Category: Chicago

Categories
Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Monetary Dynamics Seminar. Milton Friedman, 1952

Welcome to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to this blog below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

______________________

Transcribed from items in the Milton Friedman papers at the Hoover Institution today’s posting includes the bibliographic handout provided by Milton Friedman to the participants in his graduate seminar “Monetary Dynamics” that took place in the Spring Quarter of 1952 along with the official class list. We note that one of the graduate students enrolled in the seminar was Gary S. Becker. It is also interesting to note that “empirical studies” essentially meant “case studies” as of mid-twentieth century.

___________________________

The University of Chicago
Office of the Registrar

OFFICIAL CLASS LIST
SPRING QR. 1952

Instructor: FRIEDMAN MILTON
Department: ECON
Course number: 432

Student name:

Axilrod, Stephen H.
Becker, Gary S.
Deaver, John V.
Drayton, James
Fisher, Lawrence
Klein, John
Oort, Coenraad J.
Timberlake, Richard H. Jr.
Venetianer, Edmond

___________________________

 

Economics 432: Monetary Dynamics
Spring Quarter, 1952

  1. The central topic for this quarter will be monetary inflation. We hope to cover the theory of monetary inflation and empirical evidence on monetary inflations. The major issues in this area are, the process whereby changes in the stock of money produce their effect on prices and output or conversely, whereby changes in prices and output affect the stock of money; the role of the interest rate in inflation or, conversely, the effect of monetary changes on the interest rate; the role of exchange rates in monetary inflation as both cause and effect; the relative value of alternative simplified theories for predicting the course of inflationary movement; the role and problems of governmental monetary policy in inflationary periods; empirical regularities in monetary inflations and hyperinflations.
  2. We shall of course not be able to cover all these issues at all adequately; the interests of the members of the seminar will guide the selection made.
  3. There is a vast literature on these problems. The following bibliography, despite its length, is highly selective and is designed to suggest material available and to give leads to people working on particular topics rather than to be exhaustive. The three parts into which the essentially theoretical material is classified (1 to 3) are by no means mutually exclusive and many entries could with equal justification have been classified elsewhere; the sections are meant only to indicate major broad divisions and the order within the sections, the rough lines of theoretical development. Similarly, many of the items in Section 4, supposedly dealing with policy, could readily have been classified in the earlier sections; and many of the entries in section 5, labeled empirical studies, contain discussions of policy or of theory.

 

1. Classical analysis of inflation

A. Original sources

David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest” in Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, part II (first published 1752).

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776), Vol I. Bk. II, Chap 4; Bk 1, Ch xi, part of Pt. III (pp. 188-210 in Cannan edition); Bk. II, Ch. 11, esp. pp. 283-87 of Cannan edition.

Henry Thornton, An Essay on Paper Credit (1802), esp pp. 254-8, 281, 296-7, and 335-9 of reprint.

David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, (3rd ed. London (1821), Ch. 21; The Works and Correspondence, edited by P. Sraffa, Volume III, passim. (Cambridge 1951).

Nassau Senior, On the Value of Money (1840)

________________, Three Lectures on the Cost of Obtaining Money (1930)

John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, (1848), Bk. III, Ch. 8, 9, 23.

J. E. Cairnes, “Essays Toward a Solution of the Gold Question,” (written, 1858 to 1860) in Essays in Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied, (London, 1873) pp. 1 to 165.

B. Secondary sources

T. E. Gregory, Introduction to Tooke and Newmarch (London (1928), esp. pp. 22-31.

F. A. Hayek, “A Note on the Development of the Doctrine of ‘Forced Savings’”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1932, pp. 123-33.

J. W. Angell, The Theory of International Prices – history, criticism, and restatement (Cambridge, Mass., 1926)

Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, (New York, 1937), Ch. III, IV, V.

Lloyd W. Mints, History of Banking Theory (Chicago, 1945)

2. Neo-classical

A. Swedish school

Knut Wicksell, Interest and Prices, esp introduction, by Bertil Ohlin, Preface, (London 1936) and Ch. 5-9.

_______________, Lectures, Vol. 2, Ch. IV; pp. 127-222 (London 1935)

Gunner Myrdal, Monetary Equilibrium, London (1939).

E. Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic Expansion, (Stockholm, 1937)

E. Lindahl, Studies in the Theory of Money and Credit (London, 1939)

A. P. Lerner, “Swedish Stepping Stones in Economic Theory,” Canadian Journal of Economics, November 1940.

Brinley Thomas, Monetary Policy and Crisis, Ch. 3 and 4. (1936)

J. Marschak, “Wicksell’s Two Interest Rates,” Social Research, Nov. 1941.

B. Austrian school

L. von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit (1934) Eng. Translation.

F. A. Hayek, Prices and Production (2nd edition (1935)).

C. Cambridge school

Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, pp. 593-5; Money, Credit, and Commerce, pp. 38-50 (1923)

__________________, Official Papers, Ch. II, esp. 38-41, 45-6, 123-32, 157-60. (1926)

D. H. Robertson, Essays in Monetary Theory, esp. Ch. II, XII (1940)

__________________, Banking Policy and the Price Level (3rd ed, 1950)

__________________, “Notes on the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory, (Blakiston, 1951), pp. 159-61.

A. C. Pigou, Industrial Fluctuations (1927)

J. M. Keynes, Monetary Reform (London, 1923) especially Ch. III.

F. Langston, The Trade Cycle.

D. Other

J. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, esp Vol I, Ch. 13, pp. 293-302, Vol. II, Ch. 25, 30, 32, 33 (1930).

R. G. Hawtrey, The Art of Central Banking (1933), esp. pp. 116-207, 366-71.

__________________, Capital Employment, (1937) Ch. 4-6.

Irving Fisher, Elementary Principles of Economics, Ch. IX (N.Y. 1912) (revised)

__________________, The Purchasing Power of Money, (1926) Ch. 8.

__________________, The Rate of Interest, Ch. 8, 14, 16.

Bertrand Nogaro, Modern Monetary Systems (London, 1927)

M. Albert Aftalion, Monnaie, Prix et Change (Paris, 1927)

Joseph Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Vol II, Ch. 8 (1939)

MacMillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd 3897 (1931), Ch. 11, pp. 92-160.

E. Critiques

H. Ellis, German Monetary Theory (1934) Ch. 8, 9, 19.

R. J. Saulnier, Contemporary Monetary Theory (1938)

Arthur Marget, The Theory of Prices (1938, 1942) Vol 1, Ch. 2, 12-16, Vol 2, Ch. 3.

R. S. Sayers, Modern Banking, Ch. VI (1939, rev. ed.)

G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, (1941, 3rd ed.) Part I.

3. Keynes of General Theory

A. General

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. (London, 1936)

R. F. Kahn, “The Relation of Home Investment to the Multiplier,” Economic Journal, 1931.

Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Employment (1938)

________________, “The Economics of Hyper-Inflation,” (Economic Journal, Sept. 1938), “War Time Inflation,” both in Collected Economic Papers (New York, 1951).

M. Kalecki, Essays on the Theory of Economic Fluctuations (1939)

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital (2nd ed. 1946) Parts 3 and 4.

Alvin H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Full Employment, (1941).

________________, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy (1949) Chapter. 7, 8, 9.

________________, Economic Policy and Full Employment (1947).

L. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution (1947)

T. Wilson, Fluctuations in Income and Employment (3rd ed. 1948)

W. Fellner, A Treatise on War Inflation (1942)

A. G. Hart, Money, Debt and Economic Activity, (1948) Ch. 10.

A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, Ch. 21-25 (1944)

Walter A. Salant, “The Inflationary Gap, Meaning and Significance for Policy Making,” American Economic Review (June, 1942) pp. 308-14.

Milton Friedman, “Discussion of the Inflationary Gap,” American Economic Review (June, 1942) pp. 314-20.

Arthur Smithies, “The Behavior of Money National Income under Inflationary Conditions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1942.

T. C. Koopmans, “The Dynamics of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1942, pp. 53-65 (comment by A. Smithies and reply, pp. 189-90.)

Franklin Holzman, “Income Determination in Open Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1950.

Clark Warburton, “Monetary Expansion and the Inflationary Gap,” American Economic Review, 1944.

Lloyd A. Metzler, “Wealth, Saving, and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, April, 1951.

B. Wage-Price Spiral

Ralph Turvey, “Period Analysis and Inflation,” Economica, 1949.

________________, “Some Aspects of the Theory of Inflation in a Closed Economy,” Economic Journal, Sept. 1951.

J. Dusenberry, “The Mechanics of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1950.

W. A. Morton, “Trade Unionism, Full Employment, and Inflation” American Economic Review, March 1950.

_______________, “Keynesianism and Inflation,” Journal of Political Economy, June 1951.

M. W. Reder, “Theoretical Problems of a National Wage Policy,” Canadian Journal of Economics (Feb. 1948)

_____________, “On Money Wages,” Industrial Relations Research Association conference, 1950.

A. Rees, “Postwar Wage Determination in the Basic Steel Industry,” American Economic Review (June 1951).

4. Government Policy in Inflationary Periods

David Ricardo, “Funding System,” in The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed by Piero Sraffa (Cambridge, 1951), Vol. IV, esp pp. 185-200; also Vol. III, passim.

A. C. Pigou, The Political Economy of War (revised ed., 1940)

A. G. Hart, E. D. Allen, and collaborators, Paying for Defense (Philadelphia, 1941)

M. Kalecki, “General Rationing,” Bulletin of Oxford Institute of Statistics, January 1941.

G. L. Bach, “Rearmament, Recovery, and Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, 1941

W. A. Wallis, “How to Ration Consumer Goods and Control Their Prices,” American Economic Review, 1942.

Carl Shoup, Milton Friedman, and Ruth Mack, Taxing to Prevent Inflation (New York, 1943).

Milton Friedman, “The Spendings Tax as a Wartime Fiscal Measure,” American Economic Review, 1943.

J. J. Polak, “On the Theory of Price Control,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1945.

L. Seltzer, “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable,” American Economic Review, December, 1945.

R. I. Robinson, “Monetary Aspects of Public Debt Policy,” Postwar Economic Studies #3, Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System.

H. C. Wallich, “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, December 1946.

R. G. Hawtrey, “Monetary Aspects of the Economic Situation,” American Economic Review, March 1948.

Ten Economists on Inflation, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1948.

L. V. Chandler, “Federal Reserve Policy and Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, March 1949.

R. S. Sayers, “Central Banking in Light of Recent Experience,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949.

H. C. Murphy, The National Debt in War and Transition (1950)?E. A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy (1951)

L. W. Mints, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society. (1950)

Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies (“Douglas subcommittee”), Hearings, 81st Congress, 1st Session and Report, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document 129.

“The Controversy over Monetary Policy,” (Seymour Harris, Lester Chandler, Milton Friedman, Alvin Hansen, Abba Lerner, and James Tobin), Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1951.

J. K. Galbraith, The Theory of Price Control (1952)

Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt, Joint Committee Print, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, 1952) in two volumes.

5. Empirical Studies

W. C. Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks (Chicago, 1903)

_______________, Gold, Prices, and Wages under the Greenback Standard (Berkeley, 1908)

N. S. Silberling, “Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (1924), pp. 214-33, 397-439.

C. Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation.

E. L. Dulles, The French Franc (New York, 1929)

W. De Bordes, The Austrian Crown (London, 1924)

S. S. Katzenellenbaum Russian Currency and Banking, 1914-24 (London, 1925)

James H. Rogers, The Process of Inflation in France, 1914-27 (New York, 1929)

Frank D. Graham, Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyper-inflation: Germany, 1920-23 (Princeton, 1930)

Seymour Harris, The Assignats (1930)

R. A. Lester, Monetary Experiments (1939)

E. J. Hamilton, “Prices and Wages at Paris under John Law’s System,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1936).

______________, “Prices and Wages in Southern France under John Law’s System,” Economic History, a supplement of the Economic Journal (February, 1937)

Bertrand Nogaro, “Hungary’s Monetary Crisis,” American Economic Review (Sept. 1948).

Henry W. Spiegel, “A Century of Prices in Brazil,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1948

A. J. Brown, “Inflation and the Flight from Cash,” Yorkshire Bulletin of Economic and Social Research, Vol. 1 (Sept., 1949)

L. V. Chandler, Inflation in the United States, 1940-49. (1951)

Milton Friedman, “Price, Income, and Monetary Changes during Three Wartime Periods,” [American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1952, pp. 612-625]

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 78, Folder 4 (University of Chicago, Econ 432).

 

Categories
Chicago Undergraduate

Chicago. Undergraduate grade distribution in economics, 1925-26 and 1926-27.

Relatively tough grading in undergraduate economics courses at the University of Chicago during the roaring ‘twenties

Folie1

Calculated by Irwin Collier from official totals of marks reported by departments. 

 ___________________

Significantly Lower Grade Average for Economics Courses

Effective with the Summer Quarter, 1925 the University of Chicago switched from a marking system that distinguished nine ranks (A, A-,B, B-, C, C-, D, E, F) with grade points (6,5,4,3,2,1,0,-1,-2), respectively, to a system with five ranks (A, B, C, D, F) with grade points (6, 4,2,0,-2), respectively. The average mark required for a bachelor’s degree under the new system was 2 points.

Under this new point system non-economics courses were awarded on average 3.08 points compared to the average of 2.50 points awarded for economics courses. Following the grade distribution guidelines, a course would have awarded 2.63 points on average. Thus, the University of Chicago undergraduate economics grades were more than a quarter of a letter grade below those of other departments in the years 1925-27.

___________________

Grade Distribution Guideline

The Guideline distribution was voted at the joint meeting of the Faculties of the Colleges of Arts, Literature, and Science, the School of Commerce and Administration and the College of Education held on December 2, 1925:

…That in the case of a typical undergraduate section the instructor then compare the results thus obtained with the current general ratio of assignment to the several grades which (as explained at the meeting) is approximately as follows:

 

A [Excellent]

 11%

B [Good]

 29%

C [Fair]

 39%
D[Barely Passable]

13+%
F [Failure]

4+%
Incomplete

Should not exceed 2%

Note that the distribution for the Guideline distribution in the graphic above EXCLUDES the 2% for incompletes.

___________________

 

Undergraduate Grade Distributions for institutions using a comparable marking system

Institution Percentage distribution of grades
A B C D F
University of Minnesota 10.8 27.3 36.3 16.7

5.8

University of Illinois (L.A. & S.)

 11.5 25.4 33.8 18.9 10.4
Beloit College 9.0 31.0 40.0 11.0

3.0

Williams College

 8.5 22.9 43.0 20.8 4.8
Dartmouth College 8.9 24.2 41.3 19.6

5.9

Northwestern University

 12.8 30.8 40.3 9.2 4.6
Stanford University 16.8 34.4 35.1 7.2

2.8

University of Chicago, 1922-23

 11.0 29.0 39.0 13.+ 4.+
University of Chicago, 1926-27 13.9 36.6 37.1 6.2 3.0

From a memo dated November 21, 1927 from the Office of the President, University of Chicago signed by F. C. Woodward, Vice-President and dean of Faculties.

___________________

Source:  Reports of official totals of marks reported by departments. University of Chicago Archives, Department of Economics Records, Box 26, Folder 3.

Categories
Chicago Curriculum Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak. A.B. Comprehensive Exam Grades. 1935

November 2003. Samuelson and I after Bergson Commemoration.

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have 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 following each posting….

__________________________

Paul Samuelson and Jacob Mosak were undergraduate classmates at the University of Chicago. The two of them along with 27 other students were required to take a battery of comprehensive examinations in economics for the Bachelor’s degree.   I found the distribution of grades for the comprehensive exams over the period 1934-1938 in the economic department records, as well as the distribution of grades for the separate courses taken by the 29 students.

Plot-spoiler: Paul Samuelson was the top undergraduate student at Chicago in the Spring Quarter of 1935 (or perhaps ever) and the first runner up, who lived to the grand old age of 99,  also went on to have a full and distinguished career as an economics professional. Mosak’s greatest research hit in economics was his Cowles Foundation Monograph, General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade (1944).

I have appended to this posting descriptive material about the comprehensive exams and the descriptions of the individual courses along with instructor names according to the 1934-1935 Announcements.

_______________________

REPORT ON PAST COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS FOR THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

 

Quarter

 A B C D E F

Total

Spring, 1934

 1 1

Winter, 1935

 1 3 3* 7

Spring, 1935

 3 11 12     3

29
Summer, 1935 1 2 1

4
Autumn, 1935 2 1 3

6

Winter, 1936

 1 1 3 2 7

Spring, 1936

 3 8 5 3 0 3 22

Summer, 1936

 1 4 3 8
Autumn, 1936 1 2 1

4
Winter, 1937 1 2 1

4
Spring, 1937 3 8 4 4 3

22

Summer, 1937

 1 5   2   2 10
15 35 35 14 0 25

124
*Includes one unfinished examination. [name omitted]
[Handwritten additions:]

Winter, 1938

   1 3     1 5

Spring, 1938

 3 4 10 3   2 22
18 40 48 17   28

151
% 11.92 26.49 31.79 11.25   18.54

 

______________________

[Number of students awarded a particular grade by economics course numbers for the Spring Quarter 1935 comprehensive examinations]

209 210* 211 212 220 221-2 230 240 260 270** [Comp. Avg. ]

A+

 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

A

 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 4 0 1

A-

 5 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 1

B+

 7 1 1 0 2 0 1 4 1 0 1

B

 6 4 2 0 1 0 3 5 3 4 9

B-

 4 1 1 0 2 0 5 3 1 2 1

C+

 0 2 6 0 0 0 4 3 3 7

4
C 1 6 5 0 4 9 3 1 0 1

8
C- 2 4 3 0 1 0 2 0 1 2

0
D+ 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0

0
D 0 2 3 0 1 3 2 0 0 2

0
D- 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0

0
E/F 2 3 4 0 0 1 1 0 2 3

3

Samuelson

 A A- A A A A A A+
Mosak A+ B+ A A+ C- B- A

A

*Numerical grades reported for this course, converted to letter grade using the following scale:

A+ (95-100); A (93-94); A- (90-92);
B+ (87-89); B (83-86);       B- (80-82);
C+ (77-79); C (73-76); C- (70-72);
D+ (67-69); D (63-66); D- (60-62);
F (0-59).

**For four cases of exact border-line grades in Economics 270, e.g. B+/A-, I have assigned the higher grade.

______________________

[Role of the Comprehensive Examinations]

THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE

On admission to the Division, the students specializing in the Department arranges with the Departmental Counselor a suitable program of study in economics. He is expected to include in his departmental program the materials of 7 courses beyond Social science I and II. His comprehensive examination in economics will cover economic theory, accounting, statistics, economic history, and money and banking, as developed in Economics 209, 210, 211, 220 or 221, and 230. The comprehensive examination will also cover two elective fields, preferably labor, government finance, or international economic relations, as developed in Economics 240, 260, and 270. The scope and content of the several courses mentioned are indicated in the course announcements printed below.

[…]

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

[…]

The specific requirements for the Master’s degree are:

  1. A minimum of 8 courses, or their equivalent (of which at least 6 must be in Grades II and III above). At some previous time the candidate should have covered the substantial equivalent of the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree in Economics. This equivalence may be shown by courses taken or by examination. The candidate must also have the preparation in the other social sciences required for the Bachelor’s degree at the University….

[…]

[Economics Course Descriptions 1934-35]

 

  1. Intermediate Economic Theory. – A course designed for undergraduates majoring in economics who have completed the other departmental requirements for the degree, and for graduate students with limited training in systematic theory. It deals with forces controlling, through the price system, the organization of economic activity. Prerequisite: Senior standing and Economics 210, 211, 230 or their equivalents. Summer, 10:00; Autumn, 11:00; Winter, 11:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Accounting. – (1) The principles of double-entry accounting. (2) The principles of valuation and of income determination; the mathematical problems arising from accumulating and discounting future sums and annuities. (3) A survey of the uses and limitations of accounting information and compares the concepts of cost used by accountants and by economists. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 11:00, [Wilfrid Merrill] Helms; Autumn, 9:00, Shields; Spring, 11:00, [Theodore Otte] Yntema.
  1. Introduction to Statistics. – The elementary principles of statistics. Main topics: frequency distributions, correlations, time series, index numbers. Prerequisite: Mathematics 104 or its equivalent. Summer, 10:00, [John Higson] Cover; Autumn, 11:00, [Henry] Schultz; Winter, 9:00,—.
  2. Intermediate Statistics. [not offered 1934-35, description from 1933-34 follows] This course extends the scope of Economics 211 to include a brief introduction to partial and multiple correlation, but its main objective is to make the elementary statistical methods part of the working equipment of the student. Prerequisite: Economics 211 and introductory courses in economics, accounting, finance, and marketing. Spring 9:00, [Aaron] Director.
  1. Economic History of the United States. – A general survey from the colonial settlements down to the present emphasizing the period since 1860. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or their equivalent. Summer, 8:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Winter 1:30, [Chester Whitney] Wright.
  1. Economic History of Classical and Western European Civilization. –A survey of industrial conditions in their relation to economic, social, political, and cultural history at selected periods and in selected countries, undertaken with a view to understanding the nature and significance of modern industrialism. Prerequisite: Social Science I and 2 courses in European history, or equivalent. Autumn, 1:30; Spring, 1:30, [John Ulric] Nef.
  1. Introduction to Money and Banking. – A study of the factors which determine the value of money in the short and in the long run; the problem of index numbers of price levels; and the operation of the commercial banking system and its relation to the price level and general business activity. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Summer, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart; Autumn, 1:30, [Lloyd Wynn] Mints; Spring, 9:00, [Albert Gailord] Hart.
  1. Labor Problems. – General survey of problems of labor arising in a system of free enterprise. Poverty, inequality, conditions of work, and unemployment are some of the topics considered. Trade-unionism and collective bargaining contrasted with state legislation as devices for dealing with these problems. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 10:00, [Paul Howard] Douglas.
  1. Introduction to Government Finance. – A course dealing with fiscal problems of government, mainly in their economic aspect. Practices in regard to expenditure, taxation, and borrowing studied in problems of policy critically examined. Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Spring, 11:00, [Henry Calvert] Simons.
  1. International Economic Relations. – A survey of international economic relations with special emphasis on the theory of international trade and the economic foreign-policy of the United States. Are Prerequisite: Social Science I and II or equivalent. Winter, 11:00, [Harry David] Gideonse.

 

Source: University of Chicago Announcements. The College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1934-1935. pp. 281-285.

Image Source:  Photo taken of Paul Samuelson and me at the Harvard Faculty Club following the memorial service for Abram Bergson in November 2003.

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Exam questions for Oskar Lange’s Imperfect Competition Course, 1941 & 1944

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have 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 following each posting….

__________________________

The economist Norman M. Kaplan’s papers includes the reading list, two exams, and over 200 pages of his clear and legible lecture notes from Oskar Lange’s graduate theory course on imperfect competition at the University of Chicago. I have already posted the reading list for the Autumn quarter of 1941. This posting consists of the course exam questions for both 1941 and 1944.

_________________________

The course description in the 1944-45 course announcements
[identical to course description in 1941-42 announcements]

  1. Imperfect Competition.—A study of price formation and production under various transitional forms between perfect competition and pure monopoly, such as monopolistic and monopsonistic competition, noncompeting groups, oligopoly and bilateral monopoly. The problem of equilibrium under such forms. Noncompeting groups and social structure. Application of the theory to the study of distribution of incomes, collective bargaining, excess capacity, price rigidity, and business cycles. Imperfect competition and economic policy. Prerequisite: Economics 209 or equivalent. Sum[mer] 2d hf 1st T and 1st hf 2d T [C. ½ C in 2d hf 1st T]: MWF 1-3; Autumn, TuThS 10; Lange.

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements of the College and the Divisions for the Sessions of 1941. Vol. XLIV, No. 8 (May 15, 1944), p. 275.

_________________________

 

ECONOMICS 307
Autumn, 1941

(Answer briefly)

I.

The following table shows the demand (sales) schedule and the total cost schedule from a monopolist producing a patented medicine:

Output
(in units)

 Price (per unit) at which
output can be sold
(in dollars)

Total cost
(in dollars)

0

 10

1000

100

 9

1200

200

 8

1400

300

 7

1600

400

 6

1800

500

 5

2000

600

 4

2200
  1. Calculate the total revenue in the marginal revenue schedules
  2. Calculate the marginal cost, average cost and average variable cost schedules. Indicate the fixed cost
  3. Find the most profitable output and price. Showed that it is not affected by a change in fixed cost
  4. Calculate the net profit.

 

II.

  1. Explain the conditions under which monopolistic and monopsonistic price discrimination is (a) possible, (b) advantageous to the firm
  2. Assuming that the firm finds it possible and advantageous to practice monopolistic or monopsonistic price discrimination, indicate the relationship between (in the case of monopoly) the prices charged in the different markets and the respective elasticities of demand, or (in the case of monopsony) between the prices paid in the different markets and the respective elasticities of supply
  3. What can be said about the social desirability of monopolistic price discrimination from the point of view of welfare economics?

 

III.

  1. Explain by means of a diagram the formation of the wage-rate under conditions of monopsony in the labor market. What is the relation of the wage rate to the value of the marginal product of labor?
  2. Explain and discuss critically the concepts of “monopolistic exploitation” and of “monopsonistic exploitation” of labor
  3. Give a diagrammatic account of the effects of trade-unionism (with uniform wage-rates) and of control of monopoly upon the demand for labor by a firm (or industry).
  4. Indicate on the diagram the wage-rate you would impose if you were a government arbitrator. Discussed her decision in terms of (a) the level of employment, (b) the principles of welfare economics, (c) social justice (indicate your criteria of “justice”).

 

IV.

  1. Discuss the fundamental difficulty of the theory of oligopoly and explain how it is solved in (a) Chamberlin’s theory of monopolistic competition, (b) on the basis of rules of group behavior endowed with the dignity of ethical norms
  2. Discuss the significance of the kinked demand curve sub (1b) with regard to (a) price rigidity, (b) the functional distribution of incomes

 

V.

Discuss by means of a diagram the case of “service competition” between oligopolistic firms bound by a price agreement. Show (a) how the output of a firm is determined in this case and (b) the difference between this case and that of atomistic competition.

 

_________________________

 

ECONOMICS 307
December, 1944

I.

Describe Chamberlin’s theory of monopolistic competition and explain:

  1. the “excess capacity” obtaining when the firm and the group are both in equilibrium; distinguish between short and long-period “excess capacity”; which of the two presents a waste of resources from the social point of view and why.
  2. What assumptions about other firms’ reactions are made in Chamberlin’s theory.
  3. What criticisms can be made of Chamberlin’s theory.

 

II.

  1. Explain by means of a diagram the formation of the wage-rate under conditions of monopsony in the labor market. What is the relation of the wage rate to the value of the marginal product of labor?
  2. Explain and discuss critically the concept of “monopolistic exploitation” and of “monopsonistic exploitation” of labor.
  3. Give a diagrammatic account of the effects of trade-unionism (with uniform wage-rates) upon the demand for labor by a firm (or industry).
  4. Indicate on the diagram the wage-rate you would impose if you were a government arbitrator. Discuss your decision in terms of (a) the level of employment, (b) the principles of welfare economics, (c) social justice. (indicate your criteria of “justice”).

 

III.

Explain the reasons which lead under oligopoly to formation of a conventional price and state:

  1. Why is the demand curve likely to have a “kink” at the level of the conventional price;
  2. What is the shape of the marginal revenue curve in this case;
  3. Within what limits will a shift of the marginal cost curve leave price and output unaffected (illustrated by diagram);
  4. What bearing has this upon the problem of trade-unionism and wage-fixing.

 

IV.

“Total output is maximized when the ratios of the marginal productivities of any two factors are the same in each industry.”

  1. Explain what is meant in this context by “total output being maximized.”
  2. Give a simple numerical illustration of the theorem.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Norman M. Kaplan Papers, Box 2, Folder 7.

Image Source:  Oskar Lange monument at Wroclaw University of Economics. Wikimedia Commons.

Categories
Chicago

Chicago. Minimum Wage Debate, Bibliography. 1914

“Resolved, That the States should Establish a Schedule of Minimum Wages for Unskilled Labor, Constitutionality Conceded.”

The Delta Sigma Rho Chapter at the University of Chicago published a 51 page broschure that included the constructive and rebuttal speeches of the Chicago teams along with debating briefs and a bibliography from the sixteenth annual contest of the Central Debating League against Michigan and Northwestern. The debates took place on January 17, 1914.

Below I post the bibliography from the Chicago teams.

The debate coach of those University of Chicago teams was the economist Harold Glenn Moulton (1883-1965).

Ph.B. University of Chicago, 1907; Instructor in Evanston Academy, 1908-9; Fellow in Political Economy, University of Chicago, 1909-10; Traveling Fellow in Political Economy ibid., 1910; Assistant in Political Economy, ibid., 1910-11; Instructor, ibid., 1911-1914; Ph.D., ibid., 1914; Assistant Professor, ibid., 1914—.

Harold Glenn Moulton went on to become the president of the Brookings Institution.

______________________________________

The Bibliography

 

Horwich, Isaac A.: Immigration and Labor, Pullman, N. Y., 1912.

Blatchford, Robert: Living wage, and the law of supply and demand.

Boyle, James: Minimum wage and syndicalism, Cincinnati, 1913.

Commons, J. R.: Trade unionism and labor problem. Chap. 8 State arbitration and the minimum wage in Australasia.

Seager, H. R.: Introd. to economics. Distribution of wages. 222-43.

Rogers, J. E. T.: Six centuries of work and wages: The history of English labor. N. Y., 1884.

Bul. 8: 1142-281. Labor conditions in New Zealand.

Bul. 10: 60-78. Minimum wage boards in Australia.

U. S. Congress. Senate Committee on wages and prices of commodities.

Clark, V. S.: The labor movement in Australasia. N. Y., 1906. Minimum wage boards: pp. 138-153.

Great Britain. Home Dept. Report on the wages boards and industrial conditions and arbitration acts of Australia and New Zealand. By Ernest Aves. Lond. 1908.

Ryan, John A.: Living wage. N. Y. 1912.

Adams, T. S., and Summer, H. L.: Labor Problems.

Chapin, R. C.: The standard of living.

Carlton, T. F.: History and problems of organized labor. Bibliogs. pp.

Mass. Com’n on minimum wage boards. Report 1912.

Streighthoff, F. H.: Standard of living among the industrial people of America. Bost. 1911. Bibliog. xv-xlx.

Minimum Wage. Intercollegiate debates. Vol. 2. pp. 44-545.

Wages and hours of labor. Mass. Com’n on the cost of living, 1910.

Webb, Sidney: Industrial Democracy.

 

Articles in Periodicals.

1913 Minimum wage. Clark, J. B.: Atlantic Monthly. Sept. pp. 289-297.

Minimum wage in Great Britain and Australia. M. B. Hammond Ann. Amer. Acad. 48: 22-36. Jl.

Immigration and the minimum wage. P. U. Kellogg. Ann. Amer. Acad. 48: 66-77. July.

Mass, and the minimum wage. H. L. Brown. Ann. Amer. Acad. 48: 13-21.

Relation of scientific management to the wage problem. C. B. Thompson. J. Pol. Econ. 21: 630-42. July.

Living wage and the living rate. T. Roosevelt. Outlook. 104: 501-2.

Legal minimum wage. J. Boyle. Forum. 49: 576-84. May.

Minimum wage legislation. J. A. Ryan. Cath. World. 96: 577-86. Feb.

Cost of living in New Zealand. E. Tregear. Ind. 75: 205-7. Jl. 24.

Theory of minimum wage. H. R. Seager. Amer. Labor Legislation Rev. Vol. 3: 81-91. General Discussion. Pp. 92-115.

1913. Monopoly of Labor. J. L. Laughlin. Atlantic Monthly. Oct. pp. 444-453.

1913. Minimum wage and emergency employment. (Negative.)

1913. Foerster, H. F.: Horwich’s Immigration Labor. O. J. Econ. 217: 656-71. Aug.

1913. Minimum Wage States. Editional Outlook, Nov. 8, 1913. p. 516.

1913. Minimum wage boards and hours regulation and discussion. By Irene Osgood Andrews. Life and Labor. Oct. pp. 297-303.

What is the minimum wage? A. N. Holcombe. Survey. 29: 74-6.

British miners and the minimum wage. J. A. Ryan. Survey. 28: 10-1.

Legal minimum wage in the U. S. A. N. Holcombe. Am. Econ. R. 2: 21-37.

Economic theory of a legal minimum wage. S. Webb. J. Pol. Econ. 20: 973-98. Dec.

Minimum wage act a substantial review of the text of the British coal mine act. Eng. Mag. 43: 451-3.

Minimum wage. T. Roosevelt. Outlook. 102: 159-60.

Perils of the minimum wage. Cont. 84: 31.

1911. Minimum wage and immigrant Labor. P. U. Kellogg. Nat’l Conf. Char, and Correc. 1911. 16: 5-77.

British report upon real wages in America and England. W. C. Mitchell,  Q. J. Econ. 26: 160-3.

Minimum wage and immigration restriction: symposium. Survey. 25: 789-92.

Vice and wages. J. A. Hill. Survey. 27: 1191. Nov. 11.

Wages and cost of living. R. C. Chapin. N. C. C. and Correc. 1910. 449.

British minimum wages act of 1909. A. N. Holcombe. Q. J. Econ. 24: 574-7.

British minimum wages act of 1909. Text. Q. J. Econ. 24: 578-68.

Victorian wages boards and the New Zealand conciliation arbitration act. P. Kennaday. Yale R. 19: 32-54.

1909. Chapman, S. J.: Hours of labor. Economic Jour. Sept. v. 19: 353-373.

Present state of labor legislation in Australia and New Zealand. V. S. Clark. Ann. Amer. Acad. 33: 440-7.

Living wage. By J. A. Ryan. Review. Char. 17: 471-2.

1905. Freund, Ernst: Limitations of hours and labor and the federal supreme court. Green Bag. July, v. 17: 411-417.

 

Source: Central Debating League, University of Chicago. The Minimum Wage: A Debate. Chicago: 1914., pp. 50-51.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00976. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Curriculum

Chicago. Faculty and Course Offerings in the beginning, 1893/94.

 

 

The University of Chicago’s first academic year was 1892/93. The first annual publication of the University Register announced the course offering for 1893/94. This is close enough to the big bang of the department of political economy founded by J. Laurence Laughlin for most purposes. I have added some biographical data on the faculty taken from the following year’s Register. That biographical information is placed within brackets. Otherwise, as in most other transcriptions, I have attempted to give the “look and feel” of the original formatting.

_______________________

The following abbreviations are used in the list of Courses of Instruction:

M=Minor. DM=Double Minor. MM=Major. DMM=Double Major.

Courses marked with a star (*) are intended exclusively or primarily for Graduate Students. Courses the numbers of which are enclosed in brackets [ ] are not given in 1893-4.

_______________________

 

II. THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION.

J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN, PH.D., Head Professor of Political Economy.

[A. B., Harvard University, 1873; A. M. and Ph. D., HarvardUniversity,1876. Master in Private Classical School, 1873-8; Instructor in Political Economy, Harvard University,1878-83; Assistant Professor in Political Economy, Harvard University, 1883-8. Secretary and President of the Philadelphia Manufacturers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Co.,1888-90; Professor of Political Economy and Finance, Cornell University, 1890-2; Editor of the Journal of Political Economy.]

EDWARD W. BEMIS, PH.D. University Extension Associate Professor of Political Economy.

[A. B., Amherst College, 1880, and A. M., 1884; Ph. D., Johns Hopkins University, 1885; Lecturer, Amherst College, 1886; Vassar and Carleton Colleges and Ohio University, 1887; Vanderbilt University, 1888-9; Northwestern University, 1892; Adjunct Professor of History and Economics, Vanderbilt University, 1889-92; Secretary of the Training Department, University of Chicago, 1892-4.]

ADOLPH C. MILLER, A.M., Professor of Finance.

[A. B., University of California, 1887; A. M., Harvard University, 1888; Instructor in Political Economy. Harvard University, 1889-90; Lecturer on Political Economy, University of California, 1890-1, and Assistant Professor-elect of History and Political Science in same, 1891; Associate Professor of Political Economy and Finance, Cornell University, 1891-2; Associate Professor of Political Economy. University of Chicago, 1892-3.]

WILLIAM CALDWELL, A.M., D.S., Instructor in Political Economy.

[A. M., pass degree. 1884. A. M., Honors of the First Class, 1886, University of Edinburgh; First place on the Honors List, with Bruce of Grangehill Fellowship, 1886; Student at Jena, Paris, Cambridge, Berlin, Freiburg; Ferguson Scholarship (open to honorsmen of all Scottish Universities), 1887; Assistant Professor of Logic. Edinburgh University, 1888-90; Locumtenens Professor of the Moral Sciences, Cardiff for Winter term of 1888; Sir William Hamilton Fellow, Edinburgh, 1888 for three years; Shaw Fellow, 1890, for five years; Lecturer of University Association for Education of Women, Edinburgh, 1889: Government Examiner for Degrees in the Moral Sciences, St. Andrews University, 1890, for three years; Lecturer on Logic and Methodology, Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University, 1891-2; Tutor in Political Economy, the University of Chicago, 1892-3; Shaw Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, 1898; Doctor in Mental Science, ibidem, 1893.]

WILLIAM HILL. A.M., Instructor in Political Economy.

[A. B., University of Kansas, 1890; A. B. ,Harvard University, 1891; A.M., ibid., 1892; Lee Memorial Fellow in Harvard University, 1891-3; Instructor in Political Economy, ibid., 1893; Tutor in Political Economy, University of Chicago, 1893-4.]

THORSTEIN B. VEBLEN, PH.D., Tutor in Political Economy.

[A.B., Carleton College, 1880; Graduate student, Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., Yale University, 1884; Fellow in Economics and Finance, Cornell University, 1891-2; Fellow in the University of Chicago, 1892-3; Reader in Political Economy, ibid., 1893-4.]

ISAAC A. HOURWICH, PH.D., Docent in Statistics.

[Graduate, Classical Gymnasium, Minsk, Russia, 1877; Candidate of Jurisprudence (Master of Law), Demidoff Juridical Lyceum, Yaroslavl, 1887; Member of the Bar, Court of Appeals of Wilno, Russia, 1887-90; Seligman Fellow, Columbia College, 1891-2; Ph.D., ibid., 1893.]

 

INTRODUCTORY.

The work of the department is intended to provide, by symmetrically arranged courses of instruction, a complete training in the various branches of economics, beginning with elementary work and passing by degrees to the higher work of investigation. A chief aim of the instruction will be to teach methods of work, to foster a judicial spirit, and to cultivate an attitude of scholarly independence. (1) The student may pass, in the various courses of instruction, over the whole field of economics. (2) When fitted, he will be urged to pursue some special investigation. (3) For the encouragement of research and the training of properly qualified teachers of economics, Fellowships in Political Economy have been founded. (4) To provide a means of communication between investigators and the public, a review, entitled THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, has been established, to be edited by the officers of instruction in the department; while (5) larger single productions will appear in a series of bound volumes to be known as Economic Studies of the University of Chicago.

COURSES.
[1893-94]

1. Principles of Political Economy. —Exposition of the laws of Political Economy in its present state. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, (Laughlin’s edition). Dunbar, Banking.

DM.  Autumn and Summer Quarters.
PROFESSOR MILLER AND MR. HILL.

Open only to students who elect either 1a or 1b in the Winter Quarter.

1a. Advanced Political Economy.—Cairnes, Leading Principles of Political Economy. Marshall, Principles of Economics (vol. I).

DM. Winter Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.

1b. Descriptive Political Economy. —Lectures and Reading on Money, Banking, Coöperation, Socialism, Taxation, and Finance. Hadley, Railroad Transportation. Laughlin, Bimetallism.

DM. Winter Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.

2. Industrial and Economic History. —Leading Events in the Economic History of Europe and America since the middle of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures and Reading.

2 DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
MR. HILL.

3. Scope and Method of Political Economy. —Origin and Development of the Historical School. Lectures and Reports.

DM. Winter Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.

4. Unsettled Problems of Economic Theory. —Questions of Exchange and Distribution. Critical examination of selections from leading writers.

DM. Spring Quarter.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.

5. History of Political Economy. —History of the Development of Economic Thought, embracing the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats, followed by a critical study of Adam Smith and his English and Continental Successors. Lectures and Reading Reports.

DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
MR. CALDWELL.

6. Economic Factors in Civilization. —Study of the origin of some phases of our present Industrial Conditions. Lectures and Reports.

Summer Quarter.
MR. CALDWELL.

7. Socialism. —History of Socialistic Theories. Recent Socialistic Developments. Critical Review of Theoretical Writers, Programs and Criticisms. Lectures and Reports.

2 DM Winter and Spring Quarters.
DR. VEBLEN.

8. Social Economics. —Social Questions examined from the Economic standpoint:

A.  Poor Laws, and kindred topics to be announced later.

DM. Spring Quarter.
MR. CUMMINGS.

B. Social Reforms—Future of the Working-classes. Immigration. State Interference. Insurance—Legislation. Arbeitercolonien.

DM. Summer Quarter.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR BEMIS.

C. Coöperation. Profit-Sharing. Building Associations. Postal Savings. Trade Unions.

DM. Spring Quarter.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR BEMIS.

9. Money and Practical Economics. —Training in the Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Important Questions of the Day. Lectures and Theses.

DM. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.

10. Statistics. —Methods and Practical Training. Organization of Bureaus. Tabulation and Presentation of Results.

DM. Autumn Quarter.
DR. HOURWICH.

11. Advanced Statistics. —Statistics of Prices and Markets.

DM. Winter Quarter.
DR. HOURWICH.

12. Railway Transportation. —History and Development of Railways. Theories of Rates. Combination. Investments. State Ownership or Control. Lectures, Reports, Discussions, and Reading.

2 DM. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
MR. HILL.

13. Tariff History of the United States. —Legislation since 1780. Economic Effects. Political Causes. Lectures and Reports with Discussions. Reading.

Spring Quarter.
MR. HILL.

14. Financial History of the United States.—Rapid Survey of the Financial Experiences of the Colonies and the Confederation. Detailed Study of the Course of American Legislation on Currency, Debts. and Banking since 1789. Lectures and Reports.

DM. Spring Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.

15. Finance. —Public Expenditures. Theories and Methods of Taxation. Public Debts. Financial Administration.

DM. Autumn Quarter.
PROFESSOR MILLER.

16. American Agriculture.—Movements of Prices. Foreign Competition. Changing Conditions of Agriculture. Land Tenure. Lectures, Reading, and Reports.

DM. Autumn Quarter.
DR. VEBLEN.

[17.] Banking. —Comparison of Modern Systems. Study of Principles. Lectures and Theses.

DM.
MR. HILL.

*18. Seminar in Finance.

2 DM. Winter and Spring Quarters.
PROFESSOR MILLER.

*19. Economic Seminar.

3 DM.  Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters.
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN.

 

SOURCES:

University of Chicago, Annual Register. July, 1892—July, 1893 with Announcements for 1893-4, pp. 38, 40-41.

University of Chicago, Annual Register. July, 1893—July, 1894 with Announcements for 1894-5, pp. 11-18, 46-47.

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Statistics

Chicago. Ph.D. qualifying exam in statistics. 1932

In his memo of February 1985 (Columbia University, A. G. Hart papers: Box 60, Folder “Sec I Notes on teaching materials, Learning”) Albert G. Hart wrote “I ducked the qualifying exam in statistics (in which for that date I was very well trained) because I disapproved of the focus of previous exams upon minor technicalities—hence I exploited the loophole which made ‘financial organization’ a separate field even though in principle the ‘theory’ exam included monetary economics.” The previous three postings give the examination questions for theory, economic history and financial organization (i.e. money and banking) for the qualifying exams Hart did take. I presume the exam of this posting is one he examined and then decided to duck statistics.

__________________________

[Handwritten note: University of Chicago (H Schultz)]

STATISTICS
Written Examination for the Ph.D.
Spring Quarter, 1932

Time – 3 1/2 hours

Answer seven questions: one question in Part I and two questions in each of the other parts.

PART I. Time Series

  1. Discuss the possibility of applying the theory of probability or of sampling to the study of the statistical characteristics of time series.
  2. Explain the factors that have to be taken into consideration in determining the best trend of a time series. What analyses can be made of a time series from which the trend and seasonal variation have been removed.
  3. Discuss the advantages and limitations of the elimination of seasonals (a) by subtracting, (b) by dividing.

PART II. Index Numbers

  1. Discuss the problem of assigning a precise and unambiguous meaning to a change in the price level (or to a change in some specified section of the price level, e.g., the wholesale price level of metals), touching on the contributions of Edgeworth, Fisher, Divisia, Keynes, and Bortkevitch.
  2. If you were attempting to construct a 15 commodity wholesale price index which would precede the general B.L.S. wholesale price index by at least two months as consistently as possible (a) how would you select your commodities, (b) how would you wait them in the index?
  3. Explain fully:

(a) Does Fisher’s ideal Index measure precisely and unambiguously the change in price level from one period to another of the commodities included in the index?
(b) What significance would you attach to the Factor Reversal test in the selection of the formula for price index?
(c) What significance would you attach to the Time Reversal test in the selection of a formula for a price index?

PART III. Correlation

  1. Let

x1 = annual per capita cigarette consumption

x2 = deflated average annual wholesale price of cigarettes

x3 = deflated annual expenditure on advertising

x4 = time in years

R1.234 = .998 for the period 1922-1929 inclusive

r14= .95

(a)  What meaning would you attach to R1.234?
(b) How reliable would you consider forecasts of x1  for subsequent years based on the regression of x1 on x2 , x3 , and x4 ?
(c) Adjust R1.234  for loss of degrees of freedom. Explain this adjustment.
(d) Calculate R1´.2´3´4´ in which the 1´, 2´, and 3´refer to the deviations from linear trends of the variables 1, 2 and 3.

2.  Prove and explain the following relations:     (The B’s are Greek Betas.)

(a)  R21.23 = B12.3 r12  + B13.2 r13

(b)  R21.23  = B212.3 + B213.2 + 2B12.3 B13.2  r23

What meaning can be given to the Br’s in this connection when the equation of regression is of the type

x1 = a + bx2 + ct + dt2 where t stands for time?

3.  Critically appraise the attempts that have been made to apply the method of multiple correlation to one of the following:

(a) Statistical studies of demand
(b) Statistical studies of supply
(c) Any field selected by yourself.

PART IV. Probability and Sampling

  1. Indicate the best procedures and tables to use in determining the reliability of the following constants, when the number of observations from which they have been derived is small (i.e., less than 50):

(a)  the mean
(b)  the standard deviation
(c)  the simple coefficient of correlation
(d)  the multiple coefficient of correlation
(e)  the coefficients of progression in a multiple correlation equation
(f)  the agreement of a hypothesis with observation
(g)  the presence or absence of dependence

2. In a straw vote 200,000 ballots are sent out. 100,000 are returned and of the 60,000 or marked in favor of the proposition submitted.

(a) What can you say about the reliability of this vote?
(b) If the original mailing had been increased to 800,001 increase in reliability would have been secured in the returns?
(c) List the types of errors to which straw votes are subject.

3.   189 cases were treated with tetanus serum and 80 of them were cured. 199 cases were not treated with tetanus serum and only 42 of them were cured. What is the probability that the serum has had no effect, the difference in recoveries being due to fluctuations in sampling? (Outline your solution.)

4. A factory produces a certain screw which is collected at the machine inboxes of 1200 each. Long experience has shown that the proportion of boxes which contain various percentages of bad screws is as follows:
Per Cent of Bad Screws in Box

Per Cent of
Bad Screws
in Box

 Proportion of Boxes Observed
to Contain this Percentage
of Bad Screws

0

 0.780

1

0.170

2

0.034

3

0.009

4

0.005

5

0.002
6

0.000

 

The manufacturing standard is to consider any box which contains 2% or less of bad screws is satisfactory. The normal inspection consists in the examination of 50 screws out of each box. In particular box showed six bad screws under normal inspection. What is the probability that the manufacturing standard has not been maintained in the production of this box (i.e., that the box contains more than 2% defective screens)?

N. B. – Outline your solution giving formulas, indicating required tables, etc., But do not carry out the actual computations.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60; Folder “Exams: Chi[cago] Qualifying”.

Image Source: Detail from the Social Science Research Building. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07448, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic Theory Ph.D. Qualifying Exams, 1932-33

In the papers of economist Albert G. Hart at Columbia University there is a folder that contains nearly a complete run of economic theory qualifying exams from the University of Chicago covering the period 1926-1940. I include here the exam from the Spring quarter 1932 and the exam from the Autumn Quarter 1933, though I cannot say whether Hart himself actually took either one of these two theory exams. The previous two postings have field exams (money and banking exam, economic history exam)  that are (i) unique in his papers and (ii) have his handwritten notations, e.g. questions checked and time started and ended for some questions, so we can be very sure those were indeed “his” exams. In several of the theory exams before the Autumn 1933  there are Hart-like checkmarks over the names of economists explicitly mentioned which has led me to conclude that a part of Hart’s personal examination prep was to go over the old theory examinations to identify the economists most likely to make an appearance in his own economic theory exam. The Autumn 1933 exam of this posting has no such checkmarks and would coincide with the quarter he took his money-and-banking exam. In any event today’s postings are still valuable artifacts from the early 1930s Chicago department.

________________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY
Written Examination for the Ph.D.

Spring Quarter, 1932

Time: 3 1/2 hours.

Answer seven questions, of which at least three must be in Part I. C. & A. students may substitute question 6, Part II, for any other question.

Part I

  1. Discuss the relationships between the conclusions and assumptions of the neoclassical school[✓], the Weber[✓]-Sombart[✓] school, and the American institutionalists[✓].
  2. Trace the development of the demand concept from Adam Smith to the present, touching on the contributions of J.S. Mill[✓], Cournot[✓], Fleeming Jenkin[✓], Walras[✓], Böhm-Bawerk[✓], and the statistical economists. [(Schultz)]
  3. A producer of cement has a monopoly of the market in the area adjoining his plant, but is an insignificant factor in the rest of the country, where there are many competing producers. He can sell any desired portion of his output in the competitive market at the price there prevailing. Given the price prevailing in the competitive market, the demand schedule in his own monopolized market, his own average cost schedule, and any additional information which may be necessary for the solution of the problem, find the price he should charge in his own market, and the quantities he should sell in each market, to maximize his net revenue.
  4. Answer (a) or (b), but not both.

(a) The final degree of utility curves of A and B for corn (X) and beef (Y) are as follows, the small letters x and y representing the quantities of X and Y consumed by the person indicated by the subscript.

Commodity

Person

X (corn)

Y (beef)

A

fa(xa) = – (3/2)xa + (19/2)

?a(ya) = -(1/2)ya + 6

B

fb(xb) = -(3/8)xb + 5

?b(yb) = – yb + 7

The total market supply of corn is

x = xa + xb = 14

and the total market supply of beef is

y = ya + yb = 8

Without performing any numerical computations, explain how to deduce the combined demand curves of A and B for corn in terms of beef and for beef in terms of corn.

(b) Is there an equilibrium price and output when a commodity is produced by two competing monopolists? Discuss this problem touching on the solutions of Cournot[✓], Edgeworth[✓], Amoroso[✓], and Wicksell[✓].

Part II

  1. Describe the history and status of the real cost theory [✓] of value. [Marx]
  2. Point out the resemblances and the differences between the preconceptions, the methods of analysis, and the conclusions, of Adam Smith and the physiocrates [sic], or of the mercantilists and the physiocrates [sic], or of Malthus and Ricardo.
  3. Give some reasonable objectives for a centrally planned economy in a democratic state; state the grounds of your selection of objectives; indicate and discuss possible lines of procedure for realizing them through price control.
  4. Explain and comment on the following in connection with interest theory; [BB; Hayek; Fisher[?]]

(1)  length of the productive period; (2) underestimate of the future; (3) marginal physical productivity of waiting; (4) marginal abstinence; (5) “evening out the income stream.”

5.  Discuss the significant of variability of the proportions of the factors of production and of variability of the supplies of the productive factors for a marginal productivity theory of distribution.

For C. & A. students only

6.   Discuss the feasibility and merits of inflation in the present stage of the depression.

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: Chicago”.

_____________________________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY
Written Examination for the Doctorate

[Part I, Price theory/Microeconomics]
Autumn Quarter, 1933

Time: Three Hours.

Answer all the questions as directed.

1.   (Answer both parts)

A.  Defined or very briefly describe:

(1) Inelastic demand
(2) Elastic demand
(3) Incremental (or marginal) revenue
(4) Perfect competition (in terms of demand elasticity)
(5) Pure profit
(6) Productivity (incremental or marginal of a particular agency or factor)

B.  Is export dumping evidence of domestic monopoly? Explain. Under what conditions does export dumping lead to a lower domestic price in the exporting country?

2.   (Answer either A or B)

A.  State briefly the doctrine of market price and natural price of the early classical economists; contrast this with Marshall’s analysis of long-run and short on price, and give your own view of the correct classification of viewpoints with respect to time.

B. State and critically discuss the classical doctrine of productive and unproductive labor, and in view of the issues raised formulate a correct definition of production in economics.

3.  The theory of marginal utility: its origin, principal forms or interpretations, your own view of its meaning and use in price theory, and the critical appraisal of its validity. Consider especially the relations between the use of the principle as an explanatory concept and as a premise for the discussion of social policy.

4.  (Answer either A or B)

A.  Discuss the effects of establishing by legal action be minimum wage above the wage actually received by, say, one-fourths of the workers actually employed: (a) under conditions of prosperity with approximately full employment; (b) under depression conditions with a large volume of unemployment.

B.  Criticized the view that industry fails to distribute sufficient purchasing power to buy its product, resulting in economic on balance.

5. Show graphically the effect of lowering the tariff on sugar. (Assumed domestic and foreign demand and supply curves given, and neglect any disturbances in the balance of international payments.)

6. Briefly characterize and evaluate comparatively what you considered the significant “approaches” or methodologies in economic science. (The following are to be taken as suggestive catch-words: classical, inductive, institutional, historical, deductive, price theory, sociological, socialistic, control.) We are possible, cite examples of the different tendencies in the history of economic thought from the Greeks to the present.

 

PART II
MONETARY AND CYCLE THEORY

Written Examination for the Ph.D.
Autumn Quarter, 1933

Time: 2 hours

Answer four questions, including the first two.

  1. State the classical doctrine of international gold flows and price levels and discuss some recent criticism of this doctrine.
  2. “The primary cause of business depression is the rigidities of the price structure.”  “Through their alternating contraction and expansion of the circulating medium the banks are responsible for the wide swings in industrial activity.” Discuss these statements.
  3. Discuss the theoretical short-comings involved in a policy on the part of our federal government of progressively bidding up the price of gold in foreign markets.
  4. If business recovery came without the assistance of governmental inflation it would be accompanied by an expansion of the circulating medium as a result of the lending operations of the commercial banks. What significant similarities and differences are there between such expansion and (a) government borrowing from the banks in order to finance public works, (b) outright “greenbackism”?
  5. It has been argued that in as much as the demand for capital goods is a derived demand it follows that any voluntary saving will necessarily result in some degree of unemployment. That is to say, the savings will reduce the demand for consumers’ goods, thus reducing the demand for capital goods, and consequently not all the savings will be borrowed; hence unemployment. But the commercial banks, through their power to create circulating medium, make it possible for entrepreneurs to obtain the funds with which to create capital goods without the reduction in consumer demand which comes with saving. Hence the banks furnish a means of escape from the dilemma. Discuss.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: Chicago”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Lecture Hall 1). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07482, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic History, Ph.D. qualifying exam, 1933

The previous posting was a transcription of the examination questions for the Ph.D. qualifying exam in money-and-banking (a.k.a. financial organization) at Chicago in 1933. This posting gives us the analogous exam for the field Economic History which tested both U.S. and Western European economic history equally. Bracketed checkmarks have been included for the questions that the economist A. G. Hart explicitly checked himself.  It seems  unlikely that Hart did not answer two of the last three questions of Group II, but until someone finds the typed copy of his exam (see introduction to previous posting, link above), we won’t know.

______________________

ECONOMIC HISTORY
Written Examination for the Ph.D.

[University of Chicago]
Summer Quarter, 1933

Time: 4 hours

Divide your time equally between Group I and Group II.

Where suitable, answers in outline form are preferable and will save time. Read the instructions and questions carefully.

Group I

Answer question 1 and 3 others. Time, 2 hours.

  1. [✓] What reasons can you suggest to explain why the per capita money income in the United States around the first of the twentieth century was so much higher than that in the United Kingdom?
  2. [✓] Explain how economic conditions in the colonies reacted upon the transplanting of English institutions, political, social and economic, in the colonies.
  3. Describe the chief laws governing the disposition of the public domain since 1800 and give a critical estimate of the results of this legislation.
  4. [✓] Enumerate the various ways in which our ideal of democracy (in the broad sense) has reacted upon our economic history.
  5. [✓] Outline and explain the history of our merchant marine since 1789.
  6. Trace the evolution of the financial institutions upon which agriculture had to depend for its credit since about 1820, giving a critical estimate of the adequacy of these facilities at different periods.

Group II

Answer question 1 and 3 others. Time, 2 hours

  1. [✓] Make an outline or list of the main changes in economic institutions from 12th-century West-Europe to the World War. Briefly compare the conditions of at the later date with economic organization at the height of “classical” (Greco-Roman) civilization.
  2. [✓] Discuss in detail the manner in which the rising prices during the 16th century may have affected industrial development in England, France and the Belgian provinces? What comfort can advocate of “controlled inflation” today derived from the monetary history of the 16th century in these three countries?
  3. Compare the agrarian history of Italy in the first and second centuries A.D. With that of northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries A.D. To what extent, if any, can the differences be explained by the differences in the natural resources of the two countries?
  4. Trace the history of thought in connection with any one of the following three subjects from the earliest times down to the present: (a) the influence of climate upon civilization; (b) The quantity theory of money; (c) The influence of religion upon the rise of capitalism.
  5. Selects some topic in economic history which you would be interested in investigating. Tell how you would go about obtaining the material. What sort of historical criticism would you apply to the material?

 Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60, folder “Exams: CHI QUALIFYING”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Lecture Hall 2). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07483, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Chicago Economists Exam Questions

Chicago. Money and Banking Ph.D. qualifying exam, 1933

A. G. Hart’s education and career covered the big three economics departments of his day (Harvard, Chicago and Columbia). For my research on the history of economics education his papers constitute a particularly rich vein of material. In today’s posting I have transcribed the questions for his “qualifying examination” in money-and-finance at the University of Chicago. Bracketed checkmarks indicate the questions Hart chose to answer (the checkmarks are presumably his). In his memo of February 1985 (Columbia University, A. G. Hart papers: Box 60, Folder “Sec I Notes on teaching materials, Learning”) Hart wrote that his files include “answers to ‘qualifying examinations’ in microeconomics, money-and-finance, and economics history” to which he added the following footnote: “I was allowed to write these [qualifying] exams with aid of a typewriter, so that I was able to keep a legible copy. I ducked the qualifying exam in statistics (in which for that date I was very well trained) because I disapproved of the focus of previous exams upon minor technicalities—hence I exploited the loophole which made ‘financial organization’ a separate field even though in principle the ‘theory’ exam included monetary economics.” I must have missed his typed examination answers (or they were lost or misfiled). Perhaps someone else will locate them and post a comment here some day…

_____________________________________________

 

THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

Written Examination for the Ph. D. Degree
[University of Chicago]
Autumn Quarter, 1933

 

Time: 4 hours.

 

Write on 7 questions, including the first two in Part I and any two in Part II.

Part I

  1. [✓] Assume a large deposit of new gold in a member bank in the United States. Show the precise manner in which this deposit would result in an expansion of the circulating medium, and the approximate extent of such expansion. Develop in terms of the following topics: (a) a single bank; (b) the banking system; (c) drain of cash into circulation.
  2. [✓] Discuss the respective merits and limitations of the following as alternative methods of contributing to sustained recovery from the current depression: (a) the program of construction of public works financed by sale of bonds to banks; (b) federal unemployment benefits financed by sale of bonds to banks; (c) open market purchase of bonds by the Federal Reserve banks.
  3. To what extent have weaknesses in our banking system been responsible for the bank failures of the last 13 years[?] Have these weaknesses been remedied by recent legislation? If not, what changes would you recommend?
  4. [✓] “A world that was striving to maintain the currency system with the wider ambit than its banking system, its tariff system, and its wage system, witnessed the smash of them all – and blamed it on gold. Now that the full extent of the chaos is realized[,] one might wonder why the whole mechanism did not break down sooner in view of the well-nigh universal refusal to observe the rules of the game (gold standard).” What is the significance of the author’s first sentence? How would you state the “rules of the game”?
  5. [✓] Discuss the theoretical short-comings involved in a policy on the part of our federal government of progressively bidding up the dollar price of gold in foreign markets.
  6. Do the following experiences with paper money throw any light on the possible outcome of the present monetary and fiscal situation in the United States? The assignats, the period of the restriction in England, the Greenback Era, the post-world-war experiences in Europe.
  7. [✓] State and evaluate the argument that “maldistribution” of income is the cause of recurrent business depressions.

 

Part II

 

  1. [✓] It is alleged that the investment market has “dried up” because investors and bankers are uncertain of the future value of the dollar and because of the paralysis of investment banking caused by the “securities law.” Do you consider the allegations sound? Why or why not?
  2. [✓] What industries would be likely to profit most from a return to the 1926 price level? What industries least? Defend your answer. Be careful to state any important assumptions. Classify industries as you please.
  3. Assume you are treasurer of an automobile manufacturing corporation having a $5,000,000 bond maturity on January 1, 1934. What factors would you consider in planning to meet this maturity and why would you consider each of them?

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Albert Gailord Hart Collection. Box 60; Folder “Sec 2 Ec 230 1933 Chicago Money (Summer course)”.

Image Source:  Social Science Research Building (Entrance, North 3). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07466, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.