Category: Economic History

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Chicago Economic History Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Reading list for Economic History of Modern Europe to 1800. Hamilton, 1966

 

Some graduate course reading lists are allowed to evolve into full-blown bibliographies that provide historians of economics little idea of what the actual content of the course itself happened to be. Earl J. Hamilton was an economic historian who kept his reading lists short and sweet. I wouldn’t have put it past him or any other professor to have covered other material in his lectures, but I am still willing to bet that he really expected his students to complete this reading list.

________________________

[U.C.]
Economics 346
Economic History of Modern Europe to 1800
Earl J. Hamilton
Spring Quarter, 1966

To be read before May 6, 1966

  1. Sir John Clapham, A Concise Economic History of Britain…to 1750 (Cambridge, 1949), pp. 185-305.
  2. *J. H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance, pp. 19-52.
  3. *Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter VIII.
  4. N. Clark, Science and Social Welfare in the Age of Newton (Oxford, 1937), pp. 1-59.
  5. Earl J. Hamilton, “The Decline of Spain,” Economic History Review, Vol. VIII (1938), pp. 168-179.
  6. John U. Nef, Industry and Government in France and England, 1540-1640 (1940), pp. 1-157.
  7. Edwin F. Gay, “Inclosures in England in the Sixteenth Century,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. XVII, (1902—1903), pp. 576-597.
  8. *Earl J. Hamilton, “The Role of Monopoly in the Overseas Expansion and Colonial Trade of Europe before 1800,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, Vol. XXXVIII (1948), pp. 33-53.
  9. *Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London, 1930), Chapters I-V.
  10. Eli F. Heckscher, Mercantilism (London, 1935), Vol. I, pp. 19-44; Vol. II pp. 13-30.
  11. *W. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Third Edition, Vol. II (1903), Modern Times, pp. 494-540 (Ch. XV. Changes in the Organisation and Distribution of Industry); 540-583 (Ch. XVI. Spirited Proprietors and Substantial Tenants); 609-620 (Bk. VII, Ch. I. The Workshop of the World).
  12. L. Jones, “Agriculture and Economic Growth in England, 1660-1750,” Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXXV, No. 1 (March, 1965), pp. 1-18.
  13. H. John, “Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth in England, 1700-1760, Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXXV, No. 1 (March, 1965), pp. 19-34.

*Read only for clearly essential facts, interpretation and point of view.

There will be an examination on May 6th.

A term paper on some important factor in the general economic development of some important country or period, some aspect of the rise of modern capitalism, some problem concerning mercantilism and economic development, or the growth of agriculture, industry, corporate organization or commerce in some significant time and place will be due on May 13th.

There will be a final examination from 8:30 to 11:30 A.M., on June 3rd on the lectures, the assigned reading and the field in which each student’s term paper falls.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Earl J. Hamilton Papers, Box 2, Folder “Correspondence. Academic and Personal”.

Image Source:  University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-02446, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

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Chicago Economic History Harvard NYU Pennsylvania Wisconsin

Minnesota. Interview about banking/financial historians. Heaton, 1955

In an earlier post we are provided with a glimpse of Minnesota professor Herbert Heaton’s wit in his answer to the question “What are economic historians made of?“. In preparing that post, I came across the following 1955 interview that provided some background assessments of economic historians who he judged might have been interesting for a Brookings project on the history of the Federal Reserve System.

A 2007 tribute from the Newsletter of the Economic History Association has been appended to this post for further biographical/career information.

___________________

Backstory to Heaton Interview

In 1954, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to the Brookings Institution to undertake “a comprehensive history of the Federal Reserve System.” The collection consists of documents gathered or generated between 1954 and 1958, during the course of the Committee’s work.

MA (the interviewer below) was Mildred Adams “a New York journalist specializing in economic affairs”.

“Deputy Treasurer of the United States W. Randolph Burgess expressed his interest in writing a “definitive” history of the Federal Reserve System when he retired from federal service….”

“On January 21, 1954, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant of $10,000 to the committee for an ‘exploratory study of the historical materials relating to the Federal Reserve System.’ The grant was to be administered by Brookings.”

“From January 1954 to June 1956, Mildred Adams served as research director of the project….Meanwhile, however, Burgess had been appointed under secretary of the Treasury and decided that he would not be able to start the planned comprehensive history any time soon. The committee spent the next two years searching for an able economic historian to assume direction of this major study.”

“By the spring of 1956, the committee’s failure to find a qualified scholar and Allan Sproul’s retirement from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and subsequent resignation as chairman of the committee caused problems. With no historian, the committee redefined its goals and requested the Rockefeller Foundation to relieve the committee of its obligation to write a ‘definitive’ major study and instead allow it to encourage smaller, topical studies of the Federal Reserve System.”

Source:  Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. FRASER. Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System: Guide to the Brookings Institution Archives.

___________________

Notes from interview with Herbert Heaton

June 11, 1955

Internal Memorandum

Interview with Dr. Herbert Heaton, Professor of Economic History at the University of Minnesota

I went out to see Dr. Heaton on a Saturday morning at his home in Minneapolis and found him a charming Yorkshireman with a delightful sense of humor and a wide knowledge of both economics and history. Were he a little younger, he might prove to be the ideal person to do this work, although I have not yet read his books. I discussed the whole project with him in detail and then asked for any suggestions of people he might have for our purposes.

Dr. Heaton confirmed what we have already found, namely that the field is a rather arid one in the realm where history and economics meet. He himself had been on the committee which set up the economic history group with which Professor Arthur Cole of Harvard works. He agreed with Dr. [Walter W.] Stewart that that had rather worked itself out, though he said that the Hidys [Ralph Willard Hidy and Muriel E. (Wagenhauser) Hidy] were doing good work in their chosen field. They are to spend this summer in Minneapolis working on the Weyerhauser Lumber business.

Dr. Heaton said that John [K.] Langum was a brilliant student in the Harvard Business School. He had a minor in economic history and a fine historical sense.

He suggested that we talk to [Charles] Ray Whittlesey of the Wharton School who is interested in banking history. He thought that Whittlesey might have useful recommendations and called him one of the best insofar as historical interests in economic matters are concerned.

He spoke of Herman Kruse [sic, Herman E. Krooss] of New York University as someone who wrote well on financial history. He said that Mr. Kruse had energy, capacity and ability to handle material, but he seemed to think that he was lacking in tact, and he was not quite sure what he might do with an assignment in this project.

A young man named Robert Jost, now at Minnesota doing a doctor’s thesis on the Chatfield Bank, may be a possibility later on in the project, depending on what he makes of the Chatfield Bank. It is a small bank in Minnesota which, for some fortunate reason, has kept all its records and is making a very interesting study.

At the University of Wisconsin Dr. Heaton said that Rondo Cameron was working on the Credit Mobilier in Paris was worth watching. This again is a matter of seeing what he turns out.

He said that [Walter] Rostow at M.I.T., who has been devoting himself to business cycles, would ask the right questions of the material. Rostow has a quick mind and the right range of interests for this project. Oxford and Cambridge had both invited him for next year. His research expert is Mrs. [Anna] Schwartz. His brother [Eugene Rostow] is Dean of the Law School at Yale. In Dr. Heaton’s opinion, Mr. Rostow ought certainly to be explored.

Dr. Heaton says that Arthur Marget is someone he has known in the past as being brilliant on history or theory. He did not know that Mr. Marget had now gone to the Board and wondered if this might rule him out so far as the international sphere is concerned.

He also spoke of Frank A. Knox, who got his Ph.D at the University of Chicago and now writes reviews in the Canadian Journal of Economic and Political Science. Mr. Knox has not published much, but he is worth watching in Dr. Heaton’s opinion.

Dr. Heaton promised to keep the project in mind. He will talk with his associates about it and will send us any other suggestions which come up in the course of his work at the University of Minnesota.

We explored the things which he himself was doing, and he said that he had just turned 65 and did not believe that one should take on these big projects after that age. I had the feeling that he might, however, be interested in the project sufficiently so that he would take a piece of it. I had no authority to discuss it with him at that time, but I think this is worth considering. As a beginning, it might be worthwhile to read his “Economic History of Europe.”

MA:IB

Source:  Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. FRASER. Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System.

___________________

Past Presidents of the EHA:
Herbert Heaton

Herbert Heaton was one of the founding members of the Economic History Association, serving as one of its two inaugural vice presidents, ascending to the presidency in 1949, and remaining active in the association until his death. Along with E.A.J. Johnson and Arthur Cole, he drafted a grant application to the Rockefeller Foundation, which resulted in a $300,000 award in December of 1940. The grant financed research in economic history over the next four years. Heaton was a member of the original board of trustees of the EHA. Each of the five original members went on to serve as president of the association: Edwin F. Gay (1941-42), Heaton (1949-50), Earl J. Hamilton (1951-52), E.A.J. Johnson (1961-62), and Shepard B. Clough (1969).

Heaton was active in the formation of the EHA and was personally responsible for the recruitment of most of the members from the Midwest. He was an enthusiastic scholar of the evolution and applications of economic history, authoring several articles on the history of the discipline and a biography of Edwin Gay, the first president of the EHA. In an article entitled “Clio’s New Overalls,” published in The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science(November, 1954), Heaton was one of the first authors to discuss the marriage of clio and its metric partner in regard to the study of economic history. His discussion of the metric side of the equation was anything but enthusiastic however. Instead, he criticized the tendency of young scholars to use technical tools to make precise measurements of what he considered to be inaccurate data.

Heaton was born in England on June 6, 1890, the son of a blacksmith. He studied history and economics at the University of Leeds, earning his B.A. in 1911. He earned his M.A. in 1912 from the London School of Economics before accepting a position as assistant lecturer in economics under (Sir) William Ashley at the University of Birmingham. While there, he earned another Masters degree in 1914. He then moved to Australia and began a post as lecturer in history and economics at the University of Tasmania.

While in Tasmania Heaton developed the study of economics and encouraged research into Australian economic history. His controversial comments on the war provoked the censure of the more conservative elements of the Tasmanian press and public. In 1917 he moved to the University of Adelaide where he expanded the economics discipline and developed the diploma of commerce. Once again his liberal opinions aroused the ire of the conservative business class. Heaton argued that capitalism was the root of all the evils of individual and corporate life. He subscribed to the Marxist belief that capitalism would eventually give way to socialism. Consequently, the university refused to establish a degree in economics while Heaton led the discipline. As a means of preserving his academic career, he accepted a chair of economic and political science at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1925. He stayed in Canada for two years before moving to the University of Minnesota, where he remained until he retired in 1958.

In 1936, Heaton compiled his research on Europe and published the Economic History of Europe, which was for a long time the standard text on the subject. Heaton said that he wrote the book especially for students with no background in economic history. He summed up economic history as the story of how man has worked to satisfy his material wants, in an environment provided by nature, but capable of improvement, in an organization made up of his relations with his fellows, and in a political unit whose head enjoys far-reaching power to aid, control, and appropriate. Such lofty views of the discipline were what made Heaton such a dedicated and valuable member of the Economic History Association.

Herbert Heaton died on January 24, 1973 in Minneapolis, survived by his three Australian-born children and his wife Marjorie Edith Ronson. He was an active scholar to the end of his life, publishing his ninth and final article in the JEH in June of 1969, nearly 28 years after his first JEH appearance.

Sources

Archives of the Economic History Association, Hagley Museum, Wilmington, DE.

Blaug, Mark, ed., Who’ s who in economics: a biographical dictionary of major economists, 1700-1986, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986, 2nd ed.

Bourke, Helen, “Heaton, Herbert (1890-1973),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 9, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp. 250-251.

Cole, Arthur H., “Economic History in the United States: Formative Years of a Discipline,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Dec., 1968), pp. 556-589.

de Rouvray, Cristel, “‘Old’ Economic History in the United States: 1939- 1954,” Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 26, No. 2 (June, 2004), pp. 221-39.

Harte, N.B., “Herbert Heaton, 1890-1973: A Biographical Note and a Bibliography [Obituary],” Textile History Vol. 5 (1974), p. 7.

Payne, Elizabeth, “Herbert Heaton,” term paper for Professor Robert Whaples, Wake Forest University, 2006.

Selected writings of Herbert Heaton

“Heckscher on Mercantilism,” The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, No. 3 (June, 1937), pp. 370-93.

“Rigidity in Business Since the Industrial Revolution,” The American Economic Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, Part 2, Supplement, Papers and Proceedings of the Fifty-second Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (Mar., 1940), pp. 306-313.

“Non-Importation, 1806-1812,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Nov., 1941), pp. 178-98.

“The Early History of the Economic History Association,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 1, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic History (Dec., 1941), pp. 107-09.

“Recent Developments in Economic History,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 47, No. 4 (July, 1942) pp. 727- 46.

“The Making of an Economic Historian,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 9, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic History (1949), pp. 1-18.

“Clio’ s New Overalls,” The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Nov., 1954), pp. 467-77.

“Twenty-Five Years of the Economic History Association: A Reflective Evaluation,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), pp. 465-79.

Modern economic history, with special reference to Australia, Melbourne: Macmillan & Co., 1925.

A history of trade and commerce, with special reference to Canada, Toronto: T. Nelson & Sons, 1928.

The British Way to Recovery: Plans and Policies in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1934.

Economic History of Europe, New York: Harper, 1948.

A Scholar in Action, Edwin F. Gay, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952.

 

Source: Past Presidents of the EHA: Herbert Heaton, The Newsletter of the Economic History Association (ed. Michael Haupert), No. 31 (December 2007), pp. 16-18.

Image Source: Newsletter of the Economic History Association, No. 31 (December 2007), p. 16.

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Economic History Funny Business Minnesota

Minnesota. What are economic historians made of? Heaton, 1949

 

My serious blog work has regrettably kept me lately from adding more to the series of “Funny Business” posts in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. So as a late St. Nicholas present for 2020, I give you today’s post “What are economic historians made of?” composed by the University of Minnesota economic historian, Herbert Heaton.

Chapters from Heaton’s textbook Economic History of Europe (Revised, 1948) were assigned in the first economic history course I ever took; Harry Miskimin at Yale (Fall Semester, 1971) taught that class.

Heaton began his Presidential address before the Economic History Association with the following “foul doggerel” based on the children’s rhyme about “Snips and snails / And puppy dogs’ tails” (boys) and “Sugar and spice / And everything nice” (girls) and published in The Journal of Economic History, vol. 9, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic History (1949), pp. 1-18.

Heaton was the chair of the University of Minnesota’s history department from 1954 until 1958 when he retired. His short obituary in the New York Times (Jan. 26, 1973) also noted that Heaton was a visiting professor at Princeton in 1939-1940.

Of further interest

Heaton, Herbert. Edwin Gay, A Scholar in Action (1952).

Herbert Heaton papers at the University of Minnesota.

Biographical leads

Bourke, Helen. Heaton, Herbert (1890-1973). Australian Dictionary of Biography.

King, Jack. Herbert Heaton: A Scholar ‘Exiled’. History of Economics Review, Winter 2006

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What are economic historians made of?

Open fields and lord’s domains,
Venice loses, Antwerp gains.
Gold and silver that were Spain’s,
Factories, slums, and smelly drains.
Oople1 profits, workers’ chains,
Secular trends, depression pains.
Westward movements cross the plains,
Marx, Max Weber, Sombart, Keynes,
That’s what economic historians are made of.

1That is the English pronunciation of “entrepreneurial.”

_____________________

Biographical Snapshot from 1931
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

HERBERT HEATON

Fellow: Awarded 1931
Field of Study: Economic History
Competition: US & Canada
Born: 06-06-1890
Died: 01-24-1973

As published in the Foundation’s Report for 1931–32:

HEATON, HERBERT:  Appointed to complete collection of material in Yorkshire and London for a volume on the Industrial Revolution in the Yorkshire woolen and worsted industries; tenure, twelve months from August 1, 1931.

Born June 6, 1890, in England. Education: University of Leeds, B.A., 1911, M.A., 1912, D.Litt., 1921; University of Birmingham, M. Com., 1914.

Assistant Lecturer in Economics, 1912–14, University of Birmingham; Lecturer in History and Economics, 1914-16, University of Tasmania; Lecturer in Economics, 1917-25, University of Adelaide; Head of Department of Economic and Political Science, 1925-27, Queen’s University, Canada; Professor of Economic History, 1927—, University of Minnesota.

Publications:  History of the Yorkshire Woolen and Worsted Industries from the Earliest Times to the Industrial Revolution, 1920;  Modern Economic History, with Special Reference to Australia, 1921. Articles in Thoresby Society Transactions, Economic Journal, Journal of Economic and Business History, Economic History Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Australian Economic Record, American Economic Review, Dalhousie Review, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, Journal of Canadian Bankers Association, Queen’s Quarterly, Minnesota History, Virginia Quarterly Review. Contributor to Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences.

Source (also source of the image): John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Fellows page for Herbert Heaton.

 

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Chicago Economic History Economists Harvard Nebraska Northwestern

Chicago. Economics Ph.D. alumnus. Ernest H. Hahne, 1930

I have mentioned this before, the papers of the economic historian Earl Hamilton are a grab-bag of essentially unsorted material. Sometimes you find a rough gem to include in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. For this post below we have a brief description of Harvard economic history professor Edwin Francis Gay’s seminar. To complete the post I have uncovered a few career facts about the author of the letter to Earl Hamilton that congratulates him for his memorial article about Gay.

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Ernest Herman Hahne
(b. Oct. 20, 1890; d. November 25, 1952)

1911. University of Nebraska, B.A.

1913. University of Nebraska, LL.B.

1914. Harvard University, A.M.

1916. Doctoral Dissertation in preparation. AER 1916, p. 503: The History of the meat packing industry in the United States.

1930. University of Chicago, Economics Ph.D. “Special Assessment Theory and Practise with Special Reference to Chicago.”

Listed among graduate students of political economy in the 25th year report of the University of Chicago department of political economy:

Academic career:

Taught sociology at the University of Chicago.

Taught economics and sociology at Dakota Wesleyan University (Mitchell, South Dakota)

Professor of economics, Northwestern (1919-1946)

Assistant dean of liberal arts college and director of the summer session at Northwestern.

President of Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)  April 1, 1946- November 25, 1952)

Chairman of the board of the Cincinnati branch of the Cleveland Federal Reserve

______________________

Miami University
Oxford, Ohio

Office of the President

December 22, 1947

Professor Earl J. Hamilton
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago 37, Illinois

Dear Earl:

Thanks for the complimentary copy of the memorial you have written on Edwin Francis Gay in the June issue of the American Economic Review. As I read it, it brought back many a fond memory. I don’t know whether I ever told you that I started writing my doctor’s thesis, the history of the parking industry, and Gay recommended that I go to University of Chicago and carry on additional work and get first-hand information there. Therefore I went to Chicago in 1915, eventually to wind up as an assistant in sociology under E. W. Small and Scott E. W. Bedford. I not only took Gay’s courses in economic history but followed them with his course on French and German economists. Most of us were taking the work not only to brush up on continental theory but also to master the languages preparatory to the general exams. We met in Gay’s home. The course was supposed to last about two hours. I doubt if it ever broke up in less than three and a half to four hours. It was a small group that sat at the feet of Gamaliel but it included Rice of Dartmouth, Stehman of Minnesota, Van Sickle of Wabash, and two graduate students who went into business.

I remember writing a term paper for Gay in French history on the origin of the British labor exchanges. I never worked so hard on a paper in my life, but when it came back with the word “Excellent” sighed E.F.G. I felt well repaid. In fact I still have that paper in my library. I prize it highly. All this is simply to say that your admiration of one of Harvard’s greatest teachers does not exceed mine.

Your memorial is splendidly done.

With the Season’s greetings and best wishes from the Hahnes to the Hamiltons,

Cordially yours,
[signed]
Ernest

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Earl J. Hamilton Papers, Box 2, Folder “Correspondence — misc. 1919, Aug. 26; 1920s-1970s and n.d.”

Image Source: Yearbook of Miami University, Recensio 1946, p. 13.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economic History of Europe and America, final exam. Dunbar, 1884

 

1883-84 brought a significant expansion in economics course offerings at Harvard. Cf. Report published in the Harvard Crimson and the report published in the New York Evening Post.

    1. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. – Lectures on Banking and the Financial Legislation of the United States. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Prof. Dunbar and Asst. Prof. Laughlin.
    1. History of Economic Theory and a Critical Examination of Leading Writers. – Lectures. Mon., Wed. at 2 and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri. at 2. Prof. Dunbar.
    1. Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. – Theses, Tu., Th., at 3, and a third hour to be appointed by the instructor. Assistant Professor Laughlin.
    1. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. – Lectures. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Professor Dunbar.
      Course 4 requires no previous study of Political Economy.
    1. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France and Germany. – Theses. Once a week, counting as a half course. Asst. Professor Laughlin.
    1. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. – Once a week, counting as a half course. Mr. Taussig.
    1. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany and the United States. – Tu., at 2, counting as a half course. Professor Dunbar.

Note-to-self: still need to find the mid-year exam for this course.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Political Economy] 4. Prof. Dunbar. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War.— Lectures.

Total 40: 17 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1883-84, p. 72.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, June 1884]

I.

  1. The plan on which the Zollverein was established and the reasons for its beneficial effects.
  2. Devices by which Napoleon III. stimulated the material development of France.
  3. How far the adoption of Free Trade by England would have been affected, had the refusal of other countries to follow her example been foreseen.
  4. Reasons for the grants of land to railway companies in this country, as illustrated by the cases of the Illinois Central and the Union Pacific.
  5. Effects of the Suez Canal.
    Either of the following may be substituted for 1, 4, and 5.

    1. Reasons for the rise and decline of American Navigation, 1840-84.
    2. Sketch of the history and effects of the Zollverein.

II.

  1. The absorption of silver by India and reasons for its recent irregularity.
  2. The causes which prevented the disastrous fall of gold predicted by some writers after 1850.
  3. The heavy demands for gold 1871-83 and their failure to produce financial disturbance.
  4. The circumstances which enabled the United States to accumulate gold with special case after the passage of the Resumption Act.
    The following may be substituted for 8 and 9.

    1. Connection between the revulsion of 1873 and the resumption of specie payments by the United States.

III.

  1. What form of wealth France paid out in settlement of the Indemnity of 1871, and what Germany actually received.
  2. The connection between the Indemnity and the revulsion of 1873.
  3. The concentration of bank reserves in New York and its effect in the fall of 1873.
    The following may be substituted for 10 and 11.

    1. Method by which France effected the payment of the Indemnity to Germany.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2, Bound volume “Examination Papers, 1883-86”. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1884), pp. 10-11.

Image Source: Charles F. Dunbar in E. H. Jackson and R. W. Hunter (eds.), Portraits of the Harvard Faculty (Boston, 1892).

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Economic History Exam Questions Fields Harvard

Harvard. History, Government, and Economics Division Exams, 1919

 

 

While during the fall of 1918 both Harvard and M.I.T. found themselves caught in the influenza epidemic, it is interesting to note that not a single question in the undergraduate divisional examinations for History, Government, and Economics was dedicated to that significant current event.

This post adds to the slowly growing Harvard divisional exams collection here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Previous Division A.B. Exams from Harvard

Division Exams 1916

Division Exams, January 1917

Division Exams, April 1918

Division Exams 1931

Special Exam for Money and Government Finance, 1939

Special Exam Economic History Since 1750, 1939

Special Exam for Economic Theory, 1939

Special Exam for Labor and Social Reform, 1939

_______________________

DIVISION EXAMINATION

Beginning with the Class of 1917, students concentrating in the Division of History, Government, and Economics will, at the close of their college course and as a prerequisite to the degree of A.B. and S.B., be required to pass an examination upon the field of their concentration. This examination ·will cover the general attainments of each candidate in the field covered by this Division and also his attainments in a specific field of study. The examination will consist of three parts:—

(a) A general examination, designed to ascertain the comprehensive attainment of the candidate in the subjects of this Division. The paper will be the same for all students, but there will be a large number of alternative questions to allow for differences in preparation.

(b) A special examination, which will test the student’s grasp of his chosen specific field (see list of fields below). The candidate will be expected to show a thorough understanding of the subject of this field; knowledge of the content of courses only will not suffice. The examination will be upon a subject, not upon a group of courses.

(c) An oral examination, supplementary to either or both of the written examinations, but ordinarily bearing primarily upon the candidate’s specific field. The specific field should ordinarily be chosen from the following list, which indicates also the courses bearing most directly upon each field. In special cases other fields or combinations of fields may be accepted by the Division. This field should be selected by the end of the Sophomore year.

Specific field of concentration:

History

  1. Ancient History
  2. Mediaeval History
  3. Modern History to 1789
  4. Modern History since 1789
  5. American History
  6. History of England
  7. History of France
  8. History of Germany
  9. History of Eastern Europe
  10. History of Spain and Latin America
  11. Economic History
  12. Constitutional and Legal History
  13. History of Religions

Government

  1. Modern Government—American
  2. Modern Government—European
  3. Municipal Government
  4. Political Theory
  5. Constitutional Law
  6. International Law and Diplomacy

Economics

  1. Economic Theory and its Application
  2. Economic History
  3. Economics and Sociology

Applied Economics

  1. Money and Banking
  2. Corporate Organization, including Railroads
  3. Public Finance
  4. Labor Problems
  5. Economics of Agriculture

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1917-18. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XIV, No. 25 (May 18, 1917), pp. 78-81.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION GENERAL EXAMINATION
[May 9, 1919]

PART I

The treatment of one of the following questions will be regarded as equivalent to one-third of the examination and should therefore occupy one hour. Write on one question only.

  1. Compare the methods of guaranteeing private rights against the government in England, France, and the United States.
  2. How far is it true that agriculture is the most stable source of a country’s material prosperity?
  3. Show the effect of changes in the systems of land holding upon political life.
  4. What should be the foreign policies of a socialist state?
  5. Contrast Roman and English systems of legislation.
  6. Were American colonial institutions indigenous or exotic?
  7. Compare the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson with those of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson.
  8. To what extent do events since 1800 bear out the following proposition:
    “As the Creator is a being, not only of infinite power and wisdom but also of infinite goodness, he has been pleased so to contrive the constitution and frame of humanity that we should want no other prompter to enquire after…but only our self-love, that universal principle of action. For He has…inseparably interwoven the laws of external justice with the happiness of each individual.”
  9. Comment on the following quotation from de Tocqueville:
    “America is the country of the whole world where the Christian religion has conserved the most real power over the souls of men.”
  10. What are the arguments for and against a general agreement that “all states shall grant equal treatment to all aliens within their borders.”

Part II

Answers to questions 11 and 12 are required and will be regarded as equivalent to one-third of the examination, and should therefore occupy one-half hour each.

  1. Estimate the situation on August 4, 1914; on May 7, 1915; on April 6, 1917, and on November 11, 1918 with reference to:
    (1) Political power.
    (2) Military power.
    (3) Economic conditions.
    (4) National ideals.
  2. Give an outline and critical report upon some one standard work (not the course textbook) the whole of which you have studied as collateral reading with reference to this General Examination.

Part III

Three questions only from the following groups, A, B, and C are to be answered, of which two must be from one group and the third from either of the remaining groups.

A

  1. Give a brief account of the career of Alexander the Great. Why has it been so attractive to modern German scholars?
  2. Describe the relations of Innocent III to the sovereigns of his time.
  3. In his recent debate with President Lowell, Senator Lodge said, “I believe there are some thirty (leagues of nations) in the pages of history.” Mention, with approximate dates, as many of these thirty as you can, and give a full account of one of them.
  4. Discuss the rivalry of Russia and Austria in the Balkan peninsula since 1815.
  5. Wherein lies Lincoln’s right to a place in world history?

B

  1. What factors were most important in the earlier development of the modern city?
  2. What have been the interrelations of international balances of trade and national foreign policies?
  3. To what extent and for what reasons are monetary inflation and the financing of war inseparably connected?
  4. Trace the evolution of one of the following:
    (a) The eight-hour working day.
    (b) Syndicalism.
    (c) Vocational education.
    (d) Protectionism on the continent of Europe.
  5. To what extent and under what conditions does national well-being rest upon political control of essential raw materials?

C

  1. Does history show that law stifles originality and individuality? Use illustrations freely.
  2. Explain the ideas or movements, giving approximate dates, with which five of the following were associated:
    1. Fremont,
    2. Garibaldi,
    3. Kotzebue,
    4. Metternich,
    5. Moltke,
    6. Parnell,
    7. Raphael,
    8. Renan,
    9. Sully,
    10. Thiers.
  3. Distinguish the following terms: (a) federation, (b) confederation, (c) alliance, (d) league of nations, (e) federal state, (f) international union, (g) society of nations, (h) world state.
  4. Discuss the historical, political, and economic aspects of “freedom of the seas.”
  5. “Neighboring nations are naturally enemies to each other unless their common weakness forces them to league in a confederative republic.” Can this be supported by the history of the eighteenth century?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

MODERN HISTORY SINCE 1789
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions in all, taking at least one from each of the three sections into which the paper is divided.

I

  1. The years 1796-97 have been characterized as the most critical in the history of the British navy. What was the nature of the crisis? Account for the subsequent naval successes.
  2. Compare the attitudes of England and of the United States towards the movement for the independence of Latin America.
  3. Give a brief history of the Papacy from 1848 to 1870, with special reference to political affairs.
  4. Account for the revival of the Austrian Empire after the shocks it received in 1848-49.
  5. Give a brief account of the relations of China and Japan from 1890 to 1910.

II

  1. What are the origins and principal features of the present constitution of the French Republic?
  2. Outline the principal changes that have taken place in England’s outlying possessions since 1815 and in her relations to them.
  3. Give a brief account of the international questions which have arisen in connection with Venezuela in the past twenty-five years.
  4. What have been the principal issues between Madrid and the northeastern part of Spain during the past one hundred years?
  5. What do you understand by nationalism? Is it true that the proposed league of nations will safeguard it?

III

  1. Give a brief history of the Church in France from 1789 to 1815.
  2. What measures have been taken in England during the past one hundred years for the amelioration of the conditions of the working classes?
  3. What is Bolshevism? What is its probably future? Does the past history of Russia account for its presence there today?
  4. What are the principal natural resources of Latin America, and where are they located? In what natural resources is Latin America preeminently lacking?
  5. Do you think that clauses relative to labor and labor conditions ought to have a place in the peace treaty at present under discussion at Paris? Give your reasons for your answer.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

AMERICAN HISTORY
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions in all, taking at least one from each of the three sections into which the paper is divided.

I

  1. How were the English Colonies in North America affected by the course of events in Europe between 1650 and 1670?
  2. Compare the methods by which the United States acquired Texas with those by which she acquired Oregon.
  3. Describe the various projects for the annexation of Cuba by the United States, and give the reasons for their failure.
  4. Give a brief account of the military operations of 1864. What do you consider to be the turning point of that campaign?
  5. What are the principal international questions which have arisen in connection with Venezuela in the past twenty-five years?

II

  1. Compare the political organization of colonial Virginia with that of colonial New England, and explain the reasons for the differences.
  2. Is the Union older than the States?
  3. What were the effects of the administration and character of Andrew Jackson on the national government?
  4. Criticize the policy by which Reconstruction was carried out.
  5. Comment on, discuss or explain, as the case may require, eight of the following: Tordesillas Line, Mason and Dixon’s line, Greenback, Fundamental Constitutions, Barnburners, Drago Doctrine, Forty acres and a mule, Kitchen Cabinet, Bear Flag, Writs of Assistance.

III

  1. Give a short account of the Society of Jesus in the New World.
  2. “The development of transportation in the years following the treaty of Ghent is the most significant factor in American life between the inauguration of Washington and the firing on Fort Sumter.” Is this statement true? Explain at length.
  3. What arguments for the continuance of slavery could have been advanced by a conscientious slave holder in 1860?
  4. Describe the origin of Mormonism, and the importance of the Mormons in the western movement of population.
  5. Mention, with approximate dates, the names and principal works of four American poets, of three American painters, of three American inventors, of four American historians.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

ECONOMIC HISTORY
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Trace the course of the rate of interest in modern times. What probably will be the course of the rate during the next few years? Why?
  2. Give a brief history of the trade balance of the United States since 1850. Account for the changes noted.
  3. What factors have contributed most to changes in the distribution of wealth in the United States since 1870?
  4. What contribution has statistical method to make to historical research? Offer illustrative suggestions.

B

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Outline the history of the merchant marine of the United States.
  2. What was the Chartist movement? To what extent were its fundamental causes economic? To what degree was it associated with the trade union movement? the movement for the repeal of the Corn Laws?
  3. What part was played by the Zollverein, in the different stages of its development, in the struggle for the balance of power in the Germanic Confederation?
  4. Compare the economic life and organization of colonial Virginia with that of the New England colonies, and account for the differences.
  5. Trace the history of the public debt of the United States.
  6. What have been the most important developments in American agriculture since 1850?
  7. Sketch the development of the railway net of the United States.

C

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss critically the “free silver” agitation of the nineties.
  2. In what particulars and for what reasons has labor legislation been backward in the United States?
  3. Describe the traditional German policy toward industrial combination. Analyze the more important consequences of the policy.
  4. In what respects is the present railway situation in the United States like, in what respects unlike, that prevailing before the War?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions. Take at least one question from each group.

A

  1. Discuss the distinction between “fair” and “unfair” competition.
  2. Analyze the probable economic after-effects of the War.
  3. What is the social justification of speculation?
  4. Discuss the following statement: “Products that are made for wages less than living and by hours longer than health endurance are anti-social and immoral products and express a ruinous social cost, no matter what the selling price may be. Such products are the result of parasitic industry and are filled with social poison. All industry of this nature is a leech upon the economic and race life and should be outlawed as we outlaw adulterations and fought as we fight pestilence.”

B

  1. Give a critical account of marriage and divorce statistics in the United States.
  2. Compare birth registration in the United States and Great Britain.
  3. What are the principal difficulties in the collection and subsequent use of statistics of crime?
  4. Discuss critically the decline of the birth rate during recent times.

C

  1. What is social progress? Indicate the importance of racial factors in social progress.
  2. Discuss “freedom of speech” as the right of every individual in a democratic society.
  3. Contrast the different bases of morality.
  4. Discuss the origin and effect of “fashion” on social and economic life.
  5. In a few words indicate the most important contributions to sociology by three of the following: (a) Comte, (b) Darwin, (c) Spencer, (d) Galton, (e) Kidd, (f) Ward, (g) Tarde, (h) Giddings.
  6. What are the most serious evils of modern social life? Why are these “most serious”?

D

  1. What are the principal causes of interruptions of family income? How are such interruptions to be prevented, or their evil consequences reduced to a minimum?
  2. What are the essentials of a satisfactory system of poor relief?
  3. What are the principal problems of rural community life in the United States?
  4. What is Bolshevism? What is its probable future?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

LABOR PROBLEMS
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. What are “fair wages”? Consider the question with reference to (a) the effects of unrestricted competition; (b) the influence of collective bargaining; (c) the problems of compulsory arbitration; (d) the ideals of socialism.
  2. Discuss the following analogy: “Like machinery, the immigrants have relieved native laborers of heavy and disagreeable toil and have elevated them to an aristocracy of labor.”
  3. What are the principal difficulties in the statistical analysis of the course of real wages?
  4. What are the chief sources of industrial accident statistics in the United States?

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Contrast the development of social insurance in England, Germany, and the United States before the War. How do you account for the differences?
  2. Sketch the history of one of the following: (a) Knights of Labor; (b) American Federation of Labor; (c) British Labor Party; (d) German Social Democrats.
  3. Give an account of one of the following strikes: (a) Homestead; (b) Pullman; (c) Patterson; (d) Lawrence (1912); (e) French railway employees (1910); (f) British coal miners (1912).
  4. Compare the positions and policies of labor in the United States, England, and France during the War

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Describe and criticize the organization and work of the United States Department of Labor.
  2. What are the present relations between the labor and socialist movements?
  3. Analyze critically the results of compulsory arbitration in Australia.
  4. What are the functions of the employment manager?
  5. Classify and characterize the different types of labor union.
  6. Discuss the nature and uses of sabotage.
  7. Discuss critically the present attempt to internationalize labor policies.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

PUBLIC FINANCE
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss “conscription of income” as a measure of war finance.
  2. What is the case for and against a tax on capital in England at the present time?
  3. To what extent and by what methods are statistics regarding the distribution of income and wealth in the United States to be derived from the present Federal income tax returns?
  4. Describe critically the form of budget employed by some important city, American or foreign.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Trace the evolution of the taxation of land in England.
  2. What has been the history of the fee system of compensating public officials?
  3. Give a brief history of the state income tax in the United States.
  4. Compare British war finance during the past five years with the policies of the Napoleonic period.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. What is meant by “classification of property for purposes of taxation”? What are the reasons for such classification? What obstacles have stood in its way in American states?
  2. What have been the effects of the Congressional committee system upon national finance in the United States?
  3. State the case for and against the increment tax. What is the best mode of levying increment taxes?
  4. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the protective customs duty and the bounty as a means of encouraging home industry.
  5. Discuss the chief problems of inheritance taxation.
  6. What is the science of public finance? What is its relation to (a) economic theory? (b) political science? (c) administrative law?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

CORPORATE ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING RAILROADS
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss the following statement: “When you find a business in staples attaining size, you may be sure that in some broad economic way it makes for increased efficiency and gives a very fundamental service to consumers. In no other way could it continue to exist.”
  2. What theoretical problems are involved in government regulation of corporate security issues?
  3. Enumerate and explain the more important statistical units employed in analyses of railroad operations.
  4. What is the present practice of American railroads in regard to depreciation of equipment under the Interstate Commerce Commission regulations?

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Give an account of the organization and subsequent career of one of the large American industrial combinations.
  2. Compare the history of water transportation in the United States, England, and Germany.
  3. Trace the evolution of English policy toward industrial combination.
  4. Outline the history of the railroads of France.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Discuss critically the financial results of government operation of the railroads in the United States since January 1, 1918.
  2. In what particulars, if at all, should the Sherman Anti-Trust Law be amended?
  3. Describe and criticize the Federal Income Tax insofar as it applies to corporations.
  4. Discuss the organization and work of the Federal Trade Commission.
  5. Should concerns doing an interstate business be compelled to incorporate under the Federal government? Why, or why not?
  6. Upon what different bases may railway systems be appraised? In what ways, if at all, is railway valuation related to railway rate regulation?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

MONEY AND BANKING
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Of what concretely do uninvested, of what do invested, savings consist? Can they accumulate to an indefinitely large amount? Can saving be carried to excess?
  2. Indicate the means by which the amount of monetary inflation is to be measured.
  3. Describe the principal books of a large city commercial bank.
  4. Draft an income or profit and loss statement suitable for a commercial bank.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Trace the evolution of modern coinage practices.
  2. What kinds of money circulated in the United States in 1800? 1840? 1860? 1870? 1880? 1895? Explain any changes noted.
  3. Outline the history of the Bank of France.
  4. Give a brief account of the office of Comptroller of the Currency.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. “The pivotal thing in sound banking is the character of the bank’s assets.” Is this statement correct? What kind of assets, if any, are of particular importance?
  2. Describe critically the use of gold during the War.
  3. Explain briefly the functions of the following officers and departments in a large bank: (a) note teller; (b) collection department; (c) credit department; (d) cashier; (e) loan department.
  4. Wherein, if at all, might the monetary system of the United States be substantially improved?
  5. Discuss the banking problems involved in the flotation of an immense government war loan.
  6. What is to be said for and against the separation of commercial and investment banking? How extensively are the two combined today in (a) the United States, (b) England, (c) France?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

POLITICAL THEORY
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. “In every body politic there is a maximum strength which it cannot exceed and which it only loses by increasing in size. Every extension of the social tie means its relaxation; and generally speaking, a small state is stronger in proportion that a great one.” Has this opinion been accepted by any political philosophers? Does history support it?
  2. How has political theory been influenced at different periods by the prevailing economic doctrines?
  3. Who were the authors of the following: (a) Oceana, (b) The Prince, (c) A Fragment on Government, (d) Democracy in America, (e) The Republic, (f) The Wealth of Nations. In what order should these be recommended to a student of government? Justify this order.
  4. Name and give with brief criticism the ideas of the leading political theorist of (1) France, (2) Germany, (3) America.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss “He who serves the state should rank above all others.”
  2. Could Plato’s ideas of a republic be applied in the twentieth century?
  3. State in outline your own theory of the state and show how this would apply to the United States.
  4. How far has the war of 1914-19 a justification in political theory?

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. “Law is regarded as a truth to be discovered not as a command to be imposed.” Discuss critically giving conclusions with reasons.
  2. Contrast the political ideas of (1) Hobbes, (2) Rousseau, (3) Kant.
  3. Has progress in Europe been more rapid since than before the thirteenth century.” What is progress?
  4. “Who is wise and prudent, cannot or ought not to keep his parole, when the keeping of it is to his prejudice and the causes for which he promised removed.” Discuss the theory based on and give the source of this quotation.
  5. Give a brief outline of two of the following and name the authors: (a) City of the Sun, (b) The Federalist, (c) On Liberty, (d) Philosophical Theory of the State, (e) Principles of Political Obligation, (f) Patriarcha, (g) Two Treatises of Government, (h) Politics.
  6. What has been the relation of Common Law to national development?
  7. Compare the following methods of study of political theories: (a) Metaphysical, (b) Analytical, (c) Historical, (d) Comparative.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions.

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss the significance of joint cost in the calculation of the cost of production of agricultural staples.
  2. To what extent have American farming methods been characteristically wasteful?
  3. Describe a model system of accounts for a large dairy farm.
  4. Give an account of the organization and work of the International Institute of Agriculture.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Describe the part played by the American farmer in the (a) Granger movement; (b) Populist Party; (c) Free Silver campaign of 1896; (d) Non-Partisan League.
  2. Outline the history of wheat-growing on the North American continent.
  3. Describe in detail the methods of agriculture in England during the Middle Ages.
  4. Trace the development of the manufacture of farm implements.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Analyze the problem of farm labor.
  2. Discuss critically the work of the United States Food Administration during the War.
  3. Describe the present organization of the meat-packing industry in the United States.
  4. To what extent and in what particulars is agricultural credit different from mercantile credit?
  5. What are the opportunities for cooperation in agriculture?
  6. Discuss the principal problems of rural community life in the United States.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

STATISTICS
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions. Take at least one question from each group.

A

  1. What is meant by “statistical method”? What is the scientific importance of the method? What are its limitations?
  2. What is the logical distinction, if there be any, between a weighted and a simple arithmetic mean? What are the reasons for and against weighting? Under what circumstances may weighing safely be omitted?
  3. Discuss the standard deviation of a series with reference to (a) its meaning; (b) its computation; (c) its merits and defects as compared with other measures of dispersion; (d) its use in graphic analysis and presentation.
  4. Criticise the following statement: In the case of historical variables, “no coefficient equals the graphic method for demonstrating whether correlation does or does not exist.”
  5. Describe the methods of obtaining an approximation to the value of r without actually computing the coefficient.

B

  1. What are the more important steps in preparing for the actual field count of a population census?
  2. Describe the successive steps of machine tabulation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such tabulation?
  3. Explain the nature of, and indicate the best form for, each of the following varieties of statistical table:
    (a) historical,
    (b) cumulative frequency,
    (c) contingency,
    (d) correlation.
  4. Draft a set of rules for the graphic presentation of historical series.
  5. In a few words indicate the contributions to statistics of three of the following: (a) Petty; (b) Achenwall; (c) Süssmilch; (d) Quételet; (e) Pearson; (f) F. A. Walker; (g) A. Bertillon; (h) Levasseur; (i) Edgeworth.

C

  1. Trace the development of the United States Census.
  2. Compare the present status of birth registration in the United States and Great Britain.
  3. Discuss the different statistical devices now in use for the forecasting of general business conditions.
  4. Enumerate and criticize the chief sources of wage statistics in the United States.
  5. Give a brief account of the organization and work of the International Institute of Agriculture.

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions. Answer at least one question in each group.

A

  1. Compare the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
  2. Give brief sketches of five of the following: (a) T. H. Benton, (b) Louis Cass, (c) Cyrus Field, (d) John Jay, (e) William L. Marcy, (f) S. F. B. Morse, (g) Richard Rush, (h) M. P. Trist, (i) William Walker, (j) Eli Whitney.
  3. Discuss the following statement attributed to President Jackson: “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Show the application of this quotation.
  4. Explain four of the following: (a) “Era of good feeling,” (b) “The Battle of the Maps,” (c) “The Great Expounder of the Constitution,” (d) “Fifty-four, forty or fight,” (e) “Millions for defence but not one cent for tribute,” (f) “They ask of me a town, I give them an empire.”
  5. “The Northern Hive would excite the same ideals and sensations in more southern parts of America which it formerly did in the more southern parts of Europe. Nor does it appear to be a rash conjecture that its young swarms might often be tempted to gather honey in the more blooming fields and milder air of their luxurious and more delicate neighbors.” (From the Federalist discussing a proposal that the American colonies divide themselves into three or four nations.) To what events in European history does the above quotation allude? Is the conjecture sound? Why?
  6. What constitutional questions have arisen in the United States in regard to the acquisition of territory and how have these been decided?

B

  1. Give the reasons for and against the appointment of the following to negotiate a treaty: (a) the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, (b) the Commanding General of the Army, (c) the Secretary of the Navy, (d) the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, (e) the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  2. Discuss “Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.”
  3. What extraordinary powers may be exercised by the President and by Congress in time of war?
  4. What lines should be drawn in limiting the powers of municipalities?
  5. “The Fourteenth Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Social Statics.” Explain.
  6. Name five important acts of Congress for the regulation of business. To what extent have these attained their object?

C

  1. What readjustment of governmental functions should be made in the United States?
  2. Have recent state constitutions containing detailed provisions proven more satisfactory than the older constitutions?
  3. “A war declared by Congress can never be presumed to be waged for the purpose of conquest or the acquisition of territory, nor does the law declaring the war imply an authority in the President to enlarge the limits of the United States by subjugating the enemy country.” Discuss with reference to international law and the constitutional law of the United States.
  4. What are the defects in the method of taxation in the United States, and what are the proposed remedies?
  5. Would it be advantageous for the United States to substitute for the system of geographical representation, a greater degree of class representation?
  6. What conclusions can be drawn from the recent experience of the United States in operating public utilities?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

INTERNATIONAL LAW
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions, of which at least three must be from Group B, and one from each of the other Groups.

A

  1. What did three of the following contribute to the development of International Law: (a) Bentham, (b) Bluntschli, (c) Hobbes, (d) Machiaevelli, (e) Pufendorf, (f) Suarez, (g) Wolff?
  2. Compare the Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes with the League of nations Covenant.
  3. Compare the state of international law at the following periods: 100, 800, 1414, 1914.
  4. Does the rule of Jus Sanguinis or Jus Soli most widely prevail? Which doctrine should prevail? Why?
  5. “Sea Power is essentially a defensive weapon.”
    “To be master of the sea is an epitome of monarchy.”
    Are these statements accurate? Are they compatible?

B

  1. A, the United States sheriff is pursuing X, a horse-thief, near the Mexican border. Just before X reaches the border Mr. A lassos him, but X has sufficient impetus to get across the border. There he falls down and Mr. A drags him back. Mexico demands the return of X.
  2. After neutral state X has issued regulations forbidding all foreign submarines in its ports, a submarine of the navy of neutral state Y enters in stress of weather. A cruiser of X opens fire and the submarine is damaged. State Y demands reparation and a salute of her flag.
  3. A, B, and C living in states X, Y, and Z respectively are in partnership, the business of the firm being the shipping of raw products from X and Y to Z where they are manufactured. War breaks out between X and Y. A cruiser of X captures a vessel flying the flag of X loaded with cotton shipped by the firm to Mr. C. They are placed before the prize court.
  4. Is it ever justifiable under international law to employ armed forces on the territory of a friendly state? If so, under what circumstances?
  5. States X and Y being at war, an armed merchant vessel of X enters a port of neutral state N and takes on a cargo of guns and ammunition. It captures a merchant vessel of Y on the high seas and brings it in to port where it is condemned. State Y demands the value of the vessel from state N.
  6. What exemptions from territorial jurisdiction and exceptions to the theory of territorial jurisdiction are recognized by international law?

C

  1. Explain (a) sovereignty, (b) independence, and (c) equality of states. Should these conceptions be maintained?
  2. “The theory that the treaty (guaranteeing the rights of sovereignty and property of Colombia in the Isthmus of Panama) obliged the government of the United States to protect the government of Colombia against domestic insurrection or its consequences, is in its nature inadmissible.” Is this good law?
  3. In what respects does the right of the United States over the Panama Canal Zone differ from its right over Porto-Rico?
  4. To what extent are the following doctrines recognized in international law: (a) most favored nation treatment, (b) the open door, (c) the Monroe Doctrine, (d) intervention, (e) freedom of immigration.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
[May 15, 1919]

Answer six questions of which three questions must be from one group, two must be from another group and one must be from the remaining group.

A

  1. Explain the rules governing the legal liability of a municipal corporation for the torts of its employees.
  2. Give reason why the city manager plan is suitable or is not suitable for cities with over 200,000 population.
  3. What are the essentials of a satisfactory street railway franchise?
  4. What are the relative merits of the sinking-fund and serial bond methods of municipal borrowing?
  5. Describe the framework of government in any one of the following cities: (1) Des Moines, (2) Dayton, (3) San Francisco, (4) Washington, (5) Philadelphia.
  6. Granting a condition similar to that of a former industrial city in a devastated war area in Europe, what methods of reconstruction should be adopted?

B

  1. Give a sketch of municipal government in the United States before 1850.
  2. Explain the system of administration of municipal corporations in Colonial America.
  3. Give an idea of conditions in English municipalities before 1835. What is the source of information for this period?
  4. When New York had a population of 60,000 the city expenditure was about $100,000. When Ann Arbor had a population of 15,000 the city expenditure was about $150,000. Why?
  5. Explain three methods of election of municipal officials and show why one is best.
  6. Under what conditions was the present system of city administration in France established? What are its merits?

C

  1. Should American cities adopt a segregated budget system, and what should be its main divisions?
  2. Can civil service principles be applied in all city departments, and with what advantages and disadvantages?
  3. Should the city of Boston own the docks, and railroad terminals?
  4. What principles of valuation for tax purposes should be applied to land or to buildings in municipalities?
  5. How far would the Prussian system of municipal government as it existed in 1914 be suitable for American cities?
  6. (a) Should there be a limit on campaign expenses for municipal office? What should this limit be? (b) Has there been a relatively greater misuse of municipal than of other public funds? Why?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Divisional and general examinations, 1915-1975.  Box 6. Bound volume [from the private library of Arthur H. Cole]: Divisional Examinations, 1916-1927. Division of History, Government and Economics for the Degree of A.B. Division Examinations, 1918-19.

Image Source:  Sever Hall, Harvard University, ca. 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Fields Harvard Sociology

Harvard. History/Government/Economics Division A.B. Examinations, 1917-18

 

Not all possible specific examination fields were selected in 1918. In particular it is worth noting that Economic Theory and Application and Agricultural Economics were apparently not chosen for examination.

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Previous Division A.B. Exams from Harvard

Division Exams 1916

Division Exams, January 1917

Division Exams 1931

Specific Exam for Money and Government Finance, 1939

Specific Exam Economic History Since 1750, 1939

Specific Exam for Economic Theory, 1939

Specific Exam for Labor and Social Reform, 1939

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DIVISION EXAMINATION

Beginning with the Class of 1917, students concentrating in the Division of History, Government, and Economics will, at the close of their college course and as a prerequisite to the degree of A.B. and S.B., be required to pass an examination upon the field of their concentration. This examination ·will cover the general attainments of each candidate in the field covered by this Division and also his attainments in a specific field of study. The examination will consist of three parts:—

(a) A general examination, designed to ascertain the comprehensive attainment of the candidate in the subjects of this Division. The paper will be the same for all students, but there will be a large number of alternative questions to allow for differences in preparation.

(b) A special examination, which will test the student’s grasp of his chosen specific field (see list of fields below). The candidate will be expected to show a thorough understanding of the subject of this field; knowledge of the content of courses only will not suffice. The examination will be upon a subject, not upon a group of courses.

(c) An oral examination, supplementary to either or both of the written examinations, but ordinarily bearing primarily upon the candidate’s specific field. The specific field should ordinarily be chosen from the following list, which indicates also the courses bearing most directly upon each field. In special cases other fields or combinations of fields may be accepted by the Division. This field should be selected by the end of the Sophomore year.

Specific field of concentration:

History

  1. Ancient History
  2. Mediaeval History
  3. Modern History to 1789
  4. Modern History since 1789
  5. American History
  6. History of England
  7. History of France
  8. History of Germany
  9. History of Eastern Europe
  10. History of Spain and Latin America
  11. Economic History
  12. Constitutional and Legal History
  13. History of Religions

Government

  1. Modern Government—American
  2. Modern Government—European
  3. Municipal Government
  4. Political Theory
  5. Constitutional Law
  6. International Law and Diplomacy

Economics

  1. Economic Theory and its Application
  2. Economic History
  3. Economics and Sociology

Applied Economics

  1. Money and Banking
  2. Corporate Organization, including Railroads
  3. Public Finance
  4. Labor Problems
  5. Economics of Agriculture

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics, 1917-18. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XIV, No. 25 (May 18, 1917), pp. 78-81.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION GENERAL EXAMINATION
April 23, 1918

PART I

The treatment of one of the following questions will be regarded as equivalent to one-third of the examination and should therefore occupy one hour. Write on one question only.

  1. Write on three of the following: (a) Cavour, (b) Clay, (c) Cortez, (d) Diaz, (e) Fox, (f) Grotius, (g) Humboldt, (h) Marcus Aurelius, (i) Marshall, (j) Oxenstiern, (k) Turgot, (l) Wyclif.
  2. Does history show that Socialism and Democracy are compatible?
  3. What is meant by (a) “disarmament,” (b) “making the world safe for democracy,” (c) “freedom of the seas”?
  4. What were the effects of mechanical improvements upon national development between 1800 and 1850?
  5. What have been the implications and consequences of Puritanism?
  6. What have been the political and social by-products of the search for gold?
  7. Compare the nature and purposes of conservation in war and in peace.
  8. Trace the development of health service in its national and international aspects. On what grounds should it be supported?
  9. In how far may the rivalry between ancient Rome and Carthage be likened to that of Germany and England at the present day?

PART II

The treatment of one part of the following question will be regarded as equivalent to one-sixth of the examination and should therefore occupy one half-hour.

  1. (a) Mark on the map the territories which compose the British Empire today, and state very briefly in your blue book how and when they were acquired.
    or (b) Indicate clearly upon the map the location of any two of the following five groups:

    1. The chief wheat raising districts of North America in 1850, 1870, 1890, 1910.
    2. The primary sources of the world’s supply of copper, iron, wool, cotton, gold.
    3. The Federal Reserve districts and the location of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks.
    4. The extent of the railway net of the United States in 1850, 1870, and 1890; and the railroad groups as fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
    5. The places or regions with which the following are to be primarily associated: (a) the Homestead strike; (b) the Black Death; (c) the Chartist movement; (d) the Bisbee deportations; (e) the Mooney case; (f) the Populist party.

or (c) Show the progress of Democracy by indicating by consecutive numbers upon the map of the world the chronological order of its spread. Explain why the progress has been as indicated.

PART III

Four questions only from the following groups, A, B, and C, are to be answered, of which two and not more than two questions must be from one group. The remaining questions must be taken, one from each of the other groups, or both from one of the other groups.

A

  1. Trace the history of the relations of the United States to England and France during the presidencies of Washington and of John Adams.
  2. Discuss the following: “The striking and peculiar characteristic of American society is that it is not so much a democracy as a huge commercial company for the discovery, cultivation, and capitalization of its enormous territory.”
  3. Why did the Greeks defeat the Persians, and the Romans the Greeks?
  4. What issues were at stake in the struggle between the mediaeval Emperors and Popes?
  5. Give a brief account of the enfranchisement of the lower classes of the rural population in the principal countries of Western Europe.
  6. What do you understand by the phrase “The enlightened despotism of the eighteenth century”? What names do you connect with it?

B

  1. Give a brief history of the public domain of the Federal Government.
  2. Describe the tariff controversy in Germany before the War. Has the War thrown any light upon any of the arguments employed?
  3. Write a brief analysis of the economic policies of the Federalists.
  4. Discuss: “The nineteenth century was the golden age of the capitalist.”
  5. Sketch the economic and political background of two of the following: (a) the defeat in 1911 of reciprocity with Canada; (b) the creation of the Zollverein; (c) the refusal of a renewal of charter to the First Bank of the United States; (d) the passage of the Clay Compromise Tariff; (e) the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
  6. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of “direct” and legislative action in effecting economic reforms.

C

  1. What political and economic theories have been particularly tested by events since July 1914, and with what results?
  2. Is there any reason why a presidential form of government should be preferable in the United States and a parliamentary or cabinet form in Great Britain?
  3. Give a brief sketch of three of the following, with name of author and date: (1) De Monarchia; (2) On Liberty; (3) The Republic; (4) Looking Backward; (5) De Civitate Dei; (6) Oceana; (7) The City of the Sun; (8) De Jure Belli ac Pacis; (9) Leviathan; (10) Vindiciae contra Tyrannos; (11) The Wealth of Nations.
  4. Compare the public services of two of the following: (a) Louis Blanc; (b) Burke; (c) Cobden; (d) Hamilton; (e) Jackson; (f) Metternich.
  5. Show in what respect and for what reasons any state has become a colonial power.
  6. What should be the method of obtaining peace at the end of the present war according to the principles or theories of one of the following: (a) Aristotle; (b) Cicero; (c) Franklin; (d) Gustavus Adolphus; (e) Lincoln; (f) Machiavelli; (h) Thomas Aquinas.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Modern European History
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions in all, taking at least one from each of the three groups into which the paper is divided.

I

  1. What were the causes of the making and rupture of the Peace of Amiens? Is a similar temporary peace conceivable in the present war?
  2. What were the chief characteristics of the fifteen years immediately succeeding the Peace of Vienna? Can it be fairly argued that the fifteen years following the close of the present war will resemble them?
  3. Note the chief stages in the actual formation of a United Italy. How far did Napoleon III deliberately foster the growth of Italian unity?
  4. Compare the course of events during the three weeks previous to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 with those of the month of July 1914. What do you believe to have been the real object of German diplomacy in each case?
  5. Trace the careers of any two of the following: Blaine, Déak, Gambetta, Mazzini, Palmerston, Pinckney, Sherman, Stein.

II

  1. Who were the most prominent leaders in the States General of 1789, and what were their platforms and policies?
  2. Estimate the attitudes of the chief European powers and of the United States towards the question of Latin American independence.
  3. Give a brief account of the principal events in the history of England’s dealings with Ireland since the time of the French Revolution.
  4. What light is thrown by the history of the revolutionary movements of 1848 upon the relations of the fundamental principles of liberalism and nationality?
  5. What political principles worked at issue in the Carlist Wars?

III

  1. Trace the conflict between Napoleon and Pius VII.
  2. Estimate the influence of the universities upon the development of Germany since the period of the French Revolution.
  3. What light is thrown by the history of England and of the United States on the (a) possibility, (b) desirability of taking the tariff out of politics.
  4. Compare the nature, extent, and causes of social stratification in England, Germany, in the United States.
  5. In how far does the past history of Russia furnish an explanation of her condition today?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
American History
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions in all, taking at least one from each of the three groups into which the paper is divided.

I

  1. Characterize the following colonies at the dates given: Rhode Island, 1640; Delaware, 1650; Louisiana, 1801; Florida, 1815.
  2. What connection may be traced between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution?
  3. Contrast the careers of Bolivar and San Martin.
  4. Describe the military and naval struggles for the control of the Mississippi during the Civil War.
  5. Give a brief account of the relations of Germany and United States from 1860 to 1914.

II

  1. Compare the policies of England, France, and Spain relative to the treatment of the American Indians.
  2. What precedents have there been for a federation of states of Latin America? What are the prospects of such a federation today?
  3. Have the South a constitutional right to secede? How is the answer to this question to be determined?
  4. Does the Monroe doctrine applied to Asiatic as well as to European powers today? Give reasons for your answer.
  5. Comment on, discuss, or explain, as the case may require, four of the following: Dred Scott Decision, Ku-Klux Klan, Gerrymandering, New England Confederation, Tordesillas Line.

III

  1. “American independence was won in the dockyards of Ferrol and Toulon, and not on the battlefields of America.” Explain.
  2. Does the history of the United States show that is (a) desirable or (b) possible to take the tariff out of politics?
  3. Discuss the statement, “The West is preeminently a region of ideals.”
  4. Describe the platforms of the presidential candidates in the election of 1896.
  5. Are the initiative and referendum in accord with the American theory of representative government?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Economic History
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Employing historical illustrations, consider the advantages and disadvantages of the principal forms of agricultural land tenure.
  2. Describe and account for the major movements of the price level during the nineteenth century.
  3. Discuss the future of our meat supply.
  4. Draft a set of rules for the graphic presentation of historical series.

B
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Briefly compare the Industrial Revolution in England and Continental Europe.
  2. What was the effect of the Napoleonic Wars upon American economic development?
  3. Outline the history of the American Silver Dollar.
  4. Write a brief history of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
  5. Trace the course of the relations between organized labor and the railways of the United States.
  6. Sketch the history of one of the following industries in United States (a) tin-plate; (b) fur-seal; (c) beet-sugar; (d) ship-building.
  7. Give a brief account of the economic relations of the United States and South America.

C
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. In what particulars and for what reasons has labor legislation been backward in the United States?
  2. In what respects, if at all, is the present railway situation in the United States a natural development from conditions prevailing before the War?
  3. What conclusions are to be drawn from Germany’s experience with social insurance?
  4. What have been the chief problems of British government finance during the past generation? Wherein will the problems after the War different?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Economics and Sociology
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. “The economic forces have no tendency whatever to direct my effort to the most widely important end or the supply of the most urgent individual need.” Discuss.
  2. “Free competition between labor and capital will result in just wages to labor.” Do you agree? What are “just wages”?
  3. Compare past and present theories of the justification of interest.
  4. Analyze the concept of “productivity” in economics.

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. What statistical studies have been made of standards of living in the United States? What conclusions may be drawn from these studies?
  2. What are the chief causes of infant mortality? What are the most effective preventatives of infant deaths?
  3. Outline the history of poor relief in England. What light does English experience throw up on the relative advantages of “outdoor” and “indoor” relief?
  4. Give a critical account of recent developments in prison reform.

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. In a few words indicate the most important contributions to sociology by three of the following: (a) Comte; (b) Darwin; (c) Galton; Space (d) Giddings; (e) Kidd; (f) Nietzsche; (g) Spencer; (h) Tarde; (i) Ward.
  2. What is social progress?
  3. Contrast North and Latin American views on the subject of race intermixture.
  4. What influence has the institution of private property upon prevailing tastes and social ideals?
  5. “A nation need not be bound by the scruples that most restrain an individual.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
  6. What are the principal forms of conflict? Upon what grounds are some forms to be preferred to others?
  7. “A strong revival of the more devout forms of religion has followed every great war.” Discuss

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Labor Problems
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. “Free competition between labor and capital will result in just wages to labor.” Do you agree? What are “Just wages”?
  2. Who ultimately bears the burden of a system of industrial insurance?
  3. What are the principal difficulties encountered in the collection of wage statistics?
  4. What are the chief sources of unemployment statistics in the United States?

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Outline the evolution of the English agricultural laborer.
  2. Trace the history of minimum-wage legislation.
  3. Compare the experiences of the laboring classes in England and Germany during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
  4. Write a brief history of the Industrial Workers of the World.

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. Discuss “non-competing groups” with reference to (a) sorts of work done; (b) age maximum earnings; (c) approximate scale of earnings in dollars per annum; (d) age of marriage; (e) birth-rates; (f) possibility of transition from group to group.
  2. What are the functions of the employment manager?
  3. What are the characteristics, evils and best treatment of the sweating system?
  4. Discuss the use of the injunction in labor disputes.
  5. Explain and criticize the work of the British labor exchanges. Are there similar organizations in the United States?
  6. Give a critical analysis of the Adamson Law.
  7. Describe the present influence of organized labor in English political and economic life.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Public Finance
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Under what conditions is a tax on rented buildings borne by (a) the tenant, (b) the owner, (c) neither?
  2. What accounting problems are involved in budgets for our state governments?
  3. Describe the scope, and estimate the importance, of the work of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research.
  4. What are the chief sources of taxation statistics in the United States?

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Sketch the history of the United States Post Office.
  2. Outline the history of state income taxes in the United States.
  3. Give a brief account of the use of fiscal monopolies by European governments.
  4. Compare the development of English and German increment taxes.

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. If you were devising a balanced system of taxation for this country, what taxes would you assign to (a) the federal government, (b) the state governments, (c) the local governments? Give your reasons.
  2. To what extent would national prohibition necessitate changes in existing arrangements for government revenue? What changes would appear to be most desirable?
  3. What special problems are involved in the taxation of forest lands?
  4. Critically compare the taxation of “excess profits” by England, France, and the United States.
  5. “The practice of exempting government bonds from taxation is a pernicious American custom.” Discuss.
  6. What is the case for and against the “service-at-cost” plan of public utility regulation?
  7. From the point of view of public finance, what are the advantages and disadvantages of centralization of administrative powers?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Corporate Organization, including Railroads
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. What are the social gains and losses of speculation on the stock exchanges?
  2. Discuss comparatively the public regulation of railway accounts in England, France, and the United States.
  3. The following data have been given for the freight service of a group of American railroads during December the past two years:
1916 1917
Tons per loaded car mile 26.5 29.2
Miles per car day 25.4 21.3
Per cent loaded car miles 69.8 70.9

How did the freight car performance of December, 1917, compare with that of December, 1916? What proportion of the changes is to be assigned to each factor?

  1. What difficulties are involved in a satisfactory definition of the following objects of statistical inquiry (a) manufacturers; (b) establishment; (c) capital; (d) employee; (e) wages?

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Give an account of an important corporate reorganization.
  2. Describe the evolution of the German kartell.
  3. Outline a history of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
  4. Briefly characterize the business careers of two of the following: (a) Andrew Carnegie; (b) E. H. Harriman; (c) James J. Hill; (d) Robert Owen; (e) Werner Siemens; (f) James Watt.

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. What problems are involved in public regulation of security issues?
  2. Discuss the opening price association with reference to (a) its nature; (b) the reasons for its appearance; (c) its legal status; (d) its probable future.
  3. Discuss the consequences of the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company.
  4. Describe this criticize the Federal corporation tax.
  5. Analyze critically the present railroad situation in the United States.
  6. Consider the case for and against the “service-at-cost” plan for regulating local transit systems.
  7. What light is German experience throw up on the advantages and disadvantages of the government ownership of railways?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Money and Banking
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. What is the relation of (a) investment banking, (b) commercial banking, to capitalistic production?
  2. Draft an income or profit and loss statement suitable for a large commercial bank.
  3. Discuss the equation of exchange with respect to (a) its formulation; (b) the possibility of its statistical verification; (c) its bearing upon the theory of prices.
  4. Describe a business barometer for banks with reference to (a) the purposes it may serve; (b) the method of construction; (c) the best available statistical method.

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. At what times, and in what forms, has the “money question” been a political issue in the United States? Why is it no longer an issue?
  2. What factors contributed to the adoption by Germany of the single gold standard?
  3. Contrast, in outline, the history of banking in Canada and the United States.
  4. Give an account of the panic of 1890.

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. “The maintenance of a monetary standard is a banking and not a government function.” Discuss.
  2. What was the trade dollar? What monetary principles were illustrated by experience with this coin?
  3. “The idle hoard of silver dollars at Washington is a serious defect in our monetary system.” Discuss. What obstacles stand in the way of any change in this feature of the system?
  4. Give a critical analysis of the working of the Federal Reserve System.
  5. Compare the conduct of banking in England and Germany since the beginning of the War.
  6. Discuss the financial problems involved in the floatation of an immense government war loan.
  7. Briefly describe and explain the foreign exchanges since July, 1914, in two of the following countries: (a) England; (b) Germany; (c) Italy; (d) Russia; (e) Switzerland; (f) United States.

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
American Government
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions of which three questions must be from one group, two must be from another group, and one must be from the remaining group.

A

  1. What constitutional principles of the United States have exercised the most potent influence in the development of Latin America?
  2. Has the strain upon the Government of the United States since 1914 shown the need of amendment of the Constitution?
  3. “The great and radical vice in the construction of the existing Confederation (the United States of America, 1781) is in the principle of Legislation for States or Governments, in their corporate or collective capacities, and as contradistinguished from the Individuals of which they consist.” Discuss this statement with reference to its general validity and its applicability to problems of international reconstruction.
  4. Give three examples of “political questions.” What is the attitude of the courts toward such questions which have been brought before the courts?
  5. Compare the theories of the American constitutional system held by two of the following: Calhoun, Webster, Marshall, the Supreme Court in 1868.
  6. What has been the character of recent constitution making and has it brought about the desired results?

B

  1. Are the initiative and referendum in accord with the American theory of representative government?
  2. “Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities which a democracy possesses; and they require, on the contrary, the perfect use of almost all those faculties in which it is deficient.” Discuss the above.
  3. Why has the United States acquired non-contiguous territory and what has been the effect of this acquisition upon subsequent national policy?
  4. Show the effects of the ideals of two Americans upon the development of the United States.
  5. Should the Government in a democratic country be prohibited by the Constitution from concluding treaties which would require it to go to war in certain contingencies?
  6. What is the responsible government? To what extent does it exist in Germany, the United States, France?

C

  1. What organ has the authority to interpret and to alter the Constitution in the following countries: the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France?
  2. Describe three methods by which state constitutions in the United States have been amended. In case a state constitution contains no provision for its own amendment and a majority of the citizens desire a change, what should be done?
  3. How far should the Government of the United States engage in manufacturing in time of war?
  4. What is the best method of selecting judges? Discuss with illustrations from the practice of the United States.
  5. How should the relations among the states of the American hemisphere be made more satisfactory?
  6. Congress (1) appropriates $500,000 for a national laboratory of chemical research, (2) passes a law regulating the hours of railway employees, (3) provides for the punishment of crimes committed on United States vessels at sea. What, if any, constitutional authority is there for these acts?

_______________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
International Law
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions.

A
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Discuss and illustrate the statement of Grotius: “To pretend to have a right to injure another, merely out of a possibility that he injure us, is repugnant to all the justice in the world.”
  2. Explain the origin and development of exterritoriality.
  3. Is there anything in the literature and experience of ancient Greece of practical value for the statement who will take part in settling the present world crisis? Why?
  4. Write upon three of the following: (a) Bynkershoek, (b) Gentilis, (c) Pufendorf, (d) Selden, (e) Vattel, (f) Wicquefort.
  5. What periods are significant for the development of international relations, and explain the most important factors in each period.

B
Take from this group at least one and not more than two.

  1. Would it be possible to treat the foreign policies declared by Washington, Monroe, Polk, and Wilson as the development of permanent principles?
  2. In a protest to Sweden of August 30, 1916, the British government said: “The decree of the 14th July, 1916, reserving the route arranged through the mine-field established in the Kogrund passage to Swedish merchant vessels only, does not seem to be compatible with the provisions of Article 9 of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of the 18th March, 1826, which secure to British merchant vessels in Swedish waters the treatment accorded to the most favored nation, in this case Italy, whose merchant vessels are permitted, in virtue of Article 3 of the Treaty of the 14th June, 1862, to participate in navigation of the coasts and to trade between Swedish ports on the same footing as Swedish vessels.”
    What defense for Sweden?
  3. To what extent and why should the integrity of small states be maintained?
  4. Granting that all Hague Conventions are in force, would a case such as that of the Alabama be similarly decided at the present time?
  5. What is the importance of the blockade as a method of warfare?

C
Take from this group at least two and not more than four.

  1. How far does territorial propinquity justify one state in assuming authority over another? Illustrate by examples.
  2. “If a belligerent cannot retaliate against an enemy without injuring the lives of neutrals, as well as their property, humanity, as well as justice and a due regard for the dignity of neutral powers should dictate that the practice be discontinued.” Should this statement be qualified?
  3. Give a sketch of the questions involving international law arising from the relations of the United States and Mexico, 1912 to 1916.
  4. A was born in New York City of German parentage in 1875. He visited Germany in 1885 and returned in 1886. In 1897, on board an English steamer bound from New York to Russia, he entered the port of Hamburg but did not leave the steamer. The German police came on board and declined to allow the steamer to leave port until Mr. A should surrender, claiming Mr. A had evaded military service.
    Mr. A appeals to the ambassador of the United States. The master of the British vessel appeals to the British ambassador.
  5. What regulations should be made for the conduct of submarine warfare?
  6. States X and Y are at war. Neutral state M issues neutrality regulations forbidding all belligerent armed merchant vessels from entering its ports.
    When the war has progressed for two years.

    1. State X, being unable to import munitions of war, since its commerce has been driven from the seas, protests to state M that observance of neutrality requires that M forbid all export of munitions of war to belligerents.
    2. State Y, finding it expedient to arm its merchant vessels for defense against unwarded attacks by enemy submarines, protests that armed merchant vessels should not be excluded from the ports of M.
      What answer should M make to these protests?
  7. The case of the Three Friends.
  8. The treaty of 1871 between the United States and Italy guarantees to the citizens of either nation in the territory of the other “the most constant protection and security for their persons and property.” Property of Italian citizens is destroyed in a riot in New Orleans due to negligence on the part of the local policy authorities. What remedies may the sufferers pursue?

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Municipal Government
April 26, 1918

Answer six questions of which three questions must be from one group, two must be from another group, and one must be from the remaining group.

A

  1. How far have American cities adopted the budget plan and has it proven satisfactory?
  2. Describe the general characteristics of the cities of the twelfth centuries.
  3. Compare city government in France and Prussia as to (a) organization, (b) autonomy, (c) administrative efficiency, (d) popular control.
  4. Compare the principles underlying the different systems of municipal suffrage.
  5. Explain the following terms (a) borough, (b) prefect, (c) rates, (d) syndikus, (e) Local Government Board, (f) Bürgermeister.
  6. In what countries and to what extent may city officers be appointed or selected from non-residents?

B

  1. Where, how far, and with what success has the principle of the owner’s personal liability for fires been tried?
  2. To what extent should the following be controlled by the city: (a) education, (b) poor relief, (c) liquor licenses?
  3. Should a municipality own or control the railway terminals within its limits?
  4. (a) What is the most satisfactory system of municipal taxation and why?
    (b) Should a city levy an income tax?
  5. Should the system of initiative and referendum prevail in cities under commission form of government?
  6. Should the police force in cities of over 100,000 population be under the control of the city, state, or national government?

C

  1. Discuss the following propositions:
    1. To establish a municipal piggery for disposing of the city garbage.
    2. To establish a free ferry between parts of a municipality on opposite sides of a bay.
  2. Illustrate by reference to municipalities the methods of control and regulation of lighting.
  3. How and why should sanitation and health regulations differ in rural and urban communities?
  4. What has been the attitude of the courts in regard to protection of the claims of private individuals under municipal zoning ordinances?
  5. What are the most satisfactory building regulations, and in what cities are they in effect?
  6. What is the case for and against the “service-at-cost” plan for public utilities?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Divisional and general examinations, 1915-1975.  Box 6. Bound volume [from the private library of Arthur H. Cole]: Divisional Examinations, 1916-1927. Division of History, Government and Economics for the Degree of A.B. Division Examinations, 1917-18.

Image Source: Widener Library, 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Digital ID:  cph 3c14486

 

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Ashley, 1895-96

 

William James Ashley (1899 biography) taught a course on the mediaeval economic history of Europe that required reading knowledge of Latin that was indeed tested as can be seen in his examination questions transcribed below.

Earlier posts with material from Ashley’s economic history courses:

University of Toronto Economic History Exams (1891)

Economic History Module in Introductory Economics Course (1896)

Modern Economic History (1899-1900)

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. 2 hours.

Total 14: 7 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1895-96, p. 63.

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Course Description

[10. The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.]

Omitted in 1897-98.

The object of this course is to give a general view of the economic development of society during the Middle Ages. It will deal, among others, with the following topics:— the manorial system in its relation to mediaeval agriculture and serfdom; the merchant gilds and the beginnings of town life and of trade; the craft gild and the gild-system of industry, compared with earlier and later forms; the commercial supremacy of the Hanseatic and Italian merchants; the trade routes of the Middle Ages and of the sixteenth century; the merchant adventurers and the great trading companies; the agrarian changes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the break-up of the mediaeval organization of social classes; the appearance of new manufactures and of the domestic industry.

Special attention will be devoted to England, but that country will be treated as illustrating the broader features of the economic evolution of the whole of western Europe; and attention will be called to the chief peculiarities of the economic history of France, Germany and Italy.

Students will be introduced in this course to the use of the original sources, and they will need to be able to translate easy Latin.

It is desirable that they should already possess some general acquaintance with mediaeval history, and those who are deficient in this respect will be expected to read one or two supplementary books, to be suggested by the instructor. The course is conveniently taken after, before, or in conjunction with History 9; and it will be of especial use to those who intend to study the law of Real Property.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (1897-98), pp. 31-32.

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1895-96
ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-year examination

I.

To be first attempted by all.

Translate, and comment, on the following passages: —

  1. Totius terrae descriptio diligens facta est, tam in nemoribus quam in pascuis et pratis, nec non in agriculturis, et verbis communibus annotata in librum redacta est.
  2. In Tineguella…sunt iiii hidae et dimidia ad geldum Regis. Et de istis tenet xx homines xx virgas terrae. Et xiii homines tenent vi virgas et dimidiam.
  3. Sicut traditum habemus a patribus, in primitivo regni statu post conquisitionem, regibus de fundis suis non auri vel argenti pondera sed sola victualia solvebantur.
  4. Plerique, cum aut aere alieno aut magnitudine tributorum aut injuria potentiorum premuntur, sese in servitutem dicunt nobilibus, quibus in hos eadem omnia sunt jura quae dominis in servos.
  5. Ceteris servis non in nostrum morem, descriptis per familiam ministeriis, utuntur. Suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit.

II.

Write on four only of the following subjects.

  1. The importance of the yardland in the rural economy of the Middle Ages.
  2. A history of the mark theory, from its first promulgation to its general acceptance.
  3. A comparison of the life of a mediaeval English village with that of a New England village of today.
  4. The Roman colonate.
  5. An account and criticism of Mr. Seebohm’s “Tribal System in Wales.”

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume: Examination Papers. Mid-Years, 1895-96.

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1895-96
ECONOMICS 10.
Final Examination

I.

To be first attempted by all.

Comment on the following passages, and translate those in Latin and French: —

  1. If a man agree for a yard of land, or more, at a fixed rent, and plough it; if the lord desire to raise the land to him to service and to rent, he need not take it upon him, if the lord do not give him a dwelling.
  2. Ego Eadward…rex…dedi X manentes in illo loco qui dicitur aet Stoce be Hysseburnam, cum omnibus hominibus qui in illa terra errant qando AElfred rex viam universae carnis adiit.
  3. Magnates regni et alii minores domini qui tenentes habebant perdonarunt redditum de redditu ne tenentes abirent prae defectu servorum et caristia rerum.
  4. Whan Adam dalf and Eve span,
    Wo was thane a gentilman?
  5. Nul ne deit rien achater a revendre en la vile meyme, fors yl serra Gildeyn.
  6. Cives Londoniae debent LX marcas pro Gilda telaria delenda ita ut de cetero non suscitetur.
  7. No one of the trade of Spurriers shall work longer than from the beginning of the day until curfew rings out at the church of St. Sepulchre.

II.
Write on four only of the following subjects:

  1. The economic and constitutional questions involved in recent discussions as to the beginnings of town life in mediaeval Europe.
  2. A comparison of a mediaeval merchant gild with a modern “trust,” and of a craft gild with a modern trade union.
  3. The extent and character of the public regulation of prices and wages in the later middle ages.
  4. The cause of the Peasant Revolt in 1381.
  5. The relation of the English Reformation to the origin of the Poor Laws.
  6. A criticism of Cunningham and McArthur’s Outlines of English Industrial History.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1896-97. Section: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government, Economics, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1896), pp. 45-46.

Image Source: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. Vol II (1899) , p. 595.

Categories
Chicago Economic History Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Reading Assignments for Development of Monetary and Financial Institutions. Hamilton, 1952

 

The 1960 reading assignments for Earl J. Hamilton’s course on the historical development of monetary and financial institutions at the University of Chicago were transcribed and posted earlier. It turns out that a copy of the 1952 reading assignments for the course can be found filed in a folder in the Milton Friedman Papers at the Hoover Institution. Since there was no name on the 1952 reading list, an archivist is likely to have erroneously assumed that the course had been taught by Friedman and so filed it with other materials from those courses taught by Milton Friedman. A casual comparison of the two sets of reading assignments is enough to verify that bibliographic formatting (e.g., Library of Congress call numbers are included for all items) and the overwhelming majority of items are common to the two lists (with some shuffling in the order of the readings). 

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Course Description (1951)

[Economics] 334. The Development of Monetary and Financial Institutions. The evolution of monetary and banking systems in leading nations, the rise of organized dealings in foreign exchange, the emergence of great money markets, the origin and growth of national debt and the economic consequences of inflation and deflation. Theories underlying and reflecting monetary and financial changes. Prereq: Econ 222 or 230. Spr: MTuWF 9:30; Hamilton

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements, Vol. 50, No. 9 (July 20, 1950). The Division of the Social Sciences, Sessions of 1950-1951, p. 30.

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Course Reading Assignments

Economics 334

Assignments to be read before July 16, 1952

  1. Luigi Einaudi, “The Medieval Practice of Managed Currency,” in A.D. Gayer (Editor), The Lessons of Monetary Experience, pp. 259-268. HG 255.L63
  2. W. C. Mitchell, “The Role of Money in Economic Theory,” in The Backward Art of Spending Money, Pp. 149-176. HB 33.M68.
  3. Official Papers by Alfred Marshall, pp. 3-16. HG171.M318.
  4. R. G. Hawtrey, Currency and Credit, Chapter on “The Bank Restriction of 1797.” HG221.H4
  5. J. M. Keynes, A Tract on Monetary Reform, Chapters I-II, IV. HG221.K4
  6. J. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Chapter 30. HG221.K422
  7. Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Book IV, and Appendix A. HG221.M35
  8. Charles F. Dunbar (Revised and edited by O. M. W. Sprague), The Theory and History of Banking, Chapters VIII (“The English Banking System”), IX (“The French Banking System”), X (“The German Banking System”), XI (“The National Banks of the United States”). HG1586.D9
  9. Earl J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, Chapter XIII. H31.H33, v. 43.
  10. *Earl J. Hamilton, “The Foundation of the Bank of Spain,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LIII (1945), pp. 97-114. HB1.J7.
  11. Earl J. Hamilton, “Prices and Wages at Paris under John Law’s System,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LI, (1936-1937), pp. 42-70. HB1.Q3
  12. Walter Bagehot, Lombard Street. HG3000.L82B3
  13. R. S. Sayers, “The Question of the Standard in the Eighteen-Fifties,” Economic History (a supplement to the Economic Journal), Vol. II, pp. 575-601. HB1.E31
  14. Rufus S. Tucker, “The Myth of 1849,” in C.O Hardy, Is There Enough Gold? Appendix A, pp. 177-199. HG289.H28
  15. Davis R. Dewey, Financial History of the United States, 12th Ed. Pp. 320-328 (“Arguments in Favor of a National Banking System” and “National Banking Act of 1863.”) HJ241.D576
  16. *R. G. Hawtrey, A Century of Bank Rate, Chapters I-IV. HG1623.G7H4

*Read for interpretation and point of view. Do not try to remember facts.

There will be an examination on July 16 on these assignments and the lectures.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Economics 334

Assignments to be read by not later than August 13, 1952

  1. J. Silberling, “Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. XXXVIII (1923-24), pp. 214-33, 397-439. HB1.Q3, v.38
  2. H. Clapham, The Bank of England, Vol. II, Chapters VI-VIII and Epilogue. HG2996.C6
  3. M. Keynes, Essays in Persuasion, Part II, Chaps. 1 and 3; Part III, Chapter 5; Part V, Chapter 2. In the London, 1933 edition these chapters cover pages 77-79, 105-17, 244-70, 358-73. HC57.K471
  4. H. Robertson, Essays in Monetary Theory, Chaps. I and XII. HB171.R544
  5. Fred H. Klopstock, “Monetary Reform in Western Germany,” Journal of Political Economy, August, 1949. HB1.J7, v. 57
  6. Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Book II. HG221.M35
  7. Henri Hauser, Les origins historiques des problèmes économiques actuels, Paris, 1930, pp. 70-90.
  8. M. W. Sprague, Crises under the National Banking System, Washington, 1910, pp. 1-107. HB3743.S7
  9. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Chaps. 35 and 37. HG221.K422
  10. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Chapter 23. HB171.K46
  11. W. Kemmerer, The ABC of the Federal Reserve System, Princeton University Press, 1936, Chapters I-V. HG2563.K31
  12. Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Chapters III-V. HF1007.V75
  13. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, “Digression concerning Banks of Deposit, particularly concerning that of Amsterdam,” in Book IV, Chapter III, Part I. HB161.S65.
  14. Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, Vol. XVII (1907), pp. 213-220. YW16 (reprint)

There will be an hour examination on August 13th.

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 78, Folder 1 “University of Chicago Econ 334”.

Image Source:  University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-02446, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for European and U.S. Economic History. Gay and Klein, 1911

This post adds  final examinations for the 1910-11 academic year to previous posts dedicated to two economic history courses taught by Edwin F. Gay during the second decades of the twentieth century at Harvard. 

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Instructors: Edwin F. Gay, Julius Klein

Biographical information

_____________________

Reading list: First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Final exam. First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

[European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century]

  1. (a) “The essence of the industrial revolution is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth….Competition came to be believed in as a gospel.” (Toynbee.)
    Give illustrations of the substitution of competition, and state why, in your opinion, the good rather than the evil of competition was emphasized at this period.
    (b) Toynbee said: “The effects of the industrial revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.” A Boston reformer, speaking of the advent of machinery, says, “The profits from the machine were absorbed by capital,” so that the people did not have their share. Does the economic history of the nineteenth century support these views?
  2. (a) Trace concisely the influence of agricultural interests upon the tariff history of England, France and Germany in the nineteenth century.
    (b) Has England been more affected by the agricultural depression of the last thirty years than other European countries? Why has it not been more influenced by the “protectionist reaction?”
  3. How has the French railroad policy differed from that of Prussia? Which has been the more beneficial? Give reasons.
  4. Do the actual conditions warrant the assertions concerning “the ominous situation of British trade?” Give reasons.
  5. State succinctly the chief facts concerning:—
    (a) Assignats.
    (b) British shipping subsidies.
    (c) Crisis of 1857.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, Mid-years (HUC 7000.55). Box 8, Examination Papers, Mid-years, 1910-11.

cf. Final exam. First term, 1914-15.
Economics 2a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

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Reading list: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

Economic and Financial History of the United States.

 

Final exam: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

[Economic and Financial History of the United States]

  1. Outline fully the topics you would discuss if you were to write a thesis on the history of the iron and steel industry in the United States.
  2. Comment on the following:—
    1. “We import annually millions of dollars’ worth of tropical products that could be grown in the United States.” (Report of Secretary of Agriculture for 1901.)
    2. “The sum paid by American producers and manufacturers to these foreign bottoms during the past year was $500,000,000, a sum sufficient to dig the Panama Canal and operate it for twenty years. Remember that all this good American money has gone into the pockets of foreigners.” (Admiral Evans in a recent magazine article.)
  3. (a) Outline our tariff history since 1890.
    (b) Comment on Senator Aldrich’s statement: “I do not believe there are any duties levied in this bill [the tariff act of 1909] that are excessive or are prohibitory.”
    (c) The American experience with reciprocity. Are you in favor of the reciprocity treaty with Canada? State your reasons.
  4. Rhodes in his history of the United States says: “This tendency [the accumulation of large fortunes and the development of abject poverty] had begun before the War and has been the result rather of the constantly deteriorating character of the European immigration than of industrial changes on our own soil.”
    Do you agree with this view? Give your reasons.
  5. Comment on the following: “The year 1896 was in fact one of those periods rare in the history of any country of which it could be said that a given chapter had definitely closed and that another was about to open.”
  6. Compare briefly the conditions before and after the Civil War in respect to
    1. The defects of our banking system;
    2. The public land policy;
    3. Governmental assistance to and control of transportation enterprise.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

cf. Final Exam. Second term, 1914-15.

Economics 2b
Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Image Source: Edwin Francis Gay and Julius Klein, respectively, from The World’s Work, Vol. XXVII, No. 5 (March 1914) and Harvard Album 1920.