATHEMATICS. Cosmical Physics. Prof. BENJAMIN PEIRCE.

PHYSICS. Experimental Physics. (Mayer’s Treatise on Light and Sound.) MR. TROWBRIDGE.

MINERALOGY. Crystallography. Mineralogy. MR. MELVILLE.

NATURAL HISTORY. Physical Geography, Structural Geology and Meteorology. MR. DAVIS. – Elementary Botany. Under direction of MR. GOODALE. – Zoology. Lectures by MR. MARK. – Laboratory Work in the Anatomy and Histology of Animals. MR. MARK

[…]

The Future.

The Managers do not make prognostications regarding the future. Their simple purpose from the beginning has been to try the experiment of offering to women advantages that had previously been given to men only. They have in no way endeavored to attract students, but have merely proposed to supply the demands made upon them by duplicating the courses of instruction given in the College. Their success has been beyond their expectations. They have proved that there exists in the community a class of women capable of taking this grade of instruction, and requiring it. The co-operation of the Instructors of the College has been so cheerfully rendered and their work so carefully done that nothing is left to be desired in that direction.

The students have conducted themselves in a manner so exemplary and in all respects satisfactory, notwithstanding the almost entire freedom to which they have been left, that they have rendered the work of both Managers and Instructors pleasant, and have prepared the public to support the movement with heartiness.

The preparatory schools find that there is an increase in the number of young women taking the classical course, and they will soon become more effectual feeders to our classes. The prospect seems to be that the number of students entering for the course of four years will regularly increase, but a rapid augmentation of numbers can hardly be expected.

The Managers raised funds at the beginning of their work, sufficient, in their opinion, to carry it forward four years. Two of those have passed and the funds have not been drawn upon to so great an extent as was anticipated. It may be that the work can be continued for six years, but at the end of that time the Managers will consider that their work has been accomplished.

If, at that time, it appears that it is desirable to make the work permanent, the responsibility will be laid upon the public. Large funds will be required, and the Managers doubt not that they will be contributed.

The endowment at Cambridge of an Institution for Women of the high grade that the Managers have in view would be an honor to women, and women will be found ready to make it sure.

ARTHUR GILMAN.
Secretary

Cambridge, Mass.
December 10, 1881.

 

Source: Private Collegiate Instruction for Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Second Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary. Cambridge, Mass.: William H. Wheeler, 1881. Pages 3-6, 10.

________________________

THE SOCIETY FOR THE COLLEGIATE INSTRUCTION OF WOMEN.
THIRD YEAR.
[1881-82]

The year that has just closed marks an era in the history of the instruction of women by the Professors and other Instructors of Harvard College, for during it the. Managers have obtained a Charter under the seal of the State of Massachusetts, and a legal name, “The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women.”

The Charter states the objects of the organization to be to promote the education of women with the assistance of the Instructors in, Harvard University, “and for this purpose it empowers the Society to “employ teachers, furnish instruction, give aid to deserving students, procure and hold books, suitable apparatus ,and lands and buildings for the accommodation of officers, teachers and students,” to “perform all acts appropriate to the main purpose of the Association.” and to transfer “the whole or any part of its funds or property to the President and Fellows of Harvard College,” whenever the same can be so done as to advance the purpose for which the Society is chartered, in a manner satisfactory to the Association.

The Charter is ample for the present needs of the Society, and places it in a position to receive funds and to hold and administer them legally for the purposes of the collegiate instruction of women. It makes it practicable for the Society to raise a proper endowment to establish the work upon a permanent basis, and it seems that the moment has arrived when the contribution of an adequate fund will found an institution that will give women advantages in Cambridge equal to those enjoyed from time immemorial by their more favored brothers. The students are here in considerable numbers, and they are properly prepared for the instruction that is offered for them. Others are now passing through preparatory courses with the intention of coming here, and there is a prospect that the classes will be kept up year by year by a succession of earnest women who will go out to raise the average of intelligence throughout various portions of the land.

It may be said with some confidence that a fund of one-tenth the size of that represented by the property and endowments of Harvard University, contributed to this Society now, will give women greater privileges than are within their reach in America, and will make them permanent.

The Society not Creating, but Satisfying a Demand.

It is not the purpose of the Society to stimulate a demand for the education that it offers. Its directors have never held the doctrine that it is the duty of every young woman to pass through a regular course of study such as is represented by the four years’ course of the candidates for the Bachelor’s degree in College. It is their wish simply to offer to women advantages for this highest instruction, and to admit to the privileges of the Society any who may actually need them.

The teachers of America are to a large degree women, and it is desirable that all women who select this profession should be as well prepared to perform its duties as the men are who are engaged in similar work. But it is not teachers only who wish the highest cultivation of the mental powers. Many women study with us for the sake of the general addition to their knowledge. It is not demanded that every man who takes a collegiate course shall become a teacher, and more must not be expected of women.

Numbers of Students in the Different Classes.

 

Department No. of Classes. No. of Students.
Greek 4 23
Latin 4 16
English 4 25
German 4 14
French 2 4
Italian 1 1
Fine Arts 1 1
History 2 11
Mathematics 4 12
Physics 1 3
Botany 1 5

 

[…]

Courses Offered but not Taken

Latin. One course offered was not called for.
Sanskrit. Two courses.
English. One course.
French. Two courses.
Italian. One course.
Spanish. One course.
Philosophy. One course.
Political Economy. Two courses.
History. Three courses.
Fine Arts. One course.
Music. Three courses.
Astronomy. Two courses.
Mineralogy. Two courses.
Physical Geography. One course.
Meteorology. One course.
Botany. One course.
Zoology. Two courses. (One of Lectures and one of Laboratory Work.)

It appears that twenty-eight courses were given during the year, and twenty-seven that were offered were not given. This shows that the courses offered are for the present beyond the immediate demand for any one year, but, as the demand varies from year to year, with the progress of the different classes and the differing tastes and needs, of the students, the list of electives cannot be curtailed to advantage.

It will be seen that the managers have endeavored to use a liberal discretion in the application of the privilege reserved to them, of withholding any course not applied for by three properly prepared candidates. They have waived the rule in the case of any student whose stage of progress made any special course a necessity for her during the year. It must at times happen that the highest courses will be applied for by small numbers, and in such cases the rule must be occasionally waived, or the most advanced students discouraged.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Third Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary. Cambridge, Mass.: William H. Wheeler, 1882. Pages   3-5 ,7-8.

________________________

 

From Fifth Year [1883-84] Annual Report

Department No. of Classes. No. of Students
1882-83. 1883-84. 1882-83. 1883-84.
Sanskrit 0 1 0 1
Greek 5 6 23 43
Latin 4 4 22 27
English 3 4 15 38
German 3 3 14 18
French 1 1 4 5
Philosophy 1 2 5 11
Music 0 1 0 3
History 3 2 9 12
Mathematics 2 2 11 10
Physics 1 1 8 5
Astronomy 2 0 4 0
Botany 2 1 5 9
Totals 27 28 120 182

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Fifth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1884. p. 9.

________________________

From Sixth Year [1884-85] Annual Report

 

Department No. of Classes.
1884-85.		 No. of Students.
1884-85.
Greek 4 25
Latin 5 31
English 4 59
German 3 16
French 2 12
Philosophy 3 16
Political Economy 1 9
History 4 20
Mathematics 3 16
Physics 1 6
Zoology 1 4
Totals 31 214

[…]

Political Economy.

Nine heard lectures from Professor [James Laurence] Laughlin on Banking and on Finance, and studied under him Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Sixth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1885, p. 9, 11

 

_______________________

From Seventh Year [1885-86] Annual Report
November 16, 1886

[…]

Political Economy.

Professor [James Laurence] Laughlin. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. Lectures on Banking and the Financial Legislation of the United States.—6 [students].

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Seventh Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1886, p. 12

________________________

 

From Eighth Year [1886-87] Annual Report
October 25, 1887

[…]

Political Economy.

Professor [James Laurence] Laughlin. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking. Lectures.—7 [students].

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Eighth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1887, p. 11.

________________________

From Ninth Year [1887-88] Annual Report
November 5, 1888

[…]

Political Economy.

Professor [James Laurence] Laughlin and Mr. Coggeshall. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking. Lectures on Money, Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation, Socialism and Taxation.—5 [students].

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Ninth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1888, p. 18.

________________________

From Tenth Year [1888-89] Annual Report
October 29, 1889

[…]

Political Economy.

Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Mr. [Francis Cleaveland] Huntington. 1st half year. “Principles of Political Economy.” J. S. Mill (Laughlin’s Edition) Books I, II, III, and IV. Lectures on Co-operation (Mr. Taussig). 2nd half year, “Some Leading Principles of Political Economy.” J. E. Cairnes. The whole book except Chapters 4 and 5 of Part I. “History of Bimetallism in the United States.” J. L. Laughlin.—7 students.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Tenth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1889, p. 16.

________________________

From Eleventh Year [1889-90] Annual Report
October 28, 1890

[…]

Political Economy.

Mr. [Edward Campbell] Mason. First half year. Principles of Political Economy. J. S. Mill. Books I, II (omitting Chapters V-X), III (Chapters I-XVI). Second half-year. The working Principles of Political Economy, by S. M. Macvane. Chapters XXV XXVI. Principles of Political Economy. J. S. Mill. Books III (Chapters XVII, XVIII), V (Chapters I-VII). Some Leading Principles of Political Economy, by J. E. Cairnes. The whole book except Chapter 5, Part I.—5 students.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Eleventh Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1890, p. 25.

________________________

From Twelfth Year [1890-91] Annual Report
October 27, 1891

[…]

Political Economy.

Mr. [Edward Campbell] Mason and Mr. [William Morse] Cole — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy: Book I; Book II, Chap. XI et seq; Book III, to chap. XXIV; Book IV, to chap. VII. Cairnes’s Some Leading Principles of Political Economy. Lectures: Socialism; Banking; Recent Financial History in U. S. During the first half year attention was given to the main principles of Political Economy. In the second half-year the object was to illustrate the application of principles dealt with in the first half-year, and to give general information on certain economic questions of practical importance. The work was mainly descriptive and historical and was carried on partly by lectures and partly by the discussion of the books mentioned above.—8 students.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Twelfth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1891, p. 23.

________________________

From Thirteenth Year [1891-92] Annual Report
October 25, 1892

[…]

Political Economy.

(Primarily for Undergraduates.)

Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Mr. [William Morse] Cole. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy: Production; Wages, Profits, Rent; Value; Money and Credit; International Trade; Progress of Society; Taxation. Cairnes’s Some Leading Principles of Political Economy. Lectures; Social Questions, Banking, Recent Financial History in the United States. During three-quarters of the year attention was given to the main principles of Political Economy. During the remainder of the year the work consisted of the application of principles and the description of some leading economic features of society. — 17 students.

 

(For Graduates and Undergraduates.)

Mr. [Edward] Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions.

An introductory course in sociology, intended to give a comprehensive view of the structure and development of society in relation to some of the more characteristic ethical and industrial tendencies of the present day.

The course began with a hypothetical consideration of the relation of the individual to society and to the State-with a view to pointing out some theoretical misconceptions and practical errors traceable to an illegitimate use of the fundamental analogies and metaphysical formulas found in Comte, Spencer, P. Leroy Beaulieu, Schaeffle, and other publicists.

The second part followed more in detail the ethical and economic growth of society. Beginning with the development of social instincts manifested in voluntary organization, it considered the genesis and theory of natural rights, the function of legislation, the sociological significance of the status of women and of the family and other institutions — with a view to tracing the evolution of certain types of society based upon a more or less complete recognition of the social ideals already considered.

The last part dealt with certain tendencies of the modern state, discussing especially the province and limits of state activity, with some comparison of the Anglo-Saxon and the continental theory and practice in regard to private initiative and state intervention in relation to public works, industrial development, philanthropy, education, labor organization, and the like.

Each student selected for special investigation some question closely related to the theoretical or practical aspects of the course; and a certain amount of systematic reading was expected. — 6 students.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Thirteenth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1892, pp. 25-26.

________________________

From Fourteenth Year [1892-93] Annual Report
October 31, 1893

[…]

History

(Primarily for Graduates.)

Professors [William J.] Ashley and [Abert Bushnell] Hart.— Seminary in Economic and American History. The purpose of this research course was to train students in the use of sources, in the collection of material, and in reaching independent results on important questions. Each student had frequent conferences with one or other of the instructors; the general exercises were lectures on methods by the instructors, and papers prepared by the students as reports of their work. The subjects studied were Manumission in America; the early phases of the Anti-slavery movement; the Freedman’s Bureau; Serfdom in England; the Black Death; and the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381. The students had the use of the Harvard College Library and of the various Boston libraries. — 6 students (1 graduate).

[…]

Economic [sic].

(Primarily for Undergraduates.)

Professor [William J.] Ashley and Mr. [William Morse] Cole. — The first half-year was devoted to a consideration of the main conceptions of Political Economy, and the work took the form of recitations based upon Mill’s Principles.
The class read the chapters on the functions of labor, capital and land and the laws governing their increase; on the distribution of produce among laborers, capitalists and landholders; on the exchange value, both domestic and international, of commodities; on the functions of money and the laws governing its value; on the influence of progress upon the production and distribution of wealth. The class-room work consisted of general informal discussion suggested by the chapters read, with the intent that the students should acquire facility in independent thinking upon economic subjects.
The second half-year was chiefly occupied by lectures on Socialism, Methods of Industrial Remuneration, Taxation, Protection, Banking and Currency. Students were required to read certain portions of Rae, Contemporary Socialism, Schloss, Methods of Industrial Remuneration, Dunbar, Banking, Taussig, Silver Situation, and other works. — 8 students.

 

Professor [William J.] Ashley. — The Economic History of Europe and America, down to the Eighteenth Century. This course of lectures and exercises dealt with the following topics, among others; the scope and purpose of economic history; the agricultural and industrial organization of the Roman Empire, — the villae and collegia; the tribal system of the Celts, Teutons, and Slavs; the problem of the origin of the manor; the manor in its complete form, and its subsequent transformation; the rise of commerce and industry, and the history of merchant gilds and craft gilds in relation thereto; the organization of international trade in the Middle Ages; the agricultural changes of the Sixteenth Century in England and elsewhere; the great trading companies; the woollen trade of England, and the domestic system of industry; the transition from English to American agrarian conditions. — 8 students.

 

(For Graduates and Undergraduates.)

Mr. [Edward] Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. An introductory course in sociology, intended to give a comprehensive view of the structure and development of society in relation to some of the more characteristic ethical and industrial tendencies of the present day.
The course began with a hypothetical consideration of the relation of the individual to society and to the State — with a view to pointing out some theoretical misconceptions and practical errors traceable to an illegitimate use of the fundamental analogies and metaphysical formulas found in Comte, Spencer, P. Leroy Beaulieu, Schaeffle, and other publicists.
The second part followed more in detail the ethical and economic growth of society. Beginning with the development of social instincts manifested in voluntary organization, it considered the genesis and theory of natural rights, the function of legislation, the sociological significance of the status of women and of the family and other institutions — with a view to tracing the evolution of certain types of society based upon a more or less complete recognition of the social ideals already considered.
The last part dealt with certain tendencies of the modern state, discussing especially the province and limits of state activity, with some comparison of the Anglo-Saxon and the continental theory and practice in regard to private initiative and state intervention in relation to public works, industrial development, philanthropy, education, labor organization, and the like.
Each student selected for special investigation some question closely related to the theoretical or practical aspect of the course; and a certain amount of systematic reading was expected. — 3 students.

 

Source: The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women by Professors and Other Instructors of Harvard College. Fourteenth Year Reports of the Treasurer and Secretary, 1893, pp. 34-38.

Image Source: Fay House,   Radcliffe College Archives W359459_1.

 

Categories
Economists Fields Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins University. Proposal for a course on linear economic systems. Newman, 1968

 

The following memorandum written by Peter Newman, the Johns Hopkins mathematical economist (later turned important historian of economics and co-editor of The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics), provides us with an explicit statement of a theorist’s view of mathematics required of Ph.D. economists in 1968. I find it particularly interesting that no mention of the usefulness of linear algebra for statistics and econometrics was included in his discussion. This memo was found sandwiched in a collection of course reading lists.

________________

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

Proposed Graduate Course on Theory of Linear Economic Systems
for discussion on February 21, 1968

  1. The recent abolition of the University’s second foreign language requirement for the Ph.D. has left the Department in a slight predicament. The mathematics requirement has until now served as a commonly chosen alternative to the second foreign language, and so the latter’s abolition places us under some pressure to drop the former. But we would like all our students to have some mathematics beyond one year of calculus.
  2. The situation has at least one more complication. Fulfillment of our mathematics requirement normally requires the attending and passing of courses 16 and 19 in the Mathematics Department. There appear to be few problems with 19 (Advanced Calculus), but there is some evidence that 16 (Linear Algebra) is unsuitable, its coverage varying widely from year to year and often having large parts without much relevance to economics.
  3. I propose the following solution to these difficulties. We should normally require that all students take and pass Mathematics 19. It is better that mathematical analysis be taught by a professional mathematician, and certainly until we have such a person in the Department itself, this course should be taken in the Mathematics Department.
  4. In addition, it is proposed that all students normally be required to take and pass a one semester 3 hour course on linear economic systems. Prerequisites would be only the usual requirements for graduate admission (courses equivalent to our 301-2, plus one year of calculus), and the course would have a 600 number.
  5. The levels of economics and mathematics in the course would be approximately those of Dorfman, Samuelson and Solow’s Linear Programming and Economic Analysis, although this is not in fact a very satisfactory textbook. The course would cover such topics as the following:
    1. Mathematical Tools
      1. Elements of the theory of linear transformations, vectors and matrices, determinants.
      2. Special matrices of particular relevance to economics, e.g. nonnegative matrices, symmetric matrices, positive definite matrices.
      3. Elements of linear and nonlinear programming, with a strong focus on duality theory but little on computational aspects.
      4. Elements of the theory of convex sets and functions.
    2. Economic Theory
      1. Models of Leontief type: Theory, and some empirical applications.
      2. Typical linear programming problems: linear models of production and transportation
      3. Linear models in welfare economics, general equilibrium, capital accumulation
      4. Game theory, including a discussion of Von Neumann-Morgenstern utility index.
  1. It would probably be best if the course were offered each year in the second semester and if it were normally taken by first-year students, who would by then already have had our 601 and Math. 19; this would contribute to the student’s economic and mathematical “maturity”. The course itself could be given by any one of several people in this Department, and the above list of topics is meant only to be typical, not mandatory. If the economic theory were interspersed among the mathematics that would perhaps add to the interest of both, but that is a matter of pedagogy to be decided by the individual teacher.
  2. At the present time only the more mathematically inclined of our students are exposed systematically to the large body of relevant and recent knowledge covered by such a course. Even if we do not agree (a) that we should have any mathematics requirement at all, or (b) that even if we do, such a course in linear systems would be an appropriate part of the requirement, there would still be a strong case for including this course in the catalogue.

Peter Newman

2/13/68

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Records, Series 6, Box 1, Folder 3.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. History of Economic Theory. Final exam questions, Taussig, 1891-94

 

 

Examination questions spanning just over a half-century can be found in Frank Taussig’s personal scrapbook of cut-and-pasted semester examinations for his entire Harvard career. Until Schumpeter took over the core economic theory course from Taussig in 1935, Taussig’s course covering economic theory and its history was a part of every properly educated Harvard economist’s basic training. In the previous posting you will find Taussig’s exam questions for the academic years 1886/87 through 1889/90 along with enrollment data for this course. Today Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provides the analogous material from 1890/91 through 1893/94.

The second half of the course was devoted to socialism in 1889/90 and 1890/91 and taught by John Graham Brooks (Wikipedia article).  Four boxes of his papers are to be found at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. A biographical note from the on-line guide to the Brooks’ papers: 

“John Graham Brooks was born in Acworth, New Hampshire, on July 19, 1846; he attended Oberlin College from 1869 to 1871 and graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1875. While ordained and serving as a Unitarian minister in Roxbury, he took an interest in economic affairs, organizing classes for workingmen, later lecturing at Harvard on socialism, and for many years acting as investigator of strikes for the U.S. Department of Labor. In 1880 he married Mrs. Helen Washburn and from 1882 to 1885 traveled and studied in Europe, mainly in Germany. He was the first president of the National Consumers’ League, president of the American Social Science Association in 1904, and a lecturer for the League for Political Education for many years. He died on February 8, 1938.”

Taussig’s scrapbook does not include exam questions (if there were exams) for the second semesters for 1890 and 1891 when Brooks taught Socialism.

Incidentally, W.E.B. Dubois was enrolled in Economics 2 in 1890/91 as a graduate student and was awarded a grade of A (one of six awarded to the twenty-two who received grades,  as recorded in Taussig’s scrapbook).

Also note that “Political Economy” is replaced by “Economics” as of 1892/93. 

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1890-91

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor Taussig and Mr. Brooks. — History of Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from Leading Writers. — Socialism. 3 hours.

Total 23: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source:   Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1890-91, p. 58.

_______________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year, 1891]

[Omit one question.]

  1. It has been suggested that the real source from which wages are paid is not the product of the laborer, nor the capital of the employer, but the income of the consumer. What should you say?
  2. To which of the following cases, if to any, is the reasoning of the wages fund theory applicable? (1) The farmer tilling his own land with his own capital; (2) the fisherman working for a share of the catch; (3) the independent artisan working on his own account with borrowed capital; (4) the employer who habitually sells his product before pay-day, and pays his laborers with the proceeds?
  3. Wherein does President Walker’s view of the source from which wages are paid differ from George’s?
  4. “The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talent in business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent.] If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to the consumers, through the diminished value of the article; he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher… Wages and profits represent the universal elements in production, while rent may be taken to represent the differential and peculiar; any difference in favor of certain producers, or in favor of production in certain circumstances, being the source of a gain, which, though not called rent, unless paid periodically by one person to another, is governed by laws entirely the same with it.” — Mill, Political Economy, book iii., ch. v., §4.
    What has President Walker added to this in his discussion of business profits?
  5. “It is true that money does not beget money; but capital does manifestly beget capital. If a man borrows a thousand ducats and ties them up in a bag, he will not find any little ducats in the bag at the end of the year; but if he purchases with the ducats a flock of sheep, he will, with proper attention, have lambs enough at the end of the year to make a handsome interest on the loan, and make a handsome profit for himself. If he turns the ducats into corn, he will find it bringing forth, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold…. Very seldom does a man borrow money to use it, as money, through the term of his loan. When he does so, as brokers for example sometimes do, he may to Antonio’s question, ‘Is your gold and silver rams and ewes?’ return Shylock’s answer, ‘I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast.’”
    Discuss this explanation of interest. Whom do you suppose to be the writer of the extract?
  6. “The natural history of the notion on which it [the wages-fund doctrine] rests, is not obscure. It grew out of the conditions which existed in England during and immediately subsequent to the Napoleonic wars. Two things were then noted. First, capital had become accumulated in the island to such an extent that employers found no (financial) difficulty in paying their laborers by the month, week, or day, instead of requiring them to await the fruition of their labor in the harvested or marketed product. Second, the wages were, in fact generally so low that they furnished no more than a bare subsistence, while the employment offered was so restricted that an increase in the number of laborers had the effect to throw some out of employment or to reduce the wages for all. Out of these things the wages-fund theory was put together.”
    Examine this account of the rise of the wages-fund doctrine.
  7. Discuss the method of reasoning followed by Adam Smith, and illustrate by his treatment of two of the following topics: (1) the causes which bring about high wages; (2) the effects on domestic industry of restraints on importation; (3) the origin and effects of the division of labor.
  8. Explain how Ricardo’s conception of wages bears on his conclusions as to the effects of taxes on wages, and as to the net income of society.
  9. What can be said in justification of the views of the writers of the mercantile school? 

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1891-92

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 9 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

 

Source:   Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1892.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

  1. Are laborers paid out of the product of their own labor in cases where the employer sells the product before pay-day and pays the laborers out of the proceeds?
  2. “Whether wages are advanced out of capital in whole, or in part, or not at all, it still remains true that it is the product to which the employer looks to ascertain the amount which he can afford to pay: the value of the product furnishes the measure of wages. . . .
    It is the prospect of a profit in production which determines the employer to hire laborers; it is the anticipated value of the product which determines how much he can pay them.”
    Is this consistent with the wages-fund theory?
  3. Consider the following: —

“Given machinery, raw materials, and a year’s subsistence, does it make no difference with the annual product whether the laborers are Englishmen or East-Indians? Certainly if one quarter part of what has been adduced under the head of the efficiency of labor be valid, the difference in the product of industry arising out of differences in the industrial quality of distinct communities of laborers are so great as to prohibit us from making use of capital to determine the amount that can be expended in any year or series of years in the purchase of labor.”

  1. How does President Walker prove the existence of a no-profits class of business men?
  2. Wherein does President Walker’s theory of distribution differ from Professor Sidgwick’s?
  3. What grounds are there for saying that Political Economy is distinctly a modern science?
  4. “Let us suppose, for example, that in the greater part of employments the productive powers of labour had been improved to ten-fold, or that a day’s labour could produce ten times the quantity of work which it had done originally; but that in a particular employment they had been improved only to double, or that a day’s labour could produce only twice the quantity of work it had done before. In exchanging the produce of a day’s labour in the greater part of employments for that of a day’s labour in this particular one, ten times the original quantity of work in them would purchase only twice the original quantity in it. Any particular quantity in it, therefore, a pound weight, for example, would appear to be five times dearer than before. In reality, however, it would be twice as cheap.” — Wealth of Nations, Book I. ch. viii.
    Explain what Adam Smith meant; and what Ricardo would have said as to this passage.
  5. Explain Adam Smith’s conclusions as to the effect on wages, profits, and rent, of the progress of society; noting briefly the reasoning which lead to the conclusion in each case.
  6. Examine the following criticisms on Malthus: —
    1. that there is no such difference of law between the increase of man and of the organic beings which form his food, as is implied in the proposition that man increases in a geometrical, food in arithmetical ratio;
    2. that the adaptation of numbers to the means available for their support is effected by the felt or anticipated pressure of circumstances and the fear of social degradation, within a tolerable degree of approximation to what is desirable.
  7. Explain carefully Ricardo’s doctrine as to the effect of profits on value.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final. 1892.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

  1. Does the example of a laborer hired by a farmer, and paid by him at the close of the season, after the crop has been harvested and disposed of, present a case of labor paid, not out of capital, but out of the product of current industry?
  2. What do you conceive the relation of political economy to laissez faire to have been with Adam Smith? with Ricardo and his contemporaries? How would you state the relation yourself?
  3. “Ricardo never fairly appreciated that his notion of the laborer’s ‘necessaries’ stood for something subject to wide variation in different stages of civilization. It is true that in one passage he says with emphasis that the necessaries, which determine the natural rate of wages, depend on habits which vary with time and place; but elsewhere he sets up a distinction between gross and net income, which is tenable only if we put the laborer’s necessaries side by side with other elements of cost of production. The distinction loses its practical harshness, when he admits that the laborer may at times receive, over and above natural wages, some part of the community’s net income; but its theoretic shortcomings then become the more obvious.” (Cohn, National-oekonomie.)
    Explain Ricardo’s conception of natural wages and net income, here referred to; and examine the justice of this criticism.
  4. “The average rate of profits is the real barometer, the true and infallible criterion of national prosperity. A high rate of profit is the effect of industry having become more productive, and it shows that the power of society to amass capital, and to add to its wealth and population, has been increased.” (M’Culloch’s Political Economy.) What led to the adoption of this test by M’Culloch? Should you accept it?
  5. What were Ricardo’s views as to the effect of foreign trade on profits?
  6. “In the actual period of production, on a wages system, the existing supplies for laborers are distributed to laborers in wages, while they, with the help of fixed capital, till the ground and work up the raw materials, transforming the old capital into a new product. . . . The product is divided at the end of the period of production into the replacement of capital (support of laborers, raw material, and wear of fixed capital), profits, and rent. . . . Hence it is clear that wages and profits are not parts of the same whole. Wages were in capital at the beginning of the period of production; profits are in product at its close.” (W. G. Sumner.)“We may suppose that share of the National Dividend which goes as rent to be set on one side; and then there remains what would be produced by labour and capital if they were all applied under conditions no more favourable than those under which they were applied at the margin of profitable employment; and a proposal was made by the present writer, in the Economics of Industry, that this should be called the Wages-and-Profits Fund, or the Earnings-and-Interest Fund. These terms were suggested in order to emphasize the opinion that the so-called Wages-Fund theory, however it might be purified from the vulgar errors which had grown around it, still erred in suggesting that earnings and interest, or wages and profits, do not stand in the same relation to the National Dividend.” (Marshall.)Which of these seems to you the sounder view?
  7. Explain what is meant by Consumer’s Rent; and examine the effect on Consumer’s Rent and on the aggregate satisfaction of the community, of a tax on a community subject to the law of Diminishing Returns.
  8. Explain the grounds which lead Professor Marshall to believe that the forces by which the wages of different grades of laborers are determined, work by a process similar to that by which the expenses of production determine the value of commodities.
  9. Examine carefully Professor Marshall’s view of the part played by rent of natural ability in determining manager’s earnings.
  10. Wherein is there similarity, wherein difference, in the positions of Carey and Bastiat in the history of economic theory?

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1892-93

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 11 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomore, 3 Others.

 

Source:   Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1892-93, p. 67.

_______________________

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1893.]

  1. State George’s doctrine as to the cause of interest, and give an opinion of its soundness.
  2. “It may be said, we grant that wages are really paid out of the product of current industry, and that capital only affects wages as it first affects production, so that wages stand related to product in the first degree, and to capital in the second degree only; still, does not production bear a certain and necessary ratio of capital? and hence may not the measure of wages be derived from capital virtually, — though not, it is true, directly, — through its determination of product?” Consider whether so much would be granted by one holding to the wages-fund doctrine; and answer the questions.
  3. “The employer [in the West and South] advances to the laborer such provisions and cash as are absolutely required from time to time; but the ‘settlement’ does not take place until the close of the season or the year, and the final payment is often deferred until the crop is not only harvested but sold.” Under such conditions is it true that wages are paid out of capital, or limited in amount by the quantity of previously accumulated capital?
  4. What do you conceive President Walker’s opinion to be as to the effect on business profits of the possession of large means by the business man at the outset of his career?
  5. Are there grounds for saying that in a socialist community the conception of capital would be different from that in communities as now organized?
  6. Compare Adam Smith’s doctrine as to the relation of capital and wages with Ricardo’s.
  7. Compare Adam smith’s conclusions with Ricardo’s as to the propriety of import duties levied to countervail internal taxes on necessaries consumed by laborers.
  8. “No extension of foreign trade will immediately increase the amount of value in a country, though it will very powerfully contribute to increase the mass of commodities, and therefore the sum of enjoyments.” What does Ricardo mean?
  9. “There is only one cause, and that will be temporary, in which the accumulation of capital with a low price of food may be attended with a fall in profits.” What is the case, and why did Ricardo think it would be temporary?

_______________________

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1893.]

[One question in each of the three groups may be omitted.]

I.

  1. What is the meaning and importance of the proposition that demand for commodities is not demand for labor?
  2. How far is Ricardo’s doctrine as to the connection between labor and value similar to Marx’s doctrine that value consists of the labor incorporated in commodities?
  3. What is meant when it is said that the connection between value and expenses of production depends on the mobility of capital, while the connection between value and cost of production depends on the mobility of labor and capital?
  4. “The ideal of justice in distribution, applicable both to individual producers and to the different factors in production (land, labor, capital), may be stated thus: each should have a share in net income proportionate to the contribution which, by labor or by the use of material means of production, he has made to the product.”
    What should you say as to the feasibility of carrying out such a principle?

II.

  1. Explain briefly what is meant by total utility, marginal utility, and consumer’s rent.“Subject to these corrections, then, we may regard the aggregate of the money measures of the total utility of wealth as a fair measure of the part of the happiness which is dependent on wealth.” Mention one or two corrections.
  2. Give your opinion on the objection raised by Carey to the theory of rent, that the total rent paid for the use of land does not exceed interest at current rates on the total capital sunk in land.
  3. How far is it an answer to the proposition that rent and business profits are analogous, when it is said that the losses of some business managers must be set off against the larger gains of others?
  4. Explain Professor Marshall’s opinion as to the bearing on the relative wages of different laborers of
    1. the “rent” of labor;
    2. the standard of living among laborers;
    3. the expenses of production of labor;

and point out the connection between his views on these subjects.

III.

  1. Explain the distinctions (1) between private capital and social capital, (2) between historico-legal capital and national capital; and point out how far the two distinctions run on the same lines.
  2. “In the present condition of industry, most sales are made by men who are producers and merchants by profession. . . . For them, the subjective use-values of their own wares is, for the most part, very nearly nil. . . . In sales by them, the limiting effect which, according to our theoretical formula, would be exerted by the valuation of the last seller, practically does not come into play.”
    Explain what is meant, and consider the consequences as to the importance of the law that price is determined by the valuations of the marginal pairs.
  3. “Our whole interest is centred in the question as to the position which the law (of cost of production), so well accredited by experience, takes in the systematic theory of price. Does it run counter to our law of marginal pairs or not? Our answer is that it does not. It is as little of a contradiction as we before found to exist between the proposition that the marginal utility determines the height of subjective value, and the other proposition that the costs determine it. “
    In what way is the apparent contradiction removed in the two cases referred to by Böhm-Bawerk?
  4. Explain the three grounds on which Böhm-Bawerk bases the superiority of present over future goods, and and give your opinion as to their relative importance and significance.

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1893-94

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 43: 12 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

 

Source:   Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

_______________________

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1894.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Write with deliberation, but answer all the questions.]

  1. “It is no doubt true that a portion of capital is always remuneratory and not auxiliary in its nature; that is, does not consist of instruments that make labour more efficient, but of finished products, destined for the consumption of labourers and others. This part of capital continually becomes real wages (as well as real profits, interest, and rent), being purchased by the labourer with the money wages he receives from time to time. But it does not seem to me therefore correct to regard the real wages as capital ‘advanced’ by the employer to the labourer. The transaction between the two is essentially a purchase, not a loan. The employer purchases the results of a week’s labour, which thereby becomes part of his capital, and may be conceived — if we omit for simplicity’s sake the medium of exchange — to give the labourer in return some of the finished products of his industry.”
    Consider whether and how remuneratory capital continually becomes real interest and rent, as well as real wages; and give your opinion as to the closing analysis of the relation between employers and laborers.
  2. Suppose (1) that profit-sharing were universally adopted; (2) that laborers habitually saved a very large part of their income, — and consider whether any modification must be made in the reasoning of those who would maintain a Wages-Fund doctrine.
  3. It has been said that while the capital of the employing class is the immediate source from which wages are paid, the ultimate and important source is the income of the consumers who buy the goods made by the laborers for the capitalists. Consider this doctrine.
  4. Compare critically the treatment by Walker, Sidgwick, and Ricardo, of the relation between the profits of the individual capitalist and the amount of capital owned by him.
  5. State carefully Ricardo’s criticism of Adam Smith’s doctrine on labor as the measure of value.
  6. Compare Adam Smith’s reasoning with Ricardo’s as to the manner in which the progress of society in wealth affects profits.
  7. “We have seen that in the early stages of society both the landlord’s and the labourer’s share of the value of the produce of the earth would be but small; and that it would increase in proportion to the progress of wealth and the difficulty of procuring food. We have known, too, that although the value of the labourer’s portion will be increased by the high value of food, his real share will be diminished; while that of the landlord will not only be raised in value, but will also be increased in quantity.”
    Explain the reasoning by which Ricardo reached the several conclusions here summarized, and give your opinion as to the soundness of the conclusions.

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1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1894.]

  1. “Perhaps the most striking conflict of the Wages-Fund-theory with facts, is found in the periodical influctions and depressions of trade. After a commercial crisis, when the shock is over and the necessary liquidation has taken place, we generally find that there is a period during which there is a glut of capital, and yet wages are low. The abundance of capital is shown by the low rate of interest and the difficulty of obtaining remunerative investments.” — Nicholson, Political Economy
    How far is the theory in conflict with the facts here adduced?
  2. How is the significance of the doctrine of consumer’s rent affected by the fact that the money incomes of different purchasers vary widely?
  3. Explain Marshall’s doctrine as to the influence on wages of the standard of living among laborers; and consider how far it differs from Richard’s teaching as to the connection between wages and the price of food.
  4. Explain Marshall’s doctrine of the quasi-rent of labor; compare it with his conclusions as to the rent of business ability; and point out how far he finds in either case something analogous to economic rent as defined by the classic writers.
  5. “It is not true that the spinning of yarn in a factory, after allowance has been made for the wear-and-tear of the machinery, is the product of the labour of the operatives. It is the product of their labour (together with that of the employer and subordinate managers) and of the capital; and that capital itself is the product of labour and waiting; and therefore the spinning is the product of labour (of many kinds) and of waiting. If we admit that it is the product of labour alone, and not of labour and waiting, we can no doubt be compelled by inexorable logic to admit that there is no justification for interest, the reward of waiting.”
    How far would you accept this reasoning?
  6. “Barter, though earlier historically than buying and selling, is really a mere complex transaction, and the theory of it is rather curious than important.” — Marshall.
    “The attribute of normal or usual value implies systematic and continuous production.” — Cairnes.
    “Where commodities are made for sale, the sellers’ subjective valuations fall out altogether, and price is determined by the valuation of the last buyer.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
    Explain these statements, separately or in connection with each other.
  7. What does Böhm-Bawerk mean by the general subsistence market, or the total of advances for subsistence; and how far do the “advances” differ from the wages-fund of the classic economists?
  8. Explain Böhm-Bawerk’s views as to the connection between the prolongation of the period of production, and the increase in the productiveness of labor; and consider how far his conclusions as to interest would need to be modified, if those views were changed.
  9. Explain briefly, by definition or example, the sense in which Böhm-Bawerk uses the terms, —

social capital;
private capital;
subjective value;
marginal pairs;
technical superiority of present goods.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook).

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig. Harvard Album, 1900.