Category: Economic History

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Chicago Economic History Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Reading list for Development of Monetary and Financial Institutions. Hamilton, 1960

 

 

The papers of the economic historian Earl J. Hamilton are a grab-bag of archival treasure, poorly sorted and demanding from the historian an unlimited faith in the goodness of the gods of serendipity. This post is a course reading list that would have rested safe in the obscurity of Hamilton’s papers, but for a chance encounter. I have taken the liberty of assuming the course title for Economics 334 at the University of Chicago in 1959-60 would match that of 1956-57. The course reading list is a nice example of the intersection of economic history and the history of economics.  

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Economics 334: Mr. Hamilton

Assignments to be read before May 20, 1960

  1. Luigi Einaudi, “The Medieval Practice of Managed Currency,” in A.D. Gayer (Ed.), 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.M 68.
  3. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, “Digression concerning Banks of Deposit, particularly concerning that of Amsterdam,” in Book IV, Chapter III, Part I. HB 161. S 65.
  4. Earl J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, Chapter XIII. H31.H33, v. 43
  5. 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
  6. Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Chapters III-V HF1007.V75
  7. N. 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
  8. Lloyd W. Mints, History of Banking Theory, Chapter IV. HG1586.M6
  9. Walter Bagehot, Lombard Street. HG3000.L82B3
  10. 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
  11. Rufus S. Tucker, “The Myth of 1849,” in C.O Hardy, Is There Enough Gold? Appendix A, pp. 177-199. HG289.H28.
  12. J. H. Clapham, The Bank of England, Vol. II, Chapters VI-VIII and Epilogue. HG2996.C6
  13. Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, Vol. XVII (1907), pp. 213-220. YW16 (reprint)
  14. O. M. W. Sprague, Crises under the National Banking System, Washington, 1910, pp. 1-107. HB3743.S7
  15. John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book III, Chapter XII. HB171.M635, M636, M644, M653.
  16. 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
  17. J. M. Keynes, A Tract on Monetary Reform, Chapters I-II, IV-V. HG221.K4
  18. J. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Chapter 30. HG221.K422.

There will be an hour examination on April 29, 1960 covering 1-18 and the lectures.

  1. Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Books II, IV, and Appendix A. HG221.M35
  2. J. 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.
  3. D. H. Robertson, Essays in Monetary Theory, Chaps. I and XII. HB 171.R544.
  4. Fred H. Klopstock, “Monetary Reform in Western Germany,” Journal of Political Economy, August, 1949. HB1.J7, v. 57.
  5. J. M. Keynes, A Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Chaps. 35 and 37. HG221.K422
  6. Earl J. Hamilton, “Prices and Progress,” Journal of Economic History, XII (1952), pp. 325-49.
  7. J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Chapter 23. HB171.K46
  8. Official Papers by Alfred Marshall, pp. 3-16. HG171.M318.
  9. The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions
  10. Rondo E. Cameron, “The Credit Mobilier and the Economic Development of Europe,” Journal of Political Economy, LXI (1953), pp. 461-88.

There will be a three-hour final examination (9:00-12:00) on May 27, 1960 covering all assignments and lectures.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Earl J. Hamilton Papers. Box 2. Folder “Academic and Personal Correspondence 1950s-1970s; 1990; and n.d.”

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

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. European Economic History from the Industrial Revolution. Gay, 1934

 

 

A brief biography of Harvard economic historian and first Dean of the Harvard Business School, Edwin Francis Gay (1867-1946) is found in the earlier post for his course “Recent Economic History” that was also taught at Harvard in the 1934-35 academic year. Below we have the course announcement, enrollment figures, reading list, and final exam for the course on European Economic History from the Industrial Revolution.

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Course Announcement

Economics 2a 1hf. European Economic History from the Industrial Revolution

Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Gay.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1934-35, second edition. Published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXI, No. 38 (September 20, 1934), p. 125.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 2a 1hf. Professor Gay.—European Economic History since the Industrial Revolution.

Total 50:  3 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1934-35, p. 81.

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Assigned and Suggested Readings

ECONOMICS 2a
[pencil insert: 1934-5]

European Economic History from the Industrial Revolution

Hour Test on November 13 [Pencil insert: Extended to Nov. 15] will cover Groups I and II.

I. SOCIAL THOUGHT AND PROGRESS

A. V. Dicey—Law and Public Opinion in England (1908). Lectures 4-7 (Pages 62-258)

J. M. Keynes—The End of Laissez Faire. (1926)

G. Wallas—Life of Francis Place (1918). Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 (pages 1-92, 157-240)

II. TRANSPORTATION

E. A. Pratt—A History of Inland Transport and Communication in England (1912). Chapters 8-22 (pages 51-311)

J. H. Clapham—Economic Development of France and Germany (1921). Chapters 5, 7, 12 (Pages 104-120, 140-157, 339-375)

III. AGRICULTURE

Lord Ernle—English Farming, Past and Present (3d edition, 1922). Chapters 17, 18

J. H. Clapham—Economic Development of France and Germany (1921). Chapter 9 (pages 195-231)

C. L. Christensen—Agricultural Cooperation in Denmark. Pages 9-54, 81-87

IV. TARIFF POLICY

P. Ashley—Modern Tariff History (1920). Part 1, Part 3 (pages 3-128, 269-355)

J. Morley—Life of Richard Cobden (1881). Chapters 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 16 (pages 140-172, 209-247, 290-307, 355-389)

V. BANKING

A. Andreades—History of the Bank of England (1909). Vol. 1, part 4; Vol. 2, Introductory chapter and Part 1 (pages 161-294)

H. Feis—Europe The World’s Banker, 1870-1914 (1930). Part I; Part II; Part III, Chapters 12, 13 (pages 3-190-258-313)

VI. READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Choose ONE of the following groups:

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

P. Mantoux—The Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century (English translation, 1928)

Part I, Chapter 2
Part II, Chapters 1, 2, 3
Part III, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
(pages 93-139-193-317, 349-489)

J. H. Clapham—Economic Development of France and German. Chapters 3, 4 (pages 53-103)

LABOR

S. & B. Webb—History of Trade Unionism (1920 edition). Chapters (in part) 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 (pages 64-112, 153-179, 180-204, 249-298, 358-421, 472-546, 594-611, 634-676, 677-704)

Cambridge Modern History—Volume 12—Chapter 23—Social Movements (by Webb) (pages 730-765

BRITISH INDUSTRY AND CAPITAL

A. Siegfried—England’s Crisis (1933 edition)

L. H. Jenks—The Migration of British Capital to 1875 (1927). Chapters 1, 5, 7, 11. Pages 1-24, 126-157, 193-232, 326-336)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING—NOT ASSIGNED

A. Birnie—Economic History of Europe 1760-1930 (1930)

C. Day—Economic Development in Modern Europe (1933)

J. H. Clapham—An Economic History of Modern Britain—2 vol. 1926-32 [3 vols. 1926-1938]

L. Domeratzsky—The International Cartel Movement (1928)

R. J. S. Hoffman—Great Britain and the German Trade Rivalry 1875-1914 (1933)

P Fitzgerald—Industrial Combination in England (1927)

L. C .A. Knowles—The Economic Development of the British Overseas Empire, 2 vols. (1924-1930)

F. L. Nussbaum—A History of the Economic Institutions of Modern Europe (1933)

H. M. Robertson—Aspects of the Rise of Economic Individualism (1933)

L. C .A. Knowles—Economic Development in the Nineteenth Century (1932)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics 1934-1935”

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1934-35
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 2a1
[Final. 1935.]

Comment briefly on THREE of the statements in part I, and discuss more fully TWO of the questions in Part II.

Part I

  1. “During the period 1785-1802 there was an increase rather than a decrease of the yeomen proper in England.”
    “The Industrial Revolution was responsible for a decrease in the number of yeomen.”
  2. “The solution for the problem of agricultural distress is to be found, as the example of Denmark clearly shows, not in protective tariffs but in coöperative organization.”
  3. “The Bank was right in 1811 in rejecting the main recommendations of the Bullion Committee and in thereby refusing to follow the counsels of doctrinaires.”
  4. “The Trade Union of today is a direct descendant of the old Gild.”
  5. “The fact that the landlords supported the Factory Acts and that the manufacturers agitated for the repeal of the Corn Laws indicates that both of these powerful antagonists desired the welfare of the working class and that this class, as yet unenfranchised, wielded great political power.”

Part II

  1. “It was the increase of population which rendered necessary the Industrial Revolution.” (Lewinski.)
    “The cotton industry by its demand for the labor of women and children was chiefly responsible for the great increase of population in the towns during the generation and a half preceding the Reform Bill.”
    Comment and give your own view concerning the movement of population in Great Britain and its relation to the Industrial Revolution.
  2. “The community as a whole benefits more by falling than by rising prices.” (Layton.)
    Is this statement supported by the experience of England in the nineteenth century?
  3. Show the chief difference (giving reasons therefor) between France and Germany in railroad development and control.
  4. “The manifold connections and activities of British commerce and finance achieved for Great Britain in their freedom a vigorous expansion.” (Feis) Explain and exemplify.
  5. Summarize concisely:
    1. Bullion Report.
    2. New Unionism.
    3. Cobden Chevalier Treaty.
    4. Méline Tariff.
    5. Bank Act of 1844.
    6. Taff Vale Case.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 12. Volume: Examination Papers. Mid-Years, 1934-35.

Image Source: Edwin Francis Gay in Harvard Class Album 1934.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus for Economic History Module in Principles Course. Ashley, 1896.

 

For several years at the end of the 19th century Harvard’s introductory course in economics consisted of a two semester sequence. The fall semester was dedicated to theoretical Principles of Economics à la John Stuart Mill followed by the spring semester that covered specific topics, e.g. economic history, social policy, monetary arrangements.

The economic history module was taught by Professor William J. Ashley and ran for five weeks. The material was tested once in a one-hour mid-term exam and then again in the course final examination (students were to answer at least one of four questions in Group II below).

I have only found a complete set of syllabus, reading assignments, and exam questions for Ashley’s module. In the next post, you will find all the course exams for 1895-96 that were pasted into Frank Taussig’s personal scrapbook of exams for all the courses he taught during his long Harvard career.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, and Dr. John Cummings. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation.

Total 338: 3 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 91 Juniors, 161 Sophomores, 8 Freshmen, 40 Others.

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

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Economic History Module
William J. Ashley

ECONOMICS 1.
LECTURES ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Weekly Syllabus 1.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 2-5. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapters 1 and 2, and Appendix pp. 169-182. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 1-13.

N.B. 1. The prescribed reading for the whole period covered by this set of lectures will deal with same general topics as will be considered in the lectures. But it will not be possible to make the reading of each week exactly parallel, in every case, with the lectures of that week.
2. There will be a question set every Friday, and 15 minutes allowed for answering it, on some subject suggested by the reading and lectures of that week.

  1. The Historical Movement of the 19th Century.
    Its causes:

    1. The “Romantic” Reaction against the 18th century “Enlightenment.”
    2. Evolutionary Philosophy—Hegel, Comte, Spencer.
    3. Evolutionary Biology—Darwin.
    4. Anthropology—Tylor.

Its intellectual effects:

    1. Interest in the Middle Ages.
    2. Sense of Continuity—“Uniformitarianism.”
    3. Sense of Relativity.
    4. Changed conception of the relation of the Present to the Past and the Future.
  1. Influence of the Historical Movement on other studies:
    1. On Law—Savigny, Maine.
    2. On Theology—“The Higher Criticism.”
    3. On Economics.
      The older and newer Historical Schools of Economists—Roscher, Schmoller.
  1. Value of Economic History:
    1. For its own sake.
    2. For a right estimate of modern economic theory.
    3. For insight into modern economic facts.

Provisional use of the conceptions of “Stages.”

Preliminary consideration of certain attempts to group all the phenonomena of economic history under a single formula:

    1. Friedrich List. The Five Stages in the development of the peoples of the temperate zone.
    2. Bruno Hildebrand. Naturalwirthschaft, Geldwirthschaft, Creditwirthschaft.

Weekly Syllabus 2.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 6-7. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapter 3, and Appendix pp. 183-190. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 13-43.

Preliminary consideration of current generalisations concerning the development of particular sides of economic life:

Agriculture—

Extensive:

    1. Shifting Tillage (Wildfeldgraswirtschaft)

Intensive:

    1. Open Field System (Three field system, Dreifelderwirthschaft).
    2. Convertible Husbandry (Feldgraswirthschaft).
    3. Rotation of Crops (Fruchtwechselwirtschaft).

Industry  (Manufacture)—

    1. The Family System (Familienindustrie, Hausfleiss).
    2. The Gild System (Handwerk).
      1. Wage-work.
      2. Work for sale.
    3. The Domestic System (Hausindustrie, Verlags-system.)
      1. Domestic system proper.
      2. Wage-work.
    4. The Factory System
      With and without machinery.

Weekly Syllabus 3.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book II, Chapters 8-10. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapter 4, and Appendix pp. 190-207. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 43-57.

Preliminary consideration of current generalisations of the anthropologists concerning prehistoric development:

Property—

Tribal Ownership and Family Ownership.
Individual Ownership of Movables.
Individual Ownership of Land.

Theories of Early Agrarian Communism.—Recent Discussions.

Progress of the Arts of Subsistence(Morgan) —

Savagery —

Older period—Fruits and Roots.
Middle period—Fish and Fire.
Later period—Game and the Bow.

Barbarism —

Older period—Pottery.
Middle period—Pastoral Life.
Later period—Iron and Agriculture.

Civilisation —

Sketch of the Economic Development of the European Peoples since the Early Middle Ages.

Reasons for this limitation.

  1. Period of Village or Manorial Economy.
    1. Sketch of Manorial System:

Lord and Serfs.
Demesne and Land in Villenage.
Open Fields.
Week-work and Boon-Days.

  1. Economic Characteristics:

“Natural-economy.”
Self-sufficiency.
Stability.

Relative absence of conditions usually assumed by modern economists.

Weekly Syllabus 4.

Prescribed Reading for the week: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Preliminary Remarks. R. Jones, Peasant Rents, Chapters 5 and 6. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System, pp. 57-91.

Interacting phenomena: (1) Commutation of Services, (2) The Rise of Markets.
Appearance of town life in the midst of conditions still predominantly agricultural.

  1. Period of Town Dominance.
    1. The Town Economy:

The Town Market: The Gild Merchant.
The Town Industry: The Craft Gilds.
Subordination of the Country Districts.

    1. The Beginnings of Modern Economic Conditions:

Wage-labor.
Capital.
Profit.

[Then followed in Germany a Period of Territorial Economy.
Its characteristics.
Question whether such a period is distinctly marked in France or England.]

 

  1. Period of National Economy.

Strong central governments.
The spirit of Nationality.
Mercantilism, its Origin, Purpose and Methods.

A. National Economy and Domestic Industries

    1. The new influence of Capital:

On Industry.
On Agriculture.

    1. The action of the State:

Control of Commerce.
Encouragement of Manufactures.
Industrial Legislation.

Weekly Syllabus 5.

Prescribed Reading for the previous month, to be revised: J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Preliminary Remarks and Bk. II, chs. 1-10. R. Jones, Peasant Rents. G. Schmoller, The Mercantile System.

  1. Period of National Economy.

B. National Economy and the Factory System.

    1. Necessary Characteristics of the Factory System.
    2. The World-Market, and Fluctuations of Trade.
    3. Break-up of the Old Industrial Organisation; due to (a) changed conditions, (b) the influence of ideas of natural liberty.
    4. The Age of Individualism, and Industrial Freedom.

Question whether the beginnings may be discerned of a Period of International or World Economy.

Note: The various recent movements towards the reconstruction of a stable industrial organization, and the solution thereby of the “Labor Question,” will be the subjects of the lectures during the following weeks by Professor Cummings.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 1, Folder “1895-1896”.

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1895-96.

ECONOMICS 1.
[W.J.A., Hour Examination. March 13, 1896]

Please write on three questions only.

  1. Mill remarks in his Autobiographythat the distinction between the laws of the production and those of the distribution of wealth was the most important contribution he made to Political Economy. Explain this.
  2. What does Jones mean by the division of Rents into Peasant and Farmer’s Rents?
  3. Give a brief account of the stages of industrial
  4. Draw a parallel between the town policy of the 15thcentury and the national policy of the 18th.
  5. Was Frederick the Great justified in his attempt to introduce the silk manufacture into Prussia?

    _________________

1895-96.

ECONOMICS 1.
[Final Examination]

[Answer ten questions. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Group I.
[At least one.]

  1. Explain the meaning of two of the following terms, — margin of cultivation; wages of superintendence; rapidity of circulation (as to money).
  2. Do profits constitute a return different from interest?
  3. Explain what is meant by the law, or equation, of demand and supply; and in what manner it applies to commodities susceptible of indefinite multiplication without increase of cost.
  4. In what manner does a country gain from the division of labor in its domestic trade? In what manner from international trade?

Group II.
[At least one.]

  1. Does it fall within the province of the economist to discuss the institution of private property?
  2. Show the connection between the industrial development of the present century, and the discussion among economists as to the functions of the entrepreneur.
  3. Consider in what manner prices, or rents, [choose one] are differently determined according as they are under the influence of custom or of competition.
  4. “The idea that economic life has ever been a progress mainly dependent on individual action is mistaken with regard to all stages of civilization, and in some respects it is more mistaken the farther we go back.” Explain and criticize.

Group III.
[At least one.]

  1. If cooperation were universally adopted, what would be left of the wages system?
  2. Is there anything in what you learned as to the laws governing wages, which the action of the English trade-unions in regard to wages has disregarded?
  3. Has the course of events justified Mill’s expectations in regard to the development of profit-sharing and of cooperation? Explain why, or why not.
  4. Describe the trade and benefit features of the English trade-unions.

Group IV.
[At least three.]

  1. Is the present position of the Treasury of the United States in any respect essentially similar to that of the Issue Department of the Bank of England? In any respect essentially dissimilar?
  2. What is the test of over-issue, as to inconvertible paper money? What light does the experience of the United States and of France throw on the probability of over-issue?
  3. Arrange in their proper order the following items in a bank account:—
Capital 100,000 Bonds and Stocks 75,000
Specie 150,000 Surplus 50,000
Notes 100,000 Other Assets 50,000
Loans 400,000 Other Liabilities 60,000
Expenses 25,000 Undivided Profits 40,000
Deposits 350,000

Could this bank be a national bank of the United States? If such a bank, how would the account stand?

  1. Compare the policy of the Bank of England in times of financial crisis with the policy of the Associated Banks of New York; and give an opinion as to which is the more effective in allaying panic.

Source: Harvard University Archives.  Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935 [of] Prof F.W. Taussig (HUC 7882), p. 53.

 

Image Source: Entry for William James Ashley in University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), p. 595.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. First Undergraduate General and Specific Exams in History, Government and Economics Division, 1916.

 

In this post we can read some of the history behind the establishment of Harvard’s undergraduate tutorial and divisional examination system for which the Division of History, Government, and Economics served as an early testing ground. The first general examination of that division along with the “specific” economics field examinations from 1916 are transcribed below.

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Backstories regarding the Division Examinations in History, Government, and Economics

History of Origin and Growth of the Tutorial System
Shows Gradual Incorporation in All Departments But Chemistry
Introduction of General Exams In Medical School Made Entrance Wedge
January 10, 1933

Excerpts from a brief history of the General Examinations and the Tutorial System recently published by the University follows below.

In the spring of 1910 a committee was appointed which examined the system prevailing in American medical schools of granting the degree upon an accumulation of credits in courses, and the European system of two general examinations, the earlier upon the general scientific or laboratory subjects and the final one upon the clinical branches. The committee recommended the adoption of the latter system, and after its provisional approval by the Faculty of Medicine in March of the following year, another committee, mainly of different members, worked out a plan which was adopted by that Faculty in October, 1911.

Adopted by Divinity School

Shortly after its adoption in the Medical School the idea of a general examination invaded departments at Cambridge. In the academic year 1911-12 it was adopted in the Divinity School for the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Theology; and in this case it seems to have worked well from the start. Meanwhile the division of History, Government and Economics had been considering the matter, and after a year of careful study formulated a plan which as sanctioned by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in the winter of 1912-13. The examination was to be conducted by the division and in fact by a committee of three of its members appointed by the President, who were to be relieved of one half of their work of instruction. It was to consist of both written and oral tests, was to be required of all college students concentrating in that division, in addition to their courses, and was to go into effect with the class entering the following autumn. Authority was also given to supplement by tutorial assistance the instruction given in the courses. Thus the complete system of a general examination and tutors was set up for all undergraduates in one division, and the one which at the time had the largest number of concentrators.

Trial Seems in Danger

The plan was put into effect without serious obstacles. The number of students concentrating in these subjects did, indeed, diminish, the weaker of more timid seeking departments where no such examination barred the way; out that was no harm, and proved to be in large part a temporary effect. The preparing of examination questions, which had been supposed very difficult, was exceedingly well done by an able committee. Yet the plan was not at once wholly successful. Tutorial work was new, and men equipped for it were not to be found. They had to learn the art by their own experience, and by what they derived from an exchange of tutors for a year with Oxford and Cambridge. In fact, after a few years of trial the plan seemed in danger of breaking down. The benefits were not at once evident; some of those formerly in favor of it became skeptical, while opponents were confirmed in their opinions. Until we entered the World War the only other field of concentration which had adopted a general examination of all students for graduation was that of History and Literature, although something of the kind had long been in common use in the case of candidates for distinction or honors.

Crisis Comes After War

The crisis came at the close of the war, when the changes made for military purposes in all instruction had left matters in a somewhat fluid state. A committee of the Faculty was appointed to consider what, if any, extension of the principle could profitably be made in other fields. There was a feeling that such a system ought not to be maintained in one class of subjects alone; that it should either be abolished or extended. After a study of the question in its various phases the committee reported, and in April, 1919, the Faculty voted, that general examinations should “be established for all students concentrating in Divisions or under Committees which signify their willingness to try such examinations,” and that they “be employed for the members of the present Freshman class.” Thereupon all the divisions under the Faculty, except those dealing with mathematics and the natural sciences, decided to make the experiment. Some of them did so reluctantly, with misgiving, and under a condition that they should not be obliged to employ tutors. By the academic year 1924-25, therefore, the students in all the divisions with a general examination had the benefit of tutoring.

Adopted by All Departments

Since that time the progress of the system has been gradual but continuous. In 1926 the departments of mathematics, biology, and bio-chemical sciences adopted it; and in 1928 geology and physics were added to the list; leaving chemistry as the only department with a large number of concentrators that still retains the older methods, and its work is done so much in laboratories that its position is peculiar. The only change in the system has come from a demand by the students themselves. There has been no desire on the part of the University to abandon teaching or examination in courses by copying the practice at Oxford and Cambridge of leaving instruction wholly to the tutor, as that would have seemed ill-adapted to the habits of the College.

Source: Harvard Crimson, January 10, 1933.

 

TUTORIAL SYSTEM HEREAFTER
Rules for Concentration in History, Government and Economics Will Apply Next Year.
April 10, 1914

Beginning with the class of 1917 and applying to all subsequent classes, a new rule in regard to concentration in the Division of History, Government and Economics has been adopted.

Concentration in this Division requires at least six courses which are related to each other. Under the new system all students concentrating in this division will be required to pass in their Senior year a final examination covering their special field within the Division, and consisting of a written examination early in the spring, and an oral examination toward the close of the year. In order to prepare students for these examinations the University will provide special tutors beginning with the Sophomore year.

Only Two Introductory Courses.

Every student intending to concentrate in History, Government, and Economics should state the Department in which he will take at least four courses and the Department in which he will take the remaining two. He will not be allowed to count towards his concentration more than two of the introductory courses, History 1, Government 1, and Economics A. The aim of the system is to enforce a more accurate knowledge and comprehension of studies as a whole. This aim has frequently not been achieved owing to the wide scattering of courses.

Source: Harvard Crimson, April 10, 1914.

 

 

THE TUTORIAL SYSTEM.
April 10, 1914

There are two new features in the recently announced requirements of the Division of History, Government and Economics, namely, the general examination and the tutorial system. And they are complementary. The task of the tutor is to intelligently guide the student in his preparation for the final examination, to assist him in that organization and correlation of his work which is the key-note of the plan. His work begins where the adviser’s work ends. The adviser still superintends the choice of courses made by the student although it is to be expected, probably, that a capable tutor will tend to influence this choice. It will be impossible so sharply to distinguish the task of choosing courses and correlating them as to prevent this. The sanction of the adviser may approximate formal permission, with the guiding force held by the tutor.

The general examination on the other hand, modelled after the plan in use for doctorate examinations, including a general examination for the division work and a supplementary special test for the department or field, reaches over the whole matter of choice and organization and focuses the work of the adviser, tutor and student.

One result is inevitable, that is, the effect of producing a more serious scientific attitude toward the work. The student who chooses this Division will be presumed to have made the choice with serious intent to perfect himself in that line. The student who chose that work because he had to concentrate in something may well feel he is getting more than he bargained for. This is not a criticism; the result-to make study in that division more in the way of laboratory work, to lift it out of the region of inconsequent eclectic undergraduate education may be more serious. The decline or increase in the number of men in the Division will show to what an extent the work there is taken for serious reasons, not as a line of least resistance.

The effect in minimizing course grades, cramming, and mechanical study can only be helpful. To produce capable and broad-minded students, with a wide grasp of their field and an accurate knowledge of their specialty is the very desirable end to which the system aims. And that not by more work but by better organization.

 

Source: Harvard Crimson, April 10, 1914.

 

From the Annual Reports of the President of Harvard College

… the single course is not, and cannot be, the true unit in education. The real unit is the student. He is the only thing in education that is an end in itself. To send him forth as nearly a perfected product as possible is the aim of instruction, and anything else, the single course, the curriculum, the discipline, the influences surrounding him, are merely means to the end, which are to be judged by the way they contribute and fit into the ultimate purpose. To treat the single course as a self-sufficient unit, complete in itself, is to run a danger of losing sight of the end in the means thereto…

…In the College the problem of making the student, instead of the course, the unit in education is more difficult than in the other parts of the University, because general education is more intangible, more vague, less capable of precise analysis and definition, than training for a profession. Nevertheless, in the College, some significant steps have been taken which tend in this direction. The first was the requirement that every student must concentrate six of his seventeen courses in some definite field, must distribute six more among the other subjects of knowledge, and must do so after consulting an instructor appointed to advise him….

…The rule of concentration, coupled with the provision that no tmore than two of the six courses shall be of an elementary character, is intended to compel every man to study some subject with thoroughness, and acquire a systematic knowledge thereof….

…The second step in treating the student, instead of the course, as the unit in education, was taken by the Division of History, Government, and Economics, when, and with the approval of the Faculty, it set up the requirement of a general examination at graduation for students concentrating in that division. The examination, which is entrusted to a committee representing the three departments within the division, is to be distinct from that in the courses elected, and is to include not only the ground covered in them, but also the general field with which they have dealt, and the knowledge needed to connect them. This is a marked departure from the plan of earning a degree by scoring courses; and it will take time to adjust men’s conceptions of education to a basis new to the American college, though familiar in every European university. To assist the students in preparing themselves for the general examination each of them at the beginning of his Sophomore year is assigned to the charge of a tutor who confers with him about his work and guides his reading outside of that required in the courses. As the plan could be applied only to men entering after it was established, the first examinations will be held next spring [1916], and then only for men who graduate in three years.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1914-15, pp. 8-10.

Courses are merely a means to an end, and that end is the education of the student. One method of placing courses in their true light as a means of education is the provision of comprehensive examinations for graduation, covering the general field of the student’s principal work beyond the precise limits of the courses he has taken. This has long been done in the case of the doctorate of philosophy; and in the year covered by this report [1915-16] it was applied for the first time to undergraduates concentrating in the Division of History, Government, and Economics. Only twenty-four students of the Class of 1917, who finished their work in three years and concentrated in this field, came under its operation; but they were numerous enough to give a definite indication of the working of the plan. To that extent the results were satisfactory. The examination papers were well designed for measuring the knowledge and grasp of the subject, with a large enough range of options to include the various portions of the field covered by the different candidates; and the examiners themselves were satisfied with the plan as a fair means of testing the qualification of the students. During the coming year a much larger number of men will come up for this comprehensive examination, which promises to mark a new departure in American college methods.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1915-16, p.19.

A significant event of the year [1915-16] was the inauguration by the Division of History, Government, and Economics of its new examination of candidates for the Bachelor’s degree who have concentrated in the Division. This examination was devised “not in order to place an additional burden upon candidates for the A.B., but for the purpose of securing better correlation of the student’s work, encouraging better methods of study, and furnishing a more adequate test of real power and attainment.” In their preparation students have from the beginning of the Sophomore year special tutorial instruction. The examination embraces three tests: first, a general paper, with a large number of alternative questions, treating comprehensively the subjects of the Division; second, a special paper, covering a chosen specific field; and lastly, a supplementary oral examination which may relate to either the general or the special paper, but ordinarily bears upon the specific field. The results of the first examination, taken by a comparatively small group of men graduating in three years, are in no way conclusive. The members of the examining committee, however, think them distinctly encouraging. Twenty-four candidates appeared, of whom twenty-two passed and two failed. Their selection of questions from the general paper indicated breadth of preparation and their bearing at the oral examination showed more than a little clearness and independence of thought.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1915-16, pp.75-76.

__________________

 

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF A. B.
1915–16

GENERAL DIVISION EXAMINATION

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 Empires of Rome and of Charlemagne.
  2. Discus the influence of religious ideas on national life and institutions in the Americas.
  3. What were the principal factors in the development of the United States from (a) 1776 to 1818, or (b) 1818 to 1861, or (c) 1861 to 1898, or (d) 1898 to the present?
  4. Discuss and illustrate the economic bases of political party allegiance.
  5. Explain the influence of British policy upon international law.
  6. Why do the peoples of the temperate zones tend to assume leadership among the peoples of the earth?
  7. How does the federal form of government affect the life of a nation?
  8. Sketch the political and economic careers of two of the following: (a) Cobden, (b) Bright, (c) Hamilton, (d) Chase, (e) Colbert, (f) Jaurès.
  9. Compare English, French, and Spanish colonial methods and policies in the New World.

 

Part II

Five questions only from the following groups, A, B, and C, are to be answered, of which three 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. In what respects has Roman political organization influenced Western Europe of modern times?
  2. What has been the effect of the embodiment of nationalities in political unities during the nineteenth century?
  3. Why was the influence of Metternich so potent?
  4. Discuss as to municipalities: “The citizens may have as good government as they care to demand.”
  5. To what extent are the constitutional principles of the United States common among Central and South American States?
  6. Why were spheres of interest claimed in Africa and in Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?
  7. To what extent and why should national party preferences be followed in state and municipal elections?
  8. In what countries has municipal government been more highly developed; why and with what results for the citizen and for the municipality?

 

B

  1. The development of the idea of the Balance of Power up to the Peace of Utrecht.
  2. Show how Europe influenced the Far East in the second half of the nineteenth century.
  3. What services did the English colonies in America render to the mother country previous to 1763?
  4. Explain the influence of pro-slavery sentiment on the expansion of the United States.
  5. Explain causes and results of European immigration into the United States within the last fifty years.
  6. Show the development of steam transportation in Europe and its results.
  7. Why are recent constitutions of states in the United States generally lengthy documents?
  8. Write briefly on five of the following: (a) Abelard, (b) Copernicus, (c) Erasmus, (d) Vasco de Gama, (e) Grotius, (f) Huss, (g) Justinian, (h) Locke, (i) Petrarch, (j) Rousseau.

 

C

  1. Is the trust a desirable feature of modern economic organization?
  2. Should England modify her policy of free trade?
  3. Trace and explain the history of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
  4. What caused the failure of the Confederacy?
  5. Analyze the three most important political aspects of the socialist movement; the three most important economic aspects.
  6. To what extent was the failure of the first Bank of the United States to secure a renewal of its charter due to political factors; to what extent, to economic?
  7. What have been the economic and political consequences of state ownership of the railways of Prussia?
  8. Account for the modern increase of public expenditures in (a) Europe; (b) American city government; (c) the Federal government of the United States.

April 27, 1916.

__________________

DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Economic history

Answer six questions.

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

  1. Considered in its theoretical aspects the tariff policy of the United States since 1845.
  2. What factors have contributed most to changes in the distribution of wealth in the United States since 1870?
  3. Trace the development of uniform accounting for railroads in this country. Indicate any connections between your uniform accounting and government regulation of the railroads.
  4. Analyze the merits and defects of our current statistics of (a) imports and exports; or (b) wholesale prices; or (c) wages; or  (d) industrial organization.

 

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

  1. Compare tariff changes in England and Germany during the nineteenth century.
  2. Discuss the essential features of the labor movement in England from 1825 to 1850.
  3. What have been the different lines of development in the combination movement in England?
  4. Discussing the economic aspects of the American Revolution with respect to (a) factors contributing to the revolution; (b) resources affecting the outcome; (c) consequences of the War.
  5. Explaining any important national policies developed in the United States between 1815 and 1830.
  6. Write the monetary history of United States during one of the following periods: (a) 1792-1837; (b) 1879-1893; (c) 1893-date.
  7. Trace the history of our mercantile marine, giving special attention to significant government policies.
  8. Give a brief account of organized labor in the United States.
  9. Indicate any important changes in American agriculture since 1900.

 

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

  1. Has private ownership of the railroads justified itself in the United States? What is the case for and against government ownership of railroads in this country?
  2. Explain and criticise the presence policy of the Federal government regarding industrial combinations.
  3. Discuss critically the project of a non-partisan Federal tariff board.
  4. Discuss the causes, extent, and consequences of the change in the price level since 1897.

May 5, 1916.

__________________

DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Money and Banking

Answer six questions.

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

  1. State and criticise the quantity theory of money.
  2. Analyze a typical bank statement.
  3. Discuss index numbers of prices with reference to (a) the purposes they may serve; (b) various methods of construction; (c) the best index numbers for wholesale prices in the United States.
  4. Where should you look for statistics of the following : (a) bank clearings of England and the United States; (b) resources and liabilities of banks in Massachusetts; (c) foreign exchange rates in New York in 1903; (d) the monetary stock of the United States; (e) current changes in the value of gold?

 

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

  1. Compare the adoption of the single gold standard by England and by Germany.
  2. To what extent, and by what means, has the financial administration of the Federal government in the United States influenced our monetary history?
  3. Give a critical account of the greenbacks from 1862 to 1878. Indicate all factors, political and other, connected with this episode of monetary history.
  4. Analyze the factors leading to the adoption of the Federal Reserve banking system. Compare these factors with those leading to the establishment of the National banking system.

 

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

  1. Describe and criticise the existing monetary system of the United States.
  2. Explain and illustrate the gold exchange monetary standard.
  3. What different meanings have been suggested for stabilizing the value of our monetary standards? What objections, if any, are to be raised against each of the proposed measures?
  4. Distinguish the different kinds of banking. To what extent should they be conducted by the same institutions? To what extent have they been combined in the United States? In any other countries?
  5. What measures have been adopted before 1914 by the Bank of England to prevent or allay financial panics? What action was taken in 1914 to meet the banking conditions created by the outbreak of the European War?
  6. Indicate any connections which have existed between the banks and the railroads within the United States.
  7. How and why has the European War affected foreign exchange between United States and other countries?
  8. Account for the financial panic of 1907. To what extent, and by what means, does the Federal Reserve system promise to prevent the recurrence of the conditions of 1907?

May 5, 1916.

__________________

DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Corporate Organization, including Railroads

Answer six questions.

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

  1. Discussed critically the “economies of industrial combination.”
  2. What official statistics throw light upon industrial organization in the United States? Criticize the available statistics of the subject.
  3. Trace the development of uniform accounting for railroads in this country. Indicate any connections between uniform accounting and government regulation of the railroads.
  4. Enumerate the principal sources of railway statistics at the present time, Shelbi and show the content, importance, and deficiencies (if any) of each.

 

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

  1. What has been the policy of American states with respect to business corporations?
  2. What have been the different lines of development in the combination movement in England?
  3. Compare the history of water transportation in the United States, England, and Germany.
  4. Give an account of the “trust movement” in the United States since 1898.

 

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

  1. Describe in detail how control is vested and exercised in a typical modern business corporation.
  2. Describes the formation of some large industrial combination effected in the United States since 1898.
  3. What have been the more important economic and social consequences of the corporate organization of industry?
  4. What connections exist between banks and industrial combinations in the United States? Contrast the situation here with that in Germany.
  5. Discuss the Federal Trade Commission with respect to (a) the reasons for its establishment; (b) its tenure of office and powers; (c) its probable future.
  6. Upon what different bases may railway systems be appraised? What are the merits and defects of each of the bases indicated?
  7. Discuss standards of reasonableness (a) for the general level of railway rates; (b) for rates on particular commodities.
  8. Give an account of the relations between organize labor and our railroads.
  9. What different relationships as to ownership, management, and regulation may exist between the government and public service industries? Criticise in turn each of these possible relationships.

May 5, 1916.

 

__________________

DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Public Finance

Answer six questions.

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

  1. Discuss critically the different theories of justice and taxation.
  2. From an accounting point of view, wherein are municipal accounts essentially unlike business accounts? What factors impair the value of municipal accounts?
  3. Outline a system of uniform municipal accounts. What provisions have been made in the United States for the use of the uniform municipal accounts?
  4. What are the chief sources of public finance statistics in the United States?

 

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

  1. Give the history of the Federal public land policy to 1835. Show any connections between the public land policy and the treatment of the public debt.
  2. Sketch the development and present status of the general property tax in this country.
  3. Givs a critical account of the Independent Treasury of the United States.
  4. Distinguish “direct” and “indirect” taxes. Describe the separation of direct and indirect taxation under our system of national and state governments. What were the reasons for this separation? What have been its consequences, economic and political?

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

  1. For what different objects has taxation been employed? Give illustrations. What is to be said for and against the employment of taxation for each of the purposes indicated?
  2. Formulate and defend a plan for a state income tax.
  3. Discuss inheritance taxes in the United States with reference to (a) the employment of inheritance taxes by state and Federal governments; (b) The rates applied; (c) the use of progressive rates; (d) the maximum advisable rates; (e) possible effects upon the distribution of wealth.
  4. What is the case for and against the partial or complete exemption of improvements from taxation under the general property tax? Where, if at all, have such a policy been adopted?
  5. What is “double taxation”? Under what circumstances, if any, is it objectionable? Why is the problem of double taxation a serious one today in the United States? What solution can be suggested?
  6. Suppose the Federal government abolishes all import duties upon sugar and substitutes equivalent bounties on sugar production in the United States. How, if at all, does this tend to affect the distribution of wealth? When, and for what reasons, has a change similar to that supposed been actually made in the United States?
  7. To what extent, and by what process, is a tax shifted to consumers when levied upon a commodity produced (a) at constant cost? (b) at decreasing cost? (c) at increasing cost? (d) by a monopoly? Illustrate by diagrams.

May 5, 1916.

 

__________________

OTHER DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATIONS (Not transcribed here)

Modern History since 1789 including American History
American Government
Municipal Government
Political Theory

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Divisional and general examinations, 1915-1975(HUC 7000.18). Box 6, Bound Volume (stamped “Private Library Arthur H. Cole”) “Divisional Examinations 1916-1927”.

Image Source:  1875 Gate at Harvard Yard. From the Wallace Nutting photographic Collection at the Historic New England website.

Categories
Economic History Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate Yale

Yale. Undergraduate Economic History of Europe. Cohen, 1972

 

Today’s post is the course outline with readings for the undergraduate course on the economic history of Europe since the Industrial Revolution that I took at Yale during the Spring semester of my junior year (1972). The course was taught by assistant professor Jon S. Cohen. 

From the perspective of today it is hard to imagine the sheer abundance of courses in economic history offered at that time. I have already posted the course outlines for Harry Miskimin’s course on the Economic History of Europe through the Industrial Revolution and William Parker’s course on U.S. Economic History, as well as Ray Powell’s course on History of the Soviet Economy.

While I must confess that I cannot summon any particular memory from the class itself beyond what I have managed to internalize from the readings below, a mere bibliographic residual, there was a later paper written by Cohen along with another one of my M.I.T. professors that possessed the needed  salience to survive in my memory to this day:

Jon S. Cohen and Martin Weitzman. A Marxian model of enclosures. Journal of Development Economics, 1975, vol. 1, issue 4, 287-336.

____________________

American Economic Association Membership Listing (1981)

Cohen, Jon S. Div. of Soc. Sci., Scarborough Coll., U. of Toronto, West Hill, ON M1C 1A4, Canada. Birth Year: 1939. Degrees: B.A. Columbia Coll., 1960; M.A., U. of Calif. at Berkeley, 1964; Ph.D., U. of Calif. at Berkeley, 1966. Prin. Cur. Position: Associate Prof., U. of Toronto, 1972-. Concurrent/Past Positions:  Asst. Prof., Yale U., 1966-72. Research: European economic history and th eeocnomics of education.

Source: Biographical Listing of Members. American Economic Review, Vol. 71, No. 6. (Dec., 1981), p. 101.

List of Publications: 1996-2019.

____________________

 

Economic History of Europe
Since the Industrial Revolution
Economics 81b (History 60b)
Spring 1972

Mr. J. Cohen
501 SSS
Ex. 63246

You are expected to read all (or large parts) of the following books:

David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus

Paul Mantoux, The Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century

E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class

T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830

J. H. Clapham, The Economic Development of France and Germany, 1815-1914

An attempt will be made to devote at least one class meeting each week to discussion of these books and other assigned readings. Topics which will be covered and suggested reading are listed below.

I. Preliminaries to Industrialization:

A) Trade and Political Change

W. E. Minchinton (ed.), The Growth of English Overseas Trade, Introduction.

B. Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Chapter I.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 2.

B) Population Change

Michael Drake (ed.), Population in Industrialization, Introduction, Chapters 3, 6, 7.

C) Agricultural Change

E. L. Jones (ed.), Agriculture and Economic Growth, Introduction, Chapter 44.

[addition, handwritten] Marx Vol. I, Part 8—Accumulation of Capital. Chapters 27-30.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 3.

II. Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

A) Industrial Change

D. Landes, Chapters 2-3.

T. Ashton, Chapter 3.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 1; Part II.

[addition, handwritten] Karl Polanyi, Great Transformation

B) Finance and Capital

P. Deane, The First Industrial Revolution, Chapters 10, 11, 13.

T. Ashton, Chapters 4-5.

C) Social and Economic Conditions

P. Mantoux, Part III.

E. P. Thompson, Part II.

T. Ashton, Chapters V-VI.

D) The Course of Economic Change After 1830

E. J. Hobsbawm, Chapters VI-IX. [Industry & Empire]

M. Dobb, Studies in the Development of Capitalism, Chapter 9.

III. Industrialization on the Continent

D. Landes, Chapters III-V.

A. Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, Chapter 1.

J. H. Clapham, selected chapters on France and Germany [1848-1915 Germany]

B. Supple (ed.), The Experience of Economic Growth, selected chapters. [Landes, Cameron,

[addition, handwritten] Cameron (ed.), Essays in French Economic History. Claude Fohlen, Ind. Rev. in France.

IV. The International Economy to 1914

R. Triffin, Our International Monetary System, Part I, Chapter I.

R. Winks (ed.), British Imperialism, 11-51, 82-96.

V. The Interwar Period and After

W.A. Lewis, Economic Survey, 1919-1939, selected chapters.

[handwritten addition to bottom of page]

Gallagher and Robinson, The Imperialism of Free Trade. E.H.R., 1953

Eckstein (ed.), Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

Rosovsky (ed.), Industrialization in Two Systems

[handwritten addition, back of the second page of syllabus]

Possible paper topics.

  1. Enclosures and population movements in Great Britain in the 17th century
  2. Patters of enclosure in France
  3. Land markets in 18th century Britain
  4. Colonial policy in Britain—Sources of policy. Interest groups.
  5. Eric Williams—impact of slavery on Industrialization
  6. Labor movement and progress of England. Awareness, Consciousness
  7. Rise of protection and aggressive foreign policy.

Source:  Personal Copy, Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Jon S. Cohen webpage at the University of Toronto.

 

 

Categories
Economic History Economists Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate Yale

Yale. Undergraduate European Economic History through the Industrial Revolution. Miskimin, 1971

 

Reflecting on my own academic upbringing, I am increasingly amazed at the sheer abundance of economic history courses still offered at Yale and MIT in the 1970s. My first taste of economic history came with Harry Miskimin’s course on the economic history of Europe up through the Industrial Revolution. I later took a graduate course he offered on French mercantilism. I remember well the sage advice he gave me to postpone work in economic history to first get trained in the analytic tools of economics, since he thought I apparently could handle the demands of economics graduate school. I believe he was the only professor I ever had who actually smoked (cigarettes) in class. 

From the Yale Daily News Archives I learned that Harry Miskimin later served as president of the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). There is a low-resolution picture of Miskimin in his mature years in the article linked.

Below are the assigned readings for the European economic history course from the Fall Term, 1971-72.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
100% Yalie

Harry Alvin Miskimin, Jr. was born September 8, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey. He died October 24, 1995.

B.A. Yale, 1954; M.A. Yale, 1958; Ph.D. Yale, 1960. From instructor to professor history Yale University, New Haven, since 1960, associate professor, 1964-1971, professor history, since 1971, chairman department history, 1986-1989, Charles Seymour Professor of History, since 1991.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
Obituary Note

Post by Wendy Plotkin
H-Urban Co-Editor
14 January 1996

1995 saw the death of Harry A. Miskimin, the Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University in October. According to a press release received from H-Net Central in December, Professor Miskimin was

“An authority on the economic history of medieval and early modern Europe” and “the author of five books, including The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe, 1300-1460and The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe, 1460-1600both of which were translated in Spanish and Portuguese; Money and Power in Fifteenth Century France, Money, Prices and Foreign Exchange in Fourteenth Century Franceand Cash, Credit and Crisis in Europe, 1300-1600.”

Professor Miskimin was general editor of four volumes of the Cambridge University Press series “The Economic Civilization of Europe.”

Of special interest to H-Urban subscribers, Miskimin co-edited THE MEDIEVAL CITY with A. Udovitch and D. Herlihy (Yale University Press, 1977). This collection included:

    1. The Italian City

Herlihy, “Family and property in Renaissance Florence”
Krekic, B., “Four Florentine commercial companies in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the first half of the fourteenth century”
Lane, F. C. “The First Infidelities of the Venetian Lire”
Cipolla, C. M. “A Plague Doctor”
Kedar, B.Z. “The Genoese Notaries of 1382”
Hughes, D. O. “Kinsmen and neighbors in Medieval Genoa”
Peters, E. Pars, parte: “Dante and an Urban Contribution to Political Thought”

    1. The Eastern City

Udovitch, A. L. “A Tale of Two Cities”
Goitein, S. D. “A Mansion in Fustat”
Prawer, J. “Crusader Cities”
Teall, J. “Byzantine Urbanism in the Military Handbooks”

    1. The Northern City:

Miskimin, H. A. “The Legacies of London”
Munro, J. “Industrial Protectionism in Medieval Flanders”
Strayer, J.R. “The Costs and Profits of War”
Hoffmann, R. C. “Wroclaw Citizens as Rural Landholders”
Cohen, S. “The Earliest Scandinavian Towns”

Professor Miskimin was noted for his work on the “beginning of the transition from medieval to modern economies.” I am interested in reflections on this and other work of Professor Miskimin.

After obtaining his undergraduate and graduate education at Yale, he spent the rest of his career teaching at Yale College, serving as director of graduate studies for the Economic History Program after 1967.

On leave from Yale, Miskimin was for a period director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Although his intellectual work was on the medieval period, he participated in present day activities in his community, serving as a zoning commissioner for the Town of Woodbridge 1976-85, a member of the Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee and a board member of the Woodbridge Town Library.

Professor Miskimin was born in 1932 in East Orange, New Jersey, graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1950, and was in the U.S. Army from 1955-57.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online

_________________

Yale University
History 51 a – Economics 80a
Mr. Miskimin
Fall Term 1971-72

The readings from this course will be in diverse sources but the student may find it convenient to purchase the books of Herbert Heaton (Economic History of Europe rev. ed., Harper & Bros., New York, 1948) and Henri Pirenne (Economic and Social History of Mediaeval Europe, Harvest Books, Harcourt, Brace, New York.)

Sept. 17

 First Class

20

 Heaton, Chapters 4, 5

22

 Heaton, Chapters 6, 7

24

 Pirenne, pp. 38-86

27

 Pirenne, pp. 87-140

29

 Pirenne, pp. 141-188

Oct. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 8

4

 Heaton Chapters 9, 10

6

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 2, pp. 433-441, 456-92

8

 Pirenne, pp. 188-end
(Rec. Miskimin, The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe.)

11

 Heaton, Chapters 11, 12

13

 Hamilton, E. J., American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1601-1650. Scan thoroughly

15

 Continue Hamilton

18

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. IV, pp. 1-95.

20

 Nef, J. U., Industry and Government in France and England, 1540-1640, Great Seal Books, Cornell University Ithaca, 1957. Also in Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. XV, 1940. First half.

22

 Finish Nef

25

 Green, R.W., ed., Protestantism and Capitalism—The Weber Thesis and its Critics, D.C. Heath & Co., Boston. First half.

27

 Finish Green

29

 Heaton, Chapters 13, 14

Nov. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 15

3

 Heaton, Chapter 16

5

 Viner, Jacob, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Harper Brothers, New York. Chapter 1

8

 Viner, Chapter 2

10

 Cipolla, C. M., “The Decline of Italy,” Economic History Review, 1952, pp. 178-87. Hamilton, E. J., “The Decline of Spain,”Economic History Review, 1938, pp. 168-79

12

 Review Heaton, Chapters 13-16

15

 Hour Test (paper may be substituted)

17

 Wilson, C.H., “The Economic Decline of the Netherlands,” Economic History Review, 1939, pp. 111-127

19

 Heckscher, Eli, Mercantilism. Rev. ed., George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, 1955, Vol. I, pp. 78-109

22

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 137-78

24

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 178-220

26

 Helleiner, K.F., ed., Readings in European Economic History, University of Toronto Press, 1946. Section by R. H. Tawney, pp. 143-82

29

 Helleiner, Section by Tawney, pp. 183-223

Dec. 1

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, An Economic History of Europe since 1750, pp. 45-66; Cambridge Economic History, IV, chapter V, pp. 276-308

3

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, pp. 146-96

6

 Ashton, T.S., The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830. First third.

8

 Ashton, Second third

10

 Finish Ashton

13

 Taylor, Philip, ed., The Industrial Revolution—Triumph or Disaster? D.C. Heath & Company, Boston.

15

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 1-35

17

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 36-72

 

Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Harry Miskimin’s 1954 Yale yearbook portrait.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Development of Industrial Society. Course outline, readings, exam. Usher, 1933-34

 

An earlier post provides biographical information as well as links to other economic history courses taught by Abbott Payson Usher at Harvard. This post provides course enrollment data, outline and reading assignments, and the final examination questions for Usher’s course on the industrial history of western Europe up through English industrialisation.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 10b1 hf. Associate Professor Usher. – The Development of Modern Industrial Society, 1450-1850.

Total, 12: 10 Graduates, 2 Juniors.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1933-34, p. 85.

__________________

Reading, Economics 10b.
1933-34.

  1. Industrial Development, 1450-1850. To be completed, Oct. 30.

Bober, M.M. Karl Marx’ Interpretation of History, pp. 192-201.

Parsons, T. Capitalism in recent German Literature, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 36, pp. 641-661; vol. 37, pp. 31-51.

Usher, A.P. History of Mechanical Inventions, pp. 1-31, 221-355.

Mantoux, P. The Industrial Revolution in the 18thCentury, pp. 47-93, 193-317, 349-452.

Nef, J.U. The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I, 19-22, 165-189; II, 319-330.

Usher, A.P. Industrial History of England, 195-224, 247-271, 314-380.

Webb, S. and B. History of Trade Unionism, pp. 57-161.

  1. The reorganization of the agrarian system. To be completed, Nov. 13.

Mantoux, P. The Industrial Revolution in the 18thCentury, pp. 140-160.

Ernle, Lord. English Farmers Past and Present, (ed. 1917, 1919, 1922.) pp. 55-102, 148-175, 290-315.

Clapham, J.H. The Economic Development of France and Germany, pp. 6-52.

Renard, G. and Weulersse, G. Life and Labor in Modern Europe, pp. 205-247. (French ed. pp. 272-330.)

  1. The Rise of Economic Liberalism. To be completed, Nov. 27.

Armitage-Smith, G. Free Trade and its Results, pp. 39-61.

Marshall, Industry and Trade, (1923) 749-766. (British Move. to F.T.)

Barnes, D.G. History of the English Corn Laws, pp. 68-98, 117-156, 239-284.

Ashley, P. Modern Tariff History, (3rd. Ed.) pp. 3-132.

  1. The Beginnings of the Railroad. To be completed, Dec. 8.

Pratt, E.A. A History of Inland Transport in England, pp. 165-185, 195-257.

Usher, A.P. Industrial History of England, pp. 431-458.

Raper, C.L. Railway Transportation, pp. 61-82, 134-149, 166-177.

Clapham, J.H. Economic History of Modern Britain, I, pp. 75-97.

  1. The Rise of the Bank of England, To be completed, Dec. 22.

Richards, R.D. The Early History of Banking in England, pp. 23-64, 132-175, 189-201.

Andreades, A. History of the Bank of England, pp. 60-71, 284-294, 312-331, 370-389.

Silberling, N.J. The Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, Q.J.E., vol. 38, pp. 214-233, 397-439.

Clapham, J.H. Economic History of Modern Britain, II, pp. 333-385.

Reading Period

Economics 10b.

Readings for the graduate members of the course will be found posted in the Graduate Economics Library.

Undergraduates are to read 350 pages from any two of the following titles:

(1) Ashton, T.A., Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution.
(2) Nef, J.U., The Rise of the British Coal Industry.
(3) Wadsworth, A.P. and J. Mann, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire.
(4) Chapman, S.J., The Lancashire Cotton Industry.
(5) Daniels, G.W., The Early English Cotton Industry.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics 1933-34”.

__________________

European Industry and Commerce
1450-1850
Books for review.

Moffit, Louis W. England on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

Bowden, Witt. Industrial society in England towards the end of the eighteenth century.

Redford, Arthur. Labour migration in England, 1800-1850.

Tawney, R.H. Religion and the rise of capitalism.

Weber, Max. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.

Warner, Wellman J. The Wesleyan movement in the Industrial Revolution.
and
Grubb, Isabel. Quakerism and Industry before 1800.

Daniels, George W. The early English cotton Industry.

Wadsworth, A.P. and Mann, Julia. The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780.

Unwin, George. Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights.

Heaton, Herbert. The Yorkshire Woollen and Worsted industries.

Ashton, Thomas. Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution.

Ashton, T. and Sykes, J. The Coal Industry of the eighteenth century.

Roll, Erich. An experiment in Industrial organization.

Allen G.C. The Industrial development of the Black Country.

Hovell, Mark. The Chartist movement.

Pomfret, J.E. The struggle for land in Ireland.

Albion, Robert. Forests and Sea Power.

Ackworth, A.W. Financial reconstruction in England, 1815-22.

Lord, J. Capital and Steam Power.

Brady, Alexander. William Huskisson.

Ramsay, Anna. Sir Robert Peel.

Cole, G.D.H. Life of William Cobbett.

Jenks, L.H. Migration of British Capital to 1875.

Siegfried, A. La crise Britannique au XXe siècle.

Rappard, William. La révolution industrielle et les origines de la protection légale du travail en Suisse.

Lewinski, Jan de St. L’évolution industrielle de la Belgique.

Hammond, J.L. The age of the Chartists.

Hammond, J.L and B. The skilled labourer.

______________. The rise of modern industry.

Bessemer, Sir Henry. Autobiography.

Wallas, Graham. Life of Francis Place.

Berdrow, W. Krupp: a great business man seen through his letters.

Roe, J. W. British and American Toolmakers.

[handwritten additions follow]

Ballot, Charles. L’introduction du machinisme dan l’industrie française.

Sée, H. Modern Capitalism.

Sée, H. L’Évolution commerciale et industrielle de la France.

Hauser, H. Les débuts du capitalisme.

Boissonnade, G. Colbert et la dictature du travail.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics 1933-34”.

__________________

Final Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10b2
June 1934

I
(About one hour.)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:
    1. Graduates:
      the position of Malthus in the light of historical studies of population,
      primary factors affecting the increase of population in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century,
      vital indices and the measurement of material well-being,
      biological laws of population growth,
      the processes of invention and achievement.
    2. Undergraduates:
      an episode in the history of any one of the following industries, cotton, coal, or iron,
      Sée’s concept of modern capitalism and its development, the processes of invention and achievement.

II
(About two hours.)
Answer four questions.

  1. Discuss the development of the factory system in the eighteenth century.
  2. In what ways did the introduction of crop rotations furnish motives for the enclosure of arable land.
  3. What were the purposes of the Corn Laws in the period 1815 to 1840? What was the actual effect of these laws?
  4. Describe the relations between the State and the Railways in France, 1840-1883.
  5. Sketch the development of central banking in England to 1860.

Source: Harvard University. Examination Papers, Finals 1934. (HUC 7000.28) Vol. 76 of 284.

Image Source: Abott Payson Usher faculty picture in Harvard College, Class Album 1939.

Categories
Courses Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics course descriptions, enrollments, final exams. 1915-16.

 

In this post I have assembled all the Harvard economics examinations I could find for the academic year 1915-16 and then supplement these with the annual enrollment data published in the President’s annual report which incidentally identifies the course instructors. Next I thought it would be even nicer to add course descriptions, but unfortunately I did not have access to the published 1915-16 announcement for the Division of History, Government, and Economics so I have added the course descriptions from 1914-15 or 1916-17 where the course titles and instructors exactly match.

For year-long courses, only the year-end final examination was included in the Harvard publication of examination papers, i.e. the mid-year final exams from January are missing for those courses. However, for the principles course and Taussig’s graduate theory course I have been able to find copies of those exams filed elsewhere in the Harvard archives (see notes).

Primarily for undergraduates:

Principles of Economics (Day with selected topics by Taussig)

For undergraduates and graduates
Statistics (Day)
Accounting (Davis)
European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century (Gay)
Economic and Financial History of the United States (Gay)
Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises (Anderson)
Economics of Transportation (Ripley)
Economics of Corporations (Ripley
Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation (Bullock)
Trade Unionism and Allied Problems (Ripley)
Economic Theory (Taussig)
Principles of Sociology (Carver)
Economics of Agriculture (Carver)

Primarily for graduates
Economic Theory (Taussig)
The Distribution of Wealth (Carver)
Statistics: Theory, Method, and Practice (Day)
History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 (Bullock)
Analytical Sociology (Anderson)
Public Finance (Bullock)

 

________________________

Principles of Economics (Day with selected topics by Taussig)

ECONOMICS A: Course announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] A. (formerly 1). Principles of Economics. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11.
Professor TAUSSIG and Asst. Professor DAY and five assistants.

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

The course will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. Course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

ECONOMICS A: Enrollment [1915-16]

 [Economics] A. Asst. Professor Day; and Dr. J. S. Davis and Mr. P. G. Wright, Dr. Burbank, and Messrs. Monroe, Lincoln, R.E. Richter, and Van Sickle. With Lectures on selected topics by Professor Taussig. — Principles of Economics.

Total 477: 1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 111 Juniors, 278 Sophomores, 13 Freshmen, 46 Other.

ECONOMICS A: Mid-Year Examination [1915-16]

Plan your answers carefully before writing. Write concisely. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions, beginning each on a new page.

  1. What are the characteristic features of each of the following: (a) horizontal combination; (b) a bill of exchange; (c) bimetallism; (d) marginal cost; (e) subsidiary coinage?
  2. Give four important economic advantages of (a) the complex division of labor; (b) large-scale production; (c) the corporate form of organization.
  3. Indicate any important connections existing between (a) the corporation and large-scale production; (b) large-scale production and dumping; (c) dumping and a protective tariff; (d) a protective tariff and the geographical division of labor.
  4. What conditions of demand and supply tend to promote, what to impede, organized speculation? What are the functions, and what the chief consequences of, organized speculation in agricultural products?
  5. In what ways, if at all, is monopoly price affected by (a) cost of production per unit? (b) an elastic demand for the product? Illustrate by diagrams, assuming conditions of (1) constant cost, (2) decreasing cost.
  6. Briefly describe the Panic of 1907 in New York. What provisions of the Federal Reserve Act do you consider most likely to be effective in preventing or allaying future financial panics in the United States? Give your reasons in detail.
  7. What has been the general course of the sterling exchange rate since the beginning of 1914? What factors have been influential in causing changes in the rate? How has each factor operated?

Source note:  This mid-year examination was found at Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992. (UA V 349.295.6) Box 1, Folder “Economics I, Final Exams 1913-1939”.

ECONOMICS A: Final Examination [1915-16]

Plan your answers carefully before writing. Write concisely. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions, beginning each on a new page.

  1. What is meant by (a) marginal cost; (b) the representative firm? How, if at all, is marginal cost connected with the short- and long-time values of (a)fresh vegetables; (b) wheat; (c)a railroad rate; (d) a gold dollar?
  2. Explain: (a) free coinage; (b) undervalued metal; (c) overissue; (d) “creation of deposits”; (e) bank reserve; (f) currency premium.
  3. “Think of it! British ships are bringing in foreign tires; British money is going abroad to pay for them1; and British motorists are using them. The available supplies of British-made tires are ample for all needs. Imported tires are inessentials; they hurt British credit2, they lower the exchange of the English pound3, they increase freights4, they make necessities dearer5, and increase our national indebtedness6.” To what extent is the reasoning valid at the several points indicated?
  4. Explain what is meant by (a) the unearned increment of land; (b) “the unearned increment of railways”; (c) increment taxes; (d)the incidence of taxes on land; (e) the Single Tax.
  5. What effects upon wages, if any, should you expect to result from (a) free industrial education; (b) collective bargaining; (c) limitation of output by organized labor; (d) introduction of labor-saving machinery?
  6. What should you expect to be the effect of immigration into the United States on (a) the increase of population here; (b) wages in the United States; (c) American urban rents; (d) profits of American business men?
  7. What is to be said for and against (a) unemployment insurance; (b) compulsory arbitration for public service industries; (c) profit-sharing as an agency for industrial peace?
  8. Explain: (a) restraint of trade at common law; (b) restraint of trade under United States statute law; (c) “rule of reason”; (d) “unfair competition”; (e) Kartel.

 

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Statistics (Day)

ECONOMICS 1a1: Course announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 1a 1hf. Statistics. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Asst. Professor DAY, assisted by Mr. F. E. RICHTER.

This course will deal primarily with the elements of statistical method. The following subjects will be considered: methods of collecting and tabulating data; the construction and use of diagrams; the use and value of the various types and averages; index-numbers; dispersion; interpolation; correlation. Special attention will be given to the accuracy of statistical material. In the course of this study of statistical method, examples of the best statistical information will be presented, and the best sources will be indicated. Population and vital statistics will be examined in some measure, but economic statistics will predominate.

Laboratory work in the solution of problems and the preparation of charts and diagrams will be required.

ECONOMICS 1a1: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 44: 2 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 7 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 1a1: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. What is meant by “the statistical method”? What is the scientific importance of the method? What are its limitations?
  2. Describe concisely the essential steps in the preparation for a population census.
  3. Sketch briefly the history of wage statistics in the United States.
  4. Describe in detail, and criticize, the Babson method of forecasting business conditions.
  5. Explain briefly: (a) law of statistical regularity; (b) probable error; (c) series; (d) mode; (e) the normal frequency curve; (f) skewness.
  6. Formulate a set of rules for the construction of frequency tables and graphs.
  7. By what different statistical devices may the structure — or distribution — of two different groups of data be compared?
  8. Explain briefly: correlation; ratio of variation.
    Criticise fully the following statement: “A very large degree of regression — that is, a large deviation of the line of regression from the line of equal proportional variation — indicates a slight degree of correlation.”

 

________________________

Accounting (Davis)

ECONOMICS 1b2: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 1b 2hf. Accounting. Half-course (second half-year). Lectures, Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30; problems and laboratory practice, two hours a week. Dr. J. S. Davis, assisted by Mr. F. E. RICHTER and—.

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

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

ECONOMICS 1b2: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 1b2 hf. Dr. J. S. Davis, assisted by Mr. Cox. — Accounting.

Total 116: 49 Seniors, 62 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 1b2: Final Examination [1915-16]

Be concise. Reserve at least 45 minutes for Question 8. If desired, one of the first five questions may be omitted.

  1. What purposes are served by a Journal? a Ledger? Is it possible to keep complete and accurate accounts with these books alone?
    b. Name five other account books commonly found, and indicate briefly the nature and special function of each.
  2. Explain briefly: posting, contingent liability, corporate surplus, amortization table, secret reserve.
  3. With respect to each of the following, indicate (preferably in tabular form) (a) whether it would normally show a debit or credit balance, (b) whether it would appear on balance sheet or income statement, and (c) what kindof account it represents.

Rentals of Properties Owned
Sinking Fund Securities
Insurance Unexpired
Reserve for Accrued Depreciation
Depreciation on Equipment
Premium on Stock Issued
Advances to Subsidiary Companies
Extraordinary Flood Damages

  1. Draft journal entries (omiting explanations) for the following transactions of the General Utility Company:
    1. Sale of six desks to Jackson & Jackson, @ $15, 30 days, receiving in part payment their 30-day note for $50.
    2. Declaring dividends of $200,000, setting aside out of current income a fire insurance reserve of $100,000, and adding the balance of the year’s income ($60,000) to the surplus.
    3. Making the semi-annual interest payment on a million-dollar 6 per cent bond issue, the bond premium being simultaneously amortised to the extent of $2000.
    4. Loss by fire of a building which cost $60,000, and upon which depreciation of $10,000 had accrued and been allowed for.
  2. What is the purpose of a balance sheet? What are its essential elements? What are the main items or groups of items on the balance sheet of a railroad company? At what points are balance sheets frequently defective, inaccurate, or misleading?
  3. Do the following, in a railroad report, ordinarily signify improvement or retrogression? Under what circumstances, if any, might each signify the opposite? How could you ascertain which was actually signified?
    1. Decline in operating ratio.
    2. Increase in maintenance of freight cars per freight car.
    3. Decrease in freight train miles.
  4. Explain the purpose of the “funding accounts peculiar” to governmental accounting, and illustrate their use.
    b. What accounting distinctions are of especial importance in municipal accounting?
  5. Below are comparative figures (in thousands of dollars) of a company manufacturing railway equipment. Summarize what they reveal of its history, condition, and policy, commending or criticising the statements or policy as occasion requires.

 

Income Account, Years ended December 31
1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Gross Earnings Not reported 5,920 7,843 10,035 6,160 9,041 7,688
Operating and Mfg. Expenses, etc. “ 4,775 5,782 7,734 4,793 6,600 6,216
Depreciation and Maintenance “ 170 194 350 150 360 *
Net Earnings 2,320 975 1,866 1,951 1,217 2,081 1,472
Bond Interest 217 209 203 196 232 357 350
Dividends 1,485 1,350 945 945 945 945 945
Surplus for the Year 618 **584 718 810 40 779 177

*Included in “operating expenses.”  **Deficit.

 

General Balance Sheet, December 31
Assets 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Plants, Properties, etc. 30,291 30,536 30,568 30,267 33,746 33,373 33,320
Inventories 2,341 1,914 1,927 2,210 1,622 1,927 1,593
Stocks, Bonds, etc. 185 217 222 242 400 704 686
Accounts Receivable 2,349 1,212 1,667 1,464 1,148 1,986 1,411
Other Items 84 75 38 32 28 41 48
Cash 264 344 382 871 1,484 1,225 1,814
Total 35,514 34,298 34,804 35,086 38,428 39,256 38,872
Liabilities
Common Stock 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500
Preferred Stock (7% cumulative) 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500 13,500
Bonded Debt 4,223 4,083 3,945 3,808 7,172 7,037 6,901
Accounts Payable 1,239 588 672 212 148 350 186
Bills Payable 50 200 … … … … …
Reserves for Dividends, Interest, Taxes, etc. 147 156 197 266 268 251 260
Surplus 2,855 2,271 2,990 3,800 3,840 4,618 4,525
Total 35,514 34,298 34,804 35,086 38,428 39,256 38,872

 

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European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century (Gay)

ECONOMICS 2a1: Course announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 2a1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century. Half-course(first half-year).Tu., Th., Sat., at 9. Professor GAY, assisted by—.

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

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

ECONOMICS 2a1: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 2a1hf. Professor Gay, assisted by Messrs. A. H. Cole and Ryder.— European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 94: 23 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 33 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 5 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 2a1: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Speaking of the industrial revolution in England, a writer says: “It is to a revolution in three industries, — agriculture, cotton and iron, — that this transformation is principally due.” Do you agree? Give your reasons.
  2. Account historically for the present condition of the agricultural laborer in England, in East Prussia. What have been the social consequences in both cases?
  3. Hadley says of railway construction: “The Englishman built for the present and future both; the American chiefly for the future.” Account for this difference, and show its effect on capitalization, on service and on inter-railway relations.
  4. Trace the influence of the agrarian and industrial interests on tariff legislation in Germany and France since 1880.
  5. Give an account of the development of the iron and steel industry in England and Germany in the last half of the nineteenth century. Account for the later development in the latter country, and trace the competition between the Ruhr and Lorraine districts.

(Take one of the following two questions)

  1. Comment on Ashley’s statement regarding English exports:

“We shall more and more exhaust our resources of coal, and we shall devote ourselves more and more to those industries which flourish on cheap labor.”

  1. How have the laboring people of England by voluntary collective action tried to meet the exigencies of the modern industrial system? Compare with Germany.

 

________________________

Economic and Financial History of the United States (Gay)

ECONOMICS 2b2: Course Announcement [1914-15]

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

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

ECONOMICS 2b2: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 94: 23 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 33 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 5 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 2b2: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. “The expulsion of the French from Canada made it possible (for the American colonies) to dispense with English protection. The commercial restrictions made it to their interest to do so.” Do you agree? Give your reasons for or against.
  2. “As to the strength of slavery as an institution in Southern society after it had been thoroughly established, its basis was partly economic and partly social.” Explain. Which do you think the more fundamental? Why?
  3. (a) Give the reasons for the turn in our favor of the balance of trade in the seventies. (b) Into what periods would you divide the history of our export trade since that time? Characterize each period. What do you think are the probabilities for the future? Give your reasons.
  4. Compare the marketing of grain with the marketing of wool. Why the difference?
  5. In how far were the policies of the national government responsible for the panics of 1837 and 1893? Give your reasons.
  6. (a) Describe briefly the development of the iron industry in the United States. (b) What effect has this development had upon American shipping before and after 1870?

The following questions are for graduates who did not take the tests:

  1. Take one of the following subjects: (a) the history of American agriculture since 1860; or (b) Manufacturing development in the United States before 1860; or (c) the history of American transportation since 1860. Outline the periods and topics you would discuss in lecturing on it. Give also a short list of the chief books or papers you would consult, with critical estimates.
  2. What criteria would you hold most significant in determining the successful application of protection to young industries. Draw your evidence from the manufactures we have considered.

 

________________________

Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises (Anderson)

ECONOMICS 3: Course Announcement [1914-15]

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

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

ECONOMICS 3: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 69: 2 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 8 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 3: Final Examination [1915-16]

Omit either question 6 or 7.

  1. State and discuss Fisher’s version of the quantity theory of money.
  2. Discuss the relations of the banks and the stock exchange.
  3. Contrast the Bank of England with the Banque de France:
    (a) with reference to reserves;
    (b) with reference to the discount rate;
    (c) with reference to specie payments;
    (d) with reference to relations with the government;
    (e) with reference to foreign exchange policy.
  4. In precisely what ways does our Federal Reserve system seek to remedy the defects in our banking system?
  5. Discuss the development of State banking since the Civil War. Compare it with the development of the National Bank system. Explain the tendencies.
  6. Give an account of the main movements in the prices of the war stocks since Oct. 1, 1915, and explain these movements as far as you can: (a) by reference to general causes; (b) by reference to factors affecting particular securities as far as you know them.
  7. Explain the movements in demand sterling since the outbreak of the War. Give figures and dates as accurately as you can.
  8. Summarize Wesley Mitchell’s theory of business cycles.
  9. For what purposes does the farmer need credit? What is the extent of agricultural indebtedness in different sections in the United States? What agencies supply credit to the farmer? What rates of interest does the farmer pay in different parts of the country?
  10. Contrast the Panic of 1893 with the Panic of 1914.

 

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Economics of Transportation (Ripley)

ECONOMICS 4a1: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 4a 1hf. Economics of Transportation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor RIPLEY, assisted by —.

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

ECONOMICS 4a1: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 121: 3 Graduates, 47 Seniors, 54 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 10 Other.

ECONOMICS 4a1: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Discuss the propriety of the capitalization by a railroad of a surplus which had gradually accumulated during a period of twenty or more years. Would the recency of the surplus make any difference? How about the geographical location of the road?
  2. Describe the existing situation as concerns the relation of American railroads to their employees.
  3. What are the prime essentials of a railroad reorganization, necessary to insure its success?
  4. In case of the creation of a Congressional commission on railway legislature, what are the topics which it would probably consider?
  5. Outline the means which have been employed to bring about unity of action among the hard coal roads as to prices.
  6. State briefly for the leading countries which have taken over their railways as government enterprises, the peculiar circumstances which have no counterpart in the American situation.
  7. What is the trouble with the so-called basing point system?
  8. What is the present condition of affairs concerning the relation of railroads to water lines, coastwise or lake?
  9. When and how did the conflict of Federal and state powers over regulation of common carriers first become acute?
  10. Why was the United States Commerce Court ‘abolished’ judging by the tenor of its decisions?

 

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Economics of Corporations (Ripley)

ECONOMICS 4b2: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 4b 2hf. Economics of Corporations. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor RIPLEY, assisted by —.

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

ECONOMICS 4b2: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 115: 9 Graduates, 39 Seniors, 49 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 8 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 4b2: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Discuss critically the “economics of Industrial Combination.”
  2. What peculiarity of the American situation has given especial prominence to the holding company, in contrast with European countries?
  3. What principle of corporate finance, not of commercial practice, is illustrated by the experience of the following companies? Limit each answer to five words.
    1. U.S. Leather Co.
    2. International Mercantile Marine Co.
    3. American Ice Co.
    4. U.S. Steel Corporation.
    5. American Tobacco Co.
    6. The Glucose combination.
    7. The Asphalt combination.
  4. What is the most insistent feature in an industrial reorganization? How is the desired result commonly brought about?
  5. Outline the relation of organized labor to the amendment of the Sherman Act in 1914.
  6. “Competitors must not be oppressed or coerced. Fraudulent or unfair, or oppressive rivalry must not be pursued….Then, too, prices must not be arbitrarily fixed or maintained … an artificial scarcity must not be produced….The public is also injured if quality be impaired….Other injuries are done, if the wages of the laborer be arbitrarily reduced, and if the price of raw material be artificially depressed.”
    Associate each of the foregoing practices named in a recent judicial opinion with some particular industrial combination.
  7. How successful has the Department of Justice been in effecting the corporate dissolution of combinations? Outline the experience.
  8. Describe those factors of British corporate financial practise which are essentially different from our own.
  9. Compare the organization of the American and German combinations in the iron and steel industries; briefly, point by point.
  10. If high prices constitute a grievance of the public against industrial combination, what are the objections to an attempt to regulate these prices directly by law? Discuss the proposition from as many points of view as possible.

 

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Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation (Bullock)

ECONOMICS 5: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 5. Public Finance, including the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor BULLOCK.

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

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

Graduate students are advised to elect Economics 31.

ECONOMICS 5: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 60: 27 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 5 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 5: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Trace historically the position occupied by the customs revenue in the finances of the United States. What principles should be observed in establishing a system of customs duties? Discuss the incidence of these duties.
  2. To what extent and for what reasons has the working of the general property tax in Switzerland been different from the working of the same tax in the United States?
  3. Discuss briefly and concisely the characteristic features of three of the following: (a) The impôt-personnel mobilier; (b) The French business tax; (c) The Prussian business tax; (d) inheritance taxes in the United States.
  4. Explain and discuss critically the methods employed in the taxation of incomes in England and in Prussia.
  5. (a) What are the different theories regarding the best method of apportioning taxes?
    (b) Distinguish between “funded” and “unfunded” incomes. On what grounds can the heavier taxation of funded incomes be urged?
  6. What principles should govern the prices charged for the services of public commercial undertakings?
  7. Enumerate and discuss critically all the maxims, or canons, of taxation, with which you are familiar.
  8. State either the case for or the case against the single tax.

 

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Trade Unionism and Allied Problems (Ripley)

ECONOMICS 6a1: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 6a 1hf. Trade Unionism and Allied Problems. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor RIPLEY, assisted by —.

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

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

ECONOMICS 6a1: Enrollment [1915-16]

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

Total 61: 24 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 7 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 6a1: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Illustrate by a sketch the interrelation between the constituent parts of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. Criticise the following premium wage plans for mounting “gem” electric lamp bulbs.
Daily Output Wage per thousand
Under 900 $1.03
900-1000 $1.07
1000-1100 $1.12
Over 1100 $1.17
  1. Have you any impression whether Webb favors craft or industrial unionism? What instances does he cite?
  2. Define (a) Federal union; (b) Device of the Common Rule? (c) Jurisdiction dispute.
  3. Is there any real difference between an “irritation strike ” of the I. W. W.and the British “strike in detail”?
  4. Contrast the British and American policies of trade union finance, showing causes and results.
  5. Describe the Hart, Schaffner and Marx plan of dealing with its employees.
  6. Is the Standard Wage merely the minimum for a given trade or not? Discuss the contention that it penalizes enterprise or ability.
  7. Is there any relation logically between the attitude of labor toward piece work and the relative utilization of machinery?
  8. What is the nature of the business transacted at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor?

 

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Economic Theory (Taussig)

ECONOMICS 7a1: Course Announcement [1916-17]

[Economics] 7a1 hf. Economic Theory. Half-course(first half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30, and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor TAUSSIG.

Course 7a undertakes a survey of economic thought from Adam Smith to the present time. Considerable parts of the Wealth of Nations and of J. S. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy will be read, as well as selected passages from the writings of contemporary economists. No theses or other set written work will be required. The course will be conducted chiefly by discussion. It forms an advantageous introduction to Economics 7b.

Students who have attained in Economics A a grade sufficient for distinction (A or B) are admitted without further inquiry. Others must secure the consent of the instructor.

ECONOMICS 7a1: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 7a 1hf. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory.

Total 27: 12 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 7a1: Final Examination [1915-16]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. “The wages of the inferior classes of workmen, I have endeavored to show in the first book, are everywhere necessarily regulated by two different circumstances: the demand for labor, and the ordinary or average price for provisions. The demand for labor, according as it happens to be either increasing, stationary, or declining, or to require an increasing, stationary or declining population, regulates the subsistence of the laborer and determines in what degree it shall be either liberal, moderate, or scanty.”
    Explain (1) in what way Adam Smith analyzed the “demand for labor”; (2) the nature of the reasoning which led to his conclusions regarding the influence on wages of increasing or declining national wealth.
  2. Explain in what way J. S. Mill analyzed the demand for labor, and wherein his analysis resembled Adam Smith’s, wherein it differed; and consider whether Mill’s conclusions regarding the influence of increasing national wealth on wages were similar to Adam Smith’s.
  3. Explain:
    (a) The Physiocratic notion concerning productive labor;
    (b) Adam Smith’s distinction between productive and unproductive labor;
    (c) Adam Smith’s doctrine as to the way in which equal capitals employed in agriculture, in manufactures, in wholesale or retail trade, put in motion different quantities of productive labor.
    What reasoning led Adam Smith to arrange industries in the order of productiveness indicated in (c) and what have you to say in comment on it
  4. Why, according to Adam Smith, is there rent from land used for growing grain? from land used for pasture? from mines? What would a writer like Mill say of these doctrines of Adam Smith’s?
  5. How does Mill (following Chalmers) explain the rapid recovery of countries devastated by war? Do you think the explanation sound?
  6. Wherein is Mill’s analysis of the causes of differences in wages similar to Adam Smith’s, wherein different?
  7. What, according to Mill, is the foundation of private property? What corollaries does he draw as regards inheritance and bequest? What is your instructor’s view on the justification of inheritance and bequest?
  8. Explain wherein there are or are not ” uman costs” in the savings of the rich, of the middle classes, and of the poor; and wherein there are or are not “economic costs” in these several savings.
  9. Hobson says: (a) that” the traditional habits of ostentatious waste and conspicuous leisure . . . induce futile extravagance in expenditure”; (b) that “the very type of this expenditure is a display of fireworks; futility is of its essence”; (c) that “the glory of the successful sportsman is due to the fact that his deeds are futile. And this conspicuous futility is at the root of the matter. The fact that he can give time, energy, and money to sport testifies to his possession of independent means.” Consider what is meant by “futility” in these passages; and give your own opinion on the significance of “sport.”
  10. Explain the grounds on which Hobson finds little promise for the future in (a) consumers’ cooperation; (b) producers’ cooperation; (c) syndicalism.

 

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Principles of Sociology (Carver)

ECONOMICS 8: Course Announcement [1916-1917]

[Economics] 8. Principles of Sociology. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor CARVER, assisted by Mr. —.

A study in social adaptation, both passive and active. Problems of race improvement, moral adjustment, industrial organization, and social control are considered in detail.  [Note: in 1916-17 this became a two-term course]

ECONOMICS 81: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 8 1hf. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. Bovingdon.— Principles of Sociology.

Total 130: 14 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 45 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 15 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 81: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. How would you distinguish between progress and change?
  2. Just what is meant by self-centered appreciation? Should the range of the average individual’s appreciations be widened? Give reasons for your answer.
  3. What do you think of the economic test of the individual’s fitness for survival?
  4. What is the function of religion? To what extent do you think that it is performing its function in the United States?
  5. What is the function of an educational institution? To what extent do you think that Harvard University is performing its function?
  6. What effect do you think that the increase of government ownership and operation of industrial capital in the United States will have upon the “open road to talent”?

 

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Economics of Agriculture (Carver)

ECONOMICS 91: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 9 1hf. Economics of Agriculture. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor CARVER.

A study of the relation of agriculture to the whole industrial system, the relative importance of rural and urban economics, the conditions of rural life in different parts of the United States, the forms of land tenure and methods of rent payment, the comparative merits of large and small holdings, the status and wages of farm labor, the influence of farm machinery, farmers’ organizations, the marketing and distribution of farm products, agricultural credit, the policy of the government toward agriculture, and the probable future of American agriculture.

ECONOMICS 91: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 9 1hf. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. Shaulis.— Economics of Agriculture.

Total 58: 4 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 91: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. What are the factors which determine the migration of rural people; of urban people?
  2. What are the chief periods in the development of American Agriculture, and how would you characterize each period?
  3. In what ways could a citizen acquire title to a piece of the public land of the United States at the following dates, 1850, 1870, 1900?
  4. What do you regard as the necessary steps to the solution of the problem of rural credit in the United States? Explain your reasons.
  5. What are the essentials to be achieved in the building up of a market for agricultural products?
  6. Discuss the place of animal husbandry in the economy of the farm and also in the economy of food production from the standpoint of society in general.
  7. Summarize the effects of modern farm machinery. Discuss the degree of its utilization in different sections of the United States.
  8. Outline briefly a scheme for the organization of a rural community, and give your reasons for the main features of your scheme.
  9. Outline the chief areas of production in the United States of the following crops: Potatoes, wheat, oats, hay and forage.
  10. What are the chief forms of tenancy in the United States, and where is each form most common?

 

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Economic Theory (Taussig)

ECONOMICS 11: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 11. Economic Theory. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professor TAUSSIG.

Course 11 is intended to acquaint the student with some of the later developments of economic thought, and at the same time to train him in the critical consideration of economic principles and the analysis of economic conditions. The exercises are accordingly conducted mainly by the discussion of selected passages from the leading writers; and in this discussion the students are expected to take an active part. The writings of J. S. Mill, Cairnes, F. A. Walker, Clark, Marshall, Böhm-Bawerk, and other recent authors, will be taken up. Attention will be given chiefly to the theory of exchange and distribution.

ECONOMICS 11: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 11. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory.

Total 29: 18 Graduates, 1 Grad.Bus., 6 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

ECONOMICS 11: Mid-year Examination [1915-16]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. On what grounds is it contended that there is a circle in Walker’s reasoning on the relation between wages and business profits? What is your opinion on this rejoinder: that Walker, in speaking of the causes determining wages, has in mind the general rate of wages, whereas in speaking of profits he has in mind the wages of a particular grade of labor?
  2. According to Ricardo, neither profits of capital nor rent of land are contained in the price of exchangeable commodities, but labor only.” — Thünen.
    Is there justification for this interpretation of Ricardo?
  3. “Instead of saying that profits depend on wages, let us say (what Ricardo really meant) that they depend on the cost of labour. . . . The cost of labour is, in the language of mathematics, a function of three variables: the efficiency of labor; the wages of labour (meaning thereby the real reward of the labourer); and the greater or less cost at which the articles composing that real reward can be produced or procured.”   — J. S. Mill.
    Is this what Ricardo really meant? Why the different form of statement by Mill? What comment have you to make on Mill’s statement?
  4. State resemblances and differences in the methods of analysis, and in the conclusions reached, between (a) the temporary equilibrium of supply and demand (e.g. in a grain market), as explained by Marshall; (b) “two-sided competition,” as explained by Böhm-Bawerk; (c) equilibrium under barter, as explained by Marshall.
  5. Explain concisely what is meant in the Austrian terminology by “value,” “subjective value,” “subjective exchange value,” “objective exchange value.”
    Does the introduction of “subjective exchange value” into the analysis of two-sided competition lead to reasoning in a circle?
  6. “Suppose a poor man receives every day two pieces of bread, while one is enough to allay the pangs of positive hunger, what value will one of the two pieces of bread have for him? The answer is easy enough. If he gives away the piece of bread, he will lose, and if he keeps it he will secure, provision for that degree of want which makes itself felt whenever positive hunger has been allayed. We may call this the second degree of utility. One of two entirely similar goods is, therefore, equal in value to the second degree in the scale of utility of that particular class of goods. . . . Not only has one of two goods the value of the second degree of utility, but either of them has it, whichever one may choose. And three pieces have together three times the value of the third degree of utility, and four pieces have four times the value of the fourth degree. In a word, the value of a supply of similar goods is equal to the sum of the items multiplied by the marginal utility.” — Wieser.
    Do you think this analysis tenable? and do you think it inconsistent with the doctrine of total utility and consumer’s surplus?
  7. “If the modern theory of value, as it is commonly stated, were literally true, most articles of high quality would sell for three times as much as they actually bring.” What leads Clark to this conclusion? and do you accept it?

Source note: Mid-term exam from Harvard University Archives, Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook).

ECONOMICS 11: Final Examination [1915-16]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Allow time for careful revision of your answers.

  1. “The productivity of capital is, like that of land and labor, subject to the principle of marginal productivity, which is, as we have seen, a part of the general law of diminishing returns. Increase the number of instruments of a given kind in any industrial establishment, leaving everything else in the establishment the same as before, and you will probably increase the total product of the establishment somewhat, but you will not increase the product as much as you have the instruments in question. Introduce a few more looms into a cotton factory without increasing the labor or the other forms of machinery, and you will add a certain small amount to the total output…. That which is true of looms in this particular is also true of ploughs on a farm, of locomotives on a railway, of floor space in a store, and of every other form of capital used in industry.” Is this in accord with Clark’s view? Böhm-Bawerk’s? Marshall’s? Your own?
  2. What is the significance of the principle of quasi-rent for
    (a) the “single tax” proposal;
    (b) Clark’s doctrine concerning the specific product of capital;
    (c) the theory of business profits.
  3. Explain what writers use the following terms and in what senses: Composite quasi-rent; usance; implicit interest; joint demand.
  4. On Cairnes’ reasoning, are high wages of a particular group of laborers the cause or the result of high value (price) of the commodities made by them? On the reasoning of the Austrian school, what is the relation between cost and value? Consider differences or resemblances between the two trains of reasoning.
  5. “This ‘exploitation theory of interest’ consists virtually of two propositions: first, that the value of any product usually exceeds its cost of production; and, secondly, that the value of any product ought to be exactly equal to its cost of production. The first of these propositions is true, but the second is false. Economists have usually pursued a wrong method in answering the socialists, for they have attacked the first proposition instead of the second. The socialist is quite right in his contention that the value of the product exceeds the cost. In fact, this proposition is fundamental in the whole theory of capital and interest. Ricardo here, as in many other places in economics, has been partly right and partly wrong. He was one of the first to fall into the fallacy that the value of the product was normally equal to its cost, but he also noted certain apparent ‘exceptions,’ as for instance, that wine increased in value with years.” Is this a just statement of Ricardo’s view? Of the views of economists generally? In what sense is it true, if in any, that value usually exceeds cost?
  6. Explain carefully what Böhm-Bawerk means by

(a) social capital;
(b) the general subsistence fund;
(c) the average production period;
(d) usurious interest.

In what way does he analyze the relation between (b) and (c)?

  1. Suppose ability of the highest kind in the organization and management of industry became as common as ability to do unskilled manual labor is now; what consequences would you expect as regards the national dividend? the remuneration of the business manager and of the unskilled laborer? Would you consider the readjusted scale of remuneration more or less equitable than that now obtaining?
  2. What grounds are there for maintaining or denying that “profits” are (a) essentially a differential gain, (b) ordinarily capitalized as “common stock,” (c) secured through “pecuniary,” not “industrial” activity? What method of investigation would you suggest as the best for answering these questions?

 

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The Distribution of Wealth (Carver)

ECONOMICS 121: Course Announcement [1916-17]

[Economics] 12. 1hf. The Distribution of Wealth. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor CARVER.

An analytical study of the theory of value and its applications, the law of diminishing utility, the nature and meaning of cost, the significance of scarcity and its relation to the general problem of social adjustment, the law of variable proportions and its bearing upon the problem of a better distribution of wealth.

ECONOMICS 121: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 12 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 6: 3 Graduates, 1 Senior, 2 Juniors.

 

ECONOMICS 121: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Is there any close connection between economic value and moral value? Explain and justify your answer.
  2. How would you harmonize the Ricardian doctrine of rent with the doctrine that rent is determined by the specific or net productivity of land?
  3. What is cost and what are its leading forms at the present time? How is it related to wages, interest, and profits?
  4. What is meant by the intensive and by the extensive margins of cultivation and how are they related each to the other?
  5. Can you see any connection between the wage fund doctrine and the doctrine of non-competing groups? Explain and justify your answer.
  6. What would be the main items of your program for improving the present distribution of wealth? Give your reasons for each item.

 

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Statistics: Theory, Method, and Practice (Day)

ECONOMICS 13: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 13. Statistics: Theory, Method, and Practice. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Asst. Professor DAY.

The first half of this course is intended thoroughly to acquaint the student with the best statistical methods. Such texts as Bowley’s Elements of Statistics, Yule’s Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, and Zizek’s Statistical Averages, are studied in detail. Problems are constantly assigned to assure actual practice in the methods examined.

The second half of the course endeavors to familiarize the student with the best sources of economic statistical data. Methods actually employed in different investigations are analyzed and criticized. The organization of the various agencies collecting data is examined. Questions of the interpretation, accuracy, and usefulness of the published data are especially considered.

ECONOMICS 13: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 13. Asst. Professor Day. — Statistics: Theory, Method, and Practice.

Total 10: 8 Graduates, 2 Radcliffe.

 

ECONOMICS 13: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. Explain and criticize the following statistical table:
PER CENT OF FAMILY INCOME CONTRIBUTED BY EACH CLASS OF WORKERS BY INDUSTRIES1
Per cent of family income contributed by each class of workers in—
Cotton industry Ready-made clothing indus-try Glass indus-try Silk indus-try
New England group South-ern group
Fathers 37.7 34.0 48.4 56.0 50.5
Mothers 32.4 27.9 26.8 25.1 33.0
Male children 16 years of age and over 31.1 27.3 36.5 37.8 37.0
Female children 16 years of age and over 42.6 35.2 39.7 26.7 35.1
Children 14 and 15 years of age 18.7 22.9 14.2 18.9 16.6
Children 12 and 13 years of age 14.3 17.6 10.0 15.7 13.3
Children under 12 years of age 2 3.6 13.5

1These per cents apply only to the incomes of families having wage earners of the specified class.
2Based on incomes of two families, each having one child under 12 at work.

  1. Enumerate the means by which a bureau, charged with the administration of a state registration law, may ascertain the completeness of birth registration in any registration district.
  2. Describe and illustrate the construction of a logarithmic curve. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a curve for the purpose of graphic presentation?
  3. 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 conditions may weighting safely be omitted?
  4. Retail price quotations for two articles are reported from fifty markets as follows:
Article A Article B
Price per dozen Number of markets reporting this price Price per bushel Number of markets reporting this price
21¢ 1 $1.00 8
22¢ 2 $1.05 12
23¢ 7 $1.10 15
24¢ 11 $1.15 10
25¢ 15 $1.25 5
26¢ 9 50
27¢ 4
28¢ 1
50

Measure by the standard deviation the relative variability in price of these two commodities. Employ the short-cut method.

  1. “Imagine an ideal republic, in some respects similar to that designed by Plato, where not only were all the children removed from their parents, but where they were all treated exactly alike. In these circumstances none of the differences between the adults could have anything to do with the differences of environments and all must be due to some differences in inherent factors. In fact, the environment correlation coefficient would be nil, whilst the heredity correlation coefficient might be high.”
    Comment upon the italicized statement.
  2. Outline a correlation study of two economic variables both of which tend to increase steadily with the growth of population, and both of which are sensitive to the fluctuations of the seasons and of the business cycle.
  3. What conditions are essential to simple sampling?
    The expected proportion of accidents per year in a certain industry is 150 per 1000 workers. A company employing 2500 workers reports 405 accidents during the year 1913. Assume that the conditions of simple sampling are met; analyze the returns to determine whether the difference between the actual and expected number of accidents is significant.

 

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History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848 (Bullock)

ECONOMICS 14: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 14. History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 11. Professor BULLOCK.

The purpose of this course is to trace the development of economic thought from classical antiquity to the middle of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed upon the relation of economics to philosophical and political theories, as well as to political and industrial conditions.

A considerable amount of reading of prominent writers will be assigned, and opportunity given for the preparation of theses. Much of the instruction is necessarily given by means of lectures.

ECONOMICS 14: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 14. Professor Bullock. — History and Literature of Economics to the year 1848.

Total 14: 13 Graduates, 1 Radcliffe.

 

ECONOMICS 14: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. What did the mercantilists teach concerning: (a) economic structure; (b) economic functions; (c) economic ideals; and (d) economic policies?
  2. At what important points does Adam Smith draw upon the works of earlier writers? What important original contributions does he make?
  3. At what points are Smith’s ideas inadequately developed or inconsistent?
  4. What important changes were made in English economic doctrines by Ricardo and Mill?
  5. Give the rest of the examination period to writing an essay upon the life, works, and economic doctrines of any economist prior to Adam Smith.

 

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Analytical Sociology (Anderson)

ECONOMICS 18a1: Course Announcement [1916-17]

[Economics] 18a 1hf. Analytical Sociology. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 3.30. Asst. Professor ANDERSON.

The centre of this course will be in the problems of social psychology: the raw stuff of human nature, and its social transformations; imitation, suggestion and mob-mind; the individual and the social mind; social control and the theory of social forces; the relation of intellectual and emotional factors in social life. These problems will be studied in their relations to the whole field of social theory, which will be considered in outline, with some emphasis on the influence of physiographic factors and of heredity. Leading contemporary writers will be studied, and some attention will be given to the history of social theory. Instruction will be by lectures, discussion, and reports.

ECONOMICS 18a2: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 18a 2hf. Asst. Professor Anderson. — Analytical Sociology.

Total 18: 16 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

 

ECONOMICS 18a2: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. What is the bearing of the Mendelian theory on social problems?
  2. What difference does it make for sociology whether or not we accept the doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characters? To what extent, if at all, and in what connections, does Giddings make use of this doctrine? How far, if at all, are his conclusions incompatible with Weismann’s doctrine?
  3. Explain what is meant by the “social mind.” By “social values.”
  4. Summarize the theory of McGee as to the origin of agriculture.
  5. Compare the views of Boas and W. B. Smith as to the comparative roles of race and environment in the case of the American negro. What is your own view?
  6. What did you get from your reading of Tarde? Of Le Bon? of Ross’ Social Psychology? Let your summaries be brief, but not vague! Differentiate the books.
  7. Summarize Giddings’ chapter on Demogenic Association.
  8. Illustrate the social transformation of the raw stuff of human nature by the case of either the instinct of workmanship, the sex instinct, or the instinct of flight and hiding.
  9. What reading have you done for this course?

 

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Public Finance (Bullock)

ECONOMICS 31: Course Announcement [1914-15]

[Economics] 31. Public Finance. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor BULLOCK.

The course is devoted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance. Ability to read French or German is presupposed.

ECONOMICS 31: Enrollment [1915-16]

[Economics] 31. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance.

Total 16: 14 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

 

ECONOMICS 31: Final Examination [1915-16]

  1. If you were writing a treatise on public finance how far would you utilize Adam Smith’s chapter on taxation?
  2. What is Eheberg’s opinion concerning any two of the following taxes: the Ertragssteuern, the Wehrsteuer, and the property tax?
  3. What is Leroy-Beaulieu’s opinion concerning any two of the following taxes: octrois, increment taxes, and the French patente?
  4. With what different opinions concerning the incidence of the house tax are you familiar? State briefly your own opinion.
  5. Discuss the doctrine that consumption taxes tend to be “absorbed,” and state your opinion concerning the practical conclusions that follow from it.
  6. What is the incidence of the usual tax on mortgages in the United States?
  7. Compare French and British direct taxation.
  8. State the principles upon which a policy of public borrowing should be based. Should public debts be extinguished?

 

Sources:

Enrollment data: 

Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1915-1916, pp. 59-61.

Examinations (except where noted):

Harvard University. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, History of Science, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Ethics, Education, Fine Arts, Music in Harvard College (June, 1916), pp. 45-63.

Course Announcements: 

Division of History, Government, and Economics 1914-15 printed in Official Register of Harvard University, Volume XI, No. 1, Part 14 (May 19, 1914), pp. 62-70.

Division of History, Government, and Economics 1916-17 printed in Official Register of Harvard University, Volume XIII, No. 1, Part 11 (May 15, 1916), pp. 61-69.

Image Source:

Card catalog in Widener Library at Harvard University, ca. 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Categories
Economic History Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Economic Aspects of Western Civilization. Cunningham, 1899.

 

 

William Cunningham (1849-1919) was appointed lecturer on economic history at Harvard September 27, 1898 in order to cover economic history for Professor Ashley who was on leave during the second semester of the 1898-99 academic year.

___________________

During the second half year of 1898-99, the place of Professor Ashley, who is absent on leave, is taken by Dr. Wm. Cunningham, of Trinity College (Cambridge, England). Dr. Cunningham and Professor Ashley are easily the leaders among English-speaking scholars on their subject, economic history; and the Department has cordially welcomed the arrangement by which the scholar from the Cambridge of England fills the place, for the time being, of the scholar of the American Cambridge. Dr. Cunningham gives two courses in the current half year, — one on Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects, Mediaeval and Modern, the other on the Industrial Revolution in England.

Source:  F. W. Taussig’s report on the activities of the economics department in 1898-99 in The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine, vol. 7 (1898-99), p. 427.

___________________

Course Announcement

82 hf. Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects. (Mediaeval and Modern.) Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12.Dr. Cunningham (Trinity College, Cambridge, England).

Source:   Harvard University, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1898-1899.Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1898, p. 41.

___________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 82 hf. Dr. Cunnningham.— Western Civilization, mediaeval and modern, in its Economic Aspects. Lectures (3 hours). 4 reports.

Total 105:  13 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 23 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 12 Others

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1898-99, p. 72.

___________________

ECONOMICS 8.
WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

For Reading: —

Andrews, C. M. Old English Manor, p. 202 to end.
M. Dormer Harris. Life in an Old English Town.
H. Beazley. Prince Henry the Navigator;
Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England, edited by E. Lamond.
Thorold Rogers. Holland.

 

For Consultation: —

Duke of Argyll. Unseen Foundations of Society.
Maitland, S. R. The Dark Ages.
Montalembert. Monks of the West, II.
Levasseur, E. Histoire des Class ouvrières en France jusqu’a la Révolution [Volume I (1859);  Volume  II (1859);
Walter of Henley’s Husbandry, edited by E. Lamond.
Pigeonneau. Histoire du Commerce de la France. [Volume I; Volume II]
von Inama-Sternegg. Deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte. [Volume 1 ; Volume 2]
Heyd, W. Geschichte des Levantehandels. [Volume 1 ; Volume 2]
[de] Mas Latrie. Relations et Commerce de l’Afrique Septentrionale.
Ehrenberg, R. Das Zeitalter der Fugger.[Volume 1 ; Volume 2]
Gottlob, A. Aus der Camera.
S. Thomas Aquinas. De regimine Principum.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 1, Folder “Economics 1898-1899”.

Image Source:  Trinity College Chapel website.

Categories
Economic History Harvard Regulations

Harvard. What to do about economic history, 1973

 

 

The December 1973 memo transcribed below can be viewed as a last stand in anticipation of the retirement of Alexander Gerschenkron to continue to require Harvard graduate students in economics demonstrate a modest acquaintance with some economic history from somewhere or other. The Committee writing the report consisted of two professors, Abram Bergson (Soviet economy and comparative economics) and Albert O. Hirschman (by this time dedicated to work in matters of intellectual history) along with two Harvard economics graduate students, Deborah G. Clay-Mendez (b. 1949, Harvard Ph.D., 1981) and William D. White (b. 1945, Harvard Ph.D., 1975).

Cf. Harvard’s current distribution requirement (from a screen capture dated November 13, 2018 at the Wayback Machine)

The distribution requirement is fulfilled by taking an approved field course in Economic History, Political Economy or Behavioral. The purpose of the requirement is to ensure that students are exposed to non-standard ways of thinking about issues central to economics. The course must be passed with a grade of B or better.

 

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DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

January 9, 1974

To: Members of the Department of Economics
From: James S. Duesenberry, Chairman

NOTICE OF DEPARTMENT MEETING

There will be a meeting of the Department of Economics on Tuesday, January 15thin the Littauer Lounge from 4 to 6 p.m.

The main items on the Agenda will be a report of the Committee on Economic History Requirements and a discussion of theory requirements.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Course Offerings and Examinations in Economic History

As directed by the Chairman of the Economics department and the Chairman of the Graduate Instruction Committee, a Committee consisting of the undersigned has reviewed the graduate course offerings and examinations in economic history at Harvard. We have deliberated as a group a number of times, and have also solicited the opinions of persons not members of the committee, including graduate students in economics and faculty members offering courses in economic history and related fields. We focused on several related issues, and set forth below our recommendations on each in turn:

  1. Should there be an economic history requirement for graduate students in economics? We all agreed that there should be, and that the aim of such a requirement should be to assure that the student gains an understanding of processes of long-term economic change, and of the comparative role of economic and non-economic factors in such change. The requirement should also be a means by which the student becomes better acquainted with a variety of economic institutions other than our own contemporary ones.
  2. What sort of requirement is in order? In our view, normally the completion of work with an average grade of B+ or better in two semester courses in economic history or their equivalent. Should the student fail to achieve a grade of B+ or better in such courses, however, he may be allowed, on petition to the Committee on Economic History (see below), to complete the requirements by retaking the final examination in one or both of the courses in question. Alternatively, depending on the circumstances, the student might be asked to do under faculty guidance a research paper of suitable quality. As in the past, a creditable performance in an appropriate and suitably delimited oral examination should also signify completion of the requirement.
  3. In what specific fields of economic history may the requirement be completed? We agreed that the requirement should permit work in various fields of economic history relating to the experience of industrialized societies including among others those of Western Europe, the United States and Japan.
    To that end, the Department has an obligation to see that appropriate courses in diverse fields are in fact offered to the student. Additional courses might be made available in other departments and through cross registration at MIT, the Business School and the like.
    The Committee also considered whether work in economic development or comparative economic systems might be countered towards the requirement. It was agreed that one semester’s course work in one field or the other might be counted, but on the understanding that the courses in question must be substantially concerned with processes of long-term economic change and in a context in which substantial attention is given to the interplay between economic and non-economic factors, and between economic doctrines and developments.
  4. How should the requirement be administered? We agreed that a Committee should be appointed by the Department to oversee the economic history requirement. It should be responsible particularly for assuring that in one way or another suitable courses are available, and for determining just what courses should be eligible for meeting the economic history requirement. It should also consider petitions such as are referred to in item 2, above, and should have responsibility for setting standards for and delimiting oral examinations.

Respectfully submitted

Deborah Clay
William White
Albert Hirschman
Abram Bergson, Chairman

December 26, 1973

 

Source:  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Papers. Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 526, Folder: “Harvard University. Department of Economics: General Correspondence, 1967-1974 (1 of 8)”.

Image Source: Abram Bergson (From National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir written by Paul Samuelson); Albert O. Hirschman (From the Institute for Advanced Study Archives).