Month: April 2019

Categories
Duke Economics Programs Economists

Duke. Career information about the first quarter century of economics Ph.D.’s, 1957

 

Early lists of economics Ph.D. degrees awarded by Harvard (1875-1926) and the University of Chicago (1894-1926) have been posted earlier. Duke University awarded its first Ph.D. in economics in 1932. The department published a survey of its 45 Ph.D. alumni in its October 1957 departmental newsletter that is transcribed below. Year the Ph.D. was awarded, employment in 1957, some employment history,  and sample publications are included.

_________________

Duke Economics Graduates Newsletter
Number 3. October 1957

Duke University
Durham
North Carolina

Department of Economics
and Business Administration

COMMENCEMENT in 1957 marked the end of a quarter century since the University awarded its first Ph.D. in economics. The degrees conferred last June brought the total to 45, distributed as follows.

1932

 2 1947 1
1934 2 1948

3

1935

 1 1949 1
1937 3 1950

4

1938

 1 1951 2
1939 1 1952

1

1940

 1 1953 3
1941 5 1954

2

1942

 1 1955

2

1943

 2 1956 1
1944 2 1957

4

The first few pages of this NEWSLETTER are devoted to the activities of these 45 Doctors of Philosophy in economics. The response to the questionnaire distributed last summer was so abundant that it has proved impossible to report all the data submitted. In particular, the editor has had to pare publications lists in order to keep the NEWSLETTER   within reasonable bounds. It is his hope that its contents nevertheless fairly represent the varied research interests and the wide experiences of our graduates in university, business, and government employment. By the way of preface to the Ph.D. and M.A. rolls [Note: M.A. rolls not included in this post] Professor Hoover has the following greeting for former graduate students in economics:

To all who have been graduate students in Economics at Duke:

            This occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Duke University’s granting of the first Ph.D. in Economics coincides with the beginning of my thirty-third year at Duke University and with the relinquishment of the Chairmanship of the Department after twenty years’ service. My association with our graduate students has been the closer since for ten years I also served as Dean of the Graduate School. This was in like manner true of my predecessor, Dean W. H. Glasson, who laid the foundations of graduate work in our Department and in the University. We are fortunate in having as the new Chairman of the Department, Dr. Frank de Vyver who has for so long helped so efficiently in carrying on the administrative duties of the Department. Dr. R. S. Smith is currently acting as Director of Graduate Studies in place of Dr. Joseph Spengler, who continues to contribute so much to our program of graduate training and research. Dr. Spengler has a Ford Fellowship for the present academic year.

            We are gratified with the recognition which the research work and graduate teaching of our faculty has received during the past years. It is upon your accomplishments and attainments since leaving Duke, however, that we depend in large degree for our standing in the academic world. We are grateful to you and our best wishes are always with you.

Sincerely
Calvin B. Hoover

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Doctors of Philosophy

DR. CLARK LEE ALLEN ‘42
Head, Department of Economics, North Carolina State College

Regional Economist, OPA, 1942-43; Army Finance Dept., 1943-45; Duke, 1945-46, 1947-49; Northwestern, 1946-47; Head of Department, Florida State, 1949-54; Head of Department, Texas A.&M., 1954-56.

American Economic Association, Graduate Record Examination Comm., 1951, 1953, and Economic Education Comm., 1957-60; Editor, Southern Economic Journal, 1956-.

“Rayon Staple Fiber: Its Past and Its Prospects,” Southern Economic Journal, Oct. 1946.
“Modern Welfare Economics and Public Policy,” Southern Economic Journal, July 1952.
(Co-author) Prices, Income, and Public Policy. 1954.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM R. ALLEN ‘53
Assistant professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Washington University, 1951-52; Northwestern, 1952.

Social Science Research Council Fellow, 1950-51; Conferee, Ford Foundation Seminar on Sociology of Knowledge, 1953; Conferee, Merrill Center for Economics, 1955; Conferee, SSRC Seminar on Diplomatic History, 1956.

“The Effects on Trade of Shifting Reciprocal Demand Schedule,” American Economic Review, Mar. 1952.
“The International Trade Philosophy of Cordell Hull, 1907-1933,” American Economic Review, Mar. 1953.
“Stable and Unstable Equilibria in the Foreign Exchanges,” Kyklos, VII, Fasc. 4, 1954.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. KARL E. ASHBURN ‘34
Director, Division of Business Administration, Alabama College

Southern Methodist; Texas Christian; University of Florida, Texas Technological; Chief of Placement, Tenth U.S. Civil Service Region; Dean, Division of Commerce, McNeese State College, 1952-57.

Editor, Southwest Social Quarterly, 1937-38; Labor Consultant, Executive Dept., State of Texas, 1938; Migratory Labor Comm., State of Louisiana, 1940-41; Louisiana Survey on Higher Education, 1954-56; State of Louisiana Comm. on Industrial Development, 1957; Advisory Board, Port of Lake Charles, 1957.

“Slavery and Cotton Production in Texas”, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Dec. 1933.
“The Texas Cotton Control Acreage Law,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, July 1957.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. ELBERT V. BOWDEN ‘57
Associate professor, College of William and Mary in Norfolk

Duke University, 1952-54 and 1955-56; Bureau of Business Research, U. of Kentucky, 1954-55.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. R. BUFORD BRANDIS ‘43
Chief Economist and Director, Economic Research Division, American Cotton Manufacturers Institute

Littauer Fellow, Harvard, 1940-41; Research Dept., Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 1941-45; Supply Officer, U.S. Naval Reserve, 1945-46; Emory University, 1946-52; Research Economist, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1952-54.

“British Overseas Trade and Foreign Exchange,” Political Science Quarterly, June, 1943.
“British Prices and Wage Rates, 1939-41,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1943.
(Co-author) The American Competitive Enterprise Economy, 1953.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. ROYALL BRANDIS ‘52
Associate professor, University of Illinois

War Regulations Analyst, E.I. du Pont, 1941-43; Foreign Trade Economist, National Cotton Council, 1947-49; Duke, 1949-52.

“Cotton Competition: U.S. and Brazil, 1929-1948,” Journal of Farm Economics, Feb. 1952.
“Cotton and the World Economy,” Southern Economic Journal, July, 1956.
“Notes on the Theory of Games and the Social Sciences,” Erhversokonomisk Tidsskrift, 20, Sept. 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. EVERETT J. BURTT, JR. ‘50
Chairman, Department of Economics, Boston University

University of Maine, 1939-41; Denver University, 1941-42; War Manpower Commission, 1942-43; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1946-47.

“Labor Utilization during National Emergencies,” Monthly Labor Review, Oct. 1951.
“Full Employment in the Postwar Period,” Social Science, Jan. 1943.
“After the Shutdown in Howland, Maine,” Southern Economic Journal, July 1941.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. JAMES J. CARNEY, JR. ‘38
Chairman, Department of Finance, University of Miami

Duke, 1934-37; University of Illinois, 1937-40; Regional Labor Economist, War Manpower Commission, 1942-43; Regional Labor Economist, Fourth Service Command, 1944.

“Some Aspects of Spanish Colonial Policy,” Hispanic American Historical Review, May 1939.
Institutional Change and the Level of Employment: A Study of British Unemployment,1918-1929. 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WALTER H. DELAPLANE ‘34
Dean of Arts and Sciences, Texas A.&M. College

Duke, 1934-43; Economist and Chief, Iberian Section, Blockade Division, 1943-45; National Univ. of Paraguay, 1945-46; Colegio Libre, Buenos Aires, 1946; Head of Dept., St. Lawrence Univ., 1946-48.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM P. DILLINGHAM ‘50
Professor, Florida State University.

Univ. of Georgia, 1947-49; Senior Consultant, President’s Comm. on Veterans Pensions, 1955-56; Research Staff, Florida Citizens Tax Council.

Federal Aid to Veterans, 1917-1941, 1952.
The Historical Development of Veterans’ Benefits in the United States. 1956
Taxation of Intangible Personal Property in Florida. 1956

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. EDWIN WOODROW ECKARD ‘37
Project Evaluator, Glenn L. Martin Company

University of Arkansas, 1946-52; Division Economist, Office of Price Stabilization, 1952-53.

Economics of W. S. Jevons. 1940

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. RALPH T. GREEN
Director, Texas Commission on Higher Education

Financial Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 1949-55; Chairman, Department of Economics, Baylor University, 1955-56.

Southern Regional Education Board, 1957-; Official Texas Delegate, Southern Regional Conference on Education Beyond the High School, 1957; Delegate, Fourth Meeting of Technicians of Central Banks of the American Continents, 1954.

“Evaluating Adequacy of Bank Capital: An Analysis of the Problem,” Journal of Finance, Sept. 1954.
“The Challenge of Inflation,” Texas Industry, Feb. 1951.
“Meeting the Challenge of Public Higher Education in Texas,” Texas School Board Journal, June 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. PERCY L. GUYTON ‘52
Head of Economics Section, Department of Social Sciences, Memphis State University.

Mississippi State, 1928-36; Research Fellow, Brookings Institution, 1938-39; Simpson College, 1939-43; Associate Price Executive, OPA, 1945; Northwestern, 1945-46; Head, Department of Economics and Business, King College, 1946-54.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. RECTOR R. HARDIN ‘35
Professor of Business Administration and Acting Chairman, Dept. of Management, College of William and Mary in Norfolk

Head, Dept. of Economics, Berea College, 1935-46; University of Arkansas, 1946-47; Head, Dept. of Economics, Howard College, 1947-57.

American Institute of Management Fellow, 1954-57; President, Kentucky Academy of Social Sciences, 1940-41; Alpha Kappa Psi Deputy Councillor, 1949-57.

“Conservation of Manpower in Alabama,” Alabama Academy of Science Journal.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. H. WALTER HARGREAVES ‘42
Professor, College of Commerce, University of Kentucky

Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy, 1940-42; Economic Analyst, New York Life Insurance Co., 1946-48.

“The Guaranteed Security in Federal Finance,” Journal of Political Economy, 1942.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. DAVID M. HARRISON ‘41
Associate Professor, Ohio State University

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. DOUGLAS G. HARTLE ‘57
Lecturer, Department of Political Economy, University of Toronto

Chief, Employment Labor Market Section, Economics and Research Branch, Dept. of Labor, Ottawa, 1955-57. Governor, Carleton University, 1957-60.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Dr. R. MURRAY HAVENS ‘41
Head, Department of Economics, University of Alabama

Baldwin Wallace College, 1941-43; Regional Analyst, OPA, 1943; Economist, Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris, 1948-1949; Economist, Mutual Security Administration, 1951-52

“Laissez-Faire Theory in the Presidential Messages,” Journal of Economic History, Jan. 1942 (Supplement).
“Federal Government Reactions to the Depression of 1837-1843,” Southern Economic Journal, Oct. 1941
“The Significance for American Policy of British Reserve Losses, 1951-1952,” Southern Economic Journal, July 1951

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. HERMAN BROOKS JAMES ‘49
Head, Department of Agricultural Economics, North Carolina State College

Teacher of Vocational Agriculture and Country Agent, 1933-40; Farm Management Specialist, N.C. Agricultural Extension Service, 1940-42, Agricultural Economist, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 1943-44.

Chairman, Committee on Agricultural Economics, Social Science Research Council, 1953-56; Vice-chairman, National Committee on Agricultural Policy, Farm Foundation, 1956-; President, American Farm Economics Association, 1956-57.

“Limitations of Static Economic Theory in Farm management Analysis,” Journal of Farm Economics, Nov. 1950.
(Co-author) Farm Mechanization, (N. C. Experiment Station Bulletin 348).
(Co-author) Cotton Mechanization in North Carolina. (N. C. State College Technical Bulletin 104)

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. KEITH W. JOHNSON ‘44
Economist, Pacific Gas & Electric Company

Deane College, 1938-40; Franklin & Marshall College, 1940-42; Economist, War Production Board, 1942-45; Economist, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1945-47; University of New Mexico, 1947-48; Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 1948-52; Statistician, Regional Office, General Services Administration, 1952-54

“Residential Vacancies in Wartime U.S.,” Survey of Current Business, Dec. 1942
“Construction and Housing,” Historical Statistics of the U.S., 1789-1945. (Chapter H).
“The Interstate and Foreign Commerce of Texas,” Monthly Business Review(Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas), Oct. 1948

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. JAMES MAYNARD KEECH ‘37
Chairman, Department of Management, University of Miami

Recruiting Specialist, U.S. Civil Service Commission, 1942-44; Auxiliary Departments Analyst, 1948-49.

Workmen’s Compensation in North Carolina, 1929-40, 1942

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. CLIFTON H. KREPS, JR., ‘48
Wachovia Associate Professor of Banking, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina

Mt. Union College, 1945-46; Pomona College, 1946-47; Denison University, 1947-49; Economist; Chief, Public Information Division; Chief, Financial Statistics Division, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1949-55

“Federal Reserve Policy Formation,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1950
(Editor) Federal Taxes, 1952
“The Commercial Paper Market” and “Bankers Acceptances,” in Money Market Essays. 1951

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. JUANITA MORRIS KREPS ‘48
Assistant Professor, Duke University

Denison University, 1945-49; Hofstra College, 1952-54; Queens College (N.Y.), 1955.

(Co-editor) Aid, Trade and Tariffs, 1953
Our National Resources, 1955

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. EDWARD T. MC CORMICK ‘41
President, American Stock Exchange

Security Analyst; Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission, 1934-51; OPA and WPB (on loan from SEC)

Understanding the Securities Act and the S.E.C. 1948

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. PHILLIP D. MC COURY ‘57
Professor, Division of Social Science, Humboldt State College

Central College (Missouri), 1950-52; University of Tennessee, 1955-57

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. EDWIN MANSFIELD ‘55
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Institute of Technology

Fulbright Scholar to the United Kingdom, 1954-55; Diploma, Royal Statistical Society, 1955; University of Maryland Overseas, 1954; Research Associate, Duke, 1953-54

“The Measurement of Wage Differentials,” Journal of Political Economy, Aug. 1954.
“Community Size, Region, Labor Force and Income,1950,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1955.
“City Size and Income, 1949,” Studies in Income and Wealth, vol. 21, 1957.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM L. MILLER ’50
Professor, Alabama Polytechnic Institute

DePaul University, 1946; Duke, 1946-47; Bowling Green State University, 1947-49

“Some Short-Run Relationships between Changes in the Quantity of Money, the National Income, and Income Velocity,” Southern Economic Journal, 1950
“The Multiplier Time Period and the Income Velocity of Active Money,” Southern Economic Journal, 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. JAMES J. O’LEARY ’41
Director of Investment Research and Economist, Life Insurance Association of America

Wesleyan University, 1939-45; Duke University

“Should Federal Deposit Insurance be Extended?”, Southern Economic Journal, July 1943

The Future of Long-Term Interest Rates. 1945

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. HENRY M. OLIVER, JR. ’39
Professor, Indiana University

Univ. of Mississippi, 1937; Duke, 1937-39; Yale, 1939-41; Associate Economist, National Resources Planning Board, 1941; Economic Analyst, U. S. Treasury Department, 1941-45; Univ. of North Carolina, 1946-47; Northwestern, 1947-49.

Vice-president, Indiana Academy of Social Sciences, 1951; Fulbright Lecturer, University of Ceylon, 1955-56.

A Critique of Socioeconomic Goals. 1954
“Wage Reductions and Employment,” Southern Economic Journal, January 1939
“Average Cost and Long-Run Elasticity of Demand,” Journal of Political Economy, June 1947.
Economic Opinion and Policy in Ceylon. 1957

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. OLIN S. PUGH ’57
Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina

General Education Board Fellow, 1951-52; Southern Fellowship Fund Fellow, 1955-56.

The Export-Import Bank of Washington; Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of South Carolina, 1957.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. CHARLES BRYCE RATCHFORD ‘51
Assistant Director, N. C. Agricultural Extension Service

In charge, Extension Farm Management and Marketing, N. C. Agricultural Extension Service, 1950-54; Assistant Farm Management Specialist, 1942, Farm Management Specialist, 1946-47; In charge, Extension Farm Management, 1947-50; Advisory Committee, Bureau of the Census; National Extension Marketing, Committee; Cotton and Cottonseed Research and Marketing Advisory Committee; Educational Advisory Committee, National Cotton Council; Agricultural Advisor, N. C. Bankers Association.

A Mountain Community Moves Forward: Circular 300, N. C. Agricultural Extension Service, 1947
“Economic Implications of Farm and Home Planning Work,” Journal of Farm Economics, No. 5, 1955.
A Price Support Program for Farm Commodities in the U. S. Department of Agricultural Economics, N. C. State College.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. B. U. RATCHFORD ‘32
Professor, Duke University

District Price Officer, OPA, 1942-43; Economic Advisor, Military Government in Berlin, 1945-46; Deputy Chief, Office of Program Review, E. C. A. (Paris), 1948; Deputy Chief of Mission and Chief Economist, I. B. R. D. Mission to Turkey, 1950; Director of Research, N. P. A. Committee of the South, 1952-55.

Vice-President, American Finance Association, 1946-47; President, Southern Economic Association, 1952-53; Editor, Southern Economic Journal, 1941-45; Editor, American Economic Review, 1946-49; Medal of Freedom, War Department, 1946; Litt. D., Davidson College, 1957.

American State Debts. 1941;
(Co-author) Berlin Reparations Assignment. 1947
(Co-author) Economic Resources and Policies of the South, 1951.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. CHARLES EDWARD RATLIFF, JR. ’55
Chairman, Department of Economics, Davidson College

Aviation Supply Officer, U. S. N., 1945-46

“The Centralization of Government Expenditures for Education and Highways in N. C.,” National Tax Journal, Sept. 1956
“Comment on School Efficiency,” American School Board Journal, July 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM D. ROSS ’51
Dean of the College of Commerce, Louisiana State University

Economist, Military Government in Berlin, 1945-46; Duke, 1946-49

(Co-author) Berlin Reparations Assignment, 1947
Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, 1953
“Highway Development and Financing,” Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, May 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. HOWARD G. SCHALLER ’53
Chairman, Department of Economics, Tulane University

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 1948-49; University of Tennessee, 1952-53.

“Veterans Transfer Payments and State Per Capita Incomes, 1929, 1939, and 1949,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1953
“Social Security Transfer Payments and Differences in State Per Capita Incomes, 1929, 1939, and 1949,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1955
“Federal Grants-in-Aid and Differences in State Per Capita Incomes,” National Tax Journal, Sept. 1955

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. LEONARD S. SILK ’47
Economics Editor, Business Week Magazine

University of Maine, 1947-48; Simmons College, 1948-51; Economist, Housing and Home Finance Agency, Washington, 1951-52; Assistant Economic Commissioner, U. S. Mission to NATO and OEEC (Paris), 1952-54

F. Lincoln Cromwell Fellow, American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1946; Fulbright Scholar to Norway, 1952.

Sweden Plans for Better Housing. 1948
Forecasting Business Trends. 1956
“The Housing Circumstances of the Aged in the U.S.,”Journal of Gerontology, Jan. 1952

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM J. J. SMITH ’48
Department of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles, 1945-53; LL. D., UCLA, 1957.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. ROBERT S. SMITH ’32
Professor, Duke University

Visiting professor: N. C. College, 1940; University of Costa Rica, 1945; Northwestern, 1947; University of San Carlos, 1949; University of North Carolina, 1955-56; University of Buenos Aries, 1956.

Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, 1942; Honorary Professor, University of Costa Rica and University of San Carlos; U.S. Specialist, State Department, 1955, 1956, 1957; Honorary Console, Republic of Guatemala, 1955-

The Spanish Guild Merchant. 1940
“Mill on the Dan: Riverside Cotton Mills, 1882-1901,” Journal of Southern History, February 1955
“The Wealth of Nations in Spain and Hispanic America,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1957.

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. THOMAS M. STANBACK, JR. ‘54
Assistant Professor, School of Commerce, New York University

University of North Carolina, 1947-55; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1955-56

“Comments,” Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, 1957

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. CHARLES T. TAYLOR ’40
Assistant Vice-president, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Georgia State College for Women, 1938-42

“Population Increase, Municipal Outlays, and Debts,”Southern Economic Journal, April 1943
“Financing of Fishing Vessels by Commercial Banks,” Proceedings, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, 1953
“Recession and Economic Growth,” Monthly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, January 1955

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. ROBERT H. VAN VOORHIS ‘44
Head, Department of Accounting, College of Commerce, Louisiana State University

Duke University, 1941-44; Senior Accountant, Ashlin & Hutchings, 1944-45; Timberlands Accountant, West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co., 1945-49; University of Alabama, 1949-57.

Chairman, American Accounting Association Committee on Internal Auditing Education, 1953-54; National Research Committee of the Institute of Internal Auditors, 1953-54; Chairman, American Accounting Association Committee on Standards of Accounting Instruction, 1955-56

(Co-author) “Cost Control in the U S Air Force,” N.A.C.A. Bulletin, November 1951
“Internal Auditing Courses in American Colleges,” Accounting Review, October 1952 “Operating Reports and Controls,” Accountants’ Handbook(section 4), 1956
How the Smaller Business Utilizes Internal Auditing Functions. 1957

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. E. S. WALLACE ’37
Professor, Millsaps College

Hendrix College, 1937-39; District Price Executive, Regional Price Economist, and Associate Regional Price Executive, OPA, 1942-46.

Fellow, Case Institute of Economics-in-Action Program, 1950; Fellow, Yale School of Alcohol Studies, 1952; President, Mississippi Association of Collegiate Registrars, 1948-49; President, Mississippi State Council, AAUP, 1957-58

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. WILLIAM H. WESSON, JR. ’50
Associate Professor, College of Commerce, Louisiana State University

Assistant Supervisor, Merit Examination, State Of North Carolina, 1941-42, 1946; Duke, 1946-48; Head, Department of Economics, University of Chattanooga, 1948-56.

Fellow, Case Institute of Economics-in-Action Program, 1956; President, Adult Education Council of Chattanooga, 1955-56

Negro Employment in the Chattanooga Area, 1954

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. W. TATE WHITMAN ’43
Professor, Emory University

Accountant (Durham), 1934-36; The Citadel, 1936-47; Duke, 1939-40

(Co. author) Investment Timing: The Formula Plan Approach, 1953
(Co-author) “Formula Plan and the Institutional Investor,” Harvard Business Review, July 1950
“Liquidation of Partnerships by Installments,” Accounting Review, October 1953

*  *  *  *  *  *

DR. E. R. WICKER ’56
Assistant Professor, Indiana University

“The Colonial Development Corporation,” The Review of Economic Studies, June 1956
“A Note on Jethro Tull: Innovator or Crank,” Agricultural History, January 1957.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Lionel W. McKenzie, Box 32, Folder “Personal Correspondence, 1952-1998”

Image Source:  Duke University, 1938. Photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston. From the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

 

Categories
Economists Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania. A protectionist professor forced to leave the Wharton School, Robert Ellis Thompson, ca 1894

 

 

More and more universities are putting digitized, searchable copies of the student newspaper online. Up to now I have made ample use of the archives of the Harvard Crimson, the Columbia Spectator, and the U of M Daily. While sampling the Yale Daily News archive, I came across the name of a guest lecturer from the University of Pennsylvania, Robert Ellis Thompson in the January 28, 1885 issue.

It was reported that Thompson had been instructor, then assistant professor of mathematics before receiving “a chair of Social Science”. Thompson was also reported to have just delivered a course of lectures on the subject of “Protection” at Harvard. Wondering why I had not come across (or noticed) his name before, I reached for volume three of Joseph Dorfman’s Economic Mind in American Civilization, and came up with relatively little:

…there was general agreement in the academic world on most major [economic] issues. The one exception was the question of the tariff, but even here, by the end of the period, only one leading Eastern institution and a few Midwestern state universities could be said to be clearly protectionist. The one was the University of Pennsylvania, where the Reverend Robert Ellis Thompson (1844-1924), professor of social science, held to Carey’s views throughout, even on money.*

*Robert Ellis Thompson’s Social Science and National Economy (Philadelphia: Porter-Coates, 1875), was promoted far and wide by the powerful protectionist Industrial League of Pennsylvania. For biographical detail, see “Memorial Meeting in Honor of Robert Ellis Thompson,” The Barnwell Bulletin, February 1925, pp. 3-23; James H. S. Bossard, “Robert Ellis Thompson, Pioneer Professor in Social Science,” The American Journal of Sociology, September 1929, pp. 239-49.

Source:  Joseph Dorfman. The Economic Mind in American Civilization. Vol 3, 1865-1918 (New York: Viking Press, 1949), p. 80, bibliographic notes p. xvi.

___________________________

Sketch of Life and Career of Robert Ellis Thompson

The University of Pennsylvania archives provides the following sketch of Robert Ellis Thompson’s life and career. One’s curiosity is naturally aroused by the indication that Thompson had been eased/forced out of his professorship by the Provost. Was there a political/philosophical issue involved? Plot-spoiler: Thompson appears to have been at cross-purposes with the direction of the Wharton School of Finance and Economy and his way or the highway led to an off-ramp into a very successful, 27-year second career as president of Central High School in Philadelphia for him.
On the founding of the Wharton School, see Chapter 8  of Edgar Potts Cheyney’s History of the University of Pennsylvania 1740-1940 , esp. pp. 288-293. This reference and more detail about the Penn economics department are found at Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s History of Economic Thought Website. 

Robert Ellis Thompson
1844 – 1924

  • A.B. 1865, A.M. 1868, D.D. (hon.) 1887
  • Member of Zelosophic Society and University Chess Club
  • Phi Beta Kappa, class salutatorian, and Junior English Prize recipient
  • Professor of mathematics, social science, history, and English literature

Born in Lurgan, County Down, Ireland, on April 15, 1844, Robert Ellis Thompson was the son of Samuel and Catherine Ellis Thompson. The family came to Philadelphia when Robert was thirteen years old.

Thompson entered the University as a freshman in the Class of 1865 and served as class historian in his sophomore year. During his college years he was a member of the Zelosophic Society and the University Chess Club. He was also a Phi Beta Kappa honoree, recipient of the Junior English Prize, and the class salutatorian.

Thompson’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania included an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1887. Additionally, he earned a Ph.D. from Hamilton College in 1879 and received a LL.D. from Muhlenberg College in 1909.

A Presbyterian clergyman and educator, Thompson began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in 1868 as an instructor in mathematics; in 1871 he was promoted to an assistant professor of mathematics. From 1874 until 1883 he taught at Penn as professor of social science, and then from 1883 to 1893, he was John Welsh Centennial Professor of History and English Literature. During these years, Thompson lectured at Harvard and Yale from 1884 to 1887 and also at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Thompson was editor of Penn Monthly from 1870 to 1880, and of The American from 1881 to 1892. He published Social Science and National Economy in 1875, and also served as editor for the first two volumes of the Encyclopedia Americana, a supplement to the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1883 to 1885.

In 1892 Provost William Pepper (nephew of Class of 1865 classmate John Sergeant Gerhard) requested Thompson’s resignation from the John Welsh Chair of History and English Literature. Thompson refused to resign and also declined a proposed transfer to a chair of biblical literature, American church history, and industrial history. Eventually however, he was unsuccessful in the attempt to keep his job and, in 1894, took over the presidency of Central High School in Philadelphia. He remained there for twenty-seven years until he was forced out of this post under a state law which fixed the retirement age for teachers at seventy years. He was an outspoken defender of labor unions (1911) and proponent of female suffrage, predicting in 1911 that a woman would be elected mayor of Philadelphia by 1961. He married Mary Neely in 1874. She died in 1894, while Robert Ellis Thompson died on October 19, 1924 in Philadelphia.

Source: Robert Ellis Thompson (1844-1924). University of Pennsylvania. University Archives & Record Center. Web series “Penn People”.

___________________________

Selection of publications by Robert Ellis Thompson
[results of a relatively casual bibliographic search]

Books

Social Science and National Economy (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1875).

Thompson’s Social Science and National Economy, reviewed. Penn Monthly, Vol. 6 (September 1875), pp. 692-698.

Third, revised edition published as Elements of Political Economy with Especial Reference to the Industrial History of Nations (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1882).

Relief of Local and State Taxation through Distribution of the National Surplus. [Series of revised articles in The American.] Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co., 1883.

Protection to Home Industry. Four lectures delivered to Harvard University, January, 1885. (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1886)

De Civitate Dei—the Divine Order of Human Society. Princeton Stone Lectures (Philadelphia: John D. Wattles, 1891).

Syllabus of a Course of Six Lectures on Money and Banking. University Extension Lectures, Series D, No. 3. American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 1894. [Transcription at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror]

Political Economy for High Schools and Academies. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1895.

A History of the Presbyterian Churches of the United States. New York: The Christian Literature Co., 1895.

The History of the Dwelling-House and its Future. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1914.

 

Articles published in Penn Monthly

The Old Education. Vol. 1 (February 1870), pp. 52-60.

A Current Revolution.  Vol. 1 (April 1870), pp. 121-130.

Ulster in America. Vol. 1 (June 1870), pp. 202-209.

Harbaugh’s Harfe. [Review of Gedichte in Pennsylvanisch-Deutscher Mundart von H. Harbaugh] Vol. 1 (August 1870), pp. 202-286.

The Three Arches. Vol. 1 (September 1870), pp. 202-329.

The Protective Question Abroad. Vol. 1 (Nov. 1870), pp. 436-440.

The Revision of the Old Testament. Vol. 2 (January 1871), pp. 44-52.

Zeisberger’s Mission to the Indians. [Review of Edmund de Schweinitz’s The Life and Times of David Zeisberger, the Western Pioneer and Apostle to the Indians] Vol. 2 (February 1871), pp. 97-106.

The Race and the Individual in their Parallel Development. Vol. 2 (May 1871), pp. 250-263.

The German Mystics as American Colonists.—I. Vol. 2 (August 1871), pp. 391-403.

The German Mystics as American Colonists.—II. Vol. 2 (September 1871), pp. 443-451.

The German Mystics as American Colonists.—III. Vol. 2 (October 1871), pp. 487-497.

Darwin on his Travels. [Review of second American edition of  the Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World] Vol. 2 (November 1871), pp. 562-572.

The Origin of Free Masonry. [Review of G.. W. Steinbrenner’s The Origin and Early History of Masonry] Vol. 2 (December 1871), pp. 617-626.

Some German Critics of Adam Smith. [unsigned, perhaps Thompson] Vol. 3 (Nov. 1872), pp. 586-96.

Review of E. Dühring’s Kritische Geschichte der Nationalökonomie und des Socialismus. Vol. 3 (Nov. 1872), pp. 631-33.

The Communisms of the Old World. Vol. 5 (January 1874), pp. 12-28

The Teutonic Mark. [This article is in great measure supplementary of the series on “The Communisms of the Old World.”] Vol. 5 (August 1874), pp. 557-578.

Prof. Cairnes on Political Economy. Vol. 5 (September 1874), pp. 637-750

The Economic Wrongs of Ireland. Vol. 5 (October 1874), pp. 713-750

Communism and Serfdom in Russia. Vol. 5 (November 1874), pp. 791-808

National Education.—IV. Vol. 6 (May 1875), pp. 327-341

Carey and Ricardo in Europe. Vol. 8 (July 1877), pp. 548-557.

Recent Economic Literature. Vol. 8 (December 1877), pp. 956-968.

Is Christianity on the Wane among Us?. Vol. 9 (January 1878), pp. 45-65.

Use and Abuse of Examinations. [L. Wiese, German Letters on English Education, 1854 and 1876] Vol. 9 (May 1878), pp. 379-400.

De Laveleye’s Primitive Property. Vol. 9 (August 1878), pp. 620-633.

How It Strikes a Stranger. [Review of Hermann Grothe, Die Industrie Amerikas] Vol. 9 (October 1878), pp. 782-793.

The Commercial Future. Vol. 9 (November 1878), pp. 869-889.

My Neighborhood as a Starting-Point in Education. [Substance of an Address delivered before the National Educational Association, July 31, 1879] Vol. 10 (September 1879), pp. 664-676.

The Proposed Franco-American Treaty. Vol. 10 (October 1879), pp. 772-778.

Henry Charles Carey. [Memorial] Vol. 10 (November 1879), pp. 816-834. Frontpiece.

The Silver Question in England. Vol. 11 (January 1880), pp. 64-74.

Spiritualism in Germany. Vol. 11 (February 1880), pp. 97-117.

The Issues of the Campaign. Vol. 11 (August 1880), pp. 630-649.

Lessons of Social Science in the Streets of Philadelphia. Vol. 11 (December 1880), pp. 919-941.

The Future of our Public School System. Vol. 12 (April 1881), pp. 282-292.

 

Image Source: Robert Ellis Thompson, ca. 1880. University of Pennsylvania. University Archives & Record Center. Web series “Penn People”.

 

Categories
Cambridge Exam Questions

Cambridge. Intercollegiate and preliminary examinations in economics, 1931-33

 

The following examinations were included in a publication of the Cambridge University Economics Tripos for 1931-33. Appended to the publication of the 1921-1926 Cambridge Economics Tripos Papers are the “Papers set in the qualifying examinations 1925 & 1926”. So the following three exams most likely served as an early hurdle to clear before being admitted to the Economics Tripos.

 

Intercollegiate Examination of Economics (June 1931)

Principles of Economics
Subjects for an Essay
Trade and Finance
Industry and Labour

Intercollegiate Examination of Economics (June 1932)

Economic Theory
Currency and Banking
Industry and Trade
Labour

Preliminary Examination in Economics (June 1933)

Principles of Economics
Industry, Labour and Money. Paper I
Industry, Labour and Money. Paper II
Modern Economic History

_________________________

 

INTERCOLLEGIATE EXAMINATION IN ECONOMICS.

Monday, June 8, 1931. 9—12.
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS.

  1. What is meant by a perfect market? To what extent must fundamental economic theory be modified in view of the fact that in practice markets are not perfect?
  2. “The representative firm was devised to meet the difficulties occurring in the analysis of supply when there is a disparity of efficiency as between different producers.” Comment.
  3. Are there any reasons, for purposes of economic analysis, for drawing a distinction between the royalties received by owners of mining properties and the interest received by debenture holders in mining companies?
  4. “Increasing returns maybe due to external economies or to internal economies.” What are external and internal economies, and under what conditions, and in what sense, can increasing returns be said to be due to each?
  5. “If we were content to dispense with further industrial progress we should no longer have to pay tribute in the form of profits to business men.” Discuss.
  6. What is likely to be the effect on the price and output of agricultural produce of levying a land tax from which agricultural land is exempt?
  7. In what circumstances is a rise in the general level of wages likely to be (a) compatible, (b) incompatible with full employment for labour?
  8. Consider carefully under what conditions the control of an industry by a monopolist is likely to be in the social interest.
  9. “The Theory of Distribution is but a particular application of the Theory of Value.” Elucidate this statement.
  10. How far do economic and social considerations justify the right of private bequest?

 

Monday, June 8, 1931.  1. 30—4. 30.
SUBJECTS FOR AN ESSAY.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

  1. “For our great-grandchildren the problem will be how to live rather than how to keep alive.”
  2. The Electrification of the Railways.
  3. “Democracy has had its chance and has failed: let us pass on.”
  4. The Control of the World’s Wheat.
  5. “The Five Years Plan.”
  6. The Economics of Advertising.
  7. “La République n’a pas besoin de Savants.”

 

Tuesday, June 9, 1931. 9—12.
TRADE AND FINANCE.

  1. “Ten years of industrial depression measures the cost to this country of the Return to Gold.” Discuss.
  2. Would you agree that the world price level of the next twenty years is at the discretion of the Central Banks in the chief industrial countries? Why, or why not?
  3. What bearing has the proportion of their resources that people choose to hold in the form of money upon the value of money?
  4. In October 1929 the market rate of discount was about 6¼ % while the yield of fixed-interest stocks was about 4¾ % in March 1931 the former was about 2½ % and the latter about 4½ %. How would you account for these facts?
  5. “To-day, as in the middle of the last century, Free Trade is the best policy for this country: the reasons may be different, the conclusion is the same.” Investigate this argument.
  6. What are the relative advantages or disadvantages for this country of a fixed fiduciary issue as compared with a proportional reserve system of note issue?
  7. State clearly the differences in organisation between the money markets of London and New York, and indicate how these differences affect the nature and extent of the influence of the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the two markets respectively.
  8. With what truth is it alleged that whereas before the war the sources of disturbance to the Foreign Exchanges automatically set in motion corrective forces, to-day this no longer tends to be so?
  9. How do you account for the differences in the levels of wages normally prevailing between different countries?
  10. What criteria should a Government hold in view in framing a system of taxes?

 

Tuesday, June 9, 1931.  1. 30—4. 30.
INDUSTRY AND LABOUR.

  1. “It was once regarded as the duty of the State to curb the power of monopoly, but it now does everything possible to encourage it.” Discuss the truth of this statement and the desirability of the change to which it alludes.
  2. Examine the effect that would be produced on the wages of skilled workers by the introduction of a national minimum weekly wage.
  3. Give a reasoned account of what you imagine is likely to be the position of the British cotton industry in ten years time.
  4. Describe the British Trade Boards system. What conditions are necessary for the establishment of a Trade Board in a particular industry and what conditions do you think ought to be necessary?
  5. Consider how far the existence of surplus capacity in an industry can be regarded as socially undesirable.
  6. “Since the war there has been a strong positive correlation between rates of real wages and unemployment.” Explain. Can any moral be drawn?
  7. What are the factors that determine the size of firms? Illustrate your answer by reference to actual industries.
  8. Discuss in the light of the experience of other countries the possibility of improving the efficiency of British farming on the side of (a) production, (b) marketing.
  9. How far and for what reasons is labour in this country immobile at the present time? What benefits, if any, would you expect from increased mobility?
  10. Is it possible for technical improvements in production to be adopted faster than is in the interests of the working classes? Illustrate your answer by reference to the conditions of to-day.

 

Monday, June 6, 1932. 9—12.
ECONOMIC THEORY.

  1. Explain the difficulties involved in measuring the total utility derived from any commodity in terms of money.
  2. “Under private enterprise the consumer is king.” How far do the teachings of modern psychology cast doubt upon the truth of this assertion?
  3. Give examples of the way in which the development of economic theory has been moulded by the course of historical events.
  4. Explain the forces which determine the value of a commodity “in the short period,” making plain what you mean by a “short period.”
  5. Is the existence of monopoly (a) a necessary, (b) a sufficient condition for the existence of a system of differential prices?
  6. “Since rents are merely transfer payments from one member of the community to another, it is impossible for an industry to be conducted under conditions of increasing cost from the standpoint of the community as a whole.” Discuss.
  7. Is there any reason, from the standpoint of the public interest, why the freights and fares on the English railways should be maintained at a level sufficient to yield a normal rate of interest on the capital originally invested in the railways?
  8. How far can the doctrine that each factor of production tends to be rewarded in accordance with its marginal productivity be applied to the factor risk-taking?
  9. “Since cuts in wage-rates destroy purchasing-power, they are bound to prolong and aggravate a trade depression.” Comment.
  10. Is the present pace of agricultural and industrial improvement likely in your opinion to make the problem of chronic unemployment greater in the 20th century than in the 19th?

 

Monday, June 6, 1932. 1. 30—4. 30.
CURRENCY AND BANKING.

  1. “The Purchasing Power of Money is a phrase which admits, not of one, but of many meanings, some more useful than others.” Elucidate this statement.
  2. Explain briefly the points at issue between the Currency and Banking Schools in the eighteen-forties. How far was the doctrine of the victorious school justified by the events?
  3. What support does history afford to the contention that the gold standard leads to one set of results in theory, and to quite another set in practice?
  4. “The duty of banks is to act merely as honest brokers between people who have made savings and people who want to use them.” Explain and discuss.
  5. Discuss the relation between changes in long-term and in short-term rates of interest.
  6. Why would you agree, or disagree, with the view that the price-level is the one passive element in the equation of exchange?
  7. How do you account for the course which the prices of imported goods in this country have followed since our suspension of the gold standard in September last?
  8. How far are existing arrangements as to bank reserves adapted to ensure efficient control by the Central Bank over the other banks in the London and New York money markets respectively? What alterations, if any, would you propose?
  9. “The trade cycle constitutes recurrent proof of the absence of tendencies towards equilibrium in the economic system.” Examine the validity of this assertion.
  10. Consider, with reference (a) to past experience, (b) to present circumstances, the relation of the export of capital to equilibrium in our balance of payments.

 

 

Tuesday, June 7, 1932. 9—12.
INDUSTRY AND TRADE.

  1. Show the importance, in past years, of the emigration traffic to the shipping companies of this country and the railroad systems of the New World.
  2. Give some account of the direction and composition of British overseas investment between 1850 and 1900.
  3. “It is obviously to the general interest that sources of supply should grow up as near as possible to centres of consumption; subject to the condition that, where one source has a natural advantage in climate, mineral resources, or deep-set human aptitudes for a particular industry, it may be advantageously developed even at the cost of somewhat large expenditure of labour and material on marketing its products.” (Marshall.)
    Examine, in the light of this statement,
    Either (a) the aggregation of industries in Birmingham and the Black Country;
    Or (b) the location of the milling industry in North America and England.
  4. Define a public utility. How would you approach the problem of whether a particular public utility should be owned and operated by the public?
  5. What evidence would you require to convince you that the organised Produce Exchange renders an indispensable service to the farmer?
  6. Why have the producers of agricultural staples in the New World and in England fared so badly in the last few years? What is the position in continental Europe?
  7. “The 20th century has shown clearly that competitive industry never ends in complete monopoly.” Critically examine this statement.
  8. Seeing that mass production gives decreasing costs, is it not reasonable to suppose that industrial progress and a falling price level will go hand in hand? Consider, in this connection, the price record of soap, automobiles, and electric power.
  9. “Advertisement is a necessary business cost, but of no value to the community as a whole.” Criticise this.
  10. Examine the various causes which may set a limit to the size of a business unit.

 

 

Tuesday, June 7, 1932.  1. 30—4. 30.
LABOUR.

  1. “Our democratic age will be remarkable to posterity for having dimmed the time-honoured belief in the virtues of the poor” (Bosanquet). Is this fair comment on the extension of the Social Services during the past half century?
  2. Discuss the effect of recent changes in the distribution of the National Income on the volume and direction of saving.
  3. Discuss the probable effect on the earnings of workers in the electrical engineering industry of the introduction of a six-hour day coupled with the shift system.
  4. Examine the view that the future of labour organisation lies in Industrial Unionism. Is it supported by the history of Trade Unions in this country?
  5. An industrial combine employing some 30,000 people wishes to introduce a scheme for periodic consultation and discussion between management and employees. Draft an outline constitution. What subjects, if any, would you exclude from discussion?
  6. Give a critical account of the history of government intervention in labour disputes in this country.
  7. Consider the problems involved in the introduction of a means test for claimants to transitional payments under the Unemployment Insurance legislation.
  8. Discuss the decay of apprenticeship. What alternative systems of recruitment are desirable and practicable?
  9. Consider the probable effects of a permanent ban on immigration by the countries of North and South America.
  10. What value do you attach to the suggestions which have been put forward for arresting the growth of unemployment by the speeding-up of expenditure on public works?

 

_________________________

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN ECONOMICS.

Monday, June 5, 1933. 9—12.
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS.

  1. “Natura non facit saltum.” How far can this be regarded as a satisfactory axiom in Economics?
  2. “It is easier to interpret the classical doctrine that ‘Rent does not enter into the cost of production’ in a sense in which it is not true, and to scoff at it, than in the sense in which it was intended and is true. It seems best therefore to avoid the phrase.” Explain and discuss.
  3. State carefully the conditions which must be satisfied in order that an industry may be in long-period equilibrium.
  4. In what circumstances could the distribution of the resources of a community between different uses be improved by government intervention?
  5. On what theoretical grounds can the varying differences between the wages of skilled and unskilled workers in different countries be explained?
  6. “The doctrine that the earnings of a worker tend to be equal to the net product of his work has by itself no real meaning: since in order to estimate net product we have to take for granted all the expenses of production of the commodity on which he works other than his own wages.” Explain the difficulty involved here.
  7. What is the meaning of “normal profits”? How far is it true that profits in all industries tend to reach a uniform “normal” level?
  8. If you had to calculate the most profitable method and rate of exploitation of a mine with a limited supply of ores of varying grades, what factors would you take into account?
  9. Discuss the meaning which is to be attached to the word “utility” in the Theory of Value.
  10. “Increasing and diminishing returns are attributes rather of production as a whole than of production in one individual industry.” Discuss.
  11. In what circumstances if any would you regard it as desirable that a seller should discriminate in the prices charged to different consumers?
  12. “The chief factors determining the rate of interest are the growth of population and the rate of invention.” Discuss.

 

Monday, June 5, 1933. 1½—4½ .
INDUSTRY, LABOUR AND MONEY.

Paper I.

  1. How far is it true to say that the world gold standard before the War was (i) automatic, (ii) managed, (iii) dependent upon the economic and financial policy of England?
  2. “The Quantity Theory of Money throws no light upon the forces which most directly and actively influence the price level.” Discuss this statement.
  3. “The limit of wealth is never deficiency of consumers but deficiency of productive power” (John Stuart Mill). Discuss.
  4. To what extent do you consider that the progressive supersession of private businesses by joint stock companies has been a gain from the point of view of the community as a whole?
  5. Compare, with reference to any industries with which you are familiar, the relative importance of proximity to the market and proximity to the source of raw materials as factors in determining industrial localisation.
  6. Give an account of the difficulties which confront the Lancashire cotton industry in the world markets to-day. What remedies have been attempted or proposed in recent years for improving the position of the industry?
  7. How far does the nature of the product determine the possibilities of success in the co-operative marketing of agricultural produce?
  8. “In disputes between employers and workpeople, the stoppage of work is analogous to a war, or still more to a trade embargo, in disputes between nations.” Discuss.
  9. Give a rough estimate of the proportions of workpeople whose wage-rates are laid down in collective agreements, or fixed by the various statutory wages boards. How far and in what way do these wage-rates affect the levels of wages in unorganised and unregulated trades and services?
  10. Discuss compulsory arbitration in labour disputes from the standpoint of (a) principle, (b) practice, with illustrations from experience at home or abroad.

 

Tuesday, June 6, 1933. 1½—4½.
INDUSTRY, LABOUR AND MONEY.

Paper II.

  1. What would be the probable effects on the economic system of a country which was previously in equilibrium, if the people were to decide to save an additional £100 million per annum and to put the whole of the money thus saved on deposit account with the banks?
  2. Assuming that an important cause of the present depression in England lies in the fact that prices are below the level of costs, consider the relative merits of attempting (a) to raise prices to meet costs, (b) to lower costs to meet prices.

December 1931

December 1932
Treasury Bills outstanding…

£m. 605

£m. 928
Deposits of 12 Joint Stock Banks

£m. 1,806

£m. 2,049
Advances of 12 Joint Stock Banks

£m. 918

£m. 785
Investments of 12 Joint Stock Banks

£m. 298

£m. 488
Bankers’ Deposits at Bank of England

£m. 82

£m. 134
Wholesale prices (1927=100)

65.8

61.1

How do you account for the changes shown in the above table?

  1. Do you consider that discrimination against road transport in favour of the railways would be advantageous to the community as a whole in England to-day?
  2. “‘The optimum firm’ is a meaningless phrase unless we know the price of machinery, the rate of interest and the rate of invention in a given industry.” Discuss this statement.
  3. “The typical manufacturer of the more elaborate goods tends to become little more than an assembler of components bought from specialist makers.” How far is this true? What effects, if any, is it likely to have on labour and industrial organisation?
  4. Why have so many countries been compelled to take special steps for the re-organisation of their agriculture?
  5. In a firm belonging to an industry in which employers and workpeople are well organised, a dispute arises between some of the workpeople and the management as to how many workers, of what grade, and at what wage, shall operate a new type of machine. Describe the kind of agreements that are likely to exist for settling the issue without a stoppage of work, and sketch the procedure.
  6. “Under well organised production the distinction between payment by time and payment by results disappears. The manager who introduces or retains piece-work or bonus systems thereby stands confessed a second-rate organiser.” Discuss.
  7. Discuss the changes in the functions and status of the foreman consequent upon “scientific management” and “labour control,” and the problems such changes create.
  8. Recount briefly the history of any joint industrial council of employers and employed. Discuss the causes of its successes and failures and suggest any reforms you think desirable.

 

Tuesday, June 6, 1933. 9—12.
MODERN ECONOMIC HISTORY.

  1. “Mercantilism was the economic expression of the militant nationalism which sprang out of the social and political changes of the sixteenth century.” Discuss this. Was mercantilism peculiar to England?
  2. Estimate the importance of Spanish silver to the development of capitalism in Great Britain and Europe.
  3. Why was England the mother country of the Industrial Revolution?
  4. Did John Law seriously damage the economic and financial position of France?
  5. Explain the steps by which England originally reached a gold standard.
  6. What was the teaching of Malthus on the subject of population? Was his problem our problem?
  7. Estimate the economic consequences of the Napoleonic regime to Western Europe.
  8. Examine the points at issue between the Currency and Banking Schools in the 1840’s.
  9. Show the relation between the corn law controversy (1813 to 1846) and the formation of economic theory.
  10. How did German thought and policy between 1800 and the death of Bismarck react to English fiscal doctrine?
  11. Give some account of the rise of Socialism on the continent of Europe.

 

Source:  Cambridge University. Economics Tripos Papers 1931-1933, with the Papers Set in the Intercollegiate and Preliminary Examinations 1931-1933. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1933, pp. 71-83.

Source: Trinity College, Cambridge University. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.