Month: December 2018

Categories
Chicago Fields Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Industrial Organization Reading List. Stigler, 1973

 

While the asterisks in the following reading list probably indicate the subset of required course readings, the  list in its entirety may be considered George Stigler’s universe of readings relevant for a graduate student intending to take a comprehensive examination in the field of industrial organization at Chicago. An autobiographical note by George Stigler from 1982 is included at the Nobel Prize website.

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READING LIST
INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
George J. Stigler

Spring, 1973
Business 305
Economics 380

  1. The Definition and Empirical Determination of Competition and Monopoly
    1. Analytical literature

A. P. Lerner, “The Concept of Monopoly”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 1

F. H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, p. 76 ff.

G. J. Stigler, “Perfect Competition, Historically Contemplated”, Journal of Political Economy, 1957 (reprinted in Essays in the History of Economics).

*G. J. Stigler, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 2, 3, 4.

*G. Rosenbluth, “Measure of Concentration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

E. F. Fama and A. B. Laffer, “The Number of Firms and Competition”, AER, Sept. 1972.

T. Scitovsky, “Economic Theory and Measurement of Concentration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

M. O. Finkelstein and Richard Friedberg, “The Application of an Entropy Theory of Concentration”, Yale Law Review, March 1967.

H. Demsetz, “Why Regulate Utilities?”, Journal of Law and Economics, April 1968.

    1. Statistical studies

*A. C. Harberger, “Monopoly and Resource Allocation”, American Economic Review, May 1954.

G. Rosenbluth, Concentration in Canadian Manufacturing Industries.

R. Evely and I. M. D. Little, Concentration in British Industry, Ch. 1, pp. 104 ff., 160 ff.

P. Pashigian, “Market Concentration in the United States and Great Britain”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1968.

Ralph C. Nelson, Concentration in the Manufacturing Industries of the United States, Ch. I-IV.

Carl Eis, “The 1919-1930 Merger Movement in American Industry”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1969.

F. L. Pryor, “An International Comparison of Concentration Ratios,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1972.

M. Gort, “Analysis of Stability and Change in Market Shares”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

R. W. Kilpatrick, “A Choice Among Alternative Measures of Industrial Concentration”, Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1967.

*Irvin Grossack, “the Concept and Measurement of Permanent Industrial Concentration, Journal of Political Economy, July/Aug 1972.

  1. Determinants of the Firm-Size Structure
    1. The Economies of Scale

J. McConnell, “Corporate Earnings by Size of Firm”. Survey of Current Business, May 1945.

J. Johnston, Statistical Cost Functions, esp. pp. 110 ff., Ch. 6.

J. Haldi and D. Whitcomb, “Economies of Scale in Industrial Plants”, Journal of Political Economy, 1967.

J. S. Bain, Barriers to New Competition.

*J. S. Bain, “Economies of Scale…” in Readings in Industrial Organization and Public Policy.

*G. J. Stigler, The Economies of Scale, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 7.

P. E. Hart, “The Size and Growth of Firms”,Economica, February 1962.

*F. Modigliani, “New Developments on the Oligopoly Front”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1958.

D. Osborne, “The Role of Entry in Oligopoly Theory”, Journal of Political Economy, 1964.

L. Weiss, “The Survivor Technique and the Extent of Suboptimal Capacity”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1964.

T. Saving, “Estimation of Optimum Size of Plant by the Survivor Method”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1961.

L. Telser, Competition, Collusion and Game Theory, Ch. 8.

    1. Mergers

A. S. Dewing, “A Statistical Test of the Success of Consolidations”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1921.

G. J. Stigler, “Monopoly and Oligopoly by Merger”, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 8.

F. T. C., Report on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.

*J. Markham, “Survey of the Evidence and Findings on Mergers”, in Business Concentration.

J. F. Weston, The Role of Mergers in the Growth of Large Firms.

G. J. Stigler, “The Statistics of Monopoly and Merger”, Journal of Political Economy, 1956.

*Ralph Nelson, Merger Movements in American Industry.

H. G. Manne, “Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control”, Journal of Political Economy, April 1965.

  1. The Effects of Concentration
    1. Collusion

*D. H. MacGregor, Industrial Combination, Part II, Ch. 1.

W. Fellner, Competition Among the Few.

W. Nicholls, Imperfect Competition Within Agricultural Industries, pp. 120-130.

F. Machlup, Economics of Sellers’ Competition, Ch. 13.

*G. J. Stigler, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 5.

W. Nutter, “Duopoly, Oligopoly, and Emerging Competition”, Southern Economic Journal, 1964.

Lester Telser, Competition, Collusion and Game Theory, Ch. 5.

    1. Price Discrimination

N. I. C. B., Public Regulation of Competitive Practices, pp. 63-85.

J. P. Miller, Unfair Competition, Ch. 7-9.

J. Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Bk. V.

F. Machlup, The Basing Point System.

G. J. Stigler, A Theory of Uniform Delivered Prices, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 14.

    1. Price Rigidity

*G. Means, Industrial Prices and Their Relative Inflexibility.

Sweezy and Stigler, articles on the kinked oligopoly demand curve in American Economic Association, Readings in Price Theory.

A. C. Neal, Industrial Concentration and Price Inflexibility.

*Stigler, Administered Prices and Oligopolistic Inflation, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 19.

*Stigler & Kindahl, The Behavior of Industrial Prices, Ch. 1, 4, 5.

Government Price Statistics (Joint Economic Committee, 1961, also, National Bureau of Economic Research), Staff Papers No. 8 and 9.

R. Selden and C. dePodwin, “Business Pricing Policies and Inflation”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

L. Weiss, “Business Pricing Policies and Inflation Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, 1966.

    1. Profits

*J. S. Bain, “Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1951.

N. R. Collins and Lee E. Preston, Concentration and Price-Cost Margins in Manufacturing Industries.

G. J. Stigler, Capital and Rates of Return in Manufacturing Industries, Ch. 3.

Y. Brozen, “The Antitrust Task Force Deconcentration Recommendation”, Journal of Law and Economics, October, 1970.

S. I. Ornstein, “Concentration and Profits”, Journal of Business, Oct. 1972.

  1. Topics in Industry Behavior
    1. Advertising

E. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 6-7.

L. Telser, “Advertising and Cigarettes”, Journal of Political Economy, October 1962.

*N. Kaldor, “Economic Aspects of Advertising”, Review of Economic Studies, 1950.

*L. Telser, “Advertising and Competition”, Journal of Political Economy, December 1964.

*G. J. Stigler, “The Economics of Information,” The Organization of Industry, Ch. 16.

J. Peterman, “The Clorox Case and the Television Rate Structure”, Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1968.

W. S. Comanor and T. A. Wilson, “Advertising Market Structure and Performance”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1967.

Phillip Nelson, “Information and Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1970.

    1. The Nature of the Firm and Vertical Integration

*R. Coase, “The Nature of the Firm”, Readings in Price Theory.

H. Demsetz, “The Exchange and Enforcement of Property Rights”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1964.

A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, Ch. 3.

Marshall, Principles of Economics, Bk. IV, Ch. 10-13.

A. Young, “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress”, Economic Journal, 1928 (and in Clemence’s Readings in Economic Analysis, 2 vols.)

G. J. Stigler, “Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market,” The Organization of industry, Ch. 12.

*M. Adelman, “Concept and Measurement of Vertical Integration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

M. Gort, Diversification and Integration in American Industry.

    1. Conglomerate Mergers

C. Edwards, “Conglomerate Progress as a Source of Power”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

J. Lorie and P. Halpern, “Conglomerates: The Rhetoric and the Evidence”, Journal of law and Economics, April 1970.

FTC, Economic Report on Corporate Mergers (1969).

    1. Schumpeter’s Theory

*Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. 7-8.

E. Mansfield, “Size of Firm, Market Structure, and innovation”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

A. Plant, “Economic Theory Concerning Patents for Invention”, Economica, 1934.

*John McGee, “Patent Exploitation”, Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1966.

P. Swan, “Market Structure and Technological Progress”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1970.

  1. Large Number Industries
    1. Cartels

G. J. Stigler, The Theory of Price, (1966), Ch. 13.

Clair Wilcox, Public Policies Toward Business(3rd) Ch. 30.

C. Edwards, Economic and Political Aspects of International Cartels.

    1. Trade Associations

*Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action, esp. pp. 125-167.

T. N. E. C. Monograph No. 18, Trade Association Survey.

    1. Retailing: Resale Price Maintenance

W. Bowman, “Prerequisites and Effects of Resale Price Maintenance”, University of Chicago Law Journal, 1955.

F. T. C., Resale Price Maintenance.

*L. Telser, “Resale Price Maintenance”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1960.

B. Yamey, The Economics of Resale Price Maintenance.

  1. Anti-trust Policy
    1. History

J. D. Clark, Federal Trust Policy.

W. H. Taft, The Anti-trust Act and the Supreme Court.

H. B. Thorelli, The Federal Antitrust Policy.

Robert Bork, “Legislative Intent and the Policy of the Sherman Act”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1966.

R. Posner, “A Statistical Study of Antitrust Enforcement”, Journal of Law and Economics, 1970.

G. Stigler, “The Economic Effects of the Antitrust Laws,” Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1966.

    1. Major dissolutions

E. Jones, Trust Problem in the United States, Ch. 18.

Hale, “Trust Dissolution”, Columbia Law Review, 1940.

W. S. Stevens, Industrial Combinations and Trusts, Ch. 14-15.

S. Whitney, Antitrust Policies, 2 vols.

    1. Law of Conspiracy

U. S. v. Trenton Potteries, 273 U.S. 392 (1927).

F. T. C. v. Cement Institute, 68 Sup. Ct. 793 (1948).

Report of Attorney-General’s National Committee on the Anti-trust Laws.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Box 2, Folder “1970’s: course notes + related: Industrial org. + microeconomics”.

Image Source: George Stigler (November 1977). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf3-00844, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
Chicago Problem Sets

Chicago. Unions and wages problem set. Murphy, 2008

 

 

The following problem was assigned by Kevin Murphy in Economics 301 at the University of Chicago during the Autumn quarter of 2008. Marshall Steinbaum, Friend of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror and Research Director at the Roosevelt Institute), provided a copy to share here with the history of economics community. 

Marshall Steinbaum writes:

Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy would each give one lecture per week. Every weekly problem set had two questions, one assigned by Becker and one by Murphy. This one on unions was Murphy’s, as indeed were all the ones with a vaguely macro cast to them. It was odd how he both denigrated macro in lectures and assigned a whole shadow macro curriculum.

The problem below can be profitably read in light of the contemporary discussion of monopsony power and unions (e.g. Kate Bahn, “Understanding the importance of monopsony power in the U.S. labor market,” Equitable Growth, July 5, 2018)

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Links to 1947 Harvard syllabi on unions

Looking back in the rear-view mirror a half-century earlier, it is interesting to note the depth of coverage of unions in the graduate labor sequence at Harvard taught by John Dunlop:

Economics 81a Labor Organization and Collective Bargaining

Economics 81b  Labor and Public Policy

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Problem by Kevin Murphy on unions (2008)

Consider the impact of unions on wages. Consider a simple economy with a fixed supply of labor, L, which is supplied inelastically. Assume that there is a union that sets wages for workers covered by the union contract so as to maximize the income of its members. Assume that there are three inputs to production, L1, L2 and K. All workers are identical and can provide either type 1 or type 2 labor. Capital is supplied in a competitive market. Assume that all prices are denominated in terms of the output good Y.

  1. If the production function has the form Y=F(K,G(L1,L2)), where both F() and G() are CRS, how would a union that can set wages for L1and L2 desire to set wages? Might the union want to set wages at the competitive level? Would the union want to set equal wages for the two types of labor? Why or why not?
  2. How would your answer to A change if the production function was Y=H(K,L1,L2), where H was CRS?
  3. What would happen in parts A and B if the supply of capital was perfectly elastic? Why?
  4. Now assume that markets are initially competitive which results in competitive prices and usage for each type of labor and capital. Assume that those working as type 2 workers form a union so that they can increase their incomes. In particular assume that the newly formed union seeks to maximize the incomes of its initial members. Under the assumption of part A, how would the union set the wage for type 2 labor? What effect would this have on overall labor income? Could it make workers as a whole worse off? If so when and why?
  5. Now assume that there is only one type of labor so that Y=F(L,K) with F() having CRS. Assume that the union is free to set the real wage picks a wage that will maximize the current income of workers and that the demand for labor is inelastic at the steady state wage rate. Assume that the capital stock is fixed initially but that capital is accumulated via investment as in the neo-classical growth model. If we start at the steady state of the neoclassical growth model, what will happen to wages, capital and employment over time? Why?

Source: Transcribed from a personal copy of Marshall Steinbaum made available to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Marshall Steinbaum added

“In this case, I believe the point is that when the union causes labor to be paid in excess of its marginal product, the rate of return on capital is driven lower than the capitalists’ rate of time preference, causing them to cease to supply capital. As the capital stock depreciates away, the labor share remains high even as the wage level declines, causing a downward spiral rather than re-equilibration at a lower level of capital and output.

These problem sets were never explicitly tied to real-world events, but the sense I got was that this was intended to be a theory of the declining manufacturing sector in the United States and Western Europe.”

Source: Personal communication.

Image Source:  Kevin Murphy in “Chicago Schooled” by Michael Fitzgerald, University of Chicago Magazine (September-October, 2009).

Categories
Chicago Curriculum Regulations

Chicago. Intradepartmental discussion, graduate microtheory prerequisite. 1928.

 

Within an academic year there is often a natural ordering for a two-semester or three-quarter course sequence that allows the later courses to build on the course(s) that preceded it. With the growing depth of economic theory by the 1920s at the latest, more than a single course year was understood to be required to get up to research speed. We can add to this the further complicating fact of graduate programs being fed from a variety of undergraduate programs. It then becomes necessary to get excruciatingly explicit about the course content of prerequisites. 

The memos transcribed below make it clear that a “stiff” sophomore-level “value and distribution theory” course as taught in the College at the University of Chicago would constitute the minimum preparation to begin the study of neo-classical economics à la Viner in 1928. It is also noteworthy that the “powwow” of Chicago economists named in L. C. Marshall’s first memo below appeared to consider the course on “Contemporary Continental Economic Thought” a different species altogether, not requiring even intermediate microeconomic theory as a prerequisite.

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Economic Theory Course Numbers and Titles

General Survey Course [undergraduate]

102, 103, 104. The Economic Order I, II, III. Professor [Leon Carroll] Marshall and Others.

Intermediate Course [undergraduate]

201. Intermediate Economic Theory. Professor [Paul Howard] Douglas, Associate Professor[Lewis Carlyle] Sorrel and Assistant Professor [Garfield V.] Cox

[Graduate Theory Core]

301, 302, 303. Introduction to the Graduate Study of Economic Theory

301. Neo-Classical Economics. Professor [Jacob] Viner
302. History of Economic Thought. Professor [Frank Hyneman] Knight
303. Modern Tendencies in Economics. Professor [Jacob] Viner

309. Contemporary Continental Economic Thought. Mr. [Paul Howard] Palyi

 

Source:  University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for the Year 1927-1928, pp. 162-163.

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3 Memos: Marshall to Viner to Marshall to Viner

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics

January 13, 1928

Memorandum

To: J. Viner
From L. C. Marshall

Before Knight left us we had a long powwow about the theory situation as it seemed to have developed through the autumn quarter. [Frank Hyneman] Knight, [Lionel D.] Edie, [Theodore Otte] Yntema, [Henry] Schultz, [William Homer] Spencer and myself participated.

Here are the results of the conference:

1) It was agreed that neither 201 nor 301 should be regarded prerequisite to 309.

2) It was agreed that a person taking 301 could not wisely take 309.

3) It was agreed that 201 could not properly be made prerequisite for 301 since most of the students taking 301 do not come up through our own organization.

Do you see any difficulties with this arrangement?

[signed]
L. C. Marshall

LCM:GS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The University of Chicago
The Department of Economics

Memorandum to L. C. Marshall from J. Viner. Jan. 20, 1928

(1) I do not know enough about the purposes and scope of 309 to be able to express an intelligent opinion.

(2) Do. [ditto]

(3) I do not see why 201 or its equivalent should not be demanded as a prerequisite for 301, any stiff undergraduate course in price and distribution being regarded as the equivalent of 201. For undergraduates wanting to take 301 as undergraduates it seems to me clear that 201 should be insisted upon as a prerequisite.

J.V.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[Memorandum to] Mr. Jacob Viner [from] Mr. L. C. Marshall. Feb. 9, [192]8

In reply to your note of January 20 in which you say “I do not see why 201 or its equivalent should not be demanded as a prerequisite for 301, any stiff undergraduate course in price and distribution being regarded as the equivalent of 201. For undergraduates wanting to take 301 as undergraduates it seems to me clear that 201 should be insisted upon as a prerequisite.”

I judge that this means that no substantial difference of opinion exists between you and the group that talked the matter over. Apparently you would regard a sophomore course in the principles of economics (the usual thing in American colleges) as being an equivalent of 201 for purposes of stating the prerequisite for 301. This being true, what would you think of stating the prerequisite thus:

Prerequisite: a good undergraduate course in value and distribution.

It seems wise specifically to mention value and distribution for the expression “principles of economics” has no one meaning as far as undergraduate instruction is concerned.

LCM:GS

 

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records.Box 35, Folder 14 “Economics Department. Records & Addenda”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08488, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. The photograph is dated 14 June 1944.

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Theories of State and Economy. Piore and Berger, 1977

 

Michael Piore, a labor economist, and Suzanne Berger, a political scientist (European and global political economy), team-taught the following graduate course in political economy at M.I.T. during the second term of 1976-77, its first-run. The course requirement was a short-fuse take-home examination. It was a fun reading list for a third-year graduate student of economics. It also just so happens that I have taught about a quarter of these readings in my undergraduate team-taught course on origins of political economy at Bard College Berlin this semester!

One salient memory from the course was Berger’s enthusiasm for the work of the (then) young scholar Roberto Unger. Another was the look on Piore’s face when he realized that in his haste he had labeled his upward sloping line in p-q space a “demand curve”. Quelle horreur!

One can find the Spring 2016 version of the course at the MIT Open Courseware site, along with archived versions for 2002, 2005, and 2010). Here that 2016 reading list. This is a course that is apparently still running, which is over a decade longer than Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera (thus far, that show is still running too).

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Economics 14.781J, Michael Piore
Political Science 17.945J, Suzanne Berger

POLITICAL ECONOMY I: THEORIES OF THE STATE AND THE ECONOMY
[1976]

February 8: Introduction

February 15: Neo-classical theories of the economy

Readings:
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
Robert Solow, “The New Industrial State, or Son of Affluence”, and Galbraith reply, in The Public Interest, no. 9, fall 1967.
Robin Marris “Galbraith, Solow and the Truth about Corporations” in The Public Interest, no. 11 spring 1968, pp. 37-46
Robert Solow “The Truth Further Redefined: A Comment on Marris” in Ibid. pp. 47-52.
Robert Solow “Blood and Thunder” in Yale Law Review, pp. 1696-1711.
[K.J. Arrow “Gifts and Exchanges”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Summer 1972 No. 4]

February 22: Theories of the liberal state:

Readings:
Roberto Unger, Knowledge and Politics, chapters 1-3.

March 1: Theories of the liberal state:

Readings:
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, chapters 1-5, 7-9.
Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action, chapters 1,2,3,4.

March 8: Marxist theories of the economy

Readings:
Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” in Tucker, ed. Marx-Engels Reader, Part II.

March 15: Neo-marxist theories of the economy

Reading:
G.C. Harcourt, “Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital,” The Journal of Economic Literature, vol. VII, 1969, pp. 369-405.

March 22: Marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
Marx, “Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy” in Tucker, ed. Marx-Engels Reader
Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” in Tucker ed.

March 29: Vacation

April 5: Neo-marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
L. Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” in Lenin and Philosophy
Thompson, Whigs and Hunters, “Introduction” (pp. 21-24) and “Consequences and Conclusions (219-269)

April 12: Neo-marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
Antonio Gramsci, “The Modern Prince”

 

Reading list for cases to be discussed April 19-May 10 will be distributed later.

Reading List
Part II

April 19: [Patriots Day – No Class] Crises and Growth:

Reading:
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part II
W. W. Rostow, The Stage of Economic Growth, Chapters 1-5, 10

April 26: Crises and Growth:

Reading:
Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Part III
Recommended: Jurgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis

May 3: Ethnicity and Regionalism:

Readings.
Michael Hechter, Internal Colonialism, Chapters 1, 2, 9, 10.
D. Moynihan and N. Glazer, Beyond the Melting Pot, [pp. 1-23, 292-310, and any two interior chapters.)

May 10: Welfare

Readings:
E. Ginzberg and R. Solow The Great Society, Introduction, Chapter 3, Conclusion (Chapter 11).
F. Piven and R. Cloward, Regulating the Poor

May 17: Exam due

Source: Irwin Collier, personal copy from course.

Image Sources: Suzanne Berger in MIT News, Feb. 8, 2006. Michael Piore from screen capture of his webpage at M.I.T. (Mar 13, 2012 Wayback Machine)

Categories
Courses Curriculum Economics Programs Gender Wisconsin

Wisconsin. Economics Courses and Faculty, 1893-94

 

Early economics course offerings for Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, and a guide to graduate economics study at 23 universities from 1898 have been posted earlier. Today’s post for the University of Wisconsin serves as a reminder of the humble scale of economics departments just(?) 125 years ago: one professor (Ely), one associate professor (Scott), an instructor (Kinley) and two teaching fellows (Swain and Hubbard) covered the sixteen economics courses offered at the University of Wisconsin then. It is also worth noting the disciplines of the academic triplet joined at the hips: School of Economics, Political Science, and History. Finally I note that of three scholarships offered at the school, one was reserved for women.

_________________

Richard T. Ely

Richard T. Ely, the illustrious Director of the School of Economics, Political Science and History of the University of Wisconsin, was born in Ripley, New York, April 13, 1854. In 1876 he graduated from Columbia College, and, as the holder of the Graduate Fellowship of Letters in that institution, spent the next three years abroad in the study of social science, taking the degree of Ph.D. at Heidelberg in 1879. For several years he lectured in Cornell, Johns Hopkins and other Eastern colleges, and in 1885 Dr. Ely went to the associate chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, which institution he left to become the Director of the new School of Economics in Wisconsin University at the opening of the present college year.

Dr. Ely can receive no eulogy at our hands. His fame is world-wide, and the prosperity of the department under his control attests his powers of organization and successful management. The foundation of this school has been the beginning of a new order of things in the Universsity. A superior class of post-graduate effort has come under the direction of Dr. Ely, and the University of Wisconsin has attracted students from the far East and from the West.

Dr. Ely’s own writings need no comment. His field is large and accurately sustained. He stands foremost in the ranks of the new-school writers on econoimcs, and he has done much to advance economic study to its present enviable position of wide sympathies and scholarly effort.

David Kinley.

David Kinley was born in Dundee, Scotland, August 2, 1861. He came to this country at the age of twelve, and was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduating from Yale in 1884. For the next six years Mr. Kinley was prinipal of the High School of North Andover, Mass. He then studied a year in Johns Hopkins, and at the end of that time was elected instructor in History and Political Economy in that institution, and instructor in Political Economy and Logic at the Woman’s College, Baltimore. At the beginning of the present college year Mr. Kinley came to the University of Wisconsin as fellow and instructor in the School of Economics.

[Note: David Kinley’s Ph.D. thesis (1892-93) at Wisconsin, “The Independent Treasury”.]

Willam A. Scott

Prof. W. A. Scott was born in Clarkson, Monroe County, New York, April 17, 1862. When sixteen years of age he entered the State Normal School at Brockport, New York, from which he was graduated in June, 1882. In the fall of the same year he entered the University of Rochester, and received therefrom in 1886 the degree of B.A., and a scholarship in political science. The latter was granted for success in a competitive examination on the works of Bluntschli and certain selected French writers on political economy.

During a portion of the academic year 1884-5 Prof. Scott occupied temporarily the position of instructor in Latin and Greek to the Normal School at Oswego, N.Y. The year following his graduation he spent in post-graduate study, occupying at the same time the position of librarian of the Reynolds Library at Rochester. In the spring of 1887 he was appointed Professor of History and Political Economy in the University of South Dakota, and after occupying this position for three years he was granted leave of absence to complete his course of post-graduate study. He entered Johns Hopkins University in October, 1890, was appointed instructor in that institution in January, 1891, and in June, ’92, received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Since September, 1892, he has occupied the position of Assistant Professor of Political Economy in the University of Wisconsin.

Besides numerous articles published in the newspapers and periodicals, Prof. Scott has in process of publication at the present time by T. Y. Crowell & Co. of New York, a book entitled: “The Repudiation of State Debts in the United States”.

Prof. Scott is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities.

Source: The University of Wisconsin yearbook, The Badger 1894, pp. 26-29. Portraits inserted between pp. 26 and 27.

_________________

Faculty and Courses of Instruction
1893-1894

Officers of Instruction.

CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL.D., President of the University.
RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., L.L.D., Director and Professor of Political Economy.
JOHN B. PARKINSON, A.M., Professor of Constitutional and International Law.
FREDERICK J. TURNER, Ph.D., Professor of American History.
CHARLES H. HASKINS, Ph.D., Professor of Institutional History.
WILLIAM A. SCOTT, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Economy.
VICTOR E. COFFIN, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of European History.
DAVID KINLEY, Ph.D., Instructor in Administration and Political Science, and Lecturer on Money and Banking.
H. H. SWAIN, A.B., Fellow in Economics.
CHARLES M. HUBBARD, A.B., Fellow in Finance.
O. G. LIBBY, B.L., Fellow in History.

 

Introductory.

The purpose of the school is to afford superior means for systematic and thorough study in economics, political and social science and history. The courses are graded and arranged so as to meet the wants of students in the various stages of their progress, beginning with the elementary and proceeding to the most advanced work. They are also designed to meet the wants of different classes of students; as, for instance, those who wish to enter the public service, the professions of law, journalism, the ministry or teaching, or those who wish to supplement their legal, theological, or other professional studies with courses in social science or history. Capable students are encouraged to undertake original investigations, and assistance is given them in the prosecution of such work through seminaries and the personal guidance of instructors. A means for the publication of the results of investigations of merit and importance is provided in the University studies, the expense of which is met by the state.

 

Courses of Instruction.

I. ECONOMICS.

  1. The Principles of Political Economy. — A survey of the principles of political economy in their present state. Emphasis will be laid upon the sociological character of the science and upon the importance of the subjective standpoint in the explanation of economic phenomena. — Ely’s Outlines of Economics. — Three hours per week during the fall term. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT and MR. SWAIN.
  2. The Classical Economists. — A study of the development of economic theory as exhibited in the writings of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill and Cairnes. Characteristic parts of the writings of these authors will be assigned to the students for careful study, and conversational lectures will be given for the purpose of summarizing, systematizing and supplementing the class discussions. Three hours per week during the winter term. — Associate PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  3. Money and Banking. — A study of the functions and history of money and banks and of the problems connected therewith. Especial attention will be given to the history of bi-metallism in this country and Europe, to the various banking systems of the world, and to our own monetary and banking problems. — Walker’s “Money, Trade and Industry,” Laughlin’s “History of Bi-metallism in the United States,” and Dunbar’s “The History and Theory of Banking.” — Three hours per week during the spring term. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  4. Practical Economic Questions. — Socialism, Communism, Co-operation, Profit Sharing, Labor Organizations, Factory Legislation and similar topics will be discussed in this course. Its aim is to familiarize students with the problems of our social life and the plans suggested for their solution, and to give them actual practice in the investigation of such topics. — Three hours per week during the winter term. — MR. SWAIN and MR. HUBBARD.
  5. The Financial History of the United States. — A survey of the financial legislation and experiences of the United States, including the finances of the Colonies and the Revolutionary epoch. — Three hours per week during the spring term. — MR. HUBBARD.
  6. Distribution of Wealth. — Rent, interest, profits and wages. Plans which have been advocated for bringing about what their authors regard as a better distribution of wealth will be discussed. — Two hours per week throughout the year. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  7. History of Economic Thought. — The history of economic theories in classical antiquity will be sketched; their development under the influence of the Christian era and the middle ages to the time of the Mercantilists will be discussed at greater length. The rise and growth of economics as a distinct branch of social science. Existing schools of economic thought. — Three hours a week during the winter term. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  8. Theories of Value and Interest. — History of value and interest theories down to the present day. The seminary method of instruction will be employed, and each student will be expected to study critically the writings of the theorists examined. — Twice a week throughout the year. – ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  9. Theories of Rent, Wages and Profits. — A critical study of the history of these theories conducted in the manner described in the previous course. — Twice a week throughout the year. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  10. Theory of Exchange. — The history, methods and theory of domestic and foreign exchange will be considered in this course, under the two following heads:
    1. Money. — This is an advanced course, open only to those who have done the equivalent of courses 1, 2 and 3. In it a knowledge of the history of money will be assumed, and attention devoted to the critical consideration of such topics as the international movement of the precious metals, the theory of prices, bimetallism, paper money, etc. — Two hours a week throughout the winter term. — MR. KINLEY.
    2. Banking. — This is also an advanced course. The history, theory and practice of banking will be studied, including a comparison of the existing banking systems of different countries, the theory of credit, bank paper, the management of stringencies and panics, and the proper attitude of government towards the banking business. – Two hours a week throughout the spring term. – MR. KINLEY.
  11. Socialism. — Historical account of its origin, followed by a critical examination of its nature, strength and weakness. — Three hours per week during the fall term.— PROFESSOR ELY.
  12. Business Corporations. — The nature and economic functions of corporations, including a sketch of their origin and history. Lectures. — One hour per week during fall term. — MR. HUBBARD.
  13. The Economics of Agriculture. — A discussion of those economic topics which are of especial interest and importance to farmers. This course is designed primarily for the students of the college of agriculture, though any student who desires may be admitted. — Lectures.—One hour per week during the winter term.—ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  14. American Taxation. — Brief examination of federal taxation and a more detailed study of taxation in American states and cities. — Three times per week during the spring term. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  15. Sociology. — This course will consist of an historical study of the nature and principles of growth of the social body, and of a critical investigation of the positivist, the synthetic, the evolutionary, and other theories of society. — Three times a week throughout the fall term. — MR. KINLEY.
  16. Economic Seminary. — This is designed primarily for advanced students who wish to carry on special investigations under the guidance which the department affords. Each student, with the consent of the instructors, may select a topic of investigation for himself, or one may be assigned him connected with the subject selected for the main seminary work of the year. The subject for 1893–94 will be American Taxation. A subordinate feature of the seminary work will be the review of recent books and important articles published in the periodicals. — PROFESSOR ELY and ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.

ARRANGEMENT OF COURSES.

Of the above courses, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 12 are elementary. All beginners will take course 1; for those who wish to make a more special study of political economy, — with a view, possibly, of making it their major subject of study, — course 1 will be followed by courses 2 and 3 and these by course 6; those who expect to do most of their work in other departments, but desire such a knowledge of economic science as is needed for purposes of general culture and the proper performance of the duties of citizenship are advised to take courses 4 and 5 after course 1. Special students in economics are also urged to take courses 4 and 5 during the first year of their economic study, if their time will permit. Courses 7, 8 and 9 are theoretical. Course 7 is designed to furnish students with a general knowledge of economic literature and the general features of the development of economic thought. Courses 8 and 9 furnish opportunity for critical and exhaustive study of the most important economic theories, and are designed to cultivate the power of independent judgment; in other words, to equip competent students for original work in the domain of economic theory.

At least courses 1, 2 and 3, or their equivalent, must have been taken as preparation for courses 8 and 9. Graduate students will find it to their advantage to take at least courses 7 and 8, and, if possible, course 9 during the first year of their graduate study. Courses 10, 11, 12 and 14 furnish training in the application of economic principles to the affairs of practical life.

 

II. HISTORY
[11 courses listed…]

III. POLITICAL SCIENCE
[7] Courses by Professor Parkinson
[…]

ADMINISTRATION
[3] Courses by Mr. Kinley
[…]

 

Library Facilities

The General University Library, including the department libraries catalogued therewith, contains about 29,000 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets. About 200 of the best American and Foreign periodicals are taken. The College of Law has a special library of 2,300 volumes, and in addition students have access to the state law library, containing about 25,000 volumes, and to the city library of Madison, containing a well-selected collection of over 12,000 volumes.

The library of the State Historical Society contains about 76,000 volumes and 77,000 pamphlets. It is exceptionally rich in manuscript and other material for the study of the Mississippi valley. The collections of the late Lyman C. Draper are included in this library. Its files of newspapers and periodicals are among the most complete in the United States. There are over 5,000 volumes of bound newspapers published outside of Wisconsin, and the files cover, with but few breaks, the period from the middle of the seventeenth century to the present.

There is an excellent collection of United States government documents, and the material for the study of American local history, Western travel, the Revolution, Slavery, and the Civil War, is unusually abundant. In English history the library possesses the Calendars of the State Papers, the Rolls Series, and other important collections, including works on local history. The Tank collection (Dutch) offers facilities for the study of the Netherlands. The library of the Historical Society is accessible to students of the University, and thus affords exceptional facilities for the prosecution of advanced historical work. The Historical and Economic Seminaries have been generously granted special facilities in the rooms of the library. The Historical, State, University and City libraries afford duplicate copies of books most in use, and to a large extent supplement one another.

During the year 1892–93 the Regents of the University appropriated five thousand dollars for the supply of special works for the use of the seminary students of the school. The works supplied by this fund afford good facilities for investigations of an advanced nature.

These library facilities are unsurpassed in the interior, and equaled by very few institutions in the country.

 

Fellowships and Scholarships.

The University offers nine annual fellowships of $400 each, which are open to general competition without restriction except in one instance. During the current year three scholarships of $150 each will be awarded to members of the school. One of these is furnished by the Woman’s Club of Madison, and is open only to Women.

For further information, address

PROFESSOR RICHARD T. ELY,
Director,

Or the
REGISTRAR OF THE UNIVERSITY.

 

Source:  University of Wisconsin. School of Economics, Political Science, and History. Announcement for 1893-94 (Madison, Wis., 1893), pp. 3-8, 14-15.

Images Source: The University of Wisconsin yearbook, The Badger 1894.

Categories
Suggested Reading Syllabus Yale

Yale. Soviet Economic Development. Powell, 1974

 

Raymond Park Powell (b. 20 January 1922 in Spokane WA, d. 28 May 1980 in New Haven CT) was a professor of mine who played a significant role along with his Yale colleague John Michael Montias in my decision to specialize in the field of comparative economics systems. His monumental volume co-authored with Richard Moorsteen on the Soviet capital stock helped to inspire my career-long interest in the application of economic theory to the calculation of aggregate measures of input, output, and welfare. The Yale economics department awards teaching prizes in his honor to this day.

A transcribed syllabus from Powell’s graduate course on the Soviet economy follows his obituary in The Yale Daily News. 

 

______________

Economics’ Powell dies

Raymond Powell, Henry S. McNeil Professor of Economics at Yale and chairman of the Russian and East European Studies Department died of cancer on May 28 at Yale New Haven Hospital. He was 58 years old.

Mr. Powell joined the Yale faculty in 1952, after teaching in Princeton’s Economics Department and studying at Harvard’s Russian Research Center.

Last winter, Mr. Powell received a Devane medal for “his exceptional contribution to undergraduate life” from students belonging to the Yale Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

He wrote two books on the Soviet economy, one published in 1959 and one in 1966.

In 1967, Mr. Powell became the first professor ever to be named Henry S. McNeil Professor of Economics at Yale.

Mr. Powell continued to teach until a few weeks before his death, insisting, despite his poor health, on completing his spring term classes, according to Economics Department chairman Merton J. Peck.

Mr. Powell was the motivating force behind Economics 112, a course which constantly packed Davies auditorium in the past several years. The 1979 Course Critique described the class as “an excellent introduction to microeconomics,” and Mr. Powell’s lectures as varying tone from “humor to solemnity.”

The Course Critique also praised Mr. Powell as “very accessible and very willing to help.”

Students and faculty members laude Mr. Powell at a memorial service in Connecticut Hall June 4.

Source: Yale Daily News,  September 5, 1980.

______________

Economics 197b: Economic Development in the Soviet Union

Spring 1974
Mr. Powell

Assigned materials are to be found in the Cross Campus Library and, with some exceptions, in the Social Science Library.

Students unfamiliar with the general course of Soviet development may find it helpful to read through Alec Nove’s An Economic History of the U.S.S.R.

Part I: Pre-revolutionary Origins

For lack of time, neither of the first two topics will be covered in the course. The citations following are for reference purposes.

  1. Doctrinal Origins
    H. Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy, 2nd ed., ch. III
    K. Marx, Capital, The Communist Manifesto, and Other Writings, edited by M. Eastman, pp. 1-7
    “Teaching of Economics in the Soviet Union”, American Economic Review, September 1944
    J. Stalin, Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.
    P.J.D. Wiles, The Political Economy of Communism, ch. 3
  2. Historical Origins
    P.I. Lyashchenko, History of the National Economy of Russia to the 1917 Revolution
    J.T. Fuhrman, The Origins of Capitalism in Russia: Industry and Progress in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
    W.L. Blackwell, The Beginnings of Russian Industrialization, 1800-1860
    T.H. Von Laue, Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia
    A.Gerschenkron, “The Rate of Industrial Growth in Russia Since 1885”, Journal of Economic History, Supplement VII, 1947

Part II: The Development Process

  1. 1917 to 1928.
    A. Nove, An Economic History of the U.S.S.R., chs. 1, 3, and 4
    A. Erlich, “Stalin’s Views on Economic Development”, in F.D. Holzman, ed., Readings on the Soviet Economy
    O. Hoeffding, “State Planning and Forced Industrialization”, in Holzman
  2. Reliability of the Data and Inference from Them (Post-1928)
    A. Bergson, “Reliability and Usability of Soviet Statistics: A Summary Appraisal”, in Holzman
    H. Hunter, “Soviet Economic Statistics: An Introduction”, in V. Treml and J. Hardt, eds., Soviet Economic Statistics
    M. Kaser, “The Publication of Soviet Statistics”, in Treml and Hardt
    R. Powell, “The Rate and Process of Soviet Growth” (processed), pp. 1-8
    R. Moorsteen and R. Powell, The Soviet Capital Stock, 1928-1962, pp. 2-7, 13-16, 274-83
  1. Measures of Growth
    (Scan through the following to get a sense of the methods used.)
    Bergson, “National Income”, in Bergson and Kuznets, eds., Economic Trends in the Soviet Union
    D. Johnson, “Agricultural Production”, in Bergson and Kuznets
    N. Kaplan and R. Moorsteen, “An Index of Soviet Industrial Output”, in Holzman
    M. Bornstein, “A Comparison of Soviet and United States National Product”, in Holzman
  1. Sources of Growth: Inputs
    W.W. Eason, “Labor Force”, in Bergson and Kuznets
    F.A. Leedy, “Demographic Trends in the USSR”, in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Soviet Economic Prospects for the Seventies (in Documents Room, 93-1. Y4. Ec7: So 8/10) (read pp. 460-65, on “Population Policy”; scan remainder)
    J.G. Chapman, “Consumption”, in Bergson and Kuznets (to up-date Chapman, see Bronson and Severin in J.E.C., Soviet Economic Prospects)
    Moorsteen and Powell, chs. 6, 8, and 9 (for a somewhat different view of investment policy, see Bergson, The Economics of Soviet Planning, ch. 13)
  1. Sources of Growth: Productivity
    1. Aggregate statistics
      Moorsteen and Powell, ch. 10 (from p. 283)
      A. Becker, Moorsteen, Powell, “The Soviet Capital Stock: Revisions and Extensions, 1961-1967”, pp. 2-10
      M.L. Weitzman, “Soviet Postwar Economic Growth and Capital-Labor Substitution”, American Economic Review, Sept. 1970
      B.H. Mikhalevsky and Iu.P. Solov’ev, “Proizvodstvennaia funktsiia narodnogo khoziaistva SSSR v 1951-1963 gg.”, Ekonomika i matematicheskie metody, 1966, no. 6
      Bergson, “Comparative Productivity and Efficiency in the Soviet Union and the United States”, in A. Eckstein, Comparison of Economic Systems
    2. Other evidence
      D. Dalrymple, “American Technology and Soviet Agricultural Development, 1924-1933” Agricultural History, July 1966
      R. Campbell, Soviet Economic Power, 2ndedition, pp. 59-62
      G. Maddala and P. Knight, “International Diffusion of Technical Change—A Case Study of the Oxygen Steel Making Process”, Economic Journal, Sept. 1967
      Astrachan, review of L.R. Graham, Science and Philosophy in the Soviet Union, in The New Yorker, Sept. 24, 1973, pp. 117 ff.
      [Scanlan, James P. “Review of Science and Philosophy in the Soviet Union by Loren R. Graham in Slavic Review, December 1973.
      Joravsky, David. “The Lysenko Affair” in Scientific American, November 1962]
      V. Dudinstev, Not by Bread Alone, pp. 165-68

Part III: Growth and the Choice of Institutions

  1. The Institutional Structure
    Bergson, The Economics of Soviet Planning, chs. 2 and 3
  2. Central Planning
    H. Köhler, Welfare and Planning, ch. 7, pp. 82-95 and 99-102
    H. Levine, “The Centralized Planning of Supply in Soviet Industry”, in Holzman
    J.M. Montias, “Planning with Material Balances”, American Economic Review, Dec. 1959
    R. Judy, “Information, Control and Soviet Economic Management”, in J. P. Hardt and others, Mathematics and Computers in Soviet Planning
    Treml, “Input-Output Analysis and Soviet Planning”, in Hardt
    G. Schroeder, “Recent Developments in Soviet Planning and Incentives” (skip pp. 30-35), in J.E.C., Soviet Economic Prospects
  3. Investment Choices
    Grossman, “Scarce Capital and Soviet Doctrine”, in Holzman
    Bergson, The Economics of Soviet Planning, ch. 11
    “Standard Methodology for Determining the Effectiveness of Capital Investment”, The ASSTE Bulletin[?], Fall 1971
  4. Agriculture
    L. Volin, “Agricultural Policy of the Soviet Union”, in Holzman
    A. Nove and R.D. Laird, “A Note on Labour Utilization in the Kolkhoz”, in Holzman
    A. Nove, “Soviet Agriculture Under Brezhnev”, with comments by Jackson and Karcz and reply, Slavic Studies, Sept. 1970.
  5. Industry: Pre-Reform
    J. Berliner, “Managerial Incentives and Decisionmaking: A Comparison of the United States and Soviet Union”, in Holzman or in Bornstein and Fusfeld
    Berliner, “The Informal Organization of the Soviet Firm”, in Holzman
    Powell, “Plan Execution and the Workability of Soviet Planning” (processed)
  6. The Economic Reform
    Y. Liberman, “The Plan, Profits and Bonuses”, in Bornstein and Fusfeld
    A. Kosygin, “On Improving Management of Industry”, in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, New Directions in the Soviet Economy, Part IV (abbreviated version also in Bornstein and Fusfeld)
    R. Campbell, “The Dynamics of Socialism, Problems and Reforms” (processed)
    G. Schroeder, “The ‘Reform’ of the Supply System in Soviet Industry”, Soviet Studies, July 1972.
  7. Households
    E.C. Brown, “The Soviet Labor Market”, in Holzman or Bornstein and Fusfeld
    Nove, “Social Welfare in the USSR”, in Holzman
    Volin, “The Peasant Household under Mir and Kolkhoz in Modern Russian History”, in Holzman
    A. Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, approx.. pp. 82-108

Part IV: Subsidiary Policy Problems

  1. Price Formation
    G. Grossman, “Industrial Prices in the USSR”, in Holzman
    Bornstein, “Soviet Price Theory and Policy”, in Bornstein and Fusfeld
  2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy
    Grossman, “Introduction”, in Grossman, ed., Money and Plan
    J. M. Montias, “Bank Lending and Fiscal Policy in Eastern Europe”, in Grossman,Money and Plan
    Powell, “The Financing of Soviet Capital Formation: Past Experience and Current Reform”, in A. Sametz, ed., Financial Development and Economic Growth
    Powell, “A Simplified Model of Soviet Monetary Relations” (processed)
  3. Foreign Trade and Economic Policy
    Holzman, “Foreign Trade” in Bergson and Kuznets
    Holzman, “Foreign Trade Behavior of Centrally Planned Economies”, in Rosovsky, Industrialization in Two Systems
    Grossman, “U.S.-Soviet Trade and Economic Relations: Problems and Prospects”, ACES Bulletin, Spring 1973
    Tansky, “Soviet Foreign Aid: Scope, Direction, and Trends”, in J.E.C., Soviet Economic Prospects
  4. Ecological Policy
    M. I. Goldman, “Externalities and the Race for Economic Growth in the USSR: Will the Environment Ever Win?” Journal of Political Economy, March/April 1972

Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier from the course.

Image Source: From Raymond Powell’s obituary in Yale Daily News, September 5, 1980.

Categories
Harvard Principles Problem Sets Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Principles of Economics, Ec 10. Feldstein and Li, 2000

 

Harvard’s Principles of Economics Course (Ec 10) has been historically taught as weekly lectures by some big faculty gun with parlour tricks pedagogy conducted in smaller sections run by graduate students or even junior faculty, especially in earlier years. The lecture part of the course has evolved to include more guest lecturers for specific fields but the grand-lecture/small recitation section format has been robust and apparently quite popular.

I thought it would only involve a few short dives into the internet archive, The Wayback Machine, to reconstruct the course around the year 2000. This turned out to be an over-optimistic plan. Still, I did not re-surface empty-handed and I provide links below to the materials I was able to salvage from that time. Perhaps some still young economist from the period, can provide us copies of problem sets and teaching-handouts to complete our collection. But hey, econometricians have to worry about measurement error, so historians of economics are really not allowed to complain about missing observations. Just as long as we are doing the best we can with what we’ve got. And what you see is what I got.

________________

Registrar Identifies Biggest Classes
By Catherine E. Shoichet
Harvard Crimson. October 2, 2000

When it comes to picking Core classes, Harvard students tend to be risk averse.

Preliminary figures show that last fall’s two most popular courses, Social Analysis 10, “Principles of Economics” and Moral Reasoning 22, “Justice,” have taken the top slots again this year.

Social Analysis 10, usually called Ec 10, has 805 students this year, according to preliminary course enrollment numbers released by the Office of the Registrar last week. Justice is a close second with 754.

Judith A. Li, an assistant professor of economics who teaches Ec 10 along with Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein ’61, says that despite the class’s large lecture size, most of the basic skills introduced in Ec 10 are taught in smaller sections of about 20 students.

“Our goal for the course is to provide students with a solid and comprehensive foundation in economics,” Li wrote in an e-mail message. “By taking a course like Ec 10, they will be better able to evaluate government policies and political proposals on their own.”

The course is particularly popular among first-year students, many of whom are considering economics as a potential concentration.

“I really enjoy the lectures,” Leah E. Wahba ’04 said. “It’s an honor to be in Marty Feldstein’s class because he has so much extensive experience in the field of economics.” […]

________________

From the Ec 10 home page (2000-2001)

Social Analysis 10

Faculty
Martin Feldstein
Judith Li

Ec 10 is the introductory course for both economics concentrators and those who plan no further work in the field. This course provides an introduction to economic issues and basic economic principles and methods. Fall term focuses on “microeconomics”: supply and demand, labor and financial markets, taxation, and social economic issues of health care, poverty, the environment, and income distribution. Spring term focuses on “macroeconomics”: the impact of both monetary and fiscal policy on inflation, unemployment, interest rates, investment, the exchange rate, and international trade. We study the role of government in the economy, including Social Security, the tax system, and economic change in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and China. By the end of the year, you should be able to use the analysis practiced in the course to form your own judgments about the major economic problems faced by the United States and other countries.

Note: Must be taken as a full course, although in special situations students are permitted to take the second term in a later year. Taught in a mixture of lectures and sections. No calculus is used, and there is no mathematics background requirement. Designed for both potential economics concentrators, and those who plan no further work in the field. The Department of Economics strongly encourages students considering concentration to take this course in their freshman year.

Source: Webpage capture from the Wayback Machine.

________________

Course Syllabi (.pdf files)

Spring 2000, Fall 2000/01

Syllabus Spring 1999-2000 (Macroeconomics)

Syllabus Fall 2000-2001 (Microeconomics)

Course Syllabi (.html files)

Syllabus Spring 1996-1997 (Macroeconomics)

________________

Miscellaneous Course Materials

Spring 1997 (Macroeconomics)

Unit Test Program explained

 

Spring 2000 (Macroeconomics)

Introductory Lecture for Macroeconomics and Growth by Martin Feldstein (Feb.2, 2000)

Future of Social Security by Martin Feldstein by Martin Feldstein (Feb. 9, 2000)

Problem Set 3, Answers (March 14, 2000)

Spring 2001 (Macroeconomics)

July 23, 2001 capture of Social Analysis 10 (Ec 10) homepage

[October 4, 2002 FAQ about unit tests in Ec 10]

Unit 1, Economic Growth: Test 1A solutions

Unit 2, Financial Markets: Test 2A questions

Unit 2, Financial Markets: Test 2A solutions

Unit 2, Financial Markets: Test 2B questions

Unit 2, Financial Markets: Test 2B solutions

Unit 3, Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand:  Test A questions

Unit 4, Monetary Policy: Test 1A questions

Unit 4, Monetary Policy: Test 1A solutions

Unit 4, Monetary Policy: Test 1B solutions

Unit 5, Fiscal Policy: Test 1A  questions

Unit 5, Fiscal Policy: Test 1A solutions

Unit 5, Fiscal Policy: Test 1B solutions

 

Fall Semester 2002 (Microeconomics)

From the Fall 2002/03 home page

Social Analysis 10
Principles of Economics
Martin Feldstein

Introduction to economic issues and basic economic principles and methods. Fall term focuses on supply and demand, labor and financial markets, taxation, and social economic issues of health care, poverty, the environment, and income distribution. Spring term focuses on the impact of both monetary and fiscal policy on inflation, unemployment, interest rates, investment, the exchange rate, and international trade. Studies role of government in the economy, including Social Security, the tax system, and economic change in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Covers international trade and financial markets.
Source: Webpage capture from the Wayback Machine.

Syllabus Fall 2002-2003 (Microeconomics)

Lecture on Unions by Richard B. Freeman (October 28, 2002)

Lecture on the Economics of Health Care by Martin Feldstein (Nov. 20, 2002)

Ec 10 Hourly Exam Questions (December 11, 2002)

 

Spring Semester 2003 (Macroeconomics)

Introductory Lecture by Martin Feldstein (January 29, 2003)

What Should the Fed do Now? lecture by Martin Feldstein (April 18, 2003)

The Dollar and the Trade Deficit lecture by Martin Feldstein (April 21, 2003)

 

Image Source:  “Das Feldstein-Horioka-Paradoxon” in Finanz und Wirtschaft (November 18, 2014).

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary. Speakers and Topics, 1904-1905

 

 

The  notes of date, place, speaker, topic, seminary participants and occasional visitors of the Johns Hopkins’ economic seminary in 1904-05 were recorded as seminary minutes by James M. Motley. From these handwritten notes we learn that  on a roughly alternating basis the seminary would meet at the home of Professor Hollander (2011 Eutaw Place, Baltimore) and Room 21 McCoy Hall on campus. These minutes have been compared to printed report of the seminar published in the University Circular.

A visitor noted in the October 26, 1904 minutes of the Seminary was Professor Weber from Heidelberg. As can be seen from the letter appended to this post, this was indeed Max Weber who was travelling through the United States at the time.

Source:  The Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 1, Minutes of the Economic Seminary, 1892-1951. Box 1, 2ndvolume of minutes, Folder “Minutes of the Economic Seminar, 1897-1908”, pp. 148-156.

The printed reports  of seminary participants and the schedule of speakers and their topics have been transcribed for this post.

The economic seminary schedule for the following years have also been posted:

1903-1904
1904-1905

1922-1923
1923-1924
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927

_________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Classes meet in McCoy Hall

Economic Seminary: Professor Hollander and Dr. Barnett. Alternately, Wednesday, 8 p. m., Tuesday, 11 a.m. (12)

Bagge, G. A. Glocker, T. W. Kirk, W. Sakolski, A. M.
Blum, S. Hilbert, F. W. Motley, J. M. Taliaferro, T. H.
Buckler, W. H. Kennedy, J. B. Rosebro, F. B. Willis, L. M. R.

Source:  The Johns Hopkins University Circular. New Series, 1905, No. 3 (March, 1905), p. 20.

 

_________________

THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY, 1904-1905,
EDITED BY
PROFESSOR J. H. HOLLANDER and DR. G. E. BARNETT.

The Economic Seminary has continued its investigation into the history, activities and influence of labor organizations in the United States during the current academic year. Its membership has been narrowly limited to advanced students preparing for a scientific career in economic study, and its primary design has been the development of sound method in economic research. The regular fortnightly evening sessions have been supplemented by briefer morning sessions in alternate weeks. The material resources necessary for the inquiry have been supplied by the continued generosity of the citizen of Baltimore, whose original gift made its inception possible.

Appreciable progress has also been made by individual members of the Seminary in the study of specific aspects of the several questions assigned for investigation. During the summer, field work was carried on in various carefully selected localities, and the data thus collected have since been supplemented and corrected by documentary study and personal interview. Certain preliminary studies were completed and published in dignified form, and two senior members of the Seminary submitted monographic studies of the particular subjects on which they have been engaged, in part fulfillment of the requirements for the doctor of philosophy degree. These will appear in the twenty-third series of the Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science. Early in the next academic year a cooperative volume of ”Essays in American Trade Unionism” will also be issued by the Seminary, embodying the preliminary results of the various investigations now in progress and ultimately designed for monographic publication.

The record of the proceedings of the Seminary, and abstracts of certain papers there presented, are appended:

October 5. Report of the summer’s field work, by Professor Hollander, Dr. Barnett, Messrs. Kirk, Motley, Hilbert, Glocker, Kennedy, and Blum.
October 11. “Trade Union Agreements in the Iron Holders’ Union,” by F. W. Hilbert.
October 17. Report on the summer’s field work, by W. H. Buckler.
October 26. “Functions of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor,” by Wm. Kirk.
November 2. “Finances of the Iron Molders’ Union,” by A. M. Sakolski.
November 8. “Collective Bargaining in the International Typographical Union,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
November 16. “The Apprentice in the Building Trades,” by J. M. Motley.
November 22. “Shop Rules in the Building Trades,” by S. Blum.
November 29. “School Taxation in the Indian Territory,” by Professor Hollander.
December 7. “Shop Rules in the Building Trades,” by S. Blum.
December 13. “Recent Court Decisions Affecting Labor Unions,” by L. M. R. Willis.
December 21. “The Open Shop,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
January 11. “The Structure of the Iron Holders’ Union,” by T. W. Glocker.
January 17. “The Maryland Workmen’s Compensation Act,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
January 25. “The Meeting of the Economic Association at Chicago,” by Professor Hollander.
“The Beneficiary Features of the Railway Unions,” by J. B. Kennedy.
January 31. “Reform Movements in Baltimore,” by S. Blum.
February 8. “The Functions of the Allied Trades Council,” by Wm. Kirk.
February 14. “A Sketch of David Ricardo,” by Professor Hollander.

[Dr. Barnett also gave a notice of Adams and Sumner’s “Labor Problems”]
February 24. “The Development of Apprentice Laws in American Labor Unions,” by J. M. Motley.
February 28. “The Origin of the Constitution of the International Typographical Union,” by Dr. George E. Barnett.
March 8. “The Standard Wage in the Machinists’ Union,” by W. H. Buckler.
March 22. “Beneficiary Expenditures of American Trade Unions,” by A. M. Sakolskl
March 29. “Statistical Methods,” by Hon. Charles P. Neill, U. S. Commissioner of Labor.
April 4. “The Government of General Federations of Labor,” by Wm. Kirk.
April 11. “The Union Stamp of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union,” by G. A. Bagge.
“Cunnynghame’s Geometrical Political Economy,” by Dr. T. H. Taliaferro.
April 18. “The Administration of Trade Union Finances,” by A. M. Sakolski.
May 2 “The Rise of the National Union,” by T. W. Glocker.
“The Baltimore Municipal Loans,” by S. Blum.
“The Recent Nine Hour Decision of the Supreme Court,” by F. W. Hilbert.
May 9. “The Trade Union Agreements in the Building Trades,” by F. W. Hilbert.
May 16. “Trade Union Rules for Maintaining the Standard Rate,” by S. Blum.
May 23. “Beneficiary Features of the Iron Holders’ Union,” by J. B. Kennedy.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular. New Series, 1905, No. 6 (June, 1905), pp. 1-3.

_________________

Excerpt from letter to Jacob Hollander from Max Weber
November 3, 1904

Dear Professor Hollander—

Allow me to express, again, how much I enjoyed my visit in your seminary, the acquaintance I made of your students and of your assistant fellow-teacher. I was deeply impressed by the intensity of the work done in your department and, before all, learned with pleasure, that—at least in your university—the ambition to get the largest numberof students, so dangerous even now to almost all our German universities—is not allowed to lower the high standard of scientific investigation. In Germany we suffer much more than you are able to imagine from that illness resulting out of our system of paying the teacher by taxes paid by the students for each lecture.—When I come again after some years—as I hope to do—[I] think my English will be improved so that I will be more able to express myself. —
…
Do you think I should be able to get some recent reports of the Johns Hopkins University and, if possible, the rules for taking the Ph.D. degree, by simply applying to the Secretary of the President? or are the[y] sold by the bookseller? I should be much obliged for any information about that and am sorry having forgotten to ask you in Baltimore.

Yours very respectfully Max Weber (Young’s Hotel, Boston or: Holland House, New York) …

Source: Max Weber to Jacob Hollander 3 November 1904 Young’s Hotel, Boston handwritten Hollander Papers, series I, box 11; Eisenhower Library, the Johns Hopkins University transcribed in Lawrence A. Scaff, Max Weber in America (Princeton, 2011). pp. 260-261.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate economics course exams, 1923

 

The archival collection of examinations in economics at Johns Hopkins University is extensive, if not complete. This post provides transcriptions for all the available copies of undergraduate examinations (along with course descriptions and staffing information) for the 1922-23 academic year. The Elements of Economics course was taught in three sections, the first of which (a) was designated as “academic” and the second (b?) was designated as “engineering”. It is not clear what the third section was except that it was taught by the lowest on the totem pole, the graduate student Robert C. Gillies, for whom a memorial from his Princeton Class of 1918 has been inserted into this post.

___________________

From the Princeton Alumni Weekly

ROBERT CARYLE GILLIES ‘18

In 1917, Bob Gillies left Princeton for war service. He rose to the rank of captain and served overseas with the 8th F.A. in WW I. Returning to the U.S. and Princeton, he graduated in 1920 and later earned a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins. Bob became a research man in economics. He worked for the Assoc. of Railroad Executives and the Bell System.

About his subsequent life, during which we seldom saw or heard from him, we quote from a recent letter from his son Robert Gillies ’48:

“I am writing to tell you that my father died in West Berlin, Germany, on April 8. He was 86 years old. He moved to Washington in 1932 and worked for the government. In 1946 he went to Austria and Germany as an economist for the office of U.S. Military Government. He married while in Salzburg and had a daughter in 1950. His wife died in 1968. Shortly after this he retired and lived in West Berlin until his death.

“He returned to this country only once—when my wife and I were married in the University Chapel in 1947. However, his letters frequently referred to Princeton and his 1918 classmates.”

Source: Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 78 (September 26, 1977, p. 20).

___________________

Faculty and assistants providing undergraduate economics instruction in 1922-23

George Ernest Barnett, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.
A. B., Randolph Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.

William Oswald Weyforth, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Political Economy.
A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

Broadus Mitchell, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.
A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph.D., 1918.

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics
A.B., Goucher College, 1901; Federated Charities of Baltimore (District Assistant, 1905-07, District Secretary, 1907-10, Assistant General Secretary, 1910-17, Acting General Secretary, 1917-1919.

Robert Carlyle Gillies, Graduate Student in Economics
A. B., Princeton University, 1920.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES ANNOUNCED FOR 1922-23
(ex ante)

  1. Elements of Economics. Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
    Three hours weekly through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
  2. (a) Statistical Methods. After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor Barnett.
    (b) Money and Banking. The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Associate Professor Weyforth.
  3. (a) Labor Legislation. The theory and practice of labor legislation are studied, with attention given to legal, economic and social considerations.Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell.(b) Investments.Includes historical and analytical description of the more important forms of investments and theories of valuation and amortization.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.
  4. (a) Labor Problems. The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied. Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell. (b) Corporation Finance. The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.[Course 4 will not be given in 1922-23.]
  5. (a) Foreign Trade and Exchange. The economic principles of international commerce, the methods of conducting foreign trade, and the theory and practice of foreign exchange will be studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor Weyforth.
    (b) Economic History of the United States. This course deals with the economic development of the country and with the way in which the economic motive has influenced our history.Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Mitchell.
  6. (a) Applied Statistics. The applications of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor Weyforth.
    (b) Public Finance. The theory and practice of finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems of taxation presented in the experience of the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Mitchell.[Course 6 will not be given in 1922-23.]
    Note—Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed or are pursuing Course 1; Courses 3, 4, 5 and 6 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular 1922 (Volume XLI, Whole Nos. 335-341), pp. 344-345.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES REPORTED FOR 1922-23
IN ANNUAL JHU PRESIDENT’S REPORT
(ex post)

Professor Barnett, Associate Professor Weyforth, Miss Jacobs, Dr. Mitchell, and Mr. Gillies conducted the following undergraduate courses:

Political Economy I. Three hours weekly, through the year. Particular attention was given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems. (Associate Professor Weyforth, Dr. Mitchell, Mr. Gillies.)

Political Economy II. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation was made; attention was directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the principles of monetary science were taught with reference .to ·practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking and credit. (Mr. Gillies and Associate Professor Weyforth.)

Political Economy III. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year, the theory and practice of labor legislation were studied. In the second half-year, attention was given to the theory of investments. (Professor Barnett.)

Political Economy V. Three hours, weekly, through the year. In the first half-year, the economic principles of international commerce, the methods of conducting foreign trade, and the theory and practice of foreign exchange were studied. In the second half-year, the course was designed not only to show the structure of typical business entities, but their methods of formation and expansion. Common forms of securities were examined. Operation and administration of business units were studied in detail. (Associate Professor Weyforth and Mr. Gillies.)

Political Economy VII. Two hours weekly, through the year. The history and development of charitable and social agencies were traced. Causes and treatment of cases of dependency and delinquency were discussed. (Miss Jacobs.)

Political Economy VIII. Three hours weekly, through the year. The course was designed to furnish a background for the study of economic principles and special phases of economic activity. The particular purpose of the course was to show the relationship between economic fact and economic and political theory and practice. (Dr. Mitchell.)

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Annual Report of the President, 1922-1923. In The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series, 1923, No. 7 (November 1923), pp. 57-58.

___________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I A
Friday, Feb. 2, 1923 – 2-4 p.m.

  1. Describe the main features of the manorial system and the guild system in England.
  2. Explain the following terms: goods, face goods, economic goods, capital utility, diminishing utility, marginal utility, value, price, supply, demand, elasticity of demand.
  3. What is meant by the division of labor? Explain its advantages. What is the roundabout or capitalistic method of production? What are the requirements for the formation of capital?
  4. What are the more important types of business organization? Explain their respective advantages and disadvantages.
  5. What is meant by the gold standard? By the bimetallic standard? What factors led to the demand for the bimetallic standard in the United States between 1875 and 1896?
  6. Explain how changes in the quantity of money and in bank deposits may cause changes in the general level of prices.
  7. Explain the principal functions and the importance of commercial banks in our economic system.
  8. Outline the organization of the Federal Reserve System. How does it remedy some of the principal defects of the old national banking system.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I A (ACADEMIC)
May 28, 2-4 p.m.

  1. (a) What are the outstanding defects of the competitive system?
    (b) What did Marx say would result from competition?
  2. (a) What are the varieties of Socialism?
    (b) What is the difference between State Socialism and Guild Socialism?
  3. (a) Give reasons for the advance of labor unionism.
    (b) Why are unions justifiable?
    (c) Distinguish between craft and industrial unions, and comment upon the advantages of each.
  4. Should railroads in the Unites States be publicly owned? Give full reasons for your answer.
  5. What are the cardinal principles of taxation as stated by Adam Smith?
  6. What is the justification for the progressive income tax?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I B
Friday, Feb. 2, 1923 – 2-5 p.m.

  1. If you chose to pursue graduate work in political economy as a major subject, and were asked why you did not select history, political science, or psychology instead, what reasons would you give?
  2. What are the large divisions of the subject of political economy? Under which of the heads does the theory of rent fall?
  3. What is meant by the division of labor, when did it become a characteristic feature of our economic life, and what have been its chief consequences to workers? In what ways does the division of labor increase product?
  4. What do you think of the statement: “Value depends upon utility”? Explain fully.
  5. Arthur Young found the farmers in a part of England following inefficient methods of cultivation, and advised that the best remedy lay in a raising of the rents by landlords. hat do you think of his plan?
  6. What is the argument for the Single Tax?
  7. Were the Southern slaves capital?
  8. Name some items which are wealth in the individual sense but not in the social sense.
  9. Name some respects in which our present economic system is not competitive.
  10. Construct supply and demand schedules so as to show how a market price is determined.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I (Engineering)
May 28, 1923.

  1. What is credit? Explain its importance in business operations. Distinguish between commercial and investment credit. Define and illustrate a promissory note and a bill of exchange.
  2. Explain the theory that each factor in production tends to receive a share of the product corresponding to its marginal productivity.
  3. What is the principle that determines what goods a country imports and what goods it exports? Why is a high tariff in the United States detrimental to the exporting interest in this country?
  4. What is capital? How does it come into existence? What principles determine the return received by it?
  5. What are some of the outstanding economic characteristics of railroad transportation? Explain their bearing upon the following: (a) practice of charging what the traffic will bear; (b) large variations in net earnings with small variations in traffic; (c) cut-throat nature of the competition that has at times developed.
  6. Explain the theory of rent.
  7. Describe the various types of labor organizations. What are the arguments for and against the boycott, and the closed shop?
  8. What is socialism, anarchism, syndicalism? Give briefly the arguments for and against socialism.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I C
Friday, Feb. 2, 1923 – 2 p.m.

  1. (a) Which do you consider most important in the study of economic science: credit toward a college degree; training for business; culture; or preparation for citizenship? Just how do you think your study will contribute toward that end?
    (b) Discuss the proposition: Good ethics, good art, or good politics on the part of the masses is well nigh impossible without sound economics.
  2. Robinson Crusoe on his island was able to work out an efficient personal economy because he knew what he needed most and what to do next. Are the American people at a disadvantage in this respect? Are strikes and depressions partly a manifestation of that disadvantage? If so, how would you as a practical economist seek to remedy this situation? Defend your remedy.
  3. A small savage tribe gradually develops into a great nation. What would be the accompanying evolution in economic practice?
  4. Discuss the following statement: “In 1770 Arthur Young reckoned the income of England to be £120,000,000; in 1901 the income may be roughly set down at £1,600,000,000. Making correct allowances for population and for prices, this growth of income would signify a large increase of commodities per head; but would it tell us that we are working and living better than our ancestors?”
  5. It is said that the spender is a greater asset to economic society than the saver, because he puts his money back into circulation. Discuss.
  6. (a) A new labor-saving device is put into operation, throwing a large class of skilled workmen out of employment. To what extent is this a hardship to labor, a benefit, or both? Explain.
    (b) Criticize the cost of production theory of value.
  7. Name a large industry in which there holds a condition of increasing expenses. How does introduction at successive intervals of labor-saving machinery and more scientific technique affect this condition? Draw what you consider a unit expense curve for this industry over several such intervals. Are monopolies likely to occur in a field of increasing expenses? Would the ratio of fixed to total expenses of the typical business unit be high or low in such a field?
  8. What is the fallacy of bi-metallism? Of fiat money? Connect the value of an elastic currency (from the standpoint of the nation’s business) with the quantity theory of money.

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY I C. MR. GILLIES
May 28, 1923

  1. (a) A small increase in the supply of a certain article results in a heavy decrease in price. Does this signify an elastic or an inelastic demand?
    (b) A reduction in price of an article from 12¢ to 10¢ results in increased sales of 10 per cent. What is the numerical measure of the elasticity of demand?
    (c) What is the difference in the usual methods of weighting commodity price index numbers and cost of living index numbers?
  2. Define (a) bill of exchange (b) long bill (c) purchasing power parity (d) doctrine of comparative costs.
    How are exchange rates kept approximately normal?
    Draw up a “balance sheet” for a year’s transactions between the United States and Europe, including the principal invisible exchanges.
  3. What is your view point concerning protection? Support and defend your position.
  4. How is the apportionment of the total product among the various factors of production determined?
  5. Why do we distinguish between the “intensive” and the “extensive” margins? To which factors of production do they apply? Are they usually found in conjunction? Give reasons.
    What are some of the conditions affecting the supply of labor? How is it affected by legislation enacted already? What is the philosophy of workmen’s compensation laws?
  6. What determines the rate of interest? What is meant by a “free production good”? Is the accumulation of capital a help or a menace to labor? Are waste, loss, destruction of property by fire, etc., a benefit to labor in the long run? In the short run? Explain.
  7. Why do we call the railway industry one of increasing returns? Of joint costs? Is the proportion of fixed capital high or low? What have these facts to do with rates?
    Roughly, how are railway revenues divided up among the four factors of production? Do you think physical valuation should determine railway profits? If so, would you take original cost or present value? Why?
  8. What has been the tendency of public expenditures in the last century as to (a) purposes (b) proportion of national income absorbed? Does an increase in this proportion indicate inefficiency or extravagance? Are there any dangers in such an increase? Explain.
    What policy do you favor for the disposal of our remaining public land?
    If a tax policy were founded upon the more nearly equal distribution of wealth, would it meet with your approval? Why? What forms of taxes do you think would be emphasized under this policy? Why?CAUTION. This examination will be used Friday, June 1, 1923 also. Do not, therefore, discuss or divulge its contents in any way.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
EXAMINATION IN STATISTICS (POL. ECON. II)
Feb. 1, 1923, 9 a.m. – 12 m.

  1. (a) Under what circumstances is it best for the statistician to carry out his own primary investigations? Are there any disadvantages in this method?
    (b) You have an appropriation of $100,000 with which to investigate the degree of education attained by adults in a community. You decide to employ enumerators. Salaries and expenses of enumerators is estimated at $40,000 and printing the report of your inquiry will cost $10,000. Each question asked by the enumerators will cost $10,000 to tabulate. Draft a form for them to use, with such questions as you think suitable.

20 minutes

ARRAY OF LEAF-LENGTHS
(in millimetres)

Item

 Item Item Item Item Item Item Total
15 19 21 21 23 26 29

154

16

 19 21 21 23 26 29 155
16 19 21 21 23 26 29

155

16

 19 21 21 23 26 29 155
17 19 21 22 23 26 30

158

17

 20 21 22 24 26 30

160

17

 20 21 22 24 27 30 161
18 20 21 22 24 27 31

163

18

 20 21 22 24 27 31 163
18 20 21 22 24 27 32

164

18

 20 21 22 24 27 32 164
18 20 21 22 25 27 32

165

19

 20 21 22 25 28 33 168
19 20 21 23 25 28 33

169

19

 20 21 23 25 28 35

171

2425

a = 23.5

  1. The above is a tabular representation of an array of leaf lengths. Work up this information as a frequency table, both simple and cumulative, in seven classes.
    a. Cross check the given table and find if the value of a shown is correct. (This work may be done on the question paper, which should then be submitted at close of examination. Or, describe what you did on answer paper).
    b. The items in the given table are correct to the nearest millimeter. How many decimals would be justified as accurate in a? (Probable error equals possible error divided by the square root of n).
    30 minutes
  2. Plot the data in your frequency table as a histogram. Smooth and estimate the mode. How would you convert your data to plot as a percentage histogram? Plot as an ogive and smooth. Locate the median and quartiles.
    20 minutes
  3. What method would you use to locate the model class when poorly defined? What is the easiest way to locate the mode within a given class? Give formula.
    Find the coefficient of dispersion, using the average deviation from the mode. How would you modify procedure if using the median or the arithmetic average? Calculate the quartile coefficient of dispersion.
    20 minutes
  4. Compute the standard coefficient of dispersion. Give formula for the coefficient of skewness based upon this coefficient. Calculate the coefficient of skewness based upon the average deviation from the mode, also that based upon the quartiles.
    30 minutes
  5. Draw a grid to scale for a logarithmic historigram. How do you plot points for this historigram? Find the weighted index number of prices for the following group of commodities, using 1913 as a base:

COMMODITY PRICES

Article

 Production Unit 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Wheat 100 bushel $1.04 $1.09 $1.29 $1.47 $2.35 $2.31 $2.34

$2.65

Corn

 300 bushel .71 .79 .84 .93 1.78 1.84 1.77 1.67
Cotton 1.2 bale 64.00 55.50 50.50 72.00 117.50 158.50 161.50

173.00

Pig Iron

 3.2 tons 15.00 13.40 13.60 18.70 40.00 36.50 32.00 44.00
Copper 130 pounds .15 .13 .17 .27 .27 .25 .19

.17

Note: Production used is that for year 1919 (approximate) and is in tens of millions.
Plot the weighted index and apply Marshall’s method comparing the proportional rates of increase from 1913 to 1915 and from 1916 to 1920.

30 minutes

 

7. Compute Karl Pearson’s coefficient of short time correlation between supply and price in following table:

INDICES OF SUPPLY AND PRICE

Date

 Supply Price Date Supply Price
1880 80 146 1890 91

103

1881

 82 140 1891 94 94
1882 86 130 1892 100

75

1883

 91 117 1893 105 66
1884 83 133 1894 102

75

1885

 85 127 1895 96 91
1886 89 115 1896 98

87

1887

 96 95 1897 106 81
1888 93 100 1898 114

76

1889

 90 106 1899 112

82

Probable error = ?

Indicate your procedure in case concurrent deviations are used. Formula?
Show how you would find the ratio of variation for long time changes in this data by the Galton graph. Does the Galton graph apply wholly to historical variables ? Why is it necessary for this graph that both variables be reduced to index numbers?

30 minutes

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JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
[POLITICAL ECONOMY 2B]
MONEY AND BANKING
TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1923, 9-12 AM.

  1. What is standard money? State the requisites of:
    (a) A gold standard
    (b) A bimetallic standard
    (c) A paper standard.
    State the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  2. Outline the principal legislation in the monetary history of the United States.
  3. Explain the importance of credit in our present economic system. How does a bank judge of the credit standing of a borrower?
  4. Classify and describe the different kinds of loans made by commercial banks. What is the general type of loan that is most suitable for a commercial bank?
  5. Describe the operations of a commercial paper house. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of this method of financing.
  6. Explain the need for elasticity in currency and elasticity in credit. How did the Federal Reserve System remedy the defects of the old National Banking System in these respects?
  7. Describe the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  8. What is the need for control of bank credit. How may this control be effected under the Federal Reserve System?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3 [A. Labor Legislation]
Thursday – February 1, 1923

  1. What provisions in the Federal Constitution are important with respect to labor legislation, state and national?
  2. On what grounds were the two Federal child labor laws declared unconstitutional?
  3. How far may the states go in regulating hours of labor? Trace the constitutional history of such legislation.
  4. Discuss the economic arguments for and against immigration.
  5. When is a strike illegal?
  6. Distinguish the trade union “minimum” wage and the legal “minimum” wage.
  7. Discuss the economic considerations relating to a reduction of hours of adult laborers from nine to eight in a particular trade.
  8. Describe the Liverpool Dock Scheme. What economic result is effected? How fare is the scheme applicable to other industries?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3 [B. Investments]
May 29th, 1923. 9—12 A.M.

  1. Distinguish capital, capital stock and capitalization.
  2. How much (roughly) is $1000 in 1930 worth now? How much is $1000 in 1940 worth now? Explain.
  3. Under what circumstances is a city justified in incurring a debt? Is the City of Baltimore justified in borrowing money to pay for school houses?
  4. Distinguish speculation from investment.
  5. What are the elements in an investment which the purchaser buys? Why are there no “absolutely” good investments?
  6. Appraise a savings bank deposit as an investment by breaking it up into its elements. A bond of the State of Maryland.
  7. To what extent are the obligations of the State of Maryland enforceable?
  8. Discuss the tests of “ability to pay” applicable respectively to states and private corporations.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Dr. Weyforth.
POLITICAL ECONOMY V
FOREIGN TRADE AND EXCHANGE
Monday – January 29, 1923 – 9 a.m.

  1. How do you account for England’s unfavorable balance of trade prior to the war and the favorable balance of the United States? What is likely to be the future of the balance of trade of the United States?
  2. What selling policies are open to a manufacturer contemplating foreign business? Explain their respective advantages and disadvantages.
  3. In quoting terms of sale the seller may require any of the following: (a) advance payment by importer; (b) payment by importer upon delivery of goods; (c) deferred payment by importer. What methods of international payment can be used for carrying out these various terms?
  4. Describe the operation of an import credit on New York from the beginning to the end of the transaction.
  5. What are the factors determining the actual rates of exchange between a gold standard country and a paper standard country?
  6. Explain the operations involved in drawing a sterling draft on South America.
  7. What factors contributed to the preeminence of sterling exchange as an international medium of exchange?
  8. What is the importance of a wide discount market in maintaining and extending the use of dollar exchange?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Business Organization
June 1, 1923

  1. Have you completed the assigned reading including the supplementary forms in Stockder? If not, indicate the extent of completion.
  2. Define (a) business establishment, (b) entrepreneur, (c) circulating capital, (d) securitization, (e) common law, (f) treasury stock, (g) municipal corporation, (h) voting trust, (i) court of equity, (j) underwriter, (k) scientific management.
  3. Compare the individual proprietorship, the partnership, the joint stock company and the corporation as to
    (a) place in the development of the capital concept;
    (b) extent of present day use;
    (c) suitability for various types of business;
    (d) legal status and requirements;
    (e) control, and liability of the component members.
  4. (a) What is the participation association and how did it originate?
    (b) What types of partners may bind the firm? Which types have limited liability?
    (c) and (d) Describe the operating structure of the corporation.
  5. (a) Describe the characteristics of the business trust that distinguish it from the forms of business organization already mentioned.
    (b) Distinguish associations from federations and illustrate by examples.
  6. (a) How do control companies control their subsidiaries? Does this form of business organization lend itself more readily to vertical or to horizontal combination? What purposes do finance and assumption companies serve?
    (b) Name some abuses of “big business” and show how the law has attempted to curb them.
  7.  -8. You are the organizer, and, later, the general administrator of a large manufacturing plant, employment both men and women. (a) Whom would you bring in to assist the promotion? (b) How would you determine the location of your plant? (c) How would you lay it out? (d) How would your buildings be designed? What type of construction would you use, and how would you give your contracts for them? (e) How would you organize the shop forces? (f) What plans of wage payments would you use in the various departments? (g) What welfare work would you institute? (h) How would you organize your selling department? (i) What accounting systems would you use?

Re-examination in Business Organization
A. L. Tuvin

  1. Discuss the joint stock company. Point out the similarities between it and the partnership; and also between it and the corporation.
  2. Discuss the conditions which are conducive to successful combination.
  3. What is meant by fair competition? Give an illustration of unfair competition.
  4. Describe the agencies in the U. S. which are designed to secure fair competition.
  5. What is a holding Company? Give its advantages and disadvantages. Discuss briefly the various forms.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
January 29, 1923, 9 A.M.—12 M.
[POLITICAL ECONOMY (12?)]
Economic History

  1. What is the importance of economic history, and why do we place more emphasis upon English than upon American economic history?
  2. What was the significance of Doomsday Book? What were the differences that distinguished the problems of the Norman kings from those of the Saxon kings?
  3. How did serfdom originate and how did it disappear in England? Give a full answer.
  4. How did the economic practices of the gilds differ from those of industry nowadays? Distinguish briefly between the domestic system, the factor system, and the factory system.
  5. What were the results of inflation following the Black Death?
  6. What is the fallacy of mercantilism? What economic writer gave chief opposition to the mercantilist philosophy?
  7.  Name as many books as you can, that you have read, which, although not in the field of economic history proper, yet contain information of interest to the student of this subject? The books may concern either English or American conditions.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Eisenhower Library. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box: 6/1. Folder: Department of Political Economy, Exams, 1907-1924.

Image Source: Webpage “Gilman Hall circa 1920” in the Hopkins Perspective, 1876-Today collection.

Categories
Business School Columbia Economists Harvard

Harvard. Economics Ph.D. (1923) alumnus and Columbia Business School Dean, J. E. Orchard Memo on Galbraith, 1946.

 

John Ewing Orchard (b. 19 July 1893 in Exeter, Nebraska; d. 28 January 1962 in Charlottesville, Virginia) wrote the following summary of a telephone conversation with his former boss, Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. (who supervised the work of John Kenneth Galbraith at the Lend Lease Administration during WWII) and incidentally went on to serve as the Secretary of State). From this memo it is clear that Galbraith’s name came up for consideration for the Deanship of the Columbia School of Business. Orchard, a Harvard economics Ph.D. (1923), might have had ulterior motives in entering this document into the record — it can be found in the papers of then chairman of the economics department, Robert Haig, that have been deposited in the Central Files of the Columbia University administration. We see below that Orchard himself was later appointed to the Deanship of the business school…coincidence?

In any event, in case there might be any doubt in somebody’s mind, John Kenneth Galbraith had done nothing in government service that would have enhanced his prospects to become an academic Dean. His comparative advantage was to be found in other endeavors. Whether John Kenneth Galbraith indeed had “poison in his soul” as noted by Stettinius is left to his legions of admirers and detractors to determine. However, given Galbraith’s life motto “Modesty is a most overrated virtue”, I presume Stettinius had confused poison with an ego of legendary proportion.

____________________

Kenneth Galbraith

Stettinius on Galbraith

Telephone conversation with Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., concerning Galbraith, October 23, 1946.

Galbraith worked with Stettinius on the National Defense Council in 1940. Stettinius stated that there was no question but that Galbraith was a brilliant economist, but he was a difficult person to work with. He seemed always to be taking a belligerent left wing position and never was in the middle of the road. I gathered that there was little give and take as far as Galbraith was concerned. Stettinius also said he seemed to have “poison in his soul”.

After Galbraith left OPA, Stettinius, as a result of considerable pressure, took him into the Lend Lease Administration. His experience with him there was not satisfactory, for after Stettinius had assigned him to a responsible position, Galbraith did not establish friendly working relations with his associates. He did not seem to be interested in the work or in the organization and after a couple of months he quit. Stettinius stated that he did not believe that Galbraith would make a good dean.

John E. Orchard

Source:  Columbia University.  Central Files. Box 386, Folder 7/7 “Haig, Robert Murray”.

____________________

John Ewing Orchard,
Harvard economics Ph.D. 1923

John Ewing Orchard, A. B. (Swarthmore Coll.) 1916, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1920.

Subject, Economics. Special Field, Economic Resources. Thesis, “The World’s Coal Resources and some of their Influences on National Economy.” Instructor in Economic Geography, Columbia University.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1922-1923, p. 52.

____________________

Guggenheim Fellowship, 1931

JOHN E. ORCHARD
Fellow: Awarded 1931
Field of Study: Economic History
Competition: US & Canada

As published in the Foundation’s Report for 1931–32:

ORCHARD, JOHN EWING:  Appointed to study the transition that is occurring in China from agriculture and from household industries to modern manufacturing, investigations to be carried on chiefly in China; tenure, eight months from June 20, 1931.

Born July 19, 1893, at Exeter, Nebraska. Education:  Swarthmore college, A.B., 1916; Harvard University, M.A., 1920, Ph.D., 1923; University of Pennsylvania, 1917–18; University of Chicago, Summer, 1920.

Assistant in Geography and Industry, 1917–18, University of Pennsylvania; Assistant Mine Economist, United States Bureau of Mines, 1918–19; Instructor in Economic Geography, 1920–24, Assistant Professor, 1924–29, Associate Professor, 1929—, Columbia University.

Publications: Japan’s Economic Position: The Progress of Industrialization, 1920; chapter on Marine Insurance in Influence of the Great War on Shipping, by J. Russell Smith, 1919; chapter on Gold in Political and Commercial Geology, edited by J. E. Spurr, 1920. Articles in Quarterly Journal of Economics, Geographical Review, Journal of Geography, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

 

Source:  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Website. Fellow page: John E. Orchard.

____________________

Dr. Orchard New Business School Dean
[Columbia Daily Spectator, 9 January 1947]

Dr. John E. Orchard, professor of economic geography at Columbia and one of the country’s outstanding authorities on the Far East, will replace Dean Robert D. Calkins as director of the School of Business, it was announced yesterday by Dr. Frank D. Fackenthal, acting president of the University.

Dean Calkins, who has been the head of the Business School since 1941, resigned in order to accept an appointment as vice president and director of the General Education Board in New York City.

Professor Orchard, a graduate of Swathmore and Harvard Universities, has been a member of the teaching staff of the School of Business since 1920.

Active In Government

From May 1941 until January 1946, he served as a member of several important government agencies in Washington D. C. He was senior assistant administrator to Edward Stettinius when the latter was Lend-Lease Administrator. Later Dr. Orchard was appointed special assistant to Mr. Stettinius when he was Under Secretary of State. Dean Orchard served as special assistant to William Clayton, who was the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Affairs. His last Washington assignment was as senior consultant to the Foreign Liquidation Commissioner, Thomas B. McCabe. He spent the years of 1926-27, 1931-32, and 1938-39 in Asia and in 1930 published a book entitled “Japan’s Economic Problem”.

Source:  Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume LXIX, Number 34, 9 January 1947.

Image Source: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Website. Fellow page: John E. Orchard.