Category: Courses

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Introductory Economics, Final Exams. Taussig, 1914-1915

 

Frank W. Taussig played a central role in Harvard’s economics at two important stages. He was the lecturer for the entry-level Principles of Economics course for undergraduates and the core economic theory course for graduate students. In addition he covered the field of international economics.

The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions for his principles course come from four different sources, three of which are available on-line. Over the past few weeks, I have posted corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered at Harvard during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

The following year (1915) Edmund E. Day and R. S. Davis (who belonged to the team of instructors and assistants for this principles course) published their Questions on the Principles of Economics (New York, Macmillan) that was arranged by topics to follow Taussig’s own textbook Principles of Economics (Second, revised edition of 1915: Volume One; Volume Two).

______________________ 

Course Announcement

Economics A. (formerly 1). Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11.
Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day and five assistants.

Course A is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second year of their college career. It may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics A. [p. 61]

Course A gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, international trade, and taxation. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States will be treated in outline.

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. [p. 62]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

______________________ 

Course Enrollment

[Economics] A. Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Dr. J. S. Davis, and Messrs. P. G. Wright, Burbank, Vanderblue, W. C. Clark, and Monroe.—Principles of Economics.

Total 491: 1 Graduate, 30 Seniors, 137 Juniors, 260 Sophomores, 11 Freshmen, 52 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

______________________ 

Mid-year Examination

ECONOMICS A

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all the questions; be concise; plan your answers with care; and leave time for revision at the close.]

  1. In what ways, if at all, is the development of the complex division of labor connected with (a) the monotony of labor; (b) the Industrial Revolution; (c) integration of industry; (d) the recurrence of industrial crises?
  2. Explain: external economies; internal economies. Which set of economies is most significant for the explanation of (a) the localization of industry; (b) increasing returns; (c) the development of monopoly?
  3. If possible distinguish between

(a) diminishing returns and diminishing utility;
(b) by-product and joint product;
(c) joint cost and joint demand;
(d) “corners” and monopolies;
(e) median and arithmetical mean.

  1. Explain briefly the immediate and the ultimate effects (if any) which each of the following changes, taken separately, will tend to have on the price of cotton, cotton-seed oil, and cotton-mill machinery; (a) prohibition of organized speculation; (b) a change of fashion toward greater use of cotton fabrics; (c) doubling of the population of the country. (Assume for all three cases that there is no international trade, and that the quantity of money remains the same.)
  2. In what direction and by what process, if at all, would the following tend to affect the value of money in the United States; (a) increased demand for gold ornaments; (b) increasingly lavish expenditures by spendthrifts; (c) a continued drain of specie to the East; (d) a larger output of silver in the United States; (e) abolition of all legally required banking reserves?
  3. Under what conditions does inconvertible paper money circulate as readily as specie? Under what conditions, not as readily?
    Under what conditions is the value of inconvertible paper money as great as that of specie? Under what conditions is its value less than that of specie?
    State two indications of its having less value than specie. Which of the two is the more significant? Which is the more easily ascertained?
  4. State points of similarity, points of difference, between the Federal Reserve system and the English banking system as regards (a) centralization of reserves; (b) centralization of note issue; (c) measures available for preventing panics.
  5. Under what circumstances, if any, can a country have a permanent excess of imports? Under what circumstances, if any, a permanent outflow of specie? Does an excess of imports lead to an outflow of specie?
    Wherein, if at all, does a country gain or lose in its foreign trade (a) if prices and money incomes are higher than in foreign countries; (b) if prices and money incomes are lower?

Mid-Year. 1915.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers in Economics, 1882-1935. Prof. F. W. Taussig. (HUC 7882). Scrapbook, p. 106.

______________________ 

Final Examination

ECONOMICS A

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Answer all the questions.

  1. Explain concisely: —

diminishing returns,
margin of cultivation,
equilibrium of supply and demand,
economic rent.

  1. Construct a simple index number of prices for 1914, using 1908 as the base.

 

1908

1914
Wheat, bbl.

$8.00

$12.00
Coal, ton

8.00

8.00
Iron, ton

18.00

9.00
Lumber, 1000 feet

20.00

15.00
Meat, lb.

.20

.30
Sugar, lb.

.10

.10

(1) Would the index-number point to a rise or a fall in the value of money? (2) Would a Board of Arbitration be justified in recommending a change in wages? If so, on what basis? If not, why not?

  1. Under what circumstances, if under any, will the imposition of a import duty cause the price of the dutiable commodity to fall? Under what will it fail to affect the price? Under what will it cause the price to rise?
  2. To what cause or causes should you ascribe: —

(a) the high level of general wages in the United States;
(b) the high wages of skilled workmen such as plumbers;
(c) the high wages of domestic servants in the United States;
(d) the high wages of trained nurses.

  1. Why is saving no less advantageous for laborers than lavish expenditure? Why do laborers usually favor ” making work “?
  2. “The standard of living affects wages not directly, but ” — how?
    What evidence of varying standards of living appears in the statistics of births and deaths for different countries? for different social classes?
  3. “The special question presented in this regard by the trust movement seems to be whether large-scale management adds something to the gains from large-scale production in the narrower sense. Here, too, it would appear at first sight that the matter may be allowed to settle itself. Let them fight it out and let that form of organization survive which does the work most cheaply.”
    Explain (a) what is meant by large-scale management and large-scale production; (b) what grounds there are for saying that they should be allowed to fight it out, what grounds for saying that they should not; (c) what legislation has recently been enacted in the United States on this subject.
  4. “Important distinctions exist between full-fledged socialism and public management of selected industries.” What are the distinctions?

Final. 1915.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 39-59.

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Statistics Final Exam. Day, 1914-15

 

 

Harvard’s 1914-15 statistics course in the department of economics was open to both undergraduate and graduate students. It was taught by Harvard Ph.D. (1909) and assistant professor, Edmund Ezra Day. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 1a1. Statistics. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11.  Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Mr. F. E. Richter.

This course will deal primarily with the elements of statistical method. The following subjects will be considered: methods of collecting and tabulating data; the construction and use of diagrams; the use and value of the various types and averages; index-numbers; dispersion; interpolation; correlation. Special attention will be given to the accuracy of statistical material.

In the course of this study of statistical method, examples of the best statistical information will be presented, and the best sources will be indicated. Population and vital statistics will be examined in some measure, but economic statistics will predominate.

Laboratory work in the solution of problems and the preparation of charts and diagrams will be required. [p. 62]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1a 1hf. Asst. Professor Day, assisted by Mr. F. E. Richter.—Statistics.

Total 53: 23 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS la1

  1. Formulate, if possible, practical definitions for use in statistical enumerations of the following: (a) cities; (b) farms; (c) manufacturing establishments; (d) the insane; (e) the blind. What are the essentials of a satisfactory statistical unit?
  2. What three sorts of evidence may be employed to prove the inaccuracy of census enumerations of population? Which of the three is generally most effectively used?
  3. Describe the different methods of estimating the growth of population. Under what circumstances is each method applicable? preferable? What method should you recommend for estimating the population of (a) Hartford, Connecticut; (b) Seattle, Washington; (c) the United States; (d) the United Kingdom?
  4. In computing a crude birth-rate what disposition is made of (a) still-births; (b) multiple births; (c) illegitimate births? On what different bases may a crude birth-rate be refined? What are the objections to refining birth-rates? When is refining desirable?
  5. What subjects are covered by the Census of Manufactures in the United States? What is the statistical value of the different results secured?
  6. In the construction of index-numbers of prices, what are the advantages and disadvantages of (a) the weighted arithmetic mean; (b) the median? What are the more important difficulties in the construction of price indexes?
  7. Discuss the reporting of crops in the United States with reference to (a) the bureaus engaged; (b) methods of securing data; (c) publication of results; (d) accuracy of results.
  8. Define and briefly explain the uses of (a) the index-number; (b) logarithmic curve; (c) coefficient of dispersion; (d) coefficient of correlation.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, p. 41.

Image Source: Edmund Ezra Day in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Accounting, Final Examination. J.S. Davis, 1914-15

 

 

Harvard’s accounting course was open to both undergraduate and graduate students. It was taught by the Harvard Ph.D. (1913) and instructor of economics, Joseph Stancliffe Davis. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

The course syllabus was transcribed  and is available in a later posting.

An obituary for Davis written by Joseph H. Willits, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 1b. Accounting. Half-course (second half-year). Lectures, Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30; problems and laboratory practice, two hours a week. Dr. J. S. Davis, assisted by Mr. F. E. Richter and —.

This course will deal with the construction and the interpretation of accounts of various types of business units, designed to show the financial status at a particular time, the financial results obtained during a period of time, and the relation between the results and the contributing factors. In other words, it will be concerned with the measurement, in terms of value, of economic instruments, forces, products, and surpluses.

Some attention will necessarily be given to the fundamentals of book-keeping, but emphasis will be placed chiefly upon the accounting principles underlying valuation and the determination of profits and costs. Problem work will be regularly assigned, and published reports of corporations will serve as material for laboratory work. [p. 63]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1b 2hf. Dr. J. S. Davis, assisted by Mr. F. E. Richter.—Accounting.

Total 119: 2 Graduates, 62 Seniors, 49 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Course Final Exam

ECONOMICS 1b

  1. Explain concisely five of the following: —

(a) “a controlling account”;
(b) “charging to capital”;
(c) “a sinking fund”;
(d) “a life insurance reserve”;
(e) “the five normal elements in cost”;
(f) “stores ledger.”

  1. “The Depositors’ Guarantee Fund of Nebraska is to accumulate up to one and one-half per cent of the average daily [bank] deposits for the whole state, at the rate of one-half of one per cent for each of the first two years, then one-tenth of one per cent until the limit is reached, at which time assessments are to stop. No money is actually paid out by any bank except its proportionate share of losses arising from failures; the assessments are simply charged off from its profits and entered to the credit of the Depositors’ Guarantee Fund, which can be drawn upon by the State Banking Board.”

(a) What journal entries should a bank make (1) when an assessment of $5000 falls due? (2) when at the call of the State Banking Board it pays over $3000 as its share of a loss arising from the failure of another bank?
(b) Should a bank show “ Depositors’ Guarantee Fund “ on its balance sheet as an asset, a liability, or a proprietorship item?

  1. From the following condensed but essentially complete statements, ascertain (taking each statement separately) the profits earned or the loss sustained during the year. Indicate the title each statement should bear.

(A)

Dr.

 Cr. Assets

Liabilities
Real Estate and Plant $40,000 $35,000
Merchandise $15,000 10,000
Accounts Payable 10,000 $10,000
Cash 30,000 30,000
Capital 60,000 60,000
Expense 15,000 2,000

 

(B)

Jan. 1

 Dec. 31 Jan. 1

Dec. 31
Plant $80,000 $70,000 Capital Stock $100,000 $100,000
Receivables 45,000 50,000 Payables 65,000 75,000
Merchandise 30,000 25,000 Wages Accrued 5,000 5,000
Cash 50,000 60,000 Reserve for Ins. … 10,000
Int. Prepaid 5,000 10,000 Surplus 40,000 25,000
(NOTE.—No dividends have been paid.)

 

(C)

Purchases $100,000 Net Sales $130,000
Wages 10,000 Interest Earned 4,000
Depreciation 6,000 Commission 6,000
Interest Expense 2,000
Miscel. Expense 12,000
Proprietor 10,000

 

  1. Show journal entries for the first-named concern in each of the following transactions:—

(a) A department store raises cash by discounting at the First National Bank its 3-months’ note for $100,000, at 4%.
(b) Enterpriser having exhausted his personal credit, gets Goodfellow to accommodate him with a $5000 60-day note bearing interest at 6%, which Enterpriser immediately gets discounted at 5%.
(c) Retailer settles a bill of Manufacturer’s dated June 1, for goods listed at $150,000 and sold subject to a trade discount of 20% on terms ” 30 days net,” paying with a note maturing July 1.
(d) A railroad company buys steel freight cars at a cash price of $480,000, but pays for them with an issue of 4% 10-year bonds at 80.

 

  1. Balance Sheet, January 1,1915.
Fixed Assets $500,000 Capital Stock $300,000
Current Assets 250,000 Bonds 300,000
Deficit 50,000 Current Liabilities 200,000
$800,000 $800,000

You are asked what is the capital of a company showing the above balance sheet, which is assumed to be correct. What four possible correct answers might you give? In each case explain what the term “capital” signifies.

  1. “The prospective investor in railroad securities should scrutinize very carefully any radical reduction in expenses that is made in either maintenance of way or maintenance of equipment; but a reduction in transportation expenses without any falling off in the revenue of the road may be fairly safely accepted as a reflection of increased efficiency.”

(a) Why this difference?
(b) Wherein would the company’s financial statements be falsified by excessive reductions in charges to maintenance?

  1. “No rate of depreciation is at present prescribed by the commission, and although the companies are supposed to report to the Interstate Commerce Commission the rate which they use, they are at liberty to make this rate as low as they want to and are permitted to vary the rate from year to year. Furthermore, no charge for retirements is necessary until a locomotive is actually scrapped or sold. Let us assume, for a moment, that a road wishes to make a good showing by holding down maintenance of equipment expenses. Cars and engines which have become worn out or obsolete may be put on side tracks and neither scrapped nor sold, but new equipment bought. There is no way in which this can be detected from the maintenance . . . accounts.”

(a) How does this practice enable the roads to make “a good showing”?
(b) By what supplementary statistics, if any, can the practice be detected?
(c) Why should no rate of depreciation be prescribed?

  1. “As the premium [on a bond] is nothing but the present worth of an annuity of the ‘difference of interest,’ so the various amortisations are nothing but the present worths of the different instalments of annuity.”
    Explain the italicized terms and the statement.
  2. What are the principal defects in present-day municipal accounting? What steps have been taken toward improvement?
  3. State concisely the four most important accounting facts or principles which you have learned in this course. (Accuracy of statement and wisdom in selection will be considered in grading answers.)

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 42-44.

Image Source: Joseph Stancliffe Davis, Harvard Class Album, 1916.

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. U.S. Economic History, Final Exam. Gay, 1915

 

 

“Economic and Financial History of the United States” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard taught by Edwin F. Gay. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

The course outline and reading assignments for this course in 1911 has been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 2b. Economic and Financial History of the United States. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 9. Professor Gay, assisted by —.

The following are among the subjects considered: aspects of the Revolution and commercial relations during the Confederation and the European wars; the history of the protective tariff policy and the growth of manufacturing industries; the settlement of the West and the history of transportation, including the early canal and turnpike enterprises of the states, the various phases of railway building and the establishment of public regulation of railways; banking and currency experiences; various aspects of agrarian history, such as the public land policy, the growth of foreign demand for American produce and the subsequent competition of other sources of supply; certain social topics, such as slavery and its economic basis, and the effects of immigration. [pp. 63-4.]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 2b 2hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. A. H. Cole.—Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 131: 30 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 30 Sophomores, 10 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 2b

  1. (a) In the War of 1812, as well as in the embargo period, American shipping suffered; but with peace it nourished again. So too American shipping suffered in the Civil War; while afterwards shipping declined. How do you account for this?

   (b) What justification, if any, is there for the following assertion: —

“In the case of England, the mail subvention system a wise and liberal policy, while in that of the United States it was a tax on the people to support a mistaken policy.”
Is a ship subsidy policy desirable for the United States at the present time?

  1. Outline briefly your views as to the immediate influence of the Civil War on (a) land policy, (b) banking, (c) tariff, and (d) industrial progress North and South.
  2. “The currency legislation from the close of the Civil War was a series of compromises.” What compromises? Why? Resulting in what legislative Acts?
  3. In how far has the protective tariff been a factor in the development of the textile industries of the United States? What other factors have been operative?

Take two of the following questions.

  1. “Surpluses have spelled disaster to the United States.” Do you agree? When and how?
  2. Do you defend or oppose the movement toward industrial combination? State your reasons.
  3. (a) Trace the relation between the competition of the coastal cities and the development of transportation.
    (b) Summarize the important provisions of the amendments to the Interstate Commerce Act?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 45-46.

Image Source:  Edwin F. Gay in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

 

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. 19th Century European Economic History, Final Examination. Gay, 1914-15

 

 

“European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard taught by Edwin F. Gay. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

The outline and reading assignments for this course in 1910-11 has been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 2a1. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 9.

Professor Gay, assisted by —.

Course 2a undertakes to present the general outlines of the economic history of western Europe since the Industrial Revolution. Such topics a the following will be discussed: the economic aspects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic régime, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms, the Zoll-Verein, Cobden and free trade in England, labor legislation and social reform, nationalism and the recrudescence of protectionism, railways and waterways, the effects of transoceanic competition, the rise of industrial Germany.

Since attention will be directed in this course to those phases of the subject which are related to the economic history of the United States, it may be taken usefully before Economics 2b. [p. 63.]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 2a 1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Mr. A. H. Cole.—European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 88: 21 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 2a1

  1. Comment on the following statement by a recent writer:
    “The conjunction of three main factors was necessary to this radical transformation [the Industrial Revolution] — (a) surplus capital, (b) surplus labor, (c) a new market. Whenever these major quantities come together, the lesser conditions, such as invention, better communications, and a favorable state policy, will soon appear.”
  2. Compare the attitude of the countries in the northern half of the Zollverein with those in the southern half as to governmental policy regarding railroads and the customs tariff. What is the connection between these policies and the agricultural situation in those regions?
  3. What ground is there for the assertions that the land of the English landlord has been, since 1880, “a millstone about his neck,” and that he “has been treated as if the land did not belong to him”?
  4. Outline the case for and against government ownership of railroads in Germany.
  5. Compare the forms of industrial combination, trade unionism, and cooperation in England and Germany.
  6. Was the situation of British trade “ominous” during the decade 1900-1910? Give the grounds for your view.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, p. 45.

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Money, Banking, Commercial Crises. Final examination, Anderson, 1914-1915

 

 

“Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard taught by Benjamin M. Anderson. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Asst. Professor Anderson, assisted by —.

This course undertakes a theoretical, descriptive, and historical study of the main problems of money and banking. Historical and descriptive materials, drawn from the principal systems of the world, will be extensively used, but will be selected primarily with reference to their significance in the development of principles, and with reference to contemporary practical problems. Foreign exchange will be studied in detail. Attention will be given to those problems of money and credit which appear most prominently in connection with economic crises. Though emphasis will be thrown upon the financial aspects of crises, the investigation will cover also the more fundamental factors causing commercial and industrial cycles. [p. 64]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Anderson, assisted by Mr. E. E. Lincoln.—Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.

Total 52: 1 Graduate, 14 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 9 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination (2nd term)

  1. Discuss the theory of foreign exchange. How would the acceptance of the quantity theory modify your discussion of this problem?
  2. Trace the main events of the Panic of 1907, and indicate the conclusions that may properly be drawn therefrom with reference to monetary and banking reform.
  3. To what extent are credit instruments used in the United States as a means of effecting exchanges? Contrast retail and wholesale transactions with reference to this point. Contrast city and country. How was the information on this point obtained?
  4. Give an account of the main developments in the London money-market from the outbreak of the War till the end of February, 1915.
  5. Explain: “puts”; “borrowing and carrying”; stock-exchange clearing house. Discuss the relations of the Stock Exchange and the banks in New York.
  6. Indicate the comparative growth of State banking institutions and National banks since the beginning of the National banking system. What explanations can you give?
  7. Contrast one-name and two-name paper. Should the Federal Reserve Board seek to reintroduce two-name paper? Give reasons.
  8. Contrast England, Germany, France, Canada and the United States with reference (a) to note-issue, and (b) to use of deposits.
  9. In precisely what ways does our Federal Reserve system seek to remedy the defects in our banking system?
  10. Discuss the foreign exchange policy of the Bank of Austria-Hungary; of the Reichsbank; of the Bank of England.

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 46-47.

Image Source: Benjamin M. Anderson in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Transportation Economics, Final Examination. Ripley, 1914-15

 

 

“Economics of Transportation” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard taught by William Z. Ripley. Judging from the common course number, instructor, and size of enrollment, it appears to have been regarded as the first course of a sequence that included “Economics of Corporations”. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

Readings for the course can most likely found in some or all of:

Railway Problems (revised edition, 1913), edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley. From the series of Volumes Selections and Documents in Economics, edited by William Z. Ripley published by Ginn and Company, Boston.

William Z. Ripley. Railroads–Rates and Regulation. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912.

William Z. Ripley. Railroads–Finance & Organization.  London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915.

 

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 4a1. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Ripley, assisted by—.

A brief outline of the historical development of rail and water transportation in the United States will be followed by a description of the condition of transportation systems at the present time. The four main subdivisions of rates and rate-making, finance, traffic operation, and legislation will be considered in turn. The first deals with the relation of the railroad to shippers, comprehending an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making. An outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, the principles of capitalization, and the interpretation of railroad accounts. Railroad operation will deal with the practical problems of the traffic department, such as the collection and interpretation of statistics of operation, pro-rating, the apportionment of cost, depreciation and maintenance, etc. Under legislation, the course of state regulation and control in the United States and Europe will be traced. [p. 64]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 4a 1hf.Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Tosdal.—Economics of Transportation.

Total 156: 6 Graduates, 46 Seniors, 88 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 9 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 4a1

Answer in order. Do only as many as can be well done.

  1. Classify the means employed by “inside” speculators to attain their ends, citing instances by name.
  2. What was the significant feature of the St. Louis Terminal Railway Co. dissolution case?
  3. Suppose two transportation companies capitalized at $10,000,000 each. One prospers under able management. The other is unsuccessful and is finally bought up by the first for half its original cost. By ability it is again put fully upon its feet without further outside investment of capital. What should be the basis upon which reasonable rates for the combination of the two roads should be allowed?
  4. Contrast the conditions in the Union Pacific, — Southern Pacific dissolution case and those in New England bearing upon the combination of the New Haven and the Boston & Maine. Make each point in a separate paragraph. Draw sketch maps if they will help.
  5. Name as many differences as you can between reorganization and receivership.
  6. Make up a few imaginary items for a Freight Classification, showing what is its usual form.
  7. Explain how the conflict of Federal and state authority came about in the Shreveport, La. case.
  8. What was the first noteworthy effect of the amendment of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1906?
  9. State in not more than ten words each, three motives for the resort to a construction company in railroad building.
  10. What was the principal trouble with the Rock Island railroad system? Why did it go to pieces?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 47-48.

Source Image: William Z. Ripley in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Corporations, Final Examination, Ripley, 1914-15

 

 

“Economics of Corporations” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard taught by William Z. Ripley. Judging from the common course number, instructor, and size of enrollment, it appears to have been regarded as the second course of a sequence that included “Economics of Transportation”. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

Readings for the course are most likely found in Trusts, Pools and Corporations (revised edition, 1916), edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley. From the series of Volumes Selections and Documents in Economics, edited by William Z. Ripley published by Ginn and Company, Boston.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 4b. Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Ripley, assisted by —.

This course will treat of the fiscal and industrial organization of capital, especially in the corporate form. The principal topic considered will be industrial combination and the so-called trust problem. This will be broadly discussed, with comparative study of conditions in the United States and Europe. The development of corporate enterprise, promotion, and financing, accounting, liability of directors and underwriters, will be described, not in their legal but in their economic aspects; and the effects of industrial combination upon efficiency, profits, wages, prices, the development of export trade, and international competition will be considered in turn. [pp. 64-65]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 4b 2hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Tosdal.—Economics of Corporations.

Total 156: 8 Graduates, 46 Seniors, 88 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 4b

Answer in order or leave blank spaces.

  1. What is the real significance of the industrial experience of the International Harvester Co.?
  2. State the advantages and defects of ” friendly ” receiverships as distinct from the ordinary type.
  3. What are some of the trade practices which have been definitely condemned at Common Law, as distinct from statutory enactment?
  4. Haney proposes more than a dozen specific changes on corporation law to improve the prevailing practice. Name, without describing, as many as possible.
  5. What are the powers of the new Federal Trade Commission?
  6. Discuss the proposition that price cutting is in the interest of the consuming public.
  7. Contrast arrangements like the American Wire Nail pool and the German Potash syndicate as respects structure and operation.
    [The parallel column method of comparison is suggested.]
  8. Have the general movements of prices for railroad and industrial securities been closely similar or not? Outline the reasons for your answer.
  9. Why are interlocking directorates now regulated by Federal authority? What abuse is it sought to prevent?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, p. 48.

Image Source: William Z. Ripley in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Undergraduate Public Finance, Final Exam. Bullock, 1914-15

 

 

“Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard (though the published course announcement explicitly advised that graduate students should instead take the corresponding course in the graduate program, Economics 31). Public finance along with early economic doctrines were regularly taught by  Charles Jesse Bullock who taught both the undergraduate and graduate courses in public finance in 1914-15. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 5. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course covers the entire field of public finance, but emphasizes the subject of taxation. After a brief survey of the history of finance, attention is given to public expenditures, commercial revenues, administrative revenues, and taxation, with consideration both of theory and of the practice of various countries. Public credit is then studied, and financial legislation and administration are briefly treated.

Systematic reading is prescribed, and most of the exercises are conducted by the method of informal discussion. Candidates for distinction will be given an opportunity to write theses.

Graduate students are advised to elect Economics 31. [p. 65]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 5. Professor Bullock.—Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 45: 2 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

________________________

Final Examination (second term)

ECONOMICS 5

  1. How ought public charges to be distributed? (Give at least one hour to this question.)
  2. What is the incidence of taxes upon houses?
  3. What taxes are employed in Great Britain for national purposes? (Describe each branch of taxation briefly.)
  4. What taxes are levied for state and local purposes in the United States, and how satisfactorily do they operate?
  5. Discuss the subject of special assessments in the United States.
  6. Discuss the practical working of the general property tax in Switzerland.
  7. What is Bastable’s opinion concerning sinking funds?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, p. 49.

Image Source:  Charles Jesse Bullock in Harvard Class Album, 1915.

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Research Tip

Harvard. Trade Unionism and Allied Problems, Final Exam. Ripley, 1914-15

 

“Trade Unionism and Allied Problems” was a course open to both undergraduate and graduate students and taught by William Z. Ripley at Harvard in 1914-15. Like his colleague Thomas Nixon Carver, Ripley taught courses covering an enormous range of content from labor issues through railroads and corporations to applied problems of monopoly. The course announcement, enrollment figures, and the final examination questions come from three different sources, all of which are available on-line. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting corresponding material from the twenty economics courses offered during the 1914-15 year for which the final examination questions had been printed and subsequently published.

Of no small interest is his early work in sociology, in particular his 1899 book: Races of Europe. For a brief discussion of Ripley’s balancing act involving the factors of race and environment, see Christopher Donohue’s “The Weirdest Guest–William Z. Ripley: Economist, Financial Historian, and Racial Theorist“. 

Research Tip: The niche blog in the history of science and science and technology studies Ether Wave Propaganda–History and Historiography of Science by Will Thomas and Christopher Donohue. Alas, last posting September 6, 2016.

 

______________________

Course Announcement

Economics 6a1. Trade Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Ripley, assisted by —.

This course will deal mainly with the economic and social relations of employer and employed. Among the topics included will be: the history of unionism; the policies of trade unions respecting wages, machinery, output, etc.; collective bargaining; strikes; employers’ liability and workmen’s compensation; efficiency management; unemployment, etc., in the relation to unionism, will be considered.

Each student will make at least one report upon a labor union or an important strike, from the original documents. Two lectures a week, with one recitation, will be the usual practice. [p. 65]

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914).

______________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Professor Ripley, assisted by Mr. Rufener.—Trade-Unionism and Allied Problems.

Total 76: 45 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, p. 59.

______________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 6a1

Answer in order; but cover only as many as the time limit permits.

  1. Speaking of English conditions, the Webbs on p. 707 say:

“Hence old-fashioned family concerns with sleepy management and obsolete plant, find the Trade Union regulations a positive protection against competition.” What do they mean? Show how it works out.

  1. Describe and discuss the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Danbury Hatters case, especially in its bearing upon incorporation.
  2. Under any of the plans for eliminating labor contests which expressly prohibit striking, what offset is given to the employees for this limitation upon their freedom of action?
  3. The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. assures its operatives a fixed percentage of gross receipts as a wage fund. What is the object? Criticize the plan.
  4. What advantages may be expected to flow to a union from the adoption of a positive system of high dues and liberal benefits?
  5. The Eastern Engineer’s Arbitration Award of 1912 says:

“Therefore, considering the uncertainty of many of the factors involved, the arbitrators feel that they should not deny an increase of compensation to the engineers merely on the ground that the roads are unable to pay. They feel that the engineers should be granted a fair compensation. … In making their award they therefore eliminate the claim of the railroads that they are unable to pay an increased compensation.” Discuss the principle advanced.

  1. Is the closed-shop policy essential to successful trade unionism? Illustrate your argument.
  2. Theoretically, the Standard Wage is merely the minimum wage for the trade. How does it work out in practise?
  3. How do the efficiency engineers deal with restriction of output? Give imaginary examples, if you can?
  4. Where has insurance against unemployment been tried; and with what success?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College. June 1915, pp. 49-50.

Image Source:  William Z. Ripley in Harvard Class Album, 1915.