Author: Irwin Collier
Earlier postings about Edward Cummings, a sociologist in the Harvard Economics department at the turn of the twentieth century, included a newspaper account of his resignation of his professorship to become Unitarian pastor and a link to his papers. Harvard was not to establish an independent department of sociology until 1931, which was much later than in other leading American universities. For more about Cummings and the pre-history of the Harvard Department of Sociology, see: “The Establishment of Sociology at Harvard” by Lawrence T. Nichols in Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives, edited by Clark A. Elliott and Margaret W. Rossiter. Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 1992.
_________________________
CUMMINGS, Edward, 1861-
Born in Colebrook, N. H., 1861; graduated at Harvard; Instructor in English at Harvard; appointed to the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science; studied Sociological questions in Europe; Instructor in Sociology at Harvard; Assistant Professor; Associate Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics; member of the Council of American Economic Association; Director of the Massachusetts Prison Association; Director of the Boston Associated Charities; member of the American Statistical Association and other organizations.
EDWARD CUMMINGS, A.M., Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard, is the son of Edward Norris and Lucretia Frances (Merrill) Cummings, and was born in Colebrook, New Hampshire, April 20, 1861. The Cummings family, originally of Scottish origin, settled in Massachusetts about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Merrill family, of English origin, came to this country about the same time. Up to the age of twelve Mr. Cummings was educated in the private and public schools of New Hampshire. After that he attended the public schools of Woburn, Massachusetts, and fitted for College in the High School of that city. He graduated at Harvard in 1883, but continued with graduate work at the University until the spring of 1888, serving as Instructor in English during the latter part of this period, and receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1885. In the spring of 1888 he resigned his position as Instructor to accept an appointment to the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science. This was the first Fellowship in Social Science at Harvard, and his appointment was the first to that fellowship. During the following winter he was a resident of the University Settlement at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, London. For three years he continued sociological study in Europe as incumbent of the Paine Fellowship, spending a year in England and Scotland and two years in France, Italy and Germany. In 1891 he returned to America and was appointed Instructor in Sociology at Harvard. Two years later he became Assistant Professor. Professor Cummings is Associate Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics and a contributor to the literature of social and economic discussion. He is a member of the Council of the American Economic Association, a Director of the Massachusetts Prison Association, a Director of the Boston Associated Charities, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Reform Club, Secretary of the Advisory Committee appointed by the Mayor of Boston in 1899 to inquire into the penal aspects of drunkenness, besides holding membership in the American Statistical Association, the Twentieth Century Club, and the Round Table Club. He married June 25, 1891, Rebecca Haswell Clarke, and has one son: Edward Estlin Cummings [the poet E .E. Cummings].
LAUGHLIN, James Laurence, 1850-
An earlier posting provides lists of presenters for the Economic Seminary for the years 1891-1908. This posting provides the lists of announced presenters for the final three years of the seminary.
____________________________
Seminary Meetings in 1929-30
Professor Bullock
Sept. 30 Harvard Union
Oct. 14 S.E. Harris, “Monetary Policy of the British Dominions since 1914.”
Oct. 28 W. E. Beach, “Bank Policy and Gold Movements in England from 1880 to 1914.”
Nov. 4 J. P. Wernette, “Fiscal Reorganization in the United States of Colombia.”
Nov. 25 F. W. Taussig, “German Economic Periodicals and Works of Reference.”
Dec. 9 H. D. White, “International Balance of Payments of France.”
Feb. 3 W. Z. Ripley, “Railroad Consolidation.”
Feb. 17 C. S. Joslyn, “A Proposed Statistical Measurement of Vertical Occupational Mobility.”
March 8 T. J. Kreps, “The Chemical Phase of the Industrial Revolution.”
March 31 D. V. Brown, “Family Allowances.”
April 28 J. H. Williams, “Reparations and the International Flow of Capital.”
______________________________
Seminary Meetings in 1930-31
Professor Gay
Sept. 29 Harvard Union
Oct. 15 University Film Foundation, “The Availability of Motion Pictures for Instruction in Economic History and Economic Resources”.
Oct. 29 O. H. Taylor, “The Present Position and Prospects of Economic Theory”.
Nov. 5 Professors Bullock, Ripley, and Black, “Graduate Study and Research in Economics”.
Nov. 19 H. D. White, “The American Rayon Industry, a Product of Protection”.
Dec. 3 Professor Schumpeter, “Financial Policy of Germany since 1919″.
Dec. 17 Professor W. E. Eckblaw, Professor of Economic Geography, Clark University, “Russia To-day”.
Jan. 7 A. E. Monroe, “Land as a Consumers’ Good”.
Jan. 21 (Reading period)
Feb. 4 (Exam. period)
Feb. 18 D. H. Wallace, “The Aluminum Monopoly in the U.S.”
March 4 W. C. Mitchell, “Cyclical Behavior of Factors in Business”.
March 11 L. B. Currie, “The Commercial Loan Theory of Banking”.
March 25 Dr. B. M. Squires, “The Administration of Public Employment Offices”.
April 1 Dr. J. J. de Stoop, “The Merger Movement in Belgium”.
April 8 Dr. Mabel C. Buer, Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading, England, “The Relation between Industrial Development and Vital Statistics in England”.
April 22 Major Lyndall Urwick, Director of the International Management Institute at Geneva, “The International Organization of Economic Study”.
April 29 Professor T. S. Adams, Yale University, “The Treatment of Capital Gains and Losses under the Federal Income Tax”.
May 6 Professor J. D. Black, “Interregional Competition in Production”.
May 20 (Reading period)
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV 349.10), Box 25. Folder “Economics Seminary 1925-33”.
______________________________
Seminary Meetings in 1931-32
Professor Carver
Second and fourth Monday of month
Oct. 5 Members of teaching staff
Oct. 19 Dr. E. Dana Durand, United States Tariff Commission, “The Business Depression”.
Oct. 26 Mr. J. P. Wernette, “Politics and Finance in Peru”.
Nov. 9 Mr. J. B. Crane, “Aviation”.
Nov. 23 Professor W. Z. Ripley, “National Economic Planning.”
Dec. 14 Dr. J. F. Normano, “South America Today: An Attempt at an Economic ‘Characteristique’.
Jan. 11 Dr. L. B. Currie, “The Nature of Credit”.
Feb. 8 Dr. B. C. Hunt, “The English Joint Stock Company 1800-1862”.
Feb. 15 Dr. Mordecai Ezekiel, Assistant Chief Economist of the Federal Farm Board, “Stability vs. Flexibility as Means to Economic Adjustment”.
Feb. 29 Dr. C. J. Ratzlaff, “The Theory and Practice of the International Labor Organization of the League of Nations”
Mar 14 Dr. Leontief, “Postive and Normative Approaches in Economic Theory”
Mar 28 Mr. K. L. Anderson, “Thornstein Veblen’s Economics”.
Apr. 11 Mr. Ejnar Jensen, “International Monetary and Technological Influences on European Agricultural Development since 1870”.
Apr. 18 Dr. Wilhelm Kromphardt, A. O. Professor of Economics, University of Münster, “The Relation of Economic Evolution to Economic Theory and Its Application”.
Apr. 25 Mr. N. R. Danielian, “Recent Developments in the Electric Light and Power Industry in the U.S.”
May 9 Professor Charles S. Collier, Professor of Law in George Washington University, “Public Utility Valuation.”
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV 349.10), Box 25. Folder “Economics Seminary 1925-33”.
In the artifacts posted here we see how student demand for a course on Marxian economics at Harvard that had been dropped for the academic year 1938-39 resulted in the course being offered.
Three of the undersigned went on to receive Ph.D.’s in economics at Harvard:
- Alexander, Sidney Stuart.D. 1946. Financial structure of American corporations since 1900.
- Carlson, Reynold Erland.D. 1946. Block grants and central-local financial relations in Great Britain.
- Vandermeulen, Daniel Carlson.D. 1947. Dissertation: Technological change in the paper industry—the introduction of the sulphate process.
A draft outline of the course exists in Wassily Leontief’s papers and has been transcribed at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.
__________________________________
[Economics 117 Course Listing 1st edition, 1938-39]
[Economics 117 1hf. Karl Marx]
Half-course (first half-year). Mon., 4 to 6. Asst. Professor Leontief.
Omitted in 1938-39.
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1938-39 (1st edition, p. 150.
__________________________________
[Student petition to “unbracket” Economics 117]
[typed] We, the undersigned, observe that Economics 117 is bracketed in the Course Catalogue for 1938-39, and we understand that the reason for this is the very small election that the course has received in past years. We should like to signify our desire to take Economics 117 next year, and we hope that this indication of a sizable demand will induce the competent authorities to reconsider the advisability of offering the course in the year 1938-39.
[signed] S. S. Alexander
[signed] D. C. Vandermeulen
[signed] Wm. Glazier
[signed] David Feller
[signed] R. E. Carlson
[signed] John D. Wilson
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23, Folder “Course Offerings 1937-39-42”
__________________________________
[Economics 117 Course Listing 2nd edition, 1938-39]
Economics 117 1hf. Karl Marx
Half-course (first half-year). Mon., 4 to 6. Asst. Professor Leontief and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1938-39 (2nd edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 35, No. 42 (September 23, 1938), p. 150.
__________________________________
[Economics 19 Course Enrollment, 1935-36]
[Economics] 19 1hf. Associate Professor Mason and Asst. Professor Leontief. –Karl Marx.
1 Radcliffe, 35 auditors. Total 36.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1935-36, p. 83.
__________________________________
[Economics 117 Course Enrollment, 1936-37]
[Economics] 19 1hf. Associate Professor Mason and Asst. Professor Leontief. –Karl Marx.
1 Graduate, 1 Senior. Total 2.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1936-37, p. 93.
__________________________________
[Economics 117 not offered 1937-38]
__________________________________
[Economics 117 Course Enrollment, 1938-39]
[Economics] 117 1hf. Asst. Professor Leontief and Dr. P. M. Sweezy. –Karl Marx.
4 Graduates, 4 Seniors. Total 8.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1938-39, p. 99.
__________________________________
[Economics 117 not offered 1939-40]
__________________________________
The economic theory examination committee at the University of Chicago in the Summer Quarter of 1949 for the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees was made up of F. H. Knight (chair), O. H. Brownlee, M. Friedman, and L. A. Metzler. 49 students took Part I of the exam (33 were Ph.D. students, 16 were A.M. students, equally divided between economics majors and minors). Part II of the examination was taken by 14 Ph.D. students (no A.M. students). It does not appear that Knight participated in the grading of Part II however.
Two minor notes: Students were assigned numbers, presumably to assure anonymity with respect to their examiners, but the “unlucky” number 13 was not assigned to anyone. The “grade sheet” for the exams is labelled the “Report on Written Examination” which is similar to the use of the word “report” by the registrar’s office on official University of Chicago transcripts (for this usage, see the Patinkin transcripts).
__________________________________________
ECONOMIC THEORY, Part I
[August 2, 1949]
Written examination for the Ph.D. and A. M. Degrees, Summer Quarter, 1949
Ph.D. candidates: Time: 3½ hours. Answer all questions
A.M. Major candidates: Time: 3 hours. Answer question #2 and two others.
A.M. Minor candidates: Time: 2 hours. Answer question #2 and one other.
- (a) Discuss and evaluate alternative theories of “Profits” as a distributive share.
(b) It is frequently said that in a private enterprise economy the producers’ motive is to maximize “profits”. Discuss the meaning of “profits” in this connection in relation to your answer to (a).
- Write briefly on the meaning of the capital concept and its importance in interpreting economic growth or change. Relate your discussion to the case of a Crusoe economy and state whether (and if so how) the principles are different for the competitive pecuniary social order.
- With reference to federal legislation assuring to every resident in the U.S.A. medical care by the physician and hospital of his choice, free and with no special taxation: Appraise the proposal as to effects upon general welfare, assuming that the alternative is the sale of medical insurance, not subsidized, but with the same distribution of personal income effected by cash “relief”.
- Briefly discuss the familiar diagram of a family of short-run cost curves for a firm, with an “envelope” as a long-run curve. State the main “cases” for price-equilibrium under monopoly and under “perfect competition.” Explain why the point of tangency with both curves descending may be such an equilibrium-supply, and particularly why it locates the minimum cost for the corresponding output.
- Briefly outline or list the main features of the Ricardian theories of value and of distribution and contrast each point with a “sound” modern view.”
__________________________________________
ECONOMIC THEORY, Part II
[August 4, 1949]
Written examination for the Ph.D. Degree, Summer Quarter, 1949.
Time: 2½ hours.
- Assume an economic system in which real expenditure upon goods and services (real consumption, investment, government expense) is a function of real income and the interest-rate; show that the set of values which satisfy the conditions for equilibrium in the commodity market (make real savings and investment equal) need not contain the “full-employment” income level; i.e., that level of real income which would be produced when the quantity of labor supplied equals the quantity demanded, both the labor supply and labor demand being functions of the real wage.
Evaluate the assumptions of this system on terms of their realism, citing the relevant evidence; and indicate modifications which would result in the inclusion of the “full employment” level of income as one of the values satisfying the condition for equilibrium in the commodity market.
- Under the so-called “security-reserve proposal” member banks would be required to keep a supplementary reserve against deposits over and above the reserves they are now required to keep in the form of a deposit with a Federal Reserve Bank. This supplementary reserve could be in the form of government securities.a. What is the main purpose, or purposes, of this proposal?
b. What effect would it have on the ability of the banks to expand credit, and how?
c. In the light of present economic conditions, what can you say about the urgency of such a “reform”?
- It is a common view today that an equal reduction of both taxes and governmental expenditure would contribute to an increase of the national income or counteract a tendency to depression. State your position and discuss carefully.
Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 76, Folder 10 “University of Chicago Econ. 300B”.
One of the iron statistical laws of scheduling classes is that the probability of finding a Pareto improvement to a scheduling conflict ex post semester-start rapidly tends to zero with the size of the class that needs to be rescheduled. Here is a case of one such rare Pareto-improvement.
For the second semester of the academic year 1934-35 at Harvard E. B. Wilson’s Mathematical Economics rescheduled to eliminate the conflict with Fritz Machlup’s Money and Banking course.
What happens to make this particular case interesting in the history of economics is the list of distinguished (ex post) names among the undersigned of three foreign visitors to Harvard, namely Oskar Lange, Nicholas Georgescu, and Gerhard Tintner along with the graduate student Wolfgang Stolper and the undergraduate Sidney S. Alexander.
Six of the undersigned went on to receive Harvard Ph.D.’s in economics, they were:
- Sidney Stuart Alexander.D. 1946. Financial structure of American corporations since 1900. (note: Harvard S.B. 1936, so undergraduate)
- James Pierce Cavin, 1938 Ph.D. The sugar quota system of the United States, 1933-1937.
- Wolfgang Stolper, 1938 Ph.D. British monetary policy and the housing boom, 1931-1935
- Albert Leonard Meyers, 1936 Ph.D. Future trading on organized commodity exchanges
- Chih-Yu Lo, 1937 Ph.D. A statistical study of prices and markets for electricity
- Wilfred Malenbaum, Ph.D. 1941. Equilibrating tendencies in the world wheat market.
_______________________________________
[Memo: Econ. Chair to Dean, Carbon copy]
February 7, 1935
Dear Dean Murdock,
Because of the conflict of Economics 13b (Mathematical Economics) and Economics 50 (Principles of Money and Banking), which are scheduled for 3:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, Professor Wilson has requested that the hour for Economics 13b be changed to 2:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. I understand from Miss Higgs that rooms are available at this hour. The students registered in the course agree to this change.
I shall appreciate it if the change can be arranged before the next meeting of the class on Tuesday.
Sincerely yours,
H. H. Burbank
Dean Kenneth B. Murdock
20 University Hall
_______________________________________
[Memo: Dept. Secretary to E. B. Wilson, Carbon copy]
February 5, 1935
Dear Professor Wilson,
Dr. Machlup tells me that because of the conflict of Economics 13b and 50 you are willing to change the hour of meeting Economics 13b to 2:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. Until I am sure that the students who are taking the course for credit are agreeable, I cannot notify Dean Murdock of this change.
The simplest way to do this, I think, is for you to ask the class at its meeting on Thursday. There will be no trouble, I am sure, about securing a room at that hour. If you will let me know the outcome as soon as possible, I will make the necessary arrangements at the office.
Sincerely yours,
Secretary
Professor E. B. Wilson
55 Shattuck Street
Boston, Massachusetts
_______________________________________
[Petition signed by students/auditors in Econ 13b]
[Penciled in upper right: “Econ 13b]
[typed] We should like to attend both, unfortunately conflicting, courses: Economics 13b (Mathematical Economics) and Economics 50 (Money and Banking). It would be much appreciated if a change in schedule could be arranged.
[signed] Oskar Lange
[signed] Nicholas Georgescu
[signed] Gerhard Tintner
[added in handwriting] We also, though not taking Ec. 50, would be willing to change hours.
[signed] S. S. Alexander
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23, Folder “Course Offerings 1932-37-40”.
_______________________________________
[Petition signed by students/auditors in Econ 50]
[Penciled in upper right: “Econ 50]
[typed] We should like to attend both, unfortunately conflicting, courses: Economics 13b (Mathematical Economics) and Economics 50 (Money and Banking). It would be much appreciated if a change in schedule could be arranged.
[signed] W. Stolper
[signed] J. P. Cavin
[signed] A. L. Meyers
[signed] C. Y. Lo
[signed] T. Y. Wu [?]
[signed] S. Bolts [?]
[signed] P. Chanten [?]
[signed] W. Malenbaum
Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23, Folder “Course Offerings 1932-37-40”.
_______________________________________
[Economics 13b: Course enrollment]
[Economics] 13b 2hf. Professor E. B. Wilson.—Mathematical Economics.
2 Graduates, 1 Junior. Total 3
[Economics] 50. Professors Williams and Dr. Machlup-Wolf.—Principles of Money and Banking.
16 Graduates., 10 Seniors, 1 Junior, 8 Radcliffe. Total 35.
Source: Annual Report of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1934-35, pp. 81-2.
“William James Ashley (1860–1927) was one of a group of economists (including, among others, William Cunningham, H. S. Foxwell, and W. A. S. Hewins) who at the turn of this century constituted the English school of economic history, the school which had been given its form in the 1870s and 1880s by Thorold Rogers and Arnold Toynbee. Ashley, alone of this group, also had ties with the German school of historical economists, which under the leadership of Gustav Schmoller had, from the 1870s on, posited a historical, statistical, and inductive method against the abstract, deductive method of the classical school of Ricardo.”
More can be found in the entry written by Bernard Semmel in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1969).
_________________________________
ASHLEY, William James, 1860-
Born in London, Eng., 1860; educated at Balliol College, Oxford; Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; Lecturer in Modern History in Lincoln and Corpus Christi Colleges; Professor of Political Economy and of Constitutional History in the University of Toronto, Canada; Professor of Economic History at Harvard; Corresponding member of the Royal Historical Society (England); author of “Introduction to English Economic History and Theory.”
WILLIAM JAMES ASHLEY, A.M., Professor of Economic History at Harvard since 1892, is the son of James and Jane (Short) Ashley, and was born in London, England, February 25, 1860. His early education was obtained at St. Olave’s Grammar School, Southwark, London; and his collegiate training as a Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1881, (obtaining the Lothian Prize in the next year), and the degree of Master of Arts in 1885. For the three years preceding 1888 he was a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Modern History in Lincoln and Corpus Christi Colleges. From then until 1892 he was a Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional History in the University of Toronto, Canada. The last named year he was appointed Professor of Economic History at Harvard. Mr. Ashley is a Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society (England). As a writer as well as an Instructor he has won pronounced recognition. His chief work is An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory, of which the first volume was published in 1888 [Part I. The Middle Ages: first edition, 1888; second edition, 1892; third edition, 1894; fourth edition, 1909] and the second in 1893 [Part II. The End of the Middle Ages: first edition, 1888; second edition, 1893; fourth edition, 1906], several editions being put to press, and the book appearing both in England and America, as well as being translated into German and French. Various articles have also appeared from his pen in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, in the Political Science Quarterly, in the Economic Journal, in the Economic Review and in the English Historical Review. He married, on July 2, 1888, Annie Margaret, daughter of George Binkbeck Hill, D.C.L., the Editor of Boswell, and has three children: Annie, Alice Mary and Walter Ashley.
Source: University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), p. 595.
Frank W. Taussig took over this taxation course from Charles E. Dunbar in 1896/97. The course was a graduate course that juniors and seniors were permitted to attend. About a decade later the topic was absorbed into Charles Bullock’s teaching portfolio. The reading list is for the academic year 1897-98. It is not altogether obvious what Taussig intended with the pairings of readings within curly brackets. I presume he meant that students were allowed to choose from the two items.
After posting this material, I have added a transcription of the final examination for this course.
________________________________________
[Course Announcement]
*71 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to Local Taxation in the United States. Half-course (first half-year.) Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Taussig.
Source: Harvard University, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1897-98 (second edition, 1897), p. 39.
________________________________________
[Course Enrollment]
[Economics ] 71. Professor Taussig.—The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to Local Taxation in the United States. 2 or 3 hours. 1st half year.
Total 42: 5 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.
Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.
________________________________________
ECONOMICS 71.
Seligman, [Edwin R. A.] — Essays in Taxation.
[1st edition, 1895; 2nd edition, 1897; 3rd edition, 1900; 4th edition, 1903; 5th edition, 1905; 6th edition, 1909; 7th edition, 1911; 8th edition, 1913; 9th edition, 1921; 10th edition, 1925]
Bastable, [C.F.] — Public Finance.
[1st edition, 1892; 2nd edition, 1895; 3rd edition, 1903]
Leroy-Beaulieu, [Paul] —Science des Finances, Vol. I [Des Revenus Publics]
[3rd edition (1883); 5th edition (1892); 6th edition (1899)]
Say, [Léon] — Dictionnaire des Finances. [1889]
[Tome I: A — D (1889); Tome II: E — Z (1894)]
Quarterly Journal of Economics, cited as Q. J. E.
Dowell, [Stephen] — History of Taxation and Taxes in England [1884].
Vol. I (Taxation, From the Earliest Times to the Civil War); Vol. II (Taxation, From the Civil War to the Present Day); Vol. III (Direct Taxes and Stamp Duties); Vol. IV (Taxes on Articles of Consumption)]
[Palgrave, R. H. Inglis (editor). Dictionary of Political Economy (1899).
Vol. I, A — E; Vol. II, F — M; Vol. III, N — Z]
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS: CLASSIFICATION.
Seligman, Ch. IX.
Bastable, Bk. II, Ch. I; Bk. III, Ch. 1
TAXES ON LAND.
{Leroy-Beaulieu. Bk. II, Ch. VI;
Say, article “Foncière (Contribution).” 233-241.}
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. I.
Dictionary of Political Economy, article “Land Tax.”
HABITATION TAXES.
{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VII.
Say, article “Personelle-Mobilière,” 850-857.}
Dowell, Vol. III, 186-192.
INCOME TAXES.
Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. X.
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. IV.
{Dowell, Vol. III, 99-122;
Article “Income Tax in the United Kingdom,” in Dictionary of Political Economy, Vol. II.}
J. A. Hill, The Prussian Income Tax, Q. J. E., January, 1892.
Seligman, Ch. X, iii, iv.
BUSINESS TAXES.
{Say, article “Patentes,” pp. 743-752;
Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VIII.}
J. A. Hill—The Prussian Business Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1893.
SUCCESSION TAXES.
Seligman, Ch. V; Ch. IX, i.
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.
PROGRESSION.
{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. II;
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.}
Seligman, Progressive Taxation [1894], pp. 190-200; pp. 39-53 (Switzerland). [2nd edition, 1908]]
DIRECT TAXES BY THE UNITED STATES.
C. F. Dunbar, The Direct Tax of 1861, Q. J. E., July, 1889; Vol. III, pp. 436-446.
J. A. Hill, The Civil War Income Tax, Q. J. E., July, 1894.
C. F. Dunbar, The New Income Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1894.
LOCAL TAXES IN ENGLAND.
Blunden, Local Taxation and Finance, Ch. III, IV, V.
LOCAL TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Seligman, Ch. II, IV, VI, XI.
Ely, Taxation in American States, part III, Ch. VII.
Plehn, The General Property Tax in California, (Economic Studies, Vol. II, No. 3), Part II, 151-178.
Angell, The Tax Inquisitor System in Ohio, in Yale Review, February, 1897.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, folder “1897-1898”.
Image Source: Harvard College Album, 1900.
Image Source: Frank W. Taussig (Original black and white image from of Frank William Taussig from a cabinet card photograph, 1895, at the Harvard University Archives HUP.
Arthur Eli Monroe was a 100% Harvard man from his undergraduate days through his retirement: a member of the Harvard class of 1908; at various times (senior) lecturer and (senior) tutor of economics in Kirkland House; held the rank of assistant professor of economics from 1922/23 through 1927-28; and served as managing editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics through the May 1948.
Monroe’s 1918 Ph.D. dissertation was published as Monetary Theory before Adam Smith (Harvard University Press, 1923). He edited a collection of writings from Aristotle through Hume in Early Economic Thought (1924). He published Value and Income (Harvard University Press, 1931) that is among the assigned readings for the course below.
Published biographical detail is pretty scarce. From his passport application (submitted in April 1922) we find that Monroe was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts on August 2, 1885. His father Eli Monroe was born in Canada and emigrated to the United States in 1859. His mother (born in Vermont according to the U.S. Census), was Louise Arsino. He listed France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and Czechoslovakia as the countries he intended to visit leaving on the Laconia from the port of Boston May 31, 1922. Monroe’s World War II Draft Registration Card (April 26, 1942) lists him as being 5-7 ½ inches tall, weighing 140 lbs., and having a ruddy complexion. I have been unable to determine exactly when and where Monroe died. He was still listed among the American Economic Association members as of 1966, having an address in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but he was no longer listed in 1969.
The “longer” undergraduate course in economic theory at Harvard (2 semesters) was taught by Edward Chamberlin, Economics 1. Interesting to note in Monroe’s course are the seven chapters assigned from Keynes’ General Theory already in December 1937.
____________________________________
[Course description]
Economics 2a 1hf. Economic Theory (shorter course)
Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Dr. Monroe.
Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1937-38 (2nd edition). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 34, No. 44 (October 1, 1937), p. 148.
____________________________________
[Course enrollment]
[Economics] 2a 1hf. Dr. Monroe.—Economic Theory (shorter course).
9 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 6 Other. Total 75.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1937-38, p. 84.
____________________________________
ECONOMICS 2a
1937-38
October:
A. E. Monroe: Value and Income.
Chs. 5, 6, 7, 8
J. B. Clark: The Distribution of Wealth.
Chs. 8, 9, 12, 13, 19, 21, 22
Irving Fisher: The Theory of Interest
Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7
November:
J. R. Hicks: The Theory of wages
Chs. 1, 2, 5, 6
A. E. Monroe: Quarterly Journal of Economics
August, 1933, pp. 627-646
A. E. Monroe: Value and Income
Chs. 3 (secs. 1 and 2), 11, 13, 15
December:
F. H. Knight: Risk, Uncertainty and Profit
Chs. 7, 8, 9, 10
J. M. Keynes: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
Chs. 2, 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 19
Reading Period: One of the following:
A. Gray: The Development of Economic Doctrine
Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
A. G. B. Fisher: The Clash of Progress and Secuirty
Entire
P. T. Homan: Contemporary Economic Thought
Essays on Veblen, Marshall, Mitchell
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 2, Folder “1937-1938”.
Image Source: Harvard Album 1942.