Author: Irwin Collier

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Columbia Regulations

Columbia. Ph.D. Memo On Oral Examinations. 1932-33

 

 

The Committee on Instruction of the Columbia University Faculty of Political Science (consisting of the four departments of public law, history, economics and sociology) circulated the following memorandum regarding the oral subject examinations for the Ph.D. degree. One is struck at both the apparent informality and variation of practice in the matter at the time the memorandum was written (most likely sometime during the academic year 1932-33). Of 74 examinations in economics, 52 were passed unconditionally during the three years 1929-30 through 1931-32.

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From the Committee on Instruction to the Members of the Faculty of Political Science
Memorandum on the Procedure of Doctor’s Examinations

At a recent meeting the Committee on Instruction discussed certain questions which seem pertinent in respect of the procedure in and standards of oral subject examinations for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The Committee has decided to submit to the members of the Faculty certain of these considerations in the hope that the several Departments will discuss in departmental meetings any matters which seem important.

The procedure of oral subject examinations apparently rests in large part on custom. When a candidate is proposed for examination by a Department notices are sent to all the members of the proposing Department who are members of the Faculty of Political Science and a notice goes also to each of the other three Departments. The proposing Department can be represented at the examination by a committee of its members; it may add to the committee Professors who are not on the Faculty of Political Science; and the three non-proposing Departments are expected to designate representatives. In some cases this representative is a junior officer under the Faculty.

These inquiries concerning the conventions of examinations are not intended to suggest that there should be any attempt to draw up detailed rules and regulations. It is not thought that any existing evils—if there are such—can be eliminated by a codification of practices and agreement that the code should be followed. With the procedure based on custom, however, it does seem to the Committee on Instruction worth while for the customs to be recanvassed by informal discussions. This would seem to be the more desirable because of the increase in the number of doctoral candidates and the increased number of professors who serve on examining committees. A few years ago every member of a Department attended every departmental examination. Now there is increasing turnover among examiners. Hence, as has been said, it is more important that pertinent questions be rediscussed In submitting these questions the Committee on Instruction does no more than suggest that they are worthy of consideration. The Committee now expresses no opinion of how the questions should be answered:

1) Should oral examinations be made formal? Manifestly the occasion is an important one for the candidate. Should members of the examining committee smoke during the examination? Should the candidate smoke? Should member of the examining committee bring books, papers or proofs with them and carry on their work save when they themselves are asking questions? Should the presiding officer at the examination attempt to check conversations à deux or à trois between members of the examining committee when they are not asking questions?

2) Is it desirable to have any general understanding concerning the time allotted for the major subject and for the minor subject (a) when both subjects are within the same department, and (b) when the minor subject is in a different Department? Presumably in the case of (a) the matter can be settled within the Department. In the case of (b) the allocation seems to vary greatly, from twenty-five minutes to an hour.

3) Is it desirable to have the time of the examination devoted to questioning by four or five professors or is it desirable to have the questioning by eight or even more professors? If the questioning must be conducted by the larger number is it desirable to allow at least one of them a full half or three quarters of an hour?

4) Should all the professors who have asked questions be present at the conclusion of the examination and participate in the discussion of the candidate’s fate? Is it desirable for a questioner, after finishing his questions, to leave the examination room telling the Chairman his opinion of the candidate on his subject?

5) How should the decision of the examining committee be reached? By majority vote?

6) Should encouragement be given the practice of questions by representatives of other departments? What weight should be attached to the opinions of these representatives? Should efforts be made to give candidates less extemporaneous examinations?

8) Is there any reason for a change in the form of the Dean’s blanks so that on the record of the examination there will appear a list of the professors present and the special subjects on which they examined?

9) In the discussions of whether a student is to be passed or failed references to previous students who have passed or failed rest on the recollections of professors who have been on both examining committees. Is it desirable that notations be made on the blanks giving some indication of the nature of the performance of candidates and would it be possible for the Dean’s office to cumulate these notations and to send over with each new blank a summary of recent performances in that department?

10) Should consideration be given to the question of whether, in the absence of an examining committee of a certain size (including representatives from other departments) the examination should be postponed?

Record of Oral Subjects Examinations for the PhD Degree
Faculty of Political Science

Passed

 Failed

Conditioned

1929-30
Public Law

6

 10

4
History

13

 12

6
Economics

21

 2

4
Sociology

7

 1

1

1930-31
Public Law

13

 6

3
History

20

 6
Economics

17

 3

5
Sociology

11

 2

1931-32
Public Law

12

 9

2
History

16

10
Economics

14

 5

3
Sociology

7

 7

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries. Manuscript Collections. Columbia University Department of Economics Collection. Carl Shoup Materials. Box 10. Folder “Columbia University—General”.

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ERVM

Outpost of Economics in the Rear-View Mirror on Facebook

Following the example of distinguished bloggers, today I set up an “outpost” on Facebook to announce the posting of new artifacts. Spread the word!

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Chicago Columbia Cornell Harvard Wisconsin

Chicago Economics’ Subjective Self-Ranking in 1913

The Dean of the University of Chicago’s College of Commerce and Administration, L. C. Marshall, submitted a proposal October 30, 1913 to President Harry Pratt Judson of the University of Chicago that outlined immediate steps for a transition from temporary arrangements for the College of Commerce and Administration to a permanent policy to go into effect 1914-15. Part of Marshall’s proposal addressed the issue of “the preparation of a student constituency” which besides outreach to entering freshmen and advanced undergraduates included the item “attracting graduate students”. The appendix transcribed for this posting presents a subjective ranking of the factors involved in drawing economics graduate students to the University of Chicago.

The overall ranking was determined by adding the ranks for seven factors with two of those factors given a double-weight.

According to L. C. Marshall, the scholarly reputation of Chicago in economics in 1913 put it in fifth place behind Columbia, Harvard, Cornell and Wisconsin.

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Appendix I

AN ESTIMATE OF THE RANKING OF SIX INSTITUTIONS IN ABILITY TO DRAW GRADUATE STUDENTS IN ECONOMICS

Notes:

  1. This is an attempt to estimate how the institutions are regarded by prospective graduate students and not an attempt to estimate real merit.
  2. The estimate is based on the ranking according to the seven main items which are likely to draw students: I. Geographical location; II. Reputation for discipline given; III. General reputation of social science departments; IV. Scholarly reputation of economics department; V. Reputation for placing men; VI. Opportunities for self-support; and VII. Influence of Teachers out.
  3. Two items are weighted, viz; VI. Opportunities for self-support, and VII. Influence of teachers out.

I.

II.

Geographical Location

Reputation for Discipline given
1  Chicago
2  Columbia
3  Harvard
4  Wisconsin
5  Cornell
6  Illinois		 1  Harvard
2  Chicago
3  Columbia
4  Wisconsin
5  Cornell
6  Illinois

III.

IV.

General Reputation of Social Science Departments

Scholarly Reputation of Economics Department
1  Columbia
2  Harvard
3  Wisconsin
4  Chicago
5  Cornell
6  Illinois		 1  Columbia
2  Harvard
3  Cornell
4  Wisconsin
5  Chicago
6  Illinois

V.

VI.

Reputation for Placing Men

Opportunities for Self-support
(weighted by 2)
1  Columbia
2  Harvard
3  Wisconsin
4  Chicago
5  Cornell
6  Illinois		 1  Harvard
2  Wisconsin
3  Columbia
4  Illinois
5  Chicago
6  Cornell

VII.

VIII.

Influence of Teachers out
(weighted by 2)

Final Ranking and Points
1  Harvard
2  Columbia
3  Wisconsin
4  Cornell
5  Chicago
6  Illinois		 1  Harvard              14
2  Columbia           18
3  Wisconsin          28
4  Chicago              36
5  Cornell               43
6  Illinois                50

Comments:

No. I is eminently satisfactory

No. II will see Chicago at the head of the list when III, IV, and VII have been remedied

No. III and IV require (a) on the administrative side, carrying through the plans of the College of Commerce and Administration; (b) the earning of scholarly reputation by the members of the department

No. V will care for itself. Chicago will be at the top of this list in five years if we remedy III, IV, VI, and VII.

No. VI is a very serious matter, and requires consideration too detailed to be attempted here

No. VII will not be overcome for ten years.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics Records, Box 14, Folder 13

Image Source:  Picture of Dean Leon C. Marshall from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-04113, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory, Schumpeter, 1941-42

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

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According to the Presidential Report of Harvard University, in 1941-42 nine graduate students were enrolled in Joseph Schumpeter’s full-year course, Economics 103, Advanced Economic Theory. Reading lists and exam questions are provided here for both semesters.

 ________________________________

[Course Announcements 1941-42]

For Undergraduates and Graduates

The Courses for Undergraduates and Graduates, unless otherwise stated, are open only to students who have passed in Course A [Principles of Economics]

[…]

*Economics 1. Economic Theory

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructors) Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, Dr. O. H. Taylor, and Associate Professor Leontief.

This course will be conducted mainly by discussion. It is open only to candidates for the degree with honors.

[…]

*Economics 103. Advanced Economic Theory

Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Schumpeter.

Economics 1, or an equivalent training, is a prerequisite for this course. It may be taken as a half-course in either half-year.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 38, No. 11 (March 19, 1941). Provisional Announcement of the the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1941-42, pp. 56-59.

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ECONOMICS 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42

This course is to serve the two purposes, first, of a critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory as improved by later work on the same lines; second, of an introduction into modern “dynamics” and into the problems arising out of the necessity of fitting theory to time-series material. The first purpose will be dominating in the work of the first, the second in the work of the second semester.

First Semester

 

I. Preliminaries. The nature of economic variables and equilibria. Various meanings of Stability. Structural and confluent relations. Statics and Dynamics vs. stationary and evolutionary states. Comparative Statics. One to two weeks.

No reading assignments.

II. Monetary and “real” processes. Aggregative Models. One to two weeks.

Keynes, General Theory.

Lange, “The rate of interest and the optimum propensity to consume,” Economica, February 1938.

III. The (traditional) theory of the individual household and the individual firm.

Rest of semester.

The background of this theory is Marshallian. Marshall’s Principles and Wicksell’s Lectures, Vol. I, should be thoroughly familiar to, and frequently referred to, by every student. No specific references will hence be made to them in what follows. In addition, general reference is here made to:

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
E. H. Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.

A. Walras’ static equilibrium relations. One week.

No additional reading (but refer to Wicksell and Hicks).

B. Statics of the family budget. Indifference maps. Engels curves. Two weeks.

Hicks, first part.
Frisch, New Methods of Measuring Marginal Utility (1932).
Suggestion: Allen and Bowley, Family Expenditure, 1935.

C. Statics of the individual firm. Production functions and isoquants. Cost calculation. Depreciation. The Marshallian supply curves. Two weeks.

Kaldor, “The Equilibrium of the Firm,” Economic Journal, 1934.
Machlup, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, 1935.
Sraffa, “The Laws of Return under Competitive Conditions,” Economic Journal, 1926.
Robinson, “Imperfect Competition and Falling Supply Price,” Economic Journal, 1932.
Robinson, “What Is Perfect Competition?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.
Viner, “Cost and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Kahn, “Some Notes on Ideal Output,” Economic Journal, 1935.

D. Problems of monopolistic and oligopolistic price policy. Oligopoly and bilateral monopoly. Discrimination. Two weeks.

Hicks, “The Theory of Monopoly,” Econometrica, 1935.
Lerner, “The Concept and Measurement of Monopoly Power,” Review of Economic Studies, 1934.
Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Books II, IV, V.
Leontief, “The Theory of Limited and Unlimited Discrimination,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.

E. Locational Problems. One week.

Hotelling, “Stability in Competition,” Economic Journal, 1929.
Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Harvard Economic Studies, No. LV.

Reading Period Suggestion:

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

________________________________

1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

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

  1. Define the nature of economic equilibria. Give examples of the various types of them. Distinguish between equilibrium, determinateness, and stability.
  2. Explain the difference between Dynamics and Comparative Statics. In what respects do you consider the first approach to be superior to the second?
  3. Keynes’ General Theory, as thrown into a system of equations by Oscar Lange, purports to give a model of the economic process. So does the system of equations written by Walras. What are the principal differences between the two and what do you think of their relative merits a) in general, b) with respect to particular set of problems?
  4. We have replaced the old concept of marginal utility by the concept of marginal rate of substitution. What were the reasons for this and what have we gained thereby?
  5. Define the surface of consumption and discuss the three curves which are traced out by the sections of that surface by planes perpendicular to the three axes.
  6. What is meant by elasticity of substitution? And what are the principal uses for this concept?
  7. Explain the nature of a linear production function that is homogeneous of the first degree and state the reasons why many economists are so partial to it. Should we, or should we not, make that particular assumption about the form of our production functions?
  8. In what sense is it time to say that, in framing a rational price policy, firms should take no account of overhead but only of marginal cost?

Mid-Year, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, Sp & Fall 41-42”.

________________________________

Economics 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42
Second Semester

I

The work of this semester is, first, to complete the critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory begun in the first semester; and to deal with modern “dynamics” and some of the problems arising out of the fact that economic theory is under the necessity of using time-series material. The general background will be supplied, as it has been in the first semester, by the following treatises to which no further reference will be made in this Reading List:

Alfred Marshall, Principles.
Knut Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I.
Edward H. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

II

Not assigned, nor necessary in order to fulfill course requirements, but suggested are the following works (this suggestion also covering the usual Reading Period assignments):

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.
Erik Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic expansion, Stockholm Economic Studies, 1936).
J. Tinbergen, Statistic Testing of Business-Cycle Theories, II, Business Cycles in the United States of America: 1919-1932, League of Nations, Geneva, 1939. (This work, which may seem to be far removed from the field of pure theory, nevertheless constitutes a most important contributions to it.)

III

(1) Distinction between Dynamics and the Theory of Economic Development. Disturbances, Transitional States, and the Long-Run Normal. Economic Hysteresis and Walras Reaction. Microdynamic and Macrodynamic Models.

No reading assignments.

(2) Lagged Reaction. The Hog-Cycle Case. (Cobweb). Buyers reacting to current price, sellers reacting to a previous price. The case of durable goods; the shipbuilding cycle.

(Tinbergen: Ein Schiffbauzyklus? Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, July, 1931, not assigned.)

(3) Other “dynamising” factors: reaction to current rate of change of price; reaction to weighted average of past prices. Friction. The Theory of Expectations.

N. Kaldor, “Speculation and Economic Stability,” Review of Economic Studies, October, 1939.
L. M. Lachmann, “Uncertainty and Liquidity Preference, “ Economica, August, 1937.
F. A. von Hayek, “Economics and Knowledge,” Economica, February, 1937.
F. Lavington, “An Approach to the Theory of Business Risks,” Economic Journal, June, 1925.

(4) Statistical Demand and Cost Curves.

Henry Schultz, Statistical Laws of Demand and Supply, 1928. (This will stand instead of the much more significant, but also much more difficult work of the same author: Theory and Measurement of Demand, 1940.
Joel Dean, The Relations of Cost to Output (National Bureau of Economic Research, Technical Paper No. 2, 19).

(5) Problems of Price Policy.

(See First-Semester Reading List, III/D.)

(6) Some Aspects of the Theory of Capital and interest.

G. Mackenroth, “Period of Production, Durability and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1930.
F. H. Knight, “Capital, Time, and the Interest Rate,” Economica, August, 1934.
F. Machlup, “Professor Knight and the Period of Production,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1935.
John B. Canning, The Economics of Accountancy, 1929. (Chapter on Depreciation.)
Irving Fisher, The Theory of Interest, 1916.

(7) Some Macrodynamic Models

F. R. Harrod, “An Essay in Dynamic Theory,” Economic Journal, March, 1939.
N. Kaldor, “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, March 1940.
M. Kalecki, “A Theory of the Business Cycle,” Review of Economic Studies, February, 1937. (Reprinted in Essays on the Theory of Economic Fluctuations.)
(R. Frisch, “Impulses and Propagation Waves,” Essays in Honor of Gustaf Cassel; technically difficult.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

________________________________

1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

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

  1. Consider the micro-dynamic model which is usually referred to as the “cobweb” pattern. Explain the commonsense of the underlying theory. Discuss its value in interpreting reality.
  2. A dynamic model may yield damped, stationary or anti-damped (explosive) solutions. Should we exclude the anti-damped ones on the ground that they are unrealistic because as a matter of fact economic patterns do not explode?
  3. In what sense can it be said that increasing returns are incompatible with perfect (pure) competition?
  4. Assume that the only purpose of the Practice of Depreciation is to allocate the costs of durable instruments of production among the periods of account (“years”) covered by the service life of those instruments. Given that purpose, what is the correct principle of figuring out the amount of depreciation?
  5. State the classical (Marshallian) theory of the influence of commodity speculation (trade in futures) on the time-shape of values (fluctuations in prices and in quantities sold). How does modern theory differ from that picture? What is your own opinion about the influence of speculation?
  6. Let a statistical demand curve be derived by plotting the prices of a commodity, divided by a wholesale price index, against the corresponding amounts of its per capita consumption. What do you think of such a procedure and how would you judge such a demand curve?
  7. If a firm owns several plants, how will it distribute a given amount of output among them?
  8. Show that, in the absence of further information, price is indeterminate in the case of Bilateral Monopoly.

Final, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, sp & Fall 41-42”.

Categories
Bibliography Chicago Harvard

Laughlin’s List: Recommended Teacher’s Library of Economics, 1887.

 

 

While still an assistant professor of political economy at Harvard, J. Laurence Laughlin (who went on to become professor and first head of  the Chicago department of political economy) included the following bibliography of works that together would constitute “A Teacher’s Library”. I provide here links to almost every item on the Laughlin List. When I could not find the exact edition that Laughlin referenced, I have taken the liberty of substituting the closest edition I was able to find quickly.

_________________________________

A TEACHER’S LIBRARY,
SELECTED FROM ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN AUTHORS.

[By J. Laurence Laughlin, 1887]

General Treatises.

John Stuart Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy.” Abridged, with critical, bibliographical, and explanatory notes, and a sketch of the History of Political Economy, by J. Laurence Laughlin. A textbook for colleges (1884).

Professor Fawcett’s “Manual of Political Economy” (London, sixth edition, 1883) is a brief statement of Mill’s book, with additional matter on the precious metals, slavery, trades-unions, co-operation, local taxation, etc.

Antoine-Élise Cherbuliez’s “Précis de la science économique” (Paris, 1862, [Vol. 1, Vol. 2]) follows the same arrangement as Mill, and is considered the best treatise on economic science in the French language. He is methodical, profound, and clear, and separates pure from applied political economy.

Other excellent books in French are: Courcelle-Seneuil’s “Traité théorique et pratique d’économie politique” (1858), (Paris, second edition, 1867, [Vol. 1, Vol. 2), and a compendium by Henri Baudrillart, “Manuel d’économie politique” (third edition, 1872).

Roscher’s “Principles of Political Economy” [Die Grundlagen der Nationalökonomie (1854 edition); (1897, 22nd edition)] is a good example of the German historical method: its notes are crowded with facts; but the English translation ([Vol. 1, Vol. 2] New York, 1878) is badly done. There is an excellent translation [Vol. 1, Vol. 2] of it into French by Wolowski.

A desirable elementary work, “The Economics of Industry” (London, 1879; second edition, 1881), was prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall.

Professor Jevons wrote a “Primer of Political Economy” (1878), which is a simple, bird’s-eye view of the subject in a very narrow compass.

 

Important General Works.

Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (1776). The edition of McCulloch is, perhaps, more serviceable than that of J. E. T. Rogers [Vol. 1, Vol. 2].

Ricardo’s “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817).

J. S. Mill’s” Principles of Political Economy” (2 vols., 1848, sixth edition, 1865, [7th edition. W. J. Ashley, ed. (1909)]).

Schönberg’s “Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie” (1882) [3rd edition (1890)]. This is a large co-operative treatise by twenty-one writers from the historical school.

Cairnes’s “Leading Principles of Political Economy” (1874); “Logical Method ” (1875), lectures first delivered in Dublin in 1857.

Carey’s ” Social Science ” (1877), in three volumes [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]. This has been abridged in one volume by Kate McLean.

F. A. Walker’s “Political Economy” (1883). This author differs from other economists, chiefly on wages and questions of distribution.

 

Treatises on Special Subjects.

W. T. Thornton’s “On Labor” (1869).

H. George’s “Progress and Poverty” (1879). In connection with this, read F. A. Walker’s “Land and Rent” (1883).

J. Caird’s “Landed Interest” (fourth edition, 1880), treating of English land and the food-supply.

MacLeod’s “Theory and Practice of Banking” (third edition, 1875-1876) [Vol. 1 (4ed, 1883), Vol. 2 (4ed, 1886)]

Goschen’s “Theory of Foreign Exchanges ” (eighth edition, 1875) [10ed, 1879].

A. T. Hadley’s “Railroad Transportation” (1885).

F. W. Taussig’s “History of the Present Tariff” (1886).

W. G. Sumner’s “History of Protection in the United States.” (1883)

Giles B. Stebbins’s “[The American] Protectionist’s Manual.” (1883).

Erastus B. Bigelow’s “The Tariff Question.” [1862]

W. G. Sumner’s “History of American Currency” (1874).

John Jay Knox’s “United States Notes” ([2ed] 1884).

Jevons’s “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange” (1875).

J. L. Laughlin’s “History of Bimetallism in the United States” (1885). [2ed (1888),  4ed (1898)]

Tooke and Newmarch’s “History of Prices” (1837-1856), in six volumes.
[Vol. 1, 1838; Vol. 2, 1838; Vol. 3, 1840; Vol. 4, 1848; Vol. 5, 1857; Vol. 6, 1857]

M. Block’s “Traité théorique et pratique de statistique” (1878). [2e, 1886]

Leroy-Beaulieu’s “Traité de la science des finances” (1883) [5ed (1891/2), Vol. 1, Vol. 2]. This is an extended work, in two volumes, on taxation and finance; “Essai sur la répartition des richesses ” (second edition, 1883).

F. A. Walker’s “The Wages Question ” (1876); “Money” (1878).

M. Louis Reybaud’s “Études sur les réformateurs, ou socialistes modernes ” (seventh edition, 1864). [Vol. 1; Vol. 2]

Rae’s “Contemporary Socialism” (1884) gives a compendious statement of the tenets of modern socialists. See, also, R. T. Ely’s “French and German Socialism” (1883).

D. A. Wells’s “Our Merchant Marine.” [1890]

Dictionaries.

McCulloch’s “Commercial Dictionary ” (new and enlarged edition, 1882).
[Published 1880 by Longmans in London, edited by Hugh G. Reid.]

Lalor’s “Cyclopaedia of Political Science” (1881-1884) is devoted to articles on political science, political economy, and American history. [Vol. 1 (Abdication—Duty), 1883; Vol. 2 (East India Company—Nullification), 1883; Vol. 3 (Oath—Zollverein), 1890]

Coquelin and Guillaumin’s “Dictionnaire de l’économie politique ” (1851-1853, third edition, 1864), in two large volumes. [Vol. 1 (1864); Vol. 2 (1864)]

 

Reports and Statistics.

The “Compendiums of the Census” for 1840, 1850, 1860, and 1870, are desirable. The volumes of the tenth census (1880) are of great value for all questions; as is also F. A. Walker’s “Statistical Atlas ” (1874); and Scribner’s ” Statistical Atlas of the United States,” based on the census of 1880.

The United States Bureau of Statistics issues quarterly statements; and annually a report on “Commerce and Navigation,” and another on the “Internal Commerce of the United States.” [e.g. 1877 report]

The “Statistical Abstract” is an annual publication, by the same department, compact and useful. It dates only from 1878.

The Director of the Mint issues an annual report dealing with the precious metals and the circulation. Its tables are important.

The Comptroller of the Currency (especially during the administration of J. J. Knox) has given important annual reports upon the banking systems of the United States.

The reports of the Secretary of the Treasury deal with the general finances of the United States. These, with the two last mentioned, are bound together in the volume of “Finance Reports,” but often shorn of their tables.

There are valuable special reports to Congress of commissioners on the tariff, shipping, and other subjects, published by the Government.

The report on the “International Monetary Conference of 1878” contains a vast quantity of material on monetary questions.

The British parliamentary documents contain several annual “Statistical Abstracts” of the greatest value, of which the one relating to other European states is peculiarly convenient and useful. These can always be purchased at given prices.

A. R. Spofford’s “American Almanac” is an annual of great usefulness. [e.g. (1887)]

J. H. Hickcox, Washington, publishes a very useful catalogue of the Government publications, entitled ” United States Publications.” [Vol. 1 (1885), Vol. 2 (1886), Vol. 3 (1887)]

_______________________

Source:  J. Laurence Laughlin (1887). The Elements of Political Economy with some Applications to Questions of the Day. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

An earlier version with essentially the same Teacher’s Library also found in: J. Laurence Laughlin (1885). The Study of Political Economy. Hints to Students and Teachers. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

 

Image Source: J. Laurence Laughlin in Plans of National Currency Reform. 78th meeting of the Sunset Club, December 6, 1894 held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago, p. 3. Found in the University of Chicago Archives, Papers of J. Laurence Laughlin, Box 1, Folder 17.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Sociology Exam. First Semester, Carver 1922-23.

In the previous post we have a syllabus with links to the assigned readings for the full-year course Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, taught at Harvard by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver. This copy of the printed exam questions for the first term of the academic year 1922-23 was found in the papers of Vernon Orval Watts in the Hoover Institution archives.  The examination questions for the final examination for the second semester has been posted as well.

Watts’ own notes for the course are for following academic year. A brief c.v. for Watts and his obituary from the Los Angeles Times provide some biographic detail for Vernon Orval Watts. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 in economics for the dissertation “The development of the technological concept of production in Anglo-American Thought.” His autobiography Recollections of an Unplanned Life is available to read on-line at hathitrust.org.

From Watts’ course notes we can see the following major differences between the 1917-18 syllabus and what was taught in 1923-24.

  • More chapters in Lucius Moody Bristol’s Social Adaptation were discussed in the lectures (Watts’ papers included his notes on Chapters 1-13);
  • Added were the published Sigma Xi Lectures delivered at Yale University, 1921-22 (George Alfred Baitsell, ed., The Evolution of Man. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1922);
  • Added for the second term was the newly published textbook by Frederick A. Bushee, Principles of Sociology. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1924.

Watts’ course notes also show that Carver still assigned the vast bulk of his book of readings in sociology (Sociology and Social Progress, 1905) as well as a collection of his essays published in 1915. Indeed it appears to me that reading the first 13 chapters of Bristol and these two Carver books would have been quite sufficient for a student to get a good grade in the course.

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1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 8

  1. Would you call sociology a branch of economics or economics a branch of sociology? Explain why.
  2. How would you determine whether a given social change is progressive or not?
  3. Do men work together in groups because they are socially minded, or do they become socially minded because it pays economically to work together in groups?
  4. What are the chief eugenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  5. What are the chief dysgenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  6. To which group of factors, the moral or the intellectual, does Buckle attach the greater importance in the promotion of civilization? Why?
  7. What are meant by “self-appraisal,” “consciousness of kind,” sympathy, and imitation, and how is each related to the process of socialization?
  8. How are “self-appraisal” and “consciousness of kind” related to what is known as the race problem?
  9. How does Ross dispose of the “economic interpretation of history”?
  10. Discuss the question: Are human instincts the primary social factors?

Mid-Year. 1923.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box No. 8. Folder: “Harvard Univ. 1922-23 Notes on readings”.

 

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Sociology Syllabus. Carver, 1917-18


Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, was taught by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver in 1917-18. The course could be taken by both undergraduates and graduate students. 17 students were registered (7 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 2 other classifications). Links to all readings are provided!

Added later to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror: mid-year exam questions (from February 1923 for a later version of the course) and the final examination questions from June 1918.

 

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ECONOMICS 8
I
Introduction

1.  Various definitions of Sociology.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part I, chaps. 1.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 1-14 and 65-70

2.  Sociology considered.

1) As the study of the development and progress of social groups, particularly the sovereign group called the state or the nation.
2) As a study of human adaptation as it is affected and modified by the social group.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 88-120.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part II, chaps. 1-6.

3.  Adaptation.

(a) Passive.
(b) Active.

    The Environment.

(a) Physical.
(b) Social.

Bristol, Social Adaptation, Preface and Introduction.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 174-270.

4.  The method of trial and error, or of variation and selection in adaptation.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 276-391.

 

II
Physical Adaptation

5.  The Problem of race improvement.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 392-418, 631-715.

6.  Heredity and Environment as factors in the determination of individual character.

Bristol, Social Adaptation. Chaps. 4, 5, and 6.

7.  Tests of fitness for survival.—The validity of the economic and commercial as compared with the political tests.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 121-126, 419-471, and 522-576.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chap. 7.

8.  The selective agencies at work in modern society.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 676-715.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chap. 5.

 

III
Moral Adaptation

9.  The breeding up of a tame, domesticated, or socialized variety of the human species as opposed to a wild, unsocial or criminal variety.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 577-592.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part III, chaps. 1-3, and 9-12.

10. Morality considered as the economizing and utilizing of human energy, and immorality as the wasting or dissipating of that energy.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part IV, chaps. 1, 11, and 12.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. 1 and 2.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 577-592.

11. The variation and selection of moral codes.

Sumner, Folkways. Sections 1-40; 159-165; 712-728.

12. Forms of conflict.

(a) Destructive.
(b) Deceptive.
(c) Persuasive.
(d) Productive

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chaps. 3, 4, and 5.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 133-173.

13. The earmarks of a good religion.

Carver, The Religion Worth Having.

14. Sympathy; Imitation; Consciousness of Kind.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 472-521.

15. Earmarks of a good man.

A. Knowledge of environment.

(a) physical.
(b) social.

B. Forethought.

(a) industry.
(b) thrift.

C. Dependability.

(a) honesty.
(b) sobriety.
(c) courage.
(d) fidelity.

Ross, Social Control. Pages 1-88; 432-442.
Bristol, Social Adaptation. Pages 301-304.

 

IV
Control of the Physical Environment

16. Scarcity; Economy; Wellbeing.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part VI, chaps. 1, 2, 3, 21, 22, 23.

17.  Desire and repugnance; attainment of good and avoidance of harm.
Production and destruction.

Spencer [sic, “Carver” is correct], Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 127-132.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part VI, chaps. 1, 15, 16

18. Proportionality.

(a) of consumers’ goods.
(b) of producers’ goods.

19.  Valuation.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 85-202.

Cost.
Coördination of labor performed:

(a) at different places.
(b) at different times.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 203-263.

20. The storing of social energy.
The standard of living.

Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise. Pages 1-82, 133-150.

21. The battle of the standards.
Economic competition.

Taussig, Principles of Economics. Vol. II, pages 443-478.

22. Poverty and the uneconomic distribution of human talent.
Summary—The earmarks of a good industrial system.

A. An ample product.
B. Distributed in proportion to merit.
(see Earmarks of a good man)
C.  Consumed rationally.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 264-375.

 

V
Control of the Social Environment

23. Purpose of social control.

(a) release,
(b) direction,
(c) storing of social energy.

Right of the state to be.
Limits of state interference.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 376-429.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 788-808.

24. Source of social control.

Is monarchy a more highly evolved form of government than democracy?
Republican and democratic theories.
Psychology of self-government.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part V, chaps. 1, 2, 17, 18.

25. Voting a means of increasing governmental sensitiveness.
Can democracy select good men?

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part V, chap. 19.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 716-788.

26. Can democracy discipline itself?
The earmarks of a good government.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “1917-1918”.

Categories
Columbia Courses Curriculum

Columbia. Economics Curriculum 1898-99

In the December 1898 issue of the Columbia University Quarterly an overview of the curriculum for economics and social science (i.e. sociology with a bit of anthropology without political science that was split between the subjects  of history and public law) offered by the Faculty of Political Science was sketched by Professor Richmond Mayo-Smith. I have appended the Economics and Sociology course offerings for 1898-99 (which can be compared to an earlier posting for 1905-07). In the early years of graduate education there was considerable overlap between undergraduate and graduate course offerings so that an understanding of the graduate training in economics at least in these early years requires us to keep an eye on undergraduate curriculum as well.

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Department of Economics and Social Science.—The courses in this department have been so systematized as to meet the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students, while offering to other members of the University and of allied institutions the opportunity to broaden their studies by some knowledge of social theory and social problems.

The undergraduate begins with the Economic History of England and America (Economics 1), which gives him that understanding of the evolution of economic institutions, such as the systems of land tenure, the factory system, the institutions of commerce and trade, which is necessary for any approach to economic discussion. That is followed by the Elements of Political Economy (Economics A), where the fundamental principles of the science are laid down and illustrated by contemporary events. These courses are usually taken during the Junior year, but may be taken a year earlier by students desiring to specialize in this direction. The lettered course is required of every student, and is in the nature of logical discipline for clear reasoning and a preparation for good citizenship. The College is held thereby to have discharged its duty to itself, in fulfilling the minimum required for the degree of A.B., and to the community, in inculcating sound principles in its graduates.

For the majority of undergraduates these courses are but the preliminary sketch, the details of which are to be filled out by the more intensive study of Senior year. For this abundant opportunity is offered in the course on modern industrial problems, money, and labor (Economics 3), in the treatment of finance and taxation (Economics 4) and in the critical consideration of theories of socialism (Economics 11) and projects of social reform (Economics 12). At the same time the elements of sociology (Sociology 15) furnish a broader foundation for generalization in regard to the fundamental principles of social life, and afford the student on the eve of graduation an opportunity to coordinate his knowledge of history, economics, philosophy, and ethics into a theory of society.

These courses of Senior year constitute the fundamental university courses, and are frequented by graduates of other colleges and by many students from the law school, the theological seminaries, and Teachers College, who find them valuable as auxiliary to their main lines of study. For the specialist and special student these courses in their turn are preliminary. They form the introduction to the university courses proper.

Here the specialist finds opportunity for development in economic theory (Economics 8, [Economics] 9, and [Economics] 10) and for further practical work (Economics 5 and [Economics] 7), for sociological theory (Sociology 20, [Sociology] 21, and 25 [sic, perhaps “Sociology 24” intended, no record found here or in earlier/later years for a course “Sociology 25”], for the treatment of problems of crime and pauperism (Sociology 22 and [Sociology] 23), and for the theory and practice of statistics as an instrument of investigation in all the social sciences (Sociology 17, [Sociology] 18, and [Sociology] 19). Crowning the whole are the seminars in political economy and sociology, and the statistical laboratory, where the student is trained for original work.

Columbia University has attempted thus to formulate in the Department of Economics and Social Science a programme that shall be systematic, in the sense of orderly development and logical sequence (the course covers four or five years), and at the same time flexible, for the purpose of meeting the just demands of a great variety of students—the undergraduate, the specialist, and the special student.

R. M.-S. [Richmond Mayo-Smith]

 

Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 1, December, 1898, pp. 76-77.

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COURSES OF STUDY AND RESEARCH
Group III — Economics and Social Science

It is presumed that students before entering the school have studied the general principles of political economy as laid down in the ordinary manuals, and possess some knowledge of the facts of economic history. Students who are not thus prepared are recommended to take the following courses in Columbia College: [The lettered course is required of all candidates for A.B. in Columbia College.]

Economics 1 — Economic History of England and America. — This course studies primarily the economic history of England, as affording the clearest picture of the evolution of economic life from primitive society to the complicated mechanism of modern industrial life. Incidentally a comparison is made with the contemporary movements in other European countries. Beginning with the seventeenth century, attention is directed to facts of American economic development, and the last part of the course is devoted exclusively to the study of the economic and social conditions underlying the history of the United States.-Three hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman and Mr. [Arthur M.] Day.

Economics A — Outlines of Economics. — Bullock’s introduction to the study of economics, and lectures on the evolution of the modern economic organization, the principle of economic freedom and the institution of private property.— Three hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith and Mr. [Arthur M.] Day.

The university courses fall under two subjects: A. Political Economy and Finance. B. Sociology and Statistics.

Courses 3, 4, 11, 12, 15 and 16 are open to Seniors in Columbia College, and count towards the degree of A. B. If taken for the higher degrees, such additional work must be done in connection with them as may be prescribed by the instructor.

Subject A — Political Economy and Finance

Economics 3 — Practical Political Economy. — This course is divided into four sections as follows:

(a) Problems of Modern Industry . — This part of the course is devoted to a special study of the modern industrial organization and of the application of economic principles to social life. The principal topics are: The scope, method and function of political economy; the physical environment; law of population; economic freedom and private property; theory and problems of consumption; theory and problems of production, land-tenure, labor and machinery, the growth of capital; forms of productive enterprise, the concentration of industry; monopolies and trusts; governmental enterprise; effects of modern methods of production on producer and consumer. Three hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(b) The Problems of Exchange. — (Money and Trade.) This course is devoted to a study of the mechanism of exchange with special reference to modern currency and commercial questions. The principal topics are: Value and prices, speculation, law of monopoly prices, commercial crises; money, bimetallism, the silver question in the United States; credit, banking, paper money; international exchange; transportation and commerce. Three hours a week, second half-year (1899-1900) [For students desiring to take (a), (b) and (c) in one year a short résumé of the omitted course (b) or (c) will be given.]: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(c) The Problems of Distribution. — (Labor and Capital.) This course is devoted largely to the labor question. The principal topics are: The theory of distribution, history and present condition of the laboring class, wages, trades unions and strikes, arbitration and conciliation, co-operation and profit-sharing; factory laws, employer’s liability; interest, profit and rent; social distribution; distributive justice. Three hours a week, second half-year (1898—’99), alternates with above. [For students desiring to take (a), (b) and (c) in one year a short résumé of the omitted course (b) or (c) will be given.]: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

(d) Readings in Marshall’s Principles of Economics. — This course constitutes a fourth hour in connection with the lectures under (a), (b) and (c). It is open to candidates for A.B. by special permission, but the hour cannot be counted towards that degree. It, or its equivalent, is required of all candidates for the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D., taking Economics III. as a major or minor. One hour a week: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 4 — Science of Finance. — This course is historical as well as comparative and critical. After giving a general introduction and tracing the history of the science, it treats of the various rules of public expenditures and the methods of meeting the same among different civilized nations. It describes the different kinds of public revenue, including the public domain and public property, public works and industrial undertakings, special assessments, fees and taxes It is in great part a course on the history, theories and methods of taxation in all civilized countries. It considers also public debt, methods of borrowing, redemption, refunding, repudiation, etc. Finally, it describes the fiscal organization of the state by which the revenue is collected and expended, and discusses the budget, national, state and local. Although the course is comparative, the point of view is American. Students are furnished with the current public documents of the United States Treasury, and the chief financial reports of the leading commonwealths, and are expected to understand all the facts in regard to public debt, revenue and expenditure therein contained. — Two hours a week: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 5 — Fiscal and Industrial History of the United States. — This course endeavors to present a survey of national legislation on currency, finance and taxation, including the tariff together with its relations to the state of industry and commerce. Attention is called to the fiscal and industrial conditions of the colonies; to the financial methods of the revolution and the confederation; to the genesis of the protective idea; to the fiscal policies of the Federalists and of the Republicans; to the financial management of the war of 1812; to the industrial effects of the restriction war period; to the crises of 1819, 1825 and 1837; to the tariffs of 1816, 1824 and 1828; to the distribution of the surplus and the Bank war; to the compromise tariff and its effect on industry; to the currency problems before 1863; to the era of “free trade,” and the tariffs of 1846 and 1857; to the fiscal problems of the Civil War; to the methods of resumption, conversion and payment of the debt; to the disappearance of the war taxes; to the continuance of the war tariffs; to the money question and the acts of 1878 and 1890; to the loans of 1894-1896; to the tariffs of 1890, 1894 and 1897. The course closes with a discussion of the current problems of currency and coinage, and with a general consideration of the arguments for and against protection as illustrated by the practical operation of the various tariffs. Two hours a week, first half year (1899-1900): Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 7 — Railroad Problems; Economic, Social and Legal. — These lectures treat of railroads in the fourfold aspect of their relation to the investors, the employees, the public and the state respectively. A history of railways and railway policy in America and Europe forms the preliminary part of the course. The chief problems of railway management, so far as they are of economic importance, come up for discussion.

Among the subjects treated are: Financial methods, railway construction, speculation, profits, failures, accounts and reports, expenses, tariffs, principles of rates, classification and discrimination, competition and pooling, accidents, and employers’ liability. Especial attention is paid to the methods of regulation and legislation in the United States as compared with European methods, and the course closes with a general discussion of state versus private management. — Two hours a week, second half-year (1899-1900): Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 8 — History of Economics. — In this course the various systems of political economy are discussed in their historical development. The chief exponents of the different schools are taken up in their order, and especial attention is directed to the wider aspects of the connection between the theories and the organization of the existing industrial society. The chief writers discussed are:

I Antiquity: The oriental codes; Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Cato, Seneca, Cicero, the Agrarians, the Jurists.

II Middle Ages: The Church Fathers, Aquinas, the Glossators, the writers on money, trade, and usury.

III Mercantilists: Hales, Mun, Petty, Barbon, North, Locke; Bodin, Vauban, Boisguillebert, Forbonnais; Serra, Galiani; Justi, Sonnenfels.

IV Physiocrats: Quesnay, Gournay, Turgot, Mirabeau, etc.

V Adam Smith and precursors: Tucker, Hume, Cantillon, Steuart.

VI English school: Malthus, Ricardo, Senior, McCulloch, Chalmers, Jones, Mill.

VII The continent: Say, Sismondi, Cournot, Bastiat; Herrmann, List, and Thunen.

VIII German historical school: Roscher, Knies, Hildebrand.

IX Recent development: England: Rogers, Jevons, Cairnes, Bagehot, Leslie, Toynbee, Marshall; Germany: Wagner, Schmoller, Held, Brentano, Cohn, Schaffle; Austria: Menger, Sax, Böhm-Bawerk, Wieser; France: Leroy-Beaulieu, De Laveleye, Gide, Walras; Italy: Cossa, Loria, Pantaleoni; America: Carey, George, Walker, Clark, Patten, Adams.

—Two hours a week: Prof. [Edwin R. A.] Seligman.

Economics 9 — Economic Theory I. — This course discusses the static laws of distribution. If the processes of industry were not changing, wages and industry would tend to adjust themselves according to certain standards. A study of the mechanism of production would then show that one part of the product is specifically attributable to labor, and that another part is imputable to capital. It is the object of the course to show that the tendency of free competition, under such conditions, is to give to labor, in the form of wages, the amount that it specifically creates, and also to give to capital, in the form of interest, what it specifically produces. The theory undertakes to prove that the earnings of labor and of capital are governed by a principle of final productivity, and that this principle must be studied on a social scale, rather than in any one department of production. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark.

Economics 10 — Economic Theory II. — This course discusses the dynamic laws of distribution. The processes of industry are actually progressing. Mechanical invention, emigration, and other influences, cause capital and labor to be applied in new ways and with enlarging results. These influences do not repress the action of the static forces of distribution, but they bring a new set of forces into action. They create, first, employers’ profits, and, later, additions to wages and interest. It is the object of the course to show how industrial progress affects the several shares in distribution under a system of competition, and also to determine whether the consolidations of labor and capital, which are a distinctive feature cf modern industry, have the effect of repressing competition. — Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark.

Economics 11 — Communistic and Socialistic Theories. — This course studies the theories of St. Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, Rodbertus, Marx, Lassalle, and others. It aims to utilize recent discoveries in economic science in making a critical test of these theories themselves and of certain counter-arguments. It examines the socialistic ideals of distribution, and the effects that, by reason of natural laws, would follow an attempt to realize them through the action of the State. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 12 — Theories of Social Reform. — This course treats of certain plans for the partial reconstruction of industrial society that have been advocated in the United States, and endeavors to determine what reforms are in harmony with economic principles. It treats of the proposed single tax, of the measures advocated by the Farmers’ Alliance and of those proposed by labor organizations. It studies the general relation of the state to industry. — Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [John Bates] Clark. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Economics 14 — Seminar in Political Economy and Finance. — For advanced students. — Two hours, bi-weekly: Professors [Edwin R. A.] Seligman and [John Bates] Clark.

Subject B— Sociology and Statistics

Sociology 15 — Principles of Sociology. — This is a textbook course. — Two hours a week: Professor [Franklin H.] Giddings. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Sociology 16 — Applied Anthropology. — This course is composed of two distinct parts. In the first half-year under Dr. Farrand of the Faculty of Philosophy, primitive institutions, language, mythology and religions are considered primarily from the psychological point of view. This is important for sociological work. Anthropometry and the history of the science of anthropology are also treated. The second half-year work given by Dr. [William Z.] Ripley is primarily concerned with the anthropology and ethnology of the civilized peoples of Europe. This is intended to subserve two ends. It is an ethnological preparation for the historical courses, especially those concerning the classic peoples of antiquity; and it also provides a groundwork for the statistical and demographic study of the populations of Europe. In this sense it is distinctly sociological in its interests. — Two hours a week. [Open to Seniors in Columbia College]

Sociology 17 — Statistics and Sociology. — This course is given every year, and is intended to train students in the use of statistics as an instrument of investigation in social science. The topics covered are: Relation of statistics to sociology, criteria of statistics, population, population and land, sex, age and conjugal condition, births, marriages, deaths, sickness and mortality, race and nationality, migration, social position, infirmities, suicide, vice, crime, nature of statistical regularities. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 18 — Statistics and Economics. — This course covers those statistics of most use in political economy, but which have also a direct bearing on the problems of sociology. These include the statistics of land, production of food, condition of labor, wages, money, credit, prices, commerce, manufactures, trade, imports and exports, national wealth, public debt, and relative incomes. Two hours a week, second half-year, given in 1898-99 and each alternate year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 19 — Theory, Technique, and History of Statistical Science. — This course studies the theory of statistics, law of probabilities, averages, mean error, rules for collecting, tabulating and presenting statistics, graphical methods, the question of the freedom of the will, the value of the results obtained by the statistical method, the possibility of discovering social laws. Some account will also be given of the history and literature of statistics, and the organization of statistical bureaus. — Two hours a week, second half-year, given in 1899-1900, and each alternate year: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 20 — General Sociology . — A foundation for special work is laid in this fundamental course. It includes two parts, namely: (1) the analysis and classification of social facts, with special attention to the systems of Aristotle, Comte, Spencer, Schäffle, De Greef, Gumplowicz, Ward, Tarde and other theoretical writers; (2) an examination of sociological laws, in which the more important social phenomena of modern times and the principles of theoretical sociology are together brought under critical review in a study of social feeling, public opinion, and organized action. In this second part an attempt is made to analyze the causes of emotional epidemics, panics, outbreaks of mob violence, and revolutions; to explain by general principles the growth of public opinion on great questions; and to prove from history and from current events that public action is governed by definite laws of social choice. — Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 21 — Progress and Democracy. — The phenomena of social progress are the general subject of this course, which includes two parts, namely: (1) a study of the historical evolution of society, with special attention to social origins; to the development of the family, of the clan and of the tribe; and to the beginnings of civilization; (2) the social as distinguished from the political organization of modern democracies. This part of the course may otherwise be described as a study of the modern “state behind the constitution.” The forms of voluntary organization are observed, and the question is raised, To what extent are the non-political associations of men in modern democracies themselves democratic? Do business corporations labor unions, churches, and associations for culture and pleasure, tend to become more or less democratic? The democratic social ideals of equality and fraternity are examined, and an attempt is made to show their relations to social order and to liberty. Modern philanthropic movements, including the work of university and other social settlements, and many social phases of municipal reform are touched upon in this course. —Two hours a week, second half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 22 — Pauperism, Poor Laws and Charities. — This course begins with a study of the English poor law, its history, practical working, and consequences. On this foundation is built a study of pauperism in general, but especially as it may now be observed in great cities. The laws of the different commonwealths in regard to paupers, out-relief, alms-houses, and dependent children, are compared. Finally the special modern methods of public and private philanthropy are considered, with particular attention to charity organization, the restriction of out-door alms, and the reclamation of children.— Two hours a week, first half-year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 23 — Crime and Penology — The topics taken up in this course are the nature and definitions of crime, the increase of crime and its modern forms, criminal anthropology, the social causes of crime, surroundings, parental neglect, education, the question of responsibility, historical methods of punishment, the history of efforts to reform prison methods, modern methods, the solitary system, the Elmira system, classification of criminals, classes of prisons, reformatories, and jails. — Two hours a week, second half year: Prof. [Franklin H.] Giddings.

Sociology 24 — The Civil Aspects of Ecclesiastical Organizations. — The purpose of this course is to define the present relations of the institutional church to the other institutions of American society; the state, the government, marriage, family, education and public wealth. An analysis is made of the guarantees of religious liberty contained in the federal and commonwealth constitutions, of the civil status of churches in terms of constitutional and statute law, of the methods of incorporation, of the functions of trustees, of legislative and judicial control, of denominational polity according to its type, of the functional activity of churches in their departments of legislation, administration, adjudication, discipline and mission, of the influence of churches on ethical standards, of the distribution of nationalities among the denominations, of the territorial distribution of denominational strength, of the relation of polity to density of population and of the current movements in and between various organizations tending toward changes of function and structure. One hour a week: Dr. [George James] Bayles.

Sociology 29 — Laboratory Work in Statistics. — The object of the laboratory is to train the student in methods of statistical analysis and computation. Each student will pursue a course of laboratory practice dealing with the general statistics of population, the relation of classes, the distribution of wealth, and the statistics of crime, vice and misfortune. He will be taught how to judge current statistics and to detect statistical fallacies; in short, to become an expert in judging of the value of sociological evidence. Each year some practical piece of work on an extensive scale is undertaken by the class. — In connection with courses 17, 18 and 19: Prof. [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Sociology 30 — Seminar in Sociology and Statistics. — Discussions and papers, theses and dissertations presented in the seminar may be upon any of the following topics:

I
POPULATION

1 The growth of population in the United States, inducing studies of birth rates and death rates.
2 Immigration into the United States.
3 The migration of population within the United States.

II
RACES AND NATIONALITIES

4 The social traits, habits and organization of any race (e. g. negro or Indian) in the United States.
5 The social traits, habits and organization of any nationality (e. g. Irish or German or Italian) in the United States.

Ill
THE FAMILY

6 Historical or statistical studies of marriage, of divorce, or of the parental care and education of children in the United States.
7 Studies of legislation affecting the family in the United States.

IV
COMMUNITIES

8 Descriptive or historical studies of peculiar, exceptional or otherwise noteworthy communities or sections.

V
THE SOCIAL LIFE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SELF-SUPPORTING POOR

9 Dwellings and surroundings.
10 Expenditure and domestic economy.
11 Marriages, domestic festivals, funerals, family life and morals.
12 Education.
13 Religious ideas, habits, meetings, festivals and institutions.
14 Amusements, celebrations, social festivals and clubs.
15 Trade unions.
16 Political and legal ideas, affiliations and activities.

VI
PAUPERISM AND CHARITY

17 Historical studies of the origin, growth and forms of pauperism.
18 Statistical studies of the extent and causes of pauperism.
19 Historical and comparative studies of poor laws and public relief.
20 Historical and comparative studies of the methods of private charity.

VII
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

21 Historical studies of the origin, increase and forms of crime.
22 Statistical studies of the extent and causes of crime.
23 Critical studies of criminal anthropology or criminal sociology.
24 Historical and comparative studies of punishment and reformation.

Two hours bi-weekly: Profs. [Franklin H.] Giddings and [Richmond] Mayo-Smith.

Source: Columbia University, School of Political Science, Announcement, 1898-99, pp. 29-40.

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Columbia Economics’ Market Share in 1900

The School of Political Science at Columbia University was divided into three groups of subjects: History and Political Philosophy, Public Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, and Economics and Social Science.

Economics and Social Science comprised the two subject groups: Political Economy and Finance; Sociology and Statistics. 

Seligman figured that of the approximately 135 graduate students specializing in economics in 1899-1900 in the seven eastern departments (Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale), about 75 were at Columbia.

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SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Department of Economics.—Since the recent reorganization of the work in economics, there has been a marked increase in the number, as well as in the quality of the students. Numbers, indeed, constitute no adequate test of the real work done by the various departments within a university; for the subject which attracts the fewest students may possess the highest scientific value and may be presided over by the ablest professors. But, when an institution is compared with others of about the same grade and size, the relative number of students in any one department affords a fair indication of the importance to be assigned to it. Hence, the following table is of much interest:

 

1900_ColumbiaEconomics

*By graduate student is meant a student holding a first degree.
1 Attending for three terms.
2 Including Economics and Public Law.
3 Including Economics, Politics and History.

The number of graduate students in economics and social science at Columbia is much greater than the number in any other American institution. If we compare Columbia with six Eastern universities,—Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Princeton,—we find that Columbia has almost as many such students as all six, that is, 75 as against 89. And if it were possible to separate the students working primarily in economics at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Cornell (where the figures include other students in political science as well), it is practically certain that Columbia would be found to possess more graduate students working primarily in economics and social science than the other six institutions together. Assuming that half of the students returned in Johns Hopkins, Yale and Cornell are working primarily in economics,—a very liberal assumption, —we should have a total of 60 in the six Eastern universities, as against 75 in Columbia. This is a remarkable showing.

In order that it may not be supposed that the basis of classification varies, it may be added that each of the students at Columbia is enrolled primarily under the Faculty of Political Science and is a candidate for the master’s or doctor’s degree, with the major subject in economics and social science. Every such student is required to attend a seminar. In addition to the seminar, 35 of the 75 students are taking 3 or more courses in economics or social science and 20 are taking 2 such courses. The remainder, who are taking one course in addition to the seminar, are chiefly students who have taken most of their lecture work in previous years.

The following figures, as to enrollment in economics and social science, will prove instructive:

Graduate students, primarily enrolled in political science, taking graduate courses (whether as a major or minor) 95
Graduate students (male) in the whole university taking graduate courses 123
Non-graduates (male), primarily registered in political science, doing chief work in economics 22
Students, graduates and non-graduates (male, but exclusive of seniors and other college students) in the whole university, taking graduate courses 149
Enrollment of students, as above (not deducting duplicates), in graduate courses in economics and social science 559
Enrollment of under-graduates in Columbia College 179
Enrollment of students of all kinds (male) pursuing these studies 738
Enrollment of Barnard students 140
Total enrollment in the University 878

The relative importance of the university work may also be seen by this comparison with Harvard:

Harvard Columbia
Total students primarily registered in non-professional (graduate) schools 341 331
Total graduates in non-professional (graduate) schools 323 292
Total graduates in political science 52 or 16% 114 or 39%
Total graduates primarily in economics and social science 8 or 2½% 17 or 26%

This showing is doubtless due in part to the system on which the work in economics and social science at Columbia is organized. The department has four full professors, one instructor and two lecturers. The work has been so apportioned that each professor devotes himself primarily to his own specialty—Professor Mayo-Smith to statistics and practical economics, Professor Clark to economic theory, Professor Giddings to social science, and Professor Seligman to economic history and finance. Another explanation of the large numbers is the facility afforded to students to combine with their studies in economics the courses in history, public law and general political science.

Among the recent graduates in economics of the School of Political Science, no less than 25 are now giving instruction in economics at other institutions, including Yale, Cornell, Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Syracuse, the Universities of Illinois, Indiana, and Colorado, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A number of graduates have become editors of important daily or weekly papers, in New York, Buffalo, Omaha and other cities, and a large number occupy administrative positions in the service of the national and state governments. Among the latter may be mentioned one of the chief statistician in the census office, a number of expert agents and chief clerks in the departments of the treasury and of agriculture in Washington; and the deputy commissioner of labor statistics and the sociology librarian in the State Library at Albany.

E. R. A. S. [Edwin R. A. Seligman]

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Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 2, June, 1900, pp. 284-287.

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Harvard Courses in Political Economy, 1874-75

Excerpts from the Harvard Catalogue for 1874-75 with principal texts and examination questions for political economy together with some information about the A.B. distinction between “prescribed” and “elective” studies.

Incidentally, one finds that annual fees for a full course load at Harvard ran $120/year and a copy of John Stuart Mill’s Principles cost $2.50. Cf. today’s Amazon.com price for N. Gregory Mankiw’s Economics which is $284.16. If tuition relative to the price of textbooks had remained unchanged (and the quality change of the Mankiw textbook relative to Mill’s textbook(!) were equal to the quality change of the Harvard undergraduate education today compared to that of 1874-75(!!)), Harvard tuition would only be about $13,600/year today instead of $45,278. Just saying.

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HARVARD COURSES OF INSTRUCTION 1874-75

COURSE OF STUDY
FOR THE DEGREE OF A.B.

The course of study to be pursued by a candidate for the Bachelor’s degree is made up in part of studies which are prescribed, and pursued by all students alike, and in part of studies selected by the student himself out of the various courses of instruction which are given in the College.

PRESCRIBED STUDIES.

The prescribed studies occupy the whole of the Freshman year and about one-third of the Sophomore and Junior years. In the Senior year only certain written exercises are prescribed.

Anticipation of Prescribed Studies.

The prescribed studies of the Sophomore and Junior years being of an elementary character, students who wish to be relieved from attendance at College exercises in one or more of them will be excused from such attendance, if they pass a satisfactory examination in such study or studies at the beginning of the year in which they would regularly pursue the study or studies in College, or at the time of their examination for admission to College. Studies which are pursued only in the second half-year may also be anticipated in the same way in the middle of the year. No such examination will be deemed satisfactory unless the student shall succeed in obtaining at least one-half of the maximum mark. The mark obtained when the examination is successful will be credited to the student as his mark on the Annual Scale of the study which forms the subject of the examination. Preparation for these examinations can often be made while the student is preparing for College or in the long vacation, and time may be thus gained for higher courses of study. Students who intend to present themselves for such examination in any required study for 1875-76 must give notice to the Dean in writing before September 1, 1875.

Information concerning the requirements for passing the examination in any study can be obtained from the instructor in that study.

ELECTIVE STUDIES.

In addition to the prescribed studies, each Sophomore is required to pursue courses, chosen by himself from the elective studies, [ftnt: The prescribed Philosophy of the Junior year may be taken as an elective by Sophomores.] amounting to eight exercises a week for the year; each Junior, courses amounting to eleven exercises a week; and each Senior, courses amounting to twelve exercises a week. Students are at liberty to attend the instruction in as many other subjects as they may have time and taste for pursuing. In choosing his electives, the student must satisfy his instructors that he is qualified by his previous training to pursue those which he selects. With this limitation, all the courses given in the College are open to him in making his choice; but he is strongly recommended to make his choice with great care, under the best advice, and in such a manner that his elective courses from first to last may form a rationally connected whole.

Undergraduates who intend to study Engineering are recommended by the Scientific Faculty to take, as extras, the courses of Drawing and Surveying in the Scientific School; and those who intend to study Medicine are advised by the Medical Faculty to pay special attention to the study of Natural History, Chemistry, Physics, and the French and German languages, while in College.

It will be seen that students who prefer a course like the usual prescribed course of American colleges can perfectly secure it, under this system, by a corresponding choice of studies; while others, who have decided tastes, or think it wiser to concentrate their study on a few subjects, obtain every facility for doing so, and still secure in the briefer prescribed course an acquaintance with the elements of the leading branches of knowledge.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, pp. 46-47

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IV. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar

Sophomore Year.

Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners.—Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).

Two hours a week. Second half-year.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 54.

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III. PHILOSOPHY

ELECTIVES
Senior Studies

[…]

Philosophy 7. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — Fawcett’s Manual of Political Economy. — Blanqui’s Histoire de l’Économie Politique en Europe. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street.

Three hours a week. 19 Seniors, 14 Juniors.

 

Philosophy 8. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Subjects in Currency and Taxation.

Three hours a week. 65 Seniors, 33 Juniors.

 

Courses 7 and 8 are parallel Courses, Course 7 being preferable for students of History.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 56.

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III. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar and Mr. Howland.

Elements of Political Economy.—Constitution of the United States.

Two hours a week. Second half-year. Sophomores and Juniors.*

*In 1873 the prescribed Study of Political Economy was transferred from the Junior to the Sophomore Year, and was pursued during the year 1873-74 by both classes.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 215.

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PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Political Economy.

Those who are also to pass in the Constitution may omit questions marked *.

  1. Define (a)wealth; (b) value; (c)price; (d) capital; (e) money.
  2. What are the qualities which make gold and silver suitable materials for a currency? What are the objections to a double standard of value?
  3. Explain the action of demand and supply upon the prices (a) of raw materials; (b) of manufactured articles.
  4. Show how rents would be affected by suddenly doubling the productiveness of all lands under cultivation. Prove that rent does not enter into the price of agricultural produce.
  5. State and illustrate the causes which produce a difference in the rate of wages in different employments.
  6. Suppose the amount of the (gold) currency of a country to he suddenly doubled, what would be the effect upon (a) values; (b) prices; (c) exports and imports?
  7. Define direct and indirect taxation. What are the objections to an import duty on raw materials? What is the incidence of a tax levied on the rent of land and paid by the tenant?
  8. [*] Define productive and unproductive consumption. If the latter were to cease altogether, what would be the ultimate effect upon production?
  9. [*] Show how the cost of labor is affected, (a) if the efficiency of labor is increased; (b) if the margin of cultivation sinks.
  10. [*] What are the elements of which profits are composed? Why does the rate of profits vary (a) in different employments; (b) in different countries?
  11. [*] Explain the several ways in which credit promotes production. What are the disadvantages of an irredeemable paper currency?
  12. [*] Explain the use of bills of exchange. What is meant by an unfavorable balance of exchange?
  13. [*] Discuss the question, whether temporary and permanent incomes should be taxed alike.

 

Constitution of the United States.

Those who are also to pass in Political Economy may omit questions marked *.

  1. [*] When and by whom was the Constitution framed, and what were the principal steps leading to its formation and adoption?
  2. Define citizenship.
  3. What changes have the abolition of slavery and the consequent amendments of the Constitution made in the system of representation?
  4. State the method of electing the President, and the difference between the present method and that at first adopted.
  5. [*] By whom are questions settled which affect the validity of elections (a) of representatives, (b) of senators, (c) of President?
  6. [*] What provision does the Constitution make for the removal, death, resignation, or inability to serve of the President or Vice-President, or for a failure to elect either officer or both?
  7. [*] What powers over the militia are given to Congress or to the President?
  8. What are the provisions of the Constitution affecting the subject of currency
  9. What are the provisions relating to taxation, and what are direct taxes under the Constitution?
  10. [*] What are the provisions relating to impeachment?
  11. Under what provision did Congress claim and exercise the power of prohibiting slavery in the territories
  12. What is the extent of the judicial power of the United States, and where is it vested? What is the provision for amending the Constitution?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 218-9.

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ELECTIVES.

[…]

  1. Political Economy.—Prof. Dunbar.

J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.—Bagehot’s Lombard Street.—Sumner’s History of American Currency.

Three hours a week. 70 Seniors, 1 Junior.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 220.

 

_________________________________

 

FEES AND BONDS.

The fees to be paid by Bachelors of Arts or Science who receive instruction as candidates for the Degree of Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, or Doctor of Science, or who attend lectures or recitations without being members of either professional school, are as follows : —

For not more than three hours of instruction a week $50.00 a year.
For more than three, but not more than six hours of instruction a week $90.00 a year.

 
For more than six hours of instruction a week $120.00 a year.
For a year’s instruction in any of the laboratories or in

the Museum of Comparative Zoology

 $150.00
The fees to be paid for examination are as follows :—
For the examination for the Degree of Master of Arts $30.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy $60.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Science $60.00

 

There is no additional charge for the right to use the Library. The fees for instruction, but not those for examination, will be remitted to meritorious students who need such help.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 137.

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[Advertisement of Macmillan & Company’s Books]

Logic. Professor Stanley Jevons’s Elementary Lessons in Logic, Deductive and Inductive. 18mo, cloth $1.25.

Political Economy for Beginners. By Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 18mo. $1.00.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 317.

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[Advertisement of Lee and Shepard Books]

POLITICAL ECONOMY. Principles of Political Economy. By John Stuart Mill. New and revised edition. Lee and Shepard, Publishers. Boston. Complete in 1 vol. Crown 8vo.   $2.50

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 336.