Category: Curriculum

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Harvard. Argument for more political economy in a liberal education. President Eliot, 1884

Harvard course offerings in political economy were increased significantly in the 1883-84 academic year. This expansion was consistent with President Charles W. Eliot’s vision of a Harvard education fit for the twentieth century as seen in the following paragraphs from his 1884 commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University.

The state of instruction in political economy at Harvard ca. 1870 was mentioned in his book Harvard Memories, pp. 70-71.

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Excerpt from “What is a Liberal Education?”

Commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University
22. February 1884 by Charles W. Eliot

[…] Closely allied to the study of history is the study of the new science called political economy, or public economics. I say the new science, because Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” was not published until 1776; Malthus’s “Essay on the Principle of Population” appeared only in 1798; and Ricardo’s “Political Economy and Taxation,” in 1817. The subject is related to history, inasmuch as it gleans its most important facts by the study of the institutions and industrial and social conditions of the past; it is the science of wealth in so far as it deals with the methods by which private or national wealth is accumulated, protected, enjoyed, and distributed; and it is connected with ethics in that it deals with social theories and the moral effects of economic conditions. In some of its aspects it were better called the science of the health of nations; for its results show how nations might happily grow and live in conformity with physical and moral laws. It is by far the most complex and difficult of the sciences of which modern education has to take account, and therefore should not be introduced too early into the course of study for the degree of Bachelor of Arts; but when it is introduced, enough of it should be offered to the student to enable him to get more than a smattering.

When we consider how formidable are the industrial, social, and political problems with which the next generations must grapple, — when we observe how inequalities of condition increase, notwithstanding the general acceptance of theories of equality; how population irresistibly tends to huge agglomerations, in spite of demonstrations that such agglomerations are physically and morally unhealthy; how the universal thirst for the enjoyments of life grows hotter and hotter, and is not assuaged; how the relations of government to society become constantly more and more complicated, while the governing capacity of men does not seem to increase proportionally; and how free institutions commit to masses of men the determination of public policy in regard to economic problems of immense difficulty, such as the problems concerning tariffs, banking, currency, the domestic carrying trade, foreign commerce, and the incidence of taxes, — we can hardly fail to appreciate the importance of offering to large numbers of American students ample facilities for learning all that is known of economic science.

How does the ordinary provision made in our colleges for the study of political economy meet this need of students and of the community? That I may not understate this provision, I will describe the provisions made at Columbia College, an institution which is said to be the richest of our colleges, and at Brown University, one of the most substantial of the New England colleges. At Columbia, Juniors must attend two exercises a week in political economy for half the year, and Seniors may elect that subject for two hours a week throughout the year. At Brown, Juniors may elect political economy two hours a week for half the year, and Seniors have a like privilege. The provision of instruction in Greek at Brown is five and a half times as much as the provision in political economy, and seven elevenths of the Greek is required of all students, besides the Greek which was required at school; but none of the political economy is required. Columbia College makes a further provision of instruction in history, law, and political science for students who are able to devote either one or two years to these subjects after taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts, or who are willing to procure one year’s instruction in these subjects by accepting the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy instead of the degree of Bachelor of Arts — a very high price to pay for this one year’s privilege. If this is the state of things in two leading Eastern colleges with regard to instruction in political economy, what should we find to be the average provision in American colleges? We should find it poor in quality and insignificant in amount. In view of this comparative neglect of a subject all-important to our own generation and to those which are to follow, one is tempted to join in the impatient cry, Are our young men being educated for the work of the twentieth century or of the seventeenth? There can be no pretense that political economy is an easy subject, or that it affords no mental discipline. Indeed, it requires such exactness of statement, such accurate weighing of premises, and such closeness of reasoning, that many young men of twenty, who have been disciplined by the study of Greek, Latin, and mathematics for six or eight years, find that it tasks their utmost powers. Neither can it be justly called a material or utilitarian subject; for it is full of grave moral problems, and deals with many questions of public honor and duty.

Source: Charles W. Eliot, “What is a Liberal Education”, Commencement address read 22 February 1884 at Johns Hopkins University, reprinted in his Educational Reform, Essays and Addresses. New York: Century (1901), pp. 106-109.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. Hollis Image Collection. President Charles W. Eliot.

 

 

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Columbia Curriculum History of Economics Socialism Suggested Reading

Columbia. Economic readings for the examination to receive the degree of Master of Arts, 1880

 

 

If I understand the text below correctly, a requirement for a master’s degree for someone who entered with a recognized bachelor’s degree (e.g,. from Columbia or a peer college) and with at least one year of graduate study at Columbia was to be examined in all three subjects from at least one of the following five groups. I have transcribed the titles of the books that would be the subject of examinations for groups two (Philosophy/Ethics/Logic) and five (Constitutional Law, Economics, History). Links for the economics books have been provided as well.

Richmond Mayo Smith  was the Adjunct Professor of History, Political Science, and International Law who covered the economics courses in the school of political science that began operations October 4, 1880. You can read about the undergraduate economics “program” at Columbia College in 1880 as well as an exam for the mandatory Junior year course in political economy in an earlier post.  A syllabus for Mayo-Smith’s course “Historical and Practical Political Economy” from the 1890s has also been transcribed (with links to the items cited!) and posted.

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DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS.

The degree of Master of Arts will be conferred only on Bachelors of Arts of this College of three years’ standing or more, who shall have pursued, for at least one year, a course of study under the direction of the Faculty of the College, and shall have passed a satisfactory examination upon the subjects embraced in one at least of the five groups following, viz.:

[1]
Greek.
Latin.
English.

 [3]
Mathematics.
Mechanics.
Astronomy.
[2]
Philosophy.
Ethics.
Logic.

[4]
Physics.
Chemistry.
Geology.

[5]
Constitutional Law.
Economics.
History.

 

Bachelors of Arts of other colleges who may have been admitted ad eundem gradum in this College, may be admitted to the degree of Master of Arts on the same terms and conditions as are prescribed for the admission of Bachelors of Arts of Columbia College to the same degree.

Bachelors of Arts of other colleges may be admitted ad eundem gradum in this College on satisfying the College Faculty that the course of study for which they received the Bachelor’s degree is equivalent to that for which the Bachelor’s degree is given in Columbia College, or passing such additional examination as the Faculty may prescribe, and on payment of a fee equal to the annual tuition fee required of undergraduates.

Candidates will be allowed to offer for examination any one or more of the books or subjects named in the following list in each of the three departments belonging to the group elected by them, viz.:

[…]

 

SECOND GROUP.

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY.

  1. A general knowledge of Plato’s Philosophy.

Text-books :
Ueberweg’s History of Philosophy, Vol. I.
The Dialogues.
Grote’s Plato, Vols. II. and III.

  1. A general knowledge of Aristotle’s Philosophy.

Text-books :
Ueberweg’s History of Philosophy, Vol. I.
Sir Alexander Grant’s Aristotle.

  1. Books of reference on Plato and Aristotle (German).

Zeller, Gr. Philosophie, Vols. II. and III.;
Brandis, Philosophie, Vols. II. and III.:

or,
MODERN PHILOSOPHY.

  1. The Philosophies of David Hume and Herbert Spencer.

Text-books :
Green’s edition of Hume.
Herbert Spencer’s First Principles.
Herbert Spencer’s] Psychology.

  1. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Books of reference (German):
Harms’s Die Philosophie seit Kant, art. Kant.
Kuno Fischer’s Kant.

  1. Caird, the Philosophy of Kant.

Zeller, Gesch. der Deutschen Phil., art. Kant.
Ueberweg, Hist. of Phil., Vol. II.

 

ETHICS.

  1. Calderwood’s Handbook of Moral Philosophy.
  2. A general knowledge of the Utilitarian Theory, and the arguments advanced against it.

Text-books :
Bentham.
Mill’s Essay on Utilitarianism.
Spencer’s Data of Ethics.
John Grote’s Utilitarianism.

 

LOGIC.

  1. John Stuart Mill’s System of Logic, Books iii.-v.
  2. Sir William Hamilton’s Lectures on Logic.
  3. Jevons’s Principles of Science.

 

 

 

FIFTH GROUP.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

  1. English Institutions.
  2. Das Deutsche Staatsrecht. Von Rönne.
  3. Histoire Parlementaire de France. Duvergier de Hauranne.
  4. Constitutional History of the United States. Von Holst.
  5. Histoire du Droit des Gens.
  6. Das Diplomatische Handbuch. Ghillany.
  7. History of International Law. Wheaton.
  8. Lehre vom Modernen Staat. Bluntschli.
  9. Political Science. Woolsey.
  10. Public Law of England. Bowyer.

ECONOMICS.

  1. On the Principles of Political Economy, either Mill (J. S.), Principles of Political Economy, or Roscher (Wm.), Principles of Political Economy.
    [Volume I; Volume II]
  2. On the History of Political Economy, either Blanqui, Histoire de l’Economie Politique [Volume I; Volume II], or Kautz, Geschichte der Nationalökonomie.
  3. On one of the following special subjects, viz.:
    1. Finance, Jevons (W. S.), Money and the Mechanism of Exchange, together with Price (B.), Currency and Banking.
    2. Commerce, Levi (Leone), History of British Commerce, and Fawcett (H.), Free Trade.
    3. Socialism, Schäffle, Kapitalismus und Socialismus.

HISTORY.

The candidate will be expected to present himself for examination in the general history of one of the following countries: Rome, England, Germany, France, or the United States of America.

 

Source: Handbook of Information as to the Course of Instruction, etc., etc., in Columbia College and its Several Schools [1880], pp. viii, 41- 43, 59-66.

Image Source: Richmond Mayo Smith in University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D.  Boston: R. Herdon Company.  Vol. 2, 1899, pp. 582.

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Curriculum Economics Programs Fields Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Report on statistics and national income courses. Crum and Frickey, 1945

Crum Frickey

 

William Leonard Crum and Edward Frickey taught Harvard’s economic statistics courses in the 1930s and 1940s.  Paul Samuelson recounted his second semester (Spring 1936) as a graduate student following his previous semester’s worth of Crum: “…I was able to learn genuine modern statistics from E. B. Wilson, bypassing Edwin Frickey (who with Leonard Crum taught at Harvard courses against modern statistics!)” [On this, Roger E. Backhouse’s Vol I: Becoming Samuelson, 1915-1948, p.101].

Reading the following intradepartmental report on economic statistics courses and how to integrate national income and product accounting into the graduate curriculum that was written by a committee of two (Crum and Frickey), one discovers that even a decade after Samuelson’s experience, the proper preparation of “ink charts” was a subject that warranted faculty discussion.  Harvard Ph.D. Robert Solow later went to Columbia to play catch-up ball with respect to statistical analysis before starting his M.I.T. contract.  Harvard economics was a full generation behind the times with respect to statistical method at mid-20th century.

A 1947 Crum/Frickey  joint memo regarding preparation for taking the comprehensive field exam in statistics has been posted earlier.

______________________

6 March 1945

Report on the course offerings in Statistics, and in National Income

At the Department meeting of 13 February, 1945, the undersigned were named a committee to study course offerings and proposed offerings in Statistics and in National Income, discuss their findings with the Chairman, and report to the Department. Attached are the two reports: I, on Statistics; II, (page 10) on National Income.

W.L. Crum
Edwin Frickey

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I. The Offering in Statistics

At the meeting of the Harvard Economics Department on 13 February, 1945. W. L. C. and E. F. sought opinions from colleagues as to additional instruction needed in statistics and as to changes needed in existing instruction. The following is in part a report of the informal discussion, in part an indication of what W. L. C. and E. F. think can advisedly be done. The present statement is preliminary; a more definitive report will be prepared, after consultation with H. H. B., for submission to the Department at a later meeting.

  1. Opinion was expressed that many of our graduate students show conspicuous lack of ability to present statistical material in the form of chart or table, for example, in theses. Instruction in statistics here has for several years relied upon capacity of students to learn by emulation—they have abundant opportunity to acquaint themselves with good statistical presentation, both tabular and graphic, in our courses in statistics and in the source materials of other courses. In course 21a, some instruction is incidentally given in orderly tabulation of limited sorts, but we make no attempt to teach students to prepare ink charts. Apparently, something more is needed; and three suggestions, perhaps all to be followed together, are made:
    1. By compressing some other parts of the work, we can include a small amount of instruction on presentation in course 21a. This should help put those graduate students who are required to take that course here on the right track.
    2. For students not required to take 21a, because they have had the “equivalent” elsewhere, one possibly helpful device is to require in course 121b a written report involving presentation in tabular and graphic form. Such report could be graded if sufficient funds are available to cover the grading, and the instructors could make a moderate effort to advise particular students about defects in their reports. The reports would presumably be required of all students in 121b, whether or not they had had 21a.
    3. The Department’s specialists in statistics could advise any graduate student, whose thesis involved matters of statistical presentation, concerning such matters. When the Department acquires a general research laboratory, with a regular supervisor, the supervisor could give such advice. In the meantime, the instructors in statistics could stand ready to give such advice in appropriate cases. The undersigned emphasize that this advice should be understood to concern presentation of statistical materials: they do not feel but they should be called upon ordinarily to advise such as student about sources of statistics for his thesis, or about the methods of analyzing the statistics, or about their interpretation. They have often given advice on such matters in certain cases, and will continue to do so, but take the stand that they should not be regarded as under the obligation to give such advice to all comers. The point is that; if the candidate proposes to write a statistical thesis in any field of economics, a vital part of his job is to obtain, analyze, and interpret his data. We see no reason why faculty specialists in statistics should make an extraordinary contribution to a thesis which happens to have quantitative aspects.
  2. Little emphasis appeared, in any opinions expressed, on the need for laboratory instruction in statistics in our graduate offering. Some suggestion was advanced that the “homework” type of problem task could helpfully be employed. W. L. C. and E. F. have a little faith that much could be accomplished in this way – the great advantage of the supervised laboratory is that the supervisor can get students actively started on the task and can catch and clear away difficulties as they arise. (We assume, of course, any problem work of this sort, in graduate courses, should be on an advanced – not elementary – level.) To meet this suggestion, we propose only that point A2 above be put into effect, and that the following change in present operations be considered. At present, course 121a includes two home-work problems, which stretch over several weeks, but are not graded and are not used as bases for specific advice to individual students. The proposed change is that these problems be handed in, and treated like the problem described in A2. (In these cases, as in that case, grading of the reports would be feasible if funds are available for the purpose.)

An emphatic suggestion was made that graduate students have the use of laboratory equipment, and be made welcome in the laboratory. We do not believe this can be managed with the laboratory facilities of course 21a. We note, however, that a moderate chance now exists that the University will presently provide the Department with a research laboratory in statistics, adequately equipped, and under competent supervision. If and when this is done, no difficulty will arise in making ample place for work by graduate students on any statistical tasks in which they may properly be interested. We remark that the arguments in favor of a general research laboratory in statistics are much more likely to bring conviction in responsible quarters that the argument, however strongly put, in favor of facilities merely for the occasional use of graduate students.

  1. Supposing we are to give an additional half graduate course in statistics, opinions pointed toward three alternatives:
    1. A course in theory, intermediate between course 121a and Prof. Wilson’s course 122b. This does not appear a good use of our manpower, for the election in such a course would inevitably be small, especially as the mathematics prerequisites would necessarily be much more severe than those – almost nil – on which we now limp through 121a.
    2. A further course was suggested – beyond 121b and perhaps alternating with it – in topics in the application of statistics to economic fields. Economics 121b now includes a selected list of such topics, which varies moderately from year to year; but it is by no means a comprehensive coverage of all even of the major possibilities. We could readily prepare an additional half course to be called 121c of further topics in the applied fields, and many students would probably like such a course. Such a course can be described as follows:

Economics 121c will be a half-course which might be entitled Topics in Applied Economic Statistics. Economics 21a or its equivalent will be a prerequisite. Properly qualified undergraduates may, with the consent of the instructor, be admitted to economics 121c.

Economics 121c will deal with statistical problems arising in connection with the use of basic statistical data in a selected list of economic topics. (As compared with 121b this course will lay more emphasis on the basic material and less emphasis on statistical theory.)

On each topic each student will be expected to familiarize himself with the immediate and the basic sources of the main materials, through actual examination of such materials, and to present a critical appraisal of these fundamental statistics. The instructor will give a succinct historical background – an outline of the principal work which is already been done on the topic. The instructor and the class will work out together conclusions as to what are the leading issues involved, and will consider what it is that statisticians are trying to measure and what they should be trying to measure.

Such topics as the following will be included:

Consumption
Commodity prices
Cost-of-living
Employment and unemployment
Wages
Money and Banking
Production and Trade (certain phases)
Balance of international payments
Public Finance

        1. The subordinate suggestion that, in this case, basic preparation for the oral exam and also the write-off field might consist of 121a and either 121b or 121c, was advanced. A strong objection to this appears in the fact that 121b, although made up largely of topics in applied statistics, now includes – and should continue to do so – certain topics which need to be covered by every general economist (we do not here have in mind the statistical specialist) who is to have “literacy” in the field of economic statistics today. Several of the “applied” topics now in 121b include in fact fundamental matters of statistical theory needed by all economists, and not elsewhere covered in our instruction. These include, for example: the theory of index numbers, statistical deflation, secular trends in business cycles, the basic theory of measuring production and income, and at least demand and cost curves not to mention more sophisticated matters of econometrics. These essentially theoretical topics in statistics should remain part of the basic graduate year course in statistics. (This goes also for our present topic of national income: even if the Department offer a course in that subject, the course will not be taken by all students, and all should have at least the brief survey now in 121b). For the foregoing reason, we emphatically urge that 121a and 121b stand as the basic year course in the field, and that the new course 121c be regarded as an additional – but not an alternative–half course.
        2. The subordinate suggestion at 121b and 121c be given in alternate years appears to fall for the same reason given in C2a.

 

    1. Instead of the course described under C2 suggestion was made that we introduce a course in administrative (we use this word provisionally, for want of a better) statistics – mainly, but not exclusively, governmental statistics. We have not outlined such a course in full, but can suggest its nature by indicating that it would emphasize the problems encountered in actually doing statistical work in government or private agencies. Such topics as the preparation and use of index numbers of prices and production; the compilation and use of data on employment and the labor force; statistics of farm production and operation; the gathering of and analysis of facts concerning trade, both foreign and domestic; financial data such as are developed by the treasury, the S. E. C, the F. R. B., and private agencies; statistics used in the analysis of particular enterprises; the rapidly developing field of quality control in industry, suggest themselves for inclusion. The nature of the course can also be indicated by somewhat loose contrast with the course described under C2 above: in that course, the point of view is of the user (economist, or other analyst) of statistics, and attention is given to the origin of the statistics only in so far as it is needed to guide and inform the user. In this course, the point of view is of the maker of statistics, and attention is given to the use of the statistics only in so far as it is needed to guide the maker in his work. This course would go far toward meeting the contention that our students, while well founded in statistical theory, are not ready to handle the kind of statistical tasks which they encounter in government or other research agencies.

At the moment we are not ready to choose between the courses described under C2 and C3, the former (and obviously the latter) being understood as in addition to, and not alternative to, 121b.

 

  1. No opinion was expressed concerning course 122b, and we think it should continue to be given in alternate years.

No opinion was offered concerning the content of course 121a. We have in mind some compression of one of the topics know given. This, plus the longer term under the peace-time schedule, will enable us to give more satisfactory attention to the topic of small samples.

We were commissioned to report also on national income. This is covered in a separate memorandum.

 

  1. We layout now, in tentative form and subject to revision by the Department, our recommendation as to the entire offering in statistics in the early post-war years.

21a. Substantially as at present, but with the change outlined in A1.

121a. Substantially as at present, but with the change outlined in B and the change noted in D.

121b. Substantially as at present, but with the change outlined in A2.

(Courses 121a and 121b to be regarded as the core of the preparation in the field of statistics, and to be recommended to the candidates for the general oral in statistics as the most helpful unit in their preparation.)

121c. A new half course, either that described under C2 or that under C3. To be open to graduate students who have had 21a or by consent of the instructor to those who have had the equivalent of 21a, and by consent of the instructor to properly qualified undergraduates who have had 21a.

122b. Substantially as at present, and to be given in alternate years as at present.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

II. Offering in National Income

The suggestion is made that a half course, at the graduate level, in National Income be offered. The main purpose of such a course would be to give our students an extensive factual basis for their use of national income concepts and data in a wide range of our theoretical and applied fields. The course by itself could provide only a beginning for specialization the subject of national income for its own sake, and we do not understand that the Department contemplates recognizing the field in that subject.

While the course should be concerned primarily with the facts of national income, we understand that some attention could properly be given to the interpretation of those facts into their economic and social implications. Moreover, even to handle properly the factual side, the course would need give much attention to matters of definition and concept, matters which actually stand at the root of most of the “problems” of measuring national income and its chief constituents.

The core of the course would consist of the presentation, discussion, and criticism of the existing statistical facts on the national income and its constituents. These materials would presumably be limited to the United States; although some of the critical portions of the course, dealing with concepts and the like, would necessarily make large drafts on studies in certain other countries. Emphasis would be on the problems of measurement, the effectiveness and validity of the methods used, and the appropriateness of the results obtained as answers to questions posed by the economist.

In addition to the over-all aggregate of national income, viewed in real and money terms and in its variations over time, the course would examine the chief constituents of national income. These would include:

  1. Contributions to national income by various types of economic activity.
  2. Contributions from various geographical regions (much less is known on this.)
  3. Allocation, so far as it is known, to the several factors of production.
  4. Distribution according to size of income (money income) received by individuals.
  5. Distribution of income according to use: consumption expenditures of individuals (perishable, semi-durable), consumption through government, savings (by individuals, by enterprises, by government).
  6. Capital formation, and its relation to savings.
  7. Relation of taxes and public expenditures to the flow of income.

Your committee makes no recommendation as to the personnel to be assigned the task of conducting such a course. It does recommend: that the course be limited to graduate students, and to those advanced concentrators who receive permission from the instructor(s); that all students who take the course be required to have completed one half year course at the graduate level in economic theory and in statistics; that the course be given each year, rather than in alternate years; that the course be considered as a pro-seminar in statistics for the purpose of excuse – under our existing rules for reducing the oral examination to three fields – from the oral examination in statistics.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers, 1902-1950. Box 23. Folder “Course Announcement 1945-46”.

Image Source: Crum and Frickey in the Harvard Class Album, 1942 and 1950.

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Curriculum Fields Harvard

Harvard. Mathematical Economics Recognized as Subfield of Theory. E.B. Wilson, Crum, and Schumpeter, 1933

 

What I find particularly striking in the following report of the Committee on Instruction in Mathematical Economics at Harvard (note the  first named of the trio is E. B. Wilson) is the forecast that economics graduate students will need to acquire tools of mathematical economics and statistics already in the mid 1930s because they will need them later, 1953-63, when they will be “at the height of their activity” and by which time (implicitly) the “rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics” will have caught up with them. I have appended the course names for the statistics and mathematics courses referred to by number in the report.

Related postings: 

_____________________

Meeting of the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) on
Instruction in the Mathematical Economics
Tuesday, May 9 [1933]

In view of the rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics, and of the possibility that a considerable number of economists may have to be adequately familiar with both mathematical theory and statistical procedure twenty to thirty years from now, that is, when many of our present students will be at the height of their activity, the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) agreed on the following recommendations to be submitted to the Department which they believe to be both necessary and sufficient in order to provide facilities for events to work in mathematical theory as applied to economics:

(1) Any student who may wish to do so should be allowed to offer mathematical economics as his special field within the requirements for the Ph.D. This would involve but a slight alteration of existing practice which permits students to choose some branch of economic theory as a special field. The committee’s suggestion is merely that mathematical economics should be added to the other special subjects in economic theory which a student may select.

It seems desirable, moreover, to permit that any such student may select mathematics or rather some branch of pure or applied mathematics in place of one of the two remaining fields he has to offer.

(2) Advanced work in mathematical economics should conform to modern tendencies by stressing equally the mathematical side of economic theory and mathematical statistics. No student who elects mathematical economics as his special field should be allowed to do the one without the other. Especially courses 31a and 32b should be required also from students mainly interested in pure theory.

(3) Work in the Department of Mathematics through Math 5 should be considered as the minimum requirement as to mathematical training. Credit should be given only for Math 5, but not for any of the still more elementary course preparatory to it, which most of the students taking up mathematical economics will have had anyhow in their undergraduate period.

(4) No further steps should be taken at present. It seems best to see what the response will be before attempting to organize a special graduate course. The mathematical aspect of our subject is being dealt with in some courses already, and any Ph.D. candidates who may present themselves in case the rules be altered as recommended could easily be taken care of individually.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Copy of Letter from Harold H. Burbank to Joseph Schumpeter

October 3, 1933

Dear Joe,

I have read and approved without qualification the report of the Committee on Instruction in Mathematical Economics.

I think this report should be brought before the Department on the evening of Tuesday, October 10.

Very sincerely yours,

Prof. J. A. Schumpeter
2 Scott Street

HHB:VS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Graduate Instruction in the Mathematical Economics
Department Vote, October 10, 1933

In view of the rapidly increasing importance of theoretical and statistical work involving higher mathematics, and of the possibility that a considerable number of economists may have to be adequately familiar with both mathematical theory and statistical procedure twenty to thirty years from now, that is, when many of our present students will be at the height of their activity, the Committee (Wilson, Crum, Schumpeter) agreed on the following recommendations to be submitted to the Department which they believe to be both necessary and sufficient in order to provide facilities for events to work in mathematical theory as applied to economics.

The Department voted to accept the recommendations stated as follows:

(1) Any student who may wish to do so should be allowed to offer mathematical economics as his special field within the requirements for the Ph.D. This would involve no alteration of existing practice, which permits students to choose some branch of economic theory as a special field. The committee’s suggestion is that mathematical economics should be admissible.

(2) Any students using mathematical economics as his special field should be allowed to offer some branch of pure or applied mathematics as an allied field.

Work in the Department of Mathematics through Math 5, or the equivalent, should be considered as the minimum requirement as to mathematical training. Credit should be given only for Math 5, but not for any more elementary course preparatory to it.

(3) Advanced work in mathematical economics should conform to modern tendencies by stressing equally the mathematical side of economic theory and mathematical statistics. Therefore courses 31a and 32b should be required of anyone in electing mathematical theory as his special field.

(4) No further steps need be taken at present. It seems best to see what the response will be before attempting to organize a special graduate course. Any individual cases calling for special attention can be dealt with, under the proposed regulation, as our courses now stand.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and papers 1930-1961. (UAV349.11), Box 13.

_____________________

Statistics Courses offered in the Department of Economics
at Harvard, 1934-35

Economics 31a 1hf (formerly Economics 41a). Theory of Economic Statistics, I

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Crum and Asst. Professor Frickey.
Economics 1a, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for this course.

Economics 31b 2hf (formerly Economics 41b). Theory of Economic Statistics, II

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Crum and Asst. Professor Frickey.
Economics 1a, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for this course.

Economics 32b 2hf (formerly Economics 42). Foundations of Statistical Theory

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., 3 to 4.30. Professor E. B. Wilson.
Economics 31a and one year of Calculus are prerequisites for this course.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1933-34(second edition), Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXX, No. 39 (September 20, 1933), p. 128.

_____________________

Undergraduate Mathematics Courses
at Harvard, 1934-35

Mostly Freshmen

[Mathematics] A. Professors J. L Coolidge et al. — Analytic Geometry; Introduction to the Calculus.

Mostly Sophomores

[Mathematics] 2. Professors Graustein et al. — Differential and Integral Calculus; Analytic Geometry.

Mostly Juniors

[Mathematics] 5a1hf. Professor Morse. — Differential and Integral Calculus (advanced course), Part I

[Mathematics] 5a2hf. Professor Morse. — Differential and Integral Calculus (advanced course), Part II

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1934-35, p. 86.

 

Images:  Left to right: William Leonard Crum, Joseph A. Schumpeter, Edwin Bidwell Wilson. From the 1934 (Crum) and 1939 (Schumpeter and Wilson) Harvard Class Albums.

 

 

Categories
Curriculum Economics Programs Michigan

Michigan. Major Expansion of Economics Department, 1892

 

About a dozen years after the University of Michigan established its own department of political economy, a major expansion took place under the leadership of professor Henry Carter Adams in 1892. Below you will find the course offerings for the academic years 1891-92 and 1892-93 along with two U. of M. Daily reports about the department’s economics program.

Other links of interest regarding economics at the University of Michigan:

History of the University of Michigan economics department through 1940.

List of University of Michigan economics faculty up through 1980.

Memorial to Henry Carter Adams  (1851-1921) in the Journal of Political Economy, 1922.

Pictures of Henry Carter Adams’ home (interior and exterior photographs)

_________________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY.
A Letter From Dr. Adams.
(January, 1891)

Eds. U. of M. Daily,

Gentlemen: It gives me pleasure to comply with your request, and state the nature of the work which will be Undertaken in Political Economy during the Second Semester. The usual courses will be offered, but with some slight modification. They are as follows:

First: “Unsettled questions in Political Economy.” This course will comprise three lectures a week. It will embrace a study of the money question, statistics in relation to Political economy, development of economic thought, commercial crises, the railroad problem and the problem of emigration [sic].

Students who elect this course will have the privilege of listening to the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, who will give six lectures upon Statistics in their relations to the economic and social problems. Mr. Wright was for years at the head of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, of Massachusetts and is now at the head of the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington. His first lecture will be given on March 9th.

Dr. E. R. A. Seligman, Professor of Political Economy, in Columbia college, New York City, will some time in the month of May deliver, as part of the same course, lectures [sic] on the History of Political Economy. Dr. Seligman is well known as one of foremost economists in this country and his lectures on this subject may be looked forward to with great interest.

Arrangements had been made with Dr. Edmund James, of the University of Pennsylvania, to deliver a few lectures in this general course, but a letter has just been received saying that his physician will not permit him to undertake any extra labor. The other topics in this course will be treated by myself.

Second: “Social and Industrial Reform.” This course of lectures will embrace the development of industrial classes, poor law legislation, labor problem and socialism will be given under my immediate direction.

Third: “Foreign Commercial Relations of the United States.” This course of lectures, which will be two hours a week, will be given by Dr. Frederick C. Hicks. Dr. Hicks has given a great deal of attention to this subject. He will treat in this course of the theories of foreign and domestic trade, of the industrial resources of the United States on which trade must rest, and of the possibilities of developing a foreign commerce for the United States. He will, also, speak of the principles of free trade and protection in connection with foreign trade. This course of lectures will be most interesting and instructive. The students who are prepared to elect it are earnestly recommended to do so.

Fourth: “Seminary in the Science of Finance.” This course will be limited to students who are prepared to take advanced work in the science of finance. The study undertaken will be either the Financial History of the United States or Taxing System in the United States. It will be conducted by myself, with some assistance from Mr. Hicks

I am, of course, very solicitous that the work in economics should not suffer on account of my partial absence during the year. I am sure it has not suffered at all under the proficient direction of Professor Taylor, and I think that the students will see from the above program that it is not likely to suffer during the second Semester.

Very respectfully,
HENRY C. ADAMS.

Source:  The U. of M. Daily, Vol. I, No. 75 (January 20, 1891), pp. 1.

_________________________

Courses of Instruction
1891-92

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

FIRST SEMESTER.

  1. Elements of Political Economy (short course). Text-book: Walker. M, W, F, Sec. I, 2-3; Sec. II, 3-4. Dr. HICKS.
    Course I is designed for those who desire to obtain a general knowledge of Political Economy. It embraces, in addition to a statement of fundamental principles, brief studies on practical economic problems.

 

  1. History of the Development of Industrial Society. Lectures and quiz. Lectures, Tu,Th, 11½—12½. Quiz, M, Sec. I, 11½—12½; W, Sec. II, 11½—12½. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 3 is designed to be introductory to all Courses in Political Economy except Course 1. It is desirable that it should be preceded by Course 1 in History. Students who intend to take all the work offered in economics should elect Course 3 the first semester of their second year of residence.

 

  1. Principles of the Science of Finance. Lectures and quiz. Lectures, M, W, F, 2-3. Quiz, Tu, Sec. I, 2-3; Th, Sec. II, 2-3. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 5 must be preceded by Course 4.

 

  1. Socialism and Communism. Recitations, with assigned readings. Text-books: Ely’s French and German Socialism; Adams’s Relation of the State to Industrial Action. Tu,Th, 11½—12½. Dr. HICKS.
    Course 7 must be preceded by Course 2.

 

  1. Theory of Statistics. Lectures, with practical work. Tu, Th, 4-5.
    HICKS.

 

  1. Industrial and Commercial Development of the United States. Lectures. Tu, Th, 3-4. Dr. HICKS.
    Course 11 must be preceded by Courses 2 and 4.

 

  1. Seminary in Economics. M, 4-6. Two-fifths Course. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 13 must be preceded by Courses 2 and 4.

 

  1. Current Economic Literature and Legislation. Once in two weeks, M, 7-9. One-fifth Course. Professor ADAMS and Dr. HICKS.
    Course 15 is designed for candidates for advanced degrees, or for students especially proficient in Political Economy.

 

SECOND SEMESTER.

  1. Elements of Political Economy. Text-book: Walker. M, W, F, Sec. I, 10½—11½; Sec. II, 11½—12½; Sec. III, 2-3. Dr. HICKS.

 

  1. Unsettled Problems in Political Economy. Lectures and quiz. Lectures, M, W, F, 2-3. Quiz, Tu, Sec. I, 2-3; Th, Sec. II, 2-3; F, Sec. III, 2-3. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 4 comprises lectures on commercial crises, immigration, free trade and protection, the labor question, and the monopoly question. It must be preceded by Course 2.

 

  1. The Railroad Problem. Lectures. Tu, Th, 11½—12½. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 6 must be preceded by Course 2.

 

  1. History of the Tariff in the United States. Lectures and text-book. Tu, Th, 3-4. Dr. HICKS.
    Course 8 must be preceded by Course 2; Course 11 is also desirable.

 

  1. History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Lectures and readings. Tu, Th, 4-5. Dr. HICKS.
    Course 10 must be preceded by Course 5.

 

  1. Critical Analysis of Economic Theories. Lectures and readings. W, 3-4. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 12 is intended for advanced students, who are making a special study of Political Economy.

 

  1. Seminary in Finance. M, 3-5. Two-fifths Course. Professor ADAMS.
    Course 14 must be preceded by Course 5.

 

  1. Current Economic Literature and Legislation. Once in two weeks, W, 7-9. One-fifth Course. Professor ADAMS and Dr. HICKS.
    Course 16 is designed for candidates for advanced degrees, or for students especially proficient in Political Economy.

 

Source: University of Michigan. General Register for 1891-92, pp. 62-64.

_________________________

WORK IN ECONOMICS.
(October 1892)

A Great Change Introduced into This Department.
A Daily Man Has a Talk With Prof. Adams. — Nine Men are After Advanced Degrees with Political Economy for a Major. — A Word About the New Instructors. — Both are Graduates of the University of Michigan.

A complete change has been brought about in the department of Political Economy. Its scope has been greatly enlarged, new courses have been added and many of the old ones have been revised. An assistant professorship has been created and two new instructors have been engaged. The course now offered is as complete as can be found in any American college. Prof. Henry C. Adams, when interviewed on the subject, said:

“Yes, the work in Political Economy has been entirely rearranged. Our primary object has been to adapt the courses as far as possible to the needs of all the various classes of students. We place in the first class those who desire to obtain a brief, general view of the subject, such as may be had in one semester’s work. The text-book course in Walker is designed to this end. In the next class come those students who wish to enter more fully into the work but still confine themselves to a general knowledge of the subject. For them the four lecture courses, known as the undergraduate work, are intended, viz: Industrial History Elements of Political Economy, Unsettled Problems and the Science of Finance. The third class consists of those undergraduates who wish to advance so far as to take those special studies known as the intermediate courses. The fourth class comprises the graduate students.”

“The changes in this department look toward the organization of a graduate school. It is my belief that when students have completed their third year in the University they are well prepared to enter upon a higher plane of work. That which is most valuable in an education can not be obtained in lecture and recitation courses. Above these, which are designed to give the mind breadth of grasp and general preparation, come the seminary courses in which specialization is sought. Text books are discarded and for them are substituted the general literature of Political Science, and statistics, the raw material of economics. From a wide range of reading the student is forced to construct for himself a clear and consistent idea of the subject in hand. The advantages of this system are two-fold. In the first place, the knowledge that the student gains is thorough, and he makes it his own as he could never do in a lecture or text-book course. Secondly, and what is of far greater importance, he gains an insight into methods of original research and becomes accustomed to the handling of unworked material.

“It will readily be seen that such results are not obtainable in large classes. Personal contact between the instructors and students are indispensable to the work. With this in view are given Courses 21 and 22 in which the graduate students and the four instructors meet one evening in two weeks for the discussion of current economic literature and legislation. To bridge over the chasm between professor and student it was determined to appoint two instructors on half time, who, as they are candidates for advanced degrees, belong in part to the student body, rather than appoint one full instructor. The changes in the course have proven eminently successful. There are already nine candidates for advanced degrees with Pol. Ec. for their major study. Five of them are for the degree of Ph. D. and the others for Master’s degrees.

“Every student should specialize before leaving college. Whether his subject be Political Economy or History or Literature or Philosophy or Languages, matters not. Let but his investigating powers be given exercise in the proper field and the benefit derived will be enormous.”

Assistant Professor Taylor is so well known to students of the U. of M. as scarcely to need an introduction. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, has studied at Johns Hopkins, and took the degree of Ph.D. at Michigan. Two years ago he took the place of Prof. Adams for one semester. Since then he has held the chair of History and Political Science at Albion College. His doctor’s thesis is a finished work and has received the highest commendation from the most eminent critics.

Mr. Cooley, a son of Judge Thomas Cooley, graduated from the U. of M. first as M.E., then as A.B. He has since studied in Germany and Italy. In the recent census he had charge of the statistics of street railways and published an exceedingly interesting monograph on the subject. He is a candidate for the degree of Ph.D.

Mr. Dixon is so recent a graduate of the U. of M. as to be well known to all readers of the Daily. He too is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree.

Source:  The U. of M. Daily, Vol. III, No. 6 (October 7, 1892), pp. 1, 3.

_________________________

Courses of Instruction
1892-93

POLITICAL ECONOMY.

The Courses in Political Economy are classified as undergraduate, intermediate, and graduate Courses. The undergraduate Courses, viz: Courses 1, 2, 3, and 5, may be taken by any student, but are not accepted as counting for an advanced degree. The intermediate Courses, viz: Courses 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, may also be taken by any student; in the case, however, of students who are pursuing their work on the University system, and of graduate students, special instruction of one hour a week is given in connection with each Course. This extra hour is devoted to a more careful analysis and a more extended discussion than is possible in the lectures. The graduate Courses, viz: Courses 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 22, are not open to undergraduate students who pursue their work on the credit system, but may be taken by those who are working on the University system.

FIRST SEMESTER.

  1. Elements of Political Economy (short course). Text-book: Walker. M, W, F, Sec. I, at 2; Sec. II, at 3. Mr. C. H. COOLEY.
    Course 1 is designed for those who desire to obtain a general knowledge of political economy. It embraces, in addition to a statement of fundamental principles, brief studies on practical economic problems. It is not accepted as a substitute for Course 2 unless supplemented by Course 3.

 

  1. History of the Development of Industrial Society. Lectures and quiz. Lectures, Tu,Th, at 11½. Quiz, M, Sec. I, at 10½; Sec. II, at 11½; Tu, Sec. III, at 11½; W, Sec. IV, at 10½; Sec. V, at 11½. Professor ADAMS and Mr. DIXON.
    Course 3 is designed to be introductory to all Courses in Political Economy except Course I. It is not, however, required for admission to such Courses. It embraces a history of English industrial society from the twelfth century to the present time, and is designed to show how modern industrial customs and rights came into existence. It is desirable that it be preceded by Course I in History. Students who intend to take all the work offered in economics should elect Course 3 the first semester of their second year of residence.

 

  1. Problems in Political Economy. Lectures and quiz. Lectures, M, W, F, at 2. Quiz, Tu, Sec I, at 2; Th, Sec. II, at 2; F, III, at 3. Professor ADAMS and Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.
    Course 5 treats in a cursory manner current problems in political economy. The problems studied are the following: The Railway Problem; Industrial Crises; Free Trade and Protection; Industrial Reforms; Labor Legislation; Taxation. It is designed as the supplement of Course 2, by which it must be preceded; and as introductory to Courses 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, although it is not required for those Courses.

 

  1. History and Theory of Land Tenure and Agrarian Movements. M, W, at 4. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. History and Principles of Currency and Banking. Tu, Th, at 4. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. Industrial and Commercial Development of the United States. Tu, Th, at 11½. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. Theory of Statistics. Th, at 5. Mr. C. H. COOLEY.
    Courses 7, 9, 11, and 13 must be preceded by Course 2.

 

  1. Critical Analysis of Economic Thought. M, at 8¼. Professor ADAMS.

 

  1. Seminary in Finance. M, 9½—11½. Professor ADAMS.

 

  1. Current Economic Legislation and Literature. Once in two weeks. W, 7-9, P.M. Professor ADAMS, Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR, Mr. C. H. COOLEY, and Mr. DIXON.

 

SECOND SEMESTER.

 

  1. Elements of Political Economy. Lectures, M, W,F, at 3. Quiz; Tu, Sec. I, at 11½; Sec. II, at 3; Th, Sec. III, at 11½; Sec. IV, at 3. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. Principles of the Science of Finance. Lectures, M, W,F, at 2. Quiz, M, Sec. I, at 3; W, Sec. II, at 3; F, Sec. III, at 3. Professor ADAMS and Mr. DIXON.

 

  1. The Transportation Problem. Tu, Th, at 11½. Professor ADAMS.

 

  1. History and Theory of Socialism and Communism. Tu, Th, at 4. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. History of the Tariff in the United States. Text-book: Taussig. Tu, Th, at 10½. Mr. DIXON.

 

  1. History of Political Economy. Text-book: Ingram. M,W, at 10. Mr. C. H. COOLEY.
    Course 12, if taken by students who have passed Course 1, will be accepted as an equivalent for Course 2.
    Courses 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 must be preceded by Course 2.

 

  1. Critical Examination of the Labor Problem and of the Monopoly Problem. M, at 8¼. Professor ADAMS.

 

  1. Seminary in Economics. M, 9½ to 11½. Professor ADAMS.

 

  1. Social Philosophy, with especial reference to economic relations. Th, at 8¼. Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR.

 

  1. Current Economic Legislation and Literature. Once in two weeks. W, 7-9, P. M. Professor ADAMS, Assistant Professor F. M. TAYLOR, Mr. C. H. COOLEY, and Mr. DIXON.

 

Source: University of Michigan. General Register for 1892-93, pp. 69-71.

Image Source:   1891 photograph of the Michigan Wolverines football team. By J. Jefferson Gibson, Ann Arbor, Michigan – Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Public Domain,

Categories
Curriculum Gender Smith Undergraduate

Smith College. Economics and Sociology Course Offerings, 1919-20

Professor F. Stuart Chapin

Source: Smith College, Classbook 1920, p. 238.

_______________________

The following pages come from the 1919-20 catalogue of Smith College. It was the last year that Charles Franklin Emerick (Columbia economics Ph.D., 1897), the subject of the previous post, taught at Smith. This post provides lists of faculty and courses in economics and sociology.

The above quote from Professor Chapin comes from the chapter “Jokes and Cartoons” in the Smith yearbook of 1920. Sounds like a funny statistics class and I don’t mean ha-ha funny.

_______________________

ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY

[FACULTY]

Charles Franklin Emerick, Ph. D., Professor of Economics and Sociology on the Robert A. Woods Foundation

F. Stuart Chapin, Ph. D., Professor of Economics and Sociology on the Mary Huggins Gamble Foundation [Absent for first semester.]

Esther Lowenthal, Ph. D., Associate Professor

Chase Going Woodhouse, A. M., Assistant Professor

Julius Drachsler, A. M., Assistant Professor

Ella Lauchner Smith, A. M., Instructor

Ruth Wedgewood Doggett, A. B., Instructor

COURSES OF STUDY

The grade of each course is indicated by the first digit of the number. Grade I courses (primarily for Freshmen and Sophomores) have numbers beginning with 1; Grade II courses (primarily for Sophomores and Juniors) have numbers beginning with 2; and so on.

 

A. Economics

21. Outlines of Economics.A survey of Economic principles and such problems as trusts, railway rates, trade unions, the tariff, and money. Three hours, through the year. M. T. W. at 9 in S. 16; Th. F. S. at 9 in C. H. 1. Professor Emerick, Associate Professor Lowenthal.

311. Economic History of England.The history of English forms of industrial organization as a background for the critical study of modern capitalism. Three hours, through the year. Th. F. S. at 10 in S. 17. Miss Smith.

[312a. American Industrial Development.Special treatment of the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial expansion of the United States. Three hours, first semester. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

[31a. History and Theories of Economic Control.The relations of the state and the individual in matters of trade and industry based on English history. For students who have taken one course in the Department. Three hours, first semester. M. T. W. at 10 in Lib. 9. Associate Professor Lowenthal. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

[31b. The Labor Movement. The wage system, trade unions, labor legislation. For students who have taken one course in the Department. Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 10 in Lib. 9. Associate Professor Lowenthal. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

32a. Money, Banking, Credit, and Foreign Exchange. For students who have taken 21 or 31a. Three hours, first semester. Th. F. S. at 11 in S. 26. Professor Emerick.

32b. Corporation Finance and the Railway Problem. For students who have taken 21 or 31a. Three hours, second semester. Th. F. S. at 11 in S. 26. Professor Emerick.

33a. Economic Theory and Theory of Socialism, 1776-1875. The classical economists, Adam Smith to Cairnes. The Ricardian Socialists and Karl Marx. For students who have taken 21 or 31a, or by special permission. Three hours, first semester. Associate Professor Lowenthal.

36. Economic Theory and Theory of Socialism from 1875. A critical study of the changes in economic thought since the time of John Stuart Mill and in socialist theory since Karl Marx. For students who have taken 21 or 31a, or by special permission. Three hours, second semester. Assistant Professor Woodhouse.

34a. Economics of Consumption. A study in the cost of living and the retail market. Three hours, first semester. M. at 10 in B. H. 6 T. W. at 10 in G. H. Assistant Professor Woodhouse.

34b. The Elements of Public Finance. Governmental revenues and expenditures, with special emphasis upon modern forms of taxation. For students who have taken 21 or 31a. Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 10 in Lib. 9. Associate Professor Lowenthal.

35b. Economic Aspects of Reconstruction.Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 9 in Lib. 9. Assistant Professor Woodhouse.

 

B. Sociology

26a. The Principles of Sociology. Three hours, first semester. M. T. W. at 10 in G. H. at 11 in C. H. 1; Th. F. S. at 12 in S. 17. Professor Chapin, Assistant Professors Woodhouse and Drachsler, Miss Smith.

26b. Social Economy. The problem of poverty, its causes, relief, and prevention. Methods of dealing with the defective and delinquent classes. For students who have taken 26a. Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 10 in G. H. and B. H. 6; at 11 in C. H. 1; Th. F. S. at 12 in S. 17. Professor Chapin, Assistant Professors Woodhouse and Drachsler, Miss Smith.

[36a. The Social, Economic, and Political Status of Women: A comparative and historical study. For students who have taken 21 or 26. Three hours, first semester. Th. F. S. at 10 in S. 17. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

[36b. The Family and Child Problems. For students who have taken 21 or 26. Three hours, second semester. Th. F. S. at 10 in S. 17. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

[37a. Methods of Social Research. A critical study of the Social Survey in England and America, and a study of the methods of investigation used by commissions of the Federal and State Governments. For students who have taken one course in Economics and one course in Sociology. Three hours, first semester. M. T. W. at 11 in Lib. 9. Professor Chapin. Omitted in 1919-1920.]

37b. Social and Economic Statistics. Population problems, the standard of living, and problems of human inheritance statistically treated, Variation and correlation. Methods of charting and graphic portrayal. For students who have taken one course in Economics and one course in Sociology. Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 11 in Lib. 9. Professor Chapin.

39a. History of Social Theories: Beginnings of Sociological Thought. A comparative study of some basic contributions of primitive, ancient and medieval society to modern social theories. For students who have taken Economics 21, Sociology 26, or Philosophy 31 or 32. Three hours, first semester. M. T. W. at 9 in C. 6. Assistant Professor Drachsler.

39b. History of Social Theories: Modern Sociological Thought. A comparative study of leading modern social theories with reference to the development of a comprehensive social science. For students who have taken Economics 21, Sociology 26, or Philosophy 31 or 32. Three hours, second semester. M. T. W. at 9 in C. 6. Assistant Professor Drachsler.

 

The Majors

Economics

Based on 21.

Essential Courses: Three courses in Economics above Grade II, including 32a.

Optional Courses: Sociology 26 and any course in Economics or Sociology above Grade II.

Mathematics 23 (Recommended with Sociology 37 for students preparing for economic or social investigation.)

History—any course above Grade II.

 

Sociology

Based on 26.

Essential Courses: 21, and two Grade III courses in Sociology.

Optional Courses: Economics—any courses.

History 342, 343,347.

Mathematics 23.

Philosophy 32, 314, 315, 317, 318.

Zoology 21, 31, 35, 41.

 

Source: Catalogue of Smith College 1919-1920 (October, 1919), pp. 62-64. Another copy of the 1919-20 Catalogue at www.archive.org.

Image Source: Faculty picture of F. Stuart Chapin in the Smith College Classbook 1920, p. 19.

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Curriculum Regulations

Chicago. Intradepartmental discussion, graduate microtheory prerequisite. 1928.

 

Within an academic year there is often a natural ordering for a two-semester or three-quarter course sequence that allows the later courses to build on the course(s) that preceded it. With the growing depth of economic theory by the 1920s at the latest, more than a single course year was understood to be required to get up to research speed. We can add to this the further complicating fact of graduate programs being fed from a variety of undergraduate programs. It then becomes necessary to get excruciatingly explicit about the course content of prerequisites. 

The memos transcribed below make it clear that a “stiff” sophomore-level “value and distribution theory” course as taught in the College at the University of Chicago would constitute the minimum preparation to begin the study of neo-classical economics à la Viner in 1928. It is also noteworthy that the “powwow” of Chicago economists named in L. C. Marshall’s first memo below appeared to consider the course on “Contemporary Continental Economic Thought” a different species altogether, not requiring even intermediate microeconomic theory as a prerequisite.

________________

Economic Theory Course Numbers and Titles

General Survey Course [undergraduate]

102, 103, 104. The Economic Order I, II, III. Professor [Leon Carroll] Marshall and Others.

Intermediate Course [undergraduate]

201. Intermediate Economic Theory. Professor [Paul Howard] Douglas, Associate Professor[Lewis Carlyle] Sorrel and Assistant Professor [Garfield V.] Cox

[Graduate Theory Core]

301, 302, 303. Introduction to the Graduate Study of Economic Theory

301. Neo-Classical Economics. Professor [Jacob] Viner
302. History of Economic Thought. Professor [Frank Hyneman] Knight
303. Modern Tendencies in Economics. Professor [Jacob] Viner

309. Contemporary Continental Economic Thought. Mr. [Paul Howard] Palyi

 

Source:  University of Chicago, Annual Register with Announcements for the Year 1927-1928, pp. 162-163.

________________

3 Memos: Marshall to Viner to Marshall to Viner

The University of Chicago
Department of Economics

January 13, 1928

Memorandum

To: J. Viner
From L. C. Marshall

Before Knight left us we had a long powwow about the theory situation as it seemed to have developed through the autumn quarter. [Frank Hyneman] Knight, [Lionel D.] Edie, [Theodore Otte] Yntema, [Henry] Schultz, [William Homer] Spencer and myself participated.

Here are the results of the conference:

1) It was agreed that neither 201 nor 301 should be regarded prerequisite to 309.

2) It was agreed that a person taking 301 could not wisely take 309.

3) It was agreed that 201 could not properly be made prerequisite for 301 since most of the students taking 301 do not come up through our own organization.

Do you see any difficulties with this arrangement?

[signed]
L. C. Marshall

LCM:GS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The University of Chicago
The Department of Economics

Memorandum to L. C. Marshall from J. Viner. Jan. 20, 1928

(1) I do not know enough about the purposes and scope of 309 to be able to express an intelligent opinion.

(2) Do. [ditto]

(3) I do not see why 201 or its equivalent should not be demanded as a prerequisite for 301, any stiff undergraduate course in price and distribution being regarded as the equivalent of 201. For undergraduates wanting to take 301 as undergraduates it seems to me clear that 201 should be insisted upon as a prerequisite.

J.V.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[Memorandum to] Mr. Jacob Viner [from] Mr. L. C. Marshall. Feb. 9, [192]8

In reply to your note of January 20 in which you say “I do not see why 201 or its equivalent should not be demanded as a prerequisite for 301, any stiff undergraduate course in price and distribution being regarded as the equivalent of 201. For undergraduates wanting to take 301 as undergraduates it seems to me clear that 201 should be insisted upon as a prerequisite.”

I judge that this means that no substantial difference of opinion exists between you and the group that talked the matter over. Apparently you would regard a sophomore course in the principles of economics (the usual thing in American colleges) as being an equivalent of 201 for purposes of stating the prerequisite for 301. This being true, what would you think of stating the prerequisite thus:

Prerequisite: a good undergraduate course in value and distribution.

It seems wise specifically to mention value and distribution for the expression “principles of economics” has no one meaning as far as undergraduate instruction is concerned.

LCM:GS

 

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics. Records.Box 35, Folder 14 “Economics Department. Records & Addenda”.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-08488, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. The photograph is dated 14 June 1944.

Categories
Courses Curriculum Economics Programs Gender Wisconsin

Wisconsin. Economics Courses and Faculty, 1893-94

 

Early economics course offerings for Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, and a guide to graduate economics study at 23 universities from 1898 have been posted earlier. Today’s post for the University of Wisconsin serves as a reminder of the humble scale of economics departments just(?) 125 years ago: one professor (Ely), one associate professor (Scott), an instructor (Kinley) and two teaching fellows (Swain and Hubbard) covered the sixteen economics courses offered at the University of Wisconsin then. It is also worth noting the disciplines of the academic triplet joined at the hips: School of Economics, Political Science, and History. Finally I note that of three scholarships offered at the school, one was reserved for women.

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Richard T. Ely

Richard T. Ely, the illustrious Director of the School of Economics, Political Science and History of the University of Wisconsin, was born in Ripley, New York, April 13, 1854. In 1876 he graduated from Columbia College, and, as the holder of the Graduate Fellowship of Letters in that institution, spent the next three years abroad in the study of social science, taking the degree of Ph.D. at Heidelberg in 1879. For several years he lectured in Cornell, Johns Hopkins and other Eastern colleges, and in 1885 Dr. Ely went to the associate chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, which institution he left to become the Director of the new School of Economics in Wisconsin University at the opening of the present college year.

Dr. Ely can receive no eulogy at our hands. His fame is world-wide, and the prosperity of the department under his control attests his powers of organization and successful management. The foundation of this school has been the beginning of a new order of things in the Universsity. A superior class of post-graduate effort has come under the direction of Dr. Ely, and the University of Wisconsin has attracted students from the far East and from the West.

Dr. Ely’s own writings need no comment. His field is large and accurately sustained. He stands foremost in the ranks of the new-school writers on econoimcs, and he has done much to advance economic study to its present enviable position of wide sympathies and scholarly effort.

David Kinley.

David Kinley was born in Dundee, Scotland, August 2, 1861. He came to this country at the age of twelve, and was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduating from Yale in 1884. For the next six years Mr. Kinley was prinipal of the High School of North Andover, Mass. He then studied a year in Johns Hopkins, and at the end of that time was elected instructor in History and Political Economy in that institution, and instructor in Political Economy and Logic at the Woman’s College, Baltimore. At the beginning of the present college year Mr. Kinley came to the University of Wisconsin as fellow and instructor in the School of Economics.

[Note: David Kinley’s Ph.D. thesis (1892-93) at Wisconsin, “The Independent Treasury”.]

Willam A. Scott

Prof. W. A. Scott was born in Clarkson, Monroe County, New York, April 17, 1862. When sixteen years of age he entered the State Normal School at Brockport, New York, from which he was graduated in June, 1882. In the fall of the same year he entered the University of Rochester, and received therefrom in 1886 the degree of B.A., and a scholarship in political science. The latter was granted for success in a competitive examination on the works of Bluntschli and certain selected French writers on political economy.

During a portion of the academic year 1884-5 Prof. Scott occupied temporarily the position of instructor in Latin and Greek to the Normal School at Oswego, N.Y. The year following his graduation he spent in post-graduate study, occupying at the same time the position of librarian of the Reynolds Library at Rochester. In the spring of 1887 he was appointed Professor of History and Political Economy in the University of South Dakota, and after occupying this position for three years he was granted leave of absence to complete his course of post-graduate study. He entered Johns Hopkins University in October, 1890, was appointed instructor in that institution in January, 1891, and in June, ’92, received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Since September, 1892, he has occupied the position of Assistant Professor of Political Economy in the University of Wisconsin.

Besides numerous articles published in the newspapers and periodicals, Prof. Scott has in process of publication at the present time by T. Y. Crowell & Co. of New York, a book entitled: “The Repudiation of State Debts in the United States”.

Prof. Scott is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities.

Source: The University of Wisconsin yearbook, The Badger 1894, pp. 26-29. Portraits inserted between pp. 26 and 27.

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Faculty and Courses of Instruction
1893-1894

Officers of Instruction.

CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL.D., President of the University.
RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., L.L.D., Director and Professor of Political Economy.
JOHN B. PARKINSON, A.M., Professor of Constitutional and International Law.
FREDERICK J. TURNER, Ph.D., Professor of American History.
CHARLES H. HASKINS, Ph.D., Professor of Institutional History.
WILLIAM A. SCOTT, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Economy.
VICTOR E. COFFIN, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of European History.
DAVID KINLEY, Ph.D., Instructor in Administration and Political Science, and Lecturer on Money and Banking.
H. H. SWAIN, A.B., Fellow in Economics.
CHARLES M. HUBBARD, A.B., Fellow in Finance.
O. G. LIBBY, B.L., Fellow in History.

 

Introductory.

The purpose of the school is to afford superior means for systematic and thorough study in economics, political and social science and history. The courses are graded and arranged so as to meet the wants of students in the various stages of their progress, beginning with the elementary and proceeding to the most advanced work. They are also designed to meet the wants of different classes of students; as, for instance, those who wish to enter the public service, the professions of law, journalism, the ministry or teaching, or those who wish to supplement their legal, theological, or other professional studies with courses in social science or history. Capable students are encouraged to undertake original investigations, and assistance is given them in the prosecution of such work through seminaries and the personal guidance of instructors. A means for the publication of the results of investigations of merit and importance is provided in the University studies, the expense of which is met by the state.

 

Courses of Instruction.

I. ECONOMICS.

  1. The Principles of Political Economy. — A survey of the principles of political economy in their present state. Emphasis will be laid upon the sociological character of the science and upon the importance of the subjective standpoint in the explanation of economic phenomena. — Ely’s Outlines of Economics. — Three hours per week during the fall term. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT and MR. SWAIN.
  2. The Classical Economists. — A study of the development of economic theory as exhibited in the writings of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill and Cairnes. Characteristic parts of the writings of these authors will be assigned to the students for careful study, and conversational lectures will be given for the purpose of summarizing, systematizing and supplementing the class discussions. Three hours per week during the winter term. — Associate PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  3. Money and Banking. — A study of the functions and history of money and banks and of the problems connected therewith. Especial attention will be given to the history of bi-metallism in this country and Europe, to the various banking systems of the world, and to our own monetary and banking problems. — Walker’s “Money, Trade and Industry,” Laughlin’s “History of Bi-metallism in the United States,” and Dunbar’s “The History and Theory of Banking.” — Three hours per week during the spring term. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  4. Practical Economic Questions. — Socialism, Communism, Co-operation, Profit Sharing, Labor Organizations, Factory Legislation and similar topics will be discussed in this course. Its aim is to familiarize students with the problems of our social life and the plans suggested for their solution, and to give them actual practice in the investigation of such topics. — Three hours per week during the winter term. — MR. SWAIN and MR. HUBBARD.
  5. The Financial History of the United States. — A survey of the financial legislation and experiences of the United States, including the finances of the Colonies and the Revolutionary epoch. — Three hours per week during the spring term. — MR. HUBBARD.
  6. Distribution of Wealth. — Rent, interest, profits and wages. Plans which have been advocated for bringing about what their authors regard as a better distribution of wealth will be discussed. — Two hours per week throughout the year. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  7. History of Economic Thought. — The history of economic theories in classical antiquity will be sketched; their development under the influence of the Christian era and the middle ages to the time of the Mercantilists will be discussed at greater length. The rise and growth of economics as a distinct branch of social science. Existing schools of economic thought. — Three hours a week during the winter term. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  8. Theories of Value and Interest. — History of value and interest theories down to the present day. The seminary method of instruction will be employed, and each student will be expected to study critically the writings of the theorists examined. — Twice a week throughout the year. – ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  9. Theories of Rent, Wages and Profits. — A critical study of the history of these theories conducted in the manner described in the previous course. — Twice a week throughout the year. — ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  10. Theory of Exchange. — The history, methods and theory of domestic and foreign exchange will be considered in this course, under the two following heads:
    1. Money. — This is an advanced course, open only to those who have done the equivalent of courses 1, 2 and 3. In it a knowledge of the history of money will be assumed, and attention devoted to the critical consideration of such topics as the international movement of the precious metals, the theory of prices, bimetallism, paper money, etc. — Two hours a week throughout the winter term. — MR. KINLEY.
    2. Banking. — This is also an advanced course. The history, theory and practice of banking will be studied, including a comparison of the existing banking systems of different countries, the theory of credit, bank paper, the management of stringencies and panics, and the proper attitude of government towards the banking business. – Two hours a week throughout the spring term. – MR. KINLEY.
  11. Socialism. — Historical account of its origin, followed by a critical examination of its nature, strength and weakness. — Three hours per week during the fall term.— PROFESSOR ELY.
  12. Business Corporations. — The nature and economic functions of corporations, including a sketch of their origin and history. Lectures. — One hour per week during fall term. — MR. HUBBARD.
  13. The Economics of Agriculture. — A discussion of those economic topics which are of especial interest and importance to farmers. This course is designed primarily for the students of the college of agriculture, though any student who desires may be admitted. — Lectures.—One hour per week during the winter term.—ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.
  14. American Taxation. — Brief examination of federal taxation and a more detailed study of taxation in American states and cities. — Three times per week during the spring term. — PROFESSOR ELY.
  15. Sociology. — This course will consist of an historical study of the nature and principles of growth of the social body, and of a critical investigation of the positivist, the synthetic, the evolutionary, and other theories of society. — Three times a week throughout the fall term. — MR. KINLEY.
  16. Economic Seminary. — This is designed primarily for advanced students who wish to carry on special investigations under the guidance which the department affords. Each student, with the consent of the instructors, may select a topic of investigation for himself, or one may be assigned him connected with the subject selected for the main seminary work of the year. The subject for 1893–94 will be American Taxation. A subordinate feature of the seminary work will be the review of recent books and important articles published in the periodicals. — PROFESSOR ELY and ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCOTT.

ARRANGEMENT OF COURSES.

Of the above courses, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 12 are elementary. All beginners will take course 1; for those who wish to make a more special study of political economy, — with a view, possibly, of making it their major subject of study, — course 1 will be followed by courses 2 and 3 and these by course 6; those who expect to do most of their work in other departments, but desire such a knowledge of economic science as is needed for purposes of general culture and the proper performance of the duties of citizenship are advised to take courses 4 and 5 after course 1. Special students in economics are also urged to take courses 4 and 5 during the first year of their economic study, if their time will permit. Courses 7, 8 and 9 are theoretical. Course 7 is designed to furnish students with a general knowledge of economic literature and the general features of the development of economic thought. Courses 8 and 9 furnish opportunity for critical and exhaustive study of the most important economic theories, and are designed to cultivate the power of independent judgment; in other words, to equip competent students for original work in the domain of economic theory.

At least courses 1, 2 and 3, or their equivalent, must have been taken as preparation for courses 8 and 9. Graduate students will find it to their advantage to take at least courses 7 and 8, and, if possible, course 9 during the first year of their graduate study. Courses 10, 11, 12 and 14 furnish training in the application of economic principles to the affairs of practical life.

 

II. HISTORY
[11 courses listed…]

III. POLITICAL SCIENCE
[7] Courses by Professor Parkinson
[…]

ADMINISTRATION
[3] Courses by Mr. Kinley
[…]

 

Library Facilities

The General University Library, including the department libraries catalogued therewith, contains about 29,000 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets. About 200 of the best American and Foreign periodicals are taken. The College of Law has a special library of 2,300 volumes, and in addition students have access to the state law library, containing about 25,000 volumes, and to the city library of Madison, containing a well-selected collection of over 12,000 volumes.

The library of the State Historical Society contains about 76,000 volumes and 77,000 pamphlets. It is exceptionally rich in manuscript and other material for the study of the Mississippi valley. The collections of the late Lyman C. Draper are included in this library. Its files of newspapers and periodicals are among the most complete in the United States. There are over 5,000 volumes of bound newspapers published outside of Wisconsin, and the files cover, with but few breaks, the period from the middle of the seventeenth century to the present.

There is an excellent collection of United States government documents, and the material for the study of American local history, Western travel, the Revolution, Slavery, and the Civil War, is unusually abundant. In English history the library possesses the Calendars of the State Papers, the Rolls Series, and other important collections, including works on local history. The Tank collection (Dutch) offers facilities for the study of the Netherlands. The library of the Historical Society is accessible to students of the University, and thus affords exceptional facilities for the prosecution of advanced historical work. The Historical and Economic Seminaries have been generously granted special facilities in the rooms of the library. The Historical, State, University and City libraries afford duplicate copies of books most in use, and to a large extent supplement one another.

During the year 1892–93 the Regents of the University appropriated five thousand dollars for the supply of special works for the use of the seminary students of the school. The works supplied by this fund afford good facilities for investigations of an advanced nature.

These library facilities are unsurpassed in the interior, and equaled by very few institutions in the country.

 

Fellowships and Scholarships.

The University offers nine annual fellowships of $400 each, which are open to general competition without restriction except in one instance. During the current year three scholarships of $150 each will be awarded to members of the school. One of these is furnished by the Woman’s Club of Madison, and is open only to Women.

For further information, address

PROFESSOR RICHARD T. ELY,
Director,

Or the
REGISTRAR OF THE UNIVERSITY.

 

Source:  University of Wisconsin. School of Economics, Political Science, and History. Announcement for 1893-94 (Madison, Wis., 1893), pp. 3-8, 14-15.

Images Source: The University of Wisconsin yearbook, The Badger 1894.

Categories
Curriculum Harvard Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Economics teaching responsibilities according to David Landes, 1955

Landes_David.jpg Prof. David Landes 7437 #36 11/1193 Photographer: Jane Reed

 

In the archived Columbia University graduate economics department papers one finds an extended discussion about a university administration initiative in 1955-56 to adjust teaching loads to meet a fiscal crisis. The economics chairman, Carl S. Shoup, asked the young economic historian on the faculty, David Landes, to brief him on the teaching situation at Harvard. The following “note to self” by Shoup offers an obiter dictum or two that one would not be able to glean from published Harvard catalogues alone, e.g., “This system is also well suited to a coeducational program.”

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Interdepartment Memorandum

Date: February 18, 1955
Carl S. Shoup

Memorandum for Files
Record of Conversation with David Landes on Harvard
Technique of Handling Graduate and Undergraduate Classes

Landes tells me that at Harvard in economics, there are three kinds of courses. First is an elementary course for undergraduates in which there is one lecture a week before a class that may range from 50 to 300 students or perhaps even more. Another two hours a week is taken up with section work handled by graduate students who are somewhat below our instructors in terms of the amount of their responsibilities (I understand from Hart that in some of these elementary courses one lecture will be given by one professor, another professor will come along the following week and so on). This professor is a senior man whose chief interest is in the graduate field. Nevertheless, there seems to be considerable competition among the senior professors for the privilege of giving these big lectures. Not all senior professors give such lectures and not all are competitors for the task.

Then there are mixed courses containing 20 or 30 students or so, some of the students being undergraduate and some graduate.

Finally, there are the graduate seminars attended only by graduate students.

In no case does the graduate professor have to take care of the mechanics of grading undergraduate examination papers, taking attendance, etc. All these chores are handled by the young assistant.

As a result, there is no well-defined undergraduate faculty in economics as there is in Columbia. Landes thinks this system is undoubtedly the most economical, but it has the drawback that the undergraduate student who reads the catalogue and thinks he is going to get some big name to teach him in his beginning course finds that he does so only to the extent of sitting in a large group and listening to the professor without ever getting any personal contact with him.

This system is also well suited to a coeducational program.

 

Source:  Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections, Columbiana. Department of Economic Collection, Box 5, Folder “Budget Meeting—1955-1956”.

Image Source:  The Harvard Gazette  August 30, 2013 photo of David S. Landes.

Categories
Curriculum Undergraduate Washington University

Washington University. Undergraduate economics curriculum, 1897-98

 

In most U.S. colleges and university at the turn of the 20th century, an economics department was basically a one-man band. The courses at Washington University for the academic year 1897-98 were taught by the University of Chicago Ph.D. alumnus (1897), Henry Rand Hatfield.

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Washington University
Announcement of Courses in
Economics
1897-1898

Department of Economics.
Henry Rand Hatfield, Ph.D., Instructor.

 

Course 1, to be followed by 2a, or 2b, is required of all taking work in the department, except of those taking Course 3, which is given independently and requires no other economic study.

The courses offered in Economics are as follows:

FIRST TERM.

COURSE 1. Elementary Economics.

A course for beginners, using Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Laughlin’s edition) as text book. An attempt will be made to train the student in accurate economic reasoning and to show the vital connection between economic theory and the practical questions of the day. This course must be followed by either 2a or 2b.

COURSE 3. Economic History since 1763.

A course of lectures with collateral reading and reports, treating of the economic effects of the great inventions, of the American and French revolutions, of the free-trade movement in England, of the gold discoveries, of the civil war, of the crises of 1873 and 1893, etc.
No previous economic study is required for this course. Course 1 may, with advantage, be taken simultaneously.

COURSE 4. Financial History of the United States.

Lectures with collateral reading. The course will cover such topics as the management of the national debt, the use of customs duties as a revenue measure, the first and second United States Bank, the financial policy of the war of 1812 and of the civil war, the independent treasury, etc. An attempt will be made to trace the relation between the financial policy and the politics of the time, and, especially, to treat the financial history so as to throw light on the problems of today.

COURSE 6. Tariff History of the United States.

Lectures with collateral reading and study of Taussig’s Tariff History of the United States.
This course and Course 4 will be given in alternate years.

 

SECOND TERM.

COURSE 2a.  Advanced Economics.

This course continues the training in theory begun in Course 1, using Marshall’s Principles of Economics as the text-book with reading in Cairnes, Taussig, Hadley and Böhm-Bawerk. It should be taken by all who wish to continue the study of Economics.

COURSE 2b.  Descriptive Economics.

A practical course, designed to supplement Course 1, for those who desire only a general acquaintance with the subject. The topics discussed will be money, banking, coöperation, socialism, taxation and transportation.

COURSE 5. Money and Banking.

Discussion of the theory of money, bi-metallism, note issues and the function of bank credits. Short theses will be prepared by the students and discussed in class.

COURSE 7. Social Economics.

An examination of the economic aspects of certain social problems. The questions considered will be those relating to state interference including poor-relief, immigration, the control of monopolies, etc., and certain schemes of economic reform, such as coöperation, profit-sharing, and trades unions.
This course and Course 5 will be given in alternate years.

 

Source:  University of Chicago. Office of the President. Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations. Records, Box 29, Folder #8 “Chicago, University of, professional schools, School of Commerce and Administration, 1896-1924”, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago.

Image Source: Found in several family trees at ancestry.com without citation.