One might consider the following course taught at the University of California in 1906 by assistant professor Wesley Clair Mitchell to be a very early draft of what was to become his legendary course on Types of Economic Theory at Columbia University. Below we have transcriptions of his handwritten outline of topics and final examination questions.
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Course Announcement
45. Advanced Economics. Assistant Professor Mitchell.
This course is designed for students who wish to make a more thorough study of economic theory than can be undertaken in Courses 1 [Introduction to Economics] and 2 [Principles of Economics]. The aim is to work out a tenable system of economics on the basis of an examination of the theories of leading writers, past and present.
2 hrs., first half-year. Tu Th, 9. Prerequisite: Course 2, and at least Senior standing.
Source: University of California. Announcement of Courses 1906-1907. Berkeley (July, 1906), p. 44.
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Course Topics
Advanced Economics
2 hour course August to December 1906.
continued as reading of Schmoller evening meetings Jan-Apr. 1907.
Different types of economic theory
Concept of the economic man
Preconceptions of economic theorists
Carver’s [or possibly “Cairnes’s”] treatment [?] of wealth.
Schmoller’s Grundriss.
Conclusion: Meaning of and need for evolutionary theory of economics.
Source: Columbia University Library Manuscript Collections. Mitchell, W.C. Collection. Box A, 1898-1917, Folder “8/21/06 A519”.
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Handwritten examination questions
Advance Econ (45) Exam. Dec 17, 1906
- State and discuss Cairnes’ attitude on economic method.
- What influence did hedonism have on development of classical political economy?
- What do you regard as the most effective method of treating economics?
- How do you explain the shifting of preconceptions in economics from say the Physiocrats to Schmoller or Veblen?
Source: Columbia University Library Manuscript Collections. Mitchell, W.C. Collection. Box A, 1898-1917, Folder “17/17/06 A”.
Image Source: Thumbnail image from a 1900 picture of Wesley Clair Mitchell at the University of Chicago in Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Two Lives: The Story of Wesley Clair Mitchell and Myself.